Morning Yoga Routine

Lovely morning Yoga routing to you get up and out of bed!

Super Green Super Shot

1 x tsp wheatgrass
1 x tsp spirulina
200ml water
5ml Orange squash

Shake well (you don't need to use a blender)

Quick Lunch-time Mirowave Chinese Soup

Ingredients: 

Quick Noodles
Frozen Spinach
Frozen Green Beans
1 little tub chicken stock

Method:

Add 500ml hotwater to the noodles - let stand for 5minutes
Add the vegetables and microwave for 5minutes

Enjoy!

My Home-made Sprouter

I don't want to go out and buy a sprouter if I don't know if I'll be using it allot...
So I'm going to use an old Bookers Plastic Herb Jar without the lid and use muslin to cover the front.

I'm using the lid to keep the plastic Jar at an angle.
The Muslin is tied at the front with an elastic band.

  

 Here are the sprouting seeds I bought my local nursery:

  The first seeds I'm sprouting is Cabbage Seed

Wheatgrass & berry shot

100ml x Liqui Fruit Berry Blaze

1 x tsp wheatgrass powder

Growing Wheatgrass

Cheap link
http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/133705_Goodness_Wheat_Grain_3kg.html#reviews

Guide to Sprouting

Sprouting is when you use all different kinds of beans, moisten and leave at room temperature for a few days and let the bean sprout. These are very healthy and good for you.

Quick intro to sprouting:

• Rinse Seeds twice a day & drain
• Ready to eat when the sprout is as long as the seed itself.
• Sprout using a big open mouth glass jar & cheese-cloth as a top cover (easy to drain)

Nice table:
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/sprouting.html

Sprouted Seeds offer:

• Increases in Protein Quality
• Increase in crude fibre content
• Increases in essential fatty acids
• Increases in vitamin content
• Increase in minerals

Important: (from wiki)

• make sure seeds don't dry out
• Don't leave seeds in water
• Make sure room temperature is not too high or too low
• Make sure you have rinse the seeds properly
• Make sure you use clean equipment
• Make sure you have proper air ventilation
• Make sure you use filtered water

List of edible sprouts

• Azuki Beans
• Barley grass 
• Brocolli
• Buckwheat
• Clover
• Garden cress
• Dill
• Fenugreek
• Chick Pea (Garbanzo)
• Lemongrass
• Lentils
• Lettuce
• Milk thistle
• Mizuna
• Mung Bean
• Pea
• Quinoa
• Radish
• Soybean
• Sunflower
• Tatsoi
• Wheat
• Yam

My FAQ:

Can I buy dried beans and sprout them?
No you have to make sure you buy organic beans that haven't been treated with pesticide - these can be used to sprout.

Mega Maca Sunday Shot

Ingredients:
1 x tsp maca powder
100ml coconut water
100ml peach and white grape juice

Blend and enjoy

Superfood smoothie

Ingredients

1 x tsp wheatgrass powder

1 x tsp spirulina powder

1 x tsp maca powder

1/4 cup soaked goji berries (soak overnight)

handfull of frozen rasberries

1/4 cup cold water

Blend together.

This makes more than a big glass each this is enough for 2 people.

Superfoods arrived in the post

Superfoods.........

Right I've just bought my superfood mixed pack of Wheatgrass, bee pollen, spirulina, maca and  goi berries...

A few recipes for me to try soon

http://www.beautyok.co.uk/superfood-recipes

Introduction to Superfoods

Very trendy....but lets have a closer look

http://www.thesuperfoodco.co.uk/bee-pollen-maca-spirulina-wheatgrass-selection-p-344.html
http://www.buygojiberriesonline.co.uk/tibetan-goji-berries.html
http://chaiwallahs.co.uk/downloads/CW_Menu_Inside.pdf

Above is a few sites...but the best one I like so far will ahve to be the superfood selection pack from www.thesuperfoodco.co.uk - This way you can try 4 different ones without paying a heap of cash for it.

I've decided to research Wheatgrass, Maca, Spirulina, goji berries and Bee pollen.

Bee Pollen is the main source of food for bees, consisting of honey and pollen
"Bee Pollen is a treasure trove of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, anti-oxidants and other nutrients, the widest range to be found anywhere in nature. It contains a full spectrum of vitamins especially vitamins B12 and E; and significant amounts of B1, B2, B3, B5, C, and vitamin D and various minerals including calcium, manganese, phosphorous, iron, sodium, potassium, aluminium, magnesium and copper. "
Adv: prevention of hay fever
Disadv: if you are allergic to pollen be careful to use this

Wheatgrass is a plant related to wheat but looks like plain grass in its earlier stages.
Adv: high in a number of amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, chlorophyll, and fiber.
Drinking a high dosage of wheatgrass is good for serious detoxing.

Maca  is from the root of a peruvian maca plant.
Adv: Premote energy and support strength. Some people called it the "peruvian ginseng".

Spirulina: is a natural microscopic fresh water plant
Adv: Ideal anti-aging, "It has the highest concentration of beta carotene, vitamin B-12, iron and trace minerals and the rare essential fatty acid GLA" increase your energy, vitality and level of well-being. Spirulina satisfies the appetite as it provides essential nutrients to weight watchers and nourishes people who have digestive, assimilation and elimination problems.

Goji Berries comes from the himalayan/Tibetan region also know as "wolf berries"
" Goji berries are sweet in taste and neutral in nature; they act on the liver, lung, and kidney channels and enrich yin. Goji berries can be eaten raw, brewed into a tea, or prepared as a tincture.
Goji berries are nutritionally rich, containing beta-carotene, Vitamins C, B1, B2 and other vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids. Companies marketing Goji claim the berries contain such nutrients as isoleucine, tryptophan, zinc, iron, copper, calcium, germanium, selenium, phosphorus, B6, and vitamin E."

Add Fibre to your day...........

At Breakfast

1. Fill your juice glass with nectar instead of a watery juice from concentrate. Nectar is apricot, peach, pear, or papaya juice, mixed with fiber-rich pulp. It packs more than a gram (g) of fiber per 8-ounce glass.

2. Drop a whole orange into the blender to flavor your morning smoothie. (Uh, peel it first.) One orange has nearly 3 g more fiber than even the pulpiest orange juice.

3. Spice up your eggs. A third of a cup of chopped onion and a clove of garlic will add a gram of fiber to a couple of scrambled eggs. Or fold the eggs omelette-style over a cup of cooked broccoli for 2 additional grams.

4. Heat up a bowl of oat bran instead of oatmeal; it has nearly 2 g more fiber. And add even more flavor and fiber by stirring in a quarter cup of raisins or chopped dates before nuking it.

5. Sprinkle toasted wheat germ over your favorite cold cereal, or stir a few spoonfuls into yogurt. Two tablespoons equals close to 2 extra grams of fiber.

6. Grab an Asian pear instead of the regular kind. They taste similar, but the Asian variety has significantly more fiber—4 g per pear.

7. Buy spreadable fiber, a.k.a. almond butter, for your whole-wheat toast. Two tablespoons adds a couple of grams of fiber, along with a healthy dose of heart-protecting fats and vitamins like E.

8. Whip up a pack of hot-chocolate mix instead of a second cup of coffee. Most instant-cocoa mixes have up to 3 g fiber per cup.

At Lunch

9. Hate whole wheat? Make your sandwiches with rye bread. One slice has almost 2 g fiber—twice the amount found in white bread.

10. Opt for burritos instead of tacos. Flour tortillas have more fiber than taco shells. Even better, make the burrito whole wheat for still more fiber per serving.

11. And order that burrito with meat and beans instead of meat alone. Half a cup of beans adds 6 g fiber to your meal.

12. Stow some microwavable soup in your desk for when you need to work through lunch. Lentil, chili with beans, ham-and-bean, and black-bean each have between 6 and 10 g fiber per cup.

13. Shower your pizza with oregano or basil. A teaspoon of either spice gives you an extra gram of fiber. Order it with mushrooms and you'll get one more.

14. Build your burger with a sesame-seed bun instead of the plain variety. Sesame seeds add half a gram of fiber per burger.

15. Order your dog with sauerkraut. Every quarter cup you pile on adds close to a gram of fiber to your frank. 

 

In the Afternoon

16. Pop a pack of light popcorn instead of popping open a bag of potato chips. There's 8 g fiber in every bag of popcorn.

17. Drink bottled chocolate milk, not white. The combination of the chocolate and the compounds needed to keep it suspended in the milk provides 3 g fiber in every 16 ounces.

18. Say nuts to candy bars. Bars with almonds—like Almond Joy and Alpine white chocolate with almonds—have almost twice the fiber content of bars without.

19. Don't tell yourself you could have had a low-sodium V8. Have one. Unsalted V8 has 2 g fiber. The V8 that comes spiked with salt has half that amount.

20. Graze on trail mix instead of a granola bar. Most granola bars have only 1 g fiber, while trail mix with dried fruit has nearly 3.At Dinner

21. Toss 1/2 cup of chickpeas into a pot of your favorite soup. They'll take on the flavor of the soup and tack 6 g fiber onto your bottom line.

22. Swap a sweet potato for your standard spud. Sweet potatoes have 2 g more fiber per tuber than the typical Idaho variety. Not a fan? At least eat the skin of the regular potato—it alone has 1 g fiber.

23. Shake 'n' bake some fiber into your chicken by coating it with a mixture of 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon thyme, 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, and 1/2 cup flour. You'll get 4 g fiber, thanks to the flaxseed.

24. Go wild when you make rice. Cup for cup, wild rice has three times the fiber of white.

25. Doctor your favorite jarred pasta sauce with 1/2 cup of frozen chopped spinach. The spinach will adopt the flavor of the sauce and pad the fiber count by more than 2 g.

26. Prepare whole-wheat or spinach pasta instead of the regular semolina kind. A cup of either has 5 g fiber.

27. Cook your broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots and you'll take in 3 to 5 g fiber per serving, up to twice what you'd have gotten had you eaten them raw. (Heat makes fiber more available.)

28. Use uncooked oatmeal instead of bread crumbs in your next meat loaf. Add 3/4 cup of oats per pound of ground meat and you'll boost the total fiber count to more than 8 g.

At Dessert

29. Top a bowl of ice cream with sliced fresh berries in lieu of syrup. A half cup of raspberries provides 4 g fiber; strawberries and blueberries pack half that amount.

30. Introduce your pie hole to a slice of apple, cherry, or berry pie and you'll be up a couple of grams of fiber. Cake doesn't have nearly as much fiber—unless you eat the candles.

Read more: http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/high_fiber_foods/index.php#ixzz0r1wSq85u

Nutrition Tips

Flax oil & Flax seed
Grapeseed oil (cheaper than olive oil and very healthy)

"The Magicians" by Lev Grossman

Funny, witty, easy to read. I love the alice in wonderland feeling of the book. At some places the author feels a bit bored and tends to drag out unimportant feelings or views.

Its different....light...new and refreshing.

Towards the end of the book it felt like I was re-reading the End of Mr Y, where everyone went fucking insane bit by bit...then recovered to their normal moral standings.

Almost in Fallory.....

eau-de-vie

An eau de vie (plural, eaux de vie; also spelled eau-de-vie and eaux-de-vie) is a clear, colorless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light.

home-made
http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/fruitbrandy.htm