I know I’m not the most regular blogger but this time I really crossed the line! BUT, I had a good reason for that! And here it is:

Yes! I gave birth to my baby boy, so I simply didn’t have time to blog. I hope you forgive me But now, after a month and a half, we have our routines and I promise to be more frequent here.

Now more than ever I have to think about my health and about what I eat and drink. I need food that provides me enough calories and energy to go through the day. And baby asks for a lot of energy! Believe me, after a month my figure is exactly the same as it was before the pregnancy. It may be due to my good metabolism and to the fact that I got only 10kg during the pregnancy, but I also try to avoid all the chocolates and unhealthy snacks that my body asks for lately It is not easy sometimes, mostly due to the fact that you simply do not have time to prepare proper meal and a bag of chips would boost your energy, but I know that these “empty calories” won’t do me any good! I’d be hungry in a short period of time and I’ll have to add up more! Because of that, I constantly fill my refrigerator with bottles of fruit yoghurts, yoghurts with cereals, a lot of fresh fruits and veggies and when I need something to lift me up- I go for it! The only thing I can’t do without is my favorite chocolate bar, and I eat them really, really a lot! I’ve sinned, yes, I know but the good thing is that it doesn’t show and I hope it won’t show on my tummy, bottom and legs. But, here’s one good thing I am consuming very often these days:

100g broccoli,
100g kale,
25g parsley,
2 green apples, and
1 celery stick.

I mix and juice all these and when it is done, I add few ice cubes. It is really excellent snack, and if you want to lose weight- it can be your little breakfast in a glass!

Till my next post (‘till my baby’s next nap), stay healthy!

For today’s post I chose one called Karma Fruitra. It is full of vitamin C which is excellent option for these cold days, gives us energy and helps fight possible cold. Vitamin C is known as a fat-burning vitamin, so there’s one more reason for trying this recipe. Actually, it doesn’t literally burn out fats, but it enhances metabolic processes and speeds up the digestion.

Besides vitamin C, this drink contains natural and simple sugars, minerals and fibers; then it contains good levels of potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and manganese. And all these come from figs that you need for making Karma Fruitra.

But, to cut the long story short, I’ll give you the ingredients and then you try it out. I know you’ll like it.

1. ½ grapefruit
2. 2 fresh figs
3. ½ small orange
4. ½ lemon
5. ice cube- if you like
6. fig slices for decoration

Juice all the ingredients and then blend the mass with an ice cube to chill, and decorate it with fig slices, if you like. These ingredients are enough for 200ml of juice. In these wintry months I prefer adding a little bit of water instead of ice cube, because it is a little bit too cold for chill drinks.

Today I’m gonna give you a nice recipe for a soup made of eggs. A real protein bomb, easy to prepare and easy to digest, which means that it won’t bother your stomachs, which I find very important, cause some people do not eat eggs because of the digestive problems they can cause, and we know how much eggs are good for our health.

Eggs are excellent source of proteins and minerals and they must find their place in our daily menus. It is true that they are connected with the elevated levels of cholesterol in our bodies, but lately, there have been carried out numerous researches that proved that if we take in more cholesterol than we need- our bodies accommodate by producing less of it. I’m not sure this is 100% true, I’m not a doctor, I just tell you what I’ve read, so my advice is to be careful with eggs! Recommended dose is 2 eggs a day. Egg yolk is good for eyesight. It is full of antioxidants that improve eyesight and protect eyes from UV rays. Also, eggs contain “memory vitamin” choline that aids brain function and enhances thinking process and memory.

After these few words of health benefits of eggs, let’s get to my recipe. These ingredients are enough for 4 persons to eat.

1. Take 3 chicken eggs and hard-boil them and then let them to cool.
2. 2-3 smaller carrots; clean and grate them finely.
3. Put a spoon or two of oil in your pan, heat it and then add a little flour and butter and mix it. I do it just like when I make béchamel sauce. I just add water in it instead of milk, because that way I save calories and the soup does not lose any of its taste. Add salt according to your taste but keep in mind that this soup doesn’t have to be salty; it is supposed to be creamy, and just a bit sour.
4. While this “white sauce” is cooking on medium heat, take the egg yolks aside because you’ll need them later, and slice egg whites finely. I slice them just like I slice white button mushrooms- very, very thinly. Now that I mentioned them, you can put 4-5 of those mushrooms, also finely sliced, in this soup. They go excellent with eggs, and give that creamy taste to the soup. When you have sliced the ingredients, add them in the soup, add grated carrots and cook for about 15-20min on medium heat.
5. When the soup is cooked, put it aside to cool off a little. I usually let it to cool off for about 15min to half an hour, depending on time I have.
6. After the soup cooled, mix egg yolks with 200g of cream, I use the one that’s made out of 12% milk fat. When you get a creamy, no-lumps mixture, stir it slowly into the soup.
7. At the end, add a little parsley in it, and your soup is ready to be served.

It goes excellent with chicken-meat meals, but it’s your choice what you’ll combine with it.

Extra tip is to add a little white pepper and nutmeg in it- I love this combination. With or without these spices, enjoy this excellent, super healthy soup!

There are times when we feel bad for not exercising, but we simply do not have energy for that. Either we are tired of work, school, kids, household activities… so we usually skip our training. But that’s not doing us any good. It is much better to go for a simple walk than to skip “that one training” and promise ourselves that we’ll double our next training! We all know this is a futile promise!

So, do not do this next time you are exhausted and unable to exercise. Instead, listen to those few advices and numbers I’m presenting you; they’ll tell you what it means for your health and looks!

• 2 km of speed walking will burn out about 420 kcal
• 3 km of regular walking each day reduces risk from heart diseases for about 30%
• 20 min of speed walking activates enzymes that burn out fats from our organism
• 30 min of regular walking every day will prolong our life for about 1.3 years
• 35 min of speed walking lowers high blood pressure for 15%
• 45 min of regular walking elevates the level of hemoglobin for 3%
• And for the end- to cross 600m, you need to make 2.000 steps! Wow! It sounds impossible, but this is easier done than said

Till my next post, just keep on walking

Those who run regularly claim that when you feel the beauty of it, you never cease your recreation. I’m not particularly mad about running although I go running from time to time, but I can assure you it’s the case with any type of recreation. When you start practicing something, and when it comes under your skin and in your veins, you cannot skip a single training without sense of being lazy, or regretting for skipping it. It’s my case, and I know it from the experiences of my sister and my friends who practice on a regular basis.

The first thing anybody has to do is to decide on his own exercising tempo. It is important because, doing this, you’ll be saving your energy and you won’t feel fatigued after the first few minutes of your training. For example, if you plan to run for 5 km, keep in mind to run slowly when you start, in this case- to run in slower pace fist 3 km. I’m telling this because the most people when they start running- run fast at the beginning because they are full of energy, and then they- stop! They lose their energy in the first ½ or 1/3 of their route, and they simply walk till the end of the route. I did it myself when I started exercising! Planning the speed of your exercising, you’ll be able to finish your route without pausing. Other things that “save” our energy during running are:

• keeping the body straightened (your shoulders, head, neck…),
• running on the tips of your toes, body slightly leaned forwards,
• running in small steps,
• and above all- breathing! I don’t have a definition of regular breathing technique so I’ll tell you my opinion- every man or woman has his/her own breathing technique and nobody else can tell you which is the best technique for you. Inhale through nose, and exhale through mouth- that’s the basic rule, but how often or how deep- it’s up to you to decide.

On the benefits of running I already wrote, and I know that everybody know which are the benefits. To mention some of them- it lowers high blood pressure, strengthens our bones and muscles, it burns extra calories and fats from our bodies, it enhances our cardiovascular systems and overall health. Also, it helps against stress, fatigue, insomnia and tension.

Irregular running technique can be as bad as not running and not exercising at all. It can lead to serious injuries, therefore, before you go for run- do the warming-up and stretching after the exercising.

You remember that book I mentioned you some time ago? You know- the one with smoothies’ recipes? Well, I must add that I am more and more thrilled with it. The more I try out, the more I am in love with it Not one taste I tried was bad, not at all. Such combination, tastes, colors… everything in the book is designed to thrill you. This is one of the numerous smoothies I tried lately, and I simply love it! The first time I made it instead of my dinner, we had late lunch so I wasn’t really hungry, and yet I had to eat something that won’t be too strong. And jumping Jack seemed the right solution. When I tasted it… nothing could compare to it

This is how you will make it:

• 2 very ripe bananas,
• 400 ml soya milk,
• 40 g ground almonds,
• pinch of ground cinnamon,
• and optionally- a little honey.

Slice the bananas and freeze them for at least 2 hrs or overnight. When cooled, put bananas, soya milk, ground almonds and cinnamon in your blender, add honey (if using it) and process until thick and frothy. Pour into glasses, add a couple of ice cubes and decorate with a little cinnamon and ground almonds.

The other version of it is warm. This is my own version, and for this version you need not cool bananas. Instead, use room-temperature warm bananas, and warm milk, plus a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg I am crazy about nutmegs and I use them wherever and whenever I can- in salty, as well as in sweet meals. So, simply mix those ingredients, and thus you’ll get nice, warm drink that’ll put you to sleep very quickly. Normally, you do not need ice cubes for the warmer version of Jumping Jack.

These ingredients will give you about 600 ml of this drink.

Here’s what you need for it:

• a can of tuna fish (I do not use the oil to save calories, and because there is oil in the recipe itself, so…);
• about 10 black olives;
• a clove of garlic;
• and spices : rosemary, basil, oregano… actually, whatever is your favorite, you can add in this paste;
• lemon juice, freshly squeezed;
• a spoon or two of mustard; and
• a spoon of olive oil, extra virgin.

Put all the ingredients in blender and mix it until smooth. Then, put it in the fridge for few minutes to cool, but you can eat it immediately if you like.

My advice is to eat it for breakfast as a paste. I eat it with integral buns and I usually drink lemonade with it. It gives me enough energy, it is flavorsome and above all- it is easy-prepared, light and healthy meal. Hope you’ll try it!

If vegetarianism and their beliefs were the theme, I could understand, but to claim this, in general… no! Are they aware how many teens are watching TV, and how many of them may include these “rules” and harm their health? Is it possible that none of medical advices were included? No warning that this way health can be seriously damaged!

Had they approved of fish, I could understand, but not even fish. And we all know that fish is extremely important and healthy. First of all, it is full of nutrients, minerals, vitamins, proteins, and omega-3s. Omega 3s are extremely important for our organisms, which I mentioned in my earlier posts, and if we do not take them in, our organism won’t produce them because it can’t. They are extremely important for cardiovascular system, and for many other issues- they are good prevention against too strong sunlight, then, they are proved to prevent asthma in children, as a prevention against some types of cancer, they lower risks of leukemia, they are excellent antioxidants… should I continue?

I like best white-fish, but I like others, too. For example, tuna is also on the top of my list. It is full of numerous nutrients, such as high-quality proteins, minerals- selenium, magnesium, potassium; then, it contains vitamins B1 and B6, as well as omega 3s. There are a lot of recipes and meals that are extremely easy to prepare, and give us all we need in a meal. I gave few recipes with fish meat on my blog earlier, and I’ll be giving many more in future. Maybe later this day, too… Till some next recipe, think of this theme. Could you really do without meat and fish, without fear that you’ll harm yourselves?

Few days ago, my husband and I bought this fantastic book of smoothies’ recipes, and now I am trying out recipes and combinations I have never before. This one that I tried, tastes great, so I had to tell you ‘bout it. It is called “bionic tonic” and for its preparation you’ll need:

• 1 large banana
• 1 large ripe mango
• 150g natural yoghurt
• 300ml pineapple juice

These ingredients will give you 600ml of smoothie, so you’ll have 3-4 portions of it. Enough for a whole day, or for your whole family, it’s up to you

And this is how you’ll prepare it: slice the banana and roughly chop the mango flesh. Freeze for at least 2 hrs or overnight. Place the frozen mixture in a blender with the yoghurt and pineapple juice and process until smooth. If you like, you can decorate it with pineapple chunks.

Hope you’ll like it as much as I did. Be sure I’ll be informing you about new tastes that I’m about to discover.

Numerous researches find that whole grains may lower the risks of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity. One study found that people who eat three or more servings of whole grains a day had approximately a 30 percent lower risk of having metabolic syndrome, a condition that increases risk of diabetes and heart disease. And according to several studies in the United States, Finland, and Norway, people who eat large amounts of whole grains have significantly lower rates of heart disease than those who don’t. Whole-grain noodles don’t lose their bran and germ during processing. Bran, the outer skin of a whole grain, and the germ (embryo of the grain) carry considerable healthful fats, proteins, antioxidants, B vitamins, minerals, and fiber. One of these minerals, magnesium, increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin, which may help to lower the risk of diabetes. And dietary vitamin E and fiber may reduce the risk of heart disease. Plus, high-fiber diets might drive down harmful glucose, insulin, and fat levels in the blood.  Also, my dear ladies, fibers are proved to be kind to our waistlines!

And here’s what you need for the recipe (for four persons):

1. 350g of your favorite pasta,
2. 1 can of tuna fish, drained,
3. cherry tomatoes that you’ll split on halves (the amount depends on how much you like it),
4. red, hot pepper- if you wish, not necessary,
5. lime skin, that you’ll grate over this salad,
6. and usual spices- salt, black pepper, a handful of basil leaves, chopped, as well as a handful of chopped coriander leaves, and extra-virgin olive oil.

And here’s the way to make it: cook the pasta in salt water, and then drain it and put in a big salad bowl. Add the drained tuna, halves of cherry tomatoes and grate over it lime skin. I like to add red hot pepper in this salad, but you can skip it if you don’t like hot stuffs. Add salt, pepper, basil and coriander leaves, and on top of it- extra virgin olive oil. I tried to skip the oil, it is not bad either, but oil gives this special taste to the salad, so I vote for oiling your salads, I already told you that it won’t do you harm.