Guest guest Posted June 15, 2005 Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 Hi Toni, Thanks. Yes, I've read Victoria's article - I got it when I went to her talk in Seattle a few months back. I've been having green smoothies ever since! I use dino kale, bananas, mangoes and flax oil - yum! toni vandyke <tonivandyke wrote: My understanding from what I've been reading Sheree, is that greens are totally compatible with fruit. Have you read this article from the Raw Family re green smoothies. It's an eye opener ...... We can't get mangoes in Australia at the moment (wrong season) but we've been making this smoothie with just banana and it's really good. Raw Family's Favorite Green Smoothie Recipe: > > 1/2 pound of fresh lamb's quarters, or 1/2 bunch of fresh dinosaur kale > 2 ripe mangoes > 2 very ripe bananas > 1 quart water > Blend thoroughly in a Vita-Mix blender. > Yields 1/2 a gallon of delicious smoothie. > The green smoothie will keep for at least 24 hours in the fridge or > cooler, > stored in a glass or high quality plastic container. > > ©2005 Copyrighted material! Please reference this source when sharing > this > information! > > by Victoria Boutenko > www.rawfamily.com > Green Smoothie, > An Easy Way to Love Greens > > > My husband, our two younger children and I have been on the raw food diet > for more than eleven years. We were able to heal all of our incurable, > life-threatening diseases. However, after several years of being raw, each > one of us began to feel like we had reached a plateau where our healing > process stopped and even somewhat began to go backwards. Since then a > burning question in my heart grew stronger every day. The question was, > " Is > there anything missing in our diet? " The answer would come right away: > " Nope. Nothing could be better than a raw food diet. " > > Yet, however tiny, the unwanted signs of less than perfect health kept > surfacing, in minor but noticeable symptoms like a wart on a hand, a gray > hair, etc. that instantly brought doubts and questions about the > completeness of the raw food diet. Finally when my children complained > about > increased sensitivity in their teeth, I reached a state when I couldn't > think about anything else. I drove everybody around me crazy with my > constant discussion of what could possibly be missing. > > In my eager quest, I started looking at every single food that exists for > humans. As my grandmother used to say, Seek and ye shall find. After many > wrong guesses, I finally found the right one. Whew! I found one food group > that particularly matches ALL human nutritional needs: greens. The truth > is, > we in my family were not eating enough greens. Moreover, we did not like > them. We knew that greens are important, but we never heard anywhere > exactly > how much greens we need in our diet, just a vague recommendation to eat as > much as possible. > > In order to find out how much greens we need to eat, I decided to study > the > eating habits of chimpanzees, since they are the closest creatures to > human > beings. According to recent scientific research, they share 99.4 % of the > same genes with humans.1 I am not trying to say that humans developed from > chimpanzees. I am simply grateful for the reality that there is another > species in this world that closely resembles us. There are thousands of > chimpanzees living in Gombe Valley, Africa. The most remarkable fact is > that > majority of those chimps of Gombe, as opposed to humans, have not been > touched by civilization. I went online and purchased $300 worth of books > and > DVDs about chimpanzees and their diet and lifestyle. I wrote a letter with > my questions to the Jane Goodall University. I traveled to three big zoos > that have chimpanzees and spoke to many people who feed them and take care > of them every day. I discovered so much fascinating information about > chimpanzees that I totally changed my view of them. They became one of my > favorite beings. My research gave me a solid idea that humans are supposed > to eat a lot more greens than I would have guessed. > > Please look at this chart showing the average diet of the chimpanzee in > the > wilderness, according to Jane Goodall: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > As long as I can remember, in books and pictures I always saw chimpanzees > depicted with a banana or an orange in their hands. That definitely misled > me to the assumption that they eat only fruit. To know that greens compose > almost half of their diet became a revelation for me. As far as root > vegetables are concerned, the chimpanzees don't eat any of them unless > there > is a famine and nothing green is left. Based on how much fruit we consume > in > my family (about 4 or 5 pounds per day per person) I estimate that we need > to eat about two good sized bunches of dark leafy greens per person per > day, > and probably reduce the consumption of nuts, seeds and roots. > > Another thing I noticed is that the chimpanzees really love greens. I > remember watching at the zoos, how excited they became when given fresh > acacia branches, young tender palm tree leaves or kale. I was so inspired > looking at them that I went to the nearby bushes and tried to eat acacia > leaves, but the truth was that the green leaves were not very palateable > for > me and that presented another problem. To eat greens was always more like > a > duty for me. I would think to myself, I have to have my greens. Some days > I > would " cheat " by juicing my greens. I would quickly drink a cup of green > juice and consider myself good for a couple of days. Or I would make a > delicious raw dressing and sink my greens into that dressing. That was > another way for me to enjoy greens. But I could never imagine sitting and > eating two bunches of kale or spinach. > > The more I read about the nutritional content of greens. the more I became > convinced that greens are the most important food for humans. If I could > only find a way to enjoy them enough to consume the optimal quantity > needed > to become perfectly healthy! > > I tried countless times to force myself to eat large amounts of greens in > the form of salad, or just by itself, only to discover that I was not > physically able to do that. After about two cups of shredded greens I > would > have either heartburn or nausea. All along, I was aware that my body was > missing the nutrients that are available only from greens. > > One day, while reading a book on biology, I became intrigued by the > amazingly tough composition of plants. Apparently cellulose, the main > constituent of plants, has one of the strongest molecular structures on > the > planet, because it is one of the longest and most complex carbohydrate > molecules. From this I understood that in order to assimilate the many > needed nutrients from greens, the human body needs to be able to break > down > these tough structures. However, cellulose is insoluble. That means in > order > to get nutrients, its structure has to be broken into the tiniest pieces, > preferably down to the molecules. In simple words, we need to chew our > greens to a creamy consistency in order to get the benefits. > > Secondly, in order to digest the released minerals and vitamins, > hydrochloric acid in the stomach has to be very strong, pH between 1 and > 2. > > These two conditions are absolutely, vitally, necessary to the > assimilation > of nutrients from greens. Apparently, I did not chew my greens well enough > and possibly did not have a high enough level of hydrochloric acid in my > stomach.2 As a result, I experienced unpleasant signs of indigestion, > after > pushing myself to eat greater quantities of greens. Hence, I didn't like > eating greens altogether! > > However, after more than a century of eating mostly heavily proccessed > foods, mordern people lost their ability to chew normally. Our jaws became > so narrow that even after extracting our wizdom teeth, we still need to > wear braces.3 Our jaw muscles became too weak to thoroughly chew rough > fiber. In addition to these compromizing conditions, many people have lots > of fillings, fake or missing teeth. These conditions make chewing greens > to > a necessary consistency virtually impossible. > > That is why I decided to try to " chew " my greens in the Vitamix blender. 4 > First I blended a bunch of kale with water. I was thinking, I will just > close my eyes and nose and drink it. But as soon as I opened the lid, I > closed it back again quickly because I felt queasy from the strong, > wheatgrassy smell. That dark green, almost black mixture was totally > unconsumable. After some brainstorming, I added several bananas and > blended > it again. And that was when the magic began! When I slowly and with some > trepidation removed the lid and sniffed the air, to my greatest surprise > this bright green concoction smelled very pleasant. I cautiously tasted a > sip and was exhilerated, because it was better than tasty! Not too sweet, > not too bitter, it was the most unusual taste I had ever tried, and I > could > describe it in one word: freshness. > > In four hours I emptied all I blended, which was one bunch of kale, four > bananas and a quart of water. I felt wonderful and made more. > Triumphantly, > this evening I realized that this was the first time in my life that I > consumed two good-sized bunches of greens in one day. Plus, I ate them > without any oil and salt! And I enjoyed the whole experience. > > That was in August, 2004. The solution was so unexpectedly simple. To > consume greens in these way took so little time that naturally I continued > experimenting with blended greens and fruits day after day. At first I > didn't tell anybody. I didn't have any big health problems and I didn't > expect any dramatic changes, I just didn't want to age. However, after > about > a month when a couple of my warts and moles peeled off my body and when I > definitely felt more energized than before, I started sharing my > experience > with my family and friends. The next thing I noticed was that those little > cravings I'd had once in a while for heavy foods like nuts or crackers, > especially in the evening, had totally disappeared. I noticed that many of > my wrinkles on my face went away and I began to hear compliments from > other > people about my fresh look. Also my nails became stronger. Another bonus I > got was a wonderful taste in the mouth, all the time, even upon waking in > the morning. I hadn't had this pleasure since childhood. > > When my husband Igor saw the noticeable benefits in my health, he joined > me > in drinking green smoothies. He started to ask for a cup of " that green > stuff " whenever I was making it. Let me point out that although I didn't > like greens, Igor simply couldn't tolerate them, which is pretty typical > of > Russian men. Another two months later his mustache and his beard started > growing blacker, which made his face look a lot younger. Igor got so > excited > about this that he became the green smoothie champion of my family. He > would > wake up early and make two or three gallons of smoothie every day: one for > me, one for him, and one for Sergei and Valya to share. Both of our > children > enjoyed including this tasty green drink in their daily menu and even > though > they were already experiencing great health, noticed even more benefits, > like the ability to sleep less, more complete elimination, stronger nails, > and most of all the improvement in their teeth, which became less > sensitive. > > One of my fears was that I would get tired of green smoothie one day, and > I > wouldn't want it any more. Yet, after three months of regular consumption > I > was enjoying it more than ever. Now I couldn't imagine my life without my > green smoothies, as it has become 80% of my diet. In addition to smoothies > I > eat flax crackers, salad, fruit and occasionally seeds or nuts. In order > to > always have the opportunity to make fresh green smoothie for myself I > purchased an additional Vitamix blender for my office. Whenever friends or > customers came in, they saw a big green cup next to my computer and I > treated them to my new discovery. To my great satisfaction, everybody > loved > it, despite their different dietary habits. Unexpectedly for me, some of > my > friends and coworkers started to comment on their health improvements just > from the cup of green smoothie they were drinking in my office! No > kidding! > I can tell you their names. My web designer began to crave more raw foods > as > a result of rather irregular helpings of smoothie and lost 15 pounds in a > couple of months. The woman from the office across the road got rid of her > ecsema, drinking a cup of green smoothie almost every day. The UPS guy > likes > it too. > > Inspired by the warm reception, I wrote an article " Ode to Green Smoothie " > and emailed it to my entire list. Almost instantly I began to receive > strong > positive feedback and many detailed testimonials from my friends, students > and customers. While I felt compelled to do more research, it looks like > the > multiple benefits of green smoothie became obvious to everybody who tried > them, and the number of people who are drinking green smoothie is growing > rapidly every day. This " green wave " makes me more excited than ever! I am > busily compiling all the information together with the research into my > new > book, due out in a few weeks. > > > 1 Source: Chimps belong in the Homo genus? by Michael Matthews and Carl > Wieland > http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/0521chimps.asp > > 2 http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0203cat/020305ppnf/PPNF.HTML > > 3 I would like to explain that the Vitamix is not just a simple blender > like the ones you can find at any department store. It is called a high > speed blender, because its speed goes up to 240 mph! That means that its > blades don't even have to be sharp; even if they were just dull metal > sticks > they could still liquify something as hard as, for example, blocks of > wood. > In order to reach such performance, the Vitamix has a 2+ peak horsepower > motor. Any simple blender will blend the tough cellulose of greens only so > long as its blades are sharp. Unfortunately, when the blades become dull, > they just move around pieces of banana and the blender very quickly > overheats. Eleven years ago, after burning several blenders, I finally > bought myself a Vitamix at the country fair. It still works like new. > > ©2005 Copyrighted material! Please reference this source when sharing > this > information! > > > - -------- > --------------------- > > Special sale on Vita-Mix blenders > In order to inspire more green smoothie drinking, we offer a $25 discount > off our already low price of $375 on Vita-Mix blender, if you order before > June 15th. > This special discount does not apply to orders made via PayPal, please > call > our office with your credit card (541) 488-8865, or send a check to: > Raw Family > P. O. Box 172 > Ashland, OR 97520 > > If you would like to purchase more than one unit please call us for an > additional discounts. > > - --------- > --------------------------- > > Update on Raw Family's research about green smoothies > Currently we are sponsoring a study along with Dr. P. Feiber at a local > clinic in Oregon. The study's aim is to determine the health benefits of > regular consumption of Green Smoothies. Over the past month, we have > supplied 27 participants with one quart of freshly made green smoothie > daily, in addition to their regular diet. > This experiment ended on May 29 and Dr. Fieber is presently summarizing > the > data from the tests and surveys. > Here is an excerpt from the testimony of one of our participants. > " ...I drank smoothies and loved them. They made me want to eat raw and so > I > am now 95% raw. I have not craved junk during this month. I am sleeping > well, I am positive, I lost 10 lbs, my dandruff healed. I have great > energy. > I get up at 5 a.m. and feel rested and energetic. I have noticed an > increase > in my sex drive. > My whole family is hooked. Thank you so much. I think that green smoothies > are the most nutritious thing we can ingest. I have been telling my family > and friends about it. You have played a part in totally changing my life! " > A detailed analysis of this experiment will be included in Victoria's > up-coming book about greens. We are also currently in a process of > studying > the effect of drinking green smoothies on B-12 levels. We will keep you > posted about the results of these two experiments. > Searching for the best free email? Try MetaCrawler Mail, from the #1 metasearch service on the Web, http://www.metacrawler.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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