Balance out lemon juice in a smoothie, stinging my throat

Question

I make smoothies for breakfast, and I prepare the contents each weekend for the following week (so I can prepare them as quickly as possible before I catch my train). I have a tiny container for dry contents, and bigger containers for refrigerated and frozen contents.

I started getting a sore throat a couple of days before smoothie prep day, two weeks ago, and felt my throat severely stinging. The following week I kept out the lemon juice, and it was much better. The following weekend, my throat had been better for a few days, so I put the Lemon juice back in. But by the end of that day, my sore throat came back! And I'd just made up six containers of liquid contents including the lemon juice!

What can I do to neutralize the acidity? (I'm assuming that's why the lemon juice burns my throat while the pomegranate juice doesn't). I add the lemon juice in the first place, because it cuts the bitter flavor of the kale. I almost don't care what it ends up tasting like – without the lemon juice, it was awful, and I dealt with it. With the lemon juice, it's excruciating, so I'm chugging it anyway.

These are the contents of each container (to which I can add anything you suggest):

Refrigerated

• ​1 kale leaf
• A chunk of raw Ginger
• Juice from 1 half lemon
• 2/3 cup almond milk
• 2/3 cup POM juice

Dry

• ​1/4 cup walnuts
• 3 tsp. Metamucil
• 2 tbsp Chia seeds
• 1/4 scoop protein powder
• 1 packet Emergen-C

Frozen

• 1 cup of frozen fruit

Answer 1

You can add some sugar, but if you want to watch your sugar intake you can try using baking soda. You need only a small amount of baking soda. Roughly 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for 1 cup of liquid should be enough. Too much baking soda can lead to a soapy taste, so use it sparingly.