So Hayley has asked me if our smoothies are a substantial enough breakfast in the morning. Now I don't know about you but I'm really not a morning person and I never seem to wake up hungry. I know though that if I don't eat breakfast I won't have energy to do things or have the brain fuel to concentrate in the morning. Even as a nutritionist I find myself migrating to the choccie biscuits by 10am if I haven't had my bowl of porridge.
Nutritional and dietetic advise is that if you should eat a quarter of your calories at each of the 3 main meals and get a quarter of your remaining calories from snacks. This means that for a woman breakfast should be a 500 calories. Unless you've got the time to russle up a light brunch (or eat massive amounts of cereal and toast) it might be a difficult to acheive this everyday.
Each of your meals should be made up of 3 different foods from the 5 main food groups which are 1) bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy carbs 2) fruit and vegetables 3) milk and dairy foods 4) meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non dairy sources of protein 5) sugary and fatty foods .
So if you were to have a bowl of porridge and a smoothie you're eating food from 3 different categories:-
1. porridge oats which are starchy carbs and gives you long lasting energy
2. milk which is in the milk and dairy group which gives you calcium and protein
3. the smoothie is in the fruit and veg category and will provide you with 2 of your 5- A- DAY.
A smoothie on it's own is great if you're on the go or as a breakfast drink because they are 2 of your 5 -A-DAY and give you vitamin C and 15 % of your guideline daily amount of fibre. Per bottle there's about 146 kcals in a smoothie which is the same as a banana and another portion of fruit. It's best to combine a smoothie with cereal, a slice or 2 of toast or a granola bar if you can for breakfast. The great thing is that if you drink a smoothie with a fortified cereal you'll absorb more of the iron from the cereal as the vit C in the smoothie will help you to do this.
Another great option for breakfast is our lovely lilac breakfast thickie. This thickie is really special and is made with foods from 3 different food groups i.e. fruit, yoghurt and grains. It's a source of calcium and fibre, is low fat and at 217 kcals per bottle is a more substantial drink.
We've always liked to know what you think of the stuff we make. That's why we ask you to call the banana phone, drop us an email, or pop into Fruit Towers. It's good to have a chat and even better to hear what you think we should do next. So each year, we hold our very own AGM (A Grown-up Meeting) where 100 of you get to come in, ask some questions, learn a bit more about our business, help us decide what recipes to make next, and eat a lot of cake.
It’s a day when Fruit Towers in London (where more magic happens than in a rap star’s bedroom on Cribs), has its doors thrown open, and a load of activities are organised - some that will shape the brand in the coming year, and some just for the helluvit. And yes, fruit fans, there is sampling. A LOT of sampling. There’s also the chance to get in front of the powers-that-be (the Terrifying Titans of the Fruit Blending Industry as they’re not called by anyone) and ask them anything you like, from “Why are concentrates so rubbish?” to “Do your smoothies actually contain shiny trumpets or pebbles?"
Now previous years have been a bit light on Irish representation, so this time we’re running a little competition to send one of you, our loyal drinkers-of-smoothies-and-readers-of-blog, and a friend, to London to attend our annual grown up meeting, at our expense.
Just post the question you’d like to ask Adam, Jon and Rich the founders of innocent in the comments section below, and through a very scientific process possibly involving arm wrestling, we’ll pick a winner from the most interesting questions. The lucky winner could get to ask their question to them in person.
So comment away, question away, make us smile or gasp or scratch our heads - it’s over to you...
Sorry - it’s hard to stay away from bee puns during the launch of our brand new guest smoothie: lemons, honey & ginger. That’s because aside from being full of all those Vitamin C-rich ingredients, it is also the start our Buy One Get One Bee project. So not only are we sure the new recipe is going to be a big hit (we’re beesotted), but every single bottle sold will help with what we’re calling “plan bee” - where we plan to introduce 200,000 bees into Ireland to help shore up their sadly declining numbers.
Of course we’ll not be letting loose a massive swarm of bees on an unsuspecting population, as horror movies have taught us that might be unwise. Instead, we’re teaming up with the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations (www.irishbeekeeping.ie).
The Federation’s members cover all of Ireland, from Donegal to West Cork, and when it comes to getting the best out of bees, well, they’re the knees on those bees. They have the know-how to distribute and nurture the new additions where they’ll do the most good - where they can pollinate the most fruit, vegetables, flowers and plants, and where they can make the most honey. Like the stuff we use in our new smoothie - did we mention it? Ah, the circle of life.
You too can do your bit as well. With each little bottle you’ll get a free packet of seeds – wild flowers of the sort that bees really heart.
So while you’re enjoying the liquid sunshine-y taste from your bottle of lemons, honey & ginger smoothie, just think of what you’ve helped to happen: some little bee somewhere, drunk on apple pollen in a field or garden, doing her bit to help Ireland’s flora thrive. As a plan it’s flawless. In fact, it’s bee-rilliant.
A few things we’ve learned about bees recently made us ask ourselves: are bees the most under appreciated creatures in the world?
Now honey is delicious, especially when combined with, oh, say, lemons & ginger. But aside from making honey, bees pollinate a ridiculous 80% of the plants in the world - including almost all of the fruit and veg that we need to live. In Ireland, our 101 species of bee pollinate apples, strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, plums, cherries, carrots, onions and is anyone else getting a little peckish?
But there is a mystery surrounding these industrious insects - they are vanishing in their droves. And some of Ireland’s bee species are in grave danger of dying out due to the disappearance of their habitat. We’ve already lost 25% of our hives in just the last 3 years.
So like Justin Timberlake did with the sexy, we’re gonna bring the bees back. Our new special guest smoothie, lemons, honey & ginger, has the details on the pack, but basically, every one sold helps us introduce (hi, I’m a bee, and you are?) 200,000 bees into Ireland, and leave them in the capable, glove-protected hands of the The Federation of Irish Beekeepers' Associations.
Albert Einstein once said:
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
And we say:
“Why did the bees go on strike? For more honey in their paychecks and shorter working flowers.”
(Well, you didn’t think we’d leave you on an Einstein quote, did you?)
We all know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night, needing the loo, not wanting to leave your warm bed and head downstairs to a cold bathroom.
So imagine there are no lights, it's -14°C and instead of quickly nipping down the stairs, you have a 20 minute trek along a rocky track ahead to your toilet - which happens to be a riverbank.
Oh and that same riverbank feeds into the river where you get all your drinking water, wash your clothes and so on.
Well, for Doris and hundreds of other families in the high Andes of Peru, that's how it is.
Practical Action are introducing 300 'eco loos' to families living at 5000m (nearly 5 times as high as Carrauntoohill). These dry toilets are ideal in an area where water is scarce.
Helen from Practical Action has just got back from visiting Peru and has been blogging about the eco loos here.
As well as improving sanitation conditions and not polluting drinking water supplies, these new loos mean that the waste produced can be used to fertilise crops.
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