More reasons to drink homemade smoothies

When you drink a homemade smoothie, you can be sure what ingredients you have to best improve your health, without the added sugar from a smoothie cafes that use ice cream or sherbets, or the disintegration of nutrients from ones sitting on the shelf at the grocery store.

Most of us don't get enough servings of fruits and veggies in our diet - which why I encourage my nutrition/weight loss students to focus on to get the fiber from fruits and veggies to help flatten their belly from the inside out! Now, I'm excited to share with you more reasons why smoothies can give you ENERGY -- at the cellular level, besides the usual vitamins and antioxidants you might already know about.

Now, I was reading about CoQ10 for getting energy to mitochondria and found that it has an anti-aging buddy PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) that can help build new mitochondria. For the nerds out there, you can click on the Journal link below and I dare you to try to say the full words PQQ and CoQ10 correctly as fast as you can. So from here on, because it's a tongue-twister for me, we'll just refer to it as P-Q-Q. For everyone else, just know that CoQ10 is great for your heart and tissues (helps decrease my chances of bleeding gums when flossing), and PQQ studies can help improve brain function (especially important for those who have family history of Alzheimers, Parkinsons or dementia etc).

So for those with low attention span, I'll give you some recipe ideas here that will help get the energy boosting foods on the PQQ common foods list from the Biochem Journal now.

I promise that uncooked spinach in a smoothie does not have a flavor or the hairy teeth effect of some cooked spinach. Also, using frozen fruit allows you to get the cool taste for a summer smoothie without adding ice or sugary sorbets.

Kiwi Energy smoothie (If you don't mind seedy taste from the kiwis)
1 generous handful of spinach, 2 peeled and cut-up kiwis, 1 cup frozen organic blueberries (berries are less expensive frozen!), 1 tbls coconut oil, 4-8 oz of coconut water or almond milk (place first 5 ingredients to blend) then stir in 1 tbl of chia seeds for added fiber and omega-3. Optional flavors to add: fresh mint leaves. Optional to boost digestive health: blend in flavorless aloe powder (1 packet). You can omit coconut oil (good fats!) if you don't like coconut taste.

Banana Fanatics smoothie (for those who want the creamy tropical taste or don't like seeds)
1 generous handful of spinach, 1 banana, 1/2 cup frozen or fresh papaya, 1/2 a medium apple, 1 tbls coconut oil, 4-8 oz of coconut water or almond milk. Blend these 6 ingredients. If you like seeds texture, then add 1tbl of chia seeds for added fiber and omega-3. Optional to boost digestive health: blend in flavorless aloe powder (1 packet). If you like cinnamon, sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon (healthy blood sugar support without added sweet calories) into your smoothie for a hint of banana bread flavor.

Savory side dish energy boost
Slice up sweet potatoes and carrots, mix in bowl with crushed garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Roast in oven or sautee in pan on medium-low until desired texture. Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley when root veggies are ready. This is good to make in a big batch because once made, they sit well in the fridge for quick snacking or adding as a side to a quick meal.

Secrets of strawberries

A good friend of mine got me addicted to Harry's Berries when I first moved to LA and I'm a devoted follower ever since. You see, I've been spoiled and can't eat any commercial strawberries anymore, especially not the big genetically modified ones. Conventional strawberries have high pesticide load and please remember to buy organic for this fruit (See the "Dirty Dozen" list from the Environmental Working Group). Other strawberries just don't have the fragrance and texture of home-grown strawberries I remember from my youth, and Harry's Berries is just as good as a home-grown strawberry because they fresh-pick it that morning before it comes to market!

As much as I love the Hollywood Farmer's market on Sunday, it's sometimes too large (I can get easily distracted by all the stands) and too much competition to get to the market early enough before it's sold out. So if you can squeak in a weekday morning farmer's market run, I do better by getting to the Monday West Hollywood market (click on the link to find out where you can get Harry's Berries near you in LA area), and the secret to getting your hands on these strawberries is getting there just after 9am (to get parking and avoid street cleaning between 8am-9am on Fountain) and you need to get there before 11:30am (it's usually when they sell out). Please say hi to Alex who greets you at the stand. If you want recipes, they have a few recipes on their website, but I can't bear to modify these beauteous tasty strawberries. I think they are perfect in their raw beauty.

And if you're in search of more summer fruits, please check out the Nicholas Family Farms stand at Larchmont Market, where you can get plums, grapes, peaches and more. You can ask Penny or one of her daughters what their favorite fruit of the week is so that you can find out what is at the peak of the season. California cherries have a short season, but I found organic cherries at Vons supermarket this past week. The bonus of finding great strawberries and summer fruit is that I don't really need dessert when I have a tasty supply of yummy fruit packed full of antioxidants waiting for me. Do you have some other great finds? Please share! Happy hunting for summer fruits!

Quinoa pizazz

I've been challenged with how to best prepare quinoa in a way that is easy on my palette. As adventurous as I am in trying new foods, the only way for me to keep eating the healthy foods is to find a way that I actually like it! So I've been trying different quinoa salads at different restaurants and cafes, and decided that it's best to go with Mediterranean flavoring, as if you were playing with quinoa the way you would with couscous. So this past weekend, I made quinoa salad 2-ways. I cooked 1-cup of quinoa (measure 1 cup dry) and did 1/3 with a kale salad, and the bulk of it for this cucumber quinoa salad.

Cucumber quinoa salad - Mediterranean style
2/3 cup (measured dry) red quinoa cooked in rice cooker (you might need to cook in 2 cycles, because the auto-cook function doesn't cook it soft enough)
3 persian cucumbers chopped small
1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 handful of fresh mint leaves
1/2 lemon, squeeze the juice
salt, fresh pepper, and olive oil to taste

Serves 2 generously, or serve 4 as a side dish.

A great summer recipe that doesn't require much cooking except pressing the button for the rice cooker. The crunch of the cucumber and the pine nuts are a terrific blend for the nutty taste of the quinoa! Bon appetit!

Staying healthy on vacation

Do you know someone who tend to get sick or feel tired from vacation? Staying healthy on vacation is not the easiest thing. Getting back from a short beach vacation that also had some beautiful waterfalls (see photo), I'm so happy I used my optimal health strategies to help me stay healthy!

First, the plane ride can be stressful with the altitude changes, crammed seating, and the nerves of flying. And if you have time zone changes, that's more stress on trying to manage your sleep! (If you need help with sleep strategies, do a search on my blog for sleep). In addition to my normal optimal health nutrition, I brought my bottle of astaxanthin, one of the newer and super-powerful antioxidants. Have you thought about how much closer you are to the sun when you're flying? That's a greater amount of radiation exposure which can cause cellular damage known as free radical damage (and I feel it as tiredness and lower energy). Astaxanthin really helps me stay closer to optimal energy as I get through flights and time zones, with NO JET LAG! It also has great anti-aging properties and encourages healthy blood flow. Well, my feet tend to swell uncomfortably on flights and I had hardly any swelling on this trip, as I've been regularly taking my astaxanthin almost every day for the past 8 months. I'm pleased to report my skin recovered faster from my mosquito bites than my old self and my traveling companion who had not been taking astaxanthin regularly. Read more about the reasons to take this super antioxidant here.

I was careful to bring a wide-brimmed sun-shading hat and put on my special sunscreen lotion. As Environmental Working Group has done some studies on safe sunscreen products, I prefer a zinc-based sunscreen, rather than the more conventional drugstore versions that have oxobenzone and other petrol products. I like Green Babie's Zinc sunscreen but you can choose any of the zinc-based sunscreens I found in the link. I think anything that's good for babies will be made with a higher safety standard and more gentle on my skin.

Even though I put on my sunscreen, I might have missed the window to leave the beach before noon when the sun is super strong, so I had a slightly pink and itch sunburn spot to my collarbone area. To combat sunburns or simply dry skin, I love my ultimate aloe gel! Not just any aloe gel, this one has emu oil which is usually expensive, squalene, and super-concentrated aloe. Immediate itch relief and the pinkness in my sunburn went away in just one day! (My results are unique to me and my body's responsiveness, but there is plenty of evidence in the science tabs of the links I've included.)

I also brought aloe powder and probiotics to keep away any grumpyness of traveler's tummy and a stronger immune system. No tummy problems at all on this trip! Success!

How to prioritize when to buy Organic

While fresh seasonal wild/organic fruits and veggies are the best option, it's not always the realistic option. Whether you're prioritizing due to time or budget, here are some quick strategies to help optimize your health more easily. It needs to be easy enough so that you'll actually implement your healthier choices into your day-to-day lifestyle.

1) The freezer section has great options like Wild Boreal Blueberries, Organic Strawberries, Green Beans. And for some fruits and veggies, you don't need to prioritize them to be organic or wild. Having a stock of fruits and veggies on hand in your freezer increases your chance of more servings. And often, the frozen versions are great quality and a very positive option when you just haven't gotten to your grocery shopping!

2) If you went to the Farmer's Market and got overzealous and can't finish up your portions before it goes bad, package your fruits and veggies while they are still good and put them in the freezer for a different day! You might put the fruit in a smoothie, or the veggies in an egg scramble or mixed veggie sautee, and you will save yourself from wasting your Farmer's Market finds.

3) Prioritize buying organic for the "Dirty Dozen" list and go ahead and buy the conventional varieties from the "Least Contaminated" list.

This list below is known as the "Dirty Dozen" that you should avoid buying conventional and prioritize to buy Organic. According to the Environmental Working Group, common growing practices make these crops the most likely to contain pesticide residues:
Apples
Peaches
Bell Peppers
Pears
Celery
Potatoes
Cherries
Raspberries
Imported Grapes
Spinach
Nectarines
Strawberries

If organic produce is cutting into your overall budget, it's okay to prioritize a bit and use non-organic varieties of the fruits and vegetables listed below, which tend to contain the least amount of pesticides. You should still make it a habit to wash them thoroughly before eating or cooking to remove dirt and bacteria. According to the Environmental Working Group, these are the least contaminated fruits and vegetables.
Asparagus
Kiwi
Avocados
Mangos
Bananas
Onions
Broccoli
Papaya
Cauliflower
Pineapples
Corn (sweet, frozen)
Peas (sweet, frozen)

photo credit: Omer Kamran