Posts Tagged ‘anti-oxidant’

How Dumb am I ?

Monday, April 5th, 2010

On Good Friday I met up with my brother at the bottom of the Puketapu hill in Taradale for a training ride. Both of us are keen amateur riders and we are in training for a ride in May  from Rotorua to Whakatane which is 90 km with a lot of hills.

I am also riding in the Hawkes Bay ” Girls on Bikes” 65 km Ride on the 11 April. Getting out and doing lots of hill work is our main goal.

The ride we did was 38 km with approximately 20 of them being hills. My brother is carrying some extra kilos and is a bit slower on the hills than I am and I usually leave him far behind.  I had a raw soaked muesli for breakfast and it was only about 20 minutes before I started the ride.

What a big mistake that was, I was only a couple of metres a head of him on the first hill and was struggling, this is when I realized that I should have had a green smoothie instead of the muesli.

About 20 minutes later I was heading up the big big hill on Puketitiri Rd and I had finally digested the oats, I got the energy I needed to get up this hill.

This isn’t rocket science but it took me this experience to learn that you don’t eat too soon before exercise and food choice is paramount. Raw oats are great for giving sustained energy but the digestive system needs time to process them for that energy release, where a green smoothie will hit the blood stream in five minutes.

Now if I had a cooked breakfast then I would’ve been in bigger trouble as 84% of nutrition would be lost during the cooking or processing of the food. Raw food is definitely better.

I usually go for my ride very early in the morning and don’t eat before I exercise, so this occasion was different. We headed out at 9 am and I needed to eat before we left.

Although I had a raw breakfast it just wasn’t the best choice before a ride.

As I was climbing up the second even bigger hill on that road I was thinking about how I was going to tell everyone on my blog “how dumb am I” by my choice of breakfast.

I also was thinking about the high I get at the top and feel the adrenaline rush going down the other side. This motivates me to keep going even though you feel that it is never going to end.

I definitely get a natural high from the exertion required to cycle up steep hills. I’m sure that my success at achieving my fitness goals is due to the living foods that I eat and the anti-oxidants that I take.

I’m not a fan of synthetic supplements and I don’t take too many as a rule but the ones I take are always natural and only when I am unable to get what I need in my diet.

On that day I had taken 5 capsules of Lifestream Recovery, in my water bottles I had Concentrated mineral drops and Elite electrolytes. I don’t like sports drinks that contain enormous amounts for sugar and no magnesium for muscle recovery. Just pure electrolytes and minerals are the best way to go.

I don’t normally promote products on my blog but I just have to sing the praise of the Lifestream Recovery. It contains Spirulina, Astaxanthin and Blackcurrant. It is a completely natural product and is fantastic for muscle recovery as well as giving you sustained energy.

With this product you can train day after day and not suffer muscle fatigue.

This was a hard ride and took me 1 hour 50 minutes on Friday which is 5 minutes better than the last time. My brother was ten minutes behind me. Once I got my energy levels back I left him far behind.

I am encouraging my brother to get into more green smoothies to help him loose the extra few kilos, when he gets this off I had better look out he will be powering past me.

Basic Green Smoothie (for one)

1 apple

1 kiwifruit

1 banana

200 ml of water

1 ½ cups of fresh well washed spinach (or any other dark leafy green vegetable)

2 pitted dates (optional)

Peel and chop kiwifruit, banana and apple, place with the rest of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy.

Canadian Oats

¾ cup whole oats (rolled oats have been heat treated)

chopped raw nuts of your choice

raisins and or dried apricots chopped.

sunflower seeds.

½ cup liquid (water, orange or any fresh fruit juice)

The night before take a 3/4 cup of oats and place in a container.  Add chopped nuts of your choice, raisins and or dried apricots, and sunflower seeds.  Mix together, then add liquid, about half a cup should be enough so that it is moist and the liquid is visible place a lunch plate on top.  Then put it in the fridge overnight, eat with yoghurt and fresh fruit or on its own. Single serve.

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The Humble Raw Beetroot Food or Medicine

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Today I would like to tell you about the benefits of the humble beetroot.

Beetroot heralds as one of the top cases for “Food be our Medicine”

In Juice, salad or soup, the beetroot  is an important part of any health regime.

Hippocrates advocated the use of beet leaves as binding wounds. It has been used as an aphrodisiac and to treat fevers & constipation by the Romans. In the middle ages it was used to cleanse and strengthen the blood. The signature of nature tells us that the beetroot is good for the blood the beetroot bleeds dark red blood when cut.

Modern research shows the beetroot as a powerful medicine, beetroot juice can be very helpful in lowering blood pressure, drinking beet juice every day will keep your blood pressure down as well as cleanse the blood of toxins. It is good for the liver and aids in detoxification. Beetroot also has been used for many years as a cancer treatment, it contains specific anti-carcinogens which are bound in the red pigments helps fight against cancer. Beetroot is an anti-oxidant fighting the free-radicals and is anti-aging, It  increases the uptake of oxygen in your blood by as high as 400 % this in itself will increase energy.

This makes beetroot a super food and a  medicine. Eating it RAW is the best way to get the full nutrient value of this wonderful little dynamo of a vegetable. Beetroot is know as food for the bowels those suffering from constipation,  irritable bowel syndrome, crohns or just bloating eating raw beetroot juice or grated beets will get great benefits as it soothes and protects the bowel. The beet greens are also very nutrient rich they contain beta- carotene and other carotenoids these function as anti-oxidants. They also contain vitamin C, iron, potassium and folate.

So add some of the raw beet tops to a green salad or you can pop some in with your smoothes.

Beetroot is easy to grow they grow all year round and  like a sunny position with well drained soil.

The best way to eat beetroot is raw, here are just a few  ways to prepare the humble delicious beetroot.

Beetroot and Carrot Treat

  • 2 Small Beetroot scrubbed [no need to peel]
  • 1 Carrot
  • 1/4 cup of Goji Berries soaked for 30 min in small amount of water.
  • 1/2 tsp of Cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp of Coriander seeds
  • 2 tbs. of Flaxseed oil

Grate carrots and beetroot combine with soaked goji berries,

Mix flaxseed oil with seeds and pour over and mix well, chill or serve immediately. This is a winner, so yummy.

Variation: Try grating an apple instead of a carrot and add some raisins.

NB This keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days

Ginger Beets

  • 2 cups finely grated raw beets
  • 2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup [optional]
  • 1 Tbsp tamari
  • 1 tsp lemon juice

In a small bowl, combine the beets, ginger,maple syrup, tamari and lemon juice: toss.

Let the flavors blend for a few minutes before serving.

Beetroot Juice

  • 1 medium size raw beetroot.
  • 2 Medium size carrots
  • 2/3 sticks of celery [optional]
  • 1/2 cup of crushed ice [Optional]

Wash and or scrub all vegetables, juice in a juice extractor, and serve.

NB This should be consumed with in 12 hours of making for optimum nutrition

Beetroot Soup

  • 1 cup finely grated raw beets
  • 1 red pepper, cut in to chunks
  • 1/2 lemon peeled seeded and chopped
  • 1 Tbsp Nama Shoyu [ or tamari]
  • 1/3 cup raw tahini
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • Water

In a blender combine the red pepper, lemon, and nama shoyu blend until smooth.

Add the beets, blend.

Add the tahini, paprika and enough water to achieve desired consistency.

Yields approximately 1 1/2 cups.

This can also be a dressing or sauce.

Well I hope these 4 recipes will inspire you to include much more beetroot in you diet. There are many other ways of eating beetroot but I suggest that you eat it Raw.

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