Saturday, June 22, 2013

My Favorite Thing Right Now...Hint: It's a PINK SMOOTHIE!

Watermelon Juice!

How to make it:

Chop up some watermelon, plut in a blender. Add ice cold water.

Blend it up.

Poor in a fancy glass and go

"Mmmmmmm" while you're drinking it!

I've been living off these for the last few days.

Ever hear of a fruit high?

Well, let me float on down from my cloud of happiness to tell you!

Seriously, I get a fruit high when I drink lot's of fruit smoothies. I feel joyful, amazing, clear headed and almost giddy.

Folks say to me "I couldn't just drink smoothies all day, I get too hungry."

Well, what I do is drink this all morning and then when I want solid food guess what I do:

I eat!!

Yesterday I had a vegan chickpea burger on toasted bread, with spinach and veganaise.

Then the rest of the day: watermelon juice.

For dinner I had pasta with garlic, mushroom and onion marinara sauce.

Sooooo GOOD!!

I did some research and found this at http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/watermelon.html

Health benefits of watermelon

  • Rich in electrolytes and water content, melons are nature’s gift to beat tropical summer thirst.
  • Watermelons are very low in calories (just 30 calories per 100 g) and fats yet very rich source of numerous health promoting phyto-nutrients and anti-oxidants that are essential for optimum health.
  • Watermelon is an excellent source of Vitamin-A, which is a powerful natural anti-oxidant. 100 g fresh fruit provides 569 mg or 19% of daily-required levels of this vitamin. It is essential for vision and immunity. Vitamin-A is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in vitamin-A is known to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
  • It is also rich in anti-oxidant flavonoids like lycopene, beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and cryptoxanthin. These antioxidants are found to offer protection against colon, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers. Phyto-chemicals present in watermelon like lycopene and carotenoids have the ability to help protect cells and other structures in the body from oxygen-free radicals. 
  • Watermelon is an excellent source of carotenoid pigment, lycopene and indeed, superior to raw red tomato. 100 g of fresh melon provides 4532 µg lycopene, whereas only 2573 µg in tomatoes. Studies suggest that lycopene offer certain protection to skin from harmful UV rays.
  • Watermelon fruit is a good source of potassium; Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure; It thus offers protection against stroke and coronary heart diseases.
  • Furthermore, it contains a good amount of vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), thiamin (vitamin B-1), vitamin-C, and manganese. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase.
  • Total measured antioxidant strength (ORAC value) of watermelon is 142 µmol TE/100 g.

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