I created such a yummy smoothie yesterday that it has become my new favourite. It has a girly pink colour and tastes like vintage bubblegum.
It's not just a pretty face though, this smoothie (using the exact recipe below) packs a powerful nutritional punch that is anything but girly.
You will need:6 medium ripe bananas
200g frozen raspberries
1 small ripe mango
And enough water to blend.
How to make:
Simply blend it up and drink it down
The facelift science:
178% of the RDA for Vitamin A
155% of the RDA for Vitamin B6
192% of the RDA for Manganese
147% of the RDA for Fibre
81% of the RDA for Omega 6
56% of the RDA for Omega 3
90% of the RDA for Magnesium
72% of the RDA for Potassium
74% of the RDA for Vitamin B5
Above 50% of the RDAs for B3, Vitamin E, Copper,
In summary, this delightful drink contains (as a % of my RDAs)
47% of my daily kcal
26% of my daily protein
56% of my daily carbs
22% of my daily fats
60% of my overall vitamin intake
45% of my daily mineral intake
If you haven't already noticed, all the Facelift Foods recommended by me are all plants. You won't find any mention of meat, fish, dairy or eggs, why? In all the research and experimenting I have done plus a stack of anecdotal research in the form of personal stories of rejuvenation around the world this is the one thing that consistently came up - the higher the diet in fruit and leafy greens AND the lower it is in animal products the younger, slimmer and more gorgeous you will be. You will also be much healthier and way less susceptible to degenerative conditions and diseases.
I strive for excellence not mediocrity so I apply this research directly to my own life, not in any small doses but all the way; hence my diet being exclusively made up of the very best Facelift Foods - Fruit and Salad. That's it. I am not a fan of labels but one could refer to me as a raw vegan or specifically Low Fat Raw Vegan.
In this world of semi-health those of us who choose to be super-healthy, sexy, gorgeous and vibrant are seen as the weird ones and we often get questioned about where some of our nutrients come from (again how weird? we all know how nutritious fruit and veg are and yet those eating burgers, chips and cake washed down with beer do not get questioned about their nutritional status - which will always be appalling!). So to appease those who thirst for facts I am creating a series of blogs and vlogs to educate on the most common nutrients as questioned.
Today we look at Calcium. Shout out now if you know the best sources of Calcium...
Did you say dairy? Sorry but dairy is nowhere near the best source of Calcium. Don't worry it's just food industry brainwashing, let me show you the way.
Did you say green vegetables? You are partially right as they are a good source but we will get to why they are not the best
Did you say nuts like almonds and tahini? Sorry, just as bad as dairy for a few reasons.
So who said fruit? no one? Did anyone know that fruit is one of the best, if not THE best, source of bio-available calcium?
I have work to do..
Dairy = Bad source
There is HUGE list of reasons that dairy is not the best Calcium source, here are just a few main ones:
1. Too high in fat (fat increases Calcium loss from the body)
2. Wrong ratio of phosphorous:Calcium (high levels of phosphorous increases calcium loss from the body)
3. Hard for the human body to digest (its is designed for a baby cow with no less than 4 stomachs!)
4. It is pastuerised (cooked) rendering it even harder to breakdown and assimilate
5. Cow milk is full of bovine growth hormones and pus and blood (ok this is not stricly a reason why it is not a good Calcium source but I felt it needed a mention. I don't want to have to down a couple of pints to ensure my Calcium inatake when there are better sources available, don't you agree?)
Green vegetables = A good source but not the BEST
They do contain bio-available Calcium but..
1. you would need to eat HUGE quantities to get the recommended amount of 700mg a day, I worked out that I'd need 1.5 kilos (!!) of broccoli each day to fulfill my requirements. That's a lot of greenery and what about young children who are usually not big fans of green vegetables?
Nuts & Seeds = Not a good source
1. Tahini is high in fat, to get your 700mg of Calcium from tahini you would have to eat 170g of it a day which would also give you over 80g of fat!! high fat diets cause Calcium loss from the body
2. To get enough Calcium from almonds you would need to eat 250g of them a day which would also give you 133g of fat!! To rely on nuts and seeds to give you Calcium is like to rely on Vodka and orange to give you vitamin C. Could you even eat that many almonds in one day?
Ok now we've debunked those sources, what's left?
FRUIT!!
Did you know that oranges are an amazing Calcium source, plus they come with high amounts of other nutrients such as Folic acid, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and high amounts of the vitamin B complex.
Just 10 oranges (1 pint of juice) provides 600mg of Calcium.
My morning smoothie of 10 oranges and 2 mangos provides my entire intake of 700mg of Calcium.
Because I also eat leafy greens (in normal sized protions, not 1.5 kilos) I often get way over the recommended intake of Calcium. Yesterday it was over 1000mg (which is how much a breasfeeding lady requires)
For more information on the calcium in fruit, watch this video:
This recipe was inspired by Polly Noble's pancakes but instead of nut-based ice cream and stimulating cacao - I made fruit based fillings instead.
To make the pancake
Blend together 3 ripe speckled bananas and 3 tablespoons of freshly ground flaxseeds, you can buy whole linseeds and just grind them in a coffee mill.
Add enough water to make a thick batter
Season with cinnemon
To turn them into a pancake spread the mixture into circles about 1cm thick onto baking parchment or special sheets that come with your dehydrator.
Deydrator users: dehydrate for 2 hours, flip then dehydrate for a further 2-5 hours until you have a pliable pancake
Don't own a dehydrator? Me neither, I made mine by putting my oven on the absolute lowest setting and leaving the door open. The took 2 hours on each side to be ready.
Makes about 4-6 pancakes
To make the ice-cream
Simply slice and freeze 3 bananas (per person) overnight and make the ice-cream fresh once the pancakes are finished by putting the bananas through the food processor until they are fluffy 'Mr Whippy' style ice-cream. You can also make other flavolurs of ice-cream such as our Sexy Raspberry Ice Cream here
Chop a selection of fresh fruit then asemble your pancake, you can either roll all the fruit and ice-cream inside or fold the pancake over as I did and serve the ice-cream on top
Chocolate orange chia pudding (it's carob really not cacao)
You need
Dates (about 10 dried and soaked or fresh and chewy)
Bananas (about 3, ripe and speckled)
Plant milk (hemp, rice, almond etc)
Orange ( 1 ripe organic one)
Raw Carob powder
Chia seeds
To make
Blend 10 soaked dates with 3 ripe bananas, t tablespoon of plant milk then add the juice and grated peel of one organic orange. (never use the peel from a non-organic fruit).
Add 1 tablespoon of raw carob powder and 1 tablespoon of chia seed. Blend just once to mix in then leave to stand for 30mins as the chia soaks up the liquid.
Serve in ramekin or in a dainty vintage tea cup and saucer with orange peel shreds.
Facelift nutrition
This pudding is low in fat with just 15% of it's calories coming from fat, despite it's low-fat status this yummy dessert contains a whopping 5g of Omega 3 fatty acids! There'll be no clogging up or bloating from this pudding as it contains 26g of fibre. Protein is good too at 9g which for an adult female is 20% of the daily recommended amount. It is also high in manganese and copper, 2 of our anti-ageing minerals and contains good amounts of the B vitamin complex especially B6 (74% of the RDA).
