Kickstart your day with a yummy breakfast smoothie.....

Breakfast is the most important meal of   the day! We have heard that often enough, but it is tough to find time to prepare and eat something that is nutritious as well as appetizing in the morning rush!

There are several advantages to eating a healthful breakfast -

It revs up your metabolism! After a 12 hour night time fast, when you eat a nutritious breakfast, the brain and the body feels alert and energized and reassured with the supply of energy (and hence doesn't try to conserve or store it as fat reserves for contingency/starvation ) but prepares to use the energy for all the day's activity.

Eating breakfast keeps you from bingeing.  A lack of real food in the morning, followed by many rounds of coffee or tea to camouflage the hunger,  creates  an artificial satiety and then by lunch time you are ravenous and are likely choose fatty calorie dense food and too much of it!

A morning meal keeps your blood sugar regulated and that, apart from keeping your body stress free, also keeps you in a good mood.

I begin my day, everyday, with this amazingly delicious, raw, vegan smoothie, which is now a favorite with so many of my friends, family and clients!
To call it a protein shake just doesn't do it justice, it's a complete meal, antioxidant rich, full of vitamins, minerals, omega -3 essential fatty acids, digestible energy, amino acids and protein.
Each ingredient in this smoothie is nutrient rich and adds it's own unique set of benefits to the mix.

Sprouts, which is a great breakfast/smoothie ingredient, is said to, ‘represent the miracle of birth’. They are in the true sense, super foods. They are alkaline, whole, pure, and natural foods.                


A sprout is at the transitional stage between seed and plant. Sprouts are essentially pre-digested foods as the seeds’ own enzymes do most of the work. During sprouting, much of the starch is broken down into simple sugars such as glucose and sucrose by the action of the enzyme ‘amylase’. Proteins are converted into amino acids and amides. Fats and oils are converted into simpler fatty acids by the action of the enzyme lipase. On sprouting, there is also a tremendous increase in nutrients as compared to the dried grain. The vitamins, minerals and protein content substantially increase (to give you an idea, the vitamin B2 content goes up by over 500%) with a simultaneous decrease in caloric and carbohydrate content. 
Also, during sprouting there is a reduction in the gas producing quality of beans. Mainly oligosaccharides have been held responsible for gas formation. As the process of germination ends and sprouting begins, the content of oligosaccharides is reduced by 90 percent.
The content of fiber and water increases tremendously, which is a boon for a healthy digestive system.
Sprouts are a good source of chlorophyll, said to have anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. They are highly beneficial foods for losing weight too. They keep one full for a long time and also prevent over-eating as one feels satisfied on consuming just a handful and is the best way of getting the advantage of complete nutrition.

To sprout the grain, wash and soak it in water overnight, in the morning, drain the water and tie the grains in a cheese    cloth or a thin muslin cloth in a pouch and let it hang for a couple of hours (to drain the extra water). Now, put this pouch in an air tight container and store it in a warm humid place for 18 - 24 hours, depending on the weather.

So, here's the recipe that will change your life, it did mine...

Ingredients

1 apple

3 small (cardamom) bananas

1 orange peeled with an inch of it's peel

1 pear

1 kiwi fruit

5 almonds

5 cashews

1 tbsp flax seeds

2 cups water

1 cup ice

1 tbsp of sprouts (ragi/moong/red rice)

Blend the above in a  high powered blender.

Now, that's a great start to a wonderful day! Enjoy!

Green Smoothie

Bring out the drum roll ladies and gentlemen , as I am about to introduce to you the queen of super foods, Green Leafy Vegetables!!! Seriously? Yes, I know, you probably expected a fancy, difficult to source, expensive food item. But the real winner has been right under our nose! So, why is the humble greens a super food?
For starters, they are almost a complete food, rich in calcium, protein (yes, surprise!), fiber, iron, magnesium, B vitamins, vitamin A, C, E and other minerals. And Chlorophyll !

Chlorophyll is the molecule that absorbs sunlight and uses its energy to synthesize carbohydrates from CO2 and water. Its most amazing benefit comes from the fact that it's molecular structure is identical to hemoglobin except for the center atom. In hemoglobin this is iron, whereas in chlorophyll it is magnesium. This means that when ingested, chlorophyll actually helps to do the job of hemoglobin (hemoglobin is vital to the health of our blood – in fact, blood is approx 75% hemoglobin). It helps to rebuild and replenish our red blood cells, boosting our energy and increasing our well being almost instantly.
Chlorophyll carries significant amounts of oxygen with it and thus, also plays an important role in supporting the aerobic or 'good' bacteria, promoting intestinal flora and overall health and destroying anaerobic or 'bad' bacteria (which cause infection and disease).
Chlorophyll helps in preventing and healing many forms of cancer, providing iron to organs, making the body more alkaline, counteracting toxins ingested by us, improving vision, reducing pain caused by inflammation, soothing ulcer tissues, relieving sore throat, eliminating  body odors, purifying the liver. In fact scientific research shows that there are hardly any illnesses that could not be alleviated by chlorophyll.

It is difficult to find a better way of consuming chlorophyll than by drinking green smoothies, which are essentially a blend of dark green leafy vegetables, fruit and water. Adding a portion of fruit to the greens makes it palatable. And in a blended form, their nutrients are absorbed efficiently by our bodies.
A great source of green smoothie recipes is http://www.rawfamily.com/recipes
The addition of green smoothies in my family's diet is fairly recent, but all of us have come to love them so much, even my 6 year old and more importantly each of us can see a distinct improvement in our energy levels, health and skin!

My versions of the green smoothie

Ingredients
4 cups cubed watermelon
2 cups cubed pineapple
1 bunch of spinach 
2 cups water
or
1 chopped pear
1 chopped apple
1 plum
1 pomegranate
1 bunch fenugreek leaves
10 leaves of mint
2 cups water

Process
Blend all of the above in a high powered blender and enjoy fresh everyday. 

You could use any locally available dark greens like beet greens, turnip greens etc and rotate them to include a variety in your diet!