Blueberries are one fruit that can often be found in my fridge whenever they are in season - they are tiny little round balls of goodness and like all berries, are very high in antioxidants.  My almost-4-year-old nephew Jack is also a big fan, and can sit down to a tub at a time of his favourite “blues”.

Blueberries have been shown in studies by the US Agricultural Research Service to contain chemicals that decreased the growth of cervical and breast cancer cells by a considerable percentage.  Blueberries also contain plenty of resveratrol, another potential anti-cancer nutrient.

Any fruits as high in antioxidants as Blueberries, are thought to reverse or slow down aging because of their ability to combat free radical damage.  Blueberries though have also been found to prevent urinary tract infections in a similar way to cranberry juice, and it is also claimed that eating Blueberries improves short term memory loss and enhances motor skills!  More reasons to enjoy these delicious treats.

Berry Blue Smoothie:

1 cup of fresh Blueberries
1/2 cup frozen Blueberries
2 bananas
250ml of coconut water

Blend and enjoy!

Green smoothies are my new obsession, and although I’ve known about them for a long time, it’s only just recently that I’ve included them as a daily part of life.

I have been guilty of what many raw foodists tend to do with food, and that is lean very heavily towards fats in the diet.  We definitely need a percentage of good healthy fat, but when you are eating avocado, nuts, seeds, tahini, nut butters, dips, flax crackers and coconut every day, a VERY high proportion of your calories can be coming from fat.  Too much fat of any kind, even if it is “good fat” is not a healthy thing.

One area that a lot of us do fall down on, is the amount of green leafy veggies that we eat.  Because they’re not the most tasty of foods, and they take quite a lot of chewing, often all we have is a few mouthfuls of lettuce in a salad.

Victoria Boutenko wrote a book called Green for Life and in there she details why we need to increase our consumption of greens, and she provides us with an easy and tasty way to do it.

In a nutshell you fill a blender with whatever leafy greens you have on hand - cos lettuce, spinach, watercress, celery, baby spinach leaves etc and then you add some fruit such as a couple of bananas or about four peaches; add water and then blend.

Even though it is green (!), because of the fruit it tastes quite good, and we can fit in a lot more greens this way, then we would ever eat if we sat down to them on a plate.  Green are considered quite neutral in food combining, and blending fruit with green leafy vegetables makes it easy to digest and absorb the nutrients.

It’s a great way to increase your consumption of greens and is also a neat way to get children to “have their greens”.  In the book there are many recipes for different flavours and combinations – but my favourite one is using several peaches in with the greens.  You’ll have to just try it for yourself to see how good they are!