The Nutribullet Review

If you are into juicing and blending, I have a product that you will absolutely love. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Let me first say that I am not getting paid for this review (although, it would be nice!) and that I bought it with my own money...kind of...I'll get to that near the end of the review. So, what is it? The Nutribullet by Magic Bullet. Some call it a blender, but actually it is an extractor. Thus, making it way more powerful than an average blender. It breaks down all types of produce, seeds, grains and nuts. In it, you can make healthy juices, smoothies, dips, sauces, flours, nut butters, and more. My personal favorite recipes are Nutriblasts (as described in the booklet), sorbets, and fresh fruit shakes. It is like a juicer and blender all-in-one!

Included in the box are the following: the motorized base, a milling blade, an extractor blade, 2 regular cups, 1 tall cup, 1 handled comfort lip ring, a comfort lip ring, 2 resealable lids, and a resource booklet (guide, recipes, and nutirition plans).

How it works
Mostly, I use the Nutribullet's extractor features. It is the primary blending blade. It liquifies fruits and vegetables for easier consumption and maximum digestion. The longer you let it run, the smoother the items will become. However, be careful! The power of this machine is incredible. It has 600 watts of power, so it works fast and letting it run too long will cause your blend to heat up. Thus, when making drinks, I prefer using frozen fruits and/or veggies. If I'm making a soup or dip, it doesn't really matter...unless I cannot find out-of-season or ripe produce. Then, frozen is almost a sure winner.

Sorbet has become my favorite hot weather desserts since getting the Nutribullet. Check out two of my blends below. I would post more of my concoctions, but you will be licking your computer screen!



Pina Colada Sorbet

Cherry Sorbet

Pina Colada Sorbet
1/2 cup coconut milk, (unsweetened)
Splash of Pineapple juice
1/2 cup pineapple, frozen
Drop of Coconut Extract
Few cubes of ice

Throw items into the Nutribullet in the order listed. You want the frozen fruit and ice closest to the blade. Reverse the order for traditional blenders. Blend. If mix is too thick, add a splash of liquid (milk, juice or water). Serve immediately. Freezing may require reblending.


Cherry Sorbet

1/2 cup frozen cherries
1/2 cup almond milk, vanilla

Throw items into the Nutribullet, blend, and enjoy! Please note, I am not a chocolate lover, but I have been told that adding chocolate protein powder, chocolate cacao powder, or substituting the vanilla almond milk with chocolate almond milk or chocolate soymilk will bring you a chocolate-cherry delight!



The Nutribullet also comes with a milling blade that allows you to make nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, etc.) and flours (oat, bran, whole wheat, etc.). Using this tool definitely makes for healthier baking. Seriously, you can make oatmeal flour out of regular ol' Quaker Oats and turn Truvia into a healthier powdered sugar. Holiday baking may have become much healthier!

Clean Up is a Breeze
The power and results of the blends are great! However, the clean up is the absolute best part. I own a juicer and traditional blender. The challenge in using these items regularly is the clean up. The juicer has so many parts to be sanitized. Although I do find it easier to clean than a sink full of pots, pans, and dishes, it can still be somewhat an inconvenience. The Nutribullet on the other hand only requires a simple quick wash or rinse of the cup and blade. It can't get much better than that!

The Ultimate Deal
The Nutribullet sells online and through the infomercial for $119. It retails at Target and Walmart, and other discount stores for $99.99. Well, I found out that Bed, Bath, and Beyond carries it for $99.99 minus the 20% off coupon, totaling $79.99 plus tax. I went to BB&B with coupon in tow to get it, but they didn't have it in stock. The store associate asked me if I wanted to order it and have it delivered to my house...at no additional charge. Yes, I exclaimed! So, my price was $40 off the TV price and the bonus...I had $150 in BB&B giftcards from my bank reward points. So, essentially I got my Nutribullet by paying my bills each month! Yay me!

Check out the YouTube videos or better yet, get one and try it. You will use it everyday...just like I do! Here's to our journey to better health!

Best wishes,
Angela

Weekly Tip #7: Detoxing

We will cover more on detoxing when we return. However, we want to give a short tip...try detoxing beyond the physical. It's not just about what you eat.

Personal Chef

The movie stars flaunt their weight loss and sometimes make it look effortless. They may also suggest products or services and we try them without the same results. The difference, after some research, we find is that they have an entire team to help them stick to their plan. At the very least, they employ personal trainers and personal chefs.  These helpful assistants may be unaffordable for you. But that doesn't mean that you don't deserve to live healthier. Just like the "stars," you must make the commitment.

It is more affordable to consult with these professionals AFTER you have made the commitment to live your best life. Just like with exercise, you know yourself best.  You know what do you like and dislike. Consulting with a nutritionist or dietitian can be extremely helpful. Ask your physician for a referral or consult with a local healthy initiative program, like an agricultural extension or community garden program. In the meantime, identify your eating patterns. In your journal, you have kept track of what and when you eat. This information becomes incredibly important when planning your meals.

We often want convenience and taste over everything else. However, these things need to be consistent as well. To make sure you are living this way instead of short-term dieting, planning is imperative. Try planning meals for the week or month. When meal planning is coupled with couponing and precooking preparations, you will save significant amounts of money and time all the while reducing waste. You can also control what you and your family are putting into your bodies.

Be your own chef…your life may depend on it.

March is Women's & Nurtition Awareness Month

March is National Nurtition Month & Women's History Month. What a great way to celebrate women's health? This month as you continue your journaling and build the established heart healthy principles, we turn our focus to nutrition.  We must eat to survive, so it can be quite challenging to deal with any sort of eating disorders and food obsessions. It is important that we develop a better understanding about nutrition and food.

Why do we need food? Best answer is that food supplies our bodies with the energy and nutrients it needs to survive. Amino acids, proteins, are used to build and repair our muscles, immune system, hormones, nervous system, and organs. Calcium is important for a variety of reasons; perhaps strong bones and teeth being the most discussed. Vitamins and minerals supply us with the additional protection, strength, energy, and procession that is needed to keep our physical and mental vessels going. This month, we will discuss the various vitamins and minerals, A through Zinc and their benefits to our health.

MONTHLY CHALLENGE:
As we have learned that it takes about a month to get into the swing of things and develop a new habit. So, we are hoping you will take this 5-A-Day challenge. It is easier said than done. However, it is not all that hard to do. Simply eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Some people like to create salads, soups, and smoothies to get most of their servings in one or two meals. Others use reminders like 5 bracelets or timers or meal planner to help. Whatever you decide to do, don't forget to journal your experience and notice the benefits to your body and mind.

Try something fresh...5-A-Day...your life may depend on it!

Juicing for Health

June is National Fruit & Vegetable Month. All month long, we will help you identify fruits and vegetables as well as preparations of them to help you on your health journey. The Food & Drug Administration suggests our diets contain five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. It doesn't seem like a lot but when we really thinking about it, it's hard for us. We may eat a burger and french fries. We'll the lettuce and tomato on your burger barely qualify for a serving. French fries count as a starch, not a vegetable. Drinking our fruits and veggies is one of the fastest ways for us to get our recommended servings. After all, we all enjoy a good fruit juice. And, some love popular vegetable juices. Or do we, really?  Below are reasons why we should juice our own fruits and veggies:

Quality Control
Most of us buy our juices from the grocery aisle, not even the refrigerated section. Most of those bottled juices have added sugar, preservatives, color, and maybe flavors. So, after all of that filtering, diluting, and adding, there is a juice that resemble the original fruit or vegetable. Juicing your own fresh fruits and vegetables allows you to control what goes into the juice. So, if you want apple juice...juice an apple. That way, you know it's 100% juice, no additives, color, or sugar. The quality of your juice is based ONLY on the quality of your fruit.

Cost Control
Bottled and can juices are becoming quite expensive. So is purchasing produce that sit and rot due to our natural tendency to reach for orange juice over an orange. However, buying a bag of oranges is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than bottles and bottles of orange juice.

Flavor Control
When you juice your own foods, you get to choose what you put in it. We have found that many will drink vegetable juice when adding a sweet fruit like apple or pineapple to it. You can be creative and develop new recipes. There are only a few rules to juicing, so the sky is the limit to your flavor profiles. Below are some recipes to get you started, but don't be afraid to try some of your own. Try seasonal fruits and vegetables; they are the sweetest and most ripe. Summer is the best time to start!

Portion Control
You can control the amount of juice available when you juice. Oftentimes, we buy two-three bottles at the grocery store. Most will simply get another cup after drinking one. That means we consume more calories, sugar, and preservatives. That also means we are drinking less water and milk because of our ready consumption of pre-made fruit juice. Because there are no preservatives, you should drink your juices immediately. So, you will only need to make the amount you plan to drink immediately. Doing so allows you to control the portions and resulting fruit sugar intake of yourself and your family.

Nutrient Control
Eating fruits and vegetables in raw form is the most recommended preparation. Raw foods keep the nutrient and benefits of produce in tact. Cooking can dilute, destroy, or simply remove valuable nutrients from produce. However, when we think raw, we immediately think salads. And if you know like I know, your jaws will soon tire from chewing on lettuce. Juicing is a fast and delicious way to consume some of your foods in their raw state.  However, I do suggest that you balance eating with drinking your fruits and vegetables. Chewing is a natural desire for humans. We must satisfy our oral fixation on chewing. Additionally, juicing separates out the fiber from foods. Fiber is important to our digestive system and has to be an important part of our diets. So, don't just juice, but definitely try it!

Choosing a juicer - I recommend a juicer with a large mouth hopper, warranted blades, and dishwasher friendly. The less prep and clean up, the more you will use it. I also suggest a great blender to extend the possibilities of juicing. These are two of my favorite summertime kitchen aids.

Some recipes - One of my favorite cookbooks, Juicing for Life, includes recipes for specific health-related challenges. I have included a few for detoxification and body cleansing. They are also great for weight loss. As time goes on, we will share disease-specific recipes and the benefit for specific foods.

Warm Apple Pie (a hot apple tea)

1 tart apple

Water

Apple pie spice

Cinnamon stick for garnish

Juice apple. In small pan, bring 2 oz. juice and 4oz. water to boil. Season with liberal amount of spice. Serve in a teacup. Garnish with cinnamon stick. (Add honey or turbinado sugar to taste, if desired.)

Cherie's Cleansing Cocktail/Body Cleanser

1/4" slice ginger root or 1/2 cucumber

1 beet

1/2 apple

4 carrots, greens removed

Push ginger or cucumber, beet and apple through hopper with carrots

Mineral Tonic

Handful parsley

2 turnip leaves

1 kale leaf

4-5 carrots, greens removed

Roll up parsley in turnip and kale leaves, and push through hopper with carrots

Evening Regulator

2 apples

1 pear

Alternate pushing apple and pear through hopper

Ginger Hopper

1/4" slice of ginger root

4-5 carrots, greens removed

1/2 apple

Push ginger through hopper with carrots and apple

Berry Cantaloupe Shake

1/2 cantaloupe, with skin

5-6 strawberries

Push cantaloupe and strawberries through hopper

Garden Salad Special

3 broccoli flowerets

1 garlic clove

4-5 carrots, greens removed or 2 tomatoes

2 stalks celery

1/2 green pepper

Push broccoli and garlic through hopper with carrots or tomatoes. Follow with celery and green pepper.

NOTE: The resulting juice can have a lot of foam. You can simply stir it to mix the remaining fiber into the drink. Some prefer to strain the foam using a variety of ways. I suggest running it through a small drink strainer a few times to get it completely smooth. Or, you may use a blender.

Try juicing today...your life depends on it!

Notes on Cookbooks

I was sitting in my apartment livingroom and looked at the massive collection of cookbooks I have on one bookcase. I thought to myself, "How often do you really use them?" I am always looking for the perfect recipe, but usually "throw" something together from things I have in the kitchen or from the tastes I want to quench. So, I looked through them and realized I don't use most of them at all. Others of them, I have used a few times. And two were missing from the collection. That's because they were in the kitchen on the counter for easy access.

The two cookbooks I use most are:

1. Deliciously Healthy Eating. It is a part of the Keep the Beat series trademarked by the United States Department of Health & Human Services. Distributed by the National Heart Lung & Blood Institute (Division of National Institutes of Health). You can purchase a hard copy or you can download specific recipes using the interactive tool on the website. Click on the title to go directly to the website.  It is a beautiful cookbook with vibrant photographs of the food. It has simple, easy to follow recipes, with quick tips for novice and experienced cooks. It also gives the nutritional value of the recipes per serving and offers suggestions to round out meals. One of my absolute favorite recipes is "Savory Brown Rice." It is a rice pilaf dish that uses instant brown rice, celery, portabella mushrooms, onions, and chicken stock. So easy, so simple, so delicious, so healthy! You must try it. 
2. Juicing For Life by Cherie "The Juice Lady" Calbom & Maureen Keane. It is available at Amazon.com. Additional information on juicing can also be found on Cherie Calbom's website. Click on the book title or Cherie's name above to be taken to those respective websites. This book is more than a recipe guide to juices, but also a guide to diseases, illnesses and ailments that can be improved or cured using raw foods...fresh fruit and vegetable juices. I use this book as an encyclopedia for issues or concerns that I have at the moment. If I feel my eyes are stressed, I will try carrot and apple juice. The betacarotene in the carrots have been known to help with vision problems (not a cure for blindness). For exercise or menstrual cramps, I will try a ginger-celery pick me up.  The ginger helps the muscles relax and easy the cramping. The celery helps hydrate the body allowing the blood to carry repairing nutrients to distressed areas. I can go on and on but this book is full of information regarding our physical and mental health concerns as well as how juicing can help combat those issues.

I will talk more later about the benefits of heart healthy dieting, juicing, and diseases as this blog moves forward. I wanted to open my bag of cookbooks to you today to help you on your journey.

Have a favorite healthy recipe or tip? Post it!

Have a healthy meal...your life depends on it!