 Welcome back to morning baraka nutrition. Yeah, fantastic. That's what we need early morning, isn't it? A bit of energy boost. Energy booster. And that's what you're going to be doing. What you want to talk about today is that energy levels and you're going to then create a smoothie for us. Inshallah. Inshallah. Okay, so in terms of what's up for today then, what's your... We've got a whole host of ingredients. Okay. We won't go into the portion sizes because they that can be found on the Imam Hussein TV website, excuse me, Facebook page. However, this is energy. Yeah. Energy is one of the things important. That's what fuels the body. So this is a really key aspect. And that's actually from an Islamic perspective. It's what we're meant to eat for, isn't it? That the body needs its energy and what it is is a vessel for the soul. So to make sure that we have the right nutrients and the right balance so that our soul can be nurtured in a healthy environment. Right. And to carry out those halal activities and duties that we have throughout the working day or 24-hour day. With your ingredients, how will that benefit us? There is so much to talk about. You have your nuts, you have your chia, you have your sunflower seeds, almond milk, nutrition in the pineapples. We've got cucumber, apple, spinach, you know, it's all there. It is all there. And what's good about this? The vitamins, the vitamins, the proteins, the carbohydrates, the right amount of sugars, the healthy fats, you know, we're always going on about fats, healthy fats. Okay. So in terms of what's, there's a whole array of food here. Yeah. So we've got, like I said, spinach. Superfood, spinach is actually. Is it? Yeah. So what's a superfood? So superfoods are those that are even in small portions. They give out a high nutritional content, like, you know, ginger. Certain foods are like the okraus, you know, things like that. Spinach comes under that category as well, under superfoods. You know, you've got acidic foods and alkaline foods. So it's one of those alkaline foods that helps to regulate the body's acid levels. How often should we be eating those kind of foods? Spinach is something that I don't think you can eat too much of. I mean, it's just, it's one of those type of foods, even a little, but maybe portion-wise, a little in some rice or with vegetables or, you know, even just with a bit of salad. Spinach doesn't have to be cooked, but spinach is one of the special foods. Right. So and then what else have we got? Avocado. We have avocado, some more healthy fats, energy. That's, yeah, that's got quite a high energy level and it often says about the fat. So what, that's good fat. Yeah, the good fats. So it doesn't matter if you have sort of one a day, it's not going to be putting on weight in the wrong places. No, no, because there are, you know, there are, you know, this thing that people talk about in terms of what can be risk of, create risks of heart disease, things like this. But avocados now, avocados are good for, you know, we have shifts in the food science and, you know, but at the moment, the cycle we're in, at least, you know, avocados are good. Okay, because avocado, obviously, you can the healthy cholesterol, you know, right. So avocado is good. Obviously, it's just not internally, but externally, so it's good for skin as well. Yeah, that's right. And what else? Apples, apples. Good old fashioned apples. Apple day, keep the doctor away. Nice, nice, good old fashioned fiber in your apples as well. Okay. And what else is an apple good for? Fiber is good for your body because we need fiber is part of, you know, helps our digestion. Okay, so apples are good for fiber, you said. So what's good? What's one of the things that digestion, right? So yeah, apples are good for digestion. Avocados good for cholesterol, healthy fats. Okay, so generally, every day, how much should we be eating of sort of fruits per day? I would say a moderate amount. But when you're talking about portions of food, nutritionist dieticians are the ones that can, you know, there's websites you can go to the NHS website. Okay. Yeah, they can give you, you know, a direct portion size for certain types of foods. Okay, so let's get cracking with this. All right. So we have, voila, we have a large container today. And I'm looking forward to this one because it's different, you know, energy levels. Let's start off with a knife to cut our avocado or we behind you. We also, yeah, I have a cloth for the jaw. Yeah, so avocado, half avocado. This is a children don't try this at home without mommy's supervision. For our younger viewers, use my cutting board. No, I'm a bit of a maverick, as you know. Goodness. All right, so here we go. So we have, yeah, avocado, I love avocado. I love it. Think of it more with, yeah, with savory, as opposed to with, you know, pineapple and stuff. But you know, it's a flexible food. Yeah. Okay, let's get that out of the way. Bosch, fish. Right. All right. And we have a little bit of spinach. So what's the benefits of you said about spinach being super food? Yeah. You know, we are body naturally produces certain levels of acid. Yeah. And so foods like this spinach are good at sort of regulating or alkaline, alkaline foods. I make spinach and potato curry. Cool. And my friends really love it. But is that the amount you have to cook it is does anything nutritionally remain when you're sort of, yeah, definitely. It's not the same as if you're eating it raw. I mean, that's like when you freeze or you put certain foods in tins. You lose, you know, you lose a little, but you don't lose that much that it's, you know, it's spoiling the food or whatever it is. Okay. So still be getting some out of it. So you're chopping the, I just take I prefer to take the skin, the skin off of the cucumber. Although there is a lot of nutrition in the skin. It doesn't, you know, the kind of a quiet taste, right? Is it? Well, I don't like it. I'm just being biased. Okay. So you've got cucumber. Yes, we've got cucumbers. We have some almond milk to add. And not as people. Sounds different, but this is about energy. This is about, you know, boosting the energy levels and so almond milk. I mean, that's coming as quite a substitute for regular cow's milk. It's a good generally to have for people who haven't got intolerances towards milk A lot of people just like it just for the flavor. They still got nutritional value to it, but people just, some people just prefer it. What are the nutritional values? What is it good for? Do it's like almonds or? Well, you know, nuts in general are good and they have certain protein content. So and protein builds muscle mass, right? Yeah, especially after exercise, you need to repair the muscles with protein. Okay. So what are you adding in there? So we've got pine apples. We've added some pineapples and also some nuts, almond almond butter. That's right. That's right. I'm searching for the right one. So a bit of almond butter in there as well. Here goes. That looks really rich. You're looking for energy. So is it quite different from peanut butter? almond butter? Yeah, you know, nuts have different values, right? They have different values in terms of percentage of fiber, protein, whatever. Yeah. So almonds are different. And nuts are also associated with like walnuts are supposed to be good to thinking, you know, like different nuts are kind of have their association how scientifically proven this is. In terms of the, if you don't, if you have an intolerance to sort of nuts and things, you can omit that, can't you? Definitely, definitely. Please, please do. I insist. Okay, a lot of people really have bad nut allergies. So what's the substitute for that then? Like, what can people use? Not off the top of the head. You might have to just skip it. You might just have to just skip it. Okay. So the apple, you're chopping up possibly maybe even coconut oil. Okay. So I cut the apples up just to so you don't mind the actual skin. No, that's a bit different. But yeah, I was a bit biased. I'm biased about cucumber skin. Yeah, probably from my childhood, you know. Okay. So an apple is going in. Yep. This is quite a you're going to say concoction. I am going to say that exactly what I'm thinking and what's that's going in. And I think this is our final ingredient for the day, the chia seeds and sunflower seeds. Yeah, pretty cool. Pretty cool. Is that all? And yeah, that's it. I don't think we need any ice water because there's the almond milk. So we're going to give it a whiz now. We'll give it a shake and a stir. Gosh. So that isn't really something you can make in five. You've done it in a few minutes. But yeah, I'm I'm going to say, here's one I prepared earlier. I've done this before, but you know, for many of you, take your time. Okay. All right, here we go. So wow. That looks like a different. I mean, just take yourself because it's not what we used to. It was a coriander mashed up at the moment. He's making up you expecting for me to put this in a pot, right? And stew it off. I make a mint chutney and that looks like mint chutney at the moment. All right. Are you pretty dab hand? Are you a dab hand around the kitchen? Yeah, you know, I do I love cooking. I find it very therapeutic. Lots to lots to. It's quite relaxing, actually. And you always enjoy the sort of when family eat your food and they enjoy it. I think it really brings a sort of wholesome feeling in the home. And I'm assuming it's on the side. Stick into the sides. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is essentially. You don't want to you don't want to obliterate it. Rich constituency. It looks good. It looks great, actually. Let me just give it one more. They say just for safety. The good thing is they're quite it's quite quick to make. So I think if you if you were to have something in the day meal plan, you could also cut the have the ingredients ready, couldn't you? And then plan your smoothies. And you know, this could be taken in the middle of the day for energy booster. I'm thinking in the morning on the go, hit one of these. Really? The first thing power walk to the train station. Yeah. We're trying to keep movement going and stuff. So we you know, a little power walk and keep it moving or you know, if you've had a healthy, nice big breakfast and you find yourself flagging, you could make one of these in the middle of the day for moms on the go. Okay. You know, gonna go back to pick up the little one from nurse or something like one of these before you go and pick up the little one because you're gonna need your energy, right? Yeah, you need to be quite brave to try this one. I think it's quite it's it's full of nutrition. And that's what we have to remember. So you're selling it to us. Okay. I wonder if I think that's it. Thank you very much. Let's see what this is. All right, let's get it on this. What do you what do you expect the taste to be like? I mean, it's a surprise. We should have called it energy surprise because it's going to be a rule. If you haven't had this before, it's it's the spinach and the spinach and the pineapple shall find a bit of an odd mix. Okay. One, two, three, go. That is different. It's in a quite no, you know what? Actually, it's different as odd as the ingredients are. It tastes more savory, doesn't it? Not sweet. Nice flavor, nice texture. I can taste the spinach. I'm a lover of spinach. So it's very nice. But one of the things is that if we had time when we could blend this down to a really, really smooth texture, that would even make it more awesome. Yeah. I quite like the bit. I think you can taste the sunflower seeds because they're ground, but it's still a bit of a crunch to it. It's a little crunch in there. I prefer smooth. You see, I prefer smooth. But you know, some might like crunch. This is medium, medium smooth or medium crunch. I like smooth. But it tastes amazing. I think it's the apple you can taste a bit of a crunch to as well, right? The apple is the is it's it's about the over the overarching aroma and taste of apple and this is wonderful for the morning. As I said, after lunchtime, if you want to pick me up. Yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely one for the mornings. You know, what's interesting is that you look at the ingredients and you kind of think, really, what is that going to taste like? Really? You look worried. You look worried. You look a little apprehensive. But that was actually not too bad. No, I think it's, you know, if you know that the energy levels of it and it's nutritionally good for your body, I think you'd be quite happy to have that. Like I said, it's a spinach, that superfood, that spinach. Yeah, you can feel that. I think you'd give you a good kick in the day. Fantastic. So anything else that you'd sort of, what would you think about something adding to that? Probably coconut oil. Okay, that would be quite interesting. Give it a little bit of a little bit of body. Well, how would that be good to sort of coconut is is of energy food, isn't it? It's really good food for for the intestines, for the internal. It's one of those special foods, coconut. In fact, the price of, just as how that reflects the nutritional industry, coconut, the price of coconut water, a sword in recent years, because it's now discovered, something that, you know, in places like the Far East, you know, Caribbean, that people have been taking coconut for ages in Scots, all these natural properties. Is it quite a vital ingredient in the base of food? A lot of food, in a lot of base foods, or just the milk itself to drink, or the jelly, you know, in the large green coconuts, very rich in filling foods, but now, you know, America, Britain, places like this, they've caught on, and so the price is, as it does, you know. Well, it's interesting, because there's a hadith from Imam Jaffa Salafiq, he says that one should smell an apple before eating it. Have you ever smelt an apple before eating it? Maybe I'm thinking, I haven't, but I'm thinking the aroma does have, you know, like aroma therapy, so with the smells of things, I mean, you can imagine walking in a market place or something, you smell something, and it affects your mood, or so, you know, nice smells, foods, you come indoors, or the smell of fresh fruit, you come indoors and mum's cooking something, you know, it sets a mood, so I can, I can, I can appreciate that one about smelling an apple, and maybe not taking for granted what the gifts from Allah, you know, that is like appreciation. I think natural fruit, natural fruit, I know when we've been to Middle East, the fruit there, because I suppose not being sprayed by so many pesticides, it has such a strong aroma, sweet, and you can actually smell the, you know, strawberries and the grape, everything's amazing, you know, beautiful, and I think with apples as well, but pine, I've smelt melons, if you smell the base of the melon, you can actually get the sweetness of it, and how sweet the fruit will be, so it's amazing what you can, what your nose could pick up. Okay, well thank you so much, that was interesting, and definitely one to try out. Pleasure, pleasure, I really enjoyed that one actually, it was a challenge because it's different. Yeah, there's quite a few ingredients out there, so you don't have to be worried when you're cutting the avocado with your hand, I must say, it's a bit of a risk there, but that's all we've got time for us today anyway, so next up we have the politics show with Dr. Zahara and Amy, and they're talking about nationalism and something important here about that.