Joan’s Boomer Blog

My husband and I are embracing the raw food diet - not all the way, mind you. We still like our barbecue and

Raw food recipe for powerball snack

steamed veggies. However, we’ve started drinking Green Smoothies - the ultimate raw food - and I’m making more raw food snacks and large salads.

The raw food diet is just that. You don’t eat anything cooked as it destroys valuable digestive enzymes and nutrients. I have a raw food cookbook and the only cooking you do involves a dehydrator set to no higher than 115 degrees. If you’re in your baby boomer years, your body isn’t assimilating nutrients like it once did so you need all the digestive enzymes you can get. You’ll feel healthier and many of your health issues will disappear.

Green Smoothies are easy to incorporate into your diet. You simply make a tasty smoothie in the morning and drink 1-2 quarts of it during each day. Add any fresh, raw veggies you have and some fruit.

I’ve also discovered raw food recipes for snacks. These are super easy snack recipes because you mix up ingredients but don’t have to cook them. Here is one raw food snack recipe I created yesterday. Compare them to any expensive energy bar and I think you’ll like these much better.

These raw food power balls are full of energy creating superfoods so they are great to eat between meals or after a workout:

Raw Food Power Ball Snack Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup sliced raw almonds (you can substitute any other raw nuts if you prefer)
1/8 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4cup coconut shredded
1 cup mixed dried fruit (I found a great antioxidant mix at Costco with dried cherries, cranberries and blueberries)
1/2 cup raw honey
1 cup raw peanut butter (you can also use other raw nut butters)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Using a food processor or Vitamix, blend the first 4 dry ingredients to a meal stage. Don’t make a fine powder out of it, just chop for about 20 seconds.

Put dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and add dried fruit, cinnamon, peanut or other raw nut butter, and honey. Mix thoroughly.

Once your raw food ingredients are mixed, form into balls of about 1 1/2 inches and put into a glass container with a tight fitting lid. I put tin foil between my rows so they don’t stick together.

Refrigerate for 24 hours and enjoy.

These raw food powerballs will keep in the frig for 2 weeks - if they last that long! I send them to work with my husband for his lunch and snack on them after my yoga class.

This recipe makes about 30 raw food power balls.

The great thing about this recipe is you can change up ingredients to suit yourself. They are a quick and easy snack that requires no baby sitting a hot oven for several hours.

If you’re interested in healthy aging, you should be eating more raw food recipes. Eating raw foods can help ward off eye diseases like cataracts and macular degeneration, cancer, heart disease, arthritis and more.

If you’d like to know more about Green Smoothies, click here for more info. Get free shipping on your Vitamix if you don’t own one already. I’ve found so many uses for my Vitamix I can’t imagine what I did without it.

More information on the raw food diet at Best of Raw Food.com

Tweet This Post

How can green smoothies help prevent glaucoma and eye disease like macular degeneration?

As we age, we become susceptible to eye problems like glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataracts and other eye diseases. However, it is possible to help prevent or reduce the effects of eye disease and vision problems by consuming an eye health foods in our daily diet.

For instance, the National Eye Institute has found that taking zinc and high doses of antioxidants, such as those found in fruits and veggies, can reduce your chances of getting macular degeneration by as much as 25%. Antioxidants such as Lutein and zeaxanthin are vital to continuing eye health and you can get these from eye health foods.

Rather than taking supplements, which may be synthetic and not real food at all, the best way to get enough antioxidants in your diet is to eat at least 9 servings of veggies for eye nutrition. To make sure you get the most out of these veggies, eating them raw, blended into a green smoothie, provides eye health nutrition that your body can easily absorb and make use of. In a green smoothie recipe, it isn’t hard to get these eye health foods daily.

My husband and I started drinking green smoothies about a month ago. I had to take a break for 2 weeks when I visited family, but have been back on the green smoothie diet for nearly a week. My husband has glaucoma in his family and suffers from high eye pressure and I was told on my last eye exam that I had the beginnings of cataracts, plus I’ve had various floaties and flashes in my eyes, which happens as we age and the fluid in our eyes becomes hardened.

When we started drinking green smoothies, I was especially interested in recipes with eye health foods and eye health nutrition so perhaps we can keep these eye conditions from worsening.

The key to staying healthy with green smoothies is to vary your intake of fruits and veggies. The nutrients you are looking for are zinc, beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein and zeaxanthin and omega 3 fatty acids. If you are seeking veggies which are eye health foods, here are a list of veggies to include in your smoothies which contain valuable nutrients for preventing cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration:

• Beta carotene foods: cherries, carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, cantaloupe, apricots
• Vitamin C foods: bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, oranges, strawberries, kiwis and brocoli
• Vitamin E foods: wheat germ, almonds, avocados, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, peanut butter
• Zinc foods: chick peas, oysters, ostrich (a very lean meat), turkey, pumpkin seeds
• Lutein-Zeaxanthin foods: spinach, Swiss chard, corn, watercress and persimmons contain both.
• Omega-3 fats: wild salmon, sardines, Atlantic mackerel and omega-3-fortified eggs. If you’re making a green smoothie, you can add 1 tsp of flax seed oil or add flax meal to your smoothie.

If you want to prevent cataracts, studies have shown that foods rich in riboflavin also help:

• Riboflavin foods: skim milk and low-fat, eggs, mushrooms and almonds
• Niacin foods: chicken and turkey breast, wild salmon, kidney beans and natural peanut butter

To make a green smoothie with eye health foods, here’s one sample recipe:

1 cup water
One whole carrot, peeled if not organic
1/2 cup strawberries
1 dozen almonds
1 tsp flax seed oil
1/2 cup chick peas, canned
1 cup spinach
1/4 cup kefir or yogurt - (Learn to make Kefir at home and save money!)

Blend all of these ingredients on high in your Vitamix. for 30 seconds.

If you prefer your smoothie a little sweeter, add a few drops of stevia or organic agave nector or throw in more berries.

To make up your own green smoothie recipes to benefit your eyes, just choose a different eye health food group and vary your smoothie each day. The precise measurements aren’t that important. You can adjust your smoothie recipe to your personal taste.

Can green smoothies cure eye problems such as cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration? If you suffer from these conditions, it’s important to follow the advice of your doctor. However, proper eye health nutrition and eye health foods, especially if you begin consuming them early, can go a long way to help preventing or controlling these health issues.

Read more about green smoothies and get some free recipes from Vitamix.

Click on the banner below and receive free shipping on your Vitamix - a $25 value.

Vitamix for Green Smoothies

More tips to prevent eye diseases:

Always wear sunglasses and a visor or hat to protect your eyes from sunlight.

If you smoke, quit.

If you’re overweight, lose some of that weight. (Green smoothies can help!)

National Eye Institute Information on Eye Diseases, their prevention and treatments.

Tweet This Post

Joan’s Boomer Blog - Joining the Green Smoothie Revolution

Recently my husband and I joined the Green Smoothie Revolution and I wanted to blog about how Green Smoothies can help baby boomers. Many people I’ve met who are passionate about Green Smoothies are young mothers who want to improve their family’s nutrition. Boomers and seniors like me are concerned with healthy aging - maintaining optimal health as we get older. We are experiencing health issues such as arthritis, high cholesterol and maybe diabetes.Maybe we don’t maintain our weight as easily as we used to.

As we age, our bodies don’t take in and use nutrients this they did, leaving us vulnerable to a lowered immune system and results of aging. Can green smoothies help us aging boomers get more out of life?

Why Drink Green Smoothies?

What is your normal daily diet? Do you eat processed foods (foods that come in a package and are full of unpronounceable ingredients?) Do you eat lots of cooked foods, with maybe a small salad for dinner to get your “greens?” Do you have health issues?

Believe me, the health issues are intimately tied to you daily diet. Green smoothies can offer whole, raw veggies like broccoli, kale, Swiss Chard, and mustard greens. You can even throw beet and carrot greens in to your green smoothie recipe so you waste less food. AND these foods are uncooked which is important because cooking often destroys many of the nutrients in our veggies.

Since the foods are blended, the super nutrition is more readily available to your body to increase energy, boost your immune system, help you lose weight and be healthier. Green Smoothies are quick and convenient too, once you get your foods and a powerful blender. They keep for up to 48 hours in the frig so you can make them ahead of time.

Since I decided to start making Green Smoothies for my husband and me, I wanted to blog about the experience, offering recipes and tips to get you started and to let you know what Green Smoothies can do for healthy aging.

Many of my friends already are green smoothie converts. They’ve told me they experience:

• more energy
• improved digestion, including more regular bowel movements and soft stools
• fewer cravings for sugar and processed foods
• improved, more stable moods
• weight loss - an average of over 17lbs!
• increased desire to exercise (couldn’t we all use that!)

Others report less pain from arthritis, improved sex drive, less stress, shinier hair, stronger fingernails and smoother, clearer skin tone. All this after only 30 days on green smoothies!

How Much Green Smoothie Do You Need to Drink?

Optimum consumption is about one quart a day, four or more days per week but you can start with less.

Green smoothies are a lifestyle change. I’m going to start growing sprouts, making kefir, growing spinach and making lots of dietary changes. Check back in coming days to see how the green smoothie revolution is working out for this baby boomer.

Once I decided to embark on the Green Smoothie lifestyle, my next step was to research blenders. Green smoothies do require more power than your average smoothie blender. I look at all of them, read reports and asked friends who are already making green smoothies. Find out tomorrow which blender met the challenge.

More Green Smoothie Information and Recipes

Tweet This Post

Where to buy Chia Seeds

The health benefits of adding chia seeds to your diet are astounding. Chia seeds are the new superfood and a very important ingredient to your daily regimen if you are interested in healthy aging. Are you looking for quality chia seeds to use in your chia seed recipes and gel? You probably won’t find them at your local grocery store but you can now visit our new Chia Seed Store on Amazon.com

For our Chia Seed Store, I’ve chosen the best brands of chia seed, books on chia seeds and their benefits and even some of the ever-popular chia pets and chia sprouting gardens.

Health Benefits of Chia Seeds in your Daily Diet

Among the benefits of chia seeds are their high content of omega3 fatty acids, which are beneficial in protecting us from high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, arthritis and more.

You can buy a pound of chia seed for about $12 and it takes only a couple teaspoons to make 8oz of chia gel. All you need is about 1/4 tsp sprinkled on yogurt, cereal or other foods to get the superfood nutrition.

Read more about the health benefits of chia seeds or pick up a book on chia seeds at Amazon.com. Many of the chia seed products in our store quality for free shipping if you purchase $25 or more on your Amazon order. I have a wish list of Amazon products so if I need something else to bring me up to the free shipping level, I go to my wish list and add something.

Tweet This Post

Healthy Drinks - Delicious Tea Recipes

The Health Benefits of Green Tea are very well known, but you can also get health benefits from Black tea as well. (Read more about the health benefits of Green Tea here.) For baby boomers interested in health, drinking as little as 3-4 cups of tea daily can reduce the risk of strokes, boost metabolism, help protect you from cancer and much more.

The benefits of green tea include healthy aging, especially if you replace more sugary drinks like soda, with tea.

Some people don’t care much for the taste of green tea so in these recipes, you can substitute black tea also. However, give green tea a try. With these delicious additions to your cup of hot tea or iced tea, you won’t even notice it’s good for you too!

Ginger Orange Tea

Ginger is a great antioxidant, metabolism booster and stomach soother. It’s also great for colds. The tart taste of orange makes this a delightful summer drink recipe.

Ingredients

2 quarts of water

3 one inch pieces of fresh ginger root, sliced thin

1 Tbs honey

1 orange, sliced

Directions for Tea

Put water and ginger root into a medium sized sauce pan. Bring water to a boil, then turn to simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to stand and cool for another 30 minutes.

Add honey and orange one hour before serving.

Strain and serve over ice. You can also reheat and serve hot.

Mint Tea Recipe

Mint is energizing and refreshing and sprigs of fresh mint can be added to any tea you have sitting in the frig. To make mint tea, try this slow cooker recipe.

Ingredients

2 quarts hot water

honey or stevia to taste

8 tea bags (green or black)

2 drops mint extract

Directions

Put water and sweetener into crock pot. Add tea bags and mint extract and cook on low for 2 hours.

Makes 8 servings and can be served hot or over ice.

You can create variations of the above tea by adding other ingredients:

1 tsp almond extract or other flavor of extract you might prefer

2/3 cup lemon juice

1 orange sliced

1 cup cranberry or other fruit juice

1/2 tsp cinnamon (good for lowering cholesterol!)

Other tasty tea recipes, which would make deliciously refreshing drinks for your next get-together

Discover Cooking with Green Tea for added health benefits and great taste too.

50 Hot and Cold Tea Recipes in Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers, and Sweet and Savory Treats

Read what Dr. Mercola has to say about the many benefits of drinking green tea.

Tweet This Post

Get Healthy with Tasty Chia Seed Recipes

Tiny chia seeds offer a powerful nutritional addition to your diet. How much chia seed should you eat per day? About 2 to 3 teaspoons of chia seeds offers B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, protein and more.

How Do You Use Chia Seeds?

Chia seeds can be added to just about any food, such as yogurt, pancake or muffin batter, or sprinkled over cereals or added to your morning smoothie. Or you can try these tasty chia seed recipes:

Luscious Chia Seed Smoothie

1 Tbs Chia Seeds
3/4 cup fruit juice
1/2 banana
2 oz yogurt

Add chia seed to juice and wait for chia gel to form, stirring a few times to break up clumps. This usually takes a few minutes. Add rest of ingredients and blend until smooth.

Chia gel can be made with water and kept in the frig too, ready to add to any recipe. Simply use 9 parts water to 1 part chia seed and put in a shaker bottle. Shake well several times to prevent clumping and store in the frig.

Chia Seed Guacamole

1 Avocados
1 scoop chia seeds
1/2 juiced lemon
1 TBS onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS Olive oil

Mash avocados, then stir in remaining ingredients.

Chia Seed Quesadilla Recipe

1/2 scoop chia seeds
2 Flour Tortillas
Butter or Ghee
1 cups shredded cheese

Heat a skillet. Spread butter or ghee onto tortillas.

Place one tortilla in skillet, butter side down and sprinkle cheese on top.

Place second tortilla on top, butter side up.

Saute both sides of tortilla until it’s golden brown.

Serve.

Chia Seed Pancakes

2 scoops chia seeds
pancake mix
fresh blueberries or strawberries

Mix pancake batter according to directions. Add chia seeds and fruit.

Heat skillet and add batter.

When bottom side is golden brown, flip and cook other side.

Top with fresh fruit and serve.

Chia Seed Stir Fry

Chicken or beef strips
1 scoop chia seeds
cut up veggies for stir fry
Sesame oil
Soy sauce-low sodium

Mix chia seeds with soy sauce and wait one minute for gel to form.

Heat skillet with sesame oil. Add meat and saute until golden brown.

Add veggies and chia soy sauce mixture. Stir fry until veggies are tender.

Serve with rice.

Easy Banana Chia Seed Snack Recipe

1 banana
1 scoop chia seeds
2 Tbs shredded coconut
1 Tbs cocoa powder

Peel the banana and roll it in the coconut, chia seeds and cocoa powder.

Slice coated banana into pieces and serve.

As you can see by these chia seed recipes, it’s possible to add them to just about any dish.

Where to Buy Chia Seeds?

These delicious chia seed recipes came from Omega 3 Chia Seed, which is available on Amazon.com. I’ve been using this brand for about a year and find good quality for the price. Amazon also carries several other brands of chia seeds too.

Visit our Amazon Chia Seed Store for many brands of chia seeds, chia gardens and books on the amazing chia seed.

Tweet This Post

We all know vegetables are good for us - full of antioxidants that keep us young and vital. If you’re like me, though, finding new ways to cook those veggies becomes challenging. It’s easier to get those 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily if they taste delicious! My family loves this veggie bake and it serves 8 to 10 people so is ideal for a family party or holiday side dish. Even the grandkids will love this one.

Veggie Bake Recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbs butter or healthy butter substitute like Smart Start, plus 1/4 cup for topping.
1 red bell pepper, seed it and chop
1 medium zucchini, halved and sliced (in case you’re looking for a new way to use the mountains of zucchini you got from the garden this summer.
1 small onion, chopped
1 (10oz) can cream of celery soup. Use low sodium to make it healthier.
1 cup low fat shredded mozarella cheese
1 16 oz package frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrot mix, thawed
1 1/2 cup cheese crackers
1 tsp no salt seasoning, like Mrs. Dash

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 350 if using a glass baking dish.

Melt butter or smart start in skillet and saute pepper, zucchini and onion for a few minutes, until tender. Stir in celery soup, cheese, veggies and seasoning. Mix well.

Spoon veggie mixture into 9×13 inch baking dish.

Melt 1/4 cup butter or Smart Start and combine with crackers until crackers are coated. Sprinkle on top of casserole.

Bake 30 minutes, or until veggie casserole is hot and bubbly.

Are you looking for more great veggie recipes? Try this recommended book:

More Vegetables, Please!: Over100 Easy and Delicious Recipes for Eating Healthy Foods Each and Every Day

Tweet This Post

I started drinking lots of green tea about 10 years ago and I feel it really gives my health and immune system a boost. Recently I started drinking more white tea, which is higher in antioxidants and lower in caffeine than other teas. It has a light delicate flavor which lends itself nicely to flavored ice tea drinks too.

White tea is made by picking the young buds and leaves of the tea, while green tea is made by picking the more mature leaves.

I found a useful website dedicated to white tea. White Tea.com has articles about brewing white tea, plus articles on the types of white tea and all the benefits of drinking it. Plus, you can order a white tea sampler, white peony tea and silver needle white tea.

Since white tea has a milder flavor than green or black tea, you can use it in fruity drinks. Mix 2 cups of white tea with equal parts pomegranate juice or berry juice, like blueberry. Add ice and you have a beautiful party drink that your guests will love.

Tweet This Post