There are many reasons why you would choose to use a non-dairy alternative to cows’ milk in a smoothie or milkshake.  It may be as simple as that you prefer not to include too much dairy in your diet.  It may be for a medical reason, for example that you are lactose intolerant and that drinking cow’s milk gives you severe digestive symptoms.  This problem is becoming more common in 21st century living.  However, there are several excellent alternatives to cows’ milk that will make a delicious addition to any smoothie recipe and many can also be used as a replacement in cooking too.

Almond Milk
Making your own almond milk is very easy to do.  All you need is Almonds and Water in the ratio one part Almonds to four parts water.  Grind the Almonds and then add these to your smoothie maker or blender and whizz until smooth. The health benefits of Almonds are many and they are reputed to be the most healthy nut you can eat.  They contain calcium, magnesium, postassium, manganese and copper as well as being an excellent source of Vitamin E.

Coconut Milk
Coconut milk should be treated as cows’ milk once opened and kept in a refrigerator.  It has many health benefits, including being antibacterial and antiviral but the most interesting thing is that it contains Lauric Acid which is also a component of human breast milk and which promotes bone growth.  Coconut milk has a layer of cream on the top and you can either shake the container to mix the milk and the cream or separate the two, use the milk in your smoothie and use the cream for another recipe..

Hemp Milk
The benefits of drinking organic hemp milk are many including improved immune system, strong nails and hair and clear complexion.  It is an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.  It makes a great addition to any smoothie and is easily digested..

Rice Milk
Rice Milk is probably the least nutritious on the non dairy alternatives available because it is mainly carbohydrates, without the protein found in cows’ milk.  However, that being said, it does taste good in a smoothie and from this point of view it is a useful alternative to milk..

Soy Milk
There has been much in the news recently about whether soy products really do have the health benefits that have been claimed for them.  However, it is accepted that soy products (as opposed to soy supplements) are perfectly safe to consume and soy milk does have benefits for our bones because of the isoflavones, calcium and magnesium it contains.  Soy products can also be helpful to menopausal women because they do alleviate hot flashes..

I hope you will enjoy trying out these milks in your dairy alternative smoothies and maybe even develop new recipes of your own.

When good weather arrives, it is natural to migrate outside. Outdoor activities are not limited to sports.

Gardening is an outdoor hobby that has a lot of health and other benefits. Doing gardening on a regular basis is relaxing and effective in reducing stress, which can help cut down your risk of developing conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

Gardening is one of many great ways to get some daily exercise and improve fitness, as it involves a lot of physical activity such as digging, hoeing and harvesting.  And, of course, you can get a regular supply of healthy organic food from your garden. If you want to start gardening, here are some of the essential tools you need to have:

1. A spade for digging in loamy or sandy soil.
2. A garden fork for digging in stony and stodgy soil, as it is effective in breaking up clotted soil and spreading compost.
3. A long-handled shovel for heavier tasks such as shoveling gravel, soil and compost, as well as transplanting shrubs and small trees.
4. A long-handled hoe for weeding and cultivating soil.
5. A hand trowel for planting small plants and light weeding.
6. A rake for leveling the soil in preparation for sowing and planting.
7. A hand pruner for pruning shrubs and trimming stems.
8. A hand scoop for removing compost and potting soil from sacks.
9. A hand weeder which allows you to reach into hard-to-reach spaces to remove dirt.

You might also want to consider a sturdy pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands from calluses and blisters, as well as keeping them dry when you’re gardening in wet weather. Portable folding chairs come in handy, since they can move with you throughout the garden.

If you don’t have room for an outdoor garden, or you just want to bring a touch of green into your home, planters will allow you to indulge in your green thumb. Planters come in a wide variety of materials, ranging from wood to terracotta and even metal and stone, styles and types (window planters, hanging planters and urns).  There are even self-watering planters that have their own water supply that you only need to replenish from time to time.

Besides relaxation and exercise, gardening produces just the best organic food you could ask for in the form of homegrown vegetables.

Fresh juice has become the new fashion drink, with cafes and juice bars selling it by the cup for premium prices. Fresh juice is great for you, as you might already know – it fills the hole left in our diets when we eat too much processed food, and don’t get enough fresh raw fiber. Many people swear that juice fasts and juice diets have not only improved, but actually cured diseases that had been diagnosed as degenerative and basically incurable.

Making juice at home is also a popular way to naturally supplement ones diet, and there are many great home juicer machines out there to choose from. While any machine that makes juice is better than none, there are some important differences between machines that you should take into account if you are interested in buying one.
Basically there are two types of juicer – centrifugal, and masticating. Centrifugal juicers are the more common design, they are the ones you are likely to see for about $50-$100 in department stores. They are quite fast, and work by shredding up all the ingredients so the juice drains out. The disadvantage they have is that the high speed incorporates air bubbles, causing the juice to oxidize – or react with oxygen in the air. This makes it go off faster, and lowers the vitamin and nutrient content.
Masticating juicers (masticating is the scientific term for chewing by the way) use a different principle to extract juice, they instead rely on a slowly turning auger or screw to crush juice out of fruits or vegetables. These machines a bigger, and more solidly built and will cost more to buy, but the advantages are many – they make better juice, are more versatile, and are built to last much longer. One really popular, though fairly expensive masticating juicer is the Angel Juicer (built by the company Angel) which actually uses a twin gear design – this just means it uses not one but two slowly turning augers, or gears as they may be referred to, to grind up everything you put through it. This juicer has the versatility to be able to also make nut butters, and even crush seeds to allow you to make cold pressed linseed and flax seed oils at home!
While any juice is better than no juice, the benefits of a masticating juicer are great, and if you can afford it, this type of machine is the best choice for the truly heath conscious.

It seems like vegetarian diets are the thing now. Thought to be a fad or a bit loony just a few years ago, it has now become more mainstream. People have found that it is not only a great way to drop pounds but has many health benefits as well.

Research has found that a vegatarian diet generally is a fast way to lose weight for many people, just like drinking wu long tea.  That benefit of weight loss in turn contributes to a number of health improvements. For one thing, blood sugar levels drop. For another, the bad form of cholesterol decreases. And finally, diabetics have found significant improvement in a lesser risk from their diabetes.

Amazingly, the positive results from vegetarian diets can come rather quickly. A person with high blood pressure for instance may find a noticeable difference in their blood pressure numbers in a positive direction.

For those who fear they may have trouble following a vegetarian diet if they are accustomed to eating meat like most males, there are high protein vegetarian diets that can help a person achieve their weight loss goals and health improvements without experiencing a feeling of going hungry.

This kind of diet means that a person would have to stay away from sugar and carbohydrates as much as possible. After a period of time, in the absence of these things from the diet, the body readjusts itself and the cravings for these foods diminish. The diet will include non-meat proteins.

Once a person’s goals have been achieved, they may switch to a more broad vegetarian diet. Changing one’s diet is not an easy thing to do. But with the proper motivation anyone can adjust their eating habits. And that really is all it is, eating habits. Habits take time to change. But little improvements in one’s health will serve as enough motivation to help a person stick with the diet.

You can also read about vegetarian detox diets and detox foot pads.

Soup is an inexpensive, nourishing food that is easy to prepare and won’t cost you a lot of money. Better yet, there are myriad of recipes out there to please every palate – vegan and carnivore alike.

It makes sense to prepare homemade soups. Canned soups are high in sodium and lack the texture and flavor of soups that are made in your own kitchen. When soups are canned, many of the valuable nutrients they once contained are killed making homemade soups more nutritious.

There is nothing like the tempting aroma of soup filling the air of our homes, especially on a cold winter day. Research has shown that there really may be something to the folklore that grandma’s chicken soup can make you well when you are ill.

University of Nebraska Medical Center researcher, Stephen Rennard, MD, discovered in 1993 that there actually were anti-inflammatory effects in his wife’s family chicken soup recipe. The soup actually significantly slowed cold symptoms from developing. When the chicken soup was used to bathe the cells, their cold-fighting ability was increased while the movement of mucus was improved. Chicken soup actually shortened the life of the cold.

Dr. Rennard was not able to exactly pinpoint which ingredient it was in the soup that helped the most. But, it was his theory that all of the ingredients worked together to make a difference in the severity and duration of a cold. However, it is not only chicken soup that provides these wonderful benefits.

A homemade soup containing organic garlic, onion and vegetables is full of nutrition and powerful anti-oxidants. Healthy vegetarian recipes will have the same healing effect as a chicken soup recipe.

A vegan or vegetarian version of a soup might actually be even more beneficial than one containing chicken or other meat substance. You can match the nutrient value by adding beans and brown rice pasta without all of the artery clogging saturated fat that you would have with a meat-containing version.

There is no match for healthy recipes of soup. Soup is nutritious, delicious and has healing properties. It truly warms the soul.

There are several benefits to almond butter that are really catching on with consumers and causing growth in sales.  These spreads are very similar to peanut butter, but are made naturally with almonds instead of peanuts.  There are several health benefits to this, and while almond butter spreads can vary from one company to another, in general this is a better choice than peanut butter is.  Organic almond butter can be made from almonds processed one of two ways: almonds that are heated and blanched, and then also by raw almonds.  It is important to note that just because an almond butter is labeled as organic, that doesn’t necessarily mean that its raw almond butter.  That all depends on how the almonds are processed.

Why almond butter as opposed to peanut butter?  There are several reasons.

Some raw almond butter benefits:

• Far fewer allergies.  Some people have severe and potentially fatal peanut allergies.  The same is not true with almonds, as almond allergies are extremely rare and generally far less severe.
• Less calories.  Almond butter generally has less calories than peanut butter, and raw organic almond butter won’t have the added sugar that often comes with regular peanut butter.
• High in protein and fiber, and the fats are healthy fats.

These are just a few of the benefits of raw almond butter that makes it appealing to consumers.  While early on it can be a little bit different to get used to, over time many people come to enjoy the texture and taste of almond butter even more than classic peanut butter.

Currently there are many medical and University tests being done to further study almond nut butter health benefits, as there is some hope that maybe this organic spread will show some positive strides in being part of a healthy diet to help fight things like cancer and heart disease.  So if you’re looking for something to replace peanut butter with something healthier, take a look at almond butter as an alternative.

The papaya is a wonderfully juicy fruit with a butter like texture. Its taste is something like a mix of a pineapple and a peach without the tartness. Besides its splendid taste, this tropically grown fruit can delivery some amazing health benefits.

The papaya’s biggest claim to fame in the health world is its content of a digestive enzyme called papain. Papain is able to digest protein into amino acids and can be a great benefit to those with a weak or problematic digestive systems. Some people with digestive problems find that their health can improve substantially when they take papain supplements or drink papaya juice everyday. In fact papain is so effective that it is used as a meat tenderizer to help break down tough meaty fibers.

Papain is also considered to be helpful with pain and healing wounds. In the tropical countries were papaya grows, such as Hawaii and Tahiti, the local people make a poultice out of the skins (which are a densely concentrated source of papain) to apply topically to burns, rashes, cuts and stings. When Harrison Ford was filming one of the Indiana Jones movies he used papain injects to help him heal from a rupture disk!

The health benefits of Papain don’t end there either! Research has found that papain, and another similar enzyme found in papaya called chymopapain, have powerful anti-inflammatory effects. This might, in part, explain why papain is useful for helping to reduce pain, especially pain induced by inflammatory conditions. Papain supplements and papain juice may be a great aid for those with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and asthma.

Papaya is also a great source of vitamin C, and a good source of vitamin E and beta-carotene. These three nutrients have independently been discovered to have anti-inflammatory effects. Vitamin C in particular has been shown to be very effective in helping to reduce the inflammation based pain in older people with arthritic knees, especially in higher doses of 500mg a day or more. This benefit was even greater when the vitamin C was obtained free real food sources, such as whole fruits and juices, rather than supplement form.

So if you have digestive problems, asthma, arthritis or other inflammatory conditions a daily papaya juice may benefit you. To make your own homemade papaya juicer recipes, you will need 4 papayas. Remove the skins and scoop out the seeds and put only the flesh into your juicing machine and wallah – fresh papaya juice. Enjoy!

Carrot Juice Recipes#1 – Straight Carrot Juice
10 large carrots

Carrot Juice Recipes #2 – The Capple Zipper
5 carrots
1 apple
1″ slice of fresh ginger root

Carrot Juice Recipes #3 – Jamaican Juice
4 carrots
1 cup of coconut milk
1 tsp of nutmeg
1 tsp of vanila essence

Only the carrots go through your juicing machine in this carrot juice recipe. Add the milk, nutmeg and vanilla essense seperately and mix well.

Carrot Juice Recipes #4 – Green Carrot Juice
3 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 cup of spinach
1/2 a cucumber
1/2 an apple

Juicing Carrots
I recommend using organic carrots for your vegetable juice recipes. Non-organic carrots are often smothered in pesticides that are carinogenic and create a lot of work for your immune system to detox them. As the skin is the area that contains the most amount of pesticides, it is a good idea to peel non-organic carrots if you use them for juicing.

Carrots are a hard vegetable, so for some juicing machines it might be easier to get them through if you half or quarter them first. I use a Jack LaLanne power juicer and that gets them through whole.

Health Benefits Of Carrots
Carrots are the richest source of beta-carotene than any other vegetable. Beta-carotene is powerful antioxidant as well as being the plant pigment that puts the orange hue in carrots. One study in Massachusetts found that eating beta-carotene rich foods can help reduce the risk of developing heart problems. The diets of 1,300 elderly people were closely followed by researchers and they discovered that those who ate daily serving of carrots or squash (another beta-carotene rich food) were 60% less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who ate fewer than one serving per day!

Beta-carotene is also a great protector of eye health. As an antioxidant it helps protect the eyes from the harmful effects of free radicals in UV light, Such protection help keep the eyes younger for longer and also reduces the risk of developing potentially blinding eye diseases like cataracts and macular degeneration.

Beta-carotene also has more to offer for eye health. It is converted in the liver to vitamin A, which in turn is also converted into a chemical called rhodopsin. Rhosdopsin is a purple based chemical that the eyes need in order to see at night time. Without we develop night blindness. So carrots really do help you see in the dark!

This is a question many people would like to know. Just where does the best olive oil in the world come from? Well, I hate to tell you, but there is no clear answer.

The real answer is as varied as the people who consume olive oil. This is simply because everyone has different taste. Perhaps you love the rich, full flavored olive oils from the Tuscan region while your friend loves the fruity olive oils from Spain. Reading the latest gourmet olive oil reviews may give you some insight on which ones to try next, but in the end, you’ll have to be the judge.

You see, when judging olive oil in this way, there can be no one clear winner.

One area that is making a splash in the olive oil industry is California. This state has been producing some mighty fine olive oil over the years and they continue to get better and better.

To determine which area produces the best olive oil for your taste, you’re going to have to sample many different oils from that region. One of the easiest ways to do this, and the funnest, is to buy small bottles of oil from several different producers. Not all growers sell their oil in a small bottle, but many do.

You may even want to have a gourmet olive oil sampling party at your home. The way you do this is to have your friends purchase these small bottles of olive oil from their favorite regions. Once everyone has their oil, then a time and date is set up for the sampling. This can be great fun and you may even discover an olive oil that you prefer over your favorite brand.

It’s also an excellent way for people to find out which region of the world produces their favorite flavor of olive oil. Who knows, you may discover you like olive oil from many different places for many different occasions!

Any one who knows me, knows that there are few things I love more than good gourmet food.  For special occasions, I spend hours planning elaborate menus.  The more involved the better!  That is why when I heard of molecular gastronomy I peeked my interest.

According to Wikepedia, molecular gastronomy is “is a scientific discipline that studies the physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking. Molecular gastronomy seeks to investigate and explain the chemical reasons behind the transformation of ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in general.”.

It sounds interesting, but is it healthy?

I couldn’t find much research to prove otherwise, but I believe the jury is still out.  Of concern are chemicals such as  methylcellulose, which gels at high temperatures and melts at low temperatures.  Proponents claim is is a harmless food additive but for me, I think I will keep the additives out of my food as much as possible!

Here is more on molecular gastronomony – interesting reading even if it isn’t something I am completely comfortable with!

What Does Molecular Gastronomy Mean? | Ruhlman.com

In a post early this month, he explains why: These terms, he says, are “hardening into bad pop cultural history that tags very different chefs and their ideas with the impressive but empty terms ‘molecular gastronomy’ and “molecular …

bookofjoe: Molecular Gastronomy Starter Set

Molecular Gastronomy Starter Set. C2b1_ghfmolecular_gastronomy_kit-1. “Everything you need to get started in spherification, thickeners and foaming agents. Not only the chemicals — agar, sodium alginate, calcium chloride, carrageenan, …

elBulli Chef Albert Adria Brings Molecular Gastronomy to Beijing …

Billed as the culinary event of the year, the arrival of elBulli Chef Albert Adria was an event for foodies around the capital. Known for his pioneering techniques in molecular gastronomy, Chef Adria helms a restaurant that only the …

Molecular Gastronomy – New Site and Freebies

At some point in the not too distant future I will be launching a new interactive site in conjunction with the good folks at Cream Supplies, purveyors of the finest molecular goodies known to humanity. The focus will be on making …

The Aughts #6: Ferran Adrià & Heston Blumenthal

We are chatting about molecular gastronomy. Adria is in Toronto to promote his long-awaited cookbook, A Day at elBulli, a 600-page tome about the history and inner workings of his famed three-Michelin-star restLondon Gastronomy Seminar #1

Last night was the inaugural London Gastronomy Seminar, focussing on flavour extraction. The speakers were Hervé This, one of the first to investigate molecular gastronomy, and John Forbes of RC Treatt, a major manufacturer of essential …

aurant near the town of …

100 Great Videos to Learn About Food Science

These 100 videos are all about the various sciences of food, including food production, biology, molecular gastronomy, kitchen chemistry, food experiments and food physics. You’ll learn about nutrition, sustainability, food reactions, …

Obama Foodorama: Molecular Gastronomy For School Lunch: Kass and …

They were joined by Mrs. Karen Duncan, the wife of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and gave the school kids some fun lessons in molecular gastronomy, or as it’s more simply known, food science. The lesson was a good way of teaching …

MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY AT HOME | More Intelligent Life

What is xanthan gum and what is it good for? After consulting with some chefs, Molly Young buys a bag to experiment with in her own laboratory kitchen … read more »

Spain to open first school of molecular cooking | Reuters …

Other exponents include chefs such as Briton Heston Blumenthal, advocate of “molecular gastronomy.” “Not only is gastronomy an art, culture and an industry, it is a technology and a science,” Science Minister Cristina Garmendia said at …