Budget Breakfast Recipes that Boost Your Immune System

2008 is almost over, and it’s the time of the year when most people get ill. It’s a well-known pattern, because most of us indulge in overeating, excessive drinking, frequent partying, overspending, and we also tend to get less exercise during the holiday and winter season.  It’s also the time of the year when many people get into more debts. All of these cause toxicity, physical and psychological stress, insufficient sleep, unhealthy finances, and insufficient nutrition – all of which may cause illness.

If you’re guilty of the above excesses, I suggest you start your way back now to a healthier lifestyle again by detoxing, and drinking only raw juice in the morning is one of the best ways to ensure you face 2009 with high energies instead of a high blood pressure!

RAW JUICING

Detoxifying is a process of waste elimination. The body can’t keep eliminating all the waste in our bodies if we keep on eating foods daily that are hard to digest, have low energy value, and takes very long to be eliminated. If your normal fare includes fast foods, processed foods, cooked and microwaved meals, animal products, sweets, and fatty foods then you will benefit a lot from raw juicing.

Why Raw Juice?

Apart from the obvious reason that staying disease-free is one of the best ways to save lots and lots of money, drinking raw juice for breakfast will give you a natural lift because it’s nutrient-dense. One pint of the juices listed here contains MORE nutrients and energy than what people get on standard western diet.

Digestion is an activity that uses up the most energy in our system.  The more we eat foods that are hard to digest, the more strained the body becomes as it is forced to put most of its resources to a single function: digestion. This compromises the other functions it needs to perform such as waste elimination, immune defences, and cellular repair.

Raw Juice is ideal for detoxification because it floods your body with all the nutrients it needs without putting a strain on the digestive system, thus allowing the body to focus its energy on other functions. Raw juice is full of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, anti-oxidants, enzymes – all required to keep your body functioning in tip top condition. Drinking raw juice helps to restore normal bowel function and to promote bowel regularity by helping flush the system of wastes that had accumulated inside the body.

Many studies have shown the many benefits of drinking raw fruit and vegetable juices daily, among them are:

• permanent weight loss
• prevention of illnesses such as colds, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart diseases
• clearing of skin conditions
• high energy levels
• mental clarity
• disapearance of allergies
• reduced cravings for foods high in sugar and trans-fats

How to Juice

It’s best to use organic as much as possible. Most organic farmers nowadays provide a bi-weekly delivery service so I encourage you to check out farmers in your area. This way, you support your local economy and you reduce your carbon footprint as well!

You will need juicing tools such as a juicer and a blender. I recommend Philips HR1861 Pro Aluminium Juicer to those who are new to juicing but plans to make raw juice into a daily habit. It’s affordable, reliable,  and it has a big mouth so it reduces the need to cut and slice your ingredients. I think it’s a good juicer to start with, and when you have been juicing for over a year then you can switch to the more heavy duty (and more expensive) juicers.

Having a powerful Blender is a great tool especially if you love smoothies. We currently use Kenwood Multi-Pro Libra FP950 Food Processor , and it works well for us because the many different attachments come handy when preparing a variety of raw dishes. If you just want a stand-alone blender for now though, I would recommend the Philips HR2094 Aluminium Chrome/Black Liquidiser 750w because of the same reasons I had about the Philips juicer.

RECIPES

So now that you have the tools and the motivation, let’s get started!

Here are some of my favourite recipes.  The quantity of ingredients were tailored to yield about 2 pints of juice good for two people, and they all take about 10 to 15 minutes to make (from preparation to slicing to cleaning and washing up!).

Remember to thoroughly wash all the ingredients, remove medium or big stones from fruits and cut all the ingredients in portions big enough to fit the mouth of your juicer.

(All the prices shown were estimations using price figures from www.mysupermarket.co.uk at the time of writing)

Carrot and Ginger Juice

estimated cost: £2.21

Yields: 2 pints

Ingredients:

• 4 carrots (£0.38)
• 3 apples (any will do, except Granny Smith)  (£0.87)
• a third of a medium pineapple (£0.63)
• 1 lemon, peeled (£0.30)
• 2 inch slice of fresh ginger root (£0.03)

Just juice all of the ingredients and pour over ice.

Why it’s good for you:

• Contains pectin, which eliminates toxins
• neutralizes harmful bacteria
• ginger is a natural antibiotics
• contains bromeline, an enzyme that dissolves mucus and aids digestion
• promotes healthy skin, eyes, and cleanses the liver

This recipe is from 7lbs in 7 Days Super Juice Diet book by Jason Vale.

Beetroot Juice

estimated cost: £2.59

Yields: 2 pints

Here’s a juice recipe I created

Ingredients:

• 1 head of raw beetroot (£0.20)
• 2 apples (£0.58)
• 1 lemon (£0.30)
• 1/4 medium red cabbage (£0.29)
• 7 inches cucumber (£0.64)
• 2 carrots (£0.19)
• 3 celery sticks (£0.39)

Juice the ingredients and pour over ice.

Why it’s good for you:

• Beetroot is very good for the heart and blood: it helps reduce artery blockage, blood pressure and is rich in iron
• natural diuretic
• reduces fluid retention
• excellent for the hair, nails and skin

Green Juice

estimated cost: £4.26

Yields: 2.5 pints

My boyfriend makes this for me every morning so it’s my favourite breakfast. It’s so light to the stomach but I usually don’t get hungry until well after lunch time. 

3 sticks of celery (£0.39)
150 g spinach (£0.74)
2 apples(£0.58)

1/3 medium pineapple (£0.63)

150 g kale (£0.53)
7 inches cucumber (£0.64)
1 tsp Spirulina Powder (£0.10)
1 small ripe avocado (£0.65)

Juice the first 6 ingredients. Add the Spirulina – you can get it from any health food shop, but you can also order it from Amazon. They have Spirulina Certified Organic Blue Green Algae Make sure to stir it in well so that there are no clumps. Pour this juice mixture in the blender and add the avocado, adding ice is optional. Whizz at a low speed for about 5 seconds and then at a high speed for about a minute or until all solid ingredients had been liquefied.

Why it’s good for you:

• supports effective liver and kidney functions
• reduces acidity and promotes alkalinity of the body’s pH balance – thus maintaining the necessary equilibrium needed for optimal health
• Spirulina is dubbed as a super food because it contains the most remarkable concentration of nutrients known in any food, plant, grain or herb. It is a high protein food, containing well over 60% all digestible vegetable protein. It has a high concentration of beta carotene, vitamin B-12, iron and trace minerals and the rare essential fatty acid GLA.

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