If you are trying to lose weight and you’re looking for a healthy dessert option, then raw vegan (banana-based) ice cream is a diet savior!

I like to top this particular recipe off with a couple of pieces of chopped young coconut, a tablespoon of shredded coconut or even cacao nibs to give it a “chocolate-covered cherry” flavor.

I’ve made cherry ice cream before, but I had some coconut milk this time so I thought I’d give this recipe a try. I didn’t add dates to sweeten it, but if you feel you want to sweeten it further, go ahead and add a date when you add the cherries. Soak the date for about 20 minutes before blending and don’t forget to remove the pit first.

Ingredients:

• 2 small frozen bananas, peeled
• 1 cup pitted frozen cherries
• 1/2 cup frozen coconut milk (pour coconut milk into a large, flat dish so it will freeze in a thin layer)

Directions:

Let everything thaw slightly (until you can easily slice the banana with a knife). Slice the banana into thin slices and break the frozen coconut milk into small pieces. In your blender or food processor, blend the banana and coconut milk until slightly creamy. Lastly, add the cherries. Mix and blend until creamy.

I recommend using a high-speed blender like the Blendtec Total Blender or a Vitamix. Other blenders may yield varying results and they might not have the same creamy, smooth consistency that you’d get with a high end machine. A masticating juicer like the Champion or Green Star are good options for making creamy ice cream. You can also try it in your food processor.

If you are a Blendtec owner, I recommend using their new Twister Jar. The Twister Jar is the perfect accessory for making creamy, raw vegan ice cream, not to mention nut butters in under a minute. Check out my video demonstrating both raw vegan ice cream and 60-second raw almond butter.

For more ice cream ideas, check out our main raw vegan ice cream page. Also try our mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe.

Cranberry sauce is one of my favorite holiday foods, but I’m not a fan of the standard can-shaped, store bought stuff. I like my cranberry sauce made fresh and my cranberries recognizable!

This recipe is AMAZING! (Here’s a link to the original recipe.) When I made it, my entire house had a wonderful holiday aroma of fruit and spices. This recipe is both easy and delicious. I love how the flavor of cranberries are sweetened and accented with ginger and cinnamon.

The sauce should sit for a few hours to thicken so be sure to make it up in advance before a holiday dinner. If you have leftovers, that’s no problem! The flavor is even better the next day, so you can definitely make this the day before.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup filtered water
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 4 Tbsp agave nectar or more to taste
• 1 Tbsp orange zest
• 1 tsp fresh ginger juice (grate fresh ginger and squeeze out the juice) or more to taste
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon depending on taste

Directions:

1. Bring the raisins, cherries, cranberries, orange juice and water to the boil.

2. Simmer for about ten minutes or until some of the cranberries start to burst open. Some will burst open and some will not. This gives a great texture.

3. Now add in the agave nectar, ginger juice, orange zest and cinnamon and simmer for a few more minutes just to allow the flavors to infuse.

4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

5. Chill in the fridge for at least a few hours to allow the sauce to thicken and the flavors to infuse.

6. Eat and enjoy. And try not to eat the whole thing!

Browse more healthy holiday recipes on Incredible Smoothies!

That’s why I recently had my blood tested. I had been putting it if off for a while because I’m terrified of needles, but I finally worked up the courage to go to a lab, have my arm poked and my blood analyzed.

You do not need a doctor to order blood tests for you. Several companies online offer routine blood tests that you can order yourself. Most routine blood tests are quite affordable too, so chances are, you can afford them even if you do not have health insurance.

How To Order Your Own Blood Tests

The process for ordering your own blood tests is extremely simple. I went to the Health One Labs website, picked the tests I wanted and paid for them with my credit card. During the ordering process, I was prompted to select a “patient service center” that was close to me. Within two hours, I was e-mailed a lab requisition form. I printed it out (it was already filled out) and showed up at the patient service center the next morning (no appointment necessary).

I handed the receptionist my requisition form. She had me take a seat for about 2 minutes, then I was ushered into a small room where a vial of my blood was drawn by a friendly lab tech and that was it. I was in and out of there in under ten minutes!

The very next day, I received an e-mail indicating that my lab results were in. I clicked on the link in the e-mail and downloaded a PDF of my results.

Really, the process could not have been any simpler!

Which Blood Tests Should You Get?

There are a many different lab tests available that you can order through the Health One website. Here’s a few that I think have value to check on how your diet and lifestyle are impacting your overall health. You might want to get other blood tests depending on certain health conditions or risk factors you might have. The prices listed are as of this writing and may change at any time.

Comprehensive Health Profile – $59: This test screens for cardiovascular risk, major organ function, anemia, diabetes, infection, blood disease, and other indications of illness. It includes the Complete Blood Count (CBC), lipid panel, liver panel, kidney panel, minerals and bone, fluids and electrolytes as well as a diabetes screen. It’s good base test to check for any indication of abnormalities. It’s not a complete picture of your overall health, but it’s a good snapshot and it’s what is typically ordered during a routine physical.

Ferritin (Iron levels) – $39: This is a good test for vegans and vegetarians to take to ensure adequate iron levels are maintained. Vegan and raw vegan women especially should have this checked routinely to ensure they are getting adequate iron from their diet and/or supplements.

Thyroid Panel – $39: A thyroid panel is a group of tests that are often ordered together to help evaluate thyroid gland function and to help diagnose thyroid disorders. This is a good test for vegans and raw food vegans to take on occasion to ensure proper thyroid function, and to address any deficiency in iodine that might lead to problems with your thyroid. Basically, if you are a vegan, make sure your sea vegetables or supplements are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Vitamin A and Carotene – $49: This test checks your vitamin A levels. It’s a good test for a vegan or vegetarian to take on occasion to ensure that you are synthesizing vitamin A from beta-carotene efficiently enough to maintain adequate levels to prevent deficiency. It is not impossible for a vegan or even a raw food vegan to be deficient in vitamin A despite consuming foods rich in beta-carotene if your body is not efficient in the conversion process.

Vitamin B12 – $39: This should be a standard test for vegans, vegetarians and even meat eaters to check your B12 levels and ensure that you are getting adequate amounts from your diet or supplements.

Vitamin D, 25 Hydoxy – $49: This test should probably be routine for everybody, whether you are vegan or omnivore. Recent studies suggest that many people might be vitamin D deficient than previously thought. If you are vegan and/or spend a lot of time indoors or out of the sun, then get this test to ensure your diet and/or supplements are supplying what your body needs.

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list of blood tests. If you are in good health, you probably don’t need a battery of tests to tell you absolutely everything about what is going on inside your body. The ones I mention above are good starting points that will give you a snapshot into your overall health and levels for certain vitamins and minerals.

Of course, there are some opportunities to get free non-blood tests. For example, I got a free “osteoporosis screening” at Costco last year. My result came back normal. I’m not sure how accurate these screenings are or if they are intended to sell you calcium supplements, but it’s something. Many drug stores have free, in-store blood pressure screening machines too. Keep your eye out for heart health or diabetes awareness events where you can typically get free screenings at a local clinic.

How To Read Your Blood Test Results

Okay, so you went through the easy process of ordering your blood test and getting your blood drawn. Now you’ve downloaded your lab results and need to make sense of them.

Your lab results will show up in a column next to a column called “Reference Interval”. The reference interval is a range of numbers that indicate what is within normal levels for 95% of the population who is considered healthy. (Take a look at a sample lab result.)

For example, the reference interval for total cholesterol is between 100-199. As long as your result is within this range, it is considered normal, and you can easily compare your numbers with the reference intervals on your blood test results to determine if you are within the normal, healthy range or if you are too high (above 199) or too low (below 100).

How here is the tricky part of ordering your own blood tests and having the results in your hand. If any of your numbers come back too high or two low, there is no way for you to know what that indicates without discussing it with a physician or researching it on the Internet.

Now a word of caution about researching the meaning of your lab results online – don’t do it! Just don’t! You’ll end up on alarmist websites with bad information and you will freak yourself out. Even if your numbers are on the low or high end of normal, there are websites and “Internet experts” out there who write alarming articles and blog posts about how normal isn’t really normal and that you need this or you need that (usually a supplement or e-book).

Trust me, the best thing to do if you have any questions about or abnormal results on your blood test is to discuss it with your doctor and heed their advice regarding further testing or changes you can make to bring your results within normal levels.

Of course, if your vitamin B12 lab result shows low levels, you know what to do. Increase your B12 levels through diet and supplements and have your blood retested to ensure your levels are going back up to normal levels (if your results show deficiency, you may need to see a doctor who can administer a B12 shot or provide recommendations to bring your B12 level back up quickly and safely). But if your blood counts are off, or other numbers have been flagged as too high or too low, seek the advice of a medical professional and NOT some Internet health expert.

It’s perfectly fine to look up what certain things on your blood test mean so you can understand them. For example, feel free to read up on what triglycerides are or what bilirubin is. If you’re a health nerd like me, you’ll be fascinated. But let me say it one more time, do not look for answers online for what a low or high result might mean. You’ll just scare yourself, and perhaps needlessly. Or worse, you’ll follow bad advice and make things worse.

How Often Should You Get Your Blood Tested?

I plan to order the above mentioned blood tests once per year. If I ever feel run down or chronically “not quite right”, or I exhibit deficiency symptoms, I will test my blood sooner. If a blood result were to show deficiency in a certain vitamin, I would modify my diet or supplement, then have it retested a month later.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to test your blood on a periodic basis. The ONLY way to ensure that your diet and lifestyle is optimal for you is not by following a strict diet to the letter, or adhering to health regimens prescribed by gurus, but to test your blood and look at the results based on your diet choices.

“What is the best source of essential omega-3 fatty acids?”

I’m not sure that there is a single “best source” of omega-3s. The best source would be a whole food that provides omega-3′s in the right balance compared to other nutrients. While flax and chia seeds are often promoted as a rich source of omega-3′s, fruits and leafy greens are also good sources.

Just one head of romaine lettuce has 44% RDA, three cups of kale has 23% RDA and a mango has 5%. Most fruits and vegetables have some amount of omega-3 fatty acids in them. A low fat, raw vegan diet will provide more than 100% RDA of omega-3s within the first 1500 calories of a daily meal plan without even eating any flax or chia.

Since I consider a healthy diet to be one that is low in fat and predominantly raw (and vegan), my preference is to get my omega-3s from foods that have a macro-nutrient ratio consistent with my overall diet whenever possible.

I base my dietary macro-nutrient balance on the 80/10/10 ratio (80% carbohydrates, 10% protein, 10% fat per calorie) or sometimes 70/15/15. Fruits and vegetables fall within this ratio, for the most part, and provide sufficient RDA’s of omega-3′s. Flax and chia also provide rich sources of omega-3′s, but with a much higher fat to carbohydrate ratio.

Flax oil may be an especially rich source of omega-3′s, but it’s 100% fat and not a whole food. So while extracted flax oil might be an extremely rich source of omega-3′s, it’s not what I would consider the best source.

Flax or Chia Seeds?

For those of you who really want to know, flax seeds are a richer source of omega-3′s than chia by weight. Flax has 214% RDA of omega-3′s per 15 gram serving while chia only has 165% RDA.

Now is there anything wrong with taking flax seed or chia seeds? No, not really. You can add them to smoothies or use them to increase your omega-3 intake if there is a need to do so. As long as they don’t throw your diet off balance by adding too much fat, they won’t be harmful.

However, I’d encourage you to stop thinking of flax or chia as the only sources of omega-3′s in your diet.

What About Fish Oils? (ALA, EPA and DHA Explained)

All plant sources of omega-3′s are in the form of alpha-linolenic acid or ALA. Your body can convert short chain ALA to long chain omega-3′s, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). There are no known plant sources of EPA and DHA, however. Vegetarians and vegans often have lower levels of EPA and DHA than those who eat fish.

However, is it necessary to eat fish? Should you take fish oils? Doesn’t your body convert enough ALA into EPA and DHA?

First of all, your body’s process for converting ALA to EPA and then to DHA is not efficient and some research shows that the efficiency of conversion is less than 5%. On a strict vegetarian diet, you’d have to dramatically increase your omega-3 intake to provide enough excess ALA to be converted. Even so, there is no guarantee that your body will actually convert sufficient amounts since not everybody is able to do so.

Secondly, taking extracted flax oils and other omega-3 oils to increase your ALA intake for conversion to EPA and DHA is adding a lot of unnecessary fat to your diet. In my view, it would be much better to supplement with a EPA/DHA omega-3 oil than to consume much larger doses of ALA.

This doesn’t mean that you have to eat fish or take fish oils if you are vegan. Fish don’t produce their own omega-3′s. It’s essential for them just as it is essential for us. Fish get their omega-3′s from the algae that they eat, and it moves along up the food chain to humans. Unfortunately, so do heavy metals, PCB’s, dioxins and other contaminants commonly found in fish.

If you want to cut the fish out of the loop, then get your omega-3′s from algae as well. One of the best EPA/DHA omega-3 supplements I’ve found (and I currently take) is called Opti-3. Opti-3 is an algae oil that contains 1290 milligrams of omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids per recommended serving (2 capsules). Each serving contains 700mg of omega-3′s (40mg EPA and 200mg DHA).

You can order it directly via their website. The company is based in the UK but they ship worldwide. I recently purchased three bottles and had them in my mailbox two days after purchase!

I know what you’re probably thinking. Algae oil is not a whole food! This is true, but it’s also the most cost effective and most bio-available way to include EPA and DHA omega-3′s into my vegan diet. It makes more sense for me to do this than it does to mega-dose on flax oil and hope that my body can do the long-chain conversion adequately.

To recap, my typical daily omega-3 intake comes primarily from whole fruits and vegetables (leafy greens!), small amounts of nuts and seeds (including walnuts, flax and chia seeds) and a quality EPA/DHA algae oil supplement.

First of all, animal protein and the mineral, iron, are not necessarily related. You don’t need to consume animal protein to get adequate iron. Iron is not contained in the amino acids themselves. Adding animal protein into your diet will increase your iron, but not because of the increase in protein, but because animal flesh contains heme iron which is readily absorbable by your body.

I’m not sure what else you are missing as you didn’t specify it, but it is not necessary to rely on animal flesh to boost or maintain your iron levels if you are committed to a compassionate, vegan or raw vegan lifestyle. Taking a B12 supplement is an excellent idea and I recommend that ALL vegans, including raw vegans, take a B12 and D supplement regularly.

As far as iron on a raw vegan diet, you can’t go by percent daily value listings on nutrition labels. Vegans and vegetarians have higher iron requirements because plant-based iron isn’t as readily available to the body. It doesn’t mean that plant-based iron is poor quality iron, it just means you’ve got to eat a little more iron-rich, plant foods to maintain your iron levels.

That being said, iron can be a real challenge for raw vegan women. Men have it easier because our iron requirements are much lower. It is much easier for a raw vegan male to get 14 milligrams of iron per day from leafy greens, nuts, seeds and sprouted legumes. In fact, you can get 14 milligrams of iron daily from a 2500 calorie-per-day 80/10/10 low fat, raw vegan diet rich in leafy greens like kale, romaine and dandelion (two bunches per day).

For vegan women who need up to 33 milligrams of iron from plant sources, that’s a real challenge. If you are pre-menopausal, then I recommend that you use a software like Cron-o-Meter to track your iron intake and supplement if you fall short. Tracy takes Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Iron capsules. You can easily open the capsules and stir the powder into a smoothie.

Raw hummus and sprouted chick peas are an excellent source of hummus, although I prefer regular hummus to raw hummus – which is just as high in iron.

While Sunfood brand raw cacao lists an exceptionally high iron content on their nutrition labels, I would caution against using cacao as a significant part of your diet or as your main source of iron. I would rather supplement than rely on fat-laden chocolate to get my iron.

If you are okay with not being a 100% raw foodist (there is absolutely nothing wrong with being mostly raw), then you can expand your iron sources by including cooked foods like quinoa, brown rice and sprouted grain bread. Cooking has no effect on iron since minerals cannot be destroyed by cooking.

Good luck on finding the right balance in your diet that restores and maintains your iron levels. Feel free to use our contact form to ask any other questions you might have about avoiding deficiencies and making a healthy vegan or raw vegan diet work for you.

If you are committed to improving your health and lifestyle through green smoothies and raw foods, then check out our Thriving On Raw Foods program. You’ll find out exactly what to eat to get enough iron in your diet with raw foods. You’ll also learn about how to get enough protein, which amino acids to watch out for if you are vegan and how to avoid health problems on a long term, 100% raw or mostly raw food diet.

The Thriving On Raw Foods program gives you hundreds of recipes, a 21-day meal plan that helps transition you to a raw food lifestyle and answers many common questions about nutrition.

Make a commitment to your health and start Thriving On Raw Foods today!

Do you have a question about green smoothies, raw foods, health and nutrition? Just ask using our contact form!

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This is an excellent recipe for weight loss because it is rich in fiber, so it fills you up without leaving you feeling hungry. I loved this soup and devoured it quickly!

Since this is a raw soup, I didn’t heat it. If you have a high-speed blender like the Blendtec, you can use the “soup” button to warm it.

Ingredients

• 2 medium golden delicious apples, cored
• 1/2 a small lime, peeled
• 10 to 12 mint leaves

Directions:

Add all the ingredients to you blender and blend for about 30 seconds. Grab a spoon and enjoy!

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I’d never made my own raw beet salad, but I’ve eaten it at restaurants and raw potlucks so I wanted to give it a try.

The apple and beet taste delicious together and the spices give it a little extra kick. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a raw vegan meal (or even a cooked vegan meal).

This makes enough for one or two people depending on how much salad you want.

Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow apple, cut into thin slices
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup beets, chopped into small cubes
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• pinch of sea salt

Directions:

In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients. Be careful not to get the beet juice on your clothing as it will stain. Grab a fork and enjoy!

Raw food should be simple. I’d starve before I’d have the patience to sprout, dehydrate, process and create a raw gourmet creation. I like things simple. If you feel the same way, you might like my Thriving On Raw Foods program which contains many raw vegan recipes that are equally simple to make.

The Thriving On Raw Foods program is a 21-day transition plan to help you step up to the raw food diet easily. Included are over 100 recipes, daily meal plans and lots of expert advice to help you start thriving on raw foods!