The Tastiest Shakes Ever

A friend of mine describes drinking freshly made fruit juices like this:
"If you have never taken a mouthful of cantaloupe juice or strawberry juice mixed with apple, you simply have not lived. Blueberry juice is a taste of liquid heaven."

Freshly made juices are a tremendous source of bio-available vitamins and minerals which are the partners of enzymes and co-enzymes. Vitamins
activate enzymes and without vitamins, enzymes could not carry out their work, and we could not live.

Enzymes act as catalysts in hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions that take place throughout your body, and are essential for digesting,
absorbing and converting food into body tissue. Enzymes produce energy at the cellular level and are critical for most of the metabolic activities taking place in your body every second of every day.

Another benefit of drinking fresh juices and smoothies is that your body can absorb MORE of the vitamins and minerals than if you were to eat the fruits and vegetables whole! Many of the nutrients are TRAPPED in the fiber and by blending fruits and vegetables, you break down the fiber and release the
vital nutrients.

Example:

When you eat a raw carrot, you are only able to assimilate a small
percentage of the available beta carotene. When a carrot is juiced,
removing the fiber, a LARGE percentage of the beta carotene can be
assimilated by your body.

Of course, you still need to eat whole produce because fiber is also an
important part of your daily diet.

Meeting you or your children's need for energy and nutrients is essential for
good health. Children who do not meet their needs for energy may stop
growing and gaining weight. In severe situations, they can develop a
condition which is life threatening called protein energy malnutrition.
Vitamins and minerals are only required in very small amounts, but a diet
insufficient in these can cause SEVERE deficiency diseases.

You may be showing signs of malnutrition if you ...

~ feel tired and weak.

~ feel like you never have the energy to clean your home,
make meals or even do the dishes.

~ have difficulty losing or gaining weight.

~ can't easily get to sleep.

~ feel stressed and/or nervous.

~ feel drowsy during the day.

~ sometimes can't concentrate, you're mind feels numb, or you get
confused easily.

~ have problems with your digestion.

~ have constipation and/or hard dry stools.

~ have mood swings, or get easily upset.

~ don't have patience for anything.

~ sometimes feel depressed.

~ have overly dry or oily skin.

~ sometimes have nausea and/or abdominal pain.

~ have annoying eye twitches.

~ bruise easily.

~ have muscle cramps and/or low back pain.

~ sometimes get cracks and sores in the corners of your mouth.

~ notice that your nails have become thin and/or brittle.

~ are losing your hair.

~ have water retention.

~ have uncontrollable temper outbursts.

~ don't eat a well-balanced nutritious diet EVERY DAY


Natural vitamins are found only in living things, that is, plants and animals.
Your body, with a few exceptions, can't manufacture vitamins. They must
be supplied in your food or in dietary supplements but supplements can't
replace food, especially fruits and vegetables which provide thousands of
substances, some of which have well-known functions, and some whose
roles in the human body are not yet understood or recognized.

When it comes to choosing a healthy diet for their children, many parents
don't realize the important role that beverages play. For example, fruit
flavored drinks and soft drinks are not a substitute for real fruit. Many of
these drinks only contain 10% real fruit juice. The very best drinks are
made from whole fruit and you can make great fruity healthy drinks at
home.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE FRUIT AND
VEGETABLE JUICES


Excerpt from "I Hate Counting Calories! Smoothies, Fruit
Juices and other drinks!"

http://www.healthrecipes.com/smoothies_ebook.htm

1. You'll need an inexpensive juice machine.

2. All fruits and vegetables should be juiced raw.

3. Small seeded fruit, such as watermelon and pears, may be juiced with

their seeds with the exception of papaya and apple seeds. Orange and

grapefruit seeds might impart a bitter taste to your juice. Remove the

large pits from fruits like peaches and nectarines, etc.

4. Peel all fruits and vegetables that are not organically grown because the

peel is where most of the chemical residues can be found. While most

skins of organically grown fruits and vegetables may be left on, with the

exception of waxed produce, the skins of pineapples, kiwis, oranges,

grapefruits and papaya should be removed.

5. Choose fresh ripe produce. Rubbery vegetables, bruised fruit, wilted

greens and over or under-ripe fruits will produce juices that are neither

tasty nor healthful.

6. Cut the fruits or vegetables into pieces that will fit into the mouth of your

juice machine. Turn the juice machine on and push the pieces through

the mouth of the juicer. As you juice, pulp will collect in a large

receptacle. If you don't clean the pulp out right away, it will develop a

sour odor and tiny gnats and fruit flies may appear after 8 to 10 hours.

7. It is best to drink freshly made juices within one day.


FRUIT JUICE RECIPES

Excerpt from "I Hate Counting Calories! Smoothies, Fruit
Juices and other drinks!"

All the fruit juice recipes serve one. You can double or
triple the recipes to serve more people.

Lemon~Lime Ginger Ale

1 apple, cored and sliced

½ inch fresh ginger (less if you find the taste too strong)

handful of grapes

1/4 lemon

1/2 lime

sparkling mineral water

Remove the grapes from the stem. Juice the apple and ginger together,

then juice the rest of the fruit. Pour the juice in a large glass and fill to the

top with sparkling water and serve with ice.


Fruit Punch

1 apple, cored and sliced

6 strawberries, fresh or thawed from frozen

1/2 orange, peeled and sectioned

Process the fruit in a juicer and serve.


~~~~~~~~~


Sparkling Tropical Juice

1/2 mango, peeled and sliced

1 orange, peeled and sectioned


~~~~~~~~~


Peach-Pear-Apple Juice

2 peaches, remove seed

1 pear, sliced

1 apple, cored and sliced

Process through a juicer and serve.


Gingered Apple Cidar

3 apples, cored and sliced

1 inch piece ginger

Process through a juicer and serve.

~ A smoothie is basically a blended fruit drink. The best-tasting smoothies
are made from fruit that is fresh or frozen, and not canned.

~ All smoothies begin with a liquid base. This can be orange juice, milk or
another liquid.

~ You can make a frostier drink by freezing fresh fruit before making a
smoothie.

~ Smoothies are best when they're fresh out of the blender, but they can
be frozen the night before, as well - just remove the smoothie from the
freezer about an hour before drinking.

~ You can replace a meal with a smoothie or shake by adding a scoop of
high-quality protein powder and a tbsp. of high-quality olive or flax oil.

Click here to read more about:

Protein Powder and Estimator of your Protein Requirements

All the recipes serve one. You can double or triple
the recipes to serve more people.

Apricot~Pineapple~Strawberry Shake


1/4 cup crushed pineapple, canned or fresh

1 fresh apricot, diced, seed removed

6 strawberries, frozen

1/2 banana, cut in chunks, frozen

1 1/2 cup water

1 tbsp. skim milk powder

1 heaping tbsp. high-quality protein powder (optional)

In a blender, process fruit with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until

thoroughly mixed and serve.


~~~~~~~~~


Banana~Strawberry Shake


1 banana, cut in chunks, frozen

6 strawberries, frozen

1 1/4 cup water

1 tbsp. skim milk powder

1 heaping tbsp. high-quality protein powder (optional)

In a blender, process all the ingredients until thoroughly mixed and serve.


Tropical Shake


1/2 mango, peeled, seed removed

2 tbsp. frozen pina coloda mix (or 1/8 tsp. natural coconut extract)

1/2 banana, cut in chunks, frozen

4 strawberries, frozen

6 ice cubes

1 1/4 cup water

1 heaping tbsp. high-quality protein powder (optional)

In a blender, process all the ingredients until thoroughly mixed and serve.


~~~~~~~~~


Banana~Berry Shake

1/2 banana, cut in chunks, frozen

1/2 pear, cored and sliced

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1 1/4 cup water

1 tbsp. skim milk powder

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1 heaping tbsp. high-quality protein powder (optional)

In a blender, process all the ingredients until thoroughly mixed and serve.


~~~~~~~~~


Banana~Orange~Strawberry Shake


1/2 banana, cut in chunks, frozen

6 strawberries, frozen

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp. skim milk powder

1 heaping tbsp. high-quality protein powder (optional)

In a blender, process all the ingredients until thoroughly blended and serve.

We saw an interesting article about starvation in which the comment was made that there are really two types of starvation.

One, of course, is caused by too little or no food at all.

But there is another type of starvation caused by serious malnutrition, and even though the U.S. is the fattest nation on the planet, our bodies are starved for important nutrients and enzymes.

It's partly why we're so fat, because we keep eating and eating, but we're eating highly processed, cooked foods that have the essential components burned out of them.

Cooking removes up to 80% of food's important amino acids, fibers and vitamins.

It's one reason why switching to a raw foods diet makes such compelling sense.

When you start eating raw foods, you're suddenly getting all the nutrition from food that nature intended you to get. It's the way our bodies were meant to eat, in balance with the planet.

We suddenly become the vibrant, healthy animals we're supposed to be.

But we still live in the modern world, with all its pressures and time constraints.

It's one reason why getting your whole foods from juicing is a good idea. You can still get all the fiber you need without taking the time to cut, peel or slice the food.

Raw foods do take a little more time to chew and swallow and that's a good thing. But if you don't have the time for that, then you should consider using juices for at least a portion of your raw foods intake.

You do need to invest in a good juicer though, and that's different from a blender. A blender can't process the fruit peels that contain most a fruit or vegetables vitamins and enzymes.

A juicer is a more high-powered appliance that will process everything - seeds and stems, peels and pulp. It's designed to do it quickly and efficiently.

They can be expensive, but there are many more options today than there used to be as this concept has gained in popularity.