Is This The Best Smoothie Recipe Ever?

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Michael

Possibly The Best Smoothie Recipe In The World

Best Smoothie In The WorldOK. I just had to share this incredible smoothie recipe with you before I cotton pickin' forget just what the heck I put into it. Maybe the first thing I should do is make a list of all the ingredients and then I can give you the details of how it's made it.

I have to say that at first you may not be too impressed with the ingredients. To be honest I only made it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and Saturday just gone I knew that my daughter was coming to visit as in the UK it was Fathers Day on the Sunday.

Anyway on the Friday evening I got some of the stuff prepared as I wanted Olivia to see exactly what went into making this yummy smoothie.

Well when she arrived on the Saturday I showed her the ingredients and her response was…. GROSS!

But as you can plainly see by the the sophisticated, long, cool smoothie pictured, she turned out (yes this smoothie is definitely a "she") a far cry from gross and tasted even better than she looks!

Holy Moly this Baby rocks!

Here's the list of ingredients that I used. May I just say at this point that like Yuri Elkaim I tend not to do much by way of measuring.

I like to adjust taste as I go along. Usually this works out just fine although it has to be said I've been responsible for some pretty dire concoctions - ask my son Liam about cock-o-vin – 20 years ago and he's still bringing it up (not physically you understand). So OK the veg was all a bit limp and the chicken was…. well let's move should we…?

          Best Smoothie Ever – Ingredients         

 

Mixed Frozen Fruit (about 1Ltr in all)
Brown rice (about half a cup) Peaches
Porridge oats (about half a cup) strawberries
Rice milk (about 3/4 pint) Pineapple
Honey (2 lge tablespoons) Honeydew melon
Salt (1/4 teaspoon) Red seedless grapes
   

Additional Frozen Fruit
  Blueberries (couple of handfuls)
  Fresh lemon (one)

 

          Best Smoothie Ever – Method         

I cooked the rice and porridge in the evening and once cooled left overnight in the refrigerator.

To the porridge I added the 3/4 pint of rice milk and cooked it in the microwave oven. My usual method for cooking porridge in the microwave is to use a large glass pyrex bowl with a plastic lid or cover and bring it up to the boil a few times, stir after each boil and eventually just leave to cool.

The brown rice I cook in the usual way on the cooker hob. Use enough water to generously cover it, add the 1/4 teaspoon of salt, bring to boil and then simmer very gently for about 1 hour. Leave to cool.

Now then a word first about frozen fruit. I know many of you out there would prefer to use fresh fruit. To those people I would say that fresh is great if you have a GOOD supply locally and can afford to buy it.

For me, well first of all the cost is too prohibitive and secondly I have read on more than one occasion that frozen fruit can quite often be better than "fresh".

The argument for this is that the fruit is usually deep frozen within hours of being picked and its vitamin and mineral content is thereby preserved until used whereas "fresh" may have been languishing in different warehouses for days if not weeks during which time it may have lost some of its natural goodness.

Anyway that said – the frozen fruit that I used was the fruit listed above. I basically filled an old ice cream container (a one litre tub) with the fruit and the gaps I filled with a couple of generous handfuls of blueberries.

One of the things worth mentioning here is that the fruit that I used was in the main free of seeds. I have made smoothies in the past with mixed berries and while they make a delicious breakfast cereal mixed with nuts and seeds I'm not over keen on the smothies they make because for me anyway too many seeds in a smoothie just spoils the effect.

I left the fruit in the refrigerator overnight to defrost. Next day when Olivia came round I showed her the cold porridge and brown rice – hmmmn - not impressed!

I gave both the rice and porridge a good blending with a hand blender and blended the defrosted fruit in the large jug blender.

Added the blended rice and porridge to the fruit plus the 2 generous tablespoons of honey and gave the whole concoction a good blend.

Result….. fantastic!

BUT WAIT I hear you cry….

What about the lemon?

Good point – well spotted!

Well that is really the secret ingredient to all of this and if you've read "My Story" then you'll know why I'm so passionate about lemons.

However I have to be honest and say at this point I didn't know whether the lemon would add to the taste or turn the whole thing into one of my more infamous concoctions.

In for a penny in for a pound as they say.

I squeezed the juice from the whole lemon, poured it through a strainer just to make sure that no pips slipped through, added it to the mix and gave it another quick blend.

Result.

MAGNIFICO… the tart of the lemon and berries mixed so well with the sweet of the mixed fruit, honey and rice milk that the result was a complete taste bud fest!

Olivia and I had a large glass each during which there was much oohing and aaahing and lip smackin'

Best Ever SmoothiesTry it folks its YABADABAFANTASIC

Oh! I nearly forgot to mention that the total mix made was about 4 to 4 and a half pints of smoothie (somewhere in the region of 2.3 to 2.5 litres)

I know there's a slight difference between US and UK pints and Litres or Liters but hey who really cares – the stuff tastes yummy – and it's jam-packed fiull of goodness!

If you like this recipe then you might like to have a look at Yuri Elkaims Eating For Energy - Yuri has without doubt changed my life and changed the way I think about food.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I could not eat 100 per cent raw foods BUT having changed what I eat over a short period of just a couple of months to include a lot more raw foods than I was previously eating I can quite honestly say that the change in my energy levels have sky rocketed.

There can be no doubting the evidence now – there is an overwhelming mountain of evidence that links our modern day chronic diseases and premature deaths with wrong ill-advised dietary habits.

Changing your eating habits just a little bit at a time could give you a lot more than just a tasty smoothie or two it could transform your physical and mental health.

Thanks for reading this far – have yourself a real nice day.

Live Your Best Life Ever

 

 

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Alkaline and Acid Forming Foods

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Michael

What Foods Are Alkaline Forming or Acid Forming?

Hi Everybody

I said after my last post that I would put together a list of the different types of foods and how they break down in our bodies to produce either Acidic Ash or Alkaline Ash.

It's very important that we start to take note of these foods because it would appear that the demands of modern day living have pretty well persuaded or seduced us into consuming a larger share of foods that are acid forming in nature.

The reasons for this are patently clear; quickly prepared, ready made food is – well – quick n' easy. If you add to that the massive amounts of money spent on advertising these quickly prepared meals via the the media of newsprint, magazine, television and bill-boarding (electronic or otherwise) it isn't hard to see how we've all been lulled into thinking that they are OK if not even actually healthy for us.

Let's face it we're sold the idea through clever use of words – let me give you a few that you're already all too familiar with - "healthy option" " sugar free" "extra lean" low carb" "sugarless" "fat free" "fortified with ***" added vitamins" blah, blah, blah, blah.

Here's the thing – I know from my own experience that these new labour saving meals just sort of crept in almost unnoticed. For a start, looking back just a simple thing like making a basic spaghetti bolognaise sauce would require maybe half a dozen or so ingredients but the next thing we have the thing done for us in a jar and it's sold to us "Just a like a Momma used to make it".

It's fine I used it myself and liked it however it just sort of like steam rolls out of control because the next thing we know we're buying ready made sauces for this that and the other and pretty soon it's a case of well why bother with the jar when you can just buy the meal ready made and chuck it in the microwave. Three minutes and a ping later and it's steaming hot and ready to eat.

The problem is that much of this ready made stuff or convenience food is acid forming when broken down in the body. What we're looking at at the moment dear reader is a WORLD-WIDE epidemic of chronic diseases that are killing people prematurely in their millions. Yes you did read that correctly, people are dying in their MILLIONS word-wide because of the acid forming crap we are putting in our mouths and at this point it has to be said but the second biggest factor in this sorry scenario is peoples complete and utter lack of movement.

You know our bodies were designed to move and to be active.

More and more of us are moving less and less and eating less and less natural raw foods with very dire consequences.

Check this out – experts from Cambridge University have recently concluded that modern-day grain eating, agricultural, man is 10 per cent smaller and shorter than his more active hunter gathering ancestors.

Interestingly enough they also concluded that we also have smaller brains and that the decline set in about 10,000 years ago. Their conclusion – this sad state of affairs was probably brought about by restricted diet with vitamin and mineral deficiences.

Hmmn add to that what's been happening with the advent of "dead" processed convenience food and it's not hard to understand why the world is experiencing chronic disease.

This is not just my opinion – check this out from the World Health Organization and I quote:

"The burden of chronic diseases is rapidly increasing worldwide. It has been calculated that, in 2001, chronic diseases contributed approximately 60% of the 56.5 million total reported deaths in the world and approximately 46% of the global burden of disease. The proportion of the burden of NCDs is expected to increase to 57% by 2020. Almost half of the total chronic disease deaths are attributable to cardiovascular diseases; obesity and diabetes are also showing worrying trends, not only because they already affect a large proportion of the population, but also because they have started to appear earlier in life".

Here is a list of foods showing whether they are acid or alkaline forming. It's not a comprehensive list by any means but it will give you an overall "feel" for what is what in this Alkaline/Acid forming food debate.

I think a first glance will tell you that much of the Alkaline forming foods come under the headings of Fruit and Veg – hmmn – how long have health authorities been banging that drum – get your five ad a day fruit n' veg for optimum health.

I think that was increased recently to 8 portions a day.

What needs to be added is a great deal more encouragement to get people MOVING EVERY DAY – IT'S WHAT WE ARE DESIGNED TO DO – MOVE.

When I started this blog I didn't think that exercise was going to be a major part of it but it's patently clear from the evidence that you move or die prematurely.

Well it's a topic for another day. If you have read "My Story" you will know how importantly I rate the humble lemon and as you can see it heads the list of Alkaline Forming Foods and not for nothing either – it is one of the most powerful alkaline forming foods that there is!

Of course 3 years ago when I started drinking the juice of a lemon every day I had no idea that this was so. All I knew is that this little sucker brought 35 years of chronic pain to an end.

Live Your Best Life Ever

This is page 1 of a 2 page post….

Please see next page for Acid forming/Alkaline forming food list.

Pages: 1 2
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Heartburn and Oesophageal Cancer

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Michael

You can't die of heartburn or can you?

 

 

For any of you who have already read "My Story" then you will be aware of my views on heartburn, reflux, indigestion or whatever term you like to call it and its association with the possible connection with cancer of the oesophagus. Having experienced this terrible affliction for more than 30 years and then had it "cured" within 3 days by the humble lemon I am of course always alert to any news that would confirm or deny of this possible connection.

I have of course read of this connection many times in the past but pre www.rawfoodrecipesforbeginners.co.uk there seemed little point in keeping records of what I'd read or where I'd read it.

Yesterday 7th June 2011 the UK newspaper Daily Mail ran a full page story covering this very topic.

The article written by Lucy Elkins begins with the heading:

"You can't die of heartburn," Mike told his wife. Tragically he was wrong.

The story relates how a man called Mike McCord who was apparently healthy in all other ways suffered with heartburn for 20 years. His wife talks of how he would never leave home without the  faithful tube of Rennies to stave off the attacks once they began.

His wife Mimi often asked him to seek medical advice but Mike would reassure her by jokingly saying "Don't worry, you can't die of heart burn.

By the time Mike saw medical advice he already had advanced oesophageal cancer and poor Mimi lost her husband and partner at the young age of 47.

Mimi became a widow at 44 years of age and their two children who were both at university lost their father at time when their adult journey in life was just about to start.

The article states that one of the worrying aspects about the whole heartburn/cancer  issue is that many GP's and Pharmacists' are unaware of the connection between the two.

There are moves afoot to try and rectify this situation so that even Pharmacists' will recognise if a customer is often coming in to buy antacids such as Gaviscon.

I dread to think how many gallons of the stuff I have consumed personally – my worry in the early days was wondering if all this chalky mixture would eventually cause stones in my body.

Oesophagul-Stomach-ValveInterestingly the article says that one of the causes for heartburn is a weakened valve between the oesophagus and the stomach and that some people are born with this but that it can develop with age, too.

As you can read in "My Story" mine became apparent in my twenties but the frightening thing for me is that it got progressively worse as I got older. By the way I don't think I mentioned this in my story but I was never what you could classed as over weight as they say that this can definitely exasperate the problem.

One thing that did catch my attention is that the article went on to say that caffeine and rich, spicy or citrus foods can also be a problem.

See this is where an understanding of the difference between acidic and alkaline foods becomes crucial to your good health and well being. Yes lemons are acidic BUT they reduce to an alkaline ash so they are considered from a nutritional point of view as being alkaline. At this point I was going to list some of the acidic or alkaline foods but I'll save it for my next post as I want to keep on track with the heartburn/cancer issue.

Probably most people experience heartburn occasionally although it has to be said that I've know people that have the constitution of a cement mixer, apparently able to eat anything at all with no acid indigestion type afflictions.

Barrett's Oesophagus

However when the experience becomes a regular occurrence the body will try and protect the lining of the oesophagus by creating a new lining. This condition is called Barrett's Oesophagus and this condition is more likely to turn cancerous than normal tissue.

It needs to be said though that most people who do develop this condition DO NOT go one to develop oesophageal cancer but it is an indicator to be extra vigilant.

The two main causes or culprits of oesophageal cancer seem to be smoking and drinking for one type and heartburn the other and those affected by heartburn appear to be rising.

Barrett's Oesophagus Treatment Centres

Like I said in "My Story" when I get any sign of heartburn my first priority is to GET RID OF IT ASAP.

When you change your diet to include more of the fresh raw foods that your body was designed to digest you will find herartburn will become a thing of the past.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that you become a raw foodist – I'm not and never will be – but once you start to incorporate these tasty foods in place of the modern convenience, acid forming junk-food you will never look back.

ph-balance for optimum healthWith a few small changes incorporated into you diet you can soon get the ph-balance of your body to a level that will allow optimum health.

Your energy, weight, fitness, sleep pattern and whole demeanour will take an upward surge. Take a look at what Yuri Elkaim has to say – just click on the Learn More button in the right hand panel and you will be amazed how easily you can improve your life and of course your health.

Heartburn Cancer Awareness & Support

Michael McCord died unnecessarily nearly 10 years ago in 2002 and his wife Mimi set up the original McCord Fund which has now amalgamated into Heartburn Cancer Awareness & Support.

She set the original trust up in memory of her husband Michael to try and make as many people as possible become more aware of the possible dangers associated with an apparently simple digestive disorder.

If you feel as though you need some support in this area the newspaper also published the Heartburn Cancer Awareness Support website at http://www.h-cas.org/ and its phone number:01243 573211

 

An Ounce of Prevention is Always Better Than a Pound of Cure

Live Your Best Life Ever

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Welcome

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Michael

Hi Everybody – Welcome to the wonderful world of natural raw food and the tremendous benefits that we can all have by eating more of natures best.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments