Author: thejuicenut

Vegan, raw foodie, juice nut, writing somewhat wryly about health/nutrition/wellbeing with a little creativity on the side. pearsnotparsnips@mail.com

This Spicy Watermelon & Grapefruit Juice Will Help Stave Off Those Winter Bugs!

img_1486This is such a refreshing and energising breakfast drink, the ginger gives it a little kick and you can feel it warming your insides as you drink it! It is a hydrating juice with electrolytes, antioxidants and it’s anti-inflammatory too. It’s such a vibrant colour, it makes you feel alive just looking at it!

Daily grapefruit is good for helping to prevent colds, so it’s important to add this amazing fruit to your diet at this time of year. See also  The Health Benefits of Grapefruit + Heart Healthy Wake-Up Juice Recipe for the full lowdown on why grapefruit is so good for you.

There’s also currently a lot of interest in the nutritional and health benefits of watermelon, which at 92% water you would be forgiven if you considered it merely a thirst-quencher on a warm, sunny day! However, they also contain among other things: Vitamins A, B1, B6, C, magnesium, potassium, copper, lycopene and amino acids.

According to recent research, watermelon may help prevent asthma, reduce blood pressure, prevent cancer, regulate digestion and reduce inflammation.

Children love it! If we put small chunks of watermelon on the table at mealtimes, it is always the first thing to disappear when children are around.

These ingredients make nearly 3 glasses of juice (depending on the size of the items used), so you can keep 1 or 2 in the fridge for later on if you don’t want to share!

All ingredients are organic. 

Ingredients

1/4 of a good-sized Mini Watermelon, peeled leaving as much pith as possible

Half to Whole Pink or Red Grapefruit, depending on size and how much you love grapefruit! Thinly peel leaving as much pith as possible

1.5″ Ginger Root

2 Medium Carrots, scrubbed, halved, peel left on

Juice the fruit and ginger between the carrots.

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Grip and Go Glass Bottles

Copyright: Chris McGowan

I’m out

Linda is a struggling writer who is having a hard time financially. She has published a novella on Amazon but she doesn’t receive any revenues for it until she sells $100 worth. At the moment it is for Kindle/tablet only and is 99c or 99p depending where you order it from. I have just downloaded it and begun reading. It’s light, amusng and easy to read. Let’s help Linda pull herself out of this economic trough she currently finds herself in. The links are in her post. Good luck, Linda!

‘I’m out. Of money, that is. It’s official. I went to the grocery store today to pick up some essentials and I got the dreaded “Insufficient Funds” screen on the debit machin…

Source: I’m out

Look and Feel Younger with Meditation

Do you know that regular meditation – for just a few minutes a day – reduces the production and ageing effects of stress hormones? Meditation has numerous health benefits, many associated with reducing and even reversing the signs of ageing, including skin, memory, energy, concentration, blood pressure. You don’t need any equipment or special skills. Rose-Marie outlines the benefits and provides simple how-to instructions in her post here.

rosemariesorokin's avatarRose-Marie Sorokin

Did you know that regular meditation can make you look and feel 10-20 years younger, increase health and longevity and prevent brain-deterioration, dramatically changing what we previously thought were inevitable processes?

Recent research reveals that meditation lowers the stress chemical in the blood called cortisol. Cortisol kills brain cells and leads to cognitive decline. Mediation also increases the blood flow to the brain, which results in less memory loss. It also lowers blood pressure and other markers of ageing and enhances psychological well-being. One of the most important discoveries is that meditation preserves the length of the telomeres (end cap of our DNA) wich is a very important marker of ageing and longevity: longer telomers = less illness and longer life.

reverse-agein

The slow brainwaves produced by meditation also promote the release of healing, growing and rejuvenating hormones such as DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), melatonin and serotonin. DHEA is a hormone that helps…

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Taste-Testing The New Tiger Nut Company Raw Chocolate Bar: Does It Roaarrr! or Does It Whimper?

As many of you will know from previous posts, I love homemade horchata or tiger nut milk. It is a sweet and creamy plantbased alternative to dairy milk and so very good for you. Tiger nuts are also a good nutfree alternative for all those allergic to nuts as they are in fact small tubers. (You can also buy tiger nut flour).

As you will also know, we are big fans of raw chocolate in our family: we use cacao in our smoothies, in our porridge, in our raw baking and of course we eat raw chocolate bars.

So, how happy am I that The Tiger Nut Company* has just brought out their first raw chocolate bar made with tiger nuts and cacao?! When I placed my order for tiger nuts the other day – calamities, I didn’t know we’d run out so no horchata this week! – the lovely Ani sent me a bar to try and as I write she is anxiously awaiting my review, knowing how much we love raw chocolate!

 I won’t keep her waiting any longer, I hope this will put her out of her misery and I’ll post as quickly as I can.

img_6316When I received the bar, our daughter’s family were visiting and there was no way I could have shared it between us all so I had to be disciplined and refrain from trying it until today. I had almost forgotten about it and then when I was nigh on knee-deep in Christmas (yes, it’s for overseas) and birthday wrapping paper, I felt I needed a break and the lightbulb went on! HB was doing a bike repair, so the coast was clear! (He’s a chocolate fiend).

The first thing you notice is the presentation: the crushed tiger nuts are pressed into the top of the chocolate rather than mixed in which is usually the case with nutty chocolate. It sets the bar apart, makes it visually arresting. The second is how dark the chocolate is and how lovely and chunky. It’s a good size, 55g, and sectioned into 5 pieces which makes it easy to break up (and share if you’re so inclined).

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This bar has a lovely crisp snap when you break it and a satisfying bite to it that doesn’t threaten to break your teeth but makes you feel it is substantial.

There are all sorts of tastes and textures going on in this bar! Ani tells me the bars are sweetened with dates and lucuma (a South American fruit powder that has a malted taste). So no refined sugar.

The chocolate is very dark, it is 80% raw cacao, a little bitter like good quality dark chocolate (no milk, dairy or otherwise) and this is offset by the lightly malted taste of the lucuma powder. I used to love Maltesers many moons ago and the use of lucuma reminded me of them, though it is more subtle here. The chewy texture of crushed tiger nuts also contrasts with the smooth creaminess of the chocolate.

My husband came in while I was on my second piece and I offered him a piece to try. To my surprise, he hesitated, saying he was just about to make his lunch! Then he quickly changed his mind. His first reaction was that the tiger nuts tasted a little like sesame seeds but he’s not known for his sensitive palate and I don’t think I would agree with him. They don’t have such a distinctive taste and have a mild sweetness. Then he said the chocolate was very dark, which I do agree with. He decided he liked it.

After the second piece, I felt satisfied, I didn’t want to gobble up the whole 55g bar as so often with commercial chocolate where you tend to eat mindlessly. I enjoyed what I had and wanted to save the remainder.

Overall, we liked this new take on raw cacao chocolate bars. We also like that it is a healthy raw snack.

Foods that are described as ‘raw’ have not been heated over 42C and this means they retain their nutrients. Cacao is full of vitamins, minerals, omega fats, micronutrients and is regarded as a mood enhancer and good for the memory. Dates are naturally sweet and contain minerals and fibre. Lucuma is labelled a superfood by the health industry, while tiger nuts are prebiotic (good for gut health), and contain vitamins, minerals, fibre and healthy omega fats.

These bars are organic, which is something I wasn’t aware of until I asked, it isn’t mentioned in the main part of the packaging or in the title on the Shop page of the website (you have to read the full description), so I would suggest the company advertise this a little better as I for one positively seek out organic treats and reject those that aren’t.

Would I recommend them? Yes, they are a little different, healthy, satiating, smooth and tasty. They are handmade, vegan, glutenfree, paleo, nutfree, organic and contain no refined sugar. And the customer service is always excellent! Well done!

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Ps Theobromine in good quality dark chocolate is an effective treatment for dry coughs! If that isn’t a good enough reason to eat chocolate, I don’t know what is! 50-100g of dark chocolate is the recommended dose.

*https://www.thetigernutcompany.co.uk/

Copyrght: Chris McGowan

The Look, No Banana! Mango Smoothie Bowl

imageI nearly always start a smoothie wth a banana. I like that it thickens the smoothie but also that it has so many healthy nutrients in one ingredient and it is so satisfying.

Today, however, I went for something different: dried mango. I love mango, it is my favourite fruit: I love the juiciness, the colour and most of all the smell! But it is difficult to find them here, they are nearly always expensive and unripe.

Like avocados, they have a tendency to go off before they ripen and so when I get the urge for mango, I generally turn to the dried strips. Still organic, but not so juicy – or so messy! They take a little soaking first, so you may want to soak them in a little fresh apple juice or with the chia seeds and quinoa flakes in the coconut water for half an hour while you do something else. (This is extra yummy if you use frozen mango).

Mangoes are a good source of dietary fibre, B6, Folate, Vitamins A, C and K (necessary for bone health), and Potassium. Quinoa is a complete protein, while chia seeds are rich in vitamins, minerals, protein and essential omega fats (see also 3 Cheers for Chias! for more info on these amazing seeds plus further breakfast bowl recipes). Brazil nuts contain selenium, which some people are deficient in. (See Love Brazils? Beware Potential Selenium Overload! to read more about the symptoms of selenium deficiency and also the dangers of over-consumption).

This isn’t a particularly arty breakfast bowl, but it is simple and healthy.

All ingredients are organic, vegan and gluten-free.

Ingredients

1 Cup Dried Mango, chopped

1 Tbsp Quinoa Flakes

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds*

3 Brazil Nuts

1 Medium Glass Chi Coconut Water

Soak the above for about 30 minutes in the blender.

Blend and pour into a bowl and top with sliced apple and a sprinkling of dried coconut. 

Some smooth jazz today with some stunning natural photography.

(Ps If you’re reading this via email, you’ll have to go onto the blog to play the video)

Have a great day!

*http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

THANK YOU

Today is Make A Difference Day and having already recently decluttered my wardrobe and sent the items to the hospice shop, I wondered what I could do. I switched on my iPad and began catching up on The Reader posts. The first one was a second post about Nick’s blog and this seemed the answer. 7 years ago, Nick was left for dead after an unprovoked attack by a group of teenagers when he refused to buy them cigarettes. He was stabbed through the skull with a screwdriver and was not expected to survive. Nick has an extraordinary spirit and determination not only to survive but to Live and has made Herculean efforts to retrain his brain and body when the medical profession gave him no hope of doing so. He can’t propel himself in a manual wheelchair and an electric one is too heavy for travelling. He enjoys being outdoors and has found an all-terrain chair that would give him so much freedom to enjoy the trails and beaches he loves to explore. His mum has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help him raise the £5000 needed to buy one. Please help by sharing this post or making a small contribution. My own son was also the subject of an unprovoked attack by teenagers outside an off-licence and left for dead. He too was lucky to be found by a stranger – a policeman – and taken to hospital. Fortunately, he survived and recovered fully. I am grateful for that and this is my way of passing that forward.

National Make a Difference Day

Did you know tomorrow is is Make a Difference Day? This is a great reminder from Pamela that what we no longer have use for can greatly benefit others, and even a small amount of our time can make a huge difference to someone who is ill, immobile, rushed off their feet with little ones or just new to the area and a bit lonely. I recently cleared out my wardrobe and most of it went to the local hospice shop, my husband repairs old bikes and donates them to the same shop or to our local Combat Stress for those ex-servicemen and women to use during their stay. Our old piano went round the corner to a new neighbour who has always wanted to learn. It doesn’t take much to bring a smile to someone’s face, what will you do to Make a Difference?

beeorganizedwithpamela's avatarBee Organized with Pamela

Tomorrow is National Make a Difference Day!

I’m going to challenge you to use this day donate an item that will help someone else.   Be that a book your child has outgrown, a suit you no longer can wear or a pair of shoes. How about stopping by for a visit to a sick friend or a relative with a mobility problem. Sweep the leaves off of someone’s porch or sidewalk.grandma's hands photo-1454875392665-2ac2c85e8d3e

You see to someone who can’t afford to buy their child or grandchild a book this would mean the world to them.

How about the man who is just got a new job but doesn’t have a good suit to wear and since he just got hired he does not have the money to buy a new one. Maybe your old suit is just what he needs to help his family get back on their feet.

Speaking of feet…

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#WhyWomenDontReport

I took most of today to decide whether to reblog Liesl’s post or not. It triggered a whole lot of emotional memories, some of which I wrote in her comments box in a stream of consciousness manner without censoring what I wrote. Except I did censor a little bit because there were other incidents I didn’t want to list. However, with all the news coming out of the US election campaign and all the self-justification and denial, I decided there must be many women like Liesl and me being triggered, having unpleasant incidents rearing their ugly heads and no means of expiating them. My theme of my blog is health and wellness and that has to include mental health and wellness. I think this is one of those times when I can broaden the terms of reference to include the damage to female self-esteem, self-confidence, self-image and the self-restriction of freedom of movement, what clothes we wear, our facial expressions, who we make eye-contact with and so on, that unwarranted comments and touching lead to for those bearing the brunt. Apologies for the poor grammar, sentence structure etc but this is just appearing at will and I don’t want delete it, which I will if I reread it and do it properly!

Here are my comments on Liesl’s post:

‘I don’t want to click ‘Like’ on this: although I like that you’ve been able to bring it out into the open I don’t like that you had these experiences and it is depressing to wonder how many women recognise these situations and then even more depressing to wonder how many do not, because my guess is very few if any. I had the lecherous drunk on the bus who sat with his hand on my thigh throughout the journey when I was 14 even though I was with a group of friends, many of them male and they all could see. The 2 jokey neighbours of my dad’s in different towns, one when I was 12-15, the other when I was a young mum, who kept grasping my knee; the man who, when passing me in a crowded street in my home town when I was 19, quickly put his hand up my skirt and groped. I wanted to be sick. No-one saw and he was gone as quickly as he appeared. The many many times, I have had to walk past a group of men of all ages with my head down, making no eye contact in case I could be accused of encouraging them, and having to listen to the disgusting language. No, you don’t have an innate right to make me feel like dirt, to make me scared to walk down my own street alone, frightened to get on a bus at night, or comment on my body. You don’t have an innate right to touch me wherever and however you like whenever you like. Don’t you ever think that that is happening to your sister, daughter, mother, aunt, grandmother? Does that make you feel proud of your gender?’

Liesl Clark's avatarPioneering The Simple Life

Because I was 15, spending a summer abroad to learn French, and I didn’t know who to talk to when you’d come to my bedside and grope me in the night. #WhyWomenDontReport

Like so many women, I don’t have adequate words to share in the spaces between these highlighted occurrences. They’re just a few among others buried in my subconscious, ingrained in the tactile memory of my cells every time someone touches me, even in moments of tenderness.

Because I was one of your guests, and I thought we were all enjoying a night swim in the Mediterranean. Yet the darkness hid your assault in broad moonlight. #WhyWomenDontReport

I’d posit that women are robbed of their own pleasure, for years, when their bodies become the unwitting object of another’s unwanted, yet continued, advances.

Because my  job was to film you, but you’d kiss me on the mouth every morning and “slept” for hours in the car with your head in…

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Selenium Smoothie: A Light Energy Boost or Recovery Drink

Some time ago, I wrote a post about the importance of selenium in the diet, but somehow I didn’t get around to posting this recipe to accompany it. (See Love Brazils? Beware Potential Selenium Overload!) I think I was concerned I was posting too many smoothie recipes and not enough juicing ones!

This is a simple, light smoothie, but as always bear in mind my smoothie recipes are mostly meant to be meal replacements, energy boosts or recovery shakes. They contain protein, electrolytes, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals and are healthier alternatives to sugary, chemical-laden snacks and so-called energy bars and drinks.

The Brazils in this smoothie contain selenium, healthy fats and B vitamins, while the wheatgrass powder also contains selenium, B Vitamins including B6 and B12, Vitamins A, C, E and K (essential for bood clotting and bone health). Banana contains potassium for a healthy heart and B vitamins, the chia seeds are full of healthy nutrients including protein and omega fats, oats have magnesium to prevent cramping muscles and keep us calm. Dates are good sources of fibre, minerals including iron, calcium, copper and zinc, and Vitamins A, B, C and K.

Ingredients

1 Ripe Banana

2 Tbsps Gluten-Free Oats

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds*

3 Brazil Nuts

1 Medjool Date, pitted

1 Glass Coconut Water

1 Tsp Wheatgrass Powder

Soak the oats and chia seeds in the coconut water in the blender for 20 minutes for improved digestion and absorption, then blend with all the other ingredients.

*http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

A Rare Family Get-Together

img_1537We had my 86 year old mum staying with us for a few days last week and my brother and sister-in-law were able to make the trip up north from the south coast to spend the day with us on Friday. They had only recently returned from a family visit to the US, and Paul was suffering a creaky back from the plane journeys and playing with babies and toddlers, so I was extremely grateful that they made this special trip.

Mum only gets to see them about once a year as they live so far
apart and they spend a lot of time in the States visiting their son and daughter’s families. She is very restricted in her mobility now and extremely deaf, we don’t know how much longer she will be able to travel here as it is a real struggle for her to get in and out of our car and up the single step into the house, so these get-togethers take on greater significance as the months go by.

We had a lovely day, swapping photos of our grandchildren and funny stories from our childhood. Mum learned about a few things my brothers used to get up to! She is always amazed at my powers of recall but she later told me a story I didn’t remember at all, of when we were very young and she looked up out of the front window to see cows in the garden, and in her neighbours’ gardens. They were trampling the borders and churning up lawns. Some roadworkers had left the gate open to the field they were in further up the street and they had escaped. This was a brand new urban council estate, so although we lived on the edge near surrounding fields, this was an unusual sight to say the least. We were the only ones in the street with a phone and someone suggested she call the police. She said she lived to regret it as she was called as a witness in the prosecution of the elderly farmer, whom she felt very sorry for.

Before Paul and Jila had to leave, we managed to perch on our new very firm sofa for a rare family photo:

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The Three Not-So-Wise Monkeys!

The following day was really warm and sunny and Mum and I were able to have lunch outside in the garden. She’s not able to sit out in her own garden and loves the peace and quiet here. We are very fortunate to have a back garden that is an oasis of sun and tranquillity, despite living on a very busy road. Often, there is just a distant hum of an airplane and the thwack of willow on leather from the nearby cricket club or a cheer from the bowling green around the corner. Mum loves the birds, but unfortunately can never hear them singing (she refuses to wear hearing aids!), which is a shame because the robin was trilling his heart out in the hawthorn tree for her. She is developing cataracts too, so she couldn’t see him, either.

She did however have some afternoon entertainment watching her son-in-law ‘scrumping’ or picking apples from the tree for her to take home. He was bumped on the head more than once from falling produce. He hade made an apple crumble the previous day which she enjoyed and she was going to take some apples back for herself and her neighbour.

I am always on pins when Mum is here in case she has a fall, but the visit passed without incident. She enjoyed speaking to our daughter on the phone on her last evening here and we sat up relating more stories from the past. I am always conscious of soaking up all the details when she speaks and I jot down dates and places. Her memory is starting to go in and out now, so I make the most of these moments.

My husband drove her home on Sunday, checked all her lightbulbs, plugged in lamps, checked the timer and clock on the heating and fixed the timer for her security lights. She is always happy to be home and is much more confident in her own surroundings. I am grateful that he does all this for her and makes the long and difficult journeys to bring her here and take her back, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to see each other.

Some October garden photos (copyright: me)