In a rather stunning turn of events we have been left with rather more time on our hands than previously planned this month, why not try your hand at creating some brilliant smoothies and juices to increase your micro nutrients and support you health?
Mellow melon
¼ of a honey dew, cantaloupe, sprite, Crenshaw or Canary melon
½ cup of blueberries
½ red pepper
A generous handful or two of spinach
1 tsp of baobab powder
.5g pure vitamin C powder
Water to cover
Whizz it all up in a blender and enjoy immediately!
I get my Boabab powder directly from a farm in Kenya but it is readily available from most health food stores online. I buy my Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) from Bulk Powders as it is affordable and is the form that most clinical trial are based on, having said that if you can spare the cash then certainly look at natural forms such as Arceola. This smoothie has so much fibre in it, particularly interesting is the insoluble form that is very popular with bacteria in your digestive system who produce something called butyric acid, a very short chain fatty acid said to act directly on the vagus nerve, which in turn calms the nervous system. Vitamin C is a great idea to ensure sufficient antioxidant status to clear up any free radicles that can cause damage to cell and so take away precious time and energy from our immune system, something we need to keep very strong at this time.
Give it to me Green!
1 apple or pear (I used Asian pear which has a floral taste and not very sweet at all as I am not keen on sweeter juices personally)
3 generous handfuls of spinach
½ an inch of ginger
Juice of quarter a lemon
A splash of water
Put the ginger, then the spinach and then the apple or pear through. The order means you will have less wastage at the end. Once done keep the juicer going and flush through with a little water before adding the lemon and serving.
This and variations of this are my all time favourite. I LOVE green juice and can happily have one everyday, I don’t because washing that machine is not that much fun!
Keep it Cool
2 handfuls of watercress
½ a green apple
½ a cucumber
Juice of quarter of a lemon
Add the water cress, followed by the cucumber and finally the apple. Flush through with water as with the ‘Give it to me Green’ and add the lemon before enjoying this cool but spicy number.
Watercress is rather brilliant for the liver, I was taught this as a child but wanted to know how this is possible and upon reading through a number of scholarly articles I found that E. Natanzi et. al. performed a study in 2010 published in the Internationla Journal of Pharmacology, which concluded that the mode of action was likely by restoring hepatocellular membranes, meaning restoring the cells walls of liver cells so that they can function properly.
