Broccoli, carrot, apple Juice

As someone who is very health concious, I have been somewhat late in getting into the juicing craze (well juicing at home anyway).

Two reasons for this:

1. I always thought it was better to eat the whole fruit (hence including the pulp) and didn’t want such an overload of fruit sugar without the pulp.
2. I always assumed that it would be messy and extremely tedious to wash the juicer etc.

Well I was recently given a gift and yes you can guess it was a juicer!

I was extremely surprised at the ease of using it and how quickly it could be cleaned.

Also the ability to consume more fruit and vegetables in such a quick way was quite appealing (though the lack of fruit pulp/fibre was slightly a concerning factor for me – I resolved this by adding either flaxseeds or a little of the actual pulp back into the juice).

The model I received was the Phillips Whole Fruit Juicer.

It also came with the Jason Vale DVD (aka “The Juice master”) which was great as it showed different juice recipes being actually made!

After juicing, I add some of the pulp that collects in the container so that the juice has some fibre (I usually add the carrot pulp as this is more palatable).

I’ve tried a couple of different recipes, but the best so far has been the following mix:

• 2 ‘red delicious’ apples
• 3-5 broccoli florets (Vitamin C & sulphur compounds which help detoxing, I love cruciferous veggies!)
• 3 large carrots (over 400 different caretenoids – i.e. Vitamin A)

The above recipe was from The Juicing Book website, all the recipes are free!

I especially like how the author of The Juicing Book talks about gradually increasing juices in your diet over time and not rushing into as well as discussing the negative consequences of overdoing it!

Do you juice?

If so, share your experiences + recipes in the comments please.

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I’ve been searching everywhere for information!

On what you ask?

Well you probably guessed by the title, I’ve been trying to find information about administering a baby with digestive enzymes.

Unfortunately we have had to put our little man on formula (at 5 weeks of age) as a result of his silent reflux.

I read in an old forum how a mother used enzymes with her child who suffered from very bad silent reflux. She had amazing results!

What did she do? Unfortunately her answer was somewhat SHORT and not very helpful! And I couldn’t contact her!

I searched and searched everywhere for an answer as to whether it would be safe to give my son digestive enzymes with his powdered milk and also any guidance as to dosage, timings etc.

I found very little to no information – I spoke to qualified dieticians, nutritionists, paediatricians, just about everyone you can imagine, all resulting with some form of disparity in their answers – though somehow I managed to piece everything together to come to my own conclusion.

Why digestive enzymes?

Breast milk contains many natural enzymes which help the baby digestive and assimilate the food quickly and easily.

However, with powdered milk, there are NO enzymes at all (unless you have a hydrolysed version – and this is only for the milk protein in the milk which is “pre-digested”, therefore there are no real enzymes present in the actual milk), as a result the baby’s system is overwhelmed with having to produce and utilise its owns enzymes to digest the food.

I wanted to say this in my own words, however Jon Barron summed it up so well, I just had to quote him:

After a few weeks of running about (mentally as well as physically) searching for any information, I received a surprise reply from someone at enzymedica (company specialising in enzymes), they told me that it would be safe to give the baby approximately 1/4 to 1/2 a capsule before each feed.

This is exactly what I did!

I was also happy to learn that their capsules were Vegan friendly – not that it would make much difference to my son.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive, as you can probably imagine, however I really wanted my son to take the enzymes as I personally knew the benefits of having them in my own diet.

My experience

I first started taking digestive enzymes back in 2004, when I read an article propounding their benefits.

At the time, I had acne and I was trying to solve this dilemma!

I had tried so many different pills, diets, skin care regimes…the list goes on!

When I read about digestive enzymes and how they help an overburdened system digest food, it seemed to make sense to try them.

Just before I started taking the enzymes, I was on quite a restricted diet to figure out what was causing my acne, hence I was in a long process of elimination.

From one extreme to another!

The same day I received my enzymes (in the morning), I had to go up north to visit some family too.

This was BAD news!

Some of my family eat quite unhealthy food, very processed and high in fat!

I knew this would be a big test for the enzymes so I decided to eat everything and not stress too much.

I was tired of restricting my diet!

I also wanted to see how far I could push it! Would these enzymes allow me to eat everything without getting acne?

The enzymes worked very well and my acne didn’t reappear unless I really overate and had very high fat meals.

I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat excited!

Anyway back to the topic…

My son’s results

After the first day all seemed well, his stools were normal and there was no sign of any disturbance.

He has been on the enzymes for nearly two months now and no problems at all!

I spoke to two paediatricians who didn’t object to the enzyme supplementation.

After initially giving my son a ¼ to ½ a capsule before each feed, I ended up mixing the enzymes with his actual milk as it was proving to be too difficult to give the enzymes in a little water via a syringe (especially when we travel!).

My advice

If you want to give your infant some form of digestive enzyme to ease the burden put on their system, I advise you speak to a paediatrician/specialist before going ahead.

If you’re given the green light, then great!  It’s probably one of the best decisions you’ll make for your child(ren).

In terms of taking enzymes for breast fed babies, this is something that I would not emphasize as much, though it is still good to do so.  However, from my “fact finding mission” I did learn that undigested proteins in the mother’s diet can seep into the breast milk, thereby causing the baby problems (this has been especially noticed with dairy products in the mother’s diet).

• Further reading:

(1) Foods matter article on Digestive Enzymes

(2) Jon Barron – Enzymes, Part 3 (You’ll also find parts 1 & 2 there too, I highly recommend you read them!)

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I spoke to a friend recently who had a very bad stomach ache, owing probably due to something he ate.

This reminded me of a similar situation I had experienced a few years ago.

Back in 2005, my family and I went on a holiday to Singapore.

As you can probably imagine, it was SO nice that we didn’t want to leave.

There was however a period where we all got mild food poisoning.

The day before we became ill, we were strolling through a mall and came across a shop that was selling raw honey.  I became extremely excited as at that time it wasn’t easy to come by natural raw honey.

I wanted to buy all the honey I could and bring it back home – however unfeasible it was.

So we ended up buying 1kg of honey to “test”.

The next day my brother, father and I were extremely ill and were running back and forth from the bathroom.

Thankfully I remembered how honey was used many times to solve stomach problems and so my brother and I dived into the jar and literally overdosed ourselves (I’d say we had approximately 10 tsp each!).

Within an hour we were fine!

We told our father who was very reluctant and didn’t want to take it.

After seeing how quickly we became better, he had no choice but to take the honey, as you can imagine, once he did take the honey he was fine.

Many times I tell friends, family, random people the benefit of taking honey when having bad stomach aches and they just somehow ignore it.

My friend only took 1tsp, which obviously wasn’t enough as he was still in pain.

I hope after me reiterating that he should take more and probably having read this, he will have taken the point!

Have any of you had any similar experiences?

Share your experiences and let us know.

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Quick update: I recently had a meeting with the Managing Director (MD) of a large honey producer in Belgium.

I was trying to source some good raw honey for my readers.

If you remember reading my last post about honey in Belgium, you may remember me mentioning the fact that all honey in Belgium is not pasteurised.

The honey may not be pasteruised, however it is heated – not good!

The MD and I spoke at great lengths about the honey and ways in which certain producers process the lovely sweet stuff!

I asked the MD why they heat the honey and the simple reason being that it is easier to transfer into the (plastic) jars.

The honey is heated at approximately 60 C – definitely not good!

Most producers use something called Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to measure the “quality” of the honey.

Source (above quote): http://news.merck.de/N/0/144616D6EB8B3C14C1257570002876FB/$File/090305HMFe.pdf

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I just came across a really cool site:  DIY protein bars and shakes!

You can choose your own ingredients and even packaging (i.e. logos etc.) – how cool is that?!

Check it out!  I would write about it here, but the site is quite simple to navigate and I’d just copying and pasting as I have yet to try their products and hence can’t give a personal insight.

Adios!

AND NO I am not financially gaining anything from this, just thought I’d pass it on to my viewers, maybe I should signup for some affiliate program with them, hmmm…you got me thinking!  JOKE!  lol!

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Currently I’m in Belgium visiting some family and I came across an amazing shop and also learnt some very interesting information.

You guessed right, the shop was a honey shop!

And the information that I learnt was that all honey in Belgium is not pasteurised, apparently the pasterurisation of honey is not allowed in Belgium (by law).

Hence, all the honey in this shop was not pasteruised and I was one happy blogger

Apart from the various types of honey, the shop also sells various other items such as skin and body care products.

Click the pictures below to see what the shop looks like.

I’ll soon be selling some different types of Raw, Unfiltered, Cold Extracted, Unpasteurised Honey!

Keep tuned!

Do you know of any good shops/places where honey fanatics can purchase real, pure good honey?  If so, please leave a comment and let the rest of us know.

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My site’s popularity has grown considerably, more than I ever expected and therefore I wanted to bring to light three of my most popular articles which some of you may miss if you land initially at the front page, here you go:

Hope you like Please feel free to add any comments, even to the 100+ comments on the Honey and Water: Is it Really that Good?, all comments are read and replied to ASAP so don’t delay!

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Yeah, that’s right!  I finally tried it!

Cut the long VERY short, the drink is not very tasty, though that doesn’t mean it is not palatable.

It’s somewhat of an acquired taste! (Queen’s English accent pleeeeeeeease!)

Some people have told me that it tastes like medicine and I can see what they mean.

So what are the ingredients?

100% Pomegranate juice from concentrate and natural flavourings.

Two things I don’t like very much:

1. That it is from concentrate!
2. What are the natural flavourings?!

I was quite shocked at the price.

Here (in the UK), it cost me £3.14 for a little less than 500ml, which is VERY expensive.

Would I buy it again?

Probably not, though the health benefits are very good!

Many other pomegranate drinks taste very good, though this is mostly down to the large sugar content!

I still have one more voucher, may use it and try the mango flavour

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In yet another study showing the benefits of consuming foods high in Omega-3, Akira Sekikawa (MD) and colleagues found that rather than genetic factors contributing to the lower heart disease risk in Japan’s population, the actual Omega-3 content of Japanese diets may be responsible instead.

The study, cited in the August edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, involved 281 men living in Japan, 306 Caucasian American men and 281 Japanese-American men living in Hawaii.

The researchers conducted blood tests to measure total fatty acids and Omega-3 fatty acids.

Although the total fatty acid levels were similar amongst all three groups, the amount of fatty acids from fish consumption was twice as high among the Japanese men group as compared to both American groups.

The study also indicated that men living in Japan had significantly less atherosclerosis (plaque build up inside the arteries).

Dr. Sekikawa concluded that increasing the intake of Omega-3 fatty acids could “…have a very substantial impact on heart disease.”

Source: Sekikawa A., Curb J.D., Ueshima H., et al. Marine-derived n-3 fatty acids and atherosclerosis in Japanese, Japanese-American and white men: a cross-sectional study. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2008 Aug., 52(6):417-424

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So I guess you must’ve seen the massive ad campaign being conducted by the ‘POM Wonderful’ company, especially here in the UK, if not, where have you been?!  To my knowledge, the drink is not new, it has been around for quite some time now, so why such a big campaign?  No idea.

What is ‘POM Wonderful’?  Simply…a pomegranate juice drink!

You’re probably wondering why I am writing about this drink?

Well, firstly beause it is a relevant topic to the site and secondly because I was contacted a few weeks ago by ‘POM Wonderful’ and kindly offered two free bottles to try for free!

Have I tried it yet? NO!

Will I try it? YES!

According to POM’s website, they are “…backed by $25 million in medical research.” (that’s a lot of backing!) and all the recent research and health claims about pomegranate juice and its benefits was conducted using no other than…that’s right…’POM Wonderful’ juice.

So what are some of the health benefits of this pomegranate juice?

Well it… 

♥ Has shown to improve blood flow

♥ Reduction in arterial plaque growth

♥ Improved erections (see Pomegranate juice increases quality and quantity of Sperm!)

♥ Improvement in prostate health

♥ Very high in antioxidants and therefore has the ability to neutralise free radicals

Does the company do anything else?

I’m glad you asked.  Okay sorry for the rubbish humour, just pretend to laugh, ok?!  I mean please

Apart from the actual POM Wonderful juice, the company also has a selection of different flavoured teas and a special supplement (both in tablet and liquid form) for those who want a more convenient way to reap the benefits of pomegranate.

As soon as I get my free bottles, I shall let you know what I think.

Have you tried it?  Let us know your thoughts please

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