Blueberry, raspberry, banana and cashew smoothie

Boosting your intake of antioxidants will help you in numerous ways, from reducing wrinkles to preventing dementia.

Imagine your body's metabolism is a fire.  The fuel for this fire is the food you eat and it is 'burned' to produce energy to power your daily activities.  In addition to producing beneficial heat and light, a fire also produces smoke as a by-product, which is harmful.  In an analogous way, when the body uses food to create energy, it also produces harmful by-products, which are called free radicals.  Free radicals are extremely reactive atoms or molecules which need to bond with other atoms or molecules to make themselves more stable.  These free radicals cause damage to cell membranes and to DNA, which leads to aging and a host of diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, dementia and cancer.  Free radicals can also interfere with your immune system.  The good news is that nature has provided us with antidotes to these free radicals - these are called antioxidants.  Certain vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients act as antioxidants, protecting and repairing cells from damage caused by free radicals.  Regular consumption of a wide range of antioxidants therefore protects your body from disease and aging and supports your immune system, helping you to fight off colds, flu and other infections.  It is much better to consume antioxidants in their natural form in food than it is to take antioxidant supplements, which may even be harmful.  Scientists can measure how powerful a substance is as an antioxidant, or its oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), using a simple laboratory test.

Here is a simple smoothie recipe that is bursting with antioxidant goodness.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (60g, 2oz) cashew nut pieces
1 cup water
75g (3oz) blueberries
75g (3oz) raspberries
1 banana (peeled and chopped)

Instructions

1. Place the cashew nut pieces in a container with 1 cup of water and blend until it becomes a smooth, milky liquid
2. Add the cashew nut 'milk' to the blueberries, raspberries and bananas in a jug and blend until smooth
3. Serve in glasses for breakfast or as a mid-morning snack.  This quantity makes approximately 1 pint or 0.5 litres of smoothie, which is enough for two servings.

Blueberries

Blueberries are an excellent source of flavonoids, especially anthocyanidins, which are responsible for the blue, purple and red pigments.  Anthocyanidins are exceptional antioxidants and have one of the highest ORAC values of all fruits and vegetables.  Blueberries are also a very good source of vitamin C, insoluble fibre and soluble fibre such as pectin.  They also contain manganese, vitamin E and vitamin B2.

Raspberries

Raspberries are an excellent source of fibre, manganese, vitamin C, flavonoids and ellagic acid.  They are a very good source of vitamin B2 as well as other B vitamins such as folic acid, B3, B5 and B6.  Like blueberries, raspberries contain anthocyanidins, which act as powerful antioxidants.

Bananas

Bananas are packed with nutrients, especially potassium.  Potassium is one of the most important electrolytes in the body, helping to regulate heart function as well as fluid balance.  Bananas are very soothing to the digestive tract due to their high content of pectin, a soluble fibre that lowers cholesterol and normalises bowel function.

Cashews

Cashews are a very good source of monounsaturated fats (derived from oleic acid) as well as many minerals, including copper, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc.  They are also a good source of biotin and protein.

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Oat, blueberry, raisin and cashew nut milk breakfast

One of my nutritional heroes is John McDougall.  John is a medical doctor in the US who believes passionately in the power of plant-based diets, not only to prevent but to treat all manner of chronic diseases.

He has been studying, writing and challenging the accepted wisdom on the effects of nutrition on disease and health for over 30 years.  Together with his wife, Mary, he runs ten-day residential programmes in California designed to help people transform their health and well-being by changing their diet and lifestyle.  Many people report recovery from supposedly incurable conditions as a result of following this programme.

Recently I was looking through one of my McDougall cookbooks and noticed a recipe for cashew nut milk. So I decided to use this to make a warming and delicious oat porridge with blueberries and raisins for my breakfast.

Oats have many health benefits (1).  They provide one of the richest sources of the dietary soluble fibre beta-glucan.  They also contain more lipids (5-9%) than other cereal crops and are rich in unsaturated fats, including the essential fatty acid linoleic acid.  Oats also contain unique antioxidants, called avenanthramides, as well as the vitamin E-like compounds, tocotrienols and tocopherols.

The ability of oats to lower total and LDL cholesterol is well-documented, however, they provide cardiovascular benefits that go way beyond their cholesterol-reducing properties.  Accumulating evidence from epidemiological, clinical, and animal studies suggests that fibre sources, including oats, can significantly aid in reducing blood pressure and/or prevent the onset of hypertension.  Katz et al reported that a single serving of oatmeal could oppose the disturbances in endothelial function observed after the consumption of a high fat meal; this may reduce the likelihood of arterial damage and heart disease (2).

Soluble fibre from oats, when incorporated into a low-glycaemic diet, can help to regulate blood glucose and insulin response after eating.  More than 12 published studies report that oats, consumed as oat bran, oatmeal, or isolated beta-glucans, reduce both fasting and postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels (1).

It seems that news of the health benefits of oats is spreading as Quaker have reported a dramatic increase in sales since 2009.

So here is the recipe I followed.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole oat groats
• 6 cups water
• 50g (2oz) cashew nut pieces
• 350ml (1.5 cups, 12 fl oz) water
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 dessert spoon raisins

Method

• Place whole oat groats in a pan with 6 cups water, bring to a boil, turn down the flame as low as it will go and simmer with the lid on for 2 hours until the oats are soft, white and glutinous.  You can do this the night before, cool the cooked oats and store in the fridge.  You can also use ordinary instant porridge oats; use about 30g (4-5 dessert spoons) per person.
• Place the cashew nuts with 350ml water in a blender and process until the liquid appears milky and smooth.  Add the blueberries and raisins and blend.
• If using the cooked oat groats, take about one-third of the amount you have prepared or the quantity you want, add 1 cup of the cashew, blueberry and raisin blend and cook for a few minutes until hot.  Serve with some whole fresh blueberries.  If you are using the instant porridge oats, add the cashew, blueberry and raisin blend in a ratio of 1 part oats to 2 parts liquid and simmer until the oats thicken.  Serve with some fresh blueberries. 

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References

(1) http://roscomoss.com/pdf/HealthBenefitsofOats.pdf

(2) http://www.jacn.org/content/23/5/397.full.pdf