Here at Radiant Life, our team is dedicated to testing all of our featured products thoroughly, and having some fun too. We often find ourselves, fingers covered in coconut oil, laughing over the clinking of pans and scraping every last morsel of delightful food out with a spatula.  We decided that it's time for us to share, and for you to share as well! Starting this week, every Tuesday, we will give a sneak peek into some of our best do-it-yourself cooking adventures, and give everyone an opportunity to discuss some of yours as well!

This week's topic: Introducing the Top 10 Unsung Superfoods and Radiant Life’s Original Superfoods Smoothie Recipe!

Take a minute and close your eyes. Can you picture a Fermented Cod Liver Oil bottle wrapped up in a shiny red cape, ready to save the world, one nutritionally-deficient pedestrian after the next? Not the hunky superhero you might think...but you would be surprised about just how much this superfood and the other members of its healing squad can do for you.

Superfoods are foods that are naturally concentrated with important nutrients.  Unlike dietary supplements or vitamins taken in isolation, superfoods offer complex, supportive combinations of nutrients that promote optimal balance.

So, do I really need another diet regimen to work on? 

In an incandescently healthy, ideal world, diet would provide us with all of the full, luscious nutrients needed to support life. However, in modern society, even among the most conscientious whole foods munchers, this is nearly impossible to achieve. Think about all the depleted mass-farmed soils, mis-marked “organic/natural” foods, prevalence of sugar and additives, nasty vegetable oils and refined carbohydrates that you have eaten (in childhood, if not now). That's a whole lot of damage done...so we naturally need a boost to help in the reparative process. Think back to ancient cultures too, where certain nutrient-dense primitive foods (like fish eggs, organ meats, healing herbs) were considered sacred.  I’m not saying that you need to arrange your superfoods for a ritualistic ceremony every morning on the kitchen table, but these are beautiful substances that should truly be honored. They are a gift, and we all need them.

10 Everyday Superfoods

There are thousands of unique superfoods that can be used with the steady guidance of a holistic health practitioner for the healing of personal ailments. However, here is a selected list from Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions, which can generally be taken by most anyone on a regular basis:

• Acerola Powder
• Blue-Green Algae, Spirulina, Chlorella
• Borage Oil
• Butter and High-Vitamin Butter Oil
• Cod Liver Oil
• Colostrum
• Liver
• Noni Capsules
• Nutritional Yeast
  
• Probiotics

Remember, not all superfoods are created equally. Sometimes they are processed with soy, or heated to temperatures that destroy fragile nutrients.  When shopping, make sure to do your research and read the labels.  Radiant Life offers you carefully selected superfoods that have been harvested in a sustainable way, and delivered in a correct-preparation method to you.

It’s Recipe Time: Superfoods Smoothie

If you are like me, some of these superfoods make my tongue tingle with anticipation.  As a true mountain-stomping girl, many of the sea products make me squeamish at the very thought. One Radiant Life favorite is a Superfoods Smoothie, which we eat here almost every morning. It is a time-tested original recipe and a delicious way to get your superfoods down in a delicious slurp! It can also be personalized depending on your constitution and nutritional needs.

Radiant Life’s Original Superfood Smoothie Recipe

• 2 Pastured Eggs, or just the yolks if you prefer
  
• 2-3 TBS cold pressed coconut oil
• 2 cups of organic berries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 TBS of Mt. Capra Mineral Whey
• 1 Tsp. Premier Greens
• 1 Tsp. Pure Synergy
• 1/2 cup pure water
• 1-2 TBS raw cream
  

Variation: High Protein Smoothie Recipe

Add 1-2 scoops of Vital Whey Protein Powder to the above ingredients and blend well. Each scoop has 16 grams of protein, as well as the full range of biologically active, non-denatured, native whey protein components that includes immunoglobulins, lactoferrin and serum albumin to your smoothie.

Other optional ingredients to add/substitute: Pure Radiance C, Super Greens and Dunaliella (has probiotics), Alga Spirulina, Acerola Powder, Royal Camu, Desiccated Liver Powder, whatever you feel you need to supplement in your diet based on availability of fresh foods in winter, etc.