I'm a girl for lovin'. I express myself through words of love often - from minor things such as 'I love rainbows!' to 'I love you soooo much'. When @ab created little 'positive' graphs for the month of September, my most often used phrase was 'I love', which is no suprise at all to anyone who knows me. So, how on earth was I going to tell my boy, when he was little, how much I really, really loved him? Like more than ANYTHING in the whole wide world? And so was born the sentence that has been on every birthday card ever since:

Today's the first day back at work after two weeks holiday, and it's going to be 26 degrees. It's so exciting having more daylight hours now the clocks have changed, and the prospect of the warm months ahead. But eek - breakfast on the hop again! Breakfast smoothies are my go to go - hell, I don't even need to find the time to chew! Luckily I'd bought six ripe mangoes on the weekend - perfect, juicy, delectable, moreish, sensual, plump, sexy mangoes (have I mentioned I love mangoes?).

Mangoes, of course, are GOOD for you. @eco-alex's medicinal cooking challenge asks us this week to consider a fruit that has benefits for our health - is there a fruit that ISN'T good for us?

Mangos are full of polyphenolics and vitamins - they're antioxideant, anti-inflammatory and have anti-cancer properties. You can read some more formal research here, which outlines that the various parts of the mango tree (even the leaves and bark), are used:

In traditional medicine the different parts of the mango tree (fruit pulp, extracts of fruit kernel, leaves, and stem bark) are used for their health properties. Decoction of mango kernel is used, for example, in the treatment of diarrhea, haemorrhages, and bleeding haemorrhoids for its vermifuge and astringent properties, extracts of unripe fruit, bark and leaves are used for their antibiotic activity, while an aqueous stem bark extract from Mangifera indica L. is used in Cuba as a remedy for diarrhoea, fever, gastritis, and ulcers.

The upshot of this research found that mangoes have:

• anti-inflammatory properties
• anti-oxidant properties

and thus can be used for a range of illnesses such as:

• cancer
• bowel problems
• cardiovascular diseases
• aging
• neuro-degenerative disorders

I find it hard to get enough protein in my diet as I don't like to eat a lot of meat and I don't like to eat a lot of dairy. Hence, the RAW Protein powder, which also has digestive enzymes in it and is a brown rice protein. I add a tablespoon of this because I don't like milky smoothies, so if milk is your thing, you probably don't need it - or you can add a tablespoon or two of yoghurt instead.

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It kinda feels wierd giving a *recipe* for a smoothie here as unless you are new to Planet Earth, I'm sure you've either had one or made one, and they really just involve bunging everything in a blender and hoping for the best, in my book. And I have to admit, it's not the most original 'cooking' idea out there, but I'm on the hope and really wanted to participate to the challenge as I haven't had chance yet! But here's the ingredients that went in to my smoothie this morning:
- 1 tbsp of turmeric and ginger paste (here's the recipe I gave last week) or 1 tsp powdered tumeric - 2 cups of water - 1 tbsp protein powder - 1 tsp ashwanghwa powder - 1/2 tsp of cinnamon - 1 tbsp of coconut yoghurt - 1 mango

Blend all ingredients until creamy. You might like to taste it and add a sweetener of your choice - feeling like sweet this morning, I added a dash of maple syrup.

As I take it with me on the go, drinking it in the car on the way to work, I pour mine into a jar - usually a coconut oil jar but today's was a sauerkraut jar. I see no need for tupperware when great things come in great, re-usable glass jars! Even better, this one had a cute sticker on the lid with the word 'love' on it - totally apt for my mango loving morning.

You can write your own fruit loving response to @eco-alex's challenge, and make sure you use the hashtags #ecotrain and #naturalmedicine, as @naturalmedicine will also give you some lovin' too. You might like to use the #medicinal-cooking hashtag too.

Oh, and Steemfolk?

I love you more than mangoes.

If you're a supporter of all things natural healing, you might like to read our introductory post here. We'd also love to welcome you on Discord here!!