Boutenko Green Smoothie Madness

[waken]

Is anyone else out there experimenting with the Boutenko green smoothies? I'm trying to figure out exactly how much green smoothie I should be eating. I read the June newsletter about 4 times. Victoria says that a person eating 4 to 5 pounds of fruit a day should be eating 2 bunches of greens. What is that in the same units? 2 pounds of greens? If the recipe is for 1/2 a bunch and makes 1/2 gallon, then I would need to eat 2 gallons of smoothie a day to reach 2 bunches a day. That seems like a lot of baby food to be shoveling down. I can see why she says this is 80+% of her diet. It seems that if I wake up and eat a banana straight instead of making a smoothie with it then I have already blown my day. I'd love to know some other people's experiences and green smoothie goals.
-Waken

[Revvell]

Hi Waken,

Many of us here are drinking green smoothies. For me, I might do 1-2 a day yet, I also supplement with one VERY large salad. No, I don't measure. I can only eat/drink what feels good to me.

If you go up to the 'nana and click on it ~ do a search for green smoothies, I'm sure you'll find quite a bit of info.

Injoy ~

Revvell

[waken]

Maybe I need to frame my question better. I've clearly got the notion that making green smoothie the most significant thing in my diet is desireable. I've felt like I've been on a healing plateau with the way I have been eating and I'm looking for the ladder to the next level.

I'm going to attempt to post the Raw Family newsletter below (hope that is okay):
-Waken

Raw Family Newsletter, June 2005

In this issue:
1. Raw Family's Favorite Green Smoothie Recipe
2. Introducing New book: LIVING ON LIVE FOOD by Alissa Cohen
3. A chapter from Victoria's up-coming book about greens "Green Smoothie, An
Easy Way to Love Greens"
4. Special sale on Vita-Mix blenders
5. Update on Raw Family's research about green smoothies
6. News from Creative Health Institute
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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.

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We highly recommend new book:
LIVING ON LIVE FOOD by Alissa Cohen
This book teaches you what a raw and living food diet is and how to get
started immediately.
With 290 raw and living food recipes and so much more.
550 pages.
List price (USD): $29.95

Available now at www.rawfamily.com

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(c)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.

(c)2005 Copyrighted material! Please reference this source when sharing this
information!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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.

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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.

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News from Creative Health Institute
Recently Igor and I were invited to teach a class at the Creative Health
Institute (CHI) in Michigan. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that
the new director of CHI is Steven Gibb, a man of great integrity, who has
recently become known for his support of the Andressohn family. Learn more
at www.rawfriends.com
Steven has gathered a strong crew of devoted people around him. After
spending a weekend at CHI among joyful teachers and satisfied guests, we
consider this healing center to be among the best. To find out more, please
visit: www.creativehealthinstitute.us Creative Health Institute, 112 W.
Union City Road, Union City, MI 49094

www.rawfamily.com

[Revvell]

LOL. Yeah, I get their newsletter. Give it a shot and let us know! It'll be helpful. Sometimes folk here have to hear it from someone who is doing something totally before they go for it.

I'm just not quite following that particular regimen. Wait a bit and see if you get response from others who are, 'k?

Revvell

[RawTruth]

Yeah, I get newsletter, too.

Um ... lessee ... when I heard her talk about this earlier in the year, she said the smoothie should approximately 60% fruit to 40% greens. But ... isn't what you're looking for, huh!

I'm like Revvell. I almost always have a green smoothie in the morning, but I don't make green smoothies 80 of my daily food intake. I can't believe that this is what Victoria actually means, and I doubt that her research subjects are doing that. It's my impression that they're drinking a couple of quarts of it a day in addition to their usual food. I'm glad you posed this question, though, because I've been wondering.

However, why don't you email her and find out? Then, share it with us here.

[waken]

Hmm. Ask I did. Hope I get a reply..

Letter to Victoria Boutenko:

Victoria,
I understand that 80+% of your diet is green smoothies, and that you think 60% fruit to 40% greens is an optimum diet for humans and chimpanzees alike. In order to achieve such a ratio and to consume two bunches of greens a day as you mention, a person would need to consume green smoothies almost exclusively. Using the recipe, it would be two gallons of smoothie a day. Your test subjects are consuming much less. As someone who is inspired by your last newsletter and who is 99% raw for five months (still have coffee addiction), I am wondering what is a suitable goal for me to persue.
-(my name)

[waken]

That was quick! I guess I have to experiment to find where my own "enjoyment" lives. I'm sure I don't enjoy eating greens in a whole form unless there is nothing else to eat..

Dear ____,
Thank you for your question. I drink about 1 gallon of smoothie per day, my
drink has more greens in it than my recipe. In addition I eat some greens
and some fruits in a whole form, not blended. I do not push myself to drink
so much smoothie but consume that much out of enjoyment.
I think a quart daily is great for anyone.
Sincerely, Victoria

[ksabe98]

I read with great interest this thread and I am now for sure getting a vitamix and starting the green smoothies. I have alot of healing left to do with my body and diseases that are challenging me and this may be a great addition. I think you should do what she did. Start out making the recipe that she has in the newsletter and work from there. I think that you should consume as much as you need. The best way to find this out is to experiment. If you think I need to consume 15 pounds of such and such or otherwise I think you will overwhelm yourself with the details that way. Why not start out with one recipe and if you can drink more then make more. If not it sounds like the health benefits people are experiencing are available even with as much as only a cup a day. This is so intriguing I wonder if my blender can handle this or if I am going to have a thick green goo. Better rework next months budget.
Take care
lisa

[RawTruth]

I am now for sure getting a vitamix and starting the green smoothies.Lisa -- I just use my regular blender. You don't need a VitaMix for them -- yes, there may be a few kale bits, but, hey, that gives you something to chew!

[RawTruth]

How cool that you got such a quick response. I waited once for a couple of weeks!! But ... to be fair, I think they were on the road lecturing.

And ... I'm glad you started this thread since she answered my question, too, in her response to you.


I'm sure I don't enjoy eating greens in a whole form unless there is nothing else to eat..You didn't ask for advice, but, dang, I'm just itching to give you ideas to try to start enjoying green stuff in whole form!! Like whipping up a simple yummy salad dressing or making marinated collard ribbons ... but, I'll keep quiet here and let you find your own way ;)

[ksabe98]

ok I have another question then. Do you have to use lambs quarters and dinosaur kale or are other greens also as effective? What greens are you using. I don't think I have ever seen lambs quarters and I only think that there are two kinds of kale at whole foods near me one of them is black kale and the other is a much lighter green color.
Lisa

[Rawkinlocs]

ok I have another question then. Do you have to use lambs quarters and dinosaur kale or are other greens also as effective? What greens are you using. I don't think I have ever seen lambs quarters and I only think that there are two kinds of kale at whole foods near me one of them is black kale and the other is a much lighter green color.
Lisa

No, you don't have to use lambs quarters, etc. I use kale, baby spinach, celery, parsley, collard (though those can be a bit strong so use sparingly), romaine lettuce, green and red leaf lettuce.

[RawTruth]

I use kale and collard and much less spinach than I used to. I decreased the spinach use after (re)learning about how the oxalic acid (?) in it isn't so great for us in large quantities. But ... I'm slowly adapting to the strong taste of collard and kale. I'm growing my own, so I plan to use the baby leaves. The lambs quarter is ideal, I understand, since it's wild and has more nutrients in it. But ... especially when you're starting ... just use any green leafy thing you have. I like to advise people to not fret too much when you're beginning. Just eat raw. Period. That's so much better than the way most of us ate when eating SAD. Then, after you're raw a while, you can start refining. The fact that you're making and drinking green smoothies is fabulous!

Also, you can search on this forum for many other threads on green smoothies -- especially from February or so of this year.

[rawjojo]

Also, victoria really suggested to me to try using endive as well. It is right up there with kale as far as nutrients. Not too expensive either!

[SwishTN]

I went out and bought my green smoothie ingredients, and you know, it isn't bad!! I even grudingly shared a little bit w/my co-workers today..... I didn't want to, but, one of them liked it. The other thought it had a bite. Whatever that means...
In some ways, though, it was almost too sweet for me!

About mangos, are they supposed to be so difficult to get the meat off of the pit? Perhaps they weren't quite ripe enough, although they tasted fantastic!!!
Lauri

[tracyinfo]

Lauri, there is always some mango left on the pit, when I slice up the mango. It does not come off clean, like a freestone peach.

Blessings.



About mangos, are they supposed to be so difficult to get the meat off of the pit? Perhaps they weren't quite ripe enough, although they tasted fantastic!!!
Lauri

[deedub]

hey great thread!! I like the idea that green smoothies can curtail cravings ;) . Also thanks RawTruth for the testimonial on non-vita mix blenders cause although its on my wish list I have yet to aquire it. I'm excited about green smoothies. Would spring mix work?

[ksabe98]

I wonder if this is the correct consistency or if anyone has some suggestions. I added about 1/2 blender of red kale and mache and some other herbs (from a blend) then about the same of water. The greens were not packed in by the way. I blended that up good then added 2 bananas and 2 mangos. It had a frothy, swishy type consistency. Not really smooth smoothy like. you know the smoothy consistency you expect more like it was airrated. I wish I could describe it better. Anyway is this what everyone else is getting. It kinda grossed me out the consistency. So i added another banana and it was only a tiny bit better. Maybe I should add less water? Any help will be great.

[RawTruth]

Here's a typical green smoothie for me:

I put in the blender in this order: a pear, a mango, a bunch of green stuff (keeping to Victoria's 60% fruit/40% green leaves as much as possible to start), and then pour in some pure water -- enough to get it going. I blend and blend till everything's really liquified. If it's too thick, I add more water in. It's never been too thin.

I think that using less water and just changing the way you make the smoothie will change the texture. I've never found the need to blend the ingredients separately. Just dump 'em in and push that button!

But ... that said ... the green smoothie I drank that Victoria and Igor actually made was much thinner than a "smoothie" texture. I say just make it the way you want it to be!

[zeeraw]

Just looking at the different types of greens you guys use in your green smoothies. So far I only use parsley, spinach or kale. Sometimes instead of using greens I do use a superfood such as spirulina in my smoothies which really does give them a bit of a bright green colour. Good thing I like the colour green.Was wondering though could you use asian greens such as bok choy etc..?
THANKS
Z :)

[RawTruth]

You can use whatever you want -- until the green smoothie police come get you! :D

[ksabe98]

Thanks raw truth I will try it your way today and see if that improves the texture. I guess it is just experimentation as always. Have a great day.
Lisa

[Carlene]

What perfect timing for this thread for me. Tomorrow morning, I am going to make my first green smoothie and leave out the hemp seed mix. Thanks for all the great advice.

[Texicalian]

Does anyone every use arugula as the greens? If so, any ideas how to disguise the strong taste?

[SwishTN]

What perfect timing for this thread for me. Tomorrow morning, I am going to make my first green smoothie and leave out the hemp seed mix. Thanks for all the great advice.

See, I was actually going to add hemp seed to my drink.... Would that be bad?
Is blending greens w/fruit bad food combining?
Lauri

[Texicalian]

Lauri - I put hemp protein in my smoothies all the time. Just start out with a small amount of the hemp seed and see how your body reacts to it. And greens and fruit are fine together. There's actually been some recently posts on the subject but I can't remember where.

[UltrasonicRaw]

i add a few ice cubes to my smoothie or use frozen bananas or other frozen fruit (i freeze them myself) and i NEVER see anyone else using ice or frozen fruit when they list ingredients. i find it makes the smoothie amazingly more refreshing and i think it cuts the green bitter taste a bit too. i dont make it a frozen drink or anything, just a bit of cold and it seems to taste better.

is it bad to chill it this way? i drink it right away usually. the reason i know it tastes better to me with the little bit of chill is that by the time i get to my last sip, sometimes it is warm and a little bitter....

let me know!
:)

leslie

[Arky]

Well, I believe Chinese Traditional Medicine views cold drinks as undesirable for the body, but I know what you mean about the coldness making the drink a little more palatable. I guess you have to see for yourself how your own body reacts to cold smoothies etc.

Personally, I try to err on the less 'chilled' side of the equation, in order to minimize any 'shock' to my system if I'm consuming a smoothie in a hurry (obviously, rushing food or drink is a less than ideal situation, anyway). On the flip side, however, one could argue that you could make a smoothie with chilled ingredients and, if consumed 'correctly' (i.e. in small mouthfuls, taking the time to mix with salivary enzymes in the mouth) then the fluid will warm up to body temperature by the time it reaches its intended destination, anyway!


J.

[Ireland]

Anyone know where I can get my hands on the "Ode To Green Smoothie" article?
Much appreciated in advance.

[RawTruth]

I'm almost certain that I posted it here back in February when I received the handout from Victoria at her local lecture. If you can't find it in the archives, drop me a line and I'll scan it and email it to you, 'k?

[sweetgoddess]

You can find it on their website at http://www.rawfamily.com/articles.html
So nice to see you again!
Blessings~

[Ireland]

Thank you! Thank you! And did I mention Thank you???

Thanks for offering RawTruth, and thanks for the addy Sweet and yeah, it's soooooo good to be back! Still struggling but not giving up! :)

[starry-eyed-doe]

rawtruth, you had mentioned early on in this thread that you were itching to give someone ideas for eating greens whole. for me that would be sooooo great seeing as how i force myself to eat them in salads, but right now the only way i enjoy them is in smoothie form. any ideas? i'd like to make something with them besides just smoothies!

[coffeesquirrel]

i personally have never really eaten green unless they where in a pizza hut salad drenched in dressing and cheese ** :eek: so being raw and eating greens was a huge problem for me (well actually to be honest i simply did not eat them lol) anyway i read about the green smoothies a while back and tried them and i adore them... that's really about the only way i eat greens. my co workers are always asking what's all the green stuff in my glass but those who i have tempted to try it say it's pretty darn good. I don't really do any measureing i just thrown it in and go for it. (quick question though) i have always made and drank my smoothies right way ... do people store them in the fridge? do they get brown? do you thrown in a lemon in order to keep this from happening? if anyone's got that down please let me know.

thx for starting this thread** makes me think of just doing a green smoothie fast :p Coffeesquirrel

[coffeesquirrel]

anyone tried the smoothie with sprouts? always wondered

[Bretta]

Hi y'all,

I've been enjoying green smoothies for a couple of months now. I discovered a marvelous trick! If your greens look like they are getting ready to be wilted/brown, toss them in the freezer! When you are ready to make your smoothie, pull them out and add them in. They taste exactly the same as when they are fresh, I promise! You can even crush them up after they are frozen to save freezer space and also to make them pour easily into your blender ('cause they are flakes then). I love this trick for saving $$$ not wasting greens and I can buy more at a time without worrying about whether I will use them before they go bad.

And yes, Leslie, I also add frozen fruit or ice to mine. Yum!

Bless you bunches,
Bretta

[twinyoga]

Thanks for the advice. I have spinach that's wilting. If I don't finish it tonight, I'll freeze it!

Super.

[beauty4ashes]

Hi Scrapdawg,

Just wanted to mention what I read from the rawgourmet. She said to remeber that wilted produce is wilted on nutrients too. So try and use em up before they wilt.

[Bretta]

I wonder why that is so about the nutrients...when usually a dunk or soak in some cold water will perk them up most of the time. Just talking about wilty looking, not brown. Curious...

Thanks!

Bretta

[beauty4ashes]

Well, I also read that 24 hours after picking lettuce 60% of the vitamin C in it is gone. I don't have enough sunshine in my backyard for a garden, but I would love to grow the greens to get them really fresh. I saw that RawTruth posted that this is exactly what she does. A lot of members here have gardens, so if you have a sunny backyard, maybe you can grow a garden too
Do you grow your own sprouts? Because this would be really nutritious living food and it's really easy and inexpensive. You are eating it while it's "living". Freezing your greens is not good.

[rawredbone]

could you just put spurlina(sp) in a smoothie instead of the greans?

[RawTruth]

rawredbone -- First of all, the best foods to eat are fresh, ripe, raw, and organic.

That said, the point of green smoothies is to get as much fresh greens into us as possible since most of us don't eat enough to reap the benefits that Victoria Boutenko believes greens provide to us. As has been described earlier in this thread, "greens" are lettuces, kale, collard, mustard greens, lambs quarter, dandelion greens, "weeds" and any other edible green leafy plant.

So, spirulina isn't a candidate for these green smoothies. Of course, you can add anything you want to your smoothies ... and they may very well be green, but if they don't include fresh greens, they're not the Boutenko green smoothies.

[calee]

I'm really glad this thread got recycled to the top, exactly when I needed it. I don't always like the taste of greens, other than lettuces and spinach, but yesterday I went to the farmer's market and got rainbow chard and baby red chard to experiment with. I'm going to try some in my morning smoothie. Wish me luck!

[Veganforlife]

bumping this up..............

[T-Bird]

You and your bumping.......

The 70's are over!

[Veganforlife]

Pffffffffffft!:p