Megafruit

Megafruit written up at Whole Life Times Blog

2010-08-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Fruit, More Fruit, Megafruit
Prunes, figs and dates are fine, but after a few hundred, a change would be welcome. How about lychee, mangosteen and baby pineapple? With tons of nutrients and antioxidants, Megafruit snacks are super concentrated and easy for travel. Polyphenols, xanthans, antioxidants, fiber and minerals are all welcome, but it’s the tangy-sweet flavor of the lychees that keeps us coming back for more. MegafruitVentures.com

Blog can found here

Truffle Vegetable Medley Orzo Salad

2010-08-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend my daughter and I went to the farmer's market to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables for the house. While we were there, I came up with my dinner idea for the evening. It was a hot summer day in Los Angeles and I did not feel like cooking in a hot kitchen so I decided to make a cold meal for dinner. The idea was healthy, simple and good. I came up with this recipe:

Ingredients:

3 Lemons
2 tablespoons truffle oil
1 box of cooked orzo
6 persian cucumbers
4 red, green, and yellow peppers
2 avocados
1 red onion fried up for the topping
1/2 log of goat cheese
a bunch of green onions
1 bag of arugula
1 pint of grape tomatoes
chicken from leftover rotisserie chicken
3 tablespoons of salt or to taste

Cook orzo according to box instructions and drain. Toss with juice of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon of salt. Chop all vegetables and toss altogether in a large salad bowl. Cut up avocado and put on top. Add orzo and mix everything together including cooked rotisserie chicken or any cold chicken or salmon you have leftover. If you do not have any leftover chicken or salmon, you can omit or prepare some chicken to your taste to add to the salad. Add remaining juice of lemons, salt, and truffle oil and toss. Top with goat cheese and serve with a nice glass of pinot grigio.

Sit outside and enjoy the light meal on a hot summer night.

Whole Life Times Magazine features Megafruit in Urban Essentials

2010-07-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to see the new issue of Whole Life Times Magazine today on the news stands. Megafruit is featured in their current August 2010 issue in the Urban Essentials section.

Almost Vegan reviews Megafruit Dried Fruits

2010-07-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Almost Vegan reviews Megafruit on her blog:

I also received some samples from MegaFruit Ventures. They specialize in dried superfruits—up-and-coming nutritional superstars whose health benefits are just being discovered. They don’t use any additives or preservatives when drying the fruit, so it’s truly all-natural. MegaFruit sent me one of each of their three fruits: mangosteen, baby pineapple, and lychee. Each two-serving package contains a total of 200 calories or less; if you’re the kind of snacker that doesn’t stop till you reach the bottom of the bag, this is a great thing.

The fruits are very firm and chewy, with a consistency more akin to goji berries than raisins. The antioxidant-laden mangosteen was slightly tart. The enzyme-filled baby pineapple was, well, pineappley! The sweet, vitamin-packed lychee was the softest, and in my opinion, tastiest. Yum!

Risks Health reviews Megafruit Mangosteen

2010-07-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

Megafruit was reviewed on the Risks Health blog recently:

Check Out Megafruit Ventures Natural Dried Mangosteen, 2-Ounce Bags (Pack of 10) for $55.80

Megafruit Ventures Natural Dried Mangosteen, 2-Ounce Bags (Pack of 10) Review

Pros:
- Hard to get anything Mangosteen but this is the pure, natural, actual fruit
- Always been known to be one of the healthiest fruits in the world (high antioxidants)
- Easier to keep than a bag of doritos (there i go thinking about junk food again)
- Actually great for gift baskets. Included this with fruit basket/gift basket and it was a hit.

Cons:
- Need a resealable bag
- Might be a little tough on texture initially for those who've never tried this dried version before

I've tried the lychee, mangosteen and pineapples - terrific ideas and read that the product lines are expanding. Finally a way to get healthy, safe, clean, pure, exotic fruits.

All in all - a terrific product. this could be the next coconut water me thinks. :)

Megafruit Ventures Natural Dried Mangosteen, 2-Ounce Bags (Pack of 10) Feature

Known as the queen of fruit, being described as the most delicous fruit in the world
Contains Xanthones, considered to be the most powerful antioxidant in the world
Delicious topping on oatmeal, cereal, desserts and meals
Rare and difficult to harvest, making this antioxidant packed fruit a rare gem

Megafruit Ventures Natural Dried Mangosteen, 2-Ounce Bags (Pack of 10) Overview

At Megafruit Ventures, our mission is to source and introduce highly nutritious new Megafruits that are packed with outsized benefits to complement any diet. Megafruits are the next generation of Superfruits; products that have exceptional nutrient and antioxidant qualities whose benefits are not yet widely known. We look to partner with producers who do not use any preservatives or additives in their processes to bring you products that are all natural and unadulterated. Our products come from all over the world and in many cases their nutritional properties have been known for centuries locally to provide extraordinary Megafruits benefits while still being relatively unknown to the US consumer. Megafruits products do not contain any added sugar or preservatives, giving you a completely natural and Megadelicious experience.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

Customer Reviews

Must try this wonderful fruit - B. Seo - dallas, tx
If you've never had mangosteen, you simply must try this!! It's delicious. In fact I'm eating a bag right now :) It has a mildly sweet flavor at first which turns slightly tart and tangy as you chew. No sugar, no preservatives, high in antioxidants and fiber, super delicious, what more could you ask for in a healthy snack?? Plus the entire bag is less than 200 calories.

LocalSpur Mentions Megafruit in Brentwood edition

2010-07-29T02:34:00.000-07:00

Be Prepared to Build a Better Lunch

2010-07-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever looked in the fridge and thought to yourself I would really like to have a sandwich for lunch that has a great mayo on it, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, turkey, roast beef, and cheese? Or have you ever wanted to have a hot entree?

Most of the time we have to settle for what is in our pantry or fridge at the time that we feel these hunger urges. You may have some turkey and bread, but you may not have lettuce or tomatoes or mayo in the fridge. How do you combat this terrible catastrophe? I say BE PREPARED.

Before you do your weekly or bi weekly shop at the market, sit down and write out what you would ideally like to eat this week and check to see if you have those food items in your pantry or fridge. If you don't have those items, put them on your list.

Here are some tips for a successful supermarket shop:

1. Eat before you go to the market so you are not starving and buy everything in sight or buy unhealthy high sugar high fat snacks.

2. I often write down foods I would like to eat during the week and when I do my shop I review the list to see if I still have those food urges.

3. One of my food tricks is to buy items that may go together in a sandwich or an entree so that when I am looking to make something, I can put something together without running back to the market.

4. Buy what you want not what you think you should be eating as long as it is reasonably healthy and a whole food that does not come from a box. Don't buy something super low fat and not tasty because you think you should eat it. More than likely you will not eat it.

5.) Stock the basics in your fridge and pantry - my basics includes mayo, mustard, horseradish, baguette, 2 kinds of cheeses, 3 kinds of deli meats, eggs, milk, sparkling water, 2 different oils, pasta, fruits and vegetables, ground meat, chicken breasts, potatoes, soy sauce, peanut butter, various spices, and ice cream.

Figure out your basics and make sure you have them at all times so you can make a great lunch anytime. Being prepared is all it takes. A little planning will take you a long way in eating healthy and delicious meals.

Ways to Relax according to American Girl Book

2010-07-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

My 5 year old was toting this book around yesterday and reading me parts of it. Finally, I looked at the cover and just started to laugh. This book is from American Girl and is written for young girls. I thought some of the tips were important for adults who just don't take time for themselves. It is great that American Girl is putting out a book to help young girls realize that they need to make time for themselves because when they become grown ups there will be very little time to relax and they need to learn to relax for their health now.

(Pic of my 5 year old playing on the Ipod Touch in line at the airport).

Here are some of the tips the American Girl 29 Ways to Relax book gives:

1. Let loose by doing arts and crafts.
2. Make a cup of hot cocoa and sit on the couch with a book.
3. Stop thinking about problems and focus on things that are interesting.
4. Take a long warm bubble bath.
5. Take up quilting.
6. Go on the computer to play games.
7. Listen to music and dance.
8. Sit outside and listen to sounds in the neighborhood.
9. Lie and watch the clouds in the garden.
10. Relax by exercising.
11. Play dress up.
12. Take pictures outside.
13. Bake some cookies with a friend.
14. Make jewelry with friends.
15. Do some yoga.

You get the picture. The list applies to adults and kids. It is important to take time for yourself every day. Even as little as 20 minutes alone doing something you like will help you relax.

Truffle Chicken Breast Recipe

2010-07-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

The big truffle season is approaching soon. October is the month when the best truffles are usually harvested. Summer truffles are good, but Fall truffles are a delicacy. In the last few years truffles have made it into the mainstream market with the invention of new recipes such as truffle mashed potatoes and truffle macaroni and cheese. Supermarkets all over the country are now stocking white and black truffle oils that are more affordable than buying the truffles themselves and the flavor still manages to infuse your food with just a few drops of this magical fungus. Recently, I was lucky enough to receive some summer truffles from the Maison de Truffe in Paris as a gift as well as some truffle oil from that shop and Truffle Salt from another friend. When I had people over this weekend, I decided to make one of my favorite recipes Truffle Chicken. I served it with truffle macaroni and cheese and grilled vegetables and it was a simple meal that turned couture with just a few slices of truffle, a few pinches of truffle salt, and a few teaspoons of truffle oil. The layering of the 3 ingredients helped bring out the flavor of the dish.

Here is the recipe:

2 teaspoons truffle oil (Can be found at any gourmet market for $14 to 35 a bottle)
1 teaspoon of truffle salt (Can be made if you buy dried truffles and mix into your salt with a few drops of truffle oil)
3- 4 slices of truffle (summer is more cost effective than fall truffles)
Split up chicken breasts - split 4 breasts to serve 8 people
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Take the split chicken breasts and sprinkle truffle salt, garlic, and truffle oil over every piece. Heat up your pan and drizzle olive oil to cover the pan, sear each chicken breasts 2 minutes on each side until brown and put all the pieces in the oven at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve with truffles sprinkled on top with mac and cheese garnished with a bit of truffle oil on top, a great bottle of wine, and your favorite grilled vegetables.

Dried Fruit and Cheese Platter Summer Party Idea

2010-07-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

We are now in the middle of summer and you are all probably not interested in cooking in the your hot kitchen at home. Grilling seems to be the best option for summer. Everyone wants to be outside whether it be in the yard or at the beach.
Next time you have people over, think about serving a cold cheese platter and some white wines to cool your guests down after a hot sunny day at the beach. There are so many great cheeses to choose from now that you can really have everything from Humboldt Fog to Cheddar on your platter along with fresh berries, nuts, grapes, and dried fruit. Add some bread sticks and sliced toasted raisin bread and you have a whole meal for a hot night. The dried fruit is full of fiber and gives a depth of flavor to the cheese that is usually overlooked.

Make a cheese platter and add some of the Megafruit baby pineapple, lychee, and mangosteen flavors to your dried fruit mix on the cheese platter and get your guests curious about the new flavors they are trying for the first time.

Apple Lychee Sangria Recipe

2010-07-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

During summer I love a great sangria recipe. It is fruit with wine and a bit of liqueur and it is so refreshing. I always make a sangria with a white wine, strawberries, peaches, white grape juice, and simple syrup and people rave about it when I have it at a party. Recently, I stumbled upon a sangria recipe that included lychees and I had to try it right away. The recipe is from wineintro.com and I made a little adaptation to it. (Photo credit wineintro.com).

Here is my version: I added the lychee fruit to the mix.

Apple Lychee Sangria Recipe

Ingredients
1/4 apple cut up
1oz lychee liqueur

1/4 cup of lychees from a can
1 glass white wine

Cut the apple and lychees into small slices so you can eat them as you drink. Put them into a wine glass. Add in the lychee liqueur. Finally, top the glass off with a white wine. Chenin blanc is the classic white to use because it has an apply flavor, but any white should do nicely. It's best if the white wine is rather cold - otherwise, toss in some plastic ice cubes to cool things off.

To turn this into a party sangria recipe, there are usually four large glasses of wine in a 750ml bottle of wine. Simply multiply all ingredients by four and use a full bottle of wine in a large pitcher or bowl.

Photo Courtesy: http://sushimonkee.xanga.com/

Megafruit Food Demo at Mickey Fine

2010-07-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Megafruit Ventures did a demo at the Mickey Fine Store at 2000 Avenue of the Stars today. The demo was from 10:30A to 1:30P. It was a great demo with lots of fun and funny questions asked by all the customers who came by to taste our exciting flavors.

What we love about Mickey Fine customers:

1.) They are very funny.
2.) They love to try new things.
3.) They like to laugh.
4.) They love chips.
5.) They play the Lotto.
6.) They love energy drinks.
7.) They love retro candy like the Idaho Spud.

If you are ever at 2000 Avenue of the Stars stop by Mickey Fine and pick up some Megafruit. Check out their great assortment of candies and gifts too. Coffee Bean is right next door and after that stop by Cuvee for lunch or Happy Hour. Make a day of it at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City.

Reduce Reuse Recycle Clothes

2010-07-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

As everyone gets back to basics because of the economy, designers are making clothes from recycled materials and clothing to design new pieces to help conserve on the natural resources in the world. Food producers are using sustainable farming methods and compostable materials to pack their products.

According to Fabgreen.com: This dress was "Conceived by fashion designer and creative director Gary Harvey, this collection set out to prove that recycled clothing can be beautiful, innovative, and enchanting. The couture-inspired collection, which was shown at London Fashion Week back in 2007, features gowns made entirely from recycled materials: 42 pairs of Levi’s 501s, 37 black tees, 30 copies of the Financial Times, 28 camouflage army jackets, 26 nylon baseball jackets, 21 laundry bags, 18 trench coats, ten pre-owned wedding dresses, and seven Hawaiian shirts — to be exact".

It is just amazing what can be done using recycled materials. Going green means being creative about the use of our natural resources. If you need to buy your kids some new clothes, think about selling your old clothes to a consignment store and then buying clothes from the consignment store. Try not to always buy new and trade with your friends. What is old to them is new to you and vice versa. The new chic is not more more more, but conservation.

Think about whether you can buy an item you need for yourself or your household from a consignment store or if you can buy an item made with recycled materials. It is all part of going green. It is good for you and the world.

Getting Back To Basics With Food

2010-07-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

The trend is about getting back to basics for food at the moment. The slow down in the economy has caused everyone to take a really good look at what they are consuming and decide if they really need what they are buying. This goes for big homes, expensive cars, more clothes, or foods that are not essential to our diets. Also, people are trying to only buy what they need when they need it instead of stocking up.

One of the main things that people are doing now is buying fresh healthy foods that have nutrients. For example, farmer's markets are burgeoning because the most basic of healthy foods usually end up there. If you are looking for unfettered apples, cucumbers, peppers, and onions, you will find it at the farmer's market. You will not find sugary cereals or cream filled cookies at the farmer's market and that suits a lot of people just fine these days.

The trend of going back to basics is a great thing for the world. We start to appreciate what we have now instead of looking around and thinking about what is next. People are taking the same approach to food. It is not about eating meals made from recipes from the 1950's, it is about making a meal from 5 fresh ingredients or only using fresh produce and meats or fish to make a meal. People are trying to eat like we were meant to eat by eating fresh foods from the earth instead of eating processed foods with artificial flavors that come from a box.

The change is good. We will start to remember how great a ripe peach tastes on a hot summer day. A peach is sweet on its own with no sugar added as nature intended it to be. Take a beat today and think about what you are eating. Is it fresh and natural? Your body will thank you for it.

Adult Campari Popsicles for the beach

2010-07-16T05:34:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted a popsicle at the beach like the kids with just a little something in it for adults only? I always wanted just a little treat on the beach, but did not want to bring a bottle of wine with me. Recently, I found a few really great adult popsicle recipes that I thought you might like as well for summers on the beach or picnics on a hot summer day.

One of my favorites is from a site named thekitchn. They have a recipe for citrus posicles that are out of this world.

Here is the recipe:

Campari Citrus Popsicles
makes 10-15, depending on the size

Grapefruit Pops
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 cups grapefruit juice
1/2 cup Campari

Orange Pops
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 cups orange juice
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup Campari

Mix the water and sugar together in a small pan over a low heat, and bring up to boil until the sugar dissolves. Allow the simple syrup to boil for 4 minutes, remove from heat and cool (makes a little over 1 cup).

Combine the citrus juice and Campari and add 1 cup of the cooled syrup. Adjust to taste: for the grapefruit pops, you may want to add a tablespoon or two extra syrup if you prefer them less tart. Remember, the mixture will taste slightly sweeter in liquid form than it does when frozen.

Pour into popsicle molds and freeze at least 8 hours or overnight. To remove, run the molds quickly under hot water, and gently pull out the pops.

(Images: Liz Vidyarthi)

Another one of my favorite recipes is a Margarita Popsicle Recipe. It is very simple to make and tastes fantastic. Its a Margarita that is portable. This recipe is from Grouprecipes.com.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups of sugar

3/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons tequila
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
kosher salt to garnish

How to make it

Special Equipment: 4 small cups (recommended: Dixie), 4 popsicle sticks and foil.
Combine sugar, lime juice, water, lemon juice and orange juice in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Once cool transfer to a blender with tequila, orange liqueur, and lime wedge and process until smooth.
Pour into the cups and cover the top of each cup with foil.
Place the popsicle stick in center of cup (down through foil, which will hold it in place).
Freeze until hard, preferably overnight.
Remove from freezer and run cup under warm water to loosen popsicle.
Garnish with kosher salt and serve.

Megafruit in Drug Store News July 12, 2010

2010-07-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Drug Store News wrote about Megafruit in the Consumables section of their publication on July 12, 2010.

Here is the article:

LOS ANGELES (Jul. 12) A new, natural line of dried fruits seeks to make snacking easier for health-conscious consumers.

Megafruit -- which consists of antioxidant-rich products -- are filled with nutrients but are free of sugar and preservatives. The line currently includes mangosteen, lychee and baby pineapple varieties.
For more information, visit MegafruitVentures.com.

Kahlua is Made With Vanilla Beans

2010-07-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the vanilla comes from the orchid plant? I did not know either until a recent trip to Maui, Hawaii last year. Vanilla Planifolia is a tropical orchid that grows as a vine and can reach lengths of 80-100 feet. The plant produces a fragile and fragrant flower that can take up to three years after the orchid vine are planted before the first flower appear. After being hand pollinated, these flowers look like big green beans and need to remain on the vine for 9 months. The beans are treated in hot water after harvesting. Then they are cured in the arm tropical sun and cooled in the evening breeze for 5 to 6 months in order to reach their peak fragrance and flavor.

Even more fascinating is the fact that Kahlua is made with vanilla beans. Did you know that? Here is an easy recipe that the Maui Vanilla Bean Company gave me when I visited Maui a few months ago.

Ingredients:

2 cups of water
1 ½ cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup instant coffee
1.75 liters high quality vodka
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 whole vanilla bean

Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar and water in a small sauce pan. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat. Stir in the coffee. Allow to cool completely.

Pour into a large lid glass container along with the vodka, vanilla extract and the vanilla bean seeds that have been scraped out of the whole vanilla bean.

Cover and let stand for 3 weeks until it is fully aged. Then enjoy your homemade Kahlua.

Sandwich Bar Summer Party Idea

2010-07-14T04:22:00.000-07:00

Summer time parties are always very fun to plan because you can have many of them in your backyard or outdoors at the park somewhere. Somehow a summer time party always feels less formal and more casual. A great party idea for summer would be to have people over for a Sandwich Bar party. It is a simple idea that can be quite a lot of fun. You set up the table full of different breads, meats, condiments, and vegetables and let your guests create their own sandwiches. This type of party makes for great conversation because everyone will have a different sandwich idea.

Here are some ideas for your sandwich bar:

Set up cutlery and plates at the beginning of the sandwich bar so that guests can start piling on their sandwich fixings.
Use a pretty tablecloth on your table.
Get fresh flowers and put them in a vase in the middle of the table.
Serve brownies and cookies on the side with fruit as dessert treats to go with your sandwiches.
Get different types of bread and put it in a napkin lined basket on display for guests to use. Buy breads like baguette, wheat bread, white bread, and other varieties.
Have the meats arranged on a platter in a half fold in a round circle with tongs so meats can be easily put on their choice of bread.
Peanut Butter and Jelly, tuna salad, and egg salad can be set up in bowls.
Cut up lettuce, tomatoes, arugula, radishes, and onions and set up on a platter.
Put condiments like horseradish, butter, mayonnaise, and mustard in little bowls with little spoons so guests can easily put on their bread.
Put a cutting board out with a knife so guests can cut their sandwiches in halves or quarters.
Have parchment paper pre cup with ribbons so guests can wrap their sandwiches up and eat them while walking around your garden or home.
Put different pitchers of drinks on the table including lemonade, juices, and water so guests can help themselves to a beverage.
Make a few salads too so that guests can have a sandwich and a salad if you like.
Make a small kids sandwich bar if you have children at your party. Have white and brown bread on the table, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter and jelly, and bananas out for kids to make their own fun sandwiches.

Whatever sandwich bar you decide to do, your guests will love the idea. It is a fun creative easy way to throw a party this summer.

The Ivy Chopped Salad Recipe

2010-07-13T04:57:00.000-07:00

Do you notice that as soon as summer starts to heat up people are eating more cold soups and salads? I love the summer because it means linen pants and tee shirts. Summer is about taking it easy and taking it slow. Salads are an easy way to eat healthy and keep the kitchen cool. One of my favorite salads is The Ivy chopped salad. The Ivy chopped salad is served at The Ivy Restaurant on the famed celebrity filled Robertson Boulevard. Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt, and many others are often seen at this restaurant. If you do not live in LA or just want to make this recipe at home on your own.

Here is a recipe inspired by the Ivy Chopped Salad.

1 head green leaf lettuce, finely chopped
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
3 ears corn, grilled then remove the kernels
1 large bunch asparagus, grilled then chopped
2 bunches green onions, grilled then chopped
3 medium zucchini, grilled then chopped
2 avocados, diced
Dressing:
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp crushed basil
1/2 tsp crushed oregano

Make the dressing first and put in the fridge.
Brush the zucchini, asparagus, corn, and green onions with olive oil, use salt and pepper to taste and grill.
Chop all your grilled vegetables and mix with avocado, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Baby Pineapple Nutrition and Facts

2010-07-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a baby pineapple? It is probably the cutest fruit out there. It is a pineapple that is the size of a large fuji apple. See the size comparison next to a bunch of bananas.

Nutritional Facts:

Pineapples provide a good source of vitamin C and useful amounts of folate, thiamine, magnesium, iron and vitamin B6. One cup of fresh pineapple contains about 75 calories. High in soluble fiber, pineapple may aid in controlling cholesterol levels. Eating five daily servings of fruits and vegetables lowers the chances of cancer. A recent study found eating nine or ten daily servings, combined with three servings of low-fat dairy products, were effective in lowering blood pressure.

The baby pineapple is grown in countries like Brazil, South Africa, South Africa, and Thailand. It is high in fiber and full of nutrients.

Nutrients include: Copper, Fiber, Manganese, Thiamin, Vitamin B6 and C

It is considered a Superfruit because of its high nutrient content in such a small package. It also taste less fibrous than its larger sibling the Pineapple.

Definition of a Superfruit: refers to a fruit which combines exceptional nutrient richness and antioxidant quality with appealing taste that can stimulate and retain loyalty for consumer products. Megafruit Ventures is bringing dehydrated baby pineapples to the US for the first time ever. Click here to learn more about Megafruit's Superfruits and how convenient they are for a healthy lifestyle.

Here is some information about the cultural and historical information about the baby pineapple from specialtyproduce.com.

Baby South African pineapples have been popular with European chefs for many years. Before Florida's delicious contribution, chefs in the United States could only dream about them. A Caribbean favorite is pineapple in a spicy and hot chicken sauté made with chili powder and hot peppers. Chinese cuisine loves to add the flavor of pineapple into their dishes, especially in Chinese-style shrimp or chicken stir-fries. As a matter of course many Asians sprinkle a little salt on fresh pineapple. Common in France is the excellent effect that Kirsch, the cherry-based liqueur, has poured over fresh pineapple.

Considered at one time to be Victoria's delicious secret, a twenty-acre farm in Homestead, Florida, grew the first Queen Victoria variety, aka South African baby pineapples, grown in the United States. Originating in the French Islands of the Indian Ocean and Mauritius, these miniature pineapples are also grown in Central America and Hawaii. The first Florida crop matured in December 1997, yielding some twenty-five thousand fruits. Staggered plantings have kept a steady flow of this pineapple variety available year round to eager markets.

Mangosteen Queen of Tropical Fruit

2010-07-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

What is a mangosteen?

A Mangosteen is a tropical fruit that is grown in hot, humid climates of southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

The Mangosteen is a dark purple fruit about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. It is the size of an apple.

The fleshy meat inside the mangosteen is protected by a hard outer shell. The fleshy meat and the outer rind are believed to be full of vitamins and nutrients.

The rind has been found to contain the compounds alpha-mangostin, beta-mangostin, garcinone B, and garcinone E, which are collectively called xanthones.

For the first time ever, Megafruit Ventures is bringing this Queen of Fruits to the US market. This loaded with antioxidants dried fruit will be sure to make your family smile during carpool and snack time. Click here to find out more about this Queen of Fruits snack now.

Here is the history of the Mangosteen according to the website www.mangosteen.com.

The gradual increase in awareness of the mangosteen outside of the Malay Archipelago, its native range, was a long and slow process. The few explorers who traversed the seas of Southeast Asia had more pressing issues to contend with than attempting to transport back to Europe and later the Americas an exotic fruit that was so perishable and fragile. Even the seeds die in a week or so if allowed to dry out. There were easier ways to make money. Spices, nuts, precious metals, gems, plant and animal pharmaceuticals and hard goods were all more able to make the long ocean journey back with little reduction in quality. Even so, live mangosteen plants were attempted before the 1800's.

Probably the best bibliography of the historical references to the mangosteen was assembled by Cora L. Feldkamp in 1946 (1). This extensive compilation included, in her words, "references on all aspects of the mangosteen- botany, culture, diseases and pests, varieties, composition, nutritive value, cookery, toxic effects, uses, economics, etc." Much of the web site mangosteen.com relied on the thorough work done by Cora L. Feldkamp. It provided a vast overview of the history of the mangosteen and its steady march towards modern times and greater familiarity in the Western Hemisphere and Europe.

The earlier transportation of plants outside of their native range required a great deal of planning and then luck when the mode of transportation was a boat on the open seas. Beyond the usual basic necessity of food and weaponry, live plant transportation called for more elaborate measures i.e. refitting the ship deck, lining the hull with copper to ward off seaborne wood parasites, designing special plant cases or building greenhouses on deck, storing extra fresh water, etc. Some of the earlier plant explorers did succeed admirably in getting their accessions back to their home countries or colonies. Sometimes the accessions changed ships in transit when a homeward-bound vessel aided a fellow countryman in getting their collected material back to the mother country. And sometimes the collected material became the property of a different country as a result of piracy. In this regard, the Spanish, French, Dutch, British, Portuguese and others all vied for control of different regions of the world and strove to create monopolies in any and all commodities (2). The spice trade, furs, gums and waxes, natural dyes, ivory, silk, cotton and coffee comprised much of the cargo at sea in those times. A gradual trend was emerging where the control of a commodity was more manageable for a colonial power than absolute control of the people of a colony or possession and treaties for this purpose abounded. In the decades following their loss in the Revolutionary War, the British set to the task of exploring and strengthening their grip on particular trade routes on the seas. Plants were not only transported back to home countries from afar (3). Many colonizers also took plants and livestock the other way, 'seeding' the islands along the routes to try and ensure a food supply in both directions and a means of barter as well. Horses, pigs and goats were presented as gifts to secure certain trade privileges and the result was a movement of germplasm of many species outside of their native ranges that would never be allowed today. The focus of this web site, the mangosteen, was just a bit player in this drama but played a role nonetheless.

The records that detail the movement of the mangosteen during the 18th and 19th century (2,3,4,5,6,7,8) indicate that the first introduction of the mangosteen in the UK goes back to someone named Anton Pantaleon Hove. A. P. Hove (alternately Hoveau) was a Pole dispatched by Sir Joseph Banks to go and try to 'obtain' some better strains of cotton seeds from Gujarat, India. Apparently amongst his procurements were mangosteen plants that made it back to Plymouth, England in 1789 and which were then moved to Kew. Sir Joseph Banks, whose widespread popularity and renown resulting from his accompanying Captain Cook on his first expedition, was then head of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew and president of the Royal Society. Banks was very actively involved throughout this period in guiding, consulting on and sometimes personally funding projects involving both plant and animal introductions. Slowly but surely, the effort was being made to introduce the mangosteen into the Western Hemisphere.

With regard to the history of the mangosteen, it should be noted that it was the other plant under consideration in an 18th century publication (7) titled "A description of the mangostan and the bread-fruit" by John Ellis (mangostan was the word for the mangosteen in the Molucca Islands). The year was 1775 and John Ellis was utilizing his knowledge of the tropics as a fellow of the Royal Society Of London to expound upon the botanical treasures of far off Africa and the Malay Archipelago. The original intent of this work was to inform his Majesty "The Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty of GREAT BRITAIN" of a prospect that "seems conducive to the benefit of any part of the British Empire..." This publication also detailed with sketches of designs of several wooden plant cases with wire mesh that would house the plants on the deck of a ship for the journey home. There was also a stylized sketch of the breadfruit and the mangosteen in this publication. See below.

Cabinets designed by Ellis to hold plants on the upper decks of a ship.

The four illustrations above are from the work by John Ellis (7) from 1775.

Ellis makes reference to Laurent Garcin, a French naturalist who traveled through the region in question collecting and describing the native plants in general and the mangosteen in particular. Linnaeus, a regular correspondent with Ellis, honored the work of Laurent Garcin by naming the genus Garcinia which includes the mangosteen after him (9,10). It is the glowing description of the mangosteen fruit by Garcin, Rumphius, and others that led Ellis to place it alongside the breadfruit as a candidate for retrieval and planting in the British colonies of the Caribbean. The publication of this paper was intended to encourage the funding of an expedition to the "East Indies" to bring back these two plant species, the mangosteen and the breadfruit, to the West Indies for planting and cultivation. In this it succeeded. The individual chosen for this journey based on the conclusions of this publication was none other than Captain Bligh (11, 12). The British government in 1787 informed the West India Committee, a British plantation owners' lobbying organization in competition with the Royal Society of the Arts, that they would provide funding for this expedition. They purchased a ship commissioned as the "Bounty" for this purpose. As many know, Bligh needed more than one attempt but did ultimately succeed in bringing back the bread fruit on the ship Providence. For this Bligh received the Gold Medal from the Royal Society of the Arts in 1793. Breadfruit then became widely established throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. The same success and notoriety could not be said for the other candidate in John Ellis' work, the mangosteen, at that time.

Highly detailed mangosteen print from 1880 by Berthe Hoola van Nooten*

The references to the mangosteen remain somewhat sparse from the end of the 18th century to the mid-19th century. One event that stands out is that of the first recorded fruiting of the mangosteen in the United Kingdom in 1855. This feat was accomplished at Syon Park, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Northumberland, by their highly skilled gardener John Ivison (11, 12). The greenhouse complex was heated to maintain a steady tropical temperature to offset the temperate British climate and this was managed in what were then known as stove houses. The seeds were obtained, so the article goes, by a Captain White from Calcutta in 1833. Based on this and other articles around that period, the timeframe would be that flowers formed on one or both of the two trees grown in large tubs in November of 1854. This would work out about right for fruit approximately 120 days or more later. It was stated that the tree with the flowers was about 15' high and 9' wide (a field grown tree in the tropics can produce at a much smaller size and in fewer years) but to pull this off in a greenhouse was quite an accomplishment. It was acknowledged as such by the Royal Horticultural Society at the time. The fruit received the Gold Banksian Medal, the first time such an honor was attached to a single fruit. It is claimed by numerous web sites that Queen Victoria was in attendance when the fruit was presented but in point of fact there is no proof of that and the Queen most likely was not. This would have been too newsworthy for the press to have ignored it in the articles of the time and none substantiate this claim. The Royal Archives recently found a letter from Eleanor, the Duchess of Northumberland, addressed to Queen Victoria explaining that based on her (Eleanor's) glowing description of the mangosteen to the Queen at a subsequent gathering, "...I now venture to ask to be allowed to send to your Majesty, a Fruit of the Mangosteen, which has never been known to fruit out of its own country; and this is therefore an object of very great curiosity and interest among Botanists." Why would she offer to send one if the Queen had already been at any ceremony based on the fruit of the mangosteen? This letter is from May 7, 1855 and there is no documented proof at this time that the Queen ever received the fruit or tried it if it arrived. A good day to be a court taster! So it is possible that Queen Victoria tried a sample sent over to her by Eleanor, Duchess of Northumberland, but there is no documented proof of receipt at this time or tasting of the mangosteen by the Queen in 1855. None whatsoever.

1824 print; Loddiges, Conrad and sons*

And some folklore...

Before reading this next section, take a moment and do a search on any search engine for the following. First, look for "Queen Victoria" and you will see hundreds or thousands of relevant hits on this topic. Then alter the search by adding the '+' symbol or the word AND and the word "mangosteen" and voilá. The connection between the mangosteen and Queen Victoria is on hundreds, thousands of web sites... As far as I can tell, there is no such connection at all. I will gladly receive any verifiable documentation that proves me wrong and rewrite this part of the mangosteen.com web site immediately.

The lingering conviction that the Queen was in attendance was again resurrected in the 19th century by W. Higgie in the Gardener's Chronicle 37 years later (13). He asserts, I believe incorrectly, that the Queen was in attendance at the ceremony and first tried this fruit produced by the Northumberlands in 1855. I say incorrectly for two additional reasons. First, I received from the Royal Archives (14) a letter dated 31 March, 2005, in which the Registrar states "...I cannot find any reference to mangosteens in connection with Queen Victoria" in their archives. And the second reason is because of an 1891 paper (15) by J. H. Hart. Hart was writing in Trinidad about the request of his visitor, Sir F. Napier Broome, K.C.M.G., to try and transport back to England a mangosteen for the Queen to sample. This would have been the second attempt to transport mangosteens to England from Trinidad. The first attempt (16) was made in 1875 when this mangosteen tree first flowered and fruited. Mr. Henry Prestoe, Hart's predecessor as curator of the Trinidad Botanic Gardens, succeeded in getting them to the UK. The two fruits sent by Prestoe did arrive somewhat worse for wear but the Queen was not recorded as having been a recipient at that time. The writers of the Gardeners' Chronicle received both fruits and ate them, reporting on the sweet flavor after the long journey. However, in 1891, Sir Broome asked to try again.

"...His Excellency expressed the wish to take some of the fruit with him, with the view of presenting it to the Queen, it being reported that the Mangosteen was almost the only fruit worth eating, which her Majesty had never tasted."

Upon arrival in the UK, the fruit was forwarded to Queen Victoria in residence at the time in Balmoral Castle and her personal secretary Henry F. Ponsonby sent a letter of thanks to Sir Frederick Broome informing him that;

"I am commanded by Her Majesty to thank you for these Mangosteens, and I may add that the Queen says at the same time "they were quite excellent." "

Hart goes on to wonder if Trinidad can lay claim to being the first of Her Majesty's "possessions" to afford her the opportunity to try the mangosteen. I think I can state that the Queen was not in attendance when the Syon fruit was unveiled but if the Queen did try this fruit prior to the shipment from Trinidad in 1891, no one as of this writing can prove it.

There was one tantalizing clue in a book review that suggested Queen Victoria had tried the mangosteen earlier than 1891. It was brought to my attention recently and I should clear up this confusion here and now. The book in question (17), "Maharanis: The Extraordinary Tale of Four Indian Queens and Their Journey from Purdah to Parliament" by Lucy Moore is an excellent read and insightful view of the times. The book review written by Kate Chisholm can be found in the Sunday Telegraph, 8/29/04, and she refers to the Queen "enjoying the taste of exotic fruits such as rambutans and mangosteens shipped over specially for her delectation..." Unfortunately, according to the author Lucy Moore (pers. comm.), these are not the words of the author but rather those of the reviewer and do not appear anywhere in Lucy Moore's book.

One also can not prove that Queen Victoria ever offered any rewards whatsoever to the first person who could bring her a fresh mangosteen. Believe me, I tried to locate proof of this (see below). The alleged offers of a knighthood, money and so on are at best apocryphal and appear to be the creative work (18) of David G. Fairchild.

Fairchild was a fervent promoter of agriculture and a towering figure in the history of plant collecting from around the world and their subsequent introductions in the United States. The namesake behind Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, Florida, he left behind an extraordinary legacy and wealth of papers, diaries, notes and book drafts that is a treasure trove for students of American history and agriculture. I am greatly indebted to this institution and the very knowledgeable curator of the archives (see Acknowledgements) who enabled me to make an appointment to spend an entire day poring over the works on their shelves. David Fairchild also played a key role in an expression seen on tens of thousands of web sites;

"Mangosteen, the queen of tropical fruit"

Alternately written "mangosteen, the queen of fruit" by Fairchild himself, it is hard to convey the extent to which this quotation has caught on with sellers of processed mangosteen products until you take a moment with a major search engine on the internet. You can search just the word <"mangosteen"> or <"queen of fruit"> or and you will see thousands of sites promoting mangosteen-related products (see Science, non-science and nonsense). Heck, you can even search for <"spam spam spam and the queen of fruit"> and you will see thousands of references to the mangosteen... This phrase, as far as my research has taken me, was first coined by David Fairchild in 1903 to attach august or royal attributes to a fruit he thought very highly of (19). The connection between the "queen" in this quote and Queen Victoria is also apparently internet fiction. See below.

In his extensive travels around the world Fairchild had ample opportunity to try just about every fruit imaginable in dozens of countries both tropical and temperate. His conclusion was that of all the fruits he tasted, the one that earned his highest praise was the mangosteen. In Fairchild's book (18) "Exploring for plants" published in 1930 by Macmillan, he makes the first reference to the mangosteen on page 7 as "the queen of tropical fruit." Fairchild then goes on to elaborate on page 18 and states that Queen Victoria "once offered 100 pounds to anyone who would bring her one." He also states that the Duke of Northumberland in 1855 had two trees each with one with fruit and he personally presented Queen Victoria with one fruit and held a banquet in honor of the other one. None of this is substantiated by any known data base including the British Natural History Museum, Kew Gardens, the Royal Archives, The Times of London, the British Library, Gardener's Chronicle, Curtis's Botanical Magazine or any other known print medium of the times. So his conjecture is possible but highly improbable given that it appears undocumented and uncited.

It is also highly unlikely that Queen Victoria has anything whatsoever to do with the expression "Queen of tropical fruit" and the mangosteen, as is stated on hundreds of web sites. Again, no citation, no historical proof and the earliest sign of this quotation is that of Fairchild. Just a leap on the part of those with a fertile imagination and no time to do research, apparently. It seems more likely that mangosteens have been 'the fruit of queens' than the other way around.

I offered a reward on Google in September of 2005 to anyone who could find the citation substantiating claims of rewards by Queen Victoria for the mangosteen and there were no takers from anywhere in the world. The reward stands; I will offer U.S. $100.00 to the first person only who can locate and provide me with or direct me to the written document from before the beginning of 1901 that substantiates Fairchild's claims regarding Queen Victoria and the rewards offered. I will then rewrite this section of the web site! But don't hold your breath.

There is more. The "queen of fruit" is how David Fairchild refers to the mangosteen (20) in 1915 and the word "tropical" has been dropped, only to reappear later. Why does it matter? It is quoted on thousands of web sites both ways largely to promote processed mangosteen products in many cases without attribution to Fairchild or with attribution to Queen Victoria. And Fairchild was only referring to the fresh fruit, not any processed fruit and certainly not any processed whole fruit!!! Along with this are the oft-cited offers of rewards by Queen Victoria and there is not one whit of evidence to back this up. To date, none. See my page Science, non-science and nonsense. I don't expect this web site to change any of that. I am simply another voice weighing in but one that did the original research and did not simply repeat the unfounded, uncited, baseless speculations of marketers of mangosteen products repeating each other as sources. Or just making it up.

One can not rule out the possibility that the origin of this quote "mangosteen, the queen of fruit" is in fact a translation of perhaps an old Thai or Malay expression. Maybe it dates back to colonial times and early explorers first encounters with the mangosteen. The first European to try the fruit may simply have been translating the local expression of praise for this fruit. I have attempted repeatedly over the years to determine whether this was the case but inquiries made to both Thailand and Malaysia have never been responded to. I contacted universities and professors, government agricultural agencies and their scientists, tourism officials and consulates here in the States; nothing. It must have been a language barrier. Or perhaps they just thought I was nuts. The only responses I ever received were from 2 bloggers and a writer of a newsletter and for that, my thanks.

One final note about the quote "queen of fruit." Depending on where in the world you are sitting while reading this, the "queen of fruit" could be historically one of your own local fruits. The pineapple, grape, apple, mango (India), peach (US), apricot, quince and who knows how many other fruits have all been referred to as "the queen of fruit." And on and on. Alfred Russell Wallace in his "Malay Archipelago" (21) thought of the orange as "the queen of fruit", pairing it with the durian as the "king of fruit." And in the Philippines, the mangosteen was referred to as... the King's fruit!

A photo of both the king and queen of tropical fruits. Durian, the king, is in the background.

Some odd coincidences have appeared during my research regarding the mangosteen. In the last two centuries it was the name of a race horse twice and the first time was in 1844. Curious to know why, back in 1844 a word this unusual would be applied to a horse, I contacted the Thoroughbred Heritage in the UK with this very question. My thanks to Patricia and the Thoroughbred Heritage of England. The horse Mangosteen had relatives that, in keeping with a habit of the times, preserved the food theme and the other horses had names like Morel, Truffles, Mustard and so on. The second horse named Mangosteen ran in the US in the 1930's.

It would be incomplete not to mention some of the other early explorers that braved the remote, sea snake infested, malarial and seasonally cyclone-prone Malay Archipelago and seas of Southeast Asia in pursuit of discovery, collection and documentation of their travels. Truly intrepid plant explorers such as F. W. Burbidge(22), Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix(23), Henri Mouhot (24), Odoardo Beccari (25), Eric Mjöberg (26), and William Roxburgh (27) provided us with the earliest records of Europeans eating and enjoying the fresh mangosteen in its native environment. Burbidge, commissioned by the British firm Veitch and Sons, explored Borneo and described the flavor of the mangosteen as;

"...something like that of the finest nectarine, but with a dash of strawberry and pine-apple added."

Pallegoix in Thailand also weighed in, trying to describe the flavor;

" They exhume a sweet perfume approaching that of the raspberry and have the taste of strawberries."

Odoardo Beccari traveling through Borneo also waxes lyrical and it should be noted that these explorers all shared a temperate climate orientation and thus chose that reference point to help them describe this tropical fruit. Beccari summons a few of them;

"...an abundant white, juicy pulp, soft, sweet, slightly acidulated, and with a delicate, delicious flavour, which recalls that of a fine peach, muscatel grapes, and something peculiar and indescribable which no other fruit has."

Eric Mjöberg spent a brief period at Kew Gardens, during which time he met many of the luminaries of science in that day. But the one contact that he made there that was to facilitate his travels to Sarawak was his timely meeting with James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak. Of this fruit, Eric Mjöberg said;

"The mangosteen has only one fault; it is impossible to eat enough of it, but, strictly speaking, perhaps that is a defect in the eater rather than in the fruit."

Further along he states;

"It would be mere blasphemy to attempt to describe its wonderful taste, the very culmination of culinary art for any unspoilt palate."

And finally he states;

"It has been credibly asserted that the mangosteen was the one fruit that Queen Victoria could not have served at her table."

Enough said.

Bibliography

1) Feldkamp, Cora L. The mangosteen: a list of references. U.S.D.A. 1946. Washington, D.C.

(2) Mackay, David. In the wake of Cook; exploration, science & empire, 1780-1801. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1985

(3) Wade Graham, Traffick According To Their Own Caprice: trade and biological exchange in the making of the Pacific World, 1766-1825. Seascapes, Littoral Cultures, and Trans-Oceanic Exchanges. 12-15 Feb. 2003. Library of Congress, Washington D.C., 12 Dec. 2005 <http://www.historycooperative.org/proceedings/seascapes/graham.html>.

(4) Carter, Harold B. Sir Joseph Banks,1743-1820: A guide to Biographical and Bibliographical sources. Saint Paul's Bibliographies. Winchester, UK. 1987.

(5) Aiton, W. Hortus Kewensis: or a catalog of the plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. Ed. 2, 5 v. London. Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1810-1813

(6) Miller, Phillip. The gardener's and botanist's dictionary. Thomas Martyn Edition. 1807

(7) Ellis, John. A description of the mangostan and the bread-fruit: the first, esteemed one of the most delicious; the other the most useful of all the fruits in the East Indies, to which are added, directions to voyagers for bringing over these and other vegetable productions, which would be extremely beneficial to our inhabitants of the West India Islands, with figures. 47p., illus. London. 1775

(8) On the cultivation of the mangosteen and nearly allied species, as fruit trees. Paxton's Mag. Bot. 15:205-207, illus. 1849

(9) Garcinia mangostana L. Species Plantarum 1: 443-444. 1753

(10) Mangostana. Garcin, Philos. Trans., 38: t. 1, 1734

(11) Douglas O. Linder, The Mutiny on the Bounty: A Chronology (2004),
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Bounty/bountychronology.html

(12) Aspinall, Algernon. The Bread-Fruit Tree; Introduction into the West Indies. The Times, Thursday, Feb 06, 1936. Pg 10. Issue 47291; column C)(Aspinall, Algernon. prior citation The Times, Saturday, Jan 02, 1932; pg. 6; Issue 46020; col C

(13) Mangosteen. Gard Chron. No. 22, p. 371-372. June 2, 1855

(14) The mangosteen- Garcinia mangostana. Florist, Fruitist, etc.) (Gard Chron. No. 22, p. 371-372. June 2, 1855)

(15) Higgie, W. Fruits of the mangosteen. Gard. Chron. (ser. 3) 12:136. July 30, 1892

(16) The Royal Archives, 31 March, 2005. The Royal Collection Trust, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, UK. Letter from the Registrar (of the Royal Archives) responding to my request for information in their archives. I was attempting unsuccessfully to ascertain if there was any connection between Queen Victoria and the mangosteen.

(17) Hart, J. H. The mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana). Trinidad Cent. Agr. Bd. Agr. Rec. 5: 176-177. Nov. 1891.

(18) Prestoe. The mangosteen of Singapore. Gard. Chron. (n. s.) 4: 656-657, illus. 1875

(19) Moore, Lucy. Maharanis. Viking Penguin. 2004

(20) Fairchild, David G. Exploring for plants. Macmillan Company. New York. 1930

(21) Fairchild, D. G. The mangosteen, queen of tropical fruits. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. (1903): 14-15. 1905

(22) Fairchild, D. G. The mangosteen. Jour. Hered. 6: 339-347. 1915

(23) Wallace, Alfred Russell. The Malay Archipelago; the land of the orang-utan and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. First published in 1869 by Macmillan. London

(24) Burbidge, F. W. The gardens of the sun. Oxford University Press. 1991. First published in 1880 by John Murray, London

(25) Pallegoix, Jean Baptiste. Description of the Thai Kingdom or Siam. P. 67. Translated by Walter E. J. Tips. White Lotus Press. 2000. Originally published as Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam, 2 volumes, 1854, Mission de Siam, Paris

(26) Mouhot, Henri. Travels in Siam, Cambodia, Laos and Annam. White Lotus Press. 2000. Originally published in 1864 by Murray, London

(27) Beccari, Odoardo. Wanderings in the great forests of Borneo; travels and researches of a naturalist in Sarawak. A. Constable & Company. 1904

(28) Mjöberg, Eric. Forest life and adventures in the Malay Archipelago. P.152. William Morrow & Company. New York. 1930

(29) Roxburgh, William. Flora Indica or descriptions of plants. Kessinger Publishing at www.kessinger.net

Mommies With Cents Reviews Megafruit

2010-07-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Review & Giveaway: Mega Fruit Ventures

Megafruit Ventures are dried superfruits. They are available in three flavors:

Lychee

A handful meets an adults daily requirement of Vitamin C
Good source of essential minerals
Contains more polyphenols than the equivalent amount of grapes
A topping on desserts, a convenient snack throughout the day when you need a boost

Baby Pineapple

An extraordinary 4 grams of fiber per serving
First time the sweet natural baby pineapple has been available in the US
Delicious topping on oatmeal, cereal, desserts and meals
May act as a natural anti-inflammatory due to its source of bromelins and mangenese

Mangosteen

Known as the queen of fruit, being described as the most delicious fruit in the world
Contains Xanthones, considered to be the most powerful antioxidant in the world
Delicious topping on oatmeal, cereal, desserts and meals
Rare and difficult to harvest, making this antioxidant packed fruit a rare gem

As a mom, I sometimes struggle to find healthy snacks for my children. I’m afraid my children get tired of plain apples and bananas at snack time everyday but I don’t want to resort to sticky, gooey sugar loaded fruit snacks either. Megafruit Ventures is a company who’s mission is to introduce highly nutritious snacks to any diet. Superfruits are fruits that have exceptional nutrient and antioxidant qualities. Megafruit Ventrues uses these fruits to create a snack without any added sugar, preservatives or additives that taste good and are packed with a nutritious punch. Our favorite is the Baby Pineapple- Yum! Both the Mangosteen and the Lychee have distinctive flavors that are hard to describe. I’ve never eaten (or had even heard of!) either of these fruits before. They aren’t as sweet as the pineapple but my kids still ate them and were even convinced they were treats.

Megafruit is sold in a pack of 10 2 oz pouches priced at $38.40 for Lychee or Baby Pineapple and $55.80 for Mangosteen.

A complimentary product/service was provided for this review; however, all opinions expressed are our own. We were not compensated in any other way for this review. See Mommies With Cents disclosure policy for more details.

Enter to win a 10 pack of Megafruit Ventures – 4 baby pineapple, 4 lychee, and 2 Mangosteen by filling out the form below. Get one extra entry each by following Megafruit Ventures on twitter and facebook. Also, be sure to check out all of our other giveaways here.

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Ice Cream Party Ideas for Summer

2010-07-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

Summer is about bikinis, beaches, bbqs, and ice cream. This summer if you are looking for a great party idea for yourself or your kids, check out the July issue of InStyle Magazine with Cameron Diaz on the cover. There is a whole section on ice cream party toppings, different ways to create new flavors, and different ways to present an ice cream cone and scoop of ice cream. I found the issue to be so eye opening. The scoop of ice cream is no longer about chocolate sprinkles, it is about the whole package cone and toppings and all.

In the InStyle July issue, Event Planner, Amy Atlas gives tips on how to decorate an ice cream cone with decorative colorful paper to create a sensational look for a party. She also shows how an ice cream sundae can become a work of art by taking a scoop of ice cream and rolling the toppings all over the scoop of ice cream to create a decorative and tasty treat.

If you are doing a party this summer. Ice Cream and toppings is an easy theme that can be executed elegantly with Amy Atlas' tips.

Here are a few tips I found useful:

1.) Decorate the cones with festive colorful paper.

2.) Turn ice cream sundaes into works of art by rolling the ice cream into your favorite toppings and drizzling your favorite sauces over the toppings.

3.) Use pretty labels to label each separate ice cream station.

4.) Use pretty clear containers and bowls to store individual toppings so that people can help themselves to create their custom ice cream treat.

This is a great idea for a fun get together this summer. Who does not love ice cream?

How to Beat The Heat This Summer

2010-07-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

Summer means so many different things to different people. If you live in New York City summer means go to the Hampstons on the weekend to get away from the hot city pavement and crowded sweaty subway. If you live in Texas it means dessert hot conditions are ahead. If you live in Los Angeles it means traffic jams and heatwaves along the 405 freeway. In most parts of the country, summer is about lots of high temps and kids on summer vacation. Parents are scrambling to find activities for their kids who are on school vacation while staying cool. As a parent, I am constantly looking for ways to entertain my daughter during her many school breaks. Here are some ideas I came up with to get through the hot summer days.

1.) Stay cool. Find activities that keep you and the kids cool. Plan outings to the aquarium, beach, local museums, and playdates with friends who have swimming pools.

2.) Make popsicles and shaved ice. Keep kids and yourself cool while doing a fun activity. Set up juices and fruits that kids would like and help them freeze popsicles to enjoy while doing other activities during a hot summer day.

3.) Drink lots of liquids. Drink water and diluted juices all day long. The sun is very hot in the summer and people often don't drink as much water as they should. Try to keep track of how many glasses you and your loved ones consume in a day. You should be drinking at least 8 - 8 ounce glasses of water a day.

4.) Dress in breathable materials. Avoid polyester and silks which keep heat on your body. Wear materials like cotton and linen during the summer months. You will feel much cooler as a result.

5.) Eat healthy fruits and vegetables during the summer. Your body feels way too heavy in the summer if you eat heavy rich foods. Try having more fruit for breakfast and snacks during the day and incorporate salad into your lunches and dinners. You will feel less tired after lunch too since heavy meals and heat can cause your body to work a lot harder to digest the meal.

6.) Take it easy. Don't try to work in a frenetic pace during the summer. It is just hard to move as fast during the summer. Try to focus on priorities each day and accomplish as much as you can. The summer heat causes cars to overheat and tempers to rise. It all eventually gets done.

7.) Remember to exercise. When you exercise you are helping your body to build the stamina it needs to face the challenges of a hot summer. Give yourself at least 30 minutes a day to workout so that you can take care of your work and your family.

8.) Be prepared. When you are short on time and have to work and deal with the kids all summer, be prepared with games and snacks in the car. The summer traffic jams between playdates and outings can cause you more stress than necessary. Pack water and healthy snacks in the car so that your kids are happy during a long ride and for you when you run out of time to grab lunch. Megafruit is a perfect packable dried fruit snack pack that you can keep in the car all summer for emergency lunch and snacks. The fruit is good for you and your kids and gives them the energy they need to go from one summer activity to another.

How to Get That Glow

2010-07-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

Have you thought to yourself how do some of these celebrities get their beautiful shiny hair and vibrant dewy skin? It helps that most celebrities have nutritionists, trainers, stylists, and make up artists following them around the world to make sure they always look good. Do you wonder if you could do that for yourself? I think what we have to remember is that we have to judge ourselves by a different standard. We cannot all be super models or famous television and movie actors. These people spend hours in the gym daily and hours in the make up chair. You only see them when they look their best. They also have access to the best foods and the best cosmetics money can buy. Try to do what you can within your own schedule and budget. Here are a few things you can do to get that "glow" in your skin.

1.) Drink lots of water. Hydration is so important for your skin. If you don't drink enough water your skin will become dry. Don't dehydrate your skin by drinking too much alcohol.

2.) Use sunscreen and try to limit your exposure to the sun for long periods of time.

3.) Eat fruits and vegetables and unprocessed whole foods. If your diet consists of a daily run to Starbucks for a Tall Frappuccino which is essentially a milkshake, you have to start changing your eating habits. Try to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and protein that is not breaded, fried or drenched in butter. Eat food that does not come out of a box.

4.) Get enough sleep. Sleep is the time when our bodies regenerate our energy daily. Getting enough sleep helps the skin repair itself. Tissue repair happens during sleep.

5.) Don't harbor anger or resentment. Learn to let go. If you carry everything around with you, you probably have a scowl on your face daily. That scowl will cause frown lines and eventually your face will reflect how you feel inside. Learn to let go. It is good for you.

6.) Sweat a little. Working out daily is really good for the skin. The impurities in your pores come out in your sweat. A healthy you is a you with a glow.

7.) Get some help. Ask for help when you need it. Get a sitter to give yourself a break from the kids. Giving yourself some downtime will do your skin wonders.

8.) Get an illuminator. You heard me. Go to the drugstore or to your local department store and buy an illuminator which is a little tube of glow in a bottle. This will give your beautiful radiant skin an extra boost. After all with all that hard work of eating well and taking good care of yourself, you deserve an extra boost. My favorite is the Nars illuminator.

How to Save Money When Your Friends Are Big Spenders

2010-07-02T04:01:00.000-07:00

Did you see the movie The Joneses with Demi Moore or Confessions of A Shopaholic with Isla Fisher? Do you live in a city where you feel the need to drive a nice car, wear the best designer clothes, carry the nicest bags, eat at the nicest restaurants? Do you feel pressure to keep up with your friends? Do you find it hard to do it?

When I first moved to New York City many years ago from a suburban East Coast city I felt the need to fit into the large cosmopolitan city and thought fitting in the scene meant looking the part of a New Yorker with their expense accounts for dinners, expensive accessories and designer clothes for work. I soon found myself caught between buying a new jacket or making that month's rent. I learned a hard lesson at an early age, you have to live within your means and forget about what everyone else is doing. You gotta do what is right for yourself, your family, and your budget.

I devised a plan for myself that I thought could help you if you are finding yourself in the same situation:

1.) Hang out with friends who have the same budgets. If you have friends who are big spenders, only see them in certain situations where you feel comfortable. Try to do things with your friends that do not cost too much money. For example, meet a friend for a walk and grab a cup of coffee one afternoon or browse the museums together.

2.) Set a budget for yourself. Plan to save some money every month before thinking about spending your money on a new IPad or a new pair of shoes. Think about what you can realistically afford and spend your money according to your budget.

3.) Find hobbies that do not require large amounts of money to be spent. Try a yoga or cardio class. Learn how to play tennis. Take pottery making classes. Hobbies that help you develop a new skill or exercises your body usually give you the same kind of feel good serotonin you get from buying a new pair of shoes or a new gadget. Maybe do a potluck dinner night with friends and have everyone bring something so it does not have to be a large expense for any one person. This way everyone can also taste different types of food and get together to socialize and have fun.

4.) Keep a gratitude journal. Look at your life objectively and write down how much you have in your life. Record the happy moments in your life. Relish the little things like the smell of the air after a long rain. Realize that your life is plentiful and cherish it.

July Fourth Eating Plan

2010-07-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend is July 4th which means beach time, food and drinks. Since it is the beginning of summer you want to have fun and be able to still look great in your swimwear. Instead of starving yourself and feeling deprived later on. Eat in moderation and remember that tomorrow you can have something else in moderation that you can indulge in.

Here are a few tips to keep you on track on July 4th for the summer season:

Snack before a big party
Don't starve yourself before a big pary. EAT. Have an apple and a glass of water or a handful of almonds and some carrot sticks. Fill up on fiber. By the time you get to the party you won't be starving and you will be able to enjoy your favorites in moderation. Anything in moderation is not bad.

Workout in the morning
Working out even as little as 20 minutes a day will help you stay on track. After you work out your metabolism still burns fat throughout the day and because you felt good about your morning workout you will want to eat well the rest of the day.

Sleep
Getting enough sleep is key to mood and weight. Your body tends to gain weight when it does not get enough restful sleep. Elevated cortisol in the body makes your body think it is under attack and goes into flight or fight mode. According to Tiffany Spudich, PharmD on Project-Aware "It is also a key hormone involved in the body’s response to stress, both physical and emotional. Cortisol increases blood sugar levels, increases blood pressure, and suppresses the immune system, which is part of the body’s fight-or-flight response that is essential for survival. Your hypothalamus, via the pituitary gland, directs the adrenal glands to secrete both cortisol and adrenaline". Once this happens the body will want to make sure it can build reserves and that is when overeating can occur.

Talbot S, Kramer W. The Cortisol Connection. 1st ed. Berkeley, CA: Publishers Group West, 2002.

Have a great July 4th weekend.

Raw Food Brownie Recipe

2010-06-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

At the moment I am obsessed with the Raw Food Diet. I find that the food feels very clean when I eat it. I don't worry about where its been because it is mostly fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts. I feel less heavy after a Raw Food Meal and the recipes I have found are very tasty. My favorite dessert recipe so far is the Raw Food Brownie Recipe. It is out of this world and who knew it was made of avocados? Wow. If you are wondering why anyone would ever give up a cooked steak or a good piece of friend chicken for a Raw Food diet. Take a look at some of these benefits. Here is what Vicki F. Chavis says about the Raw Food movement.

Raw Foods

The benefits of eating raw foods include:

Raw foods haven't been cooked and contain high levels of enzymes and vital nutrients.
Enzymes are the proteins that accelerate the rate of chemical reactions, including those involved in digestion and metabolism.
Phytonutrients are plant-derived, biologically active chemicals that are considered able to prevent diseases.

Raw pie crusts, for example, are made from nuts, coconut and salt, which gives them a buttery flavor. Adding dates binds ingredients together.

When food is cooked, it loses its moisture and becomes more dense. Raw foods, full of water, fill you up much more quickly, allowing you to eat much less.

Ingredients

Directions cut into 12 pieces
serving size 1 piece

food process the brownie ingredients until blended and dry chunky. press into a small pan.

icing: put all icing ingredients into vitamix blender, and blend on hi till smooth.

spread icing over brownies and pop in freezer to set for 1 hr. then cut and put in snack sized baggies.

Number of Servings: 12

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user SNOWDROP76.

Number of Servings: 12

Photo Courtesy: -Rod Rontondi, author of Raw Food for Real People: Living Vegan Food Made Simple by the Chef and Founder of Leaf Organics.

Megafruits Partners with Breakout Sales & Marketing

2010-06-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Superfruits Company Plus 100 Years of Experience

Megafruit^tmVentures Continued Success Prompts Company Growth Again

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Susana Bub

Tel. 888-881-8119 ext. 2

Cell Phone: 310-500-6388

Email: Susana@megafruitventures.com

Los Angeles, CA, June 29, 2010 — Los Angeles-based Megafruit^tm Ventures, Inc., a health food company dedicated to bringing highly nutritious exotic Superfruits to the US, has appointed Breakout Sales and Marketing, formally known as Naturally TCL, to bring Superfruits to the South Western American public.

“Breakout Sales & Marketing (BSM) was the perfect choice for us. Both BSM and Megafruit^tm Ventures are committed to bringing new innovative naturally healthy foods to the marketplace. Megafruit^tm Ventures believes that the public in the South Western States want great tasting new foods that have many health benefits. BSM understands what health-conscious individuals want to see in their markets”, said Sean Kono, CEO, Megafruit^tm Ventures.

BSM brings nearly 100 years of combined experience to the Megafruit^tm Ventures team. BSM purchased Naturally TCL nearly 2 years ago. Tom & Cathi Lombardo at NTCL had been selling natural products as a broker for 30 years when Jimmy Searcy & Alan Urpsis became partners with Tom as Cathi retired from the industry. Jimmy Searcy once owned ‘Hi Profit Distributors’ that sold to Tree of Life in Southern Cal. He was also an owner of Lazy Acres Market in Santa Barbara California. Alan Urpsis, president of BSM has been in the industry for 30 years as well, owning and managing some of the best sales departments in the industry.

BSM will be working on bringing exotic gourmet Superfruits to the marketplace with Megafruit^tm Ventures. One of the items Megafruit^tm Ventures is bringing to the marketplace for the first time ever is the Mangosteen. Dr. Oz and Dan Buettner author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest wrote about the 5 most important Superfoods we must all begin to eat now. The Queen of Fruits, the Mangosteen was #3 on this list. Mangosteen (Tang YP) has more antioxidants than any other fruit, is rich in vitamins A and C and tastes delicious. Mangosteens contain xanthones (Watanapokasin) which are considered to be the most powerful of all antioxidants. Currently the benefits researched on Mangosteen are: improved cardiovascular health, natural antibiotic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging.

Works Cited

Tang YP, Li PG, Kondo M, Ji HP, Kou Y, Ou B. Effect of a mangosteen dietary supplement on human immune function. 12 August 2009. .

Watanapokasin R, Jarinthanan F, Jerusalmi A, Suksamrarn S, Nakamura Y, Sukseree S, Uthaisang-Tanethpongtamb W, Ratananukul P, Sano T. Potential of Xanthones from Tropical Fruit Mangosteen as Anti-cancer Agents. 26 January 2010.

-more-

About Megafruit^tm Ventures

Founded in 2009, Megafruit^tm Ventures was started by a husband and wife team when they went on vacation in Thailand and found great tasting fruits with amazing health benefits that were not yet known in the US. They wanted to make it their mission to introduce new healthy foods to the marketplace. To learn more, visit http://www.megafruitventures.com

For more information about this topic please call Marketing and Public Relations Director, Susana Bub at 888.881.8119 ext. 2 or email Susana@megafruitventures.com

###

Ginger Sesame Vegetable Chili Pasta Recipe

2010-06-29T08:02:00.001-07:00

It is a known fact that spicy foods speed up your metabolism and satiate your appetite. I love spicy foods and am always experimenting at home to make more spicy food recipes. This Ginger Sesame Vegetable Chili Pasta recipe is a favorite in my house. The fresh vegetables and the slightly sweet ginger sesame sauce with the combination of the heat from the chili oil makes this dish a winner for a spicy food fan.

Ingredients

1 bunch of broccolini
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1 bunch of asparagus
1 container of mini plum tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 tablespoon of garlic
6 tablespoons of Nancy's lite Ginger Sesame dressing
4 teaspoons of Lee Kum Ke Chiu Chau Chili Oil
1 package of angel hair pasta
1 tablespoon of canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Clean and cut vegetables and place in large saute pan. Add garlic and canola oil and pine nuts. Saute vegetables until slightly browned. Cook pasta according to directions on box. Add a little olive oil to pasta to keep it from sticking when it is done. Place cooked vegetables on top of pasta to serve. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle sesame ginger dressing on top and drizzle chili oil on top of everything. Serve while hot.

Miracle Noodles for Weight Loss

2010-06-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Do you love pasta but want to lose weight? I have tried many diets from Atkins to fruit and veggies only diets and always lapsed back into my old ways. Recently I found a diet where I just ate normally, but substituted Japanese plant based high fiber "noodles" in place of regular flour pasta and I have had a significant amount of weight loss without the normal sugar high and dip after eating flour noodles. These gluten free noodles are called Miracle Noodles and I am loving them. I have sent packages to my parents and friends to try and they also love the noodles. If you want to try them, try them now. Each packet is well priced and sent right to your home.

Tonight, I had a beef bolognese on top of the Miracle Noodles and I am full and happy. Check it out for yourself. Make comments and let me know what you think. I think this is a great Graduation Gift. The amazing thing is that these noodles are ZERO CALORIES too! So you can eat a whole packet with your favorite sauce without feeling that carb guilt I always felt.
Click here to try it now.

How to Make Yourself Comfortable on a Plane

2010-06-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Are you excited for your vacation, but dreading the economy seat on the plane? The worst part of traveling is definitely not packing, it is going through TSA and the actual flight where you have to sit in a seat where even a petite person does not have enough leg room. Did they suddenly add another 2 rows of seats in each cabin in the last few years? The leg room and full flights make flights pretty uncomfortable these days. To prepare for your next flight, I have a few suggestions for what you can do to make your flying experience a little more pleasant.

Hydrate
Make sure to buy water at the airport and bring along some fruit for your journey. It is very dehydrating to be on the plane so you want to stay hydrated the whole time you are on the plane. Avoid alcohol drinks on the plane as that will exacerbate dehydration.
Workout
Try to at least stretch and take a short walk before your flight and try to get some exercise as soon as you arrive. This will help your body get on the schedule of the place that you are visiting whether it is 9 hours ahead or 3 hours behind. You can also try to walk around on the plane to stretch your legs.
Deep Breathing
Take 10 deep breaths in the am and sit for a few minutes and meditate. This should get your day started on the right note. Getting oxygen in your body will help awaken your senses and relax your mind so you can start your day with lots of energy.
Rescue Remedy
Go to your local natural pharmacy and pick up a few items like Bach's rescue remedy to help relieve stress on the plane. Just a few drops of Bach's rescue remedy is supposed to help relieve daily stress. If you feel stress on the plane, just put a few drops in your water.
Medications
If you take special medications during the day. Make sure to pack and take them on the plane with you so you have them with you when you arrive on the plane.
Eye Mask, Noise Cancellation Earphones, Earplugs
Get yourself an eye mask to block out the light to help you get the rest you need on the plane. Bring earplugs to block out the noise around you or get Noise Cancellation Earphones will block out the noise and help you get the rest you need.
Bring a shawl
Bring a shawl with you so you don't have to use the blankets that the airlines give you. It will give you a little comfort since it is your shawl from home and it won't have anyone's germs on it.
Pack some lunch or food you like as snacks
Pack food that is healthy for lunch for yourself so you don't have to be at the mercy of the airport restaurants. Everything is always healthier if you bring your own food from home. Snack on dried fruit like Megafruit and get nutrients and fiber out of a healthy snack.

How to Get your Body Beach Ready: Try the GOOP Detox Menu and Recipes

2010-06-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a good detox to jump start my weight loss goals for summer and quite a few people told me about the detox that Gwyneth Paltrow has been using so I looked it up on her GOOP site and found it in one of her newsletters. The diet seems really nutritious and easy to follow. It does incorporate a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables so you will have to make a trip to the market for a large shop. The good thing is that a lot of the diet is just great food and leaving out carbs, dairy, red meat, and shellfish. If you can do that, this diet should be a snap. For those of you who are taking this diet to work, it may be a little challenging because there is a lot of cutting and juicing involved. Of course this diet is easy for Gwyneth because she probably has a staff that juices for her after she is done training in the am with Tracy Anderson. Anyhow, don't beat yourself up if you cannot do all this. Try the best you can. It will still be better than not doing anything at all.

Check out her diet menu and recipes here:

MENUS (bold indicates a recipe)

Adjust the time to your schedule and the meals to your taste but remember that there can be no dairy, grains with gluten, meat, shellfish, anything processed (including all soy products), fatty nuts, nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant), condiments, sugar and obviously no alcohol, caffeine or soda.

DAY ONE

7am (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8am: Herbal tea
10am (breakfast): Blueberry and Almond Smoothie
11:30am: Coconut water*
1:30pm (lunch): Salad with Carrot and Ginger Dressing
4pm (snack): A handful of mixed pumpkin and sunflower seeds
6pm (dinner): Broccoli and Arugula Soup
*Make sure that the coconut water has no added sugar. Fresh is ideal but the brands Zico or Vita Coco are readily available.

DAY TWO

7am (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8am: Herbal tea
10am (breakfast): Raspberry and Rice Milk Smoothie (follow method for Blueberry and Almond Smoothie)
11:30am: Coconut water
1:30pm (lunch): Detox Teriyaki Chicken and Steamed Greens
4pm (snack): Miso Soup with Watercress
6pm (dinner): Pea and Basil Soup (follow method for Broccoli and Arugula Soup)

DAY THREE

7am (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8am: Herbal tea
10am (breakfast): Oatmeal (make with rice or almond milk instead of water so it’s a bit more substantial)
11:30am: Coconut water
1:30pm (lunch): Blueberry and Almond Smoothie
4pm (snack): Cucumber, Lime and Basil Juice
6pm (dinner): Super Greens Juice / Miso Soup with Watercress

DAY FOUR

7am (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8am: Herbal tea
10am (breakfast): Mango and Coconut Milk Smoothie (follow method for Blueberry and Almond Smoothie)
11:30am: Coconut water
1:30pm (lunch): Miso Soup with Watercress
4pm (snack): A handful of blueberries
6pm (dinner): Steamed Salmon and Greens

DAY FIVE

7am (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8am: Herbal tea
10am (breakfast): Peach and Almond Smoothie (follow method for Blueberry and Almond Smoothie)
11:30am: Coconut water
1:30pm (lunch): Raw crudite (carrots, green beans, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini) with Carrot and Ginger Dressing
4pm (snack): Beet, Carrot, Apple and Ginger Juice
6pm (dinner): Cucumber and Avocado Soup

DAY SIX

7am (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8am: Herbal tea
10am (breakfast): Blueberry and Almond Smoothie
11:30am: Coconut water
1:30pm (lunch): Mixed Greens with Steamed Salmon, Olive Oil & Lemon Juice
4pm (snack): Super Greens Juice
6pm (dinner): Detox Teriyaki Chicken, brown rice, steamed zucchini

DAY SEVEN

7am (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8am: Herbal tea
10am (breakfast): Raspberry and Rice Milk Smoothie (follow method for Blueberry and Almond Smoothie)
11:30am: Coconut water
1:30pm (lunch): Miso Soup with Vegetables
4pm (snack): A handful of almonds
6pm (dinner): Steamed fish, quinoa, roasted squash

RECIPES

Salad with Carrot and Ginger Dressing
Broccoli and Arugula Soup
Miso Soup with Watercress
Detox Teriyaki Chicken
Blueberry and Almond Smoothie
Beet, Carrot, Apple and Ginger Juice
Super Greens Juice
Cucumber, Basil and Lime Juice
Steamed Salmon and Greens
Cucumber and Avocado Soup

SALAD WITH CARROT AND GINGER DRESSING

This dressing is the jam! Great on salad and also as a dip for vegetables. This recipe makes enough dressing for two salads, so be sure to save the extra.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

For dressing:
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped 1 large shallot, peeled and roughly chopped 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh ginger	1 tablespoon sweet white miso 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seed oil 1/4 cup grapeseed oil 2 tablespoons water
For salad:
1 head of baby gem lettuce (or any greens), roughly cut	1/4 red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 avocado, diced

Pulse the carrot, shallot and ginger in a blender until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides, add the miso, vinegar and sesame seed oil and whiz together. While the blender is going, slowly drizzle in the grapeseed oil and the water.

Combine the lettuce, onion and avocado in a bowl, drizzle with plenty of dressing and serve.

download a printable version

BROCCOLI and ARUGULA SOUP

This is a clean, basic approach to soup that showcases the vegetable. You can make this with nearly anything – including peas and basil, zucchini, carrots and ginger. In this case, broccoli is made a bit more dynamic with a handful of peppery arugula. When you’re detoxing and drinking lots of juices and smoothies, it’s a nice change to have something warm. This recipe makes enough soup for at least two portions, but it’s easier to make it once and eat it twice.

SERVES: 2
TIME: 15 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow onion, roughly diced
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets (about 2/3 pound)

2 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon each coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup arugula (watercress would be good, too)
1/2 lemon

Heat the olive oil in a medium nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for just a minute or until fragrant. Add the broccoli and cook for four minutes or until bright green. Add the water, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, lower the heat and cover. Cook for eight minutes or until the broccoli is just tender. Pour the soup into a blender and puree with the arugula until quite smooth. Be very careful when blending hot liquids; start slowly and work in batches if necessary (you don’t want the steam to blow the lid off). Serve the soup with a bit of fresh lemon.

download a printable version

MISO SOUP WITH WATERCRESS

You can make the broth early in the week and add the miso as you eat. Also, you can eat this plain, with the watercress, or bulk it up with other thinly sliced vegetables (mushrooms, zuchinni, carrots, etc.)

SERVES: 4
TIME: 30 minutes

6 cups water (filtered is best)
50 grams dried bonito flakes
3 dried shitake mushrooms
4" piece of dried wakame

6 tablespoons miso paste (whatever kind you like—sweet white miso makes for a nice, light soup while aged barley gives a full, robust flavor)
2 cups watercress leaves

Heat the water in a small soup pot and when bubbles form around the edge, add the bonito. Turn the heat down and simmer for two minutes. Turn off the heat and let the broth sit for five minutes. Strain the broth into a clean pot, discarding the bonito. Add the shitakes and wakame to the broth and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove the wakame and mushrooms. Discard the thick stems from the mushrooms, thinly slice the caps and slip them back into the soup. Chop the wakame into small pieces, discarding any thick pieces of stem, and return to the pot.

In a small bowl, combine the miso paste with a bit of the broth and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture back into the pot and let the soup simmer, being careful not to let it boil. Add the watercress at the last minute, just to wilt it, and serve.

download a printable version

DETOX TERIYAKI CHICKEN

This sauce is detox-friendly because it doesn’t use sugar or soy, but it has a great depth of flavor and is the perfect consistency.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 20 minutes + time for marinating

For Sauce:
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar 1/3 cup agave syrup 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper	1 teaspoon barley miso 1 teaspoon mirin 1 tablespoon water
Combine the balsamic, agave, ginger and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for ten minutes. Cool and then add the miso, mirin and water. For Chicken:
1 chicken breast Detox Teriyaki Sauce	1 finely chopped scallion 4 sprigs cilantro, roughly chopped

Marinate the chicken in the sauce (reserve a spoonful or two) for at least one hour–up to overnight.

Heat your grill to medium heat. Wipe off any excess marinade and grill the chicken for about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Serve with the reserved, hasn’t-touched-raw-chicken sauce, cilantro and scallions.

download a printable version

BLUEBERRY and ALMOND SMOOTHIE

This could easily be made with any fruit—raspberries, peaches, mango, etc. Also, feel free to substitute rice or coconut milk for almond milk.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

1 scoop of a complete nutritional, whey protein fortified powder (not soy protein)
1/2 cup blueberries

1 scoop of a ProGreens type of powder (preferably with probiotics)
1 1/2 cups almond milk

Blend everything together.

download a printable version

BEET, CARROT, APPLE and GINGER JUICE

This juice is the most incredible color and is wonderfully sweet. Beets are said to lower blood pressure, carrots pack a super beta-carotene punch, apples are cancer-fighters and ginger just loves your heart.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

1 large or 2 medium beets, cut into wedges
1/2 lemon, zest and pith removed

2 large carrots
1 large apple, cut into wedges
1" piece of ginger

Juice everything into a glass, give it a stir and enjoy.

download a printable version

SUPER GREENS JUICE

Health in a glass!

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

1 cup tightly packed kale
4 stalks celery
1 1/2 pears, cut into large pieces

1" piece of fresh ginger
1/2 lemon, zest and pith removed

Juice everything into a glass, being sure to alternate the kale with the other ingredients to help it get through the juicer easily (I follow each small bit of kale with a celery stalk). Give the juice a stir before drinking.

download a printable version

CUCUMBER, BASIL and LIME JUICE

This juice is especially refreshing when you blend it with a handful of ice cubes (use a whole lime if you do, as the acid is muted when it’s cold). Think of it as a detox-friendly mojito.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

1/2 cup fresh basil
1 English cucumber, cut in half lengthwise

1/2 lime, zest and pith removed
1 apple, cut into wedges

Starting with the basil, juice everything into a glass, give it a stir and enjoy.

download a printable version

STEAMED SALMON and GREENS

You could steam the fish on a bed of anything—thinly sliced fennel, lemon, even scallions or leeks.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 20 minutes

small handful (roughly 1/4 cup) of your favorite leafy herbs (parsley, basil, chervil, tarragon, etc.)
1 6 oz. organic salmon filet

a cup of your favorite fresh greens (kale, spinach, dandelion, chard, etc.)
1 wedge of lemon

Line your steamer with the herbs and rest the salmon filet on top. Steam for 11 minutes. Put the greens alongside the fish and steam for an additional 7 minutes. Squeeze the lemon over the fish and greens and serve.

download a printable version

CUCUMBER and AVOCADO SOUP

Really light and refreshing, this soup is also incredibly satisfying because the avocado makes it so creamy.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 2 minutes

zest of 1/2 lime
juice of an entire lime
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, roughly chopped
1/2 avocado, peeled and roughly chopped

Blend everything together until totally creamy and smooth.

Father's Day White Peach Sangria Recipe

2010-06-21T05:25:00.000-07:00

Father's Day was a nice day for everyone in our family. My husband took a nice long bike ride up the Pacific Coast Highway, I worked out on the treadmill in the morning, and my daughter and I made apple muffins, angel hair pasta with turkey bologneses and white peach sangria. The day started off with our freshly baked apple muffins and a glass of juice and some strawberries after my workout. Then when my husband returned from his ride we had the Angel hair pasta bolognese with salad for lunch. The white peach sangria went with us to a friend's house for dinner of fish tacos. It was a beautiful summer day and a breezy summer night. The white peach sangria was a hit.

Here is the recipe:

1 pound of white ripe peaches cut and quartered
1 pound of white grapes seedless halved
1 pound of red grapes seedless halved
1 mango cut up into cubes
2 bottles of white wine
1 1/2 cups of peach vodka
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup of simple syrup or agave

Take the cut up grapes, peaches, and mango and place into the pitcher where you will be serving the sangria. Add the vodka and white wine. Add agave or simple syrup and lemon juice and mix all together. Please in fridge for at least 4 hours so that the flavors can meld together. Serve with ice in a wine glass.

Raw Food Diet

2010-06-18T05:22:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered a few raw food restaurants in Los Angeles that are really great. They make desserts, pizzas, and everything else in between for people who want a healthy satisfying lifestyle. I found that many of the people who followed the raw food movement had less colds and more energy. I found a site that had so much information, I had to share it with you.

Here is some basic information from her site. Alissa Cohen has a cookbook and DVD on the raw food movement. Check it out for yourself. What do you think?

What is Raw & Living Food?

Raw and Living foods are uncooked, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. These raw foods can be eaten whole or combined to make the healthiest, most delicious meals.

Sound boring? NO Way!!! Imagine eating burgers, pizza, pasta, cookies, cakes and pies everyday. Imagine never having to count calories, proteins, fats or carbs! You won't have to weigh or measure your food. The raw and living food diet is about eating whatever you want, whenever you want! You can lose weight, heal your body, increase your energy, look and feel younger, not in years, not in months but within days! If this sounds good to you, click here to start living on live food!

Click here for frequently asked questions about Alissa's raw and living food diet.

The following pictures are sample recipes from Alissa Cohen's book Living on Live Food.

The Living Burger

This 'burger' is made from raw nuts and veggies The 'bun' is uncooked sprouted grains and veggies, molded into a burger bun and dehydrated. A honey –mustard sauce served on the side along with a helping of jicama French fries.

The Living Pizza

This pizza is better than the real thing! The crust is made from sprouted grains and/or seeds, and veggies and then dehydrated. The tomato sauce is made from sun-dried tomatoes, dates, garlic, and herbs. The creamy cheese topping is made from a variety of nuts and vegetables and spices. The pizza is topped with avocadoes, mushrooms, spinach and onions.

Enchiladas

This corn - flax seed tortilla is a soft, chewy flat bread that is wrapped around warmed, diced veggies and then dehydrated to perfection!

The Chocolate Cake

The inside of this rich moist cake is made from figs and nuts. The frosting is a rich carob frosting made up of avocado, carob powder, dates and mixed berries. There is a cashew cream cheese covering the top. The cake is then sprinkled with coconut and crushed walnuts.

Canolis

This canoli wrapper is made from sprouted wheat berries and dates. The heavenly sweet cream filling is made from nuts, lemon juice and honey.

The Blueberry Pie & Cookies

The crust is made from nuts and dried fruits. The inside of the pie has a gelled banana-blueberry filling with whole blueberries. The Chocolate Chip Cookies are nuts and dried fruit, with apricot sweetened carob formed into bits on top.

Date Nut Torte

Chicken Fingers

Breads

Raviolis

Potato Salad

Wild Rice Salad

Stuffed Mushrooms

Sushi

Cookies & Almond Milk

Strawberry-Apricot Melt in Your Mouth Fudge

Crepes

Megafruit Mickey Fine Century City

2010-06-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce that Megafruit is now available at the Mickey Fine Pharmacy stores in Century City, and 2 locations in Beverly Hills on Roxbury and Camden. Here are some photos from our demo at Century City 2049 Century Park East on Wednesday, June 16, 2010.

Hope you had a chance to come say hello to us and try our lychee, mangosteen, and baby pineapple flavors.

Megafruit can also be found at Amazon.com.

The Actor's Diet reviews Megafruit

2010-06-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

A review from The Actor's Diet blog:

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Summer

June 15, 2010

tags: sandwich, smoothie, vega, mangsteen, falafel, sunshine burger

by Lynn at The Actors Diet

Signs that Summer is upon us in L.A.:

I haven’t been turning on the space heater when I go into the bathroom
I stopped wearing pajama bottoms to sleep
Julius doesn’t burrow under the covers next to me anymore
I slather on sunscreen before my morning walk, because I inevitably end up in a tank top by the end of it
I’ve stopped sneezing when I go past the flowers and can just admire them.

6. I’m no longer craving oatmeal and am reaching for the blender for breakfast.

I’ve had this sample packet of Vega Whole Food Smoothie Infusion for a while now. It’s filled with plant-based protein and green nutrition!

I mixed it with ice and water and tasted. No thanks!

So I tossed in some frozen raspberries – it still needed something. I added some Liquid Vanilla Stevia (NuNaturals just send a huge case of it!) and that was a lot more palatable.

I was actually hungry only an hour after drinking this, but was in the midst of a monster load of laundry, so it was about another hour before I put together lunch.

Two Great Harvest bread heels – one 9-grain, one High Five Fiber
Sunshine Falafel Patty
Ketchup, Grainy Mustard

I opened up this package of Dried Mangosteen that Megafruit sent samples of

I’ve had mangosteen in freeze-dried form (from Trader Joe’s) but never fresh – or dried either, for that matter. Mangosteen is known as “The Queen of Fruits” – and is high in Xanthones, the most powerful of all antioxidants.

Your highness -

They taste really good – these are straight-up dried mangosteens without any added sugar and are very sweet, yet sour at the same time. Actually, the flavor is reminiscent of these Haw Flakes I grew up eating, though I’m sure that description is not very helpful to my non-Chinese readers…

I emptied half the sack to eat with my burger…

…and then wound up eating the other half about twenty minutes later. That’s another sign of summer:

7. I turn into Snacky McSnackerston.

Ever have a fresh mangosteen? How do you know it’s officially summer?

Megafruit Demo at Mickey Fine in Century City

2010-06-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

Megafruit will be doing a demo from 11A to 2P on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at the Mickey Fine Pharmacy store in Century City at 2049 Century Park East location.

Please come join us to taste our baby pineapple, mangosteen, and lychee flavors. Megafruit is a great snack for afternoon dips and after school snacks in the car.

Mickey Fine Pharmacy and Grill was established in 1962 and has stores all over the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills areas.

How to Get Better Sleep Every Night

2010-06-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder how some people can just hit the pillow and fall asleep and stay asleep all night long? I often wonder how those people do it. My husband is one of those people and I used to be one of those people. Now I am one of those people who fall asleep and wake up at 3A and stay awake for 2 hours and fall asleep until my alarm wakes me at 6:30A and I am tired for most of the morning while trying to get my daughter out of the house by 7:30A to get her to school on time. Some days are better than others. When I do all my good sleep hygiene routines my sleep is usually good that night, however if I start getting into my bad habits, my body does wake me up at 3A.

Here are some of the good sleep hygiene habits I adopted recently that may also help you.

1.) Only eat spicy foods or sauces at lunch time and not at dinner time. The spicy foods sometimes can give you heartburn when you are lying down which can disturb your sleep. Spicy foods are supposed to rev up your metabolism so that can make getting a restful nights sleep a challenge.

2.) Stop working on your laptop or blackberry in bed. If you are on your email or working from your bed, your body is not getting ready for bed. It is still in work mode.

3.) Try to go to bed at a reasonable hour usually before 11P so you can get 8 hours of sleep a night. Your body works on a circadian rhythm that usually sets in around 11P. Once you miss that time you usually get a "second wind" and have a harder time falling asleep.

4.) Take a warm hot bath to relax your body and mind. The warm water and the relaxation you experience after a long day usually helps bring your body to the right temperature for sleep while psychologically preparing you for sleep.

5.) Write all your worries on a notepad before you go to bed. Tell yourself these issues or problems can be solved in the morning. Once you have a place to put those thoughts, your mind should be ready for sleep.

6.) Exercising during the course of the day is important.

7.) Eat a light meal for dinner with healthy carbs like potatoes, brown rice, gluten free pasta, or whole wheat pasta. These healthy carbs can help your body create the serotonin it needs to help you relax and fall asleep and stay asleep.

8.) Make sure your bedroom is not cluttered with things all over the shelves, the side tables, or the floor. A place that is cluttered often clutters the mind and prevents good sleep.

9.) Use an eye mask to block out the light from the outside or from your alarm clock. Light signals daytime for your brain so if you brain thinks it is light out and it is daytime you may not be able to fall asleep or stay asleep.

10.) Make sure your bed is a place where you feel comfortable and cozy. You spend a lot of time in bed at least 6 hours a day so make sure it is a place that your body will feel complete comfort. Make sure the sheets and pillow cases are soft and the mattress the right firmness. Don't compromise on the comfort of your bedding because that is key to getting a good night's sleep.

Try some of these ideas they may help you get on your way to a good sleep hygiene program of your own.

Whole Wheat High Fiber Pancakes that are delicious

2010-06-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

This morning my daughter wanted pancakes for breakfast. She said she was bored of eggs and cereal and milk as her only choices in the morning. I agreed with her and made a very healthy high fiber whole wheat version of pancakes for her. She loved it because I added some sugar for sweetness and vanilla for flavor. I also cooked them a little longer to make them crispier. Here is the recipe. Enjoy a healthier version of a pancake. I like it better than the white flour no fiber version.

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Benefiber
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Place the rolled oats into the jar of a blender and blend until the texture resembles coarse flour. Whisk together the blended oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose white wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.
Whisk together the egg, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Let the batter stand for 5 minutes.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto the griddle, and cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry, about 2 minutes. Flip, and cook until browned on the other side. Repeat with remaining batter.
Serve with maple syrup and fresh blueberries on top.

Note: You can also substitute Megafruit on top of the pancakes instead of blueberries. For example you can make a Hawaiian pancake by adding coconut flakes and baby pineapple on top of your pancakes.

Megafruit on The Find blog

2010-06-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

MegaFruit Ventures are a Snack with a Nutritious Punch

posted June 7th, 2010
Parenting

Lychee

A handful meets an adults daily requirement of Vitamin C
Good source of essential minerals
Contains more polyphenols than the equivalent amount of grapes
A topping on desserts, a convenient snack throughout the day when you need a boost

Baby Pineapple

An extraordinary 4 grams of fiber per serving
First time the sweet natural baby pineapple has been available in the US
Delicious topping on oatmeal, cereal, desserts and meals
May act as a natural anti-inflammatory due to its source of bromelins and mangenese

Mangosteen

Known as the queen of fruit, being described as the most delicous fruit in the world
Contains Xanthones, considered to be the most powerful antioxidant in the world
Delicious topping on oatmeal, cereal, desserts and meals
Rare and difficult to harvest, making this antioxidant packed fruit a rare gem

Megafruit is sold in a pack of 10 2 oz pouches priced at $38.40 for Lychee or Baby Pineapple and $55.80 for Mangosteen.

Save to:

Megafruit Demo Photos Vicente Foods

2010-06-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Our Megafruit demo at Vicente Foods in Brentwood was a great success. Lots of people came by to try out our baby pineapple, mangosteen, and lychee flavors.

Our next demo is next Wednesday, June 16, 2010 in Century City at Mikey Fine Pharmacy store at 2029 Century Park West from 11A to 2P come by and say hello and taste all our great flavors.

Megafruit Food Demo Vicente Foods Brentwood

2010-06-04T06:52:00.000-07:00

Megafruit will be doing a food demonstration at Vincente Foods in Brentwood on Monday, June 7, 2010 from 10A to 1P. Come taste our 3 fabulous flavors. Vincente Foods is located at 12027 San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90049.

Megafruit in Whole Life Times Magazine August 2010 issue

2010-06-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

Megafruit will be featured in the "Urban Essentials" section in Whole Life Times Magazine in the August 2010 issue. Whole Life Times Magazine can be found at Whole Food Stores as well as on news stands nationally

How to Make Pineapple Ice Cream

2010-06-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's summer and we are all thinking about hot weather, beaches, sandals, ice cream, and vacations. During summer I always like making my own ice cream at home because I know exactly what ingredients are in the ice cream. Recently, I discovered how to make ice cream at home with my new super Ninja prep mixer from QVC.com. It was so easy that I will never use my ice cream maker again.

Here is my recipe for Pineapple Ice Cream with this great new mixer.

(This recipe can be adjusted based on taste).

3 cups of fresh pineapple
2 cups of pineapple juice
4 to 5 cups of ice
2 to 3 cups of milk or cream

Put all ingredients in your mixer and let it go until it all mixes together. You can serve it as a soft serve right out of the mixer or put it in the freezer for a few hours so it gets to an ice cream consistency. It is a quick and easy recipe that you will enjoy all summer.

Add some baby pineapple Megafruit as a topping to make it extra delicious.

How to Find Happiness

2010-06-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

There have been many books written about happiness and how to find happiness in your life. Most of them always lead back to a few basic principals. It seems if you follow these principals happiness is very simple to achieve. Having tried some of these methods and found that they did work, I thought I would share some of them.

In order for people to achieve happiness some of our basic needs must be met. Having enough food, shelter, and health already brings happiness to most people in the world. In the US with our consumer culture and higher standard of living, happiness is a little harder to attain.

Here are a few tips that have worked for me:

1.) Keep a gratitude journal and record everything you are grateful for every night before bed.
2.) Live in the present. Enjoy the moments in your life whether they are spent working, eating, or playing with your kids. Live in those moments and don't let your mind wander to another place.
3.) Forgive yourself and your loved ones. There is no need to hold on to old mistakes or grievances. Life is too short. If an event has passed and you feel that you or your loved one has learned from their mistakes, let the past stay in the past.
4.) Decide to be happy. Sometimes just waking up and telling yourself you are going to have a good day is all you need to do. If you wake up dreading the commute to work, you work day and the weather, you have already lost the battle for happiness that day. Instead, tell yourself today is going to be a great day and go with that positive thought.
5.) Work on being good at something. Life can become stale and mundane if we don't strive for something. Even someone who has everything gets bored with life if they have nothing to challenge them. It can be as simple as mastering a souffle recipe, your tennis game, ballroom dancing to trying to become the best at what you do in your profession. Life is more interesting if you challenge yourself.
6.) Work out and live a healthy lifestyle. Do you notice how good you feel after a good run or workout or when you eat a nice healthy meal of unprocessed fresh foods? Just eating whole foods daily and getting some daily exercise will help your body function properly and relieve stress in your daily life. With a healthy body, you are properly equipped to face all the challenges you face daily. Health is something a lot of young people take for granted. As we get older, bodies start to ache and organs start to show strain. If we take care of our bodies, our bodies will take care of us. Good health allows us to have the freedom to do more of the things we love in life. Without health, happiness is more difficult to achieve.
7.) Help others when you are able. When we help people who need help, we actually feel good about it. The feeling of being able to help others gives us a sense of pride because most of us like to feel that we have something valuable to offer another person. Spend time reading to someone at a Senior Citizens home. Work at a local food bank once in a while. Donate clothes, toys, and furniture to local charities. Whatever you can do for another person will actually give you happiness in return.
8.) Love yourself for who you are. Learn to just accept yourself. Don't spend every day looking in the mirror and telling yourself that you are too fat, too thin, too short, or have too many blemishes on your face. Instead look at yourself and think about all your positive traits. Are you a good daughter? Do you make great meals? Are you taller than average? Are you super creative with crafts? Can you fly a kite better than most people? Give yourself credit for all the things that you are good at. Think about why your husband, wife, mother, father, children, or friends love you. See yourself through their eyes and believe it.

Work on a few of these ideas every few weeks. Eventually you will realize how lucky you are in your life. Don't spend your time beating yourself up. Be happy.

An Apple A Day reviews Megafruit

2010-06-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Article by An Apple a Day Blog reviewing Megafruit:

Megafruit

June 1, 2010 in Product Reviews | Leave a comment

Megafruit offers superfruits in dried form.

Their products includ Lychee, Mangosteen, and Baby Pineapple.

Lychee:

Health benefits have been touted in South East Asia for centuries
Has been claimed to be the fruit the Tang Dynasty Emperor used to woo his loved one, making it a fruit synonymous with love and romance.
Contains 15% more polyphenols than the equivalent amount of grapes. Polyphenols are antioxidants found in other sources such as wine that have been linked to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer
Just 9 lychees or a handful of the fruit meets an adult’s recommended daily requirement of Vitamin C (Contains 72mg per 100 grams)
Low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium
Rich in dietary fiber
Good source of other minerals such as copper – for production of red blood cells; potassium – to control heart rate and blood pressure and B- Vitamins – to metabolize carbohydrates, fats and proteins
Contains flavonoids which have proven to be effective against the growth of cancer cells
Due to all its health benefits and history, we believe after one taste you too will LIVE JOYFUL

This one was my favorite. I loved the chew texture. Although it’s called dried fruit snack, it was flavorful and moist. I loved it!

Mangosteen:

Called the queen of fruits
Has been called the most delicious fruit in the world
Rarely available in the US market due to the delicate environment it needs to grow in
High Level of Xanthones – considered to be the most powerful of all antioxidants with benefits researched to cover:
- Improved cardiovascular health
- Natural antibiotic
- Antiviral
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti- aging
Due to its high levels of antioxidants, it will assist in reducing free radicals and allowing you to LIVE FREE

Overall Review: Their products have exceptional nutrient and antioxidant qualities. Not only are they tasty but healthy too. It would be a bonus if their products were organic. But, they do not include any preservatives or weird ingredients. Their products’ benefits are not as well known in the United States yet. It’ll be OUR jobs to make them known! SPREADING health to everyone ))

Indianapolis 500 Race and Lemonade Popsicles

2010-05-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

A Memorial Day treat for the kids:

Today is one of those perfect California days. The weather has been touch and go for a few weeks with rain and 60 degree weather, but as we approach Memorial Day, summer seems to be arriving. While you are watching the Indianapolis 500 Race today, a great activity for your kids could be making some fresh homemade lemonade and popsicles so they can go outside and play and have a cool treat while you are inside watching the race.

Here is our recipe for Raspberry Lemonade and Lemonade Popsicles:

7 medium lemons
simple syrup
1 pint of raspberries

Juice the 7 lemons and put the juice in a pitcher.
Make simple syrup by using 1 cup of sugar and adding 2 cups of water and boiling it until it becomes a thick sugar syrup.
Take a pint of raspberries and crush into the lemon juice and add the simple syrup.
Add water until the pitcher is 3/4 full and add some ice to cool the lemonade.

The lemonade will turn a pinkish color. Serve in glasses with garnish of mint and small wedges of lemon or raspberries.

For the lemonade popsicles, simple pour some lemonade into ice trays and freeze or into some lemonade molds. We used these rocket lemonade molds we bought in Sonoma a few years ago.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone.

50 Cent Weight Loss Photos and his diet plan

2010-05-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

Rapper 50 Cent revealed on his website today photos of his new look after he lost 54 pounds in a 9 week liquid crash diet. His photos are shocking compared to his normally healthy muscular build. He explains that he lost the weight to play an NFL Football player dying of cancer in his next movie role. He is under the supervision of his trainer to make sure his diet is still nutritionally sound.

There have been lots of talk about liquid diets lately. Liquid diets have been around for a long time. Some people do liquid cleanse diets and others do liquid protein shake diets. Many of these diets are very effective for losing weight, however they tend to only serve as a temporary weight loss for most people. Because liquid diets are usually very low in calories, people pack the pounds back on as soon as they start eating their meals of protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates again.

Although many celebrities have been known to do their yearly or monthly liquid cleanse diets to lose a few pounds, this type of diet is not recommended for most people. During the period when you are drastically reducing your calorie intake through these liquid diets your body and organs are put under a lot of stress. Liquid diets do not tend to have all the nutrients your body needs to be healthy. When your body does not get all the nutrients it needs from these liquid diets hair can start thinning, heart damage can occur, fatigue can set in.

Most people who want to lose weight are usually recommended a diet and exercise plan with a lower calorie balanced menu. When dieters lost weight gradually through the practice of eating smaller portions and incorporating exercise in their daily routine, the weight came off and stayed off.

To keep weight off after a diet, a healthy eating plan and regular exercise program has to be a part of your daily routine. Otherwise, weight that is loss will eventually return.

Dancing With The Stars Exercise or Not ?

2010-05-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Did you watch the Dancing with the Stars Season Finale last night? Wasn't it obvious that Nicole Scherzinger was going to win the competition with Derek Hough? She was a trained dancer and professional singer, so she has had much more practice time than any one of the other contestants. She deserved to win, she was the best dancer in this competition.

Since summer is quickly approaching, have you been trying to get in shape for bikini and swim suit weather? Are you tired of your gym routine? Do you want to do something more interesting? While watching Dancing with the Stars this season I noticed that the competitors were getting more and more fit as the weeks went on. I always knew that dancing was hard work, but I had no idea it was such an amazing sculpting and toning exercise. While dancing every muscle group is engaged when you hold poses and move around. Also, your ab muscles and core are usually engaged and your legs and arms are constantly moving. It is a very physical exercise.

In the last few years, my parents started taking Arthur Murray dance classes and started competing in dance competitions. Not only are they happy when they are dancing because it is such a social activity, my mom has lost a lot of weight as well. Dancing has become a great fun activity as well as exercise for my parents.

Many people may think that ballroom dancing and ballet is not for them so they don't try dancing as a form of exercise. However, there are so many different dance classes out there, you can definitely find one that could work for your lifestyle and taste. For example, there are dance classes offered in the modern dance style, jazz, tap, hip hop, and many other varieties. The great thing about dance is that it is a pretty inexpensive activity and classes can be found everywhere from your local gym, the YMCA, to a professional dance studio.

Try something new for the summer. Dance!

Polyvore Megafruit Giveaway Contest

2010-05-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a brand new contest for our Megafruit Twitter and Facebook Followers. Go to http://www.polyvore.com/ and create your own set and include your favorite flavor of Megafruit from Amazon.com. We will pick the best set and reward the winner with a $50 Amex Gift Card. Contest ends June 24, 2010.

Create your Polyvore set with Megafruit and leave a comment on this post with the link to your set. Have fun. Here is a set we created.

Curry Butternut Squash Apple Soup Recipe for Summer

2010-05-24T11:01:00.001-07:00

Summer is the time of year when we think about eating healthier and exercising more to get ready for the beach and vacations. There are ways to eat healthier while taking advantage of the summer vegetables that are available at markets and farmers markets during this time of year. Soup is an easy way to get lots of healthy nutrients and to fill up while not consuming too many calories. Soups are great to eat as a snack or as a light dinner when you just don't want to eat very much. Soups can be made in large batches and frozen in small containers to be reheated when you want a quick meal. Put your soup into little cups to make it look fun and festive.

Here is a recipe I got from my mother in law recently that is tasty and easy to make:

4 Tbls unsalted butter
2 cups chopped yellow onions
4 Tbls curry powder
2 medium butternut squash - 3 pounds
2 apples - peeled, cored, and chopped
1 shredded granny smith apple for garnish on top of soup
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup apple sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1.) Melt butter, add onions and curry. Cook over low heat until onions are opaque.
2.) Peel squash, scrape seeds and chop.
3.) Pour stock into pan of onions. Add squash and apples. Boil, then simmer covered until squash and apples are very tender. (25 minutes)
4.) Food process until smooth
5.) Add apple juice.
6.) Season to taste.

(Photo credit: Anson Smart for Country Living Magazine.)

Lance Armstrong food for training

2010-05-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

What does a champion cyclist like Lance Armstrong eat to stay in shape and get an optimum performance? Like a runner, cyclists need to eat foods that give them energy and endurance. They also have to change their foods throughout the training period based on their training schedule.

Lance Armstrong has been training with Chris Carmichael since 1990. Carmichael is a former cyclist who created the Carmichael Training System to help cyclists like Lance Armstrong eat the right foods for their best performance on the bike. The type of program Carmichael developed is called Periodization. "Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are tied together and linked to how you perform," says Carmichael. On top of eating more calories as your training intensifies, the ratio of carbohydrates to fats to proteins in your diet needs to change as well. "If you are training for a half-marathon, for example, you need a greater percentage of carbohydrates in your diet than if you're just running for fitness," he explains. Like Lance Armstrong, when you're at the peak of your training, it's important to increase the percentage of carbs in your diet from about 60 to 70 percent to ensure you're giving your body enough fuel to enhance your workouts.

When looking at this guide - I substituted Megafruit baby pineapple, lychee, and mangosteen in place of the fruits. Megafruit is made up of healthy carbohydrates that are free of sulfites and sugar. It is an all natural alternative to other carbohydrates. Check us out on Amazon.com.

Here is a Periodization For Idiots guide from Chris Carmichael from the Eat Like A Champion article written by Kristen Wolfe Bieler from the August 2004 issue of Runner's World.

How do you apply the principles of periodization to your diet without complex nutrient calculations? Remember that the concept of eating more carbs during your heaviest training is more important than trying to adhere to specific numbers.

But when you're upping the miles, adding just one of these mini meals per day gives you the extra carbs you need to keep running strong.

1 cup vanilla yogurt + 1 cup fresh fruit (60 grams carbs)
Bonus Benefit: provides over 40 percent of your daily calcium needs

1 cup orange juice + 1 banana (52 grams carbs)
Bonus Benefit: packs almost 200 percent of the Daily Value for vitamin C

1 slice banana nut bread + 1 cup skim milk (about 45 grams carbs)
Bonus Benefit: gives you 25 percent of the Daily Value for calcium

1 PowerBar energy bar + 8 oz PowerBar Endurance sports drink (62 grams carbs)
Bonus Benefit: provides plenty of sodium and potassium to keep you well hydrated

Smoothie of 2 cups skim or soy milk + 1 1/2 cups strawberries + 2 Tbsp soy
protein (about 50 grams carbs)
Bonus Benefit: contributes about 5 grams of fiber

1 1/2 cups multigrain cereal + 1 1/2 cups skim milk (54 grams carbs)
Bonus Benefit: contains over 100 percent of the Daily Value for iron

1 bagel + 1 banana + 1 Tbsp nut butter (about 75 grams carbs)
Bonus Benefit: provides 12 grams of protein

Fashionindie Suggests Eating Megafruit to Power Up for Next Sample Sale

2010-05-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

Fashionindie.com suggested that their readers should get some Megafruit to power up for their next sample sale. Good idea. Megafruit Mangosteen, Lychee, and Baby Pineapple flavors are full of good carbohydrates, fiber, and antioxidants. Everything you need to have the energy to exercise, go to a sample sale, for the kids on the way to their soccer game after school, or while sitting at your office working all day.

We are available now at Amazon.com.

New giveaway info:

Be the first 50 to purchase our product on Amazon and leave a review and you will automatically be entered into our Megafruit gift pack giveaway that includes a $50 Amex gift card. 2 winners will get this prize.

Megafruit Mangosteen sold on Amazon

2010-05-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Megafruit dried superfruits in the flavors of Mangosteen, baby pineapple, and lychee are now available for purchase at www.Amazon.com.

New contest for all of our Facebook and Twitter followers.

First 50 reviews for each product is entered in a contest for a $50 Amex Card. Proof of purchase and review write up is required to be eligible.

Our products are also available at our newest retail outlet:

Vicente Foods location:
12027 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
310-472-4227

Healthy benefits of Kambucha ?

2010-05-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

Kambucha is a fizzy fermented tea that contains several organic acids, active enzymes, amino acids and polyphenols. Kambucha was first discovered in 19th Century Russia and later became popular in Japan and China. The tea was known during the Qin Dynasty as "a beverage with magical powers enabling people to live forever".^{[2]

Kambucha has become a very popular drink recently because of the whole health movement that the world has started to embrace again since its decrease after the 1970's. People are really trying to take care of their health and seek out natural remedies to help some of their health problems without relying on pharmaceutical drugs.

Kambucha tastes like a fermented tea with a hint of beer flavor. The benefits some believe Kambucha has included helping people with GI issues alleviate some of their symptoms such as heartburn and acid reflux. Some people believe that Kambucha can aid in digestion. Others believe Kambucha gives them more energy. If you have any of these concerns, check it out for yourself at a local market near you.

Most recently, Kambucha started becoming available in supermarket chains and come in a variety of different flavors. Celebrities like Orlando Bloom have been spotted with the Kambucha drink in that green flavor. There are citrus and fruit flavors available as well.

Here are some scientific claims according to Wikipedia:}

Health claims for kombucha focus on a chemical called glucuronic acetate, a compound that is used by the liver for detoxification. The idea that glucuronic acid is present in kombucha is only based on the observation that glucuronic acid conjugates (glucuronic acid + waste chemicals) are increased in the urine after consumption of kombucha.

Early chemical analysis of kombucha brew suggested that glucuronic acid was the key component, and researchers hypothesized that the extra glucuronic acid would assist the liver by supplying more of the substance during detoxification. These analyses were done using gas chromatography to identify the different chemical constituents, but this method relies on having proper chemical standards to match to the unknown chemicals.

A more recent and thorough analysis, outlined in the book in Analysis of Kombucha Ferments^[17] suggests a different explanation. Roussin reports on an extensive chemical analysis of a variety of commercial and homebrew versions of kombucha, and finds no evidence of glucuronic acid at all. These scientific measurements contradict the earlier studies and conflict with the original hypothesis. by Michael Roussin

Instead, Roussin discovered that the active component in kombucha is most likely glucaric acid. This compound, also known as D - glucaro -1,4 lactone, helps in the elimination of glucuronic acid conjugates that are produced by the liver. When glucuronic acid conjugates are disposed in the bowel during the elimination process, normal gut bacteria can break up these conjugates using an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase. Glucaric acid is an inhibitor of this bacterial enzyme, so the end result is that the glucuronic acid + waste is properly eliminated the first time, rather than being reabsorbed and detoxified over and over. Thus, glucaric acid probably makes the liver more efficient.

Glucaric acid is commonly found in fruits and vegetables, and is being explored independently as a cancer preventive agent.^[18] It has also been discovered that the bacterial beta-glucuronidase enzyme can interfere with proper disposal of a chemotherapeutic agent, and that antibiotics against the gut microbiota can prevent toxicity of some chemotherapy drugs.^[19]

Reports of adverse reactions may be related to unsanitary fermentation conditions, leaching of compounds from the fermentation vessels,^[20] or "sickly" kombucha cultures that cannot acidify the brew. Cleanliness is important during preparation, and in most cases, the acidity of the fermented drink prevents growth of unwanted contaminants. If a culture becomes contaminated, it will most likely be seen as common mold which is often green, blue or black in color. Often novice brewers will mistake the brownish root filaments on the underside of the culture as a mold contamination when it is seen through the surface of a thinly formed culture.

Healthy Laps reviews Megafruit dried fruits

2010-05-17T12:50:00.001-07:00

Healthy Laps reviews Megafruit products:

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Jen

A few weeks ago, Megafruit sent me samples of their three delicious types of dried fruit: Baby Pineapple, Mangosteen and Lychee.

As you know, I absolutely love dried fruit, especially (and normally only) dried fruit without added sugar so I was psyched to be able to sample these 3 fruits that I had not tried before. I love dried fruit as a snack, as fuel during long runs or bike rides and as dessert. It is easy to take with you on road trips and vacation as well.

According to their website, Megafruit is the new superfruit! These 3 fruits offer an incredible list of vitamins and nutrients and are dried without any preservatives or added sugars. I ate all of the fruit while I was on the go, just by itself.

Let’s get to the fruit!

First, I tried the Baby Pineapple. (my camera liked it so much, that it ate the picture!!)

I never even knew that baby pineapples existed. How cute are they?!

(Source)

I love unsweetened dried pineapple, so I knew that I would love this as well. I was right! Compared to the normal dried pineapple that I am used to eating, the baby pineapple was smaller.

(Source)

It is also a little bit sweeter and more tender, but tastes just like mouth-watering fresh pineapple. The pineapple was sweet, but not too sweet. It was a real sweet, not a fake sugary sweet. This was by far my favorite of the 3!

Megafruit’s website gives the following information about the pineapple -

Contains a myriad of beneficial minerals including:

Micronutrients may protect against cancer and break up blood clots
Bromelins that may block reduces swelling related to arthritis, sore throat, sinusitis
Manganese, aiding the healthy growth of tissue and bones
Fiber that will help in digestion and stimulate kidneys and aid in flushing toxins from the body, helping you to LIVE LIGHT

Next up, I tried the Lychee.

I have only had lychee a few times, and mainly in a martini, so I didn’t know too much about them. They were originally grown in Southern China, but they have now spread to some US states, such as Hawaii and Florida.

(Source)

You eat the inside part of the Lychee. The white part is sweet and juicy.

(Source)

When I dug into the dried lychee, I was expecting something sweet. Boy, was this sweet! Delicious, but super sweet (and again…it was a real sweet, not a sugary sweet). It doesn’t really taste like anything else that I have had. Lychee’s have a very unique flavor.

(Source)

I would buy this again in a second! It wasn’t a dried fruit that I could eat a whole bag of at once, but a few pieces mixed into some trail mix or with other dried fruit was perfect.

From the Megafruit website:

Just 9 lychees or a handful of the fruit meets an adult’s recommended daily requirement of Vitamin C (Contains 72mg per 100 grams)
Low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium
Rich in dietary fiber
Good source of other minerals such as copper – for production of red blood cells; potassium – to control heart rate and blood pressure and B- Vitamins – to metabolize carbohydrates, fats and proteins
Contains flavonoids which have proven to be effective against the growth of cancer cells

Lastly, the Mangosteen.

I had no idea what to expect from the Mangosteen. I had never even heard of it before, so therefore had never tried it. Apparently mangosteen is not related to a mango. It is known as the world’s best tasting fruit. They are grown in warm climates in Thailand and the surrounding areas, as well as in the Caribbean. The mangosteen is a round, purple fruit slightly smaller than a tennis ball. To eat it, you can crush the brittle yet moist rind with your palms to reveal the pure-white delicacy inside. The bitter rind is inedible, and the fruit comes in the form of variously sized wedged segments, the largest of which may hold a solitary seed. (source)

(Source)

I have never had a fresh mangosteen, but I have heard that the taste is nothing like you have tasted before. Sweet, but tart at the same time. The dried fruit was no different. At first, I was not sure that I liked it. I was not sure what it tasted like at all. But, after a few pieces, it grew on me. The tartness hits first, but then it finishes with a sweetness mixed with a smokiness. The smokiness seems to linger into the aftertaste.

I really enjoyed being able to try the dried mangosteen, but now it just makes me want to try the fresh fruit so much more! I think a trip to Thailand or Costa Rica needs to be in my future.

From the Megafruit website:

Called the queen of fruits
Has been called the most delicious fruit in the world
Rarely available in the US market due to the delicate environment it needs to grow in
High Level of Xanthones – considered to be the most powerful of all antioxidants with benefits researched to cover:
- Improved cardiovascular health
- Natural antibiotic
- Antiviral
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti- aging

Thank you so much, Megafruit for letting me try these three delicious megafruits!

Megafruit at Vicente Foods in Brentwood

2010-05-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

We are very happy to announce that Vicente Foods on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood Southern California is now carrying all 3 flavors of our Megafruit dried fruit products. These products contain no sulfites and no sugar. Our packages are recyclable.

Vicente Foods location:
12027 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
310-472-4227

Come check out Mangosteen, Lychee, and Baby Pineapple for after school snacks for your kids or a afternoon snack for yourself in the office.

Come see us on June 7th, 2010 from 10A to 2P for our in store demo. Come ask questions and taste the flavors. Ask us about ORAC and other nutrition information. Find out why Dr. Oz said Mangosteen is 1 of 5 must eat superfoods for 2010. We want to meet you. If you have a blog, come do a review of our products.

Email us at info@megafruitventures.com and let us know what you think. All products will be available online at Amazon next week.

Lychee Mango Coconut Panna Cotta recipe from Cinnamon

2010-05-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming and everyone is thinking about nautical stripes, shorts, and flip flops already. What I love most about summer is the way we can eat lighter because there is so much fresh vegetables and fruits available to use in soups, salads, and everything else.

I found this recipe online by a blogger named Cinnamon from India and I wanted to share her recipe with you because it is just that good. I love panna cotta, mangoes and coconuts. When I found this recipe online and saw that it also included the lovely lychee fruit, it was love at first bite. Try this recipe for yourself. It is pretty easy to follow.

Let us know your favorite recipes for summer. Email them to Info@megafruitventures.com. We will post 4 of them on our blog one a week and you can vote on your favorite recipe of the 4 and we will give a prize to the number 1 favorite. Send us your recipes now.

Here is the recipe from Cinnamon.
This version is a little different, which includes Lychees, Coconut cream and Ginger!!!

Ingredients:
Cream : 200 ml
SemiWhipped cream : 200 ml
Coconut Cream : 100 ml
Sugar : 50 gms
Lychees : 100 gms, pureed
Ginger : 1 tsp, grated
Vanilla essence : few drops
Gelatin : 6 leaves

Method:

Soak Gelatin in cold water to soften and keep aside.
Take cream, coconut cream, sugar, ginger in a heavy saucepan and bring to light simmer, just till boiling for 10 mins.
Remove from heat and add the Lychee puree and vanilla.
Squeeze the excess water out of the gelatin and stir into the hot cream.
Allow the cream to cool completely.
Fold in the semi whipped cream and pour the mixture into moulds.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate till fully set.
Serve with Mango Syrup and chopped lychees... errr... mine was actually Mango puree :)
To serve, carefully pass a knife through the edges of the mould, and place the mould in warm water for few mins and then invert on to the serving plate.

Check out Cinnamon Trail here for other great recipes from India.

Superfruits Company Hires Veteran Food Broker

2010-05-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

Contact: Susana Bub

Tel. 888-881-8119 ext. 2

Cell Phone: 310-500-6388

Email: Susana@megafruitventures.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Superfruits Company Hires Veteran Food Broker

Megafruit^tmVentures Continued Success Prompts Company Growth

Los Angeles, CA, May 5, 2010 — Los Angeles-based Megafruit^tm Ventures, Inc., a health food company dedicated to bringing highly nutritious exotic Superfruits to the US, has appointed Teresa Holman of NorCal Naturally Special Food Broker as Megafruit^tm Ventures’s Key Account Manager focusing on Northern California to bring Superfruits not yet widely known in the US to the American public.

“Teresa Holman was the perfect choice for us. Both Teresa and Megafruit^tm Ventures are committed to bringing new innovative naturally healthy foods to the marketplace. Megafruit^tm Ventures believes that the American public wants great tasting new foods that have lots of health benefits. Teresa understands what health conscious individuals want to see in their markets”, said Sean Kono, CEO, Megafruit^tm Ventures.

Holman brings nearly twenty years of Natural & Grocery Foods experience to the Megafruit^tm Ventures team, most recently managing her own Brokerage company. Prior to that, Holman spent eight years as Senior Business Manager and Director for Natural Specialty Sales (a division of Acosta) in Northern and Southern California markets. She has also worked with Wyman’s Beverage Company (later sold to Naked Juices) as a Sales Manager, and Falcon Trading, where as an Account Manager she managed natural and specialty retail sales and food service in Northern and Southern California. Holman has managed over 75 manufacturers in California that include Kettle, Barbara’s Bakery, White Wave, Horizon, Kashi, Kellogg’s, Cascadian Farms, Muir Glen, Bear Fruit, Liberty Richter Brands, Simply Orange, Ethnic Gourmet and Thai Kitchen.

Teresa Holman will be working on bringing exotic gourmet Superfruits to the marketplace with Megafruit^tm Ventures. One of the products Megafruit^tm Ventures is bringing to the marketplace for the first time ever is dried all natural Mangosteen made with no sugar and no sulfites. Dr. Oz and Dan Buettner author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest wrote about the 5 most important Superfoods we must all begin to eat now. The Queen of Fruits, the Mangosteen was #3 on this list. Mangosteen (Tang YP) has more antioxidants than any other fruit, is rich in vitamins A and C and tastes delicious. Mangosteens contain xanthones (Watanapokasin) which are considered to be the most powerful of all antioxidants. Benefits researched cover improved cardiovascular health, natural antibiotic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging.

Works Cited

Tang YP, Li PG, Kondo M, Ji HP, Kou Y, Ou B. Effect of a mangosteen dietary supplement on human immune function. 12 August 2009. .

About Megafruit^tm Ventures

To learn more, visit http://www.megafruitventures.com

For more information about this topic please call Marketing and Public Relations Director, Susana Bub at 888.881.8119 ext. 2 or email Susana@megafruitventures.com

###

Benefits of Eating Fruit - fresh and dried

2010-05-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

There are so many benefits of eating fruit that we often forget because we are too busy to plan nutrient rich meals for ourselves daily. Fruits are full of vitamins and rich in antioxidants. If we took a little time to plan our meals daily, we would be able to incorporate more fruit in our diets and reap the benefits of eating them.

The benefits of the different types of fruit are varied, however they all contain some benefit to our health.

Here are a list of benefits from eating fruit:

1.) Fruits are high in fiber.
2.)Some fruits are high in antioxidants.
3.) Some fruits like the banana can give us lots of good energy.
4.) Eating more fruit can potentially aid in weight loss because fruits are low in calorie but packed with fiber and water to keep you full longer.
5.) Fruits can help lower cholesterol and high blood pressure. And some fruits help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases as well as cancers.

How can you incorporate more fruit in your diet with your busy lifestyle?
Always have it available wherever you go. Take an apple and put it in your bag when you go out. Keep some dried fruit at your desk at work or in your car for those hungry emergencies when you are stuck in traffic. The key is to have it available so you don't drive to your nearest fast food place to order something because you are starving and don't have these healthy fruits available to you.

You should get 5 servings of fruits a day. Here are ways to make sure they are incorporated in your meals.

At breakfast use fresh fruit or dried fruits in your breakfast cereal or yogurt.
At lunch and dinner put some dried fruit or fresh fruit in your salads.
For a snack between meals, carry an apple or banana in your bag or take a bag of dried fruits with you to work or out for the day.
For dessert add some dried fruit or fresh fruit to your ice cream, yogurt, or just eat plain in a fruit salad.

Take the time to think about how you will use fruit to enhance your diet everyday and soon it will be part of your daily routine.

Summer is coming it will be so easy to eat lots of fruits.

Ways to Make Life More Manageable Less Stressful

2010-05-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

In our modern society where we are wired with cell phone, internet, voicemails and everything else. Life is on high speed. Sometimes life seems like a long "to do" list where nothing is every fully accomplished at the end of the day.

There are some ways you can make your life more manageable so that you can have more time to spend doing the things you want to do instead of running errands or returning phone calls.

1.) Group chores together in geographic areas. Figure out where your grocery store, post office, drug store, and dry cleaning are located and see if you spend way too much time driving from one errand to the next. Try to get all the errands done in one area before going to the next area so you don't double back. OR change some of the locations of your errands so they are closer to your house.

2.) Do the same tasks all at the same time. If you have 3 phone calls to return and 10 emails to return. Do all the phone calls in one block of time and then do the emails in another block of time so you are not switching gears over and over again. Make all photocopies at once for several projects if possible. Cut all vegetables for several days of meals and store them in zip locks so you don't have to cut vegetables every night. Plan your meals by week so when shopping at the grocery store you can buy a week's worth of food at one time.

3.) Schedule your life so that you can prioritize your tasks everyday. If you have something important scheduled at every hour during the work day, you will make sure that those tasks are accomplished before starting something that is not a priority. You must schedule break times, exercise time, and lunch time and stick to those times so that you don't skip those important things in life that keep you in balance. This schedule is just a reminder that anything not on that list is not a "must do" for the day and you can wait until tomorrow to finish that task.

4.) Get help - Get some help for some of the things that you need to have done to help your life run smoothly. If you don't have time to clean your house, hire a cleaning service once a week. Order your groceries online to save time driving to the market, picking out the food, and driving it home again. Order birthday and shower gifts online and have them shipped directly to your gift recipient. This way you don't have to take it to the post office or wrap it. Hire a sitter to help you with your kids when you need a little more time to finish work from home.

5.) Just say no - You can let your phone calls go to voice mail if you don't have the time to sit on the phone with your mom or best friend in the afternoon. Say no to parties where you feel only obligation to attend. Only go to the events that you want to go to. If you are feeling stressed about talking to someone on the phone or attending an event, you will probably not be really good company anyway. If your friend asked you for a favor, but you really cannot do it without a lot of inconvenience to your life, just say "sorry I cannot help you this time."

6.) Everything does not have to be perfect all of the time - Sometimes its ok if things are good enough. Making everything perfect places way too much unnecessary stress on your life. Your house does not have to be a show home every day. Your outfit does not need to look like you stepped out of a magazine every day. The dinner you make does not need to look like a chef from the Food Network made it. Do the best that you can and don't beat yourself up about anything you do that is not perfection.

7.) Know your limits - If you cannot do something or do not want to do something. Don't push yourself. That goes for exercise and over scheduling your work or social life. Do the best you can, but don't make yourself sick trying to work out harder than your body can handle. Don't schedule so many things socially on the weekends that you are stressed doing too many things and not enjoying yourself.

8.) Take time for yourself to nourish your body and soul. Do yoga for your body. Watch television or read a book instead of loading the dishwasher. Go out for a treat like a scoop of ice cream and browse through a bookstore just for fun.

Give Yourself a Break Today

2010-05-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today started off with a few issues in my personal and work life followed by Twitter getting hacked and giving all the accounts 0 followers including Kim Kardashian and Ashton Kutcher who had 3 million followers each. I started to feel panicked and my mind started to race. I could not sit still and started to stress out. Then I stopped the panic and made myself a nice breakfast and sat at the dining table and ate it slowly and mindfully while making sure to enjoy every bite.

What came next is what everyone should do when stress starts to take over and overwhelm your mind and body. I looked around and decided to prioritize what absolutely needed to be done today and made a list of what could be done tomorrow. Then I took a deep breath and closed my eyes and breathed for 10 minutes and meditated. Then I took 10 more minutes to stretch and started to work on my list. An hour later I took a 10 minute break and sat in my garden to look at the sky and the birds. I then returned to my office to continue working for another hour. After an hour, I took another 10 minute break where I scanned the Wall Street Journal and New York Times online. It goes on like this until my work is done for the day.

Google is a work place that has an 80/20 work policy which means they ask their employees to take 20 percent of their work hours during the day to daydream, meditate, go for a walk, workout, or take a nap. The reason they do this is because they know that employees are more creative and productive when they are given time to refresh their minds and relax. Many of their revolutionary business ideas were realized because of their company philosophy. Their employees are very happy in their work environment which benefits Google in return.

Since Google's forward thinking philosophy does not exist in lots of corporate environments. It is important for us to take the time for ourselves when we can to improve our personal and professional lives. Use your lunch hour to take time to relax instead of running around doing errands or working through lunch. If you have time to yourself on the weekends take a walk by yourself. Or go on a hike with your kids or pets to clear your mind of worries. Enjoy every single moment in your life when you are cooking, eating, or spending time with family. Live and savor all the little moments of your life and really allow yourself to enjoy that great cup of coffee when you have 5 or 10 minutes to do nothing. Allow yourself to do nothing. It is important. Your mind and body will pay you back by helping you work through your work challenges and life challenges after it has had a chance to recharge its batteries.

Enjoy the sun today and if it is raining where you are listen to the rain fall. Life is to be experienced. Give yourself a break today.

Is sushi healthy ?

2010-05-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

There was a segment on NBC LA last night titled "Is sushi healthy?" It was quite a catchy title so naturally I stayed up until 11:20PM to watch it. My first thought was "Am I eating way too much sushi? And is it about gaining weight by eating too much sushi?"

The segment was about which types of sushi were healthy to eat and which sushi were not healthy to eat. The main concern was the types of fish that had high mercury levels. In the segment, the discussion was about a study conducted where tuna and other sushi fish were tested from different restaurants and supermarkets in Los Angeles to see which type of sushi had the highest level of mercury. The results showed that larger fish that have been in the water longer tend to have higher levels of mercury and smaller fish that have been in the water for less time had lower levels of mercury. The report showed that big eye tuna and other types of larger tuna had the highest levels of mercury.

There was also an interview with someone who got very sick from eating sushi every single day because he thought eating sushi every day was healthy. When he went to the doctor, he found out that he had very high levels of mercury in his blood. One of his favorite sushi fish that he ate daily was ahi tuna.

The main thing to take away from this story is everything should be eaten in moderation. The man who got mercury poisoning ate sushi every day. Eating sushi 2 or 3 times a week should be ok. Also, eating different types of fish that come in the smaller sizes would also help keep mercury levels down.

Everything in moderation should be the lesson from this story.

Dried Fruit with Persian Rice YUMMY

2010-05-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite Persian dishes is the dried fruit with Persian rice recipe that I always have with the chicken kabobs at Shamshiri in Westwood in Los Angeles. I cannot get enough of it. Today, I decided to go to the market and pick up ingredients for this dish so I could make it at home for dinner. I found a great recipe on Epicurious and I adapted it a little by adding some of Megafruit's baby pineapple. Wow was it a great addition to this traditional dish. The baby pineapple added an extra layer of flavor that was so different from the raisins and cranberries while perfectly complimenting the rice dish. Try it out for yourself sometime. Happy Eating.

Here is my adapted recipe:

I added 1 of the 2 oz. bag of Megafruit baby pineapple to the recipe.

3 cups basmati rice (1 1/4 lb)
4 qt water
3 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup dried apricots (3 1/2 oz), quartered
1/2 cup golden raisins (3 oz)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (2 oz)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup coarsely chopped shelled unsalted pistachios (not dyed red; 2 1/2 oz)

Rinse rice in several changes of cold water in a large bowl until water runs clear. Drain in a large sieve.

Bring water and salt to a boil in a 6-quart heavy pot, then add rice and boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes from time water returns to boil. Drain rice in sieve.

Toss together dried fruit in a bowl. Melt 6 tablespoons butter with cardamom and pepper in cleaned and dried pot, stirring to combine, then alternately layer rice and dried fruit over it, beginning and ending with rice and mounding loosely. Make 5 or 6 holes in rice to bottom of pot with round handle of a wooden spoon, then cover pot with a kitchen towel and a heavy lid. Fold edges of towel up over lid (to keep towel from burning) and cook rice over moderately low heat, undisturbed, until tender and a crust forms on bottom, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from heat and let rice stand, tightly covered and undisturbed, at least 30 minutes.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small skillet over moderate heat and cook pistachios, stirring, until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

Spoon loose rice onto a platter, then break crust into 1-inch pieces and scatter over rice. Sprinkle with pistachios.

Cooks' notes: • Rice can be parboiled and drained 4 hours ahead and transferred to a bowl. Keep, covered with a dampened kitchen towel, at room temperature. • Rice can stand off heat up to 1 hour. • If you're short on time, you can skip letting the rice stand after cooking: Spoon loose rice onto a platter and then dip bottom of pot into a large bowl of cold water for 30 seconds to loosen crust.

photo by: Mikkel Vang - recipe credit www.epicurious.com

Water Earth's Most Valuable Resource

2010-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Water is so important to our everyday life that we must be conscious of how we use it or we could run out one day. Think about how you use water daily: Showering, washing clothing and dishes, for hydration, cooking, energy production. When there is no water for more than 12 hours of the day because of something like a water main break, people are usually very unhappy for the inconvenience.

The United States is so used to have clean drinking water that comes out of the taps that we take for granted that clean drinking water is an infinite resource. If you saw the footage of Haiti this last few months, you probably saw that the Haitians do not have clean drinking water readily available to them. Water is not readily potable and available in many countries and there are many countries that are really in dire need of water. Recently, I read an article about water and how we as a society could go greener and become less wasteful of our most important natural resource. Think about how you can help your planet.

See the article below.

Water Water Everywhere Much of It Going to Waste in The Progress Report

by Peter H. Gleick

Your mother was right: Waste not, want not. The largest, least expensive and most environmentally sound source of water to meet California's future needs isn't "new" water at all, but the water being wasted in every sector of our economy. So concludes a new report, three years in the making, published this week by the Pacific Institute of Oakland.

What this means for California is simple: We can meet the needs of a growing population and economy, and still have water left over to protect our state's natural beauty without expensive and environmentally destructive dams or reservoirs, by improving how efficiently we use water.

The good news is these improvements are well within our reach. We can save a huge amount of water with currently available technologies and policies, smarter pricing and economics, appropriate state and local regulations and public education.

Another bit of good news: Water conservation does not mean brown lawns, short showers or cutbacks in the state's economy. With today's technology we can do all the things we want to do, but with less water, by improving efficiency and reducing waste.

While this new report focused on urban water use, farmers can also conserve vast quantities of water while maintaining a strong agricultural economy through improved irrigation practices and continuing the trend toward less water-intensive crops.

Saving water also saves energy and money for water providers, consumers, and the state as a whole -- two other resources in short supply. Our best estimate is that one-third of California's urban water use -- more than 2.3 million acre-feet -- can be saved with existing technology. At least 85 percent of that water can be saved at less than what it would cost to tap into new sources without the many social, environmental and economic consequences that any major water project would bring.

How is this possible? Aren't we already conserving water? Indeed, California often leads much of the rest of the country in innovative water conservation efforts. Los Angeles has added 700,000 people in the past two decades, yet it has not increased its water demand because of efforts to improve efficiency. In 1975, California's economy produced around $30 in goods and services for every thousand gallons of water used; by 2000, this had tripled to $90 per thousand gallons. Yet, during this same period, total statewide water use decreased, despite the fact that our population grew from 21.5 million to more than 34 million. This is an astounding accomplishment.

Yet far more can be done. To give a mundane, yet telling example: the largest single user of water inside our homes is the toilet. Old toilets use six gallons every time we flush. New ones use only 1.6 gallons per flush, a 70 percent savings. While many old toilets have been replaced, it turns out that millions of inefficient ones remain.

If all those old toilets were replaced, the state would save another 420,000 acre-feet of high-quality water that now goes down the drain, and consumers will save money at the same time.

Forget those old jokes about having to flush twice -- the current generation of efficient toilets does a better job than that old one still in your home. The amount of water being wasted by inefficient toilets is greater than any new dam could hope to supply, even if we could find a place to build one that was environmentally, economically and politically acceptable (which we can't).

Another "reservoir" of potential savings is replacing inefficient washing machines in our homes, which could save more than 100,000 acre-feet of water, reduce energy and detergent use -- as well as save consumers money. Outdoor water use can also be made far more efficient with simple changes such as adding irrigation timers or using computer-controlled sprinklers that automatically respond to changing weather conditions. Similar examples of efficiency improvements can be found in every sector of our economy: New digital x-ray machines in hospitals, for instance, provide better images for doctors and replace the old water-intensive film process.

Capturing all of the water we now waste will require new commitments on the part of individuals, government agencies, public-interest groups and others with vested, often conflicting interests in California's water policy. Some of these efforts will be easy; some will be hard. But becoming more efficient is faster, cheaper and better for the environment than building more mega water projects.

There is one last benefit of not wasting water: Your mother would approve.

Peter Gleick, a 2003 MacArthur Fellow, is president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland.

Here is the link to the site:

http://www.progress.org/2003/water22.htm

Dairy alternative is Coconut Milk ?

2010-05-03T12:33:00.001-07:00

I have loved coconut my whole life. I love coconut sorbet, coconut water, coconut ice cream, coconut cakes. You name it. If it has coconuts, I will buy it whether it is a food or a lotion. Recently, there have been lots of studies touting the great benefits of coconut milk and oil products. I am so happy to finally see that coconut is getting the credit it deserves.

The coconut as a food source to Southeast Asian countries and Polynesian islands have been used for centuries. People living in these areas use coconut in their curries, as condiments, and as oils to cook and use as a type of sunscreen because it blocks excessive exposure to the sun without blocking the UV Rays that are necessary for Vitamin D synthesis on the skin.

Another benefit of the coconut is the Medium Chain Fatty Acids that this fruit provides. Most of our diet does not consist of Medium Chain Fatty Acids. This type of fatty acid digests more easily, and is used by the liver to produce energy and as a source of fuel.

One other remarkable benefit of the coconut is its ability to transform into monoglycerides which kills viruses and bacteria once ingested. Medium Chain Fatty Acids found in coconut oils and milk also improve intestinal health by creating more friendly bacteria.

All these benefits from coconut milk and oils makes this a fruit worth trying if you have never been a fan in the past. The So Delicious company makes a large array of products that are made with coconut. You can have coconut sorbet, coconut milk with breakfast, use coconut oil to cook or eat coconut yogurt. With all these ways to get coconut's benefits into your diet. It should be easy to incorporate it into your life.

Healthy snack cheese crackers recipe

2010-04-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder what is in those cheese crackers you give your child? Sometimes reading the back of the boxes on snack crackers will scare you. My daughter loves the little cheesy crackers, but I did not love the artificial flavorings or ingredients. Recently, I decided to embark on a search for a more natural recipe to make my own cheese crackers for snack time. I got a great recipe from a friend and thought I would share it with you. It has quite a bit of butter but you can substitute a vegetable oil type butter if you like to make it healthier. The good news is all the ingredients are non processed and all natural.

Recipe:

Homemade Cheese Crackers

1 stick butter or smart one vegetable oil butter substitute sticks

2 cups grated sharp chedder cheese

1 cup whole wheat white flour

1 tsp salt

optional: when making for adults

Tobasco or red pepper to taste

Melt butter in microwave until liquid

Mix butter and grated cheese together

Sift in flour and salt and mix all together

Divide mixture into 2 balls, then work each ball into a long log roll about
1 inch in diameter

Wrap in wax paper and chill for 3 hours

Slice very thin

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes

See photo of finished product. I added a little truffle oil to give it an extra special taste. My 5 year old loves these and takes them for snack to school for recess.

Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

2010-04-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

I got this simple gluten free flourless chocolate cake recipe from a friend recently and tried it out last night. It was easy and delicious. Great option for your gluten free family members. Make it for mom for Mother's Day.

Here is the recipe:

4 0z of semi sweet chocolate
1/2 cup of butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3/4 cup of white sugar or agave or Stevia
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute and stir together and return to microwave for 1 more minute until everything is liquid. Mix together and put in a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together.

Pour into an 8 inch cake round and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool.

Serve with strawberries and vanilla ice cream. Put a little confectioners sugar on top of the cake to make it look pretty.

Mother's Day Gift Ideas 2010

2010-04-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is just around the corner. Have you figured out what to get mom for Mother's Day yet? If your mom is anything like mine it may be pretty hard to narrow down what she would actually use if you got it for her as a gift for Mother's Day.

Every year I buy my mom a practical cashmere sweater in a neutral color and she ends up wearing it throughout the year. A few years ago I tried to get her something fun like a waffle maker and it ended up sitting in her kitchen cupboard inside its box unopened. One year I decided to buy her a gift card to her favorite restaurant and she did use it 6 months later to go out with my dad for dinner.

No matter what you buy her remember it is the thought that counts. Do not get frustrated and wait until the last minute and buy her something random from a store near your work because you know you are seeing her on Mother's Day. Plan ahead.

Here are some suggestions I have for Mother's Day:

1.) A gift card to her favorite restaurant near her home.
2.) Cashmere sweater in a neutral color that you know she will wear.
3.) Flowers from a florist you have used before so you know their work.
4.) Take her out to brunch if she lives near you and get her flowers.
5.) Get her a new bag in a pretty spring color.
6.) Send her a fresh fruit basket.
7.) Take her shopping and let her pick something she likes from the store.
8.) Get her dance lessons or tennis lessons.
9.) Book a massage and facial for her.

Don't forget that Mother's Day is not just about your own mother it is also about the mother of your children if you have any. So if you have little ones, help them do something nice for mom on Mother's Day. All moms need to feel appreciated on Mother's Day. They do so much for all of us.

VegNews Magazine Blogs Megafruit

2010-04-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

Check out VegNews Magazine's blog mention of Megafruit.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Nice and Easy

The Date: Tuesday, April 13
The Delivery: A new cookbook and some dried Megafruit
Staff Pick: Easy Vegan by Vatcharin Bhumichitr

The DL: This new book, chock full of vegan recipes, also is packed with a ton of full-color photos, which make the recipes seem highly mouthwatering. We want to get to cooking!

Enjoying the moments in your life

2010-04-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

Do you ever think to yourself "I am really enjoying this moment of sitting on the grass and staring up at the sky while sipping my green tea soy latte on a warm sunny day." If you do, that is great. Most people do not take that time for themselves to enjoy the moments in their lives. They are way too busy rushing around from one task to the next and always planning their next move for the day. It is important to make plans for your life financially and otherwise, but it is also very important to enjoy each day as it passes.

The other day I looked at my 5 year old daughter for the first time and thought "wow where did the time go?" My daughter is now 5 years old and she can walk, talk, read, swim, play tennis, and play on her own. She is growing every day and eventually will be going off to high school and college. Everyone kept telling me the time goes so fast. When she was first born, the many sleepless nights seemed to last an eternity. Since then, the terrible twos were not so terrible, and the threes and fours were just pure fun.

At times I was too worried about the cleanliness of my carpet and the neatness of my living room to really get down to her level and have a lot of fun. I regret that time lost and today cherish every moment I have with her. I take in every laugh, every funny thing she says, and all her hugs. I am enjoying those moments because I know that each moment goes by and then it is gone.

For those of you who have lots of worries, it is even more important to just take a little time for yourself during the day. Take 20 minutes to meditate or stretch. Give yourself a small gift of a cup of tea in the afternoon to relax. Sometimes that extra few minutes for yourself will help you through a hard time.

Earth Day Reduce Reuse Recycle

2010-04-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day ! The words to adopt for today are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

How can we start living more eco friendly greener lives to reduce our eco-footprint?

There are many ways we can start living greener immediately and start saving in our wallets too.

1.) Reduce the amount of trash you throw away each week. Buy things that do not have as much plastic and cardboard box wrappings.
2.) When packing lunch use a reusable container. Do the same with water.
3.) Do not waste energy. Unplug appliances that are not in use. Items plugged into the wall that are not in use still use electricity.
4.) Buy recycled items. We have so much surplus in our country that many people use their clothing, bags, and other household items only once or twice before consigning the items to sell or donating to Goodwill. Buy pre owned items as a way to recycle and reuse. It is also less costly and you can find some great items too.
5.) Stop wasting our most precious resources like water. Turn off the water when loading your dishwasher unless you are rinsing the dishes. Shower in less than 5 minutes. Reduce the amount of days you water your lawn.
6.) When buying disposable plates or forks try to buy items made of compostable materials.

There are many ideas for helping protect our earth's natural resources. Start thinking about your eco footprint and how you can make a change to go greener in your life today.

Healthy Egg Breakfast Sandwich Recipe

2010-04-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

All those fast food breakfast sandwich commercials are so tempting in the morning. As I watch the Today Show while getting ready for work and carpool, I always think it would be so easy to just drive through the drive thru and pick up a breakfast sandwich and juice before heading off to work. The truth is these breakfast sandwiches are not that healthy because they have bread that is not whole wheat, no vegetables, and high fat content.

One of my favorite chefs on the Food Network Ellie Krieger did a healthy version of the english muffin egg breakfast sandwich recently. Here is the recipe from the Food Network website so you can start your day off right.

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray
4 eggs and 4 egg whites
1/4 cup minced chives
1/4 cup minced parsley
4 whole-wheat English muffins
4 1/2-inch round slices Canadian bacon
1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices

Directions

Crack eggs and egg whites into a bowl and whisk. Add chives and parsley and stir to incorporate. Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Ladle 1/4 egg mixture into skillet and cook, omelet style, until eggs are cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Slide omelet onto a plate and repeat with remaining eggs; cover with foil to keep warm. In same skillet, heat Canadian bacon until warm, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Toast English muffin. Fold omelet in to fit English muffin, then place omelet on 1 muffin half. Top with a bacon slice, then tomato, then top with other muffin half.

Per Serving

Calories 330; Total Fat 13 g; (Sat Fat 5 g, Mono Fat 3 g, Poly Fat 1 g) ; Protein 25 g; Carb 31 g; Fiber 5 g; Cholesterol 245 mg; Sodium 920 mg

Excellent source of: Protein, Fiber, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Calcium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Selenium

Good source of: Vitamin B6, Folate, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc

Tags: Healthy, Diabetic, High Fiber, Dairy-Free

To see the link. Click here.

How to lose weight without crash dieting

2010-04-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gone on a crash diet to lose weight? Did you lose all the weight and gain it back? Did you fast on liquids all day for a week? Eat cookies for every meal? Only ate protein and no carbs? Only ate vegetables or only ate fruits? How about the Cabbage soup diet? Or the Cayenne Pepper and Lemon Juice diet? Diet protein bars in the morning with a shake for lunch?

I know a lot of people who have tried many of these diets without much success. Initially they lost the weight and put it on again pretty quickly after they stopped the diet. It is not a healthy way to lose weight because it puts your body under all kinds of stress and actually causes your body to hold on to fat because it does not know when it will get food again.

There is no magic to losing weight. It is just about adopting a sensible exercise and meal program for yourself. Some of the diets that teach portion control while using healthy a combination of carbs, proteins, and vegetables at most meals are good ways to learn how to eat and how much to eat at every meal.

To start:

1.) Clean out your pantry of all foods that tempt you and cause you to overeat when it is in the house.
2.) Set a goal of how much you want to lose and why.
3.) Stock your fridge with lots of healthy fruits and vegetables for snacks and meals.
4.) Start eating at home and cooking your meals more often. It is less fattening than eating fast food or out at restaurants.
5.) Get a support system. Ask your family to give you pep talks when you need it or take walks with you to get moving.
6.) Start exercising daily for at least 30 minutes a day. Take a walk, take the stairs and just start moving.
7.) Make sure to eat small meals throughout the day to keep your energy up. Also, this helps you to stay full throughout the day so you don't reach for the junk food.
8.) Plan your meals so you don't run into a last minute eating situation that can cause you to eat unhealthy because you have no time to cook.

Start slowly. Be good to yourself. If you have a bad day of no exercise or bad eating, brush it off and make sure your next meal is a healthy one and that you get exercise the next day. Losing weight should be at a consistent healthy pace. This will get you the best long term results.

Boston Marathon 2010

2010-04-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

The Boston Marathon is today. It is such a revered race for athletes that people from as far off as Kenya go to Boston to run the Boston Marathon. The course is supposed to be quite challenging, but very scenic along the way. What is lovely is the message behind the Boston Marathon. It is all about the history, the tradition, bringing countries together to compete, and general promotion of health.

Check out the map of the course for this year. Hopefully the skies are clear and the weather is warm. You just never know about that New England weather.

For those of you who have thought about running as an exercise. There are just a few things you should do before you get started.

1.) If you have some health concerns, check with your physician before starting a new exercise routine.
2.) Get the right running shoes. Go to a shoe store that knows how to fit athletic shoes and ask to be fitted for a pair of running shoes that will cushion you while running.
3.) Start out slowly. Don't push yourself. Do as much as you can the first few days and build up your speed, time, and mileage.
4.) Make sure you drink lots of water before and after a run.
5.) Eat a slow sugar release food like oatmeal to help sustain your energy during a long run.
6.) Don't run when you are in pain.
7.) Only run if you enjoy it. Otherwise find another exercise that you enjoy.

Any exercise that gets your heart rate up is a good exercise. If you can spend 30 minutes a day doing some physical activity, that is a really good start. Make it fun. Mix it up. Find activities you can do with your loved ones. Incorporate exercise into your schedule like you schedule other activities in your life. This way, you will be sure to do some exercise daily.

Here is to your health.

Tennis anyone ? the weather is nice

2010-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Spring is coming and most of the country is starting to warm up. It is a good time to get out and enjoy the warm weather and get those D vitamins from the sun.

A favorite past time of mine is tennis. I love tennis because it is a social sport that gets me out of the office and into the nice weather. It is a sport that I can play until I am in my 60's or 70's or even 80's without many difficulties physically. My daughter, father, and siblings also love playing tennis. It is a great sport.

Tennis does not have to be the only sport you play. You can play volleyball, basketball, run, swim, ride your bike, or practice Karate. The main thing is that you get out there this spring and summer and do something active and good for your body and soul. The great thing about sports is that it is social. Most of the time you will run into like minded people doing the sport or your friends may want to join you for a game.

In this country, we spend a lot of time working really hard for many long hours of the day. We have to remember to take time out of our working lives and put some enjoyment into our personal lives.

Life needs balance. We are only here for a short time. We need to learn that if we work hard, we need to reward ourselves by playing hard too.

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