Category: Healthy Beverages

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Nut Milk: How to make your own & recipe

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Why make your own nutmilk?

  1. Many store bought nut milk brands contain additives to prolong their shelf life and to help keep a consistent texture like carrageenan which is destructive to the digestive system and causes inflammation in your body. Carrageenan is hiding in many store bought nut milks, dairy-free ice creams and dairy products. For example, So Delicious is a popular brand in the dairy free world which has carrageenan in their nut milks and DF ice cream products.  Its safer to make your own nut milk (and nice cream-link to nice cream recipes) to avoid consuming additives.
  2. Making your own nut milk has a creamier texture and tastes better.
  3. Just like juicing, there is leftover pulp after milking your own nuts. Another reason to make your own Nutmilk is that there are multiple uses for the leftover nut pulp, which I get into below.image1(1)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups raw unsalted organic hazelnuts
  • 6 cups filtered of purified water
  • 2 tbsp local raw honey or manuka honey
  • 1 vanilla bean or 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp raw cacao powder
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1) Soak raw hazelnuts and vanilla bean (if using bean and not extract) in filtered water for 8 hours.

2) Discard soaking water. Rinse the hazelnuts and the vanilla bean.

3) Place soaked hazelnuts, honey, vanilla bean and 6 cups of water in a blender. Cover and blend on high for 1-2 minutes. It will be milky and have a bit of foam on the top.

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4) Strain milk through a nut bag. I use Ellie‘s Best.They are good quality and BPA free. If you order from them, for 10% off, use Coupon Code: Deanna10 at checkout. They also have a free nut milk recipes E-book on their site.

5) Add raw cacao powder, cinnamon, banana to the Nutmilk and blend together. Note: I have seen people add the cacao/cinnamon before using the Nutmilk as well (in step 3).

  • I do not recommend using the cheesecloth, strainer or any other method. These methods are messy and require multiple passes to strain out the bits. Also, it is not as creamy as when I use a good nut milk bag.

What to do with leftover pulp?

  • Add it to smoothies or your morning oatmeal
  • Add it to dips, homemade granola, to the batter of your cookies or muffin
  • Make crackers
  • Dehydrate it and blend it to make almond meal
  • Add it to DIY cosmetics, Ex: body scrubs, face masks. See my DIY  Hazelnut Body Polish
  • Compost it.

Check out my Instagram @dshamptonorganics for more.

References

“Our Nut Milk Bag.” Ellie’s Best. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Yang, Bo, Sumit Bhattacharyya, Robert Linhardt, and Joanne Tobacman. “Exposure to Common Food Additive Carrageenan Leads to Reduced Sulfatase Activity and Increase in Sulfated Glycosaminoglycans in Human Epithelial Cells.” Biochimie. U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2012. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.   Web here

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Golden Milk & the power of Turmeric

Golden Milk is an ancient southeast Asian health elixir.⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀                                             ⠀

image1-2📝Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of hot almond, coconut or hemp milk
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp ginger powder
  • Pinch of cinnamon
  • Pinch of Nutmeg
  • Pinch of Cardamom
  • Pinch of Black Pepper (to activate the anti-inflammatory agents in turmeric)
  • 1/2 tsp of coconut oil to guarantee maximum absorption.
  • Optional: pinch of cacao to add more of a hot chocolate taste

 

 

More info on Turmeric: In New York, Turmeric has been a recent growing trend. I have seen it being added to juices and available in shot forms at places like Juice Generation. Most people must not be aware that it must be mixed with Black Pepper, in order to activate its anti-inflammatory agent Curcumin. You can also buy Curcumin vitimins, but having anything in its freshest form will be most effective.

Scientists have discovered that the root cause of most chronic illnesses is due to oxidative damage and/or inflammation. Curcumin’s powerful anti-inflammatory properties explain why it can help prevent and treat many different health conditions. Inflammation is a common factor for many diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, Alziemer’s, obesity and more. The body’s inflammatory response is a primary component of most chronic diseases.

Other ways I get my  Curcumin (from Turmeric) dosage:

  1. I take Terry Naturally- Extra Strength vitamins daily.
  2. I put a mix of Turmeric, Black Pepper, Cumin and Cayenne Pepper spices on foods I eat (mostly chicken)
  3.  I cut the turmeric root and put it in hot water and add black pepper amongst other ingredients as a detox tea. Other ingredients can include ginger (which is also anti-inflammatory), coconut oil, lemon, apple cider vinegar, oregano, garlic.

If you want to learn more about Turmeric, I recommend this detailed article by Cognitune.

References

Lemerond, Terry. “Inflammation the Wonder Spice Solution Research Confirms Healing Power of Curcumin.” 15 Feb. 2008: 1-30. Print. The Nutrition Healthy Living Guide

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Coconut Water & Green Phactor

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Fresh coconut water and dried vegtables mixed together makes a refreshing summer drink. Coconut water is a great source of electrolytes, such as potassium, necessary for proper hydration, while Green Phactor’s organic dried vegtables mixed in has many minerals, vitamins, phyto-nutrients, enzymes and micro nutrients.

Ingredients:

Coconut water: If you can’t get coconut water from a fresh coconut, make sure you are buying the coconut water from good packaged brand. Here are some things to look out for:

  1. Minimum pasteurization time: to remove bacteria the water only needs to be heated for a matter of seconds, but some brands will heat their water for up to 4 minutes, killing off many beneficial nutrients in the coconut water.
  2. No added sugar
  3. Avoid flavored coconut water

Green Phactor : this is a great addition to your diet. Make sure you are still eating tons of raw and cooked vegetables.

  • Ingredients: kale, wheat grass, spinach, alfalfa grass, broccoli sprout, parsley water, oat grass, barley grass, alfalfa sprout, spirulina, chorella, wheat grass juice, oat grass juice, alfalfa grass juice, barley grass juice, stevia extract, natural berry flavor.
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Reason to Avoid Fruit Juice & Go Green

IMG_2969One advantage of juicing is that it takes the fiber out of the food. This gives your digestive system a break and helps your body absorb the substances in your juice much faster. This is good when your juice is filled with vitamins and minerals from green juices. This is bad when your juice is filled with (natural) sugars.

When fiber is taken out of your fruits, the sugars are delivered to your bloodstream in a much faster manner, causing a bigger sugar rush and larger insulin spike (insulin is the hormone that regulates sugars in the blood). The sugars if not used up right away with say running a few miles, get stored up as fat. Causing this spike to happen repeatedly disrupts your metabolism, can cause weight problems or blood sugar-related illnesses. If you take the time to look at the back of a bottled juice that has both fruit and veggies in it, many have 25g, 35g, or more of sugar in the drink. This is around or exceeding the sugar amounts you should intake daily. Carrots and beets also contain a lot of sugar, so do not go excess with these sweet root vegtables either.

If you do decide to include fruits in your juices, green apples and berries are the best option with the least amount of sugars. Stay away from pineapple.

I really like this drink from Ellary’s Greens in the West Village, NYC because for me, the cayenne pepper gives it that extra kick and helps trick my taste buds into not craving something sweet.

Ingredients:

  • Celery
  • Cucumber
  • Green Apple (sometimes I take this out)
  • Cilantro
  • Ginger
  • Cayenne Pepper

 

References:

Eric Helms, 2014, The Juice Generation, NY, New York, Simon & Schuster

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Kombucha Fruit Smoothie

Mix frozen fruit and unflavored Kombucha in a blender for a drink, snack or dessert. I like to buy the “original” Kombucha flavored because I don’t trust how the Kombucha in a bottle is flavored. Most people buying Kombucha are trying to be healthy so to me it doesn’t make sense to buy something that might be flavored artificially.

Kombucha aids digestion and health gut. It is naturally fermented with a living colony of bacteria and yeast. Kombucha is a probiotic drink. Some benefits include improved digestion, fighting off candida (harmful yeast) overgrowth and mental clarity. For more benefits click here.

Please be aware if you are pregnant or have any major health concerns, consult with your doctor before drinking Kombucha since it changes your gut bacteria.

Also, be aware that Kombucha is acidic and can effect the enamel on your teeth. If your drinking Kombucha, drink it in one sitting rather than sipping it throughout the day. Swish with clean water (don’t brush) right after to minimize the acidic effects. OraWellness touches on this more.

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References:                                                                                                                                         “Food Renegade.” Food Renegade. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.                                                                    “How To Drink Kombucha And NOT Destroy Your Teeth.” OraWellness Blog Raquo. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

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Natural Antibiotic Tea

Ingredients:

  • Raw Manuka Honey
  • Black Pepper* (Not in photo)
  • Turmeric
  • Coconut Oil
  • Ginger
  • Lemon
  • Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Garlic
  • Oregano

*Ground black pepper must be used with Turmeric in order to activate the Curcumin in Turmeric which has anti-inflammatory properties.

These ingredients combined makes a strong all natural antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory tea.

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