For a healthier drink

DO you fall ill often or experience fatigue, weakness, nausea, heartburn, or constant irritability?
There is a high chance that you may be lacking fibre and vitamins in your diet.
Sadly, many Malaysians place very little ­importance on their overall health. We eat an ­unhealthy or ­unbalanced diet, and our busy ­lifestyles often lead to a lack of ­physical activities, ­placing us among the most obese nations in Asia.
However, by ­increasing your daily dietary fibre and ­vitamin intake, there can be an overall improvement to your health.
On average, the recommended amount of fibre ­intake per day for adults over 18 years are 30g for males and 25g for females. However, studies have shown that fibre intake among ­Malaysians is only about 13g to 16g.
Fibre comes mainly from plant foods, such as grains, v­egetables, beans and fruits. There are two types of fibre, namely insoluble and soluble.
Dietary fibre aids in stabilising blood glucose levels as well as lowering blood cholesterol levels. It also facilitates digestion, which helps reduce constipation.
Thanks to its many ­advantages, a high-fibre diet is generally lower in calories and causes you to feel full faster and for a longer period of time, which helps ­individuals to stay at a healthy weight and lowers the risk of ­diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
The first step is to switch to a healthier lifestyle, and it can be as simple as including one fibre-packed food into your daily meal.
The easiest choice could be fruits and juices such as apples, oranges, ­guavas, and ­mangoes. Skip the white bread and pasta, and look for food labels with ­wholegrain and wholemeal.
A good serving of whole grains will give you up to 3g of fibre. It also provides you with vitamin B, which improves cell generation.
Fruits such as guava, apple, and mango are great ­sources of ­fibre and ­vitamins.
When you get the urge to snack, have a serving of fruits or even a pre-packed juice to further complement your diet easily.
If you have no time to ­prepare or pack your own fruits, stock up on Marigold Peel Fresh juices, which are fortified with ­vitamins A, C and E, giving you more nutritious and fruity ­goodness in every drop.
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Marigold Peel Fresh juices are ­available in both ­regular range of orange, ­apple, apple aloe vera, pink ­guava, ­tropical mango, white grape, ­blackcurrant & ­cranberry, carrot, as well as guava; and the no sugar added range of orange, powerberries, ­apple, mixed fruit mangosteen, ­powerveggies & fruits, and cloudy apple.
You can drink it straight out of the pack or turn it into smoothies. Here are two smoothies made using Marigold Peel Fresh juices.
Apple Delight smoothie
Ingredients (serves two)
½ cup of Marigold Peel Fresh Apple juice
¾ cup diced apple, peeled or unpeeled
½ banana, sliced
Pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)
Method:
1. Pour Marigold Peel Fresh Apple juice into your blender.
2. Add the rest of the ­ingredients and blend ­until mixture is smooth.
3. Refrigerate before serving.
Orange Banana Smoothie
Ingredients (serves three)
1½ cup Marigold Peel Fresh Orange juice
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 to 1½ ripe ­bananas
1 cup ­strawberries, tops ­removed, cut in half
Method:
1. Combine the Marigold Peel Fresh Orange juice with the rest of the ingredients in your blender and blend till smooth.
2. Refrigerate before serving.