Announcing various new brands and categories on www.shophealthy.in

www.shophealthy.in is pleased to announce the addition of brand new categories of products besides Kitchen items such as Beauty, Ready to Eat, Seeds, Dry Fruits and products for various other health conditions such as Diabetes, Weight Loss, Heart Health, Health Supplements, General Wellness / Immunity  and a lot more. Do take a look at the refreshed e-store with a plethora of new brands and products that have recently been added. 

Also hurry to avail the latest offer of 10% of on Vedantika Herbals Food & Beauty products! 

Vedantika Herbals is a certified herbals cosmetics and foods manufacturer. Their products are 100% natural and do not contain preservatives, colors or fragrances. Vedantika Herbals Food products include Instant Energy Drinks, Healthy Candies, Milk Shakes and Instant Soups. Our Beauty category includes their products including herbal shampoos, face wash, face packs etc. For a limited time only there is a 10% introductory promotion on all Vedantika's products. 

Visit our website and click on home page banner to see Vedantika's great products especially for you. We hope you enjoy them!

Recipe - Power Packed Smoothies

I got introduced to juicing (especially vegetable juices and fruits and vegetable blends) through Julia Indichova of the http://www.fertileheart.com fame. Ever since then, I have invested in a powerful juicer that can pretty much swallow whole apples, beets and pretty much anything you throw at it and result in a wholesome juice with pulp on the side. My take on juicing and how it helps is a story I will save for another post though. Today, I wanted to share another idea for a wholesome nutritious drink which we call a Smoothie.

The dictionary definition of a smoothie is essentially a thick beverage of fruit pureed in a blender with ice and milk, yogurt or juice. My definition though is slightly different. I make several changes to this basic recipe to make it nutritious and power packed.

Here's how:

1. First I select a base. You can choose milk or yogurt or folks who are dairy intolerant can use water, coconut water or any other fresh un-sweetened fruit juice. 
2. Then I pick a fruit as the flavor of choice such as mangoes, apples, bananas, etc. My daughter especially loves mangoes so she enjoys what I call a "power packed mango milkshake" during summers.  
3. This is followed by adding a dose of nutrition through a natural health supplement  such as wheatgerm or wheatgrass powder or spirulina powder or moringa leaf powder or barley grass powder etc.  
4. Then I add a boost of power by adding healthy seeds such as flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or a blend of all of them. 
5. Last but not the least, in go nuts such as almonds or walnuts for extra power. 
6. Mind you - I do not use any refined sugar. The smoothie is sweet enough on its own if you use fresh fruit juice as the base. For milk or yogurt based smoothies, I use only natural sweeteners if at all (such as palm sugar or stevia).
7. That's it - blend away and enjoy!

Here's another blogger who has a very nicely illustrated post on green smoothies if you are up for giving that a try next. This one has green leaves incorporated into it and sounds very tempting to me. I am going to venture into this next and let you all know how it goes. Here is her illustrated picture that gives you all these steps in such an easy to remember way...

So tell me - will you or did you give this a try? Or do you have a secret nutritious recipe of your own? Please do share - we'd love to hear!

What is Wheat Germ?

What is Wheat Germ?

Walk past any health food store and you will no doubt see advertisements for wheat germ. Wheat germ is one of the most nutritional products available. In fact, wheat germ contains 23 nutrients, and has more nutrients per ounce than any other vegetable or grain.

Wheat germ is the embryo part of the kernel. This is where the sprout originates. It makes up only about 2.5 percent of the kernel weight, yet it is extremely rich in nutrients. The word germ does not have anything to do with bacteria; it simply refers to germination. The germ is the reproductive part that germinates and forms the wheat grass.

Nutritional Information

Wheat germ is very high in protein. It contains around 28 percent protein and has more protein than can be found in most meat products. The human body needs protein in order to repair tissue damage and to help minerals and nutrients reach our cells.

The amount of nutrients that are contained within wheat germ seems endless. It contains more potassium and iron than any other food source. Also found in great quantities are riboflavin, calcium, zinc, magensium and vitamins A, B1 and B3. Vitamins B1 and 3 are very important to maintain energy levels and maintain healthy muscles, organs, hair and skin.

Another important vitamin found in wheat germ is vitamin E. Vitamin E is a very important antioxidant. It is helpful in preventing the body's aging process and also to prevent heart disease. Vitamin E also helps to prevent blood clots and is needed to strengthen the body’s immune system. Thus people use wheat germ for various conditions such as preventing or repairing hair loss, controlling diabetes, improving fertility, etc.

How to Use

• Mix 2 dessert spoons of wheat germ in a cup of milk, add sweetener of your choice and fruits to make a tasty and nutritious breakfast cereal. Lean filling of wheat germ on the tops of fruits, jelly, ice creams, curd, kheer etc will give tasty results.
• Mix 15 gms of wheat germ with 200 gms of whole wheat atta to make roti, parathas etc with high fiber ratio. Ratio can be altered as per taste. Skimmed milk powder, curd, ajwain, methi etc may be added to rotis or parathas as per taste.
• If you make your own bread or cakes you can easily add wheat germ when baking by using it instead of a small amount of flour. You will find that it has a nutty flavor that is not too overpowering. It can also be added to meat dishes, eggs, vegetables and even yogurt.

Where to Buy?

Our store now carries wheat germ as part of our healthy breakfast items. So cheers to starting your day right!