Healthy Drink: Carrot-Mango Smoothie

There was a nurse-volunteer in our hospital who owns the only vegetarian restaurant in our city. We used to order food from her for lunch while on duty. One of my favorites from their restaurant is the carrot juice. I wasn't a fan of carrot juice until I tasted their carrot juice. And since I don't see her much lately and I could not order carrot juice anymore, I decided to make my own carrot juice.

This carrot juice has a twist since it's not just plain carrot juice, but a carrot-mango juice/smoothie!

I chopped the carrots into small pieces, put it on the blender, pressed "chop" and "food process" until it turned into very very tiny pieces

 I put the carrots aside. I sliced mangoes and put it in the blender. I pressed "crush ice" button and it turned the mango into liquid.

I  mixed the mango liquid and the carrots. I added 30cc of pure lemon juice, 1/2 cup water, and 2 tablespoon of brown sugar. I pressed the "stir" button until I was satisfied.

The product is a mango-based smoothie with carrot pulp-like mixture. It has a sweet but lemon-ish flavour. It is very organic, natural, and healthy!

I made one pitcher of it and stored it on the refrigerator. Since it's so thick and sweet, you can add a little water on your glass and pour the smoothie on it. You can add crush ice or just serve it plain cold from the ref.

Health Benefits of Mango (from Nutrition and You website)

Health benefits of Mangoes

• Mango fruit is rich in pre-biotic dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and poly-phenolic flavonoid antioxidant compounds.
• According to new research study, mango fruit has been found to protect against colon, breast, leukemia and prostate cancers. Several trial studies suggest that polyphenolic anti-oxidant compounds in mango are known to offer protection against breast and colon cancers.
• Mango fruit is an excellent source of Vitamin-A and flavonoids like beta-carotene, alpha-carotene,and beta-cryptoxanthin. 100 g of fresh fruit provides 765 mg or 25% of recommended daily levels of vitamin A. Together; these compounds are known to have antioxidant properties and are essential for vision. Vitamin A is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in carotenes is known to protect body from lung and oral cavity cancers.
• Fresh mango is a very rich source of potassium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure.
• It is also a very good source of vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin-C and vitamin-E. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen free radicals. Vitamin B-6 or pyridoxine is required for GABA hormone production in the brain. It also controls homocystiene levels in the blood, which may otherwise be harmful to blood vessels resulting in CAD and stroke.
• Copper is a co-factor for many vital enzymes, including cytochrome c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase (other minerals function as co-factors for this enzyme are manganese and zinc). Copper is also required for the production of red blood cells.
  

Health Benefits of Carrots (from Healthonlinezine)

Apart from that, carrots are also good sources of vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin K, biotin, fiber, potassium and thiamine. Here are 7 health benefits of carrots forhuman body:

1. Prevent Cancer
   Many studies shown that eating carrots may help lower the risk of breast cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer. Recently, researchers have isolated a compound called falcarinol in carrots that may be largely responsible for anti-cancer benefits. Falcarinol is a natural pesticide found in carrots that protects roots from fungal diseases. In daily diet, carrots are almost the only source of these compounds. A study conducted on mice found that they were fed with either raw carrots or falcarinol have one-third lower risk of developing colon cancer than mice not fed by them.
2. Improve Vision
   The retina of the eye needs vitamin A to function, lack of vitamin A causes night blindness. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, a substance which converted into vitamin A in the liver. In the retina, vitamin A is transformed into rhodopsin, a purple pigment that necessary for night vision. In addition, beta-carotene help protect against macular degeneration and the development of senile cataracts. A study found that people who eat most Beta-carotene had 40 percent lower risk of macular degeneration than those who consumed little.
3. Prevent heart disease
   Studies shown that a diet high in carotenoids are associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Also, it is believed that regular consumption of carrots reduces cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber in carrots can help lower blood cholesterol levels by binding with and removing bile acids, cholesterol triggers would be pulled out from the bloodstream to make more bile acids.
4. Reduce the risk of stroke
   According to research from Harvard University, people who ate more than six carrots a week are much less likely to suffer a stroke than those who ate only one carrot a month or more.
5. Nourish Skin
   Carrot has a strong cleansing properties that are effective in detoxifying the liver, so that the overall effective for acne that is caused by toxins from the blood. Carrot is also useful for treating uneven skin tones because of pigmentation. The vitamin A and other nutrients contain in carrot efficiently nourish the skin, prevent dry skin and other skin blemishes.
6. Anti-aging
   Carrots contain a lot of beta-carotene, which serves as an antioxidant that helps the body to fight the cell damage done to the body with dirt in the bloodstream and even oxygen. It also help slows down the aging of cells and various negative effect associated with aging.
7. Dental Health
   Carrots can even help clean your teeth, and is the best way to keep your mouth clean after meals. They act as natural abrasives, help in eliminate the sticky dirt from the teeth and stimulate gums. They also trigger a lot of saliva, which helps to scrub away stains on your teeth. Minerals in carrots helps to kill germs in the mouth and prevent tooth damage.

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