Blenders are usually best for smoothies, they make the process so quick and easy, plus you can add yogurt, bananas, avocados, powders such as spirulina and more. Yesterday I picked up some cantaloupes from the grocery store. Here is the smoothie I made with it this morning.

Cantaloupe Smoothie

1/4 quarter cantaloupe, seeded and cubed

1 banana, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

splash of orange juice

1/2 Tablespoon ground flax seed

optional – ice cubes

Place all in blender and blend until smooth.  This makes one serving.

Share and Enjoy:

]]> http://myjuicecleanse.com/smoothies/cantaloupe-smoothie-love/feed/ 0 http://myjuicecleanse.com/smoothies/cantaloupe-smoothie-love/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MyJuiceCleanse/~3/M9HlWCIH9Zc/ http://myjuicecleanse.com/guest-post/5-reasons-you-should-juice-beetroot/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:26:59 +0000 my juice cleanse http://myjuicecleanse.com/?p=336 Guest post by John McIntyre

When it comes to juicing, pretty much all fruits and vegetables are superb. When you add up the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients and all the other good thing that take refuge in fresh produce, you end up with a powerful and super-nutritious drink.

If you’re new to juicing, you’ve probably had a lot of fun juicing fruits and (if you’re a little adventurous) perhaps a few vegetables. But I’ve got to tell you – vegetables are where it’s at!

Fruits are often high in sugar so while nutritious aren’t the perfect thing to juice too much. This is where vegetables come in. They are very low on sugar and very high on health-charging and vitality increasing nutrients.

And of the vegetables you can juice, beetroot stands out like nothing else. If you haven’t started juicing beetroot yet, then here are five massive reasons why you can’t wait any longer.

1. Beetroot cools and purifies the blood.

2000 years ago the Romans caught onto the healing power of beetroot and its nutritious juice. They discovered that it had a super powerful ability to cool and purify the blood. This is due to the iron it’s bursting with (you’ll hear more about this below).

After a glass of beetroot juice, minerals and natural sugars surge into your blood and make you feel amazing. If I pay attention I can feel it in under five minutes.

2. Beetroot is a potent liver cleanser.

When your liver is blocked, dirty and otherwise not performing well you feel like crap. It saps your energy, can make you feel tired and has serious health complications if left unchecked.

At the other end of the spectrum, a clean and healthy liver will make you feel amazing. It’s not something which will sit in the background; instead, it’s like being hit with a massive energy and vitality boost.

And if you’re the sort that likes to drink lots of alcohol, beetroot juice is even more important.

3. Beetroot kick starts your digestive system.

When your digestive system is running on empty, it doesn’t do you any favors. You’re much more likely to put on weight as your body won’t be processing food properly.

And any food you do put in (no matter how good) will probably be wasted. If your digestive system is tired, it’s going to have a hard time pulling nutrients out of the food you eat. But this is why juicing is so amazing. It takes out the digestive process and gives health-enriching nutrients to the body in an easy to digest form.

The great thing about beetroot juice is that while it is easily digested, it also steps your digestive system up a few levels. The carbohydrates and natural sugars will give your digestive system a healthy wakeup call.

4. Say goodbye to iron deficiency.

Iron is essential to maintaining a healthy immune system, energy production and also the successful operation of many enzymes. An iron deficiency typically results in low energy, ulcers, poor digestion, arthritis and a whole host of other problems. It’s best if you fix this problem quickly.

Fortunately, beetroot is filled to the brim with iron. It’s got more than spinach even! This means it’s going to smash right through any iron deficiency that you may have.

5. Beetroot eliminates cancer.

As with all fruits and vegetables, beetroot prevents cancer. It’s loaded with tough little antioxidants which are the body’s personal bodyguard unit. Their mission is to dispose and eliminate cancerous growths caused by free-radicals in the body. The more antioxidants you have, the stronger you’ll be when cancer knocks on your door.

As for recipe ideas, try beetroot, celery, grapefruit, lemon, ginger, cayenne pepper and turmeric. I call it the liver cleanser and yes, it does exactly what its title says it does.

So get into it – go juice some beetroot and feel amazing already.

About the author: John McIntyre is the resident juicer of Healthy-Juicing.com and is on a quest to help people with the immense power of juicing.

So what do your consume after your exercise routine?  Because of heavy media advertising, we’re conditioned to believe we must have a protein bar or shake.  Many of those are great and do provide nutrition.  But you don’t have to go out and buy a pre-packaged snack to get such nutrition.  Try fulfilling your body’s need the natural way.  Fruits and veggies contain simple sugars, carbohydrates, and amino acids that refuel your body and won’t weigh you down.  Green juices are especially rich in the vitamins and minerals you require.  Greens such as kale, spinach, celery, and cucumber can be juiced with an apple or carrot and some lemon or ginger.  It’s a quick, easy, and healthy snack.

Don’t just take my word for it.  Fitness expert Yuri Elkaim also suggests drinking green juices and smoothies post workout.  He makes the drink in the morning or just before going to the gym and has a quick punch of nutrition available exactly when he needs it.   Here’s Yuri talking about his routine.

Beets are members of the spinach and chard family.  The beetroot with it’s earthy taste and the bitter beet greens are high if folic acid and vitamins A, B, and C.  Also they contain potassium, calcium, betacyanin (antioxidant), calcium, copper, iron, iodine, manganese.

Because of the iron content beets are powerful blood purifiers.  This offers a multitude of health benefits and can improve the following conditions:

• constipation
• cancer
• anemia
• gallbladder and kidney ailments
• ulcers
• anemia

Detoxification

Beets and stimulate enzymes in the liver.   For this reason they give support to detoxification and fight cancer.  Juice cleanse recipes often utilize beet roots and greens for their detox qualities.

Heart Health

Beets create nitric oxide in the blood, which dilates blood vessels and thus lowers blood pressure.  Healthy HDL cholesterol is raised by the fiber contained in beets. (Remember that fiber is removed when juicing, so to include the benefits of fiber you must eat the vegetable in its whole form.)

Energy

Beets increase the oxygen in the blood by as much as 400%.  This provides you with energy and stamina.

Tip for Juicing Beets

It’s important to repeat that beets are powerful cleansers.  When beets are juiced, the fiber is removed but the sugars remain. The detox process may be rapid and may cause you to become light-headed and experience detox symptoms.  Drink plenty of water to help flush the toxins out.

Beets can be juiced with most any other vegetables.  For your first juice cleanse with beets, use only 1/4 beet in a recipe  to determine how your body will react.  Then add more accordingly.

More Information

Nutritional information on beets Nutrition Data

Beet Pigments May Help Prevent Cancer Report

Beetroot Therapy from Annie Appleseed Project

I do believe that juicing is one of the best and effective ways for assisting the detox process, however, if this seems too daunting for you at the moment, you might try making smoothies in the blender.  There are two main differences between smoothies and extracted juices.  First of course is the appliance.  If you have a blender you can make smoothies.  You already know how much clean up is required for a blender, and maybe you’ve made some fruit and yogurt smoothies, but try making a green smoothie with some fresh veggies.  Which brings me to the second difference between blending and juicing:  fiber.  Juicing removes all the fiber for a reason.  It eases the digestion because without the fiber, the juice is mostly absorbed into the bloodstream.  This is why juicing is better for a cleanse.

Smoothies are great, healthy additions to any diet and they can assist you greatly in making the transition into juicing and doing a juice cleanse.  I have both a blender and a juicer machine in my home and use both on a regular basis and I believe that all the costs and efforts involved are truly worthwhile.  Just as anything, after you add a new element to your lifestyle and make it a habit, the task seems easy and even enjoyable.  So what are you waiting for!