The 10 Best Leafy Greens for Green Smoothies

Kale

Best Blended With

To offset the bitterness of kale, it is best blended with sweet fruits, like mangoes and bananas.

Swiss Chard

Best Blended With

Since swiss chard has delicate leaves, it can be seamlessly blended into any smoothie. Swiss chard can be deliciously paired with flavorful fruits like banana, pineapple, and citrus.

Spinach

Best Blended With

Once again, the soft leaves of spinach make this superfood prime for blending. Our favorite fruits to blend with smoothies are strawberries, blueberries, apples and pears. Since these fruits are low in sugar, the spinach acts as a nice neutral green.

Beet Greens

Best Blended With

The mild and dainty leaves of beets can be blended smoothly into almost any smoothie. The flavor of the greens will not overpower the flavor of your fruit of choice. Be adventurous. Try beet greens with grapes, peaches, apples, even figs!

Romaine

Best Blended With

Honestly, the light and mellow flavor of romaine makes it ideal for any smoothie. You won’t be able to taste all the nutrients your giving your body with every sip.

Arugula

Best Blended With

The strong flavor of arugula goes well with other strong tasting smoothie ingredients. We love being innovative with this powerful green by adding it to beets, and citrus. Using dried fruit, such as cherries, raisins, or dates also compliments the bitterness in the best possible way!

Carrot Tops

Best Bleneded With

Since carrot tops are bitter, they blend well with sweet fruit. We think ginger compliments the flavor of carrot tops perfectly! 

Bok Choy

Best Blended With

In green smoothies, the bitterness and earthiness of bok choy is easily masked by just about any fruit. We love it with papaya, pears, strawberries, and citrus. Here’s a winning combo if you’re feeling thirsty.

Collard Greens

Best Blended With

To offset any bitterness collard greens may add to your smoothie, we recommend blending them with flavorful fruits such as mango, pineapple, peaches, banana, or cherries. Collard on your mind? Here’s a recipe we love.

Dandelion Greens

Best Blended With

The bitter nature of dandelion greens make them ideal additions to smoothies containing very sweet and flavorful fruit. Try adding this nutritional punch to your kiwi, citrus, strawberry, or banana smoothies! Coconut water is also a great way to add some natural sweetness to more astringent greens, we know from experience.

Strawberry-Pineapple Cooler

I found this delicious recipe on Dr. Oz's page, you just have to try it !

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Strawberry-Pineapple Cooler 

This fruity infused water is more than refreshing – it will help you relax. Sage has been used in aromatherapy for relaxation for years. This drink is the perfect way to unwind at the end of a long day, try this recipe in your Infuser Water Bottle ! 

     Ingredients

• 12 oz water
• 1/4 cup strawberries, crushed
• 1/4 cup pineapple, crushed
• 1 sage leaf

LIVE HEALTHY, DRINK HEALTHY.

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Benefits of Cucumber Juice !

Digestion and Anti-Cancer

If you are eating this vegetable (skins and all) you will get the benefits of both soluble and insoluble fiber. By juicing you will still consume the soluble fiber which helps nutrients get absorbed through the intestinal tract.

Cucumbers contain plant lignans which bind with bacteria in the digestive tract and convert them to enterolignans for both pro and anti-estrogenic effects. According to The World’s Healthiest Foods, “Reduced risk of estrogen-related cancers, including cancers of the breast, ovary, uterus, and prostate has been associated with intake of dietary lignans from plant foods like cucumber.”

Cucumbers are a rich source of cucurbitacins which blocks cancer cell development according to scientists and we can expect to see more research on the connections between cucumbers and anti-cancer benefits.

Skin, Hair, and Nails

Cucumber is a powerful tonic for the skin, hair, and nails. Many women know the beauty trick of applying cucumber slices to the eyes for reducing puffiness. The astringent properties in cucumbers draw out dirt and cleanse the pores, making it a popular ingredient in oily skin or acne skin care.

Cucumbers also contain silica, a trace mineral which contributes to strengthening connective tissues. This results in stronger hair and nails.

You can get these benefits both by putting cucumber juice on your skin as well as by drinking it.

Weight Loss and Inflammation

Because cucumbers contain mostly water they are and excellent food to help cleanse and wash away toxins. Toxins are often stored in fat cells and cause inflammation. But beyond just water content cucumbers also supply electrolytes to restore hydration of the body cells and balance the fluid levels in the body.  This makes cucumber an important food to aid in weight loss and other inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

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Foods That Are More Nutritious Raw

Raw Nuts Protect the Heart

Raw nuts have healthy fats that are essential to the body. Raw nuts can help lower the LDL (low-density lipoprotein), or "bad," cholesterol level in the blood.

Raw Broccoli Fights Cancer

Eating raw broccoli, and the chewing process involved, helps to rupture the special compound that is located in the plant's cell walls, an enzyme called myrosinase, that revs up your liver's ability to detoxify carcinogens.

Raw Juice Retains Vitamins

What could be better for you than fruit or vegetable juice from the store? Raw fruit and vegetable juice! When you buy juice, it is always pasteurized. Pasteurization not only kills bacteria and preserves the juice, it also destroys many (if not most) of the vitamins, minerals and enzymes, along with their health-promoting properties. 

Raw Cacao Is Brain Food

Raw cacao (chocolate) contains a wealth of nutrients: essential vitamins and minerals that boost the body's neurotransmitters, and phyto-chemicals that activate the mood-elevating emotion of "euphoria."

Raw Chia Seeds Are Nutrient-Dense

Four tablespoons of chia seeds supply as much calcium as three cups of milk, as much magnesium as 10 stalks of broccoli, as much iron as one-half cup of red kidney beans, 30% more antioxidants than blueberries, 25% more dietary fiber than flaxseed and approximately the same amount of omega-3 as a 32-ounce fillet of salmon. Instead of a typical hot breakfast cereal, try a chia breakfast pudding for a more nutritious start to your day!

5 EASY WAYS TO WAKE UP HAPPY

1. WAKE UP TO SUNSHINE

When you wake up to sun pouring through your windows, your body is signaled to stop its flow 

of melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy.

2. DON’T SNOOZE

Apparently, our brains know all about the snooze button, so when you are in your morning tussle with your alarm, your brain won’t put you back in a deep, restful sleep — it knows that you will have to get up in a few minutes.

3. PUT ON MUSIC

Putting on good music will put you in a good mood in the mornings for obvious reasons, and if it’s upbeat, it will help you stay awake. Be careful about setting your favorite song as your alarm though — you might end up hating it. 

4. DRINK WATER

Drinking water when you get up is a great way to provide energy by making up for the fluids your body lost while you were asleep. Because everything your body does requires water, when your body is dehydrated it has to work harder, which can make you feel even more tired.

5. POWER DOWN BEFORE BED

Turn all of your screens off an hour before bed. Because TVs, computers, and iPads are all stimulators, it can be hard for your brain to wind down for sleep right after you use them. You’ll have to decide for yourself if the benefit of this outweighs the joys of falling asleep watching Netflix.   

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Source from: http://www.bustle.com/

Drink Up! Obama Campaign

Drink Up, Obama Campaign.

First Lady Michelle Obama devoted Tuesday afternoon to telling Americans to drink less sugary soda, without actually saying anything bad about sugary soda.

It’s been nearly a year since the First Lady launched the “Drink Up” campaign, a subset of the signature effort to promote healthy choices for kids that focuses on water.

Their efforts have been proof that when you market and promote healthy choices as fervently as junk food, “then kids actually get excited about these products, and families actually buy them and consume them,” Mrs. Obama added. On Tuesday, the general message was, “don’t give up on our kids.”

“We need to keep working together within industries and across industries to help our kids lead healthier lives,” the First Lady said. ” And if we do all that, then I am confident — I continue to be confident that we can give our kids the bright, healthy futures they deserve.”

#SPREADTHEWATER

#DRINKUP

#DRINKWATER

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