Читать книгу Bernadette Bohan’s The Choice: The Programme: The simple health plan that saved Bernadette’s life – and could help save yours too - Bernadette Bohan - Страница 15

Enzyme-rich smoothies are another wonderful way to kick-start your day. They are the ultimate fast-food as they can be whipped up in seconds. You simply throw all your favourite ingredients into a blender and whiz them up. What could be more convenient and easy?

I should point out at this stage that juices and smoothies are completely different drinks, although both are beneficial. Smoothies, which include some fibre, require more prolonged digestion. With juicing the cellular walls of the fruit and vegetables are broken down and only the liquid is extracted, leaving the fibre behind. Fibre, which is important for health, can easily be added throughout the day by the intake of other foods. Digesting foods is one of the hardest jobs your body has to undertake, but in these liquid drinks we can digest and assimilate their precious nutrients much more readily.

Smoothies take less time to prepare than the average breakfast of cereal, toast and coffee. Children are especially attracted to their yummy creamy textures and colours. Nourishing ingredients such as soaked fruits, seeds and nuts can be used as thickeners, and also nourishing essential fats can easily be blended into smoothies. Smoothies by their nature tend to use more fruits than vegetables, subsequently these will satisfy the sweetest tooth. Remember the old saying, though – a little of what you fancy does you good – and try not to overindulge. For sustained energy levels throughout the day, these drinks offer good nourishment for breakfast or lunch.

The majority of households have blenders or even hand-blenders these days, so I hope you will not need to purchase another piece of equipment. If you do have to invest in one you will find them useful for many tasks such as making soups, smoothies, patés and stuffing. Hand-blenders are wonderful, as in the past when I would make soup I’d pour it into the food processor to liquidize the vegetables, and end up spilling most of it on the counter-top or on myself, so needless to say I find the hand-blender a big improvement!

Some of the smoothie recipes included in this book has been given to me by my friends Stephen and David. They run a juice bar in Wicklow called ‘The Happy Pear’ and all I can tell you is they are absolutely gorgeous…the smoothies, that is, not the happy pair! Thanks for your kind help, lads!

I hope that the smoothie recipes will give you ideas for some quick and healthy starts to your day.