How to Make Healthy Snacks at Home Using Lemon and Kale?

 

Click HERE to Get These Super Healthy Sweet Treats & Dessert Recipes

Yummy Lemon Kale Cheesecake

Kale in a cheesecake? You bet!

All hale the kale! Without a doubt, Kale has surfaced as a trendy but here to stay super-food. There are a few different varieties of kale available that include dinosaur kale, curly kale, baby kale, flat Tuscan kale and Red Russian kale. Kale is also known as borecole or cow cabbage.

This green powerhouse veggie sports a broad nutritional value. Packed with vitamins and minerals, Kale also provides us with an army of important phytonutrients such as flavonoids and glucosinolates. In fact, just the dark green color of kale should clue you into the nutrient value that it provides us (all dark green veggies are loaded with nutrients and ideally we should focus on a variety of them).

Kale is known for its ORAC…Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. This measures foods ability to scavenge free radicals. Kale’s rating is 1,770. Compare that with spinach that comes in at 1,515 or cauliflower which rates at 839 and it’s easy to see the benefits that Kale provides in the way of antioxidant capacity (substances that help shield or bodies from cell damage and prevention of disease).

Unstable molecules are free radicals and these damaging molecules play havoc at the cellular level and that’s where Kale’s antioxidant power comes to the rescue.

Kale is much more flexible than people realize. You can bake it, blend it, sauté it and even enjoy it in the raw state. This healthy veggie is no longer limited to savory dishes but is being invited into sweet recipes by health focused cooks with great success.

With its deep nutritional profile (it also provides a hefty dose of fat and fiber, containing about 120 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids per cup.), it is believed to be a force against cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis and works to prevent different types of cancer. As a bonus, kale is great for prevention of pre-mature aging of the skin. It also promotes a healthy urinary tract.

Just one cup of kale provides minerals such as potassium, copper and manganese and 200% of your daily vitamin A needs and 134% of your vitamin C requirement. To top all that off, kale provides 700% of your daily requirement for vitamin K.

If you’ve never tried Kale in one of your sweet treats, snacks or desserts

…you in for a real treat…literally!

Lemon Kale Cheesecake

BASE:

• 1 cup almonds
• ½ cup walnuts
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 cup dates, soaked at least 30 minutes and drained

Place nuts into food processor and process until broken down and crumbly. Add dates and coconut and process until well combined. Turn out into a dish or pan, spread out evenly and press down.

FILLING:

• 1 cup cashews
• 1 banana
• ¾ cup kale, de-stemmed
• ½ cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
• ¼ cup honey
• Zest and juice of one lemon

Process cashews first to break down then add all other ingredients and continue to process until mixture is smooth and creamy.

Pour over base and place in fridge or freezer to firm up and set (about an hour or more)

For more ideas on how to make healthy snacks at home, watch this video – 10 EASY HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS (You NEED to try! Low Cal, Healthy, Yum!)

For more delicious, gluten, sugar and white flour free desserts that incorporate healthy veggies and a whole lot more: “50 Desserts with Hidden Veggies. ”

Isn’t it time you began introducing these much ignored nutrient-dense super-stars into all your dishes…including your desserts?

Author Bio:

Carolyn Hansen is the author of The Blended Bites Healthy Snack and Dessert Recipe Collection. This is a one-stop resource for delicious, healthy, guilt-free snacks that you can eat every day. And even better, EVERY ONE of these recipes are RAW healthy snack foods that taste as good as their fattening counterparts.

You can NOW satisfy your snack urge without any negative impact on your weight loss and fitness goals, and without sweating over a hot stove. These easy-to-prepare snacks contain no sugar, no flour or butter and are paleo friendly.

So, if you want to get your hands on recipes for desserts and snacks that you will not need to feel guilty about eating the next time you have a craving for something delicious, be sure to check out Carolyn Hansen’s books at Blended Bites, where she will show you how to take control of your blender and churn out mouth-watering desserts and snacks that will have the kids in your neighborhood lined up around the block for a sample.

How to Snack Healthily at Home with Banana Cream Pie?

 

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Banana Cream Pie with Benefits

In all probability you’ve likely enjoyed numerous cream pies throughout your lifetime including the luscious, delicious banana cream pie.

But, have you ever enjoyed Banana Cream Pie that offers health benefits? Your answer is probably no because back in the days that our grandmothers and moms were creating these delicious desserts, the focus was not on how healthy they are but more focused on flavor and texture.

Those times have passed. These days veggies are being invited into all kinds of dessert recipes to shift them from “empty calories” to calories with benefits and this version of Banana Cream Pie includes green leaves (either spinach, Swiss chard or kale).

Add to that an assortment of super healthy nuts and seeds and you’ve got the formula that will satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth and boost their health at the same time.

It really doesn’t get any better than that.

BANANA CREAM PIE (With Hidden Benefits)

BASE:

• 1 cup almonds
• ½ cup seeds, any mix of the following – pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, hemp
• 1 cup dates, soaked at least 30 minutes drained
• ½ cup desiccated coconut
• 2 cups green leaves (spinach, Swiss chard, kale) fresh or frozen
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Please almonds in food processor and process until broken down and crumbly. Add all other ingredients and process until well combined. Press into the base of a spring form tin or pan.

BANANA CHIA FILLING:

• 1 cup cashews
• ½ cup Chia seeds, pre-soaked in ¾ cup water for 10 minutes
• 3-4 ripe bananas
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 2 tablespoons honey
• ½ cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid

DIRECTIONS:

Place cashews into a food processor and process until broken down and crumbly.

Add all other ingredients and process until well combined and smooth.

Spoon out on top of base and place in fridge or freezer while you make the topping.

SALTED CARAMEL TOPPING:

• 1 cup macadamia nuts
• 1 cup dates, soaked at least 30 minutes and drained
• ¼ cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• ¼ cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Place macadamia nuts into food processor and process until broken down and crumbly.

Add all other ingredients and process until smooth and creamy.

Add a little more water if needed…a tablespoon at a time to allow mixture to blend together into a pourable sauce.

Pour over filling and smooth out.

COCONUT WHIPPED CREAM:

• 1x 14oz can full fat coconut milk or cream
• 1-2 tablespoons honey

To learn how to snack healthily at home, watch this video – Easy Healthy Snack Ideas

For more delicious veggie based dessert and treat recipes visit: “Blended Bites” …you’ll be surprised what you can do with veggies.

Author Bio:

Carolyn Hansen is the author of The Blended Bites Healthy Snack and Dessert Recipe Collection. This is a one-stop resource for delicious, healthy, guilt-free snacks that you can eat every day. And even better, EVERY ONE of these recipes are RAW healthy snack foods that taste as good as their fattening counterparts.

You can NOW satisfy your snack urge without any negative impact on your weight loss and fitness goals, and without sweating over a hot stove. These easy-to-prepare snacks contain no sugar, no flour or butter and are paleo friendly.

So, if you want to get your hands on recipes for desserts and snacks that you will not need to feel guilty about eating the next time you have a craving for something delicious, be sure to check out Carolyn Hansen’s books at Blended Bites, where she will show you how to take control of your blender and churn out mouth-watering desserts and snacks that will have the kids in your neighborhood lined up around the block for a sample.

How to Create Low Calories High Fiber Snacks using Goji Berries?

 

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Tiny but Powerful Goji Berry

The incredible edible Goji Berry.

This little but power packed berry has been around since the early days of Chinese medicine (they are still used to treat eye, liver and kidney issues) and has recently surfaced and regained popularity.

Goji berries, considered both a fruit and an herb are native to parts of Asia (popular in the Himalayas and Tibet) and Europe and are sometimes referred to as “wolf berries” and “Tibetan goji.”

Although they are tiny in size, they pack a powerful nutritional punch, are low in calories, fat-free and loaded with fiber (they have tiny seeds). They provide us with an army of antioxidants and contain all essential amino acids. With 15% more iron than spinach along with an abundance of trace minerals such as calcium, zinc and selenium, it’s no wonder that this little berry has become so popular again.

Similar to other berries, Goji berries are also packed with beta-carotene (for beautiful skin and healthy eyes), they are known to boost the immune system as well as your energy reserves. Goji berries also provide almost 10 percent of the dietary protein required daily and are an excellent source of vitamin C.

Goji berries are usually sold as dried berries (they look similar to red raisins), you can also find them fresh. They are packaged and sold by weight at bulk food stores, herbal and specialty food markets.

You can mix them into cereal, oatmeal or yogurt for an instant nutritional punch or they can be mixed with dark chocolate chips, raw nuts and grated desiccated coconut and other healthy ingredients (just use your imagination here) for a great homemade trail mix.

They make the perfect snacking food with their rich, sweet taste and since they are high in fiber, they keep us feeling full longer – keeping our weight in check.

Their increasing popularity has made them easier to find locally. However, they are not inexpensive so you want to be sure and use up any that you purchase.

Try this delicious recipe…

Carrot Goji Berry Protein Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup carrots, grated
• ½ cup cashews
• ½ cup goji berries, dried
• ½ cup desiccated coconut
• ¼ cup honey
• ½ cup protein powder (whey or plant based)
• ¼ cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid

Place cashews in food processor and process until broken down and crumbly. Add all other ingredients and process until mixture is well combined. Spoon out into a small (8 x 8 inch) glass dish or pan. Place in fridge or freezer to firm up and set then cut into bars or small squares.

Chocolate Coating

• ½ cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
• ½ cup cocoa or cacao powder
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl. Let the mix cool down to room temperature so it will stick better. Dip the bars into the chocolate mix to coat. If a thicker layer is needed, simply place bars back in the fridge for a few minutes to set, then dip in chocolate again until the desired thickness is reached.

For more ideas on how to create low calories high fiber snacks, watch this video – 8 Healthy Low Calorie Snacks  *high protein weight loss snack ideas*

This recipe is one of 50 exciting new raw dessert and treat recipes that you will find in my newest addition: “Blended Bites” where I show you how to use a variety of fresh veggies in your sweet dishes to turn them into nutritional powerhouses.

Author Bio:

Carolyn Hansen is the author of The Blended Bites Healthy Snack and Dessert Recipe Collection. This is a one-stop resource for delicious, healthy, guilt-free snacks that you can eat every day. And even better, EVERY ONE of these recipes are RAW healthy snack foods that taste as good as their fattening counterparts.

You can NOW satisfy your snack urge without any negative impact on your weight loss and fitness goals, and without sweating over a hot stove. These easy-to-prepare snacks contain no sugar, no flour or butter and are paleo friendly.

So, if you want to get your hands on recipes for desserts and snacks that you will not need to feel guilty about eating the next time you have a craving for something delicious, be sure to check out Carolyn Hansen’s books at Blended Bites, where she will show you how to take control of your blender and churn out mouth-watering desserts and snacks that will have the kids in your neighborhood lined up around the block for a sample.

How to Create Healthy Sweet Snacks using Carrots, Sweet Potatoes and Beets?

 

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Carrots, Sweet Potatoes and Beets in Your Sweets

Veggies are highly versatile but unfortunately for the most part their role in our diets has been primarily as a salad, side dish, casserole or munchie snack.

Of course there have been a few veggies that have served multiple purposes in the past beyond the norm.

Carrots are probably the most recognized and used in the past for desserts because of the natural sweetness they offer.

They are rich in vitamin A (perfect for improving eye-sight), C, K and B8 as well as the antioxidant beta-carotene and provide other important antioxidants and super phytochemicals that work against cancer and cardiovascular risks.

They improve the immune system, provide us with a healthy dose of fiber and help regulate blood sugar. Nearly everyone has tried some form of carrot cake in their life.

But carrots are only one of many veggies that are perfect ingredients for desserts and treats and creative health driven cooks everywhere are coming up with more and more ways of incorporating different types of veggies into desserts to squeeze more nutrition into every bite we take.

Let’s take a look at a two other veggies that are excellent substitutes in your desserts and sweet treats:

Beets: Offering vitamins A and B with a healthy dose of vitamin C, folic acid and potassium they are also high in fiber. This brightly colored root veggie comes in a wide range of colors from bright gold to deep red and is currently gaining in favor for desserts. You can even find candy cane and white stripe versions.

Like carrots, beets have a sweet, earthy flavor. Betanin, the red pigment in beets, is nature’s natural food color creating pinks and reds and the perfect ingredient for your red velvet desserts.

They also offer a healthy dose of moisture to your sweet goods and are a unique source of phytonutrients supplying us with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Beets and chocolate are the perfect pairing so if you love chocolate…try pairing beets with our next chocolate dessert.

Sweet Potato: Without a doubt, sweet potatoes are considered a super food. There are as many as 400 varieties of this root veggie and the skin and flesh can be found in cream, white, yellow, orange, pink or deep purple.

The lighter colored yellow-orange or white-cream ones are the most commonly found and used. They provide us with a healthy dose of carotenoid pigments and vitamin A, they are a good source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, vitamin B6, potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1 and B2, phosphorus and pantothenic acid.

They are the perfect substitute for eggs, oil or butter in desserts. Like carrots and beets they offer sweetness which allows you to cut back on sugars.

For more ideas on how to create healthy sweet snacks, watch this video – 3 EASY low calorie healthy sweet treats! || Quick, Guilt-free + Weightloss!

For some delicious, gluten, sugar and white flour free desserts that incorporate these healthy veggies and a whole lot more:

“50 Desserts with Hidden Veggies. ” In it you will discover no bake, Paleo friendly, no sugar, gluten free healthy sweet treat and dessert recipes…

Isn’t it time you began introducing these much ignored nutrient-dense super-stars into all your dishes…including your desserts?

Author Bio:

Carolyn Hansen is the author of The Blended Bites Healthy Snack and Dessert Recipe Collection. This is a one-stop resource for delicious, healthy, guilt-free snacks that you can eat every day. And even better, EVERY ONE of these recipes are RAW healthy snack foods that taste as good as their fattening counterparts.

You can NOW satisfy your snack urge without any negative impact on your weight loss and fitness goals, and without sweating over a hot stove. These easy-to-prepare snacks contain no sugar, no flour or butter and are paleo friendly.

So, if you want to get your hands on recipes for desserts and snacks that you will not need to feel guilty about eating the next time you have a craving for something delicious, be sure to check out Carolyn Hansen’s books at Blended Bites, where she will show you how to take control of your blender and churn out mouth-watering desserts and snacks that will have the kids in your neighborhood lined up around the block for a sample.

What is the Easiest and Most Effective Way to Cure Sleep Apnea and Snoring Permanently?

 Click on Here to Find Out How You Can Get Rid of Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Easiest and Most Effective Way to Cure Sleep Apnea and Snoring Permanently – How Sleep Apnea Destroys Your Heart

When we think of heart health, we normally think of blood pressure and cholesterol.

But a little-known indicator is actually one of the strongest indicators of heart health.

And it’s one that’s adversely affected by sleep apnea, according to a study in the journal Russian Military Medical Academy Reports.

Your heart rate is not supposed to stay constant. It is meant to change from minute to minute, or even second to second, to accommodate your current activities.

For example, when you’re half asleep in bed, it’s meant to be slow. When you get up and walk to the kitchen, it should speed up a bit. When you go for your morning run, it’s meant to accelerate significantly.

If your heart rate variability is high, you are like a smart expensive vehicle that can go to 60 miles per hour in 2 seconds. Because your heart rate can accelerate quickly, your cardiovascular system responds perfectly to your movements and activities.

But if your heart rate variability is low, many studies have established that you are more likely than your peers are to suffer heart attacks, heart failure, diabetic neuropathy, depression, and PTSD.

According to many published studies, sleep apnea increases your risk of developing heart disease.

The new study’s authors decided to find out whether it had something to do with heart rate variability.

As you would expect, they recruited a group of subjects with sleep apnea and a group of healthy sleepers.

They measured their subjects’ heart rate variability in many different ways and found that those with sleep apnea were more likely to have low variability than those without sleep apnea.

The authors also warned that this disturbance in our hearts’ ability to change its rate appropriately can cause serious cardiovascular disease and even death.

In fact, the problem is bigger than just cardiovascular disease. Your autonomic nervous system is responsible for your heart rate variability, so it is a good test to see whether this part of your nervous system is functioning properly. If it is not, you may also develop respiratory problems, as your autonomic nervous system is responsible for respiratory function too.

The bottom line is that if you suffer sleep apnea, you must address it. And the good news is that you can completely rid yourself of sleep apnea in as little as 3 minutes using the simple throat exercises found here…

Easiest and Most Effective Way to Cure Sleep Apnea and Snoring Permanently – Sleep Apnea Depletes This Essential Vitamin

Sleep apnea is a life-threatening disease. It has, for example, been linked to an increased risk of stroke and heart attack.

And for a long time, scientists believed it was the lack of oxygen intake while sleeping that caused these secondary diseases.

But a new study published in the journal Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders reveals that untreated sleep apnea depletes you of an essential vitamin. And this may be one of the biggest risk factors of sleep apnea.

Greek scientists decided to investigate not only whether sleep apnea sufferers have lower vitamin D levels than healthy sleep-breathers have, but also whether the most common sleep apnea treatment could increase vitamin D.

They recruited 30 people with sleep apnea and 30 healthy controls.

They first measured their subjects’ serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels, which is the form in which our bodies store vitamin D. They measured these levels at the beginning of the study and again after 3 and 12 months of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment.

The subjects with sleep apnea were divided according to how well they adhered to their CPAP treatment. At least four hours of use for at least 70 percent of nights counted as good adherence.

Subjects who followed their CPAP program experienced a smaller drop in vitamin D levels than those who used the treatment inadequately over 12 months.

This association was so strong that they could use it to predict the vitamin D levels of the sleep apnea sufferers over 12 months.

Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with a long list of diseases. It has been proven to worsen arthritis and increase blood pressure and heart plaque buildup, leading to stroke and heart attack.

Therefore, if you suffer sleep apnea, it’s wise to spend extra time in the sun and supplement with vitamin D. We don’t know if it will improve sleep apnea but it will at least help reduce the damage it causes.

But of course, the best thing to do is to cure your sleep apnea. And the easiest (only) way to do that is to train your throat to stay open during the night using the simple throat exercises explained here…

Easiest and Most Effective Way to Cure Sleep Apnea and Snoring Permanently – An Easy Way to Cure Sleep Apnea—Permanently

The most commonly prescribed treatment for sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure devices that involve sleeping with a mask over the face and beside a noisy machine.

If this sounds like a terrible solution, the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine has now published a new study that offers a better alternative.

The researchers collected the information of 155,448 adult residents of Ontario that had first been collected by the Ontario Health Study. Their subjects had an average age of 46, 75 percent of them were white, and 60 percent were women.

The information included their levels of physical activity, their sleep quality, their sleep apnea status, their weight, their age, their sex, and a whole range of additional sociodemographic, lifestyle, and medical information.

Those subjects who had sleep apnea were more sedentary than healthy sleepers were, reporting that they sat for a median of 4.4 more hours per week.

This means that half of them sat for more than 4.4 hours per week longer than healthy sleepers did, which is already an important finding.

When the researchers analyzed further, they noticed that higher physical activity levels were linked to a reduced risk of sleep apnea.

They found that small increases in physical activity, such as adding 20 minutes to a leisurely walk or 8 minutes of strenuous exercise to a daily routine could reduce the risk of sleep apnea by 10 percent.

It may seem obvious that exercise works probably because it reduces obesity, which is a known cause of sleep apnea.

But these scientists adjusted their results to ensure that known causes of sleep apnea like sex, age, and obesity did not interfere, meaning that exercise was an independent standalone method to prevent and/or treat sleep apnea.

When the benefits of weight loss were added as benefits of exercise to prevention and treatment of sleep apnea, then exercise is even more effective.

Are you still looking for the easiest and most effective way to cure sleep apnea and snoring permanently? Watch this video – A Simple Fix For Snoring And Sleep Apnea

But the easiest and most effective way to cure sleep apnea and snoring permanently are actually simple throat exercises—explained here—that only take 3 minutes per day…

This post is from The Insomnia and Stop Snoring Program offers a revolutionary new approach to help people stop snoring. Snoring is not only disruptive to our partners, but it poses health risks as well, especially for those folks who suffer from sleep apnea.

Christian Goodman, the creator of the program, has discovered that a selection of specific exercises can actually correct the issues that lead to excessive snoring, and help snorers and their bed mates get a better night’s sleep.

The program will allow you to shake your pesky and unhealthy snoring habit using only easy to perform natural exercises. No drugs, surgery, funky contraptions to sleep with, hypnosis or any other invasive techniques. If you can spend 7 minutes per day performing these exercises you can say goodbye to snoring for good.

To find out more about this program, click on Easiest and Most Effective Way to Cure Sleep Apnea and Snoring Permanently