What's new with this year's Ramadhan?

Alhamdulillah, I feel so blessed to be granted the opportunity to fast again this year. I wanted to write about my experience fasting so that I can document what I did this year that makes fasting for me this time around different from the past. How was it different from last year's Ramadhan? Well, for starters, this time around, I'm included celery juice and fruit smoothie as part of my daily menu. I have been drinking celery juice since last December of 2018 till now. There are some days that I would go without it but only because I couldn't get new stock from the market. During that time I would replace celery juice with cucumber juice or cucumber smoothie because cucumber has similar effects on the body that we get from celery juice. It does have good source of minerals in it, very hydrating which is good for the body when fasting and it is cooling too.

What I noticed so far when fasting these past few days is that I don't feel sick like I used to years ago during the first week of fasting. I'm sure many of us face the same experience. The feeling is so remarkably wonderful now. I don't get headaches or feel very feverish either. I can actually "function", feel calm and have more patience. So this is really great for me. Even my Mom says she feels different this time around. She doesn't take the fruit smoothie though because she does not like the cold smoothie that I make...she does not like to take cold drinks. Plus, she is not that fond of taking fruits that are blended together. She prefers fruit juices or take them whole instead. 

I would have the fruit smoothie for iftar (breaking of fast) with some dates and plain water. It's enough to keep me full till after Isya'. After Isya' I would eat something more filling. Usually I would break the fast with a glass of plain warm water first, then have some dates and continue with the fruit smoothie. By then my fruit smoothie won't be too cold for me to drink. The reason why it is cold is because some of the fruits are frozen. Sometimes in order to keep the fruits from rotting fast, it's best to keep them in the freezer. So I clean them and then cut them up into small pieces and freeze them. That way, they last longer. I do get headaches if I drink cold drinks too fast or when my body is feeling hot. I do feel hot when fasting because I am not drinking any water during fasting. So to take a VERY cold drink upon breaking the fast is actually not a good idea. Warm drinks and food are best. It won't shock the body like cold drinks and food would. That's why I took plain warm water with the dates first before taking the cold fruit smoothie.

If you want to see more of the fruit smoothies that I take daily and how I make them, you can check it out at my IG link --> HERE. I really enjoy taking them for iftar because it is sunnah to break the fast with dates or fruits. And I don't like to mix fruits with other food at any one time. After taking the fruit smoothie, it is best to wait for 30 minutes before taking any other meal. I feel that Iftar is the best time to eat fruits. At other times, I just don't see myself taking fruits because we can only eat or drink twice a day in Ramadhan, and for sahur, I can only see myself taking heavy meals like rice, veggies or meat. I also take celery juice half and hour before I take my meal during sahur, because it is good to take celery juice on empty stomach in the morning and not at night. I had to wake up very early in the morning around 3.30 am just to juice the celery. It was not easy to be discipline but for health sake, I did it. It was possible. I made sure I washed the celery the day before, cut them up into small pieces, all ready to be juiced in the morning.  

Yes, it is so important to prepare and plan the meals in Ramadhan because I don't want to get sick. If I do get sick, I might miss my opportunity to fast and that would be so sad. I don't want to miss fasting unnecessarily.  I did have a bad experience last year and I don't want it to happen again this time around so I'm very careful now with what I eat in Ramadhan.

Now that Ramadhan is over, I'm so happy that I came out of it feeling good. I'm so glad I made the decision to change my diet last year. Although I did cheat eating food and sugary drinks that I'm not supposed to take sometimes, at least I never stopped taking the celery juice and the fruit smoothie. Those two things helped me reduce a lot of my cravings, and even if I did cheat, I didn't take a lot of it like before. So there is a huge difference.

I remembered over the years, I have been on and off with eating healthy. I could never stay on a healthy diet for a long period of time. Usually it would last for 2 or 3 months...then I would cheat for a few more months, and I would be back on that diet again for another few months. It's like a vicious cycle. It was really hard to maintain the diet. The difference this time is the celery juice. I definitely feel that the celery juice helped me maintain the healthy diet. Even when I was taking the jamu, I couldn't stay on the healthy diet for long.

I really hope to continue with the celery juice and fruit smoothie for as long as I possibly can. All I hope for is a healthy body and mind. When I have health, I have everything and I can do anything. In shaa Allah. I'm praying for the best! :)

Green smoothie

It's been almost 6 weeks now since I started making smoothies. When I first started making them, I made sure that green leaves were part of the ingredients in the recipe. This is because green leaves have the chlorophyll in them and they are alkaline. It is very good to alkalize our acidic body with green leaves.. I pretty much experimented a lot with the ingredients in the beginning. I didn't know what would taste nice together but I had some things in mind that I would like to have in my green smoothies.

I see a lot of people on the net using either plain water, coconut water, almond milk, or cow's milk as the base of the smoothie. It is important to choose the right kind of liquid for your green smoothies. You have to know what works for you. As for me, I would prefer to just use plain water for my green smoothies. I just can't imagine what my green smoothies would taste like with any type of milk. I don't DARE to try! haha!

BUT! I do however love to use powdered goat's milk in my other smoothie recipe. Especially in my chocolate banana smoothie! It tastes so delicious!! It's like drinking a chocolate milkshake! I'll share how I make it in my next post :).

The reason why I use goat's milk is because I'm allergic to dairy products. So for the base of any of my smoothies, it's either plain water, coconut water or goat's milk for me. It would be nice to try using green tea as the base as well.

As for the greens, I prefer to use Romaine lettuce compared to spinach or any other type of greens. This is because Romaine lettuce is suitable to be taken raw. I learned that spinach and certain other types of greens are best taken when lightly steamed or cooked because they might interfere with the absorption of essential nutrients in our body if taken raw. I see a lot of people on the net using spinach or kale for their green smoothies. I wonder if it will have a bad effect on their body in the long term. I rather not take the risk. So I'll just stick with Romaine lettuce. Besides, Romaine lettuce does not have a bitter taste. You'll never even taste it in your smoothies because the taste is so mild and it's easily hidden by the fruits that you add in your smoothie. You can check out the video below about the types of vegetables that you shouldn't be eating raw.

The other ingredients that I love to add in any of my green smoothies to make them taste delicious are as follows:

1. Banana / Frozen banana (very important ingredient to add in any green smoothies).
2. Honey (if you want to sweeten your green smoothies).
3. Any type of berries (I've used strawberries before).
4. Mango juice / Frozen mango.
5. Pineapple juice.
6. Kiwi.
7. Green grapes.
8. Coconut water and it's soft flesh.
9. Lemon (alkalizing)

So those are the things that you can add in your green smoothies. Choose whichever you like but make sure to at least add one banana in it as it will make your green smoothies tastes yummier. As for portions, it depends on how much you want each ingredients in the smoothie. For me, I always put Romaine lettuce the most. 70% leafy greens and 30% fruits.

One more thing I like to add to my green smoothies is this liquid chlorophyll. It is a pure extract of the mulberry leaves. I'm growing a few mulberry trees now in my garden. Hopefully someday I no longer need to buy this liquid chlorophyll and get my own liquid chlorophyll by juicing the mulberry leaves. This liquid chlorophyll has a very dark green colour. But when I pour it in my green smoothies, I don't taste it at all. Because it has no strong taste of chlorophyll. Some prefer to just add it in plain water and drink it straight in the morning, just like that. But I prefer it in my smoothies :).

There are so many benefits of chlorophyll to our body. It helps to rebuild and replenish our red blood cells, boosting our energy and increasing our well being almost instantly. Apart from it being highly alkaline, it is also anti-carcinogenic. Liquid chlorophyll has strong antioxidant and is anti inflammatory too.  It also has the ability to bind and remove toxic heavy metals such as mercury. In recent research, chlorophyll has shown to be effective in fighting candida. Chlorophyll also has a double action remedy for bad breath. It eliminates odor in the mouth and throat, but more importantly it promotes and healthy digestive tract (which is the primary reason for bad breath).

If you want to really detox your body and not use any fruits at all in your smoothies, you can try making green smoothies that only has vegetables and herbs in it. I've tried it before but I had to add one green apple to it as I couldn't take it 100% vegetables. It is important for it to taste nice otherwise I won't be able to drink it at all. But if you are able to take 100% vegetables, then that's great! I have yet to be able to do that. Haha!

You can try blending the ingredients below:

1. Romaine lettuce.

2. Japanese cucumber.

3. Green apple.

4. Parsley or cilantro.

5. Honey.
6. Plain water or coconut water.

Juicing vs Blending

To juice or to blend? Juicing basically means that juice from the fruits or vegetables is separated from the pulp when using a juicer, and blending means that neither the juice or the pulp is separated or removed from the blender. Everything stays in. So which one will I be getting? That was what kept circling in my mind when I first started thinking about how to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in my diet by drinking them. I'm not saying that I shouldn't be eating my fruits and vegetables anymore and turn to drinking them instead but I'm just saying that by juicing or blending them, I'll get maximum absorption of nutrients in my body. Chewing fruits and vegies takes too long to process and basically it means I'll eat them less because I'll get tired of chewing so much of them in a day. I'm very sure that I can eat more vegetables and fruits in a day by drinking them.

 

SO!! It was either to make juices or to make smoothies. I have never blended my fruits and vegetables together before. So I couldn't imagine how I would take it. But I have taken fruit juices before at restaurants and they tasted really good. But would I be able to swallow a smoothie it as easy as I could a juice? So out of fear of not being able to swallow blended fruits and vegetables, I opted to get myself a slow juicer first. Yes, a slow juicer just like the photo you see above. But that was the second one I got after I bought the manual slow juicer like the photo you can see in my previous post. An electric slow juicer is so much more convenient and saves me a lot of time. They are very expensive but SO WORTH IT!!!!

Why a slow juicer and not a centrifugal juicer? Well, I decided to get a slow juicer because after doing much research on the net, I found out that the best juice you'll ever get is by juicing with a slow juicer. This is because a slow juicer can make cold-pressed juices which means it does not expose the juice to heat and oxygen in the process, both of which degrades nutrients in the juice. That's why they call it "cold" pressed juices....because no "heat" is involved. I've tasted juices made from centrifugal juicers before and boy oh boy there is a HUGE difference between the two. Cold-pressed juices are so much more tastier. They don't oxidize as fast as juices made from centrifugal juicers too. So you can keep the juice in your fridge for more than 24 hours and they will still taste great the next day. 

The only thing that bothers me about slow juicers is that, it is not as flexible as a blender. You won't be able to juice certain fruits and vegetables with a slow juicer. For instance.....like bananas, kiwis and other soft flesh fruits and vegetables. If they are too soft, then it's difficult to get juice out of them. Certain herbs like parsley, cilantro would be a waste to juice as they are small and don't have much juice in them. They will just end up coming out from the juicer looking like mashed fruits and vegetables. So, it will be a waste to juice them. That's when a blender comes in handy for these types of fruits and vegetables.

After much research, by Googling, YouTubing, Instagraming etc......I found out about personal blenders. A personal blender is just like the one you see in the above photo. Of course the first thing that I wanted to buy was a high powered blender like Vitamix. I've heard a lot about Vitamix. But the thing is.....it's too BIG! I kept thinking about the space I have at home and where am I going to put it. I knew that it would be wiser to just get me a personal blender for the time being just in case I didn't like how a smoothie would taste. In case I didn't want to continue making smoothies, at least I won't feel so bad, unlike if I were to spend a lot of money on a blender like the Vitamix. Yes, my friends, Vitamix is so much more expensive compared to a personal blender. Booohoooohooooo!!

BUT!!! No more tears as now that I have tried the personal blender, I am super happy about it. Believe it or not, I have to say that it is the most used electrical appliance that I have in my kitchen! I use it everyday. Worth every cent I spent on it. Before I bought this personal blender, I made sure that it is going to work if not as good as the Vitamix, at least let be good enough to blend all the fruits and vegetables to teeny tiny pieces and end up looking so smooth and liquid, so much so that I won't have trouble drinking it. THAT I MADE SURE! Because I'm not going to spend money on something that won't do a good job in making smoothies. 

The best thing about a personal blender is that it's something that you can use to blend anything you want and go off anywhere with it after the job is done. You can take it to work, to the gym or anywhere you fancy. Blend everything inside the tumbler and drink straight from it. No need to transfer your smoothie to a mug or plastic container like you would need to do if you use a normal blender. Since it's small in size, cleaning is a breeze. So convenient.

Another reason for me to like blending more is because I don't wastes anything from it. No pulp is removed from fruits and vegetables, therefore I get more fiber in my diet. I feel fuller every time I take a smoothie. I feel full for hours compared to drinking a juice. Another plus side is that I get to add other ingredients to it like milk, protein powders, nuts, dried fruits and so much more to a blender. You can never do that with a juicer. So I'll get to make more interesting drinks with a blender. It's like making a whole meal from it. If I didn't have the time to cook, then making a smoothie solves the problem.

But having said that, I must say that I do love them both. Both have their own benefits. Juicing removes all the insoluble fiber from fruits and vegetables (meaning the pulp). Although fiber is good for you, because it keeps your digestive track healthy and slows down the absorption of sugar but it also slows down the absorption of nutrients and some nutrients stays in the fiber. If I juice, it means that I extract 70% of the nutrients from the fruits and vegetables and the juice gets absorbed into my body 100% and quickly too. The nutrients get in your body fast, easy digestion but doesn't keep you full that long.

Blending fruits and vegetables means that you get both insoluble and soluble fibers in your diet. Slow release of nutrients and keeps you full longer. So basically, it's all up to me. Do what suits me for that particular time. Or do according to what I have available at hand. Some times, I don't have enough fruits or vegetables for juicing but I can use them for making smoothies instead by combining them with other ingredients. So it's all good no matter what. What's important is that I don't stop making them. Don't ever quit. :)