Cucumber Lime & Lemon Infused Water

Water! Water! Water!

Are you drinking enough water?

Do you dislike the taste of water?

Infused water is a good way to get you drinking more water

Infuse your water with your favourite fruits and increase your water intake

Your body needs water or fluids to work properly and to avoid dehydration

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/water-drinks.aspx

Cucumber , Lime and Lemon Infused Water 

Cucumber , Lime and Lemon Infused Water 

My Healthy Lunch Prep for the Week - Part II

Happy Sunday Everyone!!

Last week I shared my lunch prep for the week.

If you missed the blogspot, have no fear! Here is the post
http://yems-smoothies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/my-healthy-lunch-prep-for-week.html

This week I will be sharing my lunch prep again. I would like to encourage to find time and make your packed lunch for a few days and see how you feel and like it?

In my humble opinion home made lunches are@

• Cost effective
• Fresh
• Healthier
• Hygienic
• Quality
• More productive
• And enables better time management

Here is my packed lunch for the week.

Salad Base Prep  - Salad leaves and sweetcorn

Salami Salad, Cod Fillet Salad, Sweet Potato & Vegetables & Frankfurter Salad

Salami Salad, Cod Fillet Salad, Sweet Potato & Vegetables & Frankfurter Salad

Salami Salad, Cod Fillet Salad, Sweet Potato & Vegetables & Frankfurter Salad

Have you decided to make a change and create time to start bringing lunch to work once or twice a week, or make a transition away from the office canteen food options? 

Try it and I can assure you that the results will be worth it.  
Do you bring your lunch to work? If so, what are your favourite things to bring?

Let me know in the comments box.

Have a lovely working week ahead.

Fruit Tips #3 Storing Your Fruits For Smoothies

Bananas, Raspberry, Strawberry & Sandwich bags

Bananas, Raspberry & Strawberry

Bananas, Raspberry & Strawberry

Bagged and ready to be frozen

 

Spinach frozen for green smoothies

Prep for mango, pineapple and banana to be frozen

Banana, Raspberry & Strawberry  Smoothie

                           

Fruit Tips #2

Here's the  #2 fruit tip sheet for this week.

Banana Facts

The Benefits Of Fruit

Anti Cancer Super Fruits

Apple Health Benefits and Tips

Nutritional Fruit Guide

Lemon and Grapefruit for glowing skin

Top water rich fruits

Feeling bloated, have a pineapple

Credit: Images sourced from all over the web

My Healthy Lunch Prep for the Week

I remember growing up my mum always made the kids packed lunch which consisted of an egg sandwich or a jam sandwich and some other bits, I loved jam sandwiches and hated the egg sandwiches but had no other choice than to eat it. Then we graduated to the school lunches which I can hardly recall what we were fed but I know we enjoyed it. ha-ha!!

It is very rare to come by a healthy lunch option of meals in the office canteen these days as they are more concerned about feeding the masses than the healthy options. From time to time you'll find the odd looking salad which quite frankly isn't up to par.

Nowadays the concept of lunch does not exist in our offices as we are likely to spend lunch at our desks stuffing down a dry cheese & pickle sandwich from the office canteen , topped up with some cheese & onion crisps washed down with a "so called diet coke or Dr Pepper", then a Mars bar for afters.

Many of us rarely have a break as we are in the middle of deadlines. Given all the above circumstances, how can you feel healthy and do your best at work when most of your lunch is enjoyed at your desk or not taken at all?

I have been a victim of my above narration and in the last two years I made a conscious decision and habit not to eat at my desk and also to bring in my own lunch. I have had the best meals which makes me feel healthy and ready to combat the pile of work plunked on my desk or the emails awaiting my attention. 

In my humble opinion home made lunches are :

• Cost effective 
• Fresh
• Healthier
• Hygienic
• Quality
• More productive
• And enables  better time management 

Lunch Prep for the week

My Lunch for this week consists of :

Monday:       Egg Salad

Tuesday:      Tuna Salad

Wednesday:  Salami & Sweet corn salad

Thursday:     Salmon & Corn on the corn Salad

Friday:         Noodle Salad

Spare:          Olive & pepper Salad

I get a lot of my ideas from the salad counter in the supermarkets and sometimes make them up with the contents of my fridge. The other day I went into Sainsburys and looked at their lunch menus and spotted the noodle salad for £3.40 and my home made noodle salad cost me less than that.

Tuna Salad, Egg Salad, Salami Salad and Noodle Salad

Mixed Salad with pomegranate, Olives, Peppers, Sweetcorn  & Salad Sweet Corn & Salmon

Egg  & Tomato Salad ,Tuna Salad, Noodle Salad  and Salami  Salad

Mixed Salad with pomegranate, Olives, Peppers, Sweetcorn  & Salad Sweet Corn & Salmon

Have you decided to make a change and create time to start bringing lunch to work once or twice a week, or make a transition away from the office canteen food options? 

Try it and I can assure you that the results will be worth it.  

Do you bring your lunch to work? If so, what are your favourite things to bring?

Let me know in the comments box.

Have a lovely day.

Fruit Infused Water

Happy Thursday!!

Water! Water! When I think of water I think of this bland substance in my mouth that continuously makes me run up and down like a puppet! ha ha!!

Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. Water flushes toxins out of your vital organs.

Read more about the benefits of drinking water

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4287/10-Reasons-Why-You-Should-Drink-More-Water.html

Let's be honest most people don't like the taste of water either and don't drink half of the recommended intake.Water they say is good for you and the recommended intake of water is 8 PINTS blimey!! I said it makes me run up and down like a puppet .. after 8 pints I might as well chain my self to the little girls room ha ha!!

In my very first post I talked about researching on how to drink  more water as I knew that water would aid me with my weight loss and one of the very many suggestions that came up was " Infused water". 

What is infused water? Well it's simply infusing your water with fruits, adding fruits to your water to derive a nice flavor to excite your taste buds ...that's my simple definition,it's nothing technical!

Infused water has become my favourite method to drinking lots of water. My fridge is filled with lemons, limes and cucumbers as I infuse my water with these fruits. Sometimes I infuse my water with berries, apples and any other fruit that I have in my fridge. I have gone through lots of bottles of water in the last few months thanks to the infused water method. When I don't drink water I feel thirsty and recognise that I need water.

My water intake in the last few months has increased

Jugs in my fridge with fruits

Lemon, Apples, Grapefruit, Cucumbers

Challenge yourself today to drink more water today!!

There are so many great sites that can help you with suggestion on how to infuse your water 

http://fruitinfusedwaters.com/

http://www.fruitinfusedwater.com/

http://www.zing-anything.co.uk/the-health-benefits-of-infusing-water-with-fruit/ 

Are you drinking enough water? 

Try infusing your water to aid you with your water intake.

Till  the next time ... Keep Smiling! Stay Healthy! Keep Fit! Stay Hydrated!

Tea Lovers

Happy Tuesday All,

How's everyone's day going ?

I hope the weather is nice and warm wherever you are! Sadly I can't say the same...but I'm hoping that the sun shines on us soon.

I'm taking a different  route on the blog today to talk about one of my loves which is TEA!!

Anyone fancy a cuppa?

We do love our tea in Good Old Blighty and  a cuppa tea seems to solve a lot of problems. Honestly it does ha ha!!

I am a  lover of many things including tea. I wanted to share this lovely tea that I recently received. Well when I say received I mean err pinched from my Sister. Yes, I am at it again . ...she bought the Kusmi Tea in a pack of 5 and I helped myself to two (green lemon green tea & strawberry green tea).

Aye the benefits of being the older sibling is that you can help yourself to anything you want ... I bet the middle kids wish they were the older siblings now, well it's too late now ..perhaps in another life time eh? ha ha!

Let me introduce you to " Kusmi Tea" . This tea is everything and really true to taste i.e  the strawberry actually tastes like strawberry and it has a lovely smell. I love green tea especially after overindulging in that delicious meal and I feel that I can no longer create space for more food.... green tea always come to my rescue.. 

I know a lot of people are not a big fan of green tea but this tea is different and the one thing I like about it is that you don't need to refill your mug with a tea bag all you need to do is refill your mug with hot water as the herbs are already in there.

With this tea no addition of honey is required,but if you want to then you can. This tea has a rich taste and blend of herbs ideal for breakfast, daytime or  bedtime. I find myself sipping on it most evenings after a long day and it's now my go to drink when I am studying in the evenings.

I have not been able to put it down, it sits right here next to my keyboard as I sip on it and type away most evenings. It's a great detox tea too.

Kusmi Detox Tea

Beautiful packaging that can fit in your handbag :-)

To me tea has so many benefits

• It's a great detox
• If you are too heated, it will cool you;
• If you are too cold, it will warm you;
• If you are sad, it will cheer you up;
• If you are excited, it will calm you.

Rich Herbs - A little goes a long way

Voila ... one sip and you'll feel relaxed.

Good Ol' tea eh!

Read more about Kusmi Tea http://en.kusmitea.com/

Make your self a cuppa and enjoy!!

Breakfast:The Most Important Meal Of The Day!

Good Morning,

Breakfast is the the most important meal of the day.
It is the first meal of the day after the night you have gone to sleep.

Let's think about this for a second? 
You have gone to bed, the food you ate the night before has digested and then you wake up the next day on an empty stomach and skip breakfast. *puzzled face*

Eating breakfast regularly can speed up your metabolism in the morning  and can help you control your weight. Always make sure you have breakfast, don't skip it! 

Often people who skip breakfast tend to have a big lunch to make up for missing breakfast, this is not good practice.

I always have breakfast in the morning, even when I am in a hurry, I'll have it on the go in form of a morning smoothie.


Ingredients

• oats
• raspberries
• strawberries
• pomegranates

Pomegranate seeds, Raspberry and Strawberry

If you do not have the above fruits in your fridge you can add other fruits to your porridge/oats such as grapes, dried raisins, apples, nuts, kiwis, peeled oranges,sliced bananas and lots more. 

Check out the other breakfast porridge on the blog

http://yems-smoothies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/porridge-and-fruit-for-breakfast.html

Have a lovely morning and remember to have breakfast!!

Guess where I went today ?

Ha ha!! The fruit market stall of course ...where else?

I bet you all thought It was somewhere exotic ...well yes I guess you can say the fruit market stall is exotic as it's the place to find lovely exotic fruits and vegetables on display ha ha!!

If you recall last week on the blog I talked passionately about my preference when it came to fruits and vegetables shopping, my love for the fruit market stalls coupled with the greats bargains that were always on offer.

Sadly, my favourite market fruit trader George, wasn't on his fruit stall today so I roamed around the market for some serious bargains and as usual I came up trumps.

I got a variety of lovely fruits which included 

• A bowl of 6 pink lady apples for £1
• 2 bowls of blackberries for £1
• 4 Spring onions for £1
• 6 Apricots for £1
• 3 plantains for £1 ( I wasn't happy with this purchase as George sells it to me for at 4 for £1)
• 10 plums for £1
• 3 branches of spinach for £1 
• 2 packs of strawberries for £1 and lots more. 

See for yourself picture below-

Fruit Market Bargains

I was very excited about the blackberries as they were delicious, ripe and dripping with red juice, I immediately made a two-berry smoothie with some apricots.

Two-Berry & Apricot Smoothie

You might already be aware that I rarely use ice cubes in my smoothies and as I always say " ditch the ice and freeze your fruits". So as I unpacked the fruits from the bag, they were washed, bagged and dumped in the freezer. This will last me a good couple of weeks till I go back to the market in a fortnight or so .

Till the next time...keep calm and have a smoothie.

Let's talk about Avocados

Is avocado a fruit or vegetable? The jury is still out on that one haha!!

I will admit that Avocado was never a fruit that I  liked and I know of a few people who do not like it.

Thinking back to the first time I had an avocado it was in my salad and I picked it all out muttering to myself what is this horrible green thing in my salad, I couldn't stand the taste.

But in 2013 a friend of mine invited me round to hers for lunch and made Avocado soup. As I sipped a few spoons of my green soup my mouth was lost in a familiar taste and I asked her what was in the soup and she said avocado....I was shocked because the soup tasted so rich and you'll never guess what we had for dessert ...Yep!Avocado cake! From that day onwards I was in love with avocado and started putting it in all my meals.

Did you know that there are more than 75 things you can do with avocados?  To mention a few-avocado margaritas,avocado pudding, avocado cake, avocado salad,avocado bread, avocado ice cream,avocado toast, avocado fries, avocado cake, avocado lettuce and the list goes on and on.

Nutritional breakdown of avocados

Healthy fats- fats account for around three quarters of the calorie count of an avocado.Most of it is monounsaturated fat, in the form of oleic acid. Monounsaturated fat is considered to be " good fat" which reduces levels of bad cholesterol in your blood and lowers your risk of stroke and heart disease.

Protein- an average avocado contains around 4 grams of protein, which is more than most
other fruits.

 

Sugar-avocados sugar content is low compared to other fruits. Half an avocado contains approximately 0.2g of sugar.

Vitamins and minerals-avocados are an excellent source of potassium(containing more weight than bananas). In addition avocados are rich in vitamins K and B.

Health Benefits of avocado

Apart from being an excellent source of fiber and vitamins, research suggests that there may be a number of other benefits associated with the fruit, including: lowering cholesterol levels, reducing the risk of  diabetes promoting lower body weight and preventing cancer.

After a week of following the avocado enriched diet the patients experienced a 22% decrease in bad cholesterol and triglyceride levels and an 11% increase in good cholesterol.

Risks and precautions

Despite being very rare, avocado allergies do exist. According to a case report published in the journal Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology, avocado allergies are associated with "coughing, wheezing, nasal stuffiness, generalised urticaria and periorbital edema".

It is important to consult your doctor if you begin to experience any unpleasant side effects after eating avocado.

Credit  :Medical NewsToday

Green Smoothie Benefits

Hello Smoothie Lovers,

Let's talk about Green smoothies and it's benefits.

I remember the first time I tried a green smoothie, I was petrified of how it would taste and blended a very small portion  but I will admit that once I tasted it I was hooked and I have been addicted to green smoothies ever since.

The truth is I have a green smoothie every morning before I go to work and it gears me up for the day and i must say it's very filling too.

My very first smoothie consisted of Kale, banana, apricot, aloverajuice  and dates which acted as a sweetener.

My First Green Smoothie

Benefits of Green Smoothies

Green smoothies have many health benefits  but here’s a brief introduction to the many advantages of drinking green smoothies on a daily basis:

1. Green smoothies offer pure nutrition. The amount of vitamins you’ll get depends on the fruits and vegetables you choose for the smoothie. However, most fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins A and C. Guava is also high in folate, while avocados provide high amounts of potassium and magnesium.

2. Green smoothies are much healthier than fruit or vegetable juices. When juices are extracted, you get vitamins and minerals but no fiber. However, smoothies are made using the whole fruit/vegetable, so you get all the fiber in your drink.

3. Green smoothies are a great way to eat your veggies without even realizing it. Although most people like fruit, many have trouble getting their daily requirement of veggies. When you make a green smoothie, the taste of the greens is hidden by the taste of the fruit, so you don’t even notice the veggies are there.

4. Green smoothies are easy and quick to make. The only equipment you need is a blender (and a pitcher if you make large amounts and need to store some in the fridge).

5. Homemade green smoothies are cheap. Buying smoothies at a juice bar can set you back as much as £4 a glass. At home, combining fruits and vegetables won’t cost you more than a few pounds. Drinking a glass every day will provide you with all the vitamins you need, a much cheaper (and more natural) option than buying multivitamins.

6. Green smoothies can be a good way to get kids to “eat” their vegetables. You might need to start with a higher proportion of fruit vs. vegetables (for example, 70/30 instead of the standard 60/40) until they get used to the flavor.

7. Green smoothies will provide you with a lasting source of energy. Fruits are a good source of energy, but eaten alone will only provide short bursts of energy (they contain lots of sugars, which are quickly metabolized). Because of their high content of veggies, green smoothies have a balanced sugar content.

8. Green smoothies are low in calories but very filling. Because they contain high amounts of water and fiber, they’ll make you feel as if you just ate a full meal. If you’re trying to lose weight, green smoothies will help fight hunger and cravings while helping the pounds melt off easier.

9. Green smoothies are easy to digest. Because they’re already blended and liquefied, smoothies are quicker to digest. After all, your body no longer needs to work so hard to “break down” the food in order to extract the nutrients. People who suffer from indigestion after eating a heavy meal will also benefit, as smoothies are filling but light.

10. Green smoothies will keep you hydrated. Although one should drink at least eight glasses of water a day, experts believe most people don’t drink even half that amount.

One of the reasons for that is that many people simply don’t like the taste of plain water. If that describes you, simply infuse your water with the fruits you love. For example I add sliced cucumbers, grapes and a slice of lemon to my water and allow it to chill and this makes the bland taste of water tasty and fruit flavored. Try this and you'll be drinking more liquids without even noticing it.

Challenge yourself to have a green smoothie today!!!

Start with small green vegetables such as Baby Spinach ,Cucumber,Lettuce,Avocado, Kiwi then add a banana or some dates to  act as a sweetner and let me know how you get on.

Till next time....

Happy Smoothies

Credits :VegKitchen