If you love green foods because of its nutritional value, you will certainly love making green smoothies. People understand that eating green, leafy vegetables are good for the body but sometimes  there are just some people who don’t really like to eat much. A good alternative is to make these green veggies a beverage that you can easily drink without chewing on them! Green healthy smoothies can give you a good source of nutritional boost from a drink instead of finding yourself drinking sodas and sweet, high caloric juices.

When making your healthy smoothies, try to mix your vegetables with coconut or milk. These are additional sources of giving good nutrients for the body. Others like adding water as their mixture base but you can always derive healthy and nutritional value from milk and coconut water. To give some added taste to your veggies, you can choose to blend them with fruits like pears, mango, kiwi or banana and then blend them away for a full packed nutritious smoothies.

Blending or juicing your smoothies are good ways of making your healthy beverage from green foods. But using blenders is a more cost effective way of making your healthy drink. Green smoothies are easy to prepare thereby making it a good way of starting a veggie diet. For a beginner in this kind of healthy diet, you can start using a ratio of 50:50 for the raw, green vegetables and fruits to mix in the blender. Adding the fruits will essentially make your beverage a lot tastier or sweeter without using sugar. This will help if you are not entirely a fan of raw green vegetables. As you get the kick of it, you can then lower the ratio of your fruits by using more greens on your smoothies preparation like 40% fruits and 60% vegetables or you can entirely use 100% vegetables for your drink.

The best ingredients for making a green smoothies are spinach, kale, cucumber, chard, and parsley. Wheat grass is also a great source with the healthy nutrients that come with it. These ingredients all blend well with each other. Take note that only green, leafy vegetables are used when making green smoothies unless you are making a vegetable juice where adding carrot juice is welcome to use as a base.

The addition of fruit when making your green beverage is mainly to reduce the bitter taste that often comes with the drink. Fruits also provide added nutrients for a healthier drink. They also make green smoothies a lot smoother and tastier. However, you can always dispense with using fruits as your base and use water instead if you are comfortable with a complete mixture of green veggies only. For beginners though, the best way to make a green smoothie is to add some fruits to make it tastier as a start.

Preparing your fruits and vegetables are easier when you are using a blender. Rinse your fruits and vegetables and then toss it in the blender. If the fruit has a rough skin, make sure to peel them off and remove pits or seeds if there are any. Some prefer to consume the stems of their greens. If you don’t like them on your drink, then you can remove the stems before blending in the mixtures. Dice the fruits if you want to. There are no hard rules when making your green smoothies. As long as you have the essential ingredients of the green veggies of your choice and fruits if you want to make a tastier green smoothies, you are ready to blend them in. Just make sure to add base to make blending the mixture easier by using water, coconut or milk for added nutrition.

About the Author:

Iryna Ostapets is a health writer and blogger that advocating health news via online exposures. She is really interested in healthy living and sport. She would like to help people to stay healthy and happy via the change of the lifestyle. She really likes writing about natural health, nutrition, fitness, healthy tips and beauty. She runs her own site.

Guest post by Olivia Parker, author of ‘Sensational Smoothies: Drink Your Way To Health Deliciously’

Even if you do not abuse your liver and kidneys and you eat healthy foods, it does not hurt to go on a detox diet now and then. The body has a way of cleansing itself, but going on a detox diet may make your body more efficient in expelling toxins.

Now, some people resort to juicing when they go for a detox diet. It is because juicing has no fiber. Fiber-free foods let the colon “rest” for a while, which is a good idea while the body flushes itself of toxins. The blending process which produces smoothies does not strip off the fiber from fruits and vegetables. Thus, when cleansing is done via consuming smoothies, it takes much longer. A smoothie-based detox diet normally lasts for 21 to 28 days. A juice fast, on the other hand, can be completed in a span of 3 to 10 days.

Juice requires very little to nonexistent digestion; in short, the body absorbs it readily. So, if a person has an irritable digestive system or needs to have a severe nutritional deficiency addressed quickly, then juicing is the best answer. Some juicing advocates will even tell you that the blending action of making smoothies accelerates the oxidation (or deterioration) of the fruits and vegetables being blended. Oxidation changes the color of the drink, affecting its flavor and turning it sour, which may make it slightly unpleasant to drink.

As for a detox diet by way of drinking smoothies, there’s an added factor that makes the colon-cleansing much more efficient – the presence of fiber. Fiber slows down detoxification. That is why detox via juicing is faster than with smoothies. But fiber makes the detoxing much more efficient. Fiber is an invaluable colon cleanser because it facilitates the release of toxins from the body. Plus, juice cannot be considered as a “complete” food because it cannot sustain the body’s nutritional needs. A green smoothie, on the other hand, can do that. Smoothies are also far more filling than juices, because you won’t feel hungry after just a few hours.

In the end, the method you choose for your detox diet depends on your lifestyle and your personal preferences. Choose whichever you prefer since both ways can achieve the same results.

If you are on the look out for amazing diet smoothie recipes, do check out “Sensational Smoothies: Drink Your Way To Health Deliciously.” It’s the ideal companion of Lifewithnature’s “Toxin-free for life”ebook. 

Healthy fiber-rich primavera pasta recipe

Herbs and spices are an excellent way to add flavor without the fat, salt of sugar. But more than making your food more enjoyable, spices can be considered a true nutrition powerhouse.  In fact, herbs and spices have more disease-fighting antioxidants than most fruits and vegetables, and can speed up weight loss.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon can help you control blood sugar levels, lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.  There are many ways to use cinnamon. Try to add some in your coffee, your oatmeal or in your smoothies. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon contains the equivalent amount of antioxidant than half a cup of blueberries.

Ginger

Could you believe that one teaspoon of ginger has similar antioxidant levvels as one cup of spinach? Ginger can also reduce nausea, and lower pain associated with arthritis.  Try adding fresh ginger to your fruits, your smoothies or as an ingredient in Asian inspired dishes. Ginger also makes a wonderful tea.

Hot peppers

Hot peppers contain capsaicin, a compound that shows both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.  Capsaicin may lower the risk of cancer. Use it to spice up hummus, guacamole, or even salad dressing.

 Turmeric

Rosemary contains compounds that stop gene mutation that could lead to cancer.  It also has interesting anti-inflammatory benefits.  Include rosemary in marinades, tomato sauces, and for grilled vegetables.

Stress can be insidious. It’s not only limited to big stressful events, even daily hassle can cause our cortisol levels to rise. Cortsisol, the stress induced hormone, can cause food cravings. Unfortunately, we tend to crave carbs and sweet foods, and the more we eat them, the worse we feel.  But eating to calm down stress should rhyme with comfort food or munching on any food that comes to mind.

As sugar-laden foods tend to make us feeling worse, some foods can help to make us feel better. Those meals and snacks provide you with the nutrients and steady energy levels you need to cope with daily hassles.

6  Foods that fight stress

Asparagus: High in folate, those slender stalks will help to keep your cool.

 Avocados: Rich in glutathione, lutein, vitamin E and beta-carotene, avocados can help to stress-proof your body.

Berries: Not only berries are high in antioxidants, they supply your body with a heaping dose of vitamin C, which is helpful in combating stress.

Cashews: This type of nuts is a good source of zinc. Low levels of zinc can lead to anxiety and depression. And ad our body hasn’t a way to store zinc; we have to eat some regularly.

 Oatmeal: Being a complex carbohydrate, oatmeal causes your brain to produce serotonin, a feel-good hormone that helps to overcome stress. And a delicious bowl of heart-warming oatmeal makes the perfect morning comfort food.

Spring is here and asparagus are coming to farmers’ markets (at least here in Canada!)  The fresh green asparagus spears are both delicious and tender, yet filled with health super powers.

 5 Health Benefits of Asparagus

Anti-inflammatory

With its unique combination of nutrients, asparagus is one of the best anti-inflammatory food. Rich in saponins, quercetin, rutin and isohamnetin, asparagus is a great food to help to reduce the risk of many health problems.

Antioxidant

Asparagus is packed with antioxidants. Including vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin E, and several minerals. Asparagus is also one of the vegetables that contains the most glutathione, a specific antioxidant that is especially good ad supporting liver detoxification.

Anti-cancer

The glutathione and antioxidants that asparagus is so rich of makes is an ideal food to reduce cancer risks.

Supports digestion

Asparagus is an unusual digestive support food. Asparagus contain an interesting amount of a nutrient called inulin. Inulin is considered a prebiotic, a substance that passes undigested to the large intestine, feeding the friendly bacteria associated with nutrient absorption.

Heart healthy

Rich in dietary fiber and vitamins from the B group, asparagus is also good for your health.  Fiber helps to naturally lower cholesterol levels, and vitamin B helps to regulate homocysteine, an amino acid that is closely involved in health diseases.

Sprouts play a big role into raw vegan diet. But you don’t have to be a raw vegan to enjoy all the health benefits associated with sprouts.  And besides their huge health benefits, they are the ultimate locally grown food.

5 reasons to eat more sprouts

Huge amounts of enzymes: Experts estimates that sprouts can have up to 100 times more enzyme levels than raw fruits and vegetables. Enzyme supports your body to better use vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from the food you eat.

Improved protein source: When sprouted, the protein profile of beans, nut and seeds changes, improving the levels of certain amino acids.

Increased fiber: Sprouts contains much more fiber than their unsprouted counterparts. Fiber is very important for health, as it helps to flush out the toxins, lower cholesterol levels and help in fat digestion.

Better vitamin content: Some vitamins dramatically increase during the sprouting process. Sprouts usually have high levels of vitamin A, B-complex, C and E. With only a few days of sprouting, some food can increase their vitamin level by up to 20 times!

Improved mineral absorption: During the sprouting process, minerals bind to proteins making them more usable in the body, especially calcium and magnesium.

What is your favorite food to sprout? 

Green smoothies are a meal idea that is today becoming more and more familiar to many people. What was once an odd or unheard of green drink to the average person, common only to the raw-vegan community, is today becoming a more visible staple in many Western homes.

Our fruits and vegetables are losing their nutrients.  Scientists have first noticed this decline more than 10 years ago, while comparing the mineral concentrations of 20 crops between 1930 and 1980.

In fact, a 1936 report to the US Senate states that:  “The alarming fact is that foods – fruits and vegetables and grains – now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contains enough needed minerals, are starving us – no matter how much of them we eat.”

In 2004, a former researcher from the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas conducted a study that demonstrated that some vegetables had lost more than 70% of some of their nutrient content in the last 30 years.  According to this study, fruits and vegetables now contain:

• 16% less calcium
• 9% less phosphorus
• 15% less iron
• 6% less protein
• 38% less vitamin B2
• 15% less vitamin C

Why is that?  First hypothesis leads to wide-scale industrialized farming techniques used to speed-up produce growth.  The use of chemical fertilizers, selective breeding, intensive agriculture and long transportation distance seem to decrease vegetable’s ability to absorb nutrients from the soil and lower their nutrients content.

And this is why, besides eating organic, locally grown food, we should supply our diet with the most nutrient dense food possible, aka the foods that has the highest nutrients per calorie ratio. There are many ways to calculate nutrient density, but most scales agree on those top 10 superfoods.

Top 10 nutrient dense foods to eat regularly

• Kale
• Spirulina and other seaweed
• Collard
• Brussels Sprouts
• Broccoli
• Chia seeds
• Berries
• Pomegranate
• Hemp seeds
• Shiitake mushrooms

Which one of them are you eating daily?

There’s a clear link between skin health and diet. The standard American diet often includes high amounts of refined foods that are high in sugar, salt and saturated fats. In the long run, those foods can trigger an inflammatory response, which can lead to skin problems. On the other hand, some foods are especially good to protect your skin and fight premature ageing. Adding the following detox foods to your diet is a good way to help your body to detox naturally and protect your skin.

 Top 8 detox foods for beautiful skin

Peaches: rich in pectin, a soluble fiber type, peaches help to excrete heavy metals and to clean the liver and kidneys.

Asparagus: As the single best glutathione food source, asparagus supports your liver to detox naturally.

Fennel: Fennel has sting diuretic properties, which help the body to eliminate fats.

Cinnamon: This spice helps to control blood sugar, preventing inflammation due to a sugar-rich diet. Keeping steady blood sugar levels is important to prevent inflammation.

Seaweed: Rich in antioxidants and essential minerals, seaweed purifies the blood and supplies your body with essential nutrients your skin needs to stay healthy.

Lemon: containing more than 30 detoxifying compounds, lemons are a great food to help your skin.

Almonds: Almonds are a great source of biotin, a nutrient that is closely involved in skin health.

Leafy greens: Dark leafy greens such as kale, spinach and collard are very rich in vitamin A, a potent vitamin that protects skin’s elasticity.