Great tasting recipes to help fight off depression, acne, stress and insomnia

The combination of the cold weather, the grey skies, an awful boss and sadness can make you sick. It can make you break out with acne you haven’t had since you were sixteen, it can pile on stress, it can give you a bad case of insomnia or it can make you feel depressed.

Have no fear, simply protect yourself with the help of your blender. Here are four super recipes for juices to help you battle against these rough times.

Acne 

With poor eating habits, come poor health and poor skin. If you don't eat well,  you can apply lot of cream to hide pimples, but its even better if you you start eating healthier.

Nutrition recommendations

Avoid:

• Eating lots of sugar such as chocolate and candies

• Fatty or deep fried food

• Stay away from soda (even diet soda)

• Eat food high in fibre (fruits, vegetables, cereals...)

Essentials:  Vitamins A, B and E

Aim for

• Carrots, Cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, turnips, parsley

• Oranges, apples, bananas

• Soya products

You can make lot of different types of juice with these ingredients.

Try this recipe: Vegetable & fruit juice

Take your blender and add 3 carrots, ½ apple, 3 stems of parsley and a pinch of cinnamon. You can put some ice too to have fresh juice. Enjoy!

Stress 

Are you a hard worker? Or are your mind constantly preoccupied by something? It’s time to take a break, relax and savour a good juice to reduce this unnecessary stress.

Nutrition recommendations

Avoid

• excess simple sugars (soda, candy, chocolate...)

• Avoid Alcohol and caffeine.

Aim for

• fish and other seafood.

• Complex sugars (fruits, vegetables, cereals...)

• High-fibre foods

Essentials: Vitamin B and C, magnesium and lithium

Good juices always contain fresh fruits and vegetables

Try this recipe: Smoothie with banana, strawberry and pineapple juice

In a blender, put 1 banana, 3 or 4 big strawberries, ½ cup of pineapple juice, ice (optional). Mix and Enjoy! If you a want a creamy smoothie, add some milk.

Insomnia

Sometimes we are preoccupied by something, we are constantly thinking, we eat too much, we do too much work, we become upset and we just can’t fall asleep. If this happens repeatedly, you may have insomnia.  Our hygiene, our way of life and our eating habits can cause insomnia. Certain foods help us fall asleep, while others can be heavy and stimulate our bodies.

Nutrition recommendations

Avoid

• caffeine

• alcohol

• soda and excess of sugar

• fatty and fried food

• hot, spicy food

Aim for

• Food with calcium (milk, yoghurt, cheese...)

Essentials: Calcium, magnesium

You can, before go bed, make a glass of hot milk, or, you can try this amazing recipe  Hot red berries with milk

In a pan, mix milk, few red fruits coulis, few whipped cream and ½ of sugar vanilla. Heat to boiling and allow to  cool for 5 minutes.

Depression

Sometimes we are tired, we can be easily upset, we lack of energy, we have bad thoughts...fight these symptoms with good nutrition.

Nutrition recommendations 

Avoid

• Fatty and fried food

• Caffeine and excess of sugar

Aim for

• Food high in  protein

• Vegetables and fruits

• Eat fish with omega 3 like salmon, tuna, mackerel

• Drink milk

• At least ½ bottle of water everyday

Essentials: vitamins B and C, calcium, Iron, Magnesium and potassium

Try this recipe to fight those downer days: Juice with cucumber, lemon and mint.

In a blender, put ½ a cucumber, some fresh mint leaves, Squeeze a green lemon, ½ glass of water and ice (optional). Mix these ingredients and enjoy!