SMOOTHIES AND RAW FOOD - S.A.R.F.: September 2008

Friday, September 26, 2008

WHEATGRASS MENTIONED ON THE TONIGHT SHOW

I am just getting started with wheatgrass and had my first real taste of it the other night. Wow, I thought I was going to start mooing but with all the benefits, I am going to start doing wheatgrass shots on a regular basis. I think I may put it in my smoothies to hide the flavor.

I was watching "The Tonight Show" last night, 09/25/08, and they had a segment of Presidential Jeopardy on with three very good impersonators for Bush, Palin and Obama.

One of the "answers" was "whole foods" and the Obama impersonator said it was a place to pick up some non-dairy tofu curry and some WHEATGRASS.

I thought it worth mentioning on my blog because more and more, mom and I are running into people that know about wheatgrass, have heard about it or are already consuming wheatgrass. Don't forget to check out mom's wheatgrass blog at GROW YOUR OWN WHEATGRASS. The tray shown in the picture is an actual tray of my mom's wheatgrass.

Friday, September 12, 2008

A WELL-BALANCED RAW FOOD DIET CONTAINS ALL THE PROTEIN NEEDED TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY BODY

The importance of protein in your diet is best explained in The Center For Young Women's Health. If a raw foodist follows a well-balanced diet, they will get all the protein they need naturally from those raw foods. Protein contains the amino acids your body needs to help build and repair muscle, maintaining healthy tissue. Without protein, your body can start to break down leading to a variety of health issues. When on the raw food diet, you want to be sure you get all the nutrients your body needs including protein. There are many ways you can add protein to a raw food diet. Nuts are a great example of this; you can make purees or pate and also make your own milk from nuts. Seeds can also be ground and added to your recipes. Hemp seed milk is not only being sold in health food stores, it is now on the shelf at some of your local supermarkets. You can make your own butter from many of the nuts and seed varieties.

Many vegetables are rich in protein including your leafy vegetables such as romaine lettuce, kale, spinach, cabbage, chard and arugula. These types of protein can easily be added to a smoothie or, if you feel like munching on something, they can be used in a salad.

Until studying the raw food diet myself, I did not realize that many fruits contain protein as well; watermelon, tomatoes, pomegranates, dates, kiwi and avacodos are great sources of protein. The Fruit Pages contains a comprehensive table listing all nutritional information for many fruits and vegetables.

In addition to obtaining protein from seeds, nuts, vegetables and fruit, according to The Fat Free Kitchen, one ounce of wheatgrass per day contains the nutritional value of 2.5 pounds of vegetables and Living-Foods lists 35 very interesting uses for wheatgrass. Wheatgrass is sometimes hard to digest so juicing it is considered the best way to go and, if you have problems growing accustomed to the taste, you can add wheatgrass juice to grape juice or, again, throw it in with your other smoothie ingredients, let the other items conceal the taste.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

DIABETES AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE

If you have diabetes, you really need to watch your blood pressure. With diabetes comes a higher risk of heart disease so the target BP level is lower.

A natural approach is much safer as well as less expensive. For hypertension, I am currently on four different costly medications with their attendant side effects and hope to one day come off of all of those.

There are many ways to lower your blood pressure naturally and I am going to share a link with you. DLife – For Your Diabetes Life has a list of 16 non-drug ways to lower your blood pressure.

Please click on the above link and start working towards a much lower blood pressure today, the natural way.

Friday, September 5, 2008

THE PROBLEM WITH PROCESSED FOODS

My dad and stepmom purchased what they thought was a can of turnip greens. Instead, when they opened the can, they found the can contained what appeared to be pork and beans. The name of the company is Glory. This particular brand is available nationwide and started showing up on shelves several years ago. It was created at the Ohio State University Food Industries Center and boasts a southern-style flavor in over 50 varieties of heat-and-serve products.

With a company that large, you would expect them to have some pretty stringent food safety measures in place but to mis-label, well, someone dropped the ball and you are left wondering what else they could be missing.

The more I turn to organic foods, raw foods, fresh fruit and vegetables, the more I worry about what really is in that processed food, or in this case, that can of "turnip greens". Are the cans on your pantry shelf what they really say they are? If you want a good scare, read the label.

HEMP SEED MILK RECIPES

HEMP SEED MILK: (watch the video) CLICK YOUR BROWSERS BACK BUTTON TO COME BACK TO THIS PAGE

1 cup of hemp seeds
1 litre of mineral/filtered water

Soak the hemp seeds overnight. Drain and rinse. Place in a blender and gradually add the water while blending on maximum speed. Pour mixture through a fine sieve (or squeeze through some muslin/cheesecloth for a smoother milk) into a jug or suitable container and enjoy.

For a creamier milk, use more hemp seeds or less water. Also try blending in 1 or 2 large bananas with the finished milk to thicken and sweeten it.

To make a delicious and uplifting chocolate milk, just add 1/3rd of a cup of Cacao pieces to soak with the hemp seeds and proceed as above.

Try this for a tasty treat

1/3rd cup of cacao pieces
1 cup of hemp seeds
1 tablespoon maple syrup/honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 litre of mineral/filtered water

Make the chocolate milk as above - by adding the cacao pieces in to soak with the hemp seeds.

Pour one pint into a small saucepan and warm very gently. Add the maple syrup/honey and cinnamon and stir well. Remove the pan from the heat while the milk is warm (but not hot) and enjoy.

NOTE: Hemp seed milk will separate and taste unpleasant if it is heated too much.

RAW CHOCOLATE SMOOTHIE:

4 heaped tsp raw chocolate powder
1 tblsp virgin coconut butter/hemp oil
1/2 tsp maca
3 bananas
1/2 avocado
hemp seed milk

Chop the banana and avocado into pieces, place in a blender with other ingredients and slowly pour in the desired amount of hemp seed milk while blending.

For a delicious basic chocolate smoothy just blend the cacao powder, banana and avocado with the hemp seed milk.

SUPER GREEN SMOOTHIE:

1 level tsp spirulina
1/2 tsp maca
3 bananas
1/2 avocado
hemp seed milk

Chop the banana and avocado into pieces, place in a blender with other ingredients and slowly pour in the desired amount of hemp seed milk while blending.

For a delicious basic green smoothy just blend the spirulina, banana and avocado with the hemp seed milk.

SESAME SMOOTHIE:

75g sesame seeds
3 bananas
1 tblsp coconut butter/hemp oil
1/2 tsp maca
1 heaped tsp cacao powder
1 - 2 tsp maple syrup/honey
hemp seed milk

Soak the sesame seeds in (filtered) water for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Drain and rinse, then blend the seeds on high speed with just enough hemp milk to keep them moving. When the seeds are blended to a paste add a little more hemp milk and the other ingredients and blend thoroughly, adding more hemp seed milk to achieve the desired consistency.

For a delicious basic sesame smoothie just blend the sesame seeds with the hemp milk, banana and coconut butter/hemp oil.

BEST CHOCOLATE MILK MAY NOT COME FROM COW

This is an article taken from http://wesh.com/ where a panel tested various chocolate milk varieties. Silk chocolate milk received a rating of 95 out of 100 and Promised Land got a whopping 100. Please keep in mind that many of the varieties tested were high in sugar and if you are diabetic like myself, you will need to take that into consideration when choosing chocolate milk.

Best Chocolate Milk May Not Come From Cow
Soy Milk Surprises Testers
J. Scott Wilson, Staff writer

One of the scariest moments in my parenting life came when I asked my 3-year-old what he wanted to drink with his dinner, and he replied, "Chocolate milk!"Who had told him about the stuff? Was there a Nestle pusher hiding in the bushes outside? Had that danged rabbit hopped in through an unguarded window? Was there a brown cow nearby?

I still haven't found the guilty party, but I suspect it's one of his day care pals, maybe the one who also turned him on to the concept of monsters under the bed.

In any case, chocolate milk has not yet been added to the drink menu at our house. However, after tasting the new breed of chocolate milks made with low- or non-fat milk, I just might have to consider it as an occasional treat. There's some good stuff out there and, of course, a few that dropped the ball.
This comparison covers ready-to-drink chocolate milk, as there's really a dearth of competition in the powdered stir-in category. It's pretty much either Nesquik or Ovaltine there. All the brands tested, unless otherwise specified, are made with non- or low-fat milk. Pay attention to the calorie counts and you might be surprised -- although the sugar counts, included here, might make you feel a bit woozy.
My usual five-person tasting panel ranked each milk, awarding a total of 20 points for mouth feel and flavor, for a possible perfect score of 100. Nutritional information is provided for each one.

PET Chocolate Milk: 210 calories, 8 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 230 mg sodium, 27 grams carbs, 25 grams sugar.

This whole-milk drink was one of the cheaper ones on the shelf, but it sure didn't taste that way. It had a rich, velvety mouth feel and good flavor. The chocolate could have been a touch richer to stand up to the extra milkfat, but overall our control scored it a lofty 94.

Yoohoo Chocolate Drink: 130 calories, 1 gram fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 170 mg sodium, 29 grams carbs, 20 grams sugar.

And here we have the opposite end of the spectrum. While Yoohoo isn't technically chocolate milk, it does contain nonfat milk and is sold in the refrigerated case next to the milk. Once you open the container, though, all similarity vanishes. The mouth feel was exceedingly watery, and the chocolate flavor was faint and muddled.

One tester quoted Peanuts, pronouncing it, "Water with a brown crayon dipped in it." Final score: 56.

Nesquik Milkshake: 180 calories, 5 grams fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 180 mg sodium, 26 grams carbs, 24 grams sugar.

This is one of two Nesquik entries, and the name was rather misleading. You'd think a "milkshake" would be richer than regular chocolate milk. That wasn't true. The chocolate flavor was weak, and the mouth feel was average but not as rich as the standard Nesquik flavor. Final score: 78.

Nesquik: 200 calories, 5 grams fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium, 32 grams carbs, 30 grams sugar.

This one has the same fat as its Milkshake cousin and a bit more sugar, and it goes to good use. The sweetness is well-balanced and the mouth feel is fairly rich. The chocolate flavor is fairly strong, but not terribly complex, like a low-priced milk chocolate bar. Final score: 82.

Organic Valley 1% Milkfat: 160 calories, 2.5 grams fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 290 mg sodium, 27 grams carbs, 25 grams sugar.

The chocolate flavor here was good, but the mouth feel was a bit watery. The sodium content in this entry was pretty high, and that could explain the chocolaty impact, as salty will often make sweet stand out. Final score: 88.

Silk Soymilk Chocolate: 140 calories, 3.5 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 23 grams carbs, 19 grams sugar.

No one on the planet was more surprised to find this as our clear winner. I've tried soymilk before, and while it wasn't actively repugnant it certainly wasn't my drink of choice. The Silk, however, has a rich, smooth mouth feel and an undeniably stout chocolate flavor. The testers agreed, awarding the Silk our top score of 95.

The Ultimate Chocolate Milk?

There is, however, just one more chocolate milk that you need to know about. This is not your everyday drink. It's far from the cheapest one on the grocer's shelf, and it's definitely not low-impact in the fat or the calories department.

But it's quite simply the best chocolate milk available in a grocery store, in the panel's opinion.

Promised Land: 240 calories, 10 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 230 mg sodium, 33 grams carbs, 31 grams sugar.

I defy you to take a gulp of this milk. It is so rich, so thick that you have to sip it. The chocolate flavor will linger on your tongue long after the glass is empty. Eight ounces of this a week will satisfy you as much as a serving of any of the others every day. Final score: 100.

While the low-fat versions may not satisfy the way the Promised Land does, there is still some good sipping to be had. You might even find yourself with soymilk in your refrigerator on a permanent basis.

MOM'S STRAWBERRY AND BANANA GREEN SMOOTHIE

1 or 2 bananas (frozen is good)
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
Add 1 or 2 handfuls of kale or spinach
2 cups of water

Blend in your favorite blender (I use Blendtec Blender)

Note: If this is your first try at making a green smoothie start with a small amount of greens and then add more greens to taste.

Optional:
1. Try blending a few carob or cacao nibs for you chocolate lovers.
2. You can add other fruits of choice.
3. Try adding organic shelled hemp seeds for a little protein.
4. Also try adding wheat grass juice for extra nutrient value.