Editor’s note: Planning to give your health nut a blender this year? Then you’ll love this guest post from Frank at BlenderBenefits.com.

Since all of the detox drink recipes on Live Lighter depend on maximizing the nutrients one can consume from each plant, it is important to use a blender able to retain as much nutrients as possible during the blending process. Better yet, if you use a blender that actually makes it easier for your body to assimilate the nutritious goodness found in fruits and vegetables, then you’re made in the shade.

Luckily, there are a couple of powerful blending options available to properly blend detox drink recipes and maximize their nutritional value.

You may have seen the very viral video series “Will it Blend?” starring the Blendtec blender. If you’ve seen any of them, you’ll know this blender is one of the most powerful kitchen appliances available (it turned an iPhone into iDust.) [Click here to read Frank's Blendtec post on his Blender blog.]

Although intimidating, it does a tremendous job blending anything you want to add to your concoctions. Harder ingredients like flax seed, nuts and kale, are easily handled by a Blendtec blender and unlike cheaper blenders, blending ice is a breeze.  Recipes like the Ginger Root Boost, will come out smooth and consistent even though you are blending tougher/drier items like ginger root.

The Blendtec blender is renowned in raw foodist circles due to the beneficial health benefits it can provide. High powered blenders like this and the Vita-Mix Blender [read Frank's article here] actually rupture plant cell walls, making it easier for to assimilate the plant’s natural nutrients.

The Blendtec blender is definitely more expensive than other blenders, but the added benefits are worth it. It is the best blender to own if you plan on blending regularly, as it has a very customer friendly 3 year warranty.

For these reasons, the Blendtec Blender is the perfect choice to blend Live Lighter’s detox drink recipes.

Until next time – stay healthy and keep blending!

Visit BlenderBenefits.com to learn how blenders can benefit your life through thoughtful blender reviews and scrumptious blender recipes, and join the community by submitting your own reviews and/or recipes!

Although it might not be everyone’s favourite past-time, cleaning is essential to living a lighter and happier life. This includes cleaning your body from the inside-out with refreshing water. But how about something tastier?

The following cleansing drink recipe was inspired by an aloe vera, lemon and maple syrup recipe I found in the Feb/Mar 2009 Healthy Directions magazine:

POM-Aloe Cleansing Drink Recipe

Ingredients

16 oz. filtered or reverse osmosis water
1 oz. aloe vera juice
1/4 lemon slice
pinch of high trace mineral sea salt
1 oz. POM Wonderful pomegranate juice (read our product review)

Directions

1. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into the water.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients.
3. Shake vigorously and enjoy!

Tell us how you enjoyed this cleansing detox drink!

Now that the nicer weather is here, many people will be spring cleaning their bodies and minds with a detox diet or juice fast. If you’ve tried either, you’ll know the importance of nutritional support and liquids.

If you’re new to detoxing, nutritional support is done through diet, supplements and herbs, and is used to stimulate the body to release toxins and heal itself. Liquids provide additional nutrients for nourishment and flush toxins as they are released so they do as little damage as possible on the way out.

This post aims to mash the two together so that you have a list of nutritionally-supportive liquids to choose from on your detox. Besides 8 glasses of plain, filtered water per day, here are some other options to consider:

1. Lemon water (cold or warm). As we found out last week, lemons are a super fruit. Among their many benefits, they cleanse the bloodstream and detoxify and neutralize the system.
2. Master Cleanse Recipe. Warm lemon water with a little cleansing cayenne pepper and sweetened with mineral-rich organic maple syrup. How can you go wrong?
3. Detox tea. Triple Leaf Tea makes their detox tea with over 20 potent Chinese purification herbs, including red clover, burdock and licorice (which all have detoxifying effects and help heal organs).
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Happy Gobble Gobble Day, Canadian Live Lighter Readers! It’s a blessedly beautiful weekend up here in Canada, thanks to the Powers That Be. I hope you’ve all enjoyed lots of sun and good, soulful, loving food with friends and family. If you’re like me, then you celebrated LARGE and had all sorts of yummy foods not included in your healthy living plan.

This post will be very helpful to anyone who’s indulged too much this weekend. To recap on some of the substances that put a strain on our systems, Dr. Elson M Haas reminds us in “Staying Healthy through the Seasons” to:

Be careful with fried foods, processed and chemical foods, and drugs of all kinds, especially alcohol, or too much caffeine, as all these can be pollutants with which the liver must deal.”

But of course, “everything in moderation, including moderation.” I think this is why we have holidays: they are the perfect time, considering they are usually very social, to go a little crazy and stress your system a bit. “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” right? And I stressed my system wonderfully this weekend!

For these celebratory times, Dr. Haas has thoughtfully included a cleansing “Liver Flush” tonic recipe in his book. He suggests drinking it first thing in the morning. It’s very strong but surprisingly creamy and tasty, and I’ve tried (and liked!) both versions:

Liver Flush

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