Tag: autoimmune

Strawberry Banana Acai Smoothie Bowl

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Strawberry Acai Bowl2

You’ve probably seen my Acai Berry Smoothie Bowl and this one is not dissimilar, I just used slightly different ingredients.

I try to open a few acai capsules into my breakfast every few days because the acai berries have been tested to hold more polyphenols and antioxidants than pretty much any other food. You get polyphenols from other berries, especially blueberries, but acai berries have them in an abundance never seen before. They are indigenous to the Amazon in Brazil and have only recently become public knowledge – great for us! Polyphenols make us happy and also help us prevent and beat degenerative diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Polyphenols also make your skin look and feel incredible so including them in your diet as well as using them as a beauty product will help not only your inner health, but your outer health too! Acai berries are also rich in fatty acids omegas 3, 6 & 9 which is all you need for that anti-inflammatory boost.

This really is so easy to make guys, so ditch the cardboard-like, sugar-filled, store-bought cereals and have this yummy creation for brekkie!

Ingredients

1 cup strawberries
1 heaped tbsp almond butter
2 dates
2 tbsp Coyo coconut yoghurt (optional but makes it extra creamy)
3 acai berry capsules, opened and sprinkled in
1 probiotic capsule, opened and sprinkled in (optional but great for gut health)
3 tbsp almond milk
2 bananas, one pre-frozen and one fresh

Optional toppings:
Granola
Nuts
Seeds
Fruit
Goji berries

Method

Simply put all the ingredients into your food processor or blender, except for the fresh banana, in the exact order as they appear, and start blender on a low speed and increase gradually. Once creamy pour into a bowl and top with anything you like such as nuts, seeds, goji berries, fruit, granola – the world is your acai bowl!

Happy breakfast!
Love,
Lauren

Buckwheat Blueberry & Poppy Seed Muffins

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Buckwheat Blueberry Muffins

Firstly, we both want to thank you all for the amazing response we’ve had to our blog after only going live yesterday – we appreciate it so much!

I really went out on a limb here today. I wanted to make blueberry muffins for my husband for the weekend as he loves them but I’ve never made buckwheat muffins so I decided to really experiment which is sometimes risky as it can go wrong and you end up throwing away a bunch of good ingredients! Thankfully though, these turned out perfectly!

Buckwheat flour is the perfect substitute for wheat flour because, although you may think buckwheat is a grain, it is in fact a fruit seed so it’s a great replacement for wheat. Buckwheat also helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and contains lots of phytonutrients that act as anti-oxidants to fight fight disease. Blueberries are also brilliant anti-oxidants. I also used poppy seeds in these because they are a good source of B-Complex vitamins and I’m trying to increase my B-Complex intake to help my nerve pains, something I still suffer from as a by-product of having long-term arthritis.  Poppy seeds are in fact extracted from the pods of the opium poppy, we just don’t get the same side effects with them (!) They are high in oleic acid (a mono-unsaturated fatty acid) so they help lower cholesterol and they are high in fibre. And guess what? They’re also anti-oxidants!

Ingredients (these are gluten free, dairy free and refined-sugar free)

2 cups buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Half tsp Himalayan salt
1 ripe banana, mashed
2 eggs (for vegan, substitute with 2 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 5 tbsp water, mixed and left to set for 20 mins)
Quarter cup almond milk
Quarter cup agave or maple
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1-2 tbsp poppy seeds, depending on your preference

Method

Preheat the oven to 180.
Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the mashed banana, then add the almond milk, agave and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. It doesn’t matter if there are a few lumps from the bananas but make sure you mix in all the flour from the bottom of the bowl. Then add the blueberries and poppy seeds.
Place around 9-12 muffin cases in a cupcake oven tray and using a large spoon, spoon in the mixture into each one, filling to nearly the top.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden and fairly moist.
Enjoy warm or cooled.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love,
Lauren

Blueberry Acai Smoothie

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blueberry acai smoothie

I just love this picture! It snowed for the first time this year and I thought it would be nice for you guys to see it, especially Raine, who is probably lying by the pool right now – it’s summer in South Africa you know!

Anyway I need my anti-oxidants at the moment and acai berries have more anti-oxidants than any other known food. These anti-oxidants come from the high count of polyphenols in the berries, this is what gives them their gorgeous purple colour. If you want an immune boost, get yourself some Organic Burst acai capsules and use them as much as you can! If you add a probiotic capsule to this also, you’re really doing all you can for your immune system right now!

Ingredients

Half a cup of raspberries
Half a cup of blueberries
Half a cup of strawberries
1 tbsp almond butter
2 acai capsules (opened and sprinkled in)
2 dates
1 probiotic capsule
3 tbsp almond milk
1 frozen banana (cut in slices and frozen the day before, or any day before!)

Method

Simply put all the ingredients in your blender, in that exact order, and blend away! Pour into a glass and enjoy the sweet, smooth taste.

Love,
Lauren

Anti-Inflammatory Parsnip & Turmeric Soup

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parsnip turmeric

As you may well know about me already, the disease I had was rheumatoid arthritis. The pain was unbearable but the swelling, the fluid, inside the joints was the worst thing – it was so uncomfortable. I used to explain that it felt like jelly in between the joints as they moved – eugh! I never want that feeling back so I make sure I eat a lot of anti-inflammatory foods, turmeric being one of the top ingredients. My husband loves soups and they are so easy to make and such a great thing to have in the fridge during the winter. I usually try and make one a week and then I know I have lunch for a good few days. This week I had some parsnips left that were going to go bad if I didn’t use them soon so I decided to make a gorgeous winter-warmer anti-inflammatory soup.

Ingredients

5 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
Half tsp coconut oil
3 tbsp turmeric
1 cup boiling water
1 cup almond or coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Start by heating the coconut oil in a large saucepan. Once it’s hot, add the onion and leave for around a minute, stirring occasionally, until it becomes transparent. Then add the potatoes and parsnips and coat them with the oil.

Once coated, add the water and coconut or almond milk. Give it a good stir, then add the turmeric and salt and pepper to taste. If you don’t like it too thick, you can add more water or almond milk and you can adjust the amount of turmeric you use depending on your preference.

Turn down heat, put on the lid and leave to simmer for around an hour. Once all the vegetables are super soft, take off the heat and either transfer to a blender or use a handheld blender – my preference – and blend until smooth. Taste it now and see if you need to add salt or pepper. Serve straight away or keep it in the fridge (once cool) and reheat just as much as you need each time.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Acai Berry Smoothie Bowl

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xAcai bowl

Oh hello breakfast! I don’t know about you guys, but breakfast is by far my favourite meal of the day. I’ve never been the person who can go out the house without breakfast and wait until lunch. Since I started eating plant-based, unprocessed, wholefoods, breakfast has become a lot more fun! Because nothing I cook has any refined sugar, I can actually have dessert for breakfast! (Parfaits, nana ice cream etc).

I’m mad about the acai berry so today I decided to make a totally scrumptious acai bowl. Acai berries have been tested to hold more polyphenols and antioxidants than pretty much any other food. You get polyphenols from other berries, especially blueberries, but acai berries have them in an abundance never seen before. They are indigenous to the Amazon in Brazil and have only recently become public knowledge – great for us! Polyphenols make us happy and also help us prevent and beat degenerative diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Polyphenols also make your skin look and feel incredible so including them in your diet as well as using them as a beauty product will help not only your inner health, but your outer health too! (I will post a recipe for a face mask using acai capsules soon). Acai berries are also rich in fatty acids omegas 3, 6 & 9 which is all you need for that anti-inflammatory boost and also makes it great for babies as they need their omegas in high amounts. Your babies will just love the sweet, creaminess of this – mine did!

I wanted to make this bowl really thick and creamy. It’s almost like a smoothie in a bowl but creamier, so a bit like dessert! I hope you love it as much as I do…

Ingredients

½ cup raspberries
½ cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
2 dates
1 tbsp almond butter (you can use any nut butter)
2 tbsp almond milk
4 Organic Burst acai capsules, opened and sprinkled in
1 probiotic capsule (optional) (opened and sprinkled in)
1 frozen banana (chopped and frozen the night before)

Method

Simply put all the ingredients into your food processor or blender, in the exact order as they appear, and start blender on a low speed and increase gradually. Once creamy pour into a bowl and top with anything you like such as nuts, seeds, goji berries, fruit, granola – the world is your acai bowl!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren