I was like most people when finding out about alkalinity, I want to know, what can I eat and how do I prepare and cook it? Being a Chef and herbalist for over 25 years, made it a lot easier for me than most to prepare, alter and come up with new cooking ideas. Some are under the impression that once you cook something that’s alkaline you can destroy its alkalinity. This is further than the truth. For an example, tomatoes contain lycopene, a form of antioxidant. Raw tomatoes have a total antioxidant potential of about 80, but if you cook the tomatoes the antioxidant potential goes up to about six-fold. This is because the raw tomato has been transformed to trans-lycopene in the cooked version do to the heat infusion, and trans-lycopene is much more readily absorbed by the body. This is the same with most foods.