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Date Sugar: This is How You Make the Healthy Sweetener Yourself

Date sugar is made from dried, finely ground dates. You can also easily make the sugar at home in the oven. You can find out exactly how this works and why we can only recommend date sugar to a limited extent here.

If you want to sweeten in a healthier way, you can use date sugar. This consists only of dried and finely ground dates. Date sugar has a more subtle sweetening power than conventional sugar, but also has a fine caramel note that goes particularly well with sweet baked goods. On the other hand, if you want to sweeten drinks, date sugar is not suitable. The fine date powder does not dissolve in liquid.

Since date sugar consists only of dried dates, it still has some healthy ingredients. For example, it is high in fiber. However, the crystalline date sweetener is still a sugar, so you should use it sparingly.

Also with regard to the ecological balance of dates, it is advisable to use date sugar consciously. Dates come from far away areas like Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia, so they have to travel long distances in transportation. Dates are also susceptible to pest infestation, which is why pesticides are often used.

If you make your own date sugar, you have the option of buying dates that are as environmentally friendly as possible. We recommend dried dates from organic farming that does not use chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Make date sugar yourself: Here’s how it works

Making date sugar yourself is very easy. In addition to the dried dates, you only need an oven and a powerful blender. First let the dates dry completely in the oven and then use the mixer to pulverize them.

You can do this step by step:

Halve the dates and remove the stone if necessary.
Place the dates on a wire rack lined with parchment paper or a more sustainable parchment paper alternative.
Allow the dates to dry through at 100 to 120 degrees Celsius.
Depending on the oven and the residual moisture content in the dates, the drying time can vary, from 60 minutes to two or even three hours. Place a wooden spoon between the oven and oven door to allow moisture to escape.
The dates should start to harden in the oven, but not burn. So check them regularly and reduce the heat if necessary.
Let the dates cool down completely overnight in the switched off oven with the oven slightly open. This makes them very hard.
Put the completely cooled dates in a blender and process them into a powder.
The resulting date sugar may start clumping from the humidity, but you can still use it.
The date sugar can be stored in an airtight container for up to eight weeks.

Make date sugar yourself: Healthier, but energy-intensive

Because the oven time can get long and the oven door is left open during this time, constantly escaping heat, the power consumption of making your own date sugar is quite high. Therefore, drying the dates in the oven can not only be expensive, but also increase the ecological footprint.

With a few tips, however, you can make the eco-balance of homemade date sugar a little more positive:

Do not use so-called soft dates, but dates that are as hard as possible, for example the Deglet Nour variety. The harder the dates are, the less time they need in the oven.
Don’t just halve the dates, cut them into quarters. They also dry faster this way. Be careful not to burn the dates.
If you have a dehydrator, you can use that. Note, however, that while most dehydrators use less electricity than the oven when drying, the power consumption is not necessarily low here either.
In order not to have to dry them at all, you can soak the dates overnight and then puree them with a little lemon juice. This is how you get a date puree that you can use for many things just like the solid date sugar.

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3 Healthy Winter Smoothies That Will Warm You Up

Delicious winter smoothies can also be mixed from “winter vegetables”. Here are three delicious smoothie recipes with seasonal fruit and vegetables.

Of course, citrus fruits in particular are everywhere in winter, but they have come a long way. Tropical fruits are also delicious, but ecologically not sensible.

Instead, there are enough fruits and vegetables from local cultivation or from your own cellar to make healthy smoothies. Our winter smoothie recipes are based on the Utopia seasonal calendar. In it you can read when which fruit and vegetables are in season with us.

We have three simple recipes for you that require few ingredients, are therefore quick to prepare and are suitable for any time of the day. So that the fat-soluble vitamins can also be absorbed by the body, you should never omit the nuts.

Winter Smoothie Recipe #1: Spicy Beetroot

You only need a few ingredients for a smoothie that warms you from the inside with the spicy spiciness of ginger:

1 medium sized beetroot
1 large pear
1 piece of ginger
1 handful of hazelnuts
some water
How to prepare the winter smoothie:

Peel the beetroot and cut into pieces. Because the red juice stains strongly, it is better to wear gloves when processing the tuber or rub your fingers with lemon juice afterwards. Remove the core of the pear and peel the piece of ginger.
Now add water to taste and process all the ingredients into a creamy smoothie. The more ginger you use, the more warming the winter smoothie will be.
Tip: You can also use nut oil instead of grated hazelnuts. Simply add your nut oil of choice while blending so it emulsifies well. If you use roasted oil, the nut aroma is more intense.

Beetroot bulbs can weigh up to 600 grams and can be stored very well. That’s why they are also considered “winter vegetables”, although their harvest takes place in summer from July. So there is no reason to only eat them in winter.

The vegetables contain a lot of vitamins and minerals, especially potassium, B vitamins, iron and folic acid. With manganese, copper and selenium, beetroot also provides rare but important trace elements.
However, beetroot also has quite a lot of oxalic acid. Anyone who tends to form kidney stones should avoid excessive consumption of the red tuber.
Beetroot is also a good nitrate storer. Nitrates are used as fertilizer in agriculture and can be converted into toxic nitrite. If the field is over-fertilized, a relatively large amount of nitrate is stored in the beetroot. To minimize this risk, you should only buy organic beetroot.

Winter Smoothie Recipe #2: Winter Apple

Apples are a native fruit that is available to us practically all year round. They contain a lot of soluble and insoluble fiber such as pectins. Pectins are water soluble and cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Dietary fiber promotes digestion. They are also said to be helpful in preventing colon cancer. There is evidence that a high-fiber breakfast can directly or indirectly lower cholesterol levels. Tip: It is best to eat apples in their most natural form – as a whole fruit with skin.

The taste of this smoothie is reminiscent of baked apple. You need:

1 large apple
50 grams of raisins
1 handful of hazelnuts
Cinammon
some water
Here’s how to enjoy the winter smoothie for breakfast:

Soak the raisins in water the night before.
The next morning, remove the core of the apple. Then put the apple in the blender with the raisins, the soaking water and the hazelnuts.
If the raisins aren’t soaking in enough water to make them drinkable, add a little more water. Season with cinnamon and enjoy immediately.
In case you forgot to soak the raisins the night before, they will swell faster if you pour hot water over them. The better the raisins are soaked, the less power your blender will need. You can then also make the smoothie with a regular hand blender.

Smoothie Recipe #3: Fresh with lamb’s lettuce

Lamb’s lettuce also grows outdoors in winter in sheltered locations or under fleece. Not only in the cold months it is a good alternative to lettuce from greenhouses or southern growing areas.

Tip: If you don’t have any lamb’s lettuce at hand, you can also use other “winter salads” such as winter purslane, which is also called postelein.

For the green winter smoothie you need:

125 g lamb’s lettuce
1 large apple
1 tbsp walnuts
some water
How to prepare the winter smoothie:

Wash and clean the lamb’s lettuce well and cut the core out of the apple.
Put the apple and lettuce in a blender with a little water or use an immersion blender to make a green smoothie.
Roughly chop the walnuts and sprinkle over the smoothie. Do not puree with the other ingredients, the bitter substances in the walnuts would literally “bitter” the smoothie.
Tip: The smoothie recipe also tastes good with cress instead of lamb’s lettuce. In winter you can simply grow cress yourself on the window sill. You don’t need any special equipment for this: a plate and some kitchen paper are all you need to grow your own salad in the kitchen.

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Persimmon Recipe: Versatile and Healthy

There are a wide variety of recipes for the versatile kaki – you can prepare the exotic fruit, for example, as a winter salad with pomegranate seeds. In this article, we will show you what other savory and sweet options there are.

Persimmons are available in Germany from October to December. During these months you can use the sweetish fruit in different ways. The pulp is very compact and easy to prepare. Persimmons also contain many minerals and vitamins, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and phosphorus. Here are some suggestions for persimmon recipes.

Persimmons originally come from Asia and are mostly imported from there. In Europe, the fruits are also grown in Italy and Spain. The persimmon is therefore not regional: it travels long distances before it is available in the supermarket. This creates climate-damaging CO2 emissions. In order to keep the transport routes as short as possible, it is best to buy kakis from European cultivation areas. Incidentally, this also applies to the pomegranate in the winter salad recipe.

Chemical-synthetic pesticides are often used in persimmon cultivation to protect the persimmon trees from pests. Pesticide residues can build up on the fruit. In order to avoid persimmons contaminated with pesticides, you should pay attention to organic quality.

Persimmon Recipe: Winter Salad with Pomegranate and Walnuts

Ingredients:

1pomegranate
1Kaki
50 gwalnuts
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp water
3 pinch(s) of salt
4 pinch(s) of pepper
1 tbsp chopped herbs
300 g lamb’s lettuce

Directions:

First open the pomegranate and remove the seeds. See also: Opening and pitting pomegranates works without mess
Cut the persimmons into small pieces. Peeling the persimmon is not absolutely necessary if you wash the fruit beforehand and it is organic.
Crumble the walnuts and put them in a bowl with the pomegranate seeds and persimmon.
Now add the oil, vinegar, water and spices. For example, you can use chives or parsley as herbs.
Mix everything well and finally add the lamb’s lettuce.

Persimmon recipes: This is how you can still prepare the fruit

Persimmons are not only suitable as a salad topping. You can also use the winter fruit in other savory and sweet dishes. More ideas for recipes with persimmons:

Savory Persimmon Recipes:

The sweet taste of the kaki is a great component in a vegetable curry. You can cut the persimmons into small cubes and add them to the curry sauce.
Persimmon and goat cheese also go well together. For example, you can bake persimmon slices with goat cheese. To do this, cut the persimmons into thin slices, place them on a baking sheet and spread the goat’s cheese over them. Bake the slices in the oven until the cheese has melted or, depending on the type of cheese, has slightly browned.
Sweet Persimmon Recipes:

Persimmons taste sweet. They are therefore perfect as a natural sweetener for muesli or porridge.
You can also bake a delicious fruit cake with persimmons.
Persimmons are also very suitable for jam, jelly, syrup or compote.
You can also easily prepare a vegan persimmon lassi. This is an Indian soft drink made from fruits and yoghurt.

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Lose Weight Without Hunger: 3 Healthy Recipes

If you want to lose weight long-term and healthily, you should try it without starvation and crash diets. Rather try recipes for losing weight that make you full and satisfied and provide you with all the important nutrients!

Our weight loss recipes will help you lose weight in the long term. Because if you want to keep your desired weight in the long term, you should avoid any 14-day diet: starving for a certain period of time not only makes you unhappy, but also causes the “yo-yo effect”, which can even lead to you tend to increase in the end.

When cooking, make sure to include as many vegetables as possible in your diet, but also all the important macronutrients. Strictly avoiding carbohydrates or fat is not only ineffective, but can also have a negative impact on your health. Instead, aim for a balanced ratio of complex carbohydrates, good fats and proteins. This is how you create filling and healthy meals and will lose weight in the long term without going hungry. You can include these three healthy recipes in your repertoire for a balanced diet:

Recipe for losing weight: Fresh potato salad

Secretly a superhero for being able to lose weight without starving yourself: Potatoes are often incorrectly referred to as fattening foods due to their carbohydrate content. In fact, unlike rice, pasta or bread, potatoes have significantly fewer carbohydrates and calories. For example, potatoes in 100 grams have just 70 kilocalories, while cooked pasta has twice as many calories.

Since potatoes also consist of complex carbohydrates and contain some fiber, they are very filling and also provide you with many important vitamins and minerals.

For three servings of potato salad you need:

850 g waxy potatoes
2 onions
2 tbsp canola oil
120 ml (homemade) vegetable broth
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon medium hot mustard
1/2 cucumber
1 red pepper
150 g cherry tomatoes
1/2 bunch spring onions
2 sprigs of parsley
Salt pepper
How to do it:

Wash the potatoes and then boil them for about 20 minutes.
Peel the onions and cut them into small cubes.
Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onions for about three to five minutes.
Pour in the vinegar, broth, and mustard and let the mixture simmer for two minutes.
Drain the potatoes and let them cool slightly. Then peel them and cut them into small pieces.
Place the potatoes in a large bowl and pour the mustard and vinegar mixture over them. Then let it steep for at least two hours.
Wash the cucumber and peppers and cut the vegetables into small pieces.
Wash the tomatoes and halve or quarter them.
Wash the spring onions and cut them into fine rings.
Chop the parsley.
Add the vegetable pieces and the parsley to the potatoes and mix all the ingredients together well. Season with salt and pepper.
Tip: When buying the products, pay attention to organic quality. In this way you ensure that the food in the recipe is not contaminated with chemical-synthetic pesticides, which can harm not only the environment but also your health. Not only do you lose weight without starving, it also does other things good for your body.

Chickpea pan with creamy mushroom and spinach sauce for losing weight without feeling hungry

Chickpeas and peas keep you full for a long time thanks to a mix of vegetable proteins, complex carbohydrates and fiber and are therefore a great diet recipe. This effect is enhanced by the healthy fatty acids from nuts and pumpkin seeds. In addition, due to the high proportion of vegetables in this dish, you can eat a relatively large portion that still has few calories for a full meal.

For two servings you need:

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp canola oil
200 grams of mushrooms
1 medium zucchini
1/2 tsp dried thyme
300 g spinach leaves (fresh or frozen)
150 g green peas (frozen)
3 teaspoons cashew or white almond butter
1/2 lemon
350 g chickpeas (cooked)
Salt pepper
2 tbsp yeast flakes
a handful of pumpkin seeds
That’s how it’s done:

Peel the onion and garlic and chop both into small cubes.
Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion and garlic pieces for about three minutes.
Clean the mushrooms and wash the zucchini.
Halve the zucchini lengthwise and cut both parts into semi-circular pieces.
Slice the mushrooms.
Add the veggies to the pan with the thyme and stir-fry. If you are using frozen spinach, you should add it now.
Let the vegetables cook for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms have wilted and the zucchini pieces are still al dente.
Add the frozen peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes until thawed.
Mix the nut butter with the lemon juice and about a tablespoon of water in a small bowl to form a creamy sauce. If it’s still too firm, you can add a little more water.
Place the chickpeas in a colander, rinse with water and drain well.
Then add them to the veggies in the pan.
Now stir the creamy sauce into the chickpea pan. Season with salt and pepper.
Divide the dish between two plates and refine it with yeast flakes and pumpkin seeds.

Recipe for losing weight without feeling hungry: light vegetable casserole

You can also eat a relatively large portion of this dish, as the meal mainly consists of vegetables and is therefore relatively low in calories. In addition, broccoli, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes provide you with important micronutrients.

For two servings you need:

500g broccoli
400 grams of carrots
300 g potatoes (waxy)
1 onion
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
500 ml tomato passata
Salt pepper
1 tsp honey alternative, organic honey or date syrup or sugar
4 sprigs of thyme
200 g grated (vegan) cheese
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
That’s how it’s done:

wash the vegetables Then cut the broccoli into small florets. Peel (if you like) the carrots and potatoes and cut them into slices.
Peel the onion and chop it into small cubes.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion pieces for three minutes.
Add the tomato paste and let it roast for two minutes.
Deglaze with the tomato passata. Season with salt, pepper and honey and stir the ingredients into a homogeneous sauce.
Pluck off the thyme leaves and chop them into small pieces. Add this to the tomato sauce and let it boil briefly.
Add the vegetable pieces and let the mixture simmer for about seven minutes.
Then put them in a casserole dish and sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumbs.
The casserole is now placed in the oven at 165 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes. You don’t need to preheat the oven for this.
Tip: If you want to lose weight in the long term without starving yourself, pay close attention to your body’s signals: Only eat when you’re really hungry and stop eating when you’re full. You should also make sure to eat slowly and calmly. You can also avoid the unnecessary fat and sugar in finished products with these three and other recipes, for example breakfast for weight loss.

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Brussels Sprouts are Healthy: That’s Why You Should Eat the Regional Winter Vegetable More Often

What makes Brussels sprouts so healthy is not only plenty of vitamin C. When bought regionally, the winter vegetable is also a sustainable food.

Brussels sprouts belong to the cruciferous family and have been cultivated in Europe for around 200 years. At that time, farmers in Belgium began to grow the cabbage variety – which is why the florets are also called “Brussels cabbage”.

Brussels sprouts are a particularly digestible variety of cabbage that usually does not cause bloating or abdominal pain. Its strong aromatic flavor becomes milder after the first frost: then the sugar content increases and the cabbage tastes sweeter and less bitter. But whether strong or mild – Brussels sprouts are always healthy.

Brussels sprouts: Healthy thanks to vitamins and minerals

Numerous important vitamins and minerals make Brussels sprouts healthy (data from the USDA per 100g):

Vitamin C (85 mg) strengthens the body’s defences. 100 grams of Brussels sprouts contain about 85 milligrams of vitamin C.
Vitamin B-6 (0.2 mg) strengthens the immune system, among other things.
Vitamin A (38 micrograms) primarily supports bone formation, the skin and visual performance.
Vitamin K (177 micrograms) regulates cell growth and is important for blood clotting. Attention: Vitamin K inhibits the effect of vitamin K antagonists, which are contained in some medicines. If you are taking such medications, you should not consume too much vitamin K.
Potassium (389 mg) controls the transmission of stimuli in our muscles.
Calcium (42 mg) strengthens our bones and teeth.
Iron (1.4 mg) primarily transports oxygen in the blood.
According to research by the NDR, the vitamin C content in frozen Brussels sprouts is higher than in fresh ones. It depends on what “fresh” means. If you harvest Brussels sprouts in your garden and process them directly, the vitamin C content will be higher than fresh Brussels sprouts that have been stored in the cold store for some time and have been transported.

Brussels sprouts as part of a healthy diet

Not only the high amount of vitamins and minerals make Brussels sprouts healthy. It also contains other substances that promote our health:

Bitter substances stimulate digestion and soothe the gastric mucosa. They can even relieve mild abdominal pain.
Together with iron and vitamin B, folic acid (folate) promotes healthy blood formation.
Studies indicate that Brussels sprouts may help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

With just under four grams of protein and fiber per 100 grams, Brussels sprouts not only provide important energy, but also fill you up in the long term and get your digestion going.

So it pays to include Brussels sprouts in your diet. Especially in winter it is an important supplier of health-promoting substances: it is one of the few regional vegetables that are still growing.

Brussels sprouts: Healthy and sustainable winter vegetables

Healthy Brussels sprouts are in season from November to January. It is a good alternative to vegetables that have to be imported from warmer regions in winter. However, only around 15 percent of the Brussels sprouts in the supermarket come from Germany. The rest comes mainly from the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and France. Regional Brussels sprouts have a low carbon footprint, making them a sustainable food.

Tip: When shopping, pay attention to where the Brussels sprouts come from. At weekly markets or in organic supermarkets you can often find fresh Brussels sprouts on a stick from local farmers and you can shop regionally.

Cook Brussels sprouts properly

Its valuable ingredients make Brussels sprouts so healthy. To preserve them, you should prepare Brussels sprouts as fresh as possible. When buying, make sure that the florets are firm and light green. At room temperature, the florets wilt quickly. They will keep in the fridge for several days if you wrap them in a damp cloth.

Before processing Brussels sprouts, first remove yellow or loose leaves. Then you should clean the Brussels sprouts, remove the stalks and cut them in a cross shape. This way they cook evenly. Then you can prepare the florets:

Blanch Brussels sprouts: Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and add the Brussels sprouts. Leave it in the boiling water for about three minutes. Then drain it and let it cool in ice water for another three minutes. You can freeze blanched Brussels sprouts.
Boil and prepare Brussels sprouts: Place the florets in a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Then turn down the heat and put a lid on the pot. After five to seven minutes the cabbage will be al dente.
You can process the cooked florets as you wish – let yourself be inspired by our healthy Brussels sprouts recipes, for example.

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Smoothies: How Healthy are They Really?

Red, green, yellow: Smoothies are all the rage – but are they healthy too? And what exactly makes a healthy smoothie? Are the pureed fruits and vegetables really better than fresh? Are smoothies vegan? How much sugar do they contain?

In the cold season with dry heating air, wet, cold feet and cold viruses, our immune system has a lot to do! Vitamins help to support the body’s defenses and stay healthy.

Because it is not scientifically proven how well our body can absorb synthetic vitamins from effervescent tablets, vitamin pills or beverages and foods fortified with them, it is always best to absorb the vitamins in their natural form, i.e. directly from fruit and vegetables. Therefore, it is not only important in the wet and cold season to integrate this into our daily diet.

Simply drinking vitamins with smoothies?

It’s very easy with smoothies, which are recommended in every refrigerated section as a health booster. But because vitamins and some other phytonutrients degrade during storage and preservation, it’s healthier to make a smoothie fresh at home. You don’t necessarily need a smoothie maker from the advertisement. A simple, cheaper hand blender is all you need to start with.

Once you’ve gotten the taste for smoothies, it may be worth buying a powerful blender, with which you can crush ice cubes with the fruit in summer and also process woody components such as grass.

What exactly is a smoothie?

The “smoothie” is a neologism and originally comes from the South and Central American continent, where it has been freshly prepared as “jugo” (juice) with a blender at fruit and vegetable stands in the market for generations. From there, this way of preparing fruit and vegetables migrated to the USA, where the word “smoothie” came about.

“Smooth” means soft, creamy, smooth and supple, which primarily means the mouthfeel. Is that automatically healthy? Yes.

Because unlike juice, all the fruit and veg is processed here, resulting in a thick end product that sometimes needs a little water added to be drinkable. In the countries of origin, the “jugo” is served without water with a straw. This makes it easier (and more hygienic) to eat at the market.

What can go in the healthy smoothie?

Theoretically, everything that tastes good can be processed into smoothies. Grasses can also be combined with fruit and vegetables, and spinach or carrots, for example, give the smoothie bright colors. Various leafy greens, for example carrots or kohlrabi, taste delicious and do not have to go to the compost.

Spices and herbs make every smoothie even more interesting. It’s fun to experiment with spices to add that extra something to even simple combinations. Vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, tonka beans, cardamom, ginger and more go well with sweet creations – everything that is healthy. Green smoothies and those with a high vegetable content are deliciously seasoned with curry, paprika, dill, mint, basil, turmeric and many other herbs and spices.

To give your own smoothie recipes more variety, it’s worth taking a look in the pantry, for example to see the baking ingredients. Some cocoa, ground nuts or almonds also go well with many recipes and at the same time ensure a creamy consistency.

Is every smoothie healthy?

A smoothie is supposed to be healthy, so sugar (or honey and any other sugar alternative) has no place in the list of ingredients. What counts is the natural sweetness of the fruit and the pure taste. If the finished drink is too sour, a bit of banana always helps: Their natural fruit sweetness and creaminess quickly upgrade many smoothies. Dried fruits are also suitable.

But this is exactly where a problem with smoothies lies: due to the fruit sweetness, there is a lot of sugar in the creamy drinks. In the smoothie test, the consumer magazine Öko-Test had 20 red smoothies tested for their sugar content, among other things. Many smoothies even had a similarly high sugar content as lemonade and cola.

It is true that this is not added sugar, but the fructose of the individual types of fruit. Nevertheless, you can pay attention to the specified sugar content when buying a smoothie.

Are smoothies vegan?

Strictly speaking, smoothies are vegan, which is why dairy products have no place in them. In some recipes, ingredients such as milk or yoghurt appear. However, such a drink is then a “mixed milk drink”, especially if the milk makes up a larger part of the end product.

If you prepare fresh smoothies yourself, you can keep an eye on all the ingredients and make sure that the smoothie remains vegan. When buying a smoothie, you can look for a corresponding vegan logo.

What makes the smoothie a healthy vitamin bomb?

The German Society for Nutrition (DGE) recommends five portions or at least 400g of vegetables and 250g of fruit per day for adults, about half of which are raw and the other half heated.

The DGE also explains that the daily five servings of fruit and vegetables can occasionally be replaced by a vegetable juice or a fruit juice. “However, this should not happen every day,” the DGE continued.

According to the DGE, for a smoothie to replace a portion of fruit, it should:

  • a maximum of half juice and at least half pulp, puree or chunky fruit and vegetable components
  • no added sugar
  • no additives such as flavors, colors or preservatives
  • no isolated nutrients
  • not concentrated by removing water

If these requirements are met, the healthy smoothie can be a regular part of the diet. However, you should not replace fresh fruit and vegetables with smoothies every day.

Is a smoothie healthier than juice?

With a smoothie, fruit and vegetables are only pureed, not juiced. This means that most of the ingredients such as valuable dietary fiber and phytochemicals are included. This would not be the case with juice, since dietary fibers in particular from the peel and pulp are disposed of during juicing. Anyone who has ever made their own juice from carrots or apples knows how much pomace ends up unused in the (organic) waste bin. But it is precisely in the shell that there are often healthy ingredients.

A smoothie is usually freshly prepared and therefore contains more healthy vitamins than juice, which has to be preserved in bottles or tetra packs by heating. Even a ready-made smoothie from the refrigerated section contains more phytochemicals and vitamins than a juice that is also available chilled in the supermarket. However, it is generally better to freshly prepare a smoothie at home.

Are smoothies basically “light” or do they make you fat?

A smoothie, no matter what color it is, consists only of plant-based ingredients. However, this does not mean that smoothies are fat-free, because vegetables can also contain fat. Just think of the avocado, which is a little fat bomb with 15g of fat per 100g. But don’t worry: This fat is a healthy, vegetable fat that has a lot of calories, but also has positive effects on your health.

Smoothies are not necessarily low in calories, because with a smoothie you are consuming fruit and vegetables in a concentrated form. On the one hand this is good, on the other hand it can tempt you to consume more than you would actually eat if the fruit or vegetables were not pureed. Finished smoothies often contain a lot of hidden sugar in the form of fructose.

The disadvantage of fruit and vegetables in pureed form is that you can consume a large amount of them in a short time and do not give the feeling of satiety time to report in time. Too much of a good thing is no longer healthy.

A little trick: just imagine (even with juice!) the amount of fruit/vegetables that were on the table before you pureed/juiced them. Would you be able to eat the same portion again? Probably not. So skip the second glass, delicious as it is.

Healthy smoothies: You should keep this in mind when preparing them

In general, smoothies are easy to prepare. All you have to do is wash the fruit and vegetables, remove the cores if you have them and puree them with a stand mixer, blender or immersion blender. Because the whole fruit including the skin is used (as with vegetables), you should opt for organic quality food.

But in order to be able to use the vitamins contained in it optimally, you have to observe a few basic rules, otherwise the smoothie is only half as healthy as you think.

The ingredients should all be as fresh as possible in order to guarantee the highest vitamin content.
If the mixer used is powerful enough, frozen food can also be used. Even in winter you can use it to mix berries into your smoothie.
Many vitamins break down quite quickly when crushed and processed, so you should drink your smoothie as soon as possible after preparation in order to be able to use the greatest possible vitamin yield.

Some vitamins, such as vitamin A, are fat-soluble and can only be absorbed by the body if fat is available. However, smoothies are usually fat-free (unless avocado is one of the ingredients), so a few drops of high-quality vegetable oil or a teaspoon of nut butter should always be included in the blender, or oilseeds such as sunflower seeds, flaxseeds or nuts should be processed.

Are smoothies always raw?

A smoothie is mostly raw food, but not always. Not all foods should be eaten raw, so occasionally one or the other cooked vegetable “strays” into the smoothie.

For example, a boiled potato would be conceivable to help make very watery smoothies creamy, or boiled pumpkin, which can also be processed in less powerful blenders. In principle, however, the focus should be on raw fruit and vegetables, provided they are suitable for raw consumption.

Are green smoothies healthier?

Green smoothies are drinks made from mostly green fruits and vegetables. They usually get their green color from a high proportion of green leafy vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, kale and others. Such drinks are often marketed as “particularly healthy” because they contain an above-average amount of chlorophyll, i.e. leafy green.

Chlorophyll is one of the secondary plant substances and, according to the advertising, is said to make you particularly healthy, happy and even younger. All of this is justified with the “purifying” or “detox”, i.e. “detoxifying” effect of the green leaf pigment. In medicine, however, the term “detoxification” does not exist, it comes from naturopathy and is only passed on orally. The argument of detoxification is usually only used to sell products or methods profitably or to compensate for one’s own unhealthy behavior with “detoxification cures”.

Conclusion: Smoothies can be part of a healthy diet

Freshly made smoothies can make a healthy contribution to the daily consumption of fruit and vegetables, but should not replace them. Because: Fresh fruit and vegetables keep you full for longer and have a lower energy density than pureed smoothies.

It’s not difficult to prepare delicious smoothies with local and seasonal fruit and vegetables without having to do without more than enough vitamins and minerals.

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Cooking Beets in the Oven: So Delicious and Healthy

Beetroot is particularly tasty when you prepare it in the oven. We present a method how you can easily cook beets in the oven.

You can not only boil, roast or eat beetroot raw, you can also cook it in the oven. This cooking method softens the tuber’s earthy flavor and brings out its natural sweetness. Beetroot should also convince those who were previously skeptical about its intense aroma.

Beetroot is not only a versatile vegetable, but also a source of valuable micronutrients such as phytochemicals, iron, vitamin C and B vitamins. Just 200 grams cover around 50 percent of your daily folic acid requirement.

You can get the healthy tuber either fresh from the field or from storage almost all year round. The main harvest season lasts from October to March. Fresh beetroot can therefore provide you with important nutrients, especially in the winter months. If possible, make sure that you buy organic beetroot. In this way you support agriculture that does not use chemical-synthetic pesticides and thus protects the soil and the environment.

We’ll show you a way to cook beets into a delicious dish in the oven. This oven-roasted vegetable tastes great as a side dish or as part of delicious and nutritious Buddha bowls.

Cooking beetroot in the oven: As an aromatic oven vegetable

Idea: If you end up wanting to make a soup, puree or spread from the beetroot, you can save time and energy by first cutting the beetroot into very small pieces and then cooking them in the oven.

Ingredients:

500 g small beetroot
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive or frying oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses or other liquid sweetener
Salt and pepper to taste
3 sprigs of rosemary

Directions:

Wash and scrub the beets thoroughly and cut off the core. Then halve the tubers. You don’t have to peel them. Peel the garlic and press the cloves with the flat side of a knife until they pop open slightly.
Place the beets and garlic in a casserole dish. Mix the oil with the vinegar, liquid sweetener, salt and pepper. Pour the marinade over the vegetables and mix well. Place the rosemary sprigs on the beets.
Roast the beets in the oven at 200°C (top/bottom heat) for about 40 to 60 minutes until the tubers are soft. Turn the vegetables every 20 minutes.

Here’s how to use oven-cooked beets

You can process beetroot from the oven in many ways:

You can also cut the beetroot into thin slices and use them to cover a tarte flambée.
Instead of raw beetroot, you can also use oven-cooked tubers for a beetroot carpaccio.
If you fancy a special cake, you can use the beetroot in a chocolate cake. You won’t be able to taste the tuber, but it ensures that the cake is nice and moist.
The spiced beetroot tastes good in Buddha bowls, a millet bowl, in salads, for example a pearl barley salad, or together with a dip.

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Vegan Jackfruit Curry: Spicy, Quick, Healthy

The jackfruit curry is a healthy and vegan alternative to Indian meat dishes. We’ll tell you which spices are best and how to cook a delicious curry with just a few ingredients.

Jackfruit curry is the vegan version of classic curry dishes that contain meat. You only need a few ingredients for this simple dish. The fresh spices are particularly important, and it is best to grind them before cooking. They develop an intense aroma that gives the jackfruit curry an Asian touch.

Jackfruit: The exotic meat substitute

As the name suggests, the jackfruit curry is based on the tropical fruit jackfruit. Jackfruit has become increasingly popular with vegans and vegetarians in recent years. The consistency is meat-like and the pulp tastes neutral. Thus, jackfruit is used in a variety of dishes and national cuisines.

However, jackfruit is a tropical fruit with a poor ecological balance: it mainly grows in India and Bangladesh. The long transport routes to Europe significantly increase CO2 emissions and contribute to a high ecological footprint.

Therefore, when shopping for the jackfruit curry, make sure that the jackfruit is organically certified. The start-up company Jacky F. offers sustainably produced jackfruit. The organic manufacturers Govinda, Taiga Naturos and Lotao also have jackfruit products in their range. You can get Jackfriut in well-stocked health food stores or in Asian shops.

If possible, buy the remaining products from organic farming and from regional cultivation. This reduces transport routes and CO2 emissions. In addition, organic-certified labels such as Bioland, Naturland or Demeter do not use environmentally harmful chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Jackfruit Curry: An easy recipe

In this recipe we use canned jackfruit. This is quick to prepare and often easier to find in stores than fresh fruit.

Ingredients:

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of grenades
20 ginger
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp turmeric
1 green chili pepper
2 onions
2 pieces of tomatoes
3 tablespoons coconut oil
250 g jackfruit
100 ml water
1 tablespoon date syrup
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Directions:

Place coriander seeds, cumin, and allspice seeds in a mortar and pestle. Paint the seeds until they crumble.
Peel the ginger and garlic.
Roughly chop the ginger, garlic, turmeric powder, and green chilli. Grind them together with the spice mixture in the mortar until you get a coarse paste.
Peel the onion, wash the tomatoes. Cut the onion into fine strips and the tomatoes into small cubes.
Heat the coconut oil in a large pan.
Sauté the onion in it for five minutes.
Add the spice mixture from the mortar and simmer over high heat for a minute.
Mix the tomatoes with the ingredients in the pan. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, drain the canned jackfruit and cut into small, bite-sized pieces as needed. Put the jackfruit in the pan.


Mix the ingredients with the water. Let the curry continue to cook for ten minutes over medium heat.
Refine the jackfruit curry with date syrup and garam masala.
Garnish the finished jackfruit curry with fresh coriander and serve.
Tip: Serve the delicious jackfruit curry with some naan bread or chapati (an Indian flatbread). Of course, the classic rice goes well as a side dish with the jackfruit stew.

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Shopping Healthy: 7 Tips for Weekly Shopping

In order for you to be able to shop healthily, you don’t have to pay much attention to it. In this article we show you seven tips that can help you with your weekly shopping.

Shopping for a healthy diet is a matter of knowledge and habit. Once you know how it works, shopping will be easier for you and you will know what you need without having to think too much.

Healthy shopping Tip 1: Pay attention to the quality

The quality of the food is the basis for healthy shopping. We recommend you to choose organic quality food. In this way you can avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides and support more sustainable agriculture.

Organic products are subject to specific and controlled guidelines. The aim is to do business in harmony with nature as far as possible and to promote biodiversity and the ecological system as a whole. In addition to the EU organic seal, concentrate on the three stricter seals Demeter, Bioland and Naturland so that you can keep track of the seal jungle.

You should keep an eye on this especially if you consume animal products. The guidelines for animal husbandry, but also for other foods, are formulated more precisely and in a way that is more species-appropriate than for conventional products.

Healthy shopping Tip 2: Cover certain food groups

By focusing on specific food groups, you support a balanced diet with fewer highly processed products. Vegetarian food groups include:

Cereals, cereal products and potatoes
vegetables
fruit
milk and milkproducts
eggs
legumes
nuts and seeds
Oils and fats
water

If you eat vegan, then the animal products are also omitted. In addition to vegetables and fruit, pay particular attention to legumes, nuts and seeds. To make it easier for you to shop healthy, you can keep the vegetarian or vegan food pyramid in mind when creating your shopping list and compare your list with it.

Healthy shopping Tip 3: Use seasonal fruit and vegetables as a guide

If you orient part of your shopping towards seasonal foods, then you ensure variety and diversity in your diet all year round. Our seasonal calendar can give you an overview. If you also pay attention to regionality, then you can not only make your purchase healthy, but also particularly sustainable. Because you avoid long transport routes.

Healthy shopping Tip 4: Integrate fermented foods

Fermentation is a traditional preservation process to preserve food for a longer period of time. Fermented foods have a number of advantages, particularly in terms of nutritional physiology. Because the food is “pre-digested”, they can be easier for you to digest and support your intestinal flora with certain bacteria, such as lactic acid bacteria. They also provide additional nutrients because fermentation increases the amount of vitamins C and B, for example. Fermented foods include:

Sour Dough Bread
active yogurt
kefir
active sauerkraut
kimchi
tempeh
fermented tofu
miso paste
fermented garlic

Healthy shopping Tip 5: Prepare a shopping list

Doing your weekly shopping with a shopping list has several advantages:

You avoid the inconvenience of forgetting a product when making your purchase.
By writing down foods and planning out recipes, you can automatically incorporate more variety into your healthy shopping through more clarity and structure. If you more or less stick to your list, you might find it easier to avoid resorting to unhealthy products.
You save time when shopping and don’t have to worry about whether you’ve thought of everything.

Healthy shopping Tip 6: Don’t go shopping when you’re hungry

“Never go shopping on an empty stomach” – you’ve probably heard this sentence before. This tip is no secret and yet very effective. When you shop hungry, you can tend to shop for more than you need and in unhealthier ways. If, on the other hand, you go shopping comfortably full, you can concentrate better and more clearly on healthy shopping.

Healthy shopping Tip 7: Dare to experiment with every weekly purchase

To add some fun and variety to your shopping, you can set yourself a small challenge for each weekly purchase. For example, you can buy a type of fruit and vegetable that you have never tried before – for example a black salsify? Then learn how to cook them. You can also try to replace a non-regional product on your shopping list with a regional product.

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Fasting Properly: Instructions and Tips for Healthy Fasting

Proper fasting can be interpreted in very different ways depending on the nutritional approach. We will show you which forms of fasting there are and how you can implement them yourself at home.

Proper fasting: There are these types of fasting

Fasting is originally a purely religious ritual that believers practice to free themselves from any distraction and thus establish contact with God. The interpretations are very different, but mostly the renunciation should serve the purification of the soul, penance, the defense against evil, the striving for concentration, enlightenment or salvation.

In addition to religious fasting, there is so-called therapeutic fasting. The Greek doctor Hippocrates is said to have spoken of this healing method almost two and a half millennia ago. The therapeutic fasting cure is intended to purify the body and/or cleanse the soul.

Therapeutic fasting has become a trend in recent years and fasting cures are becoming more and more popular. In Germany, some hospitals and clinics offer therapeutic fasting as fasting therapy. Today, many people resort to fasting, primarily to do something good for their health.

Different types of fasting have become established:

With so-called full fasting, the body is not supplied with any calories at all. The fasting drink only water and tea. This form of fasting is extremely risky and therefore not recommended from a medical point of view.
Buchinger fasting also integrates vegetable broth and juices.
Juice fasting focuses on various fruit and vegetable juices that you consume throughout the day.
While you should only go through the types of fasting mentioned so far for a limited period of time, you can firmly integrate what is known as intermittent fasting into your everyday life. You’re still eating regularly, but there are longer periods when you don’t eat at all and really fast. This includes, for example, dinner cancelling.

When is Lent in 2022?

In Christianity, people traditionally fast the 40 days before Easter, i.e. from Ash Wednesday up to and including Holy Saturday.

This year, the six-week Lent begins on March 2nd and ends on April 16th, 2022.

It is not advisable to strictly fast for the entire duration of “Lent”. Anyone who takes a fasting cure, a fasting holiday or a fasting day usually does so independently of the traditional fasting period.

What does fasting bring?

The supposedly positive effects of proper fasting have not yet been adequately scientifically proven. So far, there have mainly been studies that are based on animal experiments or a comparatively small number of participants. However, according to the Federal Ministry of Nutrition, there are indications that (intermittent) fasting has a positive effect on the brain, heart, fat cells, muscles, intestines, liver and blood.

Possible effects are, for example:

Reduce and prevent inflammation in the body
improved cognitive functions
higher muscle effectiveness
higher stress resilience
However, fasting is not a way to lose weight in the long term. During a zero diet, the body first reduces muscle mass and not fat. In addition, our organism wants to replenish its stores as quickly as possible after a zero diet, so that the well-known yo-yo effect easily occurs here. According to the DGE, only certain forms of intermittent fasting may prove to be a favorable aid for weight reduction.

Strict fasting methods are not suitable for older people, children, young people, pregnant women or people who suffer from certain diseases – they could even worsen the health situation. Uncontrolled fasting should also lead to a nutrient deficiency, cardiac arrhythmia or other complaints. So if in doubt, talk to your doctor. You can also inquire if there are reputable facilities in your area where you can practice proper fasting under supervision.

Correct fasting according to Buchinger: the basic rules

The so-called “Buchinger fasting” was developed by the doctor Otto Buchinger and is one of the most well-known types of fasting today. If you do the program independently at home, you should do it for about seven days.

Proper fasting according to Buchinger includes the following rules:

Lent begins with a day or two of rest to prepare you physically and mentally for the days to come. You take in about 600 kilocalories, mainly in the form of carbohydrates. For example, you can eat mostly brown rice or oatmeal with some fruit and vegetables throughout the day.
The first day of fasting is followed by defecation with the help of Glauber’s salt, laxative drops or laxative tea.
During the fasting period of about five days, you drink about 250 milliliters of tea with a little honey in the morning and afternoon. A quarter liter of fruit juice (freshly squeezed if possible) is on the menu for lunch and 250 milliliters of vegetable broth in the evening.

In addition, you should drink at least two liters of mineral water or unsweetened tea every day.
In some cases, you can also integrate oat or rice gruel as well as buttermilk and skimmed milk (or plant-based alternatives) into the fasting plan.
Use the time when you really fast to calm down inside. So you can do relaxation exercises and breathing exercises or meditations every day.
You should also move every day. So you can do light sporting activities such as walks, yoga or a short jog. Make sure not to overexert yourself physically, especially now, but to listen to your body’s signals.
To avoid a yo-yo effect after fasting and to slowly reintroduce your digestive system to solid food, you should only slowly increase the number of calories each day for the next five to seven days. At the beginning, use foods that are gentle on the stomach, such as potatoes and (steamed) fruit and vegetables, and later also whole grain products and yoghurt or quark. Animal protein should be reintroduced slowly.
Proper fasting also includes avoiding coffee, alcohol, sweets, and nicotine.

This is how intermittent fasting works

You have various options for designing intermittent fasting and adapting it to your lifestyle. The 16:8 method is particularly popular, i.e. fasting properly for 16 hours and eating within a period of eight hours. You simply extend your nightly fasting period, for example by stopping to eat at 7 p.m. the day before and having your first meal at 11 a.m. the following day.

Another well-known strategy involves eating as usual five days a week and then fasting two days straight. The Federal Ministry of Nutrition provides the following information for the fasting days:

Drink at least two liters a day. Use (warm) water, tea, vegetable broth or highly diluted fruit juices or spritzers.
Eat lots of vegetables on fasting days.
Also, include healthy sources of fat, such as vegetable oils (like olive oil or flaxseed oil), nuts, and seeds, in moderation in your fasting diet.
Avoid fatty animal foods. Instead, opt for protein sources with fewer saturated fats, such as legumes and nuts.
Replace white flour products with whole grains if possible. You can use oatmeal, whole grain pasta, spelled or brown rice, among other things.
To enhance your meals and save salt, you can use dried and fresh kitchen herbs, balsamic vinegar, mustard or horseradish, for example.
Also, make sure you get enough sleep and moderate physical activity.
In order to fast properly, you should also avoid stress as much as possible or develop strategies to better cope with stress.

8 tips for sustainable fasting

Instead of giving up all food, you could simply use the fasting period to avoid certain foods.

Here are eight sustainable suggestions:

Eat only regional foods – preferably only those that are in season or come from regional storage. Think about which region you want to limit yourself to: your district, a radius of 150 kilometers, your federal state or the whole of Germany? If you are consistent, you will have to do without a lot – but you can also use this opportunity to consciously find out what is growing and being produced around you and when. Take a look at our seasonal calendar to see what’s freshly available!
Don’t eat meat. Eating less meat is good for the environment and doesn’t harm your health either. Here are 10 tips to go a little more vegan.
Or you can go one step further and try out the vegan diet for a few weeks. It’s worth a try, isn’t it?
Buy only organic products. Far too expensive, you might think now. But is that really true? Just try it.
Don’t eat processed products. Fresh home-cooked food is more environmentally friendly, tastier and healthier than ready-made meals. And you can also easily make finished products such as vegetable broth yourself.
Stick to the 5-a-day rule: two handfuls of fruit and three handfuls of vegetables every day. It’s actually a very simple rule!
Only buy fair trade products. Surely your purchase will be a bit more complex and maybe you have to do without a few things. But fasting is about conscious renunciation!
Only buy unpackaged groceries – plastic fasting, so to speak. This requires a little bit of effort and preparation, but with these 4 simple tips for bulk shopping it will definitely work. Also interesting: plastic-free shopping in online shops

Proper fasting: It’s in your hands

In the end, you have to decide for yourself what “properly fasting” means for you personally and adapt it to your individual situation. If the conventional types of fasting are too radical for you, you can only do without sugar, alcohol, ready meals, meat or cigarettes for a certain period of time.

Fasting doesn’t have to be just about diet either. In the sense of a “digital detox”, you can do without social media, television or your smartphone for a while and thus consciously make time for other things that are often neglected in everyday life. Such a “strict” fasting period can then be the beginning of dealing with yourself and your fellow human beings more consciously and mindfully.

Many people also want to combine fasting with a break from everyday life. A fasting holiday offers the opportunity to consciously calm down and find oneself without the stress of everyday life – for example fasting hiking: for a few days you go without food and hike through nature. Fasting is often done according to Buchinger, but some organizers also offer raw food fasting, smoothie fasting or alkaline fasting. Just do some research on the internet.

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