23 Romantic Vegan Breakfast in Bed Ideas for Valentine’s Day

What’s better than waking up from a good night’s sleep to the smell of freshly made pancakes? To have a loved one bring up a tray of them for you, of course! This Valentine’s Day, surprise a loved one with some homemade breakfast in bed. Make a mouth-watering stack of vegan pancakes topped with fresh fruit and nuts. Or make this lovely heart-shaped pancake cookie, drizzled with chocolate. How about dessert for breakfast? A Raw Blackberry Breakfast Cake sure sounds good.

Make a little bit of everything to your heart’s content. Pair these breakfast ideas with a cup of orange juice or nut milk and the morning paper or a vase of lovely flowers for a unforgettable breakfast surprise, made with love.

1. Bloody Mary Green Smoothie

Here's a "Bloody Mary" that doesn't require alcohol. It's a green, healthy, and super good for you smoothie that's perfect for unwinding after a long day. 

2. Valentine’s Day Vegan Pancake Cookies

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us. Here is a recipe to whip up on V-Day morning for whoever you have a sweet tooth for in your life. And if you ride solo, whip it up for yourself – you are just as sweet!

3. Raw Blackberry Breakfast Chocolate Cake

A raw and decadent blackberry chocolate cake that is so healthy, you could eat it for breakfast.

4. Chocolate Mint Cream Cheese Muffins

Christmas and mint. How did they become an item? The red-and-white-swirled candy canes dangling from stuffed stockings. The tiny pastel-colored, melt-away candies piled in bowls that appear only in December. The Santa and snowman-shaped chocolate candies filled with a gooey mint center. Or maybe the cool of mint recalls drifts of snow and icy winds. It can’t be helped. Mint reminds me of Christmas. This is the classic chocolate cream cheese muffin but without the dairy and a little bit less of the guilt. I’ll take one of these over a candy cane any day.

5. Vegan Pineapple and Strawberry Bread / Cake

This pineapple bread is indulgence personified and, if the soft whipped sweetened coconut cream doesn't send you into spirals, I’ll eat my hat.

6. Red Velvet Vegan Waffles with Cream Cheese Sauce

Groggy morning? Start your day off right with some delicious red velvet waffles drizzled with cream cheese sauce. It's a perfect excuse to stay in your pajamas a little longer and soak up the morning sun.

7. Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

I've used rice flour in a few recipes now but I must say this has been my most successful endeavor to date. Although I've been striving for that perfect cupcake texture for a long while now, none have come remotely close to these – I almost jumped up and down with pleasure when I bit into one; moist, fluffy, crumbly, lush. Nothing beats the feeling of triumphing in the kitchen especially when it comes to baking.

8. Gluten-free Rose Water Cupcakes [Vegan]

If there ever was a perfect afternoon tea cupcake, these are them. Can you imagine a girly tea party complete with cucumber sandwiches, petit fours, and these little darlings? Bliss, I tell you, sheer unadulterated bliss.

9. How to Make a Vegan Omelet

They say you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. Wrong!

10. Apple-Almond Butter Pancakes

Apple slices with nut butter are a great healthy snack. Now, this delicious flavor combo can be enjoyed in these luscious pancakes. For gluten-free, use gluten-free flour. This recipe makes...

11. Green Mojito Juice

The combination of cucumber, mint, and lemon in this smoothie makes you feel like your sipping on a fancy cocktail.

12. Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

A healthy vegan version of cinnamon rolls!

13. Chickpea Flour Omelette With Spinach, Onion and Bell Peppers

Eggs used to be somewhat of a default long back for breakfast. Though we did have a good number of Indian breakfast options, eggs would still feature on most week...

14. Strawberry Vanilla Lemonade Cupcakes [Vegan]

The problem with summer is that three months is really not a very long time. By the time I have finally settled into my summer job along with the glorious...

15. Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins

Yield: 10 muffins Ingredients: 1 cup unbleached AP flour 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 cup cocoa powder 1/4 cup Sucanat 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking...

16. Strawberry Pecan Stuffed French Toast [Vegan]

Blended bananas are the perfect substitute for the traditional egg in this decadent Strawberry Pecan Stuffed French Toast recipe. A regular loaf of bread works great, or you can try...

17. Chocolate Caramel Doughnuts

This month we celebrated National Doughnut Day with these Caramel-Glazed Baked Donuts adorned with melted dark chocolate. The good news is this recipe doesn’t require a national holiday to be enjoyed. It’s easy for...

18. Raspberry White Wine Glazed Donuts

Making raised donuts is not as difficult as one would imagine. This is a great recipe to use up the last of a bottle of wine, or a great alternative...

19. Tofu Scramble (with Spinach and Nutritional Yeast)

I have tried plenty of tofu scramble recipes, both at home and at restaurants, and honestly, most leave something to be desired. Tofu is a great base, but it’s just...

20. Love Potion (Red Beet, Pear, Orange, Apple Smoothie)

Prev Slide1 of 21Next Slide Fruit and veggie Smoothies are a prefect way to start the day or even use as mid day snack. Unfortunately, my stomach doesn’t take kindly...

21. Hazelnut Chocolate Cupcakes

Before I adopted a vegan diet, I loved eating Nutella by the spoonful. I’d fill crêpes with the sweet spread, add a dollop to a bowl of fruit and stir...

22. Vegan Benny & Flo

My all-time favorite breakfast used to be Eggs Benedict. Unfortunately, a vegan Eggs Benedict is almost impossible to come by. This is precisely why I decided to come up with my own recipe! This is sorta like an Eggs Benedict meets Eggs Florentine... sorta.

23. Swedish Pancakes

So now, what is the difference between Swedish Pankcakes and normal ones? I've been asking myself the same question. Growing up in Sweden, this is the normal way -- thin tasty pancakes with crispy edges. Traditional Swedish pancakes are served with berry jam and light whipped cream or vanilla ice cream that will melt on the hot pancake.

 Written by OneGreenPlanet.Org at http://bit.ly/1dlh3o5

Myths, Facts And Green Smoothie Benefits For Your Health

Unless you have been hiding in a cave, we are sure you have heard of the astounding health benefits of your green smoothie. But are green smoothies as nutritionally impressive as they seem?
Keep in mind when making delicious green smoothies, you should add healthy fats to your greens. Since vegetable nutrients are better absorbed when ingested with fats.
Try adding full-fat coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut cream, Greek yogurt, or nut butters to increase vitamin absorption. Find out if green smoothies are the best way to get your nutrients in this great article from One Green Planet.

Green Smoothie Benefits

by: One Green Planet
Green smoothies have attracted massive fans from the health community for decades…celebrated for their impressive nutrient content, convenience, and ease of consumption. There are even full books dedicated solely to green smoothie recipes, like Victoria Boutenko’s Green Smoothie Revolution and the recent Bo Rinaldi’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Smoothies. In fact, I advocate their benefits everywhere I speak, included recipes for green smoothies in both of my books, and even demonstrate them on shows like Reluctantly Healthy and The Dr.Oz Show.
However, there are some allegations floating about, accusing green smoothies of being harmful. They include:

• Raise blood glucose levels
• Enable the consumption of too many calories at one meal
• Damage endothelial cells, cause metabolic syndrome, obesity, fatty liver, etc. due to the high levels of fructose
• Can lead to kidney stones since leafy greens have high oxalate content

Let’s break these down…

Blood Glucose Levels

Overall, there is no science that I am aware of directly implicating green smoothies as suspect in any of these accusations. There is, however, evidence supporting similar issues that people are hypothesizing that apply to green smoothies, too. For instance, we know that fruit juice typically raises insulin levels quicker than the whole fruit because the fiber is removed.
However, with green smoothies, the fiber remains, only it is broken down and may go through the digestive tract quicker than in its whole form. If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, or are concerned about this, you can slow down the glycemic response (and accompanying insulin release) to a green smoothie by:

• Adding some fat or protein to the smoothie via seeds or almond milk, for instance
• Using more leafy greens and other vegetables (celery, carrots, or avocado) and less fruits
• Choosing higher-fiber fruits like berries, mango, and pears over lower-fiber fruits like bananas and grapes
• If you have diabetes and notice an elevated blood glucose response after trying these adjustments, perhaps you are sensitive and should avoid them.

Calories

When it comes to calories, most vegetable and fruit smoothies can contain anywhere between 200-500 calories per glass. My enormous It’s Easy Being Green Smoothie from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition provides 460 calories for a whopping 36 ounces (equal to 4.5 cups)!
It is so filling, I dare you to finish it! Thus, you can easily control for the calories simply by making a smaller smoothie, using it as a meal replacement, or compensating with the rest of your meal to fit your caloric requirements.

The Fructose Controversy

There is indeed evidence that high intake of fructose may lead to metabolic syndrome, obesity, fatty liver, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, high blood pressure, and even kidney disease (here and here, for example).
But what is fructose? Fructose is a simple sugar, a monosaccharide. For centuries, fructose was primarily consumed from natural sources like fruits and honey.
In the last few decades, a main source for fructose became sugar, a.k.a. “sucrose,” a disaccharide with equal parts fructose and glucose. Additionally, man created high-fructose corn syrup in the 1970s, offering up an opportunity for food manufacturers to save money, utilize the excess corn supply, and sweeten processed foods.
Fructose consumption skyrocketed from approximately 4 percent of total calories before the year 1900 to an estimated 12 percent of calories now.
But just because fructose may be up to no good doesn’t mean that the naturally-occurring fructose in fruits and vegetables have the same impact as the sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup.
This study and this one differentiate and note that not all fructose is the same, pointing out that fructose in fruit comes packaged along with fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals that may outweigh any potential risk.
In this letter to the editor from the Journal of The American Dietetic Association, it is postulated that the evidence pointing to fructose alone as cause for these chronic conditions may not consider excessive calorie intake as a possible confounding variable. It also suggests we need good human trials before we make conclusions on the metabolic effects of fructose.
By the way, the only research on endothelial cell injury that I found was this study that used pure fructose and was performed on rats.

Kidney Stones and Oxalates

Only about 10 percent of the population experience kidney stones in their lifetime. The most common types of calcium stones are listed in this table from the Canadian Medical Association; of which the hyperoxaluric one is associated with excessive consumption of leafy greens and other veggies.
Concerns over green smoothies and kidney stones are in relation to the hyperoxaluria type. Oxalates are salts of oxalic acid, an organic acid found in many fruits and vegetables. They are normally formed into soluble salts and excreted in the urine. However, excess levels may lead to the formation of calcium oxalate stones in the kidney.
This condition is very rare, usually genetically-based or may be due to dietary causes, like low calcium intake. In fact, increased intake of dietary calcium is recommended to reverse hyperoxaluria and prevent stone formation. Dehydration can also be a factor contributing to these types of kidney stones.
For the rare circumstances where there are kidney stones from hyperoxaluria, restricting oxalates may be warranted. There is also evidence suggesting that higher dietary intake of calcium may be protective against kidney stones, a mineral also abundant in leafy greens.
Because of the extreme rarity of kidney stones due to oxalate intake and the fact that most people don’t even come close to overconsuming these foods, avoiding them is unwarranted. There are far too many benefits from their consumption to risk foregoing them.

Speaking of Green Smoothie Benefits…

Here are just some of the myriad reasons to bring back the love of green smoothies:
It’s a very convenient and efficient method of consuming adequate servings of fruits and vegetables.Only between 9.5 and 14 percent of the U.S. population takes in the minimum recommended intakes of fruits and vegetables…and that number includes fries and ketchup!
Fruit and vegetable pureed drinks significantly increase “dietary and plasma phytochemical concentrations with a trend towards increased endothelium-dependent vasodilation.” (George, et al, 2012) This, in turn, decreases one’s risk for most chronic diseases.
So many of us have a tough time remembering to chew our food well enough. Nutrients in plants are trapped within their cell walls. Humans are not designed to break down cellulose (plant fiber). Thus, blending the plants breaks down the cell walls for you, releasing the nutrients, and enabling adequate absorption of nutrients…

Read more: http://dailysuperfoodlove.com/2277/myths-facts-and-green-smoothie-benefits-for-your-health/#ixzz2qz8TYNI5

How to Lose 10 Pounds in One Month (or 30 Days)

It is absolutely possible to lose ten pounds over the next month. It will take dedication, determination and a positive mental attitude. The following are not only the six steps for losing weight in the next thirty days, but they are also necessary to laying down the foundation that will turn into lasting results.

Step One - Set a Goal and Move Immediately into Action

In this moment, take time to set your ten pound goal. Write it out on a piece of paper and date it for 30 days from now. Writing it out is important when starting out. Keep it in your pocket at all times and read it at every chance you get. The most important part of this task is that if you always read over your goal - you will always have it in mind. Your statement should look something like the following:

"I will lose 10 pounds by Dec.25/2013"

Step Two - Prepare and Execute a Diet Transformation

From a realistic point of view, we should understand that it is not so much a diet that we will be getting into as it will be an overall lifestyle change.

The reason is simple; if we change our diet for the next month and choose to go back to what we consumed prior to the change, our bodies will go back to the way it was.

A simple and yet very effective daily diet would be; assorted fruits for breakfast and assorted vegetables for both lunch and dinner. If you want that extra protein kick in animal form, keep it to a minimum and only allow three to four ounces of freshly cooked fish. You can also snack on nuts and fruit when feeling a bit hungry in between meal times. Limit the portions of each snack to a handful only.

Your new way of eating should not consist of processed foods (including fast food, preserved foods, and other man packaged products), sugar, saturated and Trans fats, and all cooking oil. Also eliminate soft drinks and concentrated fruit juices completely and drink only water.

Step Three - Get Physical Daily

Make time to go for a 45 to 60 minute walk daily without "days off" in between. You can also fit in a natural weight resistance program prior to walking to step it up a notch. The best combination of physical activity for weight loss is a cardiovascular routine (walking, brisk walking, jogging) and a weight resistance routine (push ups, chins, crunches).

There are also other ways you can keep physically active on a daily basis that requires no extra time out of your pocket. When you go for groceries or to the mall, you can park at the far end of parking lot and walk. You can put more effort in cleaning the house on a daily basis. You could also find yard work around the home is you have your own residence. There are so many ways to be naturally active. All we have to do is open our mind to the opportunities.

Step Four - Get Proper Rest

Sleep is a very important time for everyone. Sleep helps rejuvenate the soul, repairs damaged body tissue, and lowers stress levels. It's important to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. Another source of rest can be doing something you enjoy doing. It could be a hobby like reading a good book or even meditation if you enjoy that. When we engage in something that is relaxing and joyful it also helps eliminate stress.

Step Five - Clean Your Insides

Okay, so it does not sound like an appetizing job, but this step is also important to help aid weight loss. By keeping your intestinal tract clean, it enables your body to extract the essential nutrients that you need. It will also help keep constipation out of the way!

To do this you can add fiber rich foods in your daily diet. Foods that are high in fiber and packed full of nutrients are; apples, oranges, berries, beans, dark leafy greens. Mother Nature provides the best variety of natural foods and we should absolutely accept them.

Step Six - Eliminate Bad Habits

If you smoke to the point where it's difficult to go for a walk, then it's time to cut back or quit. Smoking should not get in the way of your health. If you spot any other bad habit that you believe is getting in your way of a healthy success - eliminate it. You can do this by replacing the bad habit with a good habit.

We are all habitual beings and no one is an exception. We have the ability to choose and mold a new habit at any given time. When we create new habits by reinforcing the new habit over and over again - we can keep it for life. Once a new habit is fully formed it is set on autopilot, meaning we don't have to attend to that specific habit anymore and we can reap better results daily.

Written by Russ Nagamori at: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Lose-10-Pounds-in-One-Month-(or-30-Days)&id=8142239

Juice Weight Loss Recipes - A Sweet Way Towards a Perfect Body

Today, losing weight can now be done in a very juicy way. Unlike other weight loss methods, juice weight loss recipes do not oblige you to eat boring food and to indulge in tiring exercises. Before, the perfect juice for losing weight is a glass of water with a splash of lemon. However, there are a lot of other more exciting juice recipes that can help men and women to be perfectly fit today.
What is good about these juice recipes is that they give natural vitamins to your body that are of no question great for your health. Fruit and vegetable juices can make the stomach feel full considering the fact that it actually is not a full meal. This is actually fine since weight loss juices can give you the nutrients you can get from a full meal.
Diet juices can be made in a lot of variations, from a single fruit to a combination of two or more. It can also be a mix of a fruit and a vegetable. Whatever you wish to combine, that is fine as long as you get to enjoy it. Here are some juice weight loss recipes that can become your exciting weight loss buddy daily:

• Flying Orange Juice. This is made out of two pears, three grapefruits plus one sweet potato. Indeed, this is a sweet and refreshing drink, without any hangover.
• Papaya Passion. To have this, you must prepare a combination of one medium-sized papaya, one red apple, and five pitted dates on it.
• Strawberry Delight. This includes a refreshing blend of around four to eight strawberries, one to two bananas, and about eight to 10 dates.
• Potassium Drink. This juice differs in any other weight loss juice recipes because it is richer in vitamins and it contains potassium. This is a blend of one celery stalk, a handful of spinach, a handful of parsley, four carrots, and half a lemon.
• Joggers' Paradise.  This is another healthy juice made from a combination of one small yam, three oranges, and two pears. This juice is commonly known as muscle-blasting and power-pushing juice drink.
• Calcium Drink. A glass of calcium drink can be accomplished with a combination of three carrots, an apple, half a cup of broccoli, a handful of parsley, and half a lemon.

Moreover, these combinations of fruits and vegetables are helpful keys in detoxifying your body and are proven to be useful in internal cleansing. They also increase the vitamin intake of the body. Basically, a glass of juice done in a combination of fruits and vegetables also provides a package of vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and photochemical that is helpful for the health of your body.
So if you no longer want to suffer from your tiring exercise workouts and from your boring food diet, you can take a glass of juice and get the same results. For sure, if you have a regular intake of any of these juice weight loss recipes, you will never have to lose with your weight problem. One sip of a refreshing and sweet juice can definitely give you a sweet result.

Written by Ronald Yip at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Juice-Weight-Loss-Recipes---A-Sweet-Way-Towards-a-Perfect-Body&id=3113840

The World's Healthiest Diets

Is the American diet really so bad that it’s time to look to other countries for help?
That’s the premise behind a spate of recent books and Web sites touting plant-heavy diets of various far-away places. Looking at traditional diets has become something of a fad in recent years. Numerous books, including The Jungle Effect and The China Study, have tried to document the link between diet and great health in various countries and regions. Researchers, for example, are still trying to understand how a sweet-potato-based diet may boost longevity on the Japanese island of Okinawa, home to a large population of centenarians. But you don’t have to wait for the definitive answer–The Okinawa Diet Plan can be bought right now.
The latest entrant is The Five Factor World Diet by celebrity trainer and author Harley Pasternak. During his far-flung travels with stars like Jessica Simpson and Hillary Duff, Pasternak noticed that people in many of the countries he visited were slimmer and ate a more nutritious diet than most Americans. The experience left Pasternak (who has a master’s degree in exercise physiology and nutrition) convinced that Americans have a lot to learn from the rest of the world.
His book lists countries with healthy diets that also have long life expectancies and low obesity rates. These metrics best capture the effects of a lifetime of good eating and exercise habits, he argues. Japan tops his list because it has a 1.5% obesity rate (for men) and an 82-year life expectancy, vs. a 36.5% obesity rate and a 78-year life expectancy in the United States. South Korea, China and Singapore also do well. France makes the list with a 6.6% obesity rate and an 81-year life expectancy, as do Italy, Spain and Greece. Pasternak’s rankings aren’t scientifically rigorous, but they may shed light on how other countries eat well and manage to stay healthy.

In Pictures: The World’s Healthiest Diets

What virtually all these countries have in common are low-fat diets rich in fish, lean protein, vegetables, fruits and beans. Plant-based diets can reduce cholesterol levels, while fruits and vegetables also contain antioxidants that may protect against cancer. Consumption of certain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may reduce heart disease risk. Many of the traditional diets only include small amounts of red and processed and salt-cured meats, whose consumption may increase risk of colorectal and stomach cancers.
Most of the countries in question practice portion control. Although they indulge in high-fat cheeses, cured pork and condensed milk coffee drinks, they rarely pig out like Americans. “Whether you adopt one or multiple things [from these countries] and bring them into your life,” says Pasternak, “you’ll be healthier and lose weight and keep it off.”
Beyond this common-sense message, science doesn’t have much to say about which traditional cuisines are the healthiest. It’s impossible to tell whether the long life expectancies of some countries are actually the result of better health care systems, not better eating habits. No researcher has developed a method to accurately measure the comparative health benefits of one country’s diet vs. another, says Harvard epidemiologist Dimitrios Trichopoulos. “We have no evidence because we don’t have a yardstick,” he says. There are indications that Japanese and Chinese diets, for example, are protective against chronic diseases and improve longevity, but Trichopoulos says that they haven’t been studied enough to say that conclusively.
The one exception, he says, is the Mediterranean diet, high in olive oil, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. A 2008 meta-analysis of 12 studies of 1.6 million subjects found that people who stick closely to the Mediterranean diet had a 9% lower death rate than people who ate the same diet less stringently, according to the results published in the British Medical Journal. Numerous other studies show it can protect against heart disease.

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But pinpointing the most beneficial components of Mediterranean diet is tough, says David Jenkins, a University of Toronto nutrition professor. “It could be pasta, bulgur, hummus, fava beans,” he says, “What we generally mean is a diet with more fruits and vegetables and less dependence on red meat.”
Trichopoulos says that traditional diets have pitfalls of their own. The Japanese, for instance, eat lots of nutrient-laden cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, bok choy, and their main sources of protein are fish and soy. That’s the good news. The downside: Thanks to a preference for cured foods, they also consume colossal amounts of sodium, which can lead to high blood pressure and more strokes.
So while it may be useful to borrow dietary tips from other cultures–whether it’s rye bread from Sweden, buckwheat noodles from Japan or bok choy from China–it probably doesn’t matter exactly which things you borrow.
 Written by Rebecca Ruiz at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/02/healthy-diet-country-lifestyle-health-soy-vegetables.html