Bobby I have a "Breakfast in a Glass" recipe from the GI (low glycemic) Diet Cookbook which uses a base of soya milk along with a mixture of fruits of the forest, often found as a frozen mixture, together with 1/2 a banana etc. It covers you for protein, fruit and fibre. I haven't tried it but here's the recipe: Breakfast in a Glass ================ 16 fl oz soya milk 18 oz fresh or frozen fruits of the forest (blueberries, blackcurrants, strawberries, raspberries) 1/2 a banana 4 oz low fat natural yogurt 1 oz flaxseeds or linseeds 2 TBS sunflower seeds 1 oz whey or soy protein isolate powder (health food store) 2 TBS soy lecithin granules (optional) sugar substitute to taste 1. Using a blender or liquidiser, whiz together the soya milk, berries, banana and yogurt until almost smooth. 2. In a spice or coffee grinder, finely grind the flaxseeds or linseeds and sunflower seeds. Add to the soya milk mixture in the blender along with the protein powder and lecithin, is using. Blend just until mixed, about 5 seconds. Source: Rick Gallop's GI Diet Green-light Cookbook London 2006 Sharon Cb

Kate, I lurk over here once in awhile, and happened to see your post. I do smoothies in several ways. Recently I've bought some little push-up containers for freezing and I'm making popsicles that are 'the bomb' - excuse the pun. I'll start with two recipes for popsicles that were given to me 30 years ago, and they easily converted to sugar-free, fat-free. The first is for fudgesicles. Mix a 3 oz box of instant sugar free chocolate pudding mix according to package directions, using nonfat milk. Then blend in a ?13 oz? can of nonfat evaporated milk (not the sweetened kind, just plain evap milk. If you're not watching your fat grams, regular evap milk makes a creamier fudgesicle, but these aint half bad.) Pour into molds and freeze. (If you're not on a diet, a cup or two of brewed flavored coffee and a can of that sweetened evap milk, frozen, is also yummy. But I digress......) The second is for dripless popsicles. It calls for a 3 oz box of any flavor Jell-o, mixed according to package directions. Do not chill. Instead, add a can of evap milk to make a "Dreamsicle", or 2 cups of mixed fruit, (mashed or pureed). Pour into molds and freeze. Now, for what I call a "milkshake", soften 2 tsp. of unflavored gelatin in about 1/2 cup water. Then place this in the microwave until the gelatin has melted and the mixture is kinda like eggwhite. This takes only 30 seconds or so. Into your blender, place whatever kind of fruit strikes your fancy. I like peach, banana or strawberry the best, or a mixture. Maybe about a cup. Add about half cup of water. If you want it like a smoothie you would not add dry milk, but I add 1/3 cup dry milk because I like it better that way. Start the blender, and while it is whirring, pour in the hot gelatin. Then start dropping ice into the blender until the mixture thickens and becomes smooth. Pour into a glass and eat it with a spoon. If your fruit is not sweet enough on its own, add some artificial sweetener or sugar. Smoothies can be made with all kinds of different fruits, and lot of times I just throw frozen fruit into the blender in lots of different combinations: plum and banana with some frozen apple juice concentrate. Canned pineapple and frozen strawberry with some frozen orange juice concentrate. Something tart with something sweet, you know? You can leave out the gelatin if you don't want to go to the trouble, but I like the smooth creaminess it gives to the finished product. You can make a very nice 'cheesecake' by using the gelatin, fat-free cream cheese, some dry milk powder and lemonade concentrate. Of course there's sugar in the lemonade concentrate. You can also make a 'chocolate shake' by using the gelatin mixture recipe, replacing the fruit with 1 cup water and another 1/3 cup of nonfat dry milk powder, and adding maybe a tablespoon of cocoa. I like to go to Allrecipes.com and I notice they're featuring a lot of smoothie recipes there. So if none of these appeal to you, try there. They have a search function you can use, just search on 'smoothie'. I'm not connected to them in any way, I just like the site. Oh, and BTW, lots of things can be frozen and eaten without thawing (besides cookies, but I'm digressing again...). Grapes are delicious frozen, as are blueberries, peaches and apple slices (dip the apple slices in salt water, drain and freeze, 1 tbsp to a gallon -- do the math for smaller quantities, you don't taste it and it keeps the apple from turning). Bananas can be frozen in the skin, but not for a very long tine. To eat, run water over the skin to thaw it a bit, score it down the length of the banana and pry up along one edge. It will peel right off, usually in one piece. The skin will have blackened but the banana inside is still yellow and creamy. My kids used to call frozen banana 'ice cream'. LOL You must eat it while it's frozen though because when it thaws it's not a pretty sight. Watermelon and cantaloupe make wonderful popsicles. The trick is to puree them first. Cantaloupe is wonderful blended into apricot jello for popsicles. I think they have watermelon flavor jello now but I haven't tried it. There are all kinds of possibilities for smoothies, and any smoothie can be made into a popsicle. If you're interested, I bought my popsicle push-up molds at organize.com (not affiliated with them either). They're called cool cones. I like them very much. They don't leak out the bottoms so when I freeze them I set them upright in the freezer and let the 'stems' hang down between the wires of the shelf until they're solid. I hope this helps! --Ilene

Only protects the thyroid. From the (limited) reading I've done on Chernobyl, the most common injury from radiation exposure of ordinary residents in the affected area after a nuclear plant accident is childhood thyroid cancer. But, you have to be really quite vulnerable and quite severely exposed (e.g. children drinking milk from cows feeding on grass contaminated by that huge accident) to be significantly injured. Most of the 5 million residents of the areas of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine that were most contaminated have not suffered much, if any, measurable increase in cancer (solid or hematological), according to the World Health Organization's investigation. The greater injuries were psychological and economic/social (from trauma and mass displacement). For some of the on-site responders, who were very severely exposed, the story is different. As for the population of Western Europe, I've read that epidemiological studies suggest maybe 2,000 excess cases of cancer due to Chernobyl - which, in a 300 million population, is a very small number, I mean not to the few unlucky individuals but on an overall scale. Here is a readable summary: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2006/9241594179_eng.pdf And the link has a much longer WHO report. Another long report is here http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/en/ Bottom-line, a few (relatively speaking) people in Japan may need KI now, some more may need it later, in the US we don't and probably won't. As I'm not completely sure, and I do have kids, and I like Japanese food, I now have konbu. Here is a link that might be useful: WHO report, 167 pg

Sorry to revive an old thread, I've not been around much, but wanted to comment. Lately, I've been counting calories (Livestrong.com has a very intuitive calorie counter/ food tracker) and juicing to reduce weight and increase nutrients. I make carrot, apple, and spinach juice daily. It looks awful, but it tastes great. Spinach and carrots are the only vegetables I juice, but they have a lot of nutrients. I juice a lot of fruit too, watermelon, grapes, pineapple, it's all great! I have a Juiceman Jr. centrifugal juicer and it is what is right for me... it's fast and pretty easy to clean and does a good job. I have a friend with a Vitamix, and he say that it has changed his life. I tried to juice in my Blender (I have the "under 200 dollar Breville" someone above mentioned, but I didn't like the pulp/fiber in the juice. I'll get my fiber elsewhere, I want the juice smooth. That Breville has been nothing short of amazing by the way for anyone considering it. Terrapots, did you make a decision yet? I'd recommend an entry level juicer first to see if it's something you're going to enjoy and stick with since you aren't ready to invest in a Vitamix. Blenders are so much easier to clean than juicers though, there just aren't as many parts!