Cayenne Weight Loss Blast - made perfectly with NutriBullet

Ingredients

1 handful Spinach

1 handful Mixed Greens

1 cup Berries (mixed)

¼ Avocado

3 chunk(s) Pineapple

1 tbsp. Chia Seeds

sprinkle Cayenne Pepper

Coconut Water to MAX LINE

This spicy little treat probably doesn't taste like any smoothie you've had before!

Cayenne pepper kicks it up a notch, boosting your metabolism and potentially helping you burn more calories. Low glycemic mixed berries add sweet flavor without the sugar and chia seeds help stave off hunger - the perfect combination for those looking to lose or maintain their weight. 

Give this one a try and let us know what you think!

If you are interested in a Nutribullet, click this link, or Vitamix.

Source: NutriLiving

The Case Against Juicing

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com Mind Body Green

It seems like green juice has become synonymous with health. And if there were ever a sign of an exploding industry, it would have to be the fact that the number of pretty little shops selling nothing but beautifully-colored juices is starting to rival the crazy number of cupcake places in NYC. And while I love a concoction of kale, apple, lemon, and ginger at The Butcher's Daughter, whenever my patients ask about juices, I tell them to avoid them. 

I realize this might sound radical, and that the juice industry is probably already forming an angry mob outside my door. I am an integrative doctor, and I know many of my peers often prescribe shakes and juices. Often the rationale for shakes is that many people have what is called leaky gut, meaning their intestines have been damaged over time by a diet of chemicals, processed food, and pharmaceutical drugs, their digestive systems aren’t functioning well, and they won’t absorb whole foods properly. The drinks are therefore a delivery vehicle for supplements and nutraceuticals, because in liquid form they are more easily and quickly digested, and therefore will be more fully absorbed into the bloodstream. 

This may be true, and helpful when prescribed to replete a specific nutrient in people with real absorption problems, but there are a lot of downsides to a liquid diet—even if only for one meal a day—and for the following reasons I encourage my patients to make juices a treat, never a staple. 

Here are five reasons NOT to make juices a routine part of your diet: 

1. Juices leave you hungry. 

Solids take almost twice as long as liquids to leave your stomach, meaning if you’re having a drink for a meal, you’ll be leaving your belly hurting for something to chew on. Especially for people trying to lose weight, this can end up meaning eating more over the course of the day. 

2.  Fat is back! 

Don’t go back to the terrible, fat-free 80s. Juices generally don’t contain much (if any) fat or protein, both of which stimulate your brain to quiet hunger pangs when they reach your small intestine. This is another reason you won’t be satiated as long from a juice. 

3. Constipation! 

You need fiber for your gut to move and not get stuck. I once had a patient who had been put on a liquid diet in the hospital after surgery and had gotten confused after discharge and never stopped putting all his meals in a blender. No laxative was strong enough for him. You need fiber to induce proper peristalsis (the waves of contraction of your intestinal muscles that move food along). Juicing pulverizes all that fiber, rendering it useless. 

4. You'll miss out on good germs. 

Fermentation is the key to health and fermentation happens in the large intestine thanks to plant fiber and the helpful bacteria that like to eat it. You can take all the probiotics you want, but if you don’t give the bugs in your colon the complex carbs and fermentable plant fibers they like to munch on, you miss out on the golden byproduct of bacterial digestion: the short-chain fatty acids that nourish and protect the gut barrier and reduce inflammation. 

5. You should detox more than your bloodstream. 

In Ayurveda, Ama, or toxic residue, builds up in the tissues as a result of eating unhealthy foods or foods you don’t digest well (like eating bread if you have celiac disease), consuming drugs and alcohol, and stress. Blood is one kind of tissue, but don’t forget about connective tissues like ligaments and tendons, and bones, muscles, nerves and fat. 

These tissues can build up Ama, too. Many people use juicing to detox, but while a one-day juice fast might kick-start your kidneys to clean out your plasma, a longer term, healthy detox that includes eating whole, fibrous foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains like quinoa and farro, will stimulate your gut to keep moving and pull deeply embedded toxins out with it. This kind of detox—for a week or even a month—will leave you clean to the bones without starving and whacking out your metabolism. 

My motto is eat real whole food, and don’t drink your calories. You don’t need fancy drinks to be healthy. Just water and sometimes medicinal teas. The occasional green juice is gravy. 

 

Source: Mind Body Green

Why We Should and Really Should Juice Anyway

wikipedia.org  / juicing recipes

Most of us eat the same salads or vegetables every day. Juicing opens you to a wider range of fruits and vegetables which we are not likely to consume if eaten whole. Consuming a variety of foods is the key and only way in getting all the necessary nutrients your body needs to be in optimum health. Juicing helps you achieve this naturally without having to resort to artificially produced vitamins and minerals as supplements.

It's very hard to cover the daily recommended portions of fruit and vegetables especially if you dislike green vegetables. Juicing takes the pain out of that. It's an easy way to get your daily recommended intake because vegetable juice when combined with a sweet fruit or a squeeze of lemon or lime juice neutralizes the bitterness and makes it very palatable.

However, the most crucial point of drinking fresh juices for hard-core raw food advocates would be that food is eaten in its raw form. Cooking at high temperatures destroys enzymes and heat sensitive vitamins. That destruction is reduced to a large degree by juicing.

A fruit and vegetable juice is a liquid into which all nutrients from the fibre have been extracted making the juice highly nutritious and easily absorbed into your bloodstream. Your body does not have to expend all its energy into digestion but instead use it to maximise the nutrients instead.

The contentious issue that arises when raw food consumption is discussed is whether or not plant enzymes have a role to play in preserving our body's supply of enzymes. Those who argue otherwise say that our body has its own enzymes, that it will not have any use of enzymes from plants and that it will continue to produce enzymes for as long as we live.

The reason enzymes have become such a 'hot' topic among advocates of raw food is because enzymes are catalysts that speed up chemical reactions in the body. Enzymes equal life. Without enzymes all biological processes vital to life would slow down. All vitamins and minerals that we consume become useless. Toxic substances will build up to dangerous levels without being flushed out. Our body's ability to heal and absorb nutrients will slow down. Enzymes help the body to correctly digest food and also to provide instruction on how to utilize the various nutrients in the food source. Enzymes regulate tens of thousands of biochemical functions that take place in our body every day. Even thinking involves enzymes. Without enzymes our bodies will fail to function and life will eventually cease to exist.

Enzymes are destroyed by heat when food is cooked and also by the application of additives and preservatives in highly processed food. Whether or not the enzyme theory put forward by raw food advocates is true will continue to be proven or disproved by many.

Putting that aside, the benefits of juicing is hard to dispute. It nourishes you, it opens up to you a natural supply of vitamin and mineral supplements, it can aid you in weight loss and will help detoxify and cleanse your body simply through the nourishment it provides. It will improve your health if you have been on a lifelong diet of highly processed food, overeating and never having met the requirements of the daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables.

The debate of whether or not your body has a lifelong supply of enzymes or whether or not we need the benefit of enzymes from raw food is not a reason to dismiss juicing as just another fad because the drawbacks of highly processed food is just too much to bear. Why anyone would not want to juice baffles me.

Nina H. Ismail believes in the benefits of juicing, eating balanced portion-conscious diets, moderate exercise and natural remedies to maintain good health and quality of life. After a cancer scare 15 years ago healthy eating and exercise has been a lifestyle that she and her family practices.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8508899

The Benefits of Green Juice For Health and Wellbeing

wikipedia.org   / juicing recipes

Eat your vegetables. That is what the sign that hangs in my kitchen says. Nearly every nutrition book can be narrowed down to those three words. Making the transition to eating more vegetables can be a challenge. Fortunately there are many easy ways to get more veggies. One of those ways is juicing. Explore different recipes. Even your kids can get in on the fun.

Here are several reasons why you should try:

Detoxing: Consuming green juices aids our body in the function of getting rid the stuff we don't need. The phytochemcials in green food are extremely complex. And so are the interactions they have in our body, but these are all for good. When we are able to naturally get rid of the toxins that build up from every day living, we increase our chances of not getting sick.

Weight Loss: Ah. This is classic, right? Our body can better maintain its ideal weight when it is fed a whole-foods plant based diet. Eat meat, but as a side. Fresh produce all day long. Snack on carrots. Eat half and avocado. Make a new juice recipe. You will find that over time your tastes change, energy goes up and waistline gets smaller.

Clearer Energy: The amazing thing about eating fresh fruit and vegetables, especially in juice form, is that they are a natural burst of energy. Straight to the blood. Clean and free. Your mind can think clearly and energy and wakefullness can be sustained for longer periods of time.

Beautiful Skin: Along the lines of detoxing, when you feed your body with more juices, then you are not only letting the body detox naturally but you are not overloading its need to detox. People who have a lot of toxins to get out may often see issues in their skin. If you sustain a juicing habit, you will see the skin begin to look younger.

Straight to the Blood: The process of juicing removes cellulose, which means the nutrients in the juice go straight into your blood stream for an almost immediate benefit to your health.

More Veggies: I am always surprised by how many veggies I can get into one glass of green juice. The sheer amount of veggies it take to make one glass of juice is truly amazing. But this means that I get the benefits of more veggies, with less effort (think about eating a salad for 45 minutes).

Get Your Minerals: when your diet is mostly whole foods (not-processed and out of a box) and plant-based, you can be sure that you are automatically getting a sufficient amount of trace minerals and nutrients you need on a daily basis.

Just Tastes Good: putting your veggies into juice form is a good idea for all the reasons stated about, but also because, well, it just tastes good. I never realized how sweet spinach and carrots are. It is almost like juicing them releases the essence of their true flavors.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8481826

5 Tips For Juicing Greens!

By Drew Canole

Juicing vegetables is tasty, easy and beneficial for your health. Juicing vegetables is a great way to reward your body with nutrient dense vegetables, vitamins, minerals and powerful nutrients. 
Many of my clients who first come to me, complain about feeling sluggish, tired, no energy, lack of sleep and often times they want to get into shape. One of the first things I recommend is a simple juice fast.



When you first start juicing greens, you might be confused on what greens to juice and how to get a good tasty juice. You don't want the juice to be bitter or unbearable. For these reasons I came up with 5 tips for juicing greens.


1. Start with a Base
Before you add any leafy greens like kale, add a base. A base includes vegetables like romaine lettuce, celery, or cucumber. You want to add high water content vegetables. 
Adding celery, cucumber or romaine lettuce also makes you green juices taste better.


2. Add Leafy Greens
Next you want to add some leafy greens. I love to add kale to most of my juices. 




3. Add Some Herbs
Add a handful of cilantro, parsley or basil to your juices. Herbs like cilantro and parsley are great for helping you detox.

4. Add a Little Zing
Add some GINGER. Ginger has great anti-inflammatory properties.



5. Add Lemon or Lime!
Lemon is rich in vitamin C, which helps boost your immune system, helps remove toxins from your body and also helps keep your body's pH in an alkaline state.

6. Bonus!
Add a pear or apple to sweeten it up!

What's your favorite green juice recipe? Tell us in the the comments section below!

Stay tuned next week! We have some super exciting news to share with you!

Source Link: http://fitlife.tv/5-tips-for-juicing-greens/