Month: September 2017

This post starts with a beetroot smoothie recipe, because 300 ml. is needed for the crackers.

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I’m increasingly fond of beetroot as ingredient in smoothies. A range of health benefits are attributed to the beetroot including, stimulating production of anti inflammatory enzymes, increasing white blood cell count, detoxification of the liver, maintenance of the intestinal tract and more..

Read about beetroots at : https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ingredient-focus-beetroot

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My beetroot smoothie is designed to be healthy and tasty :

1 orange with the bitter white pectin holding “peel stuff”. ( if you peel it with a potato peeler it leaves a lot of the withe).

 With the fresh mint leaves this mellows the characteristic taste of beetroot..

4 small apples.

100 g frozen peas.

1 small beetroot, (with skin but scrubbed thoroughly)

10 g of Ginger

5 g of fresh turmeric (be careful – its taste is very strong).

4-6 leaves of fresh mint.

1 medium size carrots

100 g. frozen spinach

100 g frozen strawberries

500 ml or water.

(if your blender isn’t large enough you may leave out the carrot and the spinach).

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A few weeks ago I made my first experiment with a snack alternative to the smoothie and in order not to make it too difficult I took a proven cracker recipe and modified it to contain a high content of soluble fibers.

The cracker came out nicely looking but because soluble fibers absorb water to a very high degree it wasn’t crisp but rather soggy. I put them back in the oven and dried them out at low heat for an extra hour, and now they were crisp and rather cracker like.

So far so good.

The taste is very nice, and the intended effect, to make you feel full without eating too many calories worked well too. My two daughters, their friends and my wife also liked them and soon I had to make a new batch. They go well with the smoothie, and they do make you feel very full, especially after half an hour or so. It’s a little deceptive because 3 hours later the body reacts with strong hunger, when the cracker/smoothie snack has been fully digested.

And if you take it in the evening you may wake up feeling very thirsty. The crackers with their high content of soluble fibers do absorb quite a bit of water from the stomach.

Here is the recipe, that I hope you will try out and perhaps develop further.

It’s thought as an alternative to a granola bar or snack, that will reduce your hunger between meals, without too many calories.

In a large bowl mix:

4 dl (1 dl. equals 100 ml or approximately half a cup) Oats. Oats have a low glycemic index and a relatively high content of soluble fibres ( 3,5 g/ 100g). 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-make-porridge-best-breakfast-ever

2 dl Rye flower

https://draxe.com/rye-flour/

1 dl sesame seeds

https://draxe.com/sesame-seeds/

1 dl flax seeds (omega 3fatty acids)

https://draxe.com/10-flax-seed-benefits-nutrition-facts/

1 dl sunflower seeds (lowers cholesterol)

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=57

1 dl rapeseed oil (lowers cholesterol, omega 3 fatty acid)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/rapeseed-oil

½ dl sugar (optional) taste and nothing else.

Salt to taste

3 dl. Beetroot smoothie (any smoothie will do)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ingredient-focus-beetroot

1 dl chia seeds ( 70 % soluble fibers) a range of health benefits.

https://draxe.com/chia-seeds-benefits-side-effects/

1 dl potato starch (70 % resistant starch)

http://drhyman.com/blog/2016/03/24/the-starch-that-makes-you-lean-and-healthy/

1 dl psyllium husk (70% soluble fibre)

https://draxe.com/psyllium-husk/

 

Mix for a few minutes, but not too long. The dough should be a firm cohesive relatively wet dough.

Roll the dough thinly between 2 pieces of baking paper 2-3 mm thickness.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and roll again to make the seeds stick to the surface, then remove the upper sheet of paper.

Cut (gently) into cracker pieces without cutting the paper.

Bake at 200 C for 20-25 min. until lightly brown.

Rearrange on a baking grill and bake for one full additional hour at only 50 C

This re-baking is to dry out the cracker.

They really are not very interesting if they contain water,- the husk, chia and potato starch, do not easily give up their water content so extra drying is necessary.

Once they are really dry they should become completely crisp, and very tasty.

I hope you will experiment with the recipe

I call it a beetroot sesame cracker.

Enjoy.

Healthy Greetings Ole

In my last post I wrote about some of the perils connected to dieting and excessive training, where radical changes may provoke the metabolism to react in a counter productive and sometimes even harmful way. My own practice is one of gentle intervention.

I don’t diet but have added the smoothie routine to my daily diet. I still eat a normal breakfast, but I drink the 300 ml. smoothie before or at breakfast. It makes me feel full and as a consequence I eat less. In the afternoon in stead of snacks I drink another 300 ml.  I also eat a normal lunch and dinner, only I eat slightly less than I used to.

One month after starting the routine I had gained 1 kg of weight, 3 months on I had lost 3 kg’s and now 18 months into the routine my weight is remarkably stable and I do not consider weight or appetite an issue any more.

This intervention in my diet has  boosted my fruit and vegetable intake to the recommended 800 g per day  and my intake of soluble fibers to 20 g / day.

I don’t stick to one smoothie recipe but experiment a little every week adjusting my purchases to what I think could be  interesting.

Here is a new recipe that my wife came up with, – it has incredible color and great taste :

• 150 g.  Beetroot, – great color, relative neutral taste, a field of health benefits including cholesterol lowering effect high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
• 10 g Fresh turmeric, – taste, great color, high content of soluble fibers and a field of health benefits including being anti inflammatory and antidepressant
• 2 nectarines, – Taste and high content of soluble fibers (1,0g/100g)
• 350 g. Carrots, – Relatively high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
• 20 g Ginger, – Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2,5g/100g)
• 1 Grape fruit -, Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
• 2 Apples, -Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
• 1 Orange -, Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
• 5-600 ml of water, to blend

Those not familiar with producing smoothies may benefit from watching my quick demo of the basic smoothie :

Stay healthy / Ole