Healthy Inspirations & More

Blueberries taste lovely. AND they are known for their positive effect on our nervous system and can even protect us against destructive processes in our brain triggering Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.

GREAT reason to have this fruit even more often - and it results in a beautiful colour in any smoothie (unless you mix them with spinach ;-) ).

So here's the recipe (for 2 portions)

• half an apple
• half a small fennel
• a cup of (frozen) blueberries
• half a banana
• 150 to 200 ml rice/almond milk
• 150 ml of water
• juice of half a lime

Enjoy!

Great for this season: spicing up smoothies with ginger to boost our immune system. Really great taste - only go for it when you like peppery tastes!

That's what you need for 2 portions:

• small cup of raspberries
• one carrot
• half a big apple
• 1 cm of ginger 
• juice of one orange
• 200 to 250 ml of water

Enjoy!

Red foods are supposed to protect our cardio system - which is responsible for bringing oxygen and nutrients in each of our cells in the body. Most of the "reds" contain antioxidants which  - listen carefully - can slow down or even reverse some ageing processes.

Resulting in looking and feeling better.

So tons of reasons to get those into our system as often as we can!!

So done in the today's smoothie!

Here's what's in this (tasty - I swear) red smoothie for one portion:

• 13 cherries (yes, I counted...took frozen ones, as the cherry season is gone for quite some time
• six cherry tomatoes
• half an apple (also counts as "red"food)
• a quarter of a banana
• a bit of lime juice
• 180 ml of water

Mix weel and enjoy! Really refreshing, a tad creamy, still rather light!

Blueberries and almonds are just shock full of anti-oxidants, which help our cells to fight the free radicals. In English: they help our bodies to decrease damage  - i.e. expressed in diseases or aging - created by those tiny monsters. 

So plenty of reasons to eat those - even better in a delicous smoothie :-).

The ingredients for one portion:

• 50 g of blueberries 
• half a large carrot or a small carrot
• half a yellow kiwi
• half a banana
• juice of half a lemon
• 200 ml water
• a small handful of almonds

Mix well and enjoy !

Save

The day before yesterday I opened a package of pre-cooked beetroot and only used one.

Those who know me, know that I HATE wasting food...so that's the moment to come up with ways of how to use up what's in the fridge...and what better way (well, I am biased) could there be than using it in a smoothie!

Beetroot is just amazing for our heart and cardio system in general....and even lowers blood pressure!

Want to know how?

In a study done at the Queen Mary University of London, beetroot juice was found to lower blood pressure in a matter of four weeks. According to the experts, this is because of the presence of nitrates, which the body converts into nitric oxide. And in the process, the blood vessels expand.

How cool is that?

Straight on the recipe now (for 1 portion)

• 1 beetroot (approx. 60 -70 g)
• 50 g frozen raspberries
• 1 fresh fig
• Juice of half a lemon
• 3-4 dashes of cinnamon
• a small handful of walnuts (approx. 20 g)
• 150 ml of water

Mix well and enjoy - not just good for the heart,...

Bloody hell (no pun intended ;-) ), what a colour!

My smoothie of the day:

• 1 small beetroot
• 1 small handful of frozen raspberries
• 5 (yes, counted again) frozen cherries
• juice of one lime
• some dashes of cinnamon
• 150 ml of water

Great taste...the beetroot blends in nicely and is actually REALLY good for you....not going into all the individual great nutrients, but only the benefits: so....it's good for your heart, boosts energy, improves sexual health....supposedly it's been used for that particular are since the Roman times...need any more convincing?

I love colourful food - after all we are visual beings, right? This smoothie does not only have an incredible colour, but tastes just DELICIOUS. One of my few recipes without any veggies.

For the advanced food lover: This smoothie is full of great properties: Blueberries are on the top of the list when it comes to do something good for your brain! According to studies they can even support our memory when eaten regularly and help prevent destruction in the brain.

Strawberries are one of the fruit with the most ant-oxidants. Translated that means, that stuff keeps us young (as these little wonder things protect our cells).

That's pretty cool. And a perfect reason to eat more of them.

Here's how Berrylicous works:

• ½ (actual) cup of raspberries frozen or fresh
• 7-8 big strawberries
• ½ mango
• 3 stems of mint
• Some lime juice (like half a lime...you can just peel it and throw it all in as well - is just a bit more intense

Very light, beautiful red colour, berries at their...