NATURE'S BEST:SMOOTHIE RECIPE USING SPINACH

I have been reading lots of nutrition books lately and I must say I respect my body a lot now. I am more careful about what I throw in my mouth and I have doubled my vegetable and fruit intake. One thing I have noticed with many people, especially those of us who exercise a lot, we tend to think that exercise is an excuse to eat junk. You are wrong if you think so. Your diet is just as important and you cannot cheat for too long. A bad diet will surely tell on you.

One of my holiday project is to make as many smoothie recipes as I can and this is one of them. I call it "Banich" and you'll know why in a minute. I used four ingredients: a handful of spinach, 1 large cucumber, 4 small bananas and 1/2 of a small pineapple. I had this early in the morning and it was absolutely delicious. It also helped with bowel movement. I definitely would be trying this again.

To prepare, rinse the ingredients, chop them into small pieces and blend them one after the other. I started with the spinach, then bananas, pineapple and I added the cucumbers last. I also blended my cucumbers with the skin and seed, but you may opt to take these off.

Have fun and please share your smoothie recipe.

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NUTRITIONAL/HEALTH BENEFITS OF PLANTAINS

P lantains are widely eaten in West Africa. Plantains are similar to bananas but larger in size. While bananas are termed fruits, plantains are vegetables. Bananas are mostly eating raw, while plantains are usually cooked before consumption. Plantains can be eaten unripe, ripen or over-ripe. When unripe, plantains are usually green in colour, when ripen, they turn yellow. In Nigeria, for example, unripe plantains are usually used to cook plantain porridge, ripe plantains are mostly fried and used as a supplement to main dishes like rice and beans. Over-ripe plantains are used to make snacks like plantain fritters.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF LIME AND HONEY

L ime and Honey are two must haves in my house. I use honey as a substitute for white sugar. I remember a friend of mine visited me once and she wanted to drink garri (drinking garri is local to Nigerians, i.e. eating dried cassava with cold water as opposed to hot water), she was astonished when I told her to use honey to sweeten her garri. I'm not a tea person, but my parents are, and a cup of tea for them is not complete without limes.

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF ZOBO/SORREL DRINK

z obo/sorrel was a must have during family gatherings. As children, we loved drinking it, not only because of how nice it tasted, but also because it coloured our lips and tongues red. Zobo (Nigerian) or Sorrel (Jamaican) is a red coloured drink made from a flower called Hibiscus sabdariffa. The sorrel plant contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, calcium, niacin, riboflavin and a group of compounds called flavonoids. Flavanoids not only gives the sorrel plant its deep red colour, but, are also rich in antioxidants which rids the body of toxins. The sorrel plant also contains nutraceleuticals, which are said to be helpful to the health. Nutraceleuticals can help prevent and treat several diseases including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer.

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