Astricted Smoothies

Yes, it's a contradiction in terms; constipated smoothies. Before I have my coffee, (half-the-caff, please, gotta start my heart) I have juice, or smoothies.

I have "benign" blood pressure, 25 mg of metaprolol tartrate (Lopressor) in the morning and the evening. It's not much; it's a beta-blocker and slows the heart rate. Constipation is an issue for the medications, whether its stool softeners, insoluble fiber (easing defecation) and roughage. Constipation is not pretty; your bloated, uncomfortable and puffy, too. Check this out. It's a blood pressure chart.

Let's consider fruit smoothies. Apples, bananas, peaches, kiwis, blueberrys, and good old orange juice. Stroke people know that fruit and vegetables is a good thing; low in calories and fiber-rich. Easy on the pocket, too. Entenmann's Apple Strudel is a hugely $6.29 versus Gala apples (55-80 calories) $.47 at Walmart. Click Wikipedia Fiber.

I have a Cuisinart Pro-Custom food processor ($100 bucks on the internet...I use it every day, for hummus, guacomole, chicken livers, HEALTHY food. It's a breeze to clean.)

Gala apples - 55-80 calories, 21-38 (women/men) of dietary fiber and has 20 percent of vitamin C. Click apple.

Bananas - Very low in saturated fat, the dreaded cholesterol (0%), and sodium (0%). Dietary fiber (23%) is a plus, and vitamin C and B6, potassium, manganese. There's a down side: 28% of sugar. Click banana.

Peaches - Again, very low in saturated fat, the cholesterol (0%), and sodium (0%). Dietary fiber is 6%, vitamin C 11% and vitamin A 6%, throw in calcium 1% and iron. 8.2% of sugars. Click peaches.

Kiwifruit - The ovoid fruit has green flesh, 95% of vitamin C and 46 calories. It's a sweet flavor of strawberries and bananas. Click kiwifruit.

Blueberrys, strawberrys, raspberrys - Read on! The berries are full of fiber, vitamins C and antioxidants. The berries keep in the freezer. Click berries.

HINTS:

Put a little orange juice, about 1 inch; mix the fruit. Useful fact: Florida Natural comes from the USA. No Brazilian, Chile and Mexico oranges.

Used fruit is good fruit. Shop around. The overripe bananas, apples with brown spots and the pears, the mangoes, the kumquats, they are blemished, but perfectly acceptable. Bananas keep well in the refrigerator.

I use an apple corer with my left hand and left foot. Sit in your chair and use two grippers (hand and foot). Improvise! The compact apple slides through the corer.

Scrub, scrub, scrub your fruit. You don't know where its been, ya' know?

Pulse (or, 1 minute) your Cuisinart till smooth. Smoothies are fiber-rich, loaded with vitamin C and the skins are not bad either. Throw in honey, too. One quart, give or take, fill up the OJ just a scooch. Enjoy!

I wrote The Bat Who Wore Rose-Colored Glasses, a children's book. A little brown bat, Oliver's looking for mosquitoes, a habitat for the winter and a wise owl with gleaming gold eyes. He was face-to-beak with a very large bird. Click Bat.