Green Smoothie 101

[RawKnitster]

I would like to share some of the things Victoria Boutenko talked about at the event I went to on April 9. She spoke for over 3 hours about the "Green Smoothie Revolution", which is also the title of her next book. This information below is from the handouts she gave everyone that attended, and the notes I took that evening during her speech. Anyone familiar with her work probably already knows these things. I was completely charmed, inspired, and motivated by Victoria.


Green Smoothie Facts:

Green smoothies are very nutritious and easy to digest. The ratio of about 60% fruit and 40% greens is optimal. When blended (in Vitamix or Blendtec) most of the cells are ruptured making the nutrients easily absorbed, starting in your mouth.

Green smoothies are a complete food because they still have fiber which is important for our elimination system. When you remove peel and fiber you are removing antioxidants.

A molecule of chlorophyll closely resembles a molecule of human blood. According to teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore, consuming chlorophyll is like receiving a blood transfusion. Many people do not consume enough greens. Drinking 2-3 cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough greens to nourish your body.

After a few weeks of drinking green smoothies, most people start to crave and enjoy eating more greens.

Fresh is best, but smoothies will keep for up to three days.

Victoria’s favorite smoothie: 4 ripe pears, 1 bunch of parsley and 2 cups of water.


Green Smoothies Guidelines:

Prepare your green smoothie for the day in the morning, one or two quarts. Pour some in a glass and keep the rest cold. Sip your green smoothie slowly, mixing it with saliva.

Keep it tasty so you are always looking forward to the next one.

Don’t add anything to your smoothie except greens, fruits, and water.

No nuts, seeds, oils, supplements, and other ingredients. These slow down assimilation of the smoothie and may cause irritation and gas.

Drink your smoothie by itself. For maximum nutritional benefit don’t consume anything, not even a cracker or candy with it. Eat anything you want 40 minutes before or 40 minutes after your smoothie.

Do not add starchy vegetable such as carrots, beets, broccoli stems, zucchini, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans, etc.

Don’t add too many ingredients such as nine different fruits and a dozen greens. Keep your recipes simple to maximize benefits and keep it easy on your digestive system.

Rotate your greens so the alkaloids will not accumulate in your body and cause unwanted symptoms of poisoning. Fruits do not need to be rotated, but doing so will enhance the flavor and nutrition in your smoothies.

Choose organic produce whenever possible. Don’t over clean produce and you will have no B12 problems. Aphids on kale and bugs on berries are another source of B12. Bacteria is not going to kill you. Chemicals will.


Other Tips:

Use greens by the bunch, sprouts by the handful.

Don’t overlook exercising the jaw or it will melt away.

Try a Green Smoothie Fast without any fats for one week. This allows the liver to rest which may cure some illnesses.

Fat is a vital nutrient. How much fat should a raw foodist eat? You and your own body need to answer that question.



The human body is intelligent. It wants to be healthy and beautiful. What is in the way?
Our brainwashed habits, our food imprint.

Dare to think for yourself. Answer your own questions.


My Blog entry for April 9: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/blog.php?b=14349
The picture of me with Victoria (on left) is posted on my blog with Victoria's permission.

[Green_Woman]

excellent thread! thank you!!!

I am printing this out to share with my fiance. :)

[snoops]

Thank you so much. Lucky you for being able to go to the talk.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Thank you this is very good information. I am glad to see that i am on track because i like just fruit, water and greens... I never add anything else except if i make green soup or energy soup.

I need to try the parsley recipe.

[SweetTangerine]

I've been seeing reminders all day that I really need to start my green smoothie fast... thanks for the post.

[spicyfull]

So Happy you had a RAWonderful time........Thanks for Sharing.

[Teo]

Thank you so much! It is a step of encouragement for everyone

[sprouts2go]

Thank you for posting the info. I just finished reading "Green for Life" and this sounds like a must have book to help with my journey. Looks like the books are on pre order.

[Springtime]

This is so interesting! i've been improvising green smoothis for a few weeks now, but this week i went to my library and talked to them about ordering in Green For Life. And guess what? The librarian was really interested in raw foods, and she placed the order right away, along with a few other raw food books. Go libraries!

[Moretta]

Thanks for sharing the information with us.

[T-Bird]

Thanks for the info!

I've been adding dulse and hemp seed to my smoothies this past week - and I don't like them as well.

Now I feel free to go back to the "originals"

[RawKnitster]

Dear Rawbies, You are welcome. I'm grateful to have you all to share with. :)

[JCB44]

great post thanks

[Susan123]

Green for Life is on my "next tyhing to read" pile!! Thanks for all the wonderful info!! You are radiant in that photo!!

[mamabird1953]

I met Victoria at our local raw pot luck here in San Jose, Ca. about a year and a half ago. I got her book as well. There were just about 20 of us but we got to meet her whole family. It was a nice intimate gathering in one of her friends home. She was very inspirational and fun. I just can't seem to get away from lots of fruits in my green smoothies. I think its time to re-read her book and follow it even. If I could just last a week on green smoothies I could get the last 7 lbs off that I can't get rid of, as well as a good detox.

[MelissaO]

I am bookmarking this one - thank you so much for sharing with us. You are such an asset:)

[Jennifer2005]

Rawknitster, Many thanks for the notes. They are inspiring.

Everybody's response is so positive that I hesitate to raise my question. But… doesn’t Victoria Boutenko appear overweight in the photo? I am sure she is a very charming lady, kind and genuine. But…by the standard of the raw food world (not by the standard of the SAD world which is filled with obesity), isn’t she overweight? I remember I read somewhere on a raw food forum that Victoria Boutenko was battling with her overweight problem because she drank too much green smoothie—which contain too much fruit sugar.

I don’t mean to be negative and critical. I am just raising a question that bothers me. I like green smoothies and I want to drink it to get healthy and also release a few pounds. But since Victoria Boutenko, the green smoothie lady, looks more overweight than I do at present, I just have this big question mark in my mind.

[RawSar]

That is something I've wondered as well...

[mamabird1953]

I noticed that when I met her... I was a little surprised and disappointed but she was much heavier when I met her then what she is now. She is though, a very wise and sweet woman and it goes to show you that food addictions happen to the best of us in all walks of life...etc.

[RawKnitster]

I heard Victoria say in an interview with Revvell last October that she had gained 60 pounds and lots of people were questioning how that happened.

Victoria did talk about it that evening. The problem is not green smoothies. I think what she said when she started talking about gaining weight was, "I am just a woman struggling with my food imprint". Her family heritage is one of obesity. Her son is not overweight because he is so active. She and her daughter have to watch how much they eat, especially in the evening.

She has a sedentary life style working and writing in her office. When she goes home at night she has a plate of greens with a fat. Sometimes followed by another, and another.

She freely acknowledges her weight gain and her struggle with it. Perhaps that is why I felt so much for her. I have the same problem. Too much good food, too little activity. Whether it is raw or not, overeating will cause weight gain.

Fruit sugars are not a problem for me. Overeating fats and fabulous raw desserts are my problem. I tried the No Fat Green Smoothie Fast and ate fruit for 7 days, and released 7 pounds.

We are all different. That is why she stressed the need to answer our own questions about what is right for us as individuals.

[Jennifer2005]

[QUOTE=RawKnitster;521156]


Fruit sugars are not a problem for me. Overeating fats and fabulous raw desserts are my problem. I tried the No Fat Green Smoothie Fast and ate fruit for 7 days, and released 7 pounds.

QUOTE]


Thank you RawKnitster for your answer. That really relieved my concern for green smoothie.

May I know more about your "No Fat Green Smoothie Fast and ate fruit for 7 days"? Did you have only green smoothie (fruits blended with greens) or did you have green smoothie plus whole fruits?

[Bananna]

Fabulous post!

When she says percentages of fruits to greens, is she referring to calories or what exactly?

[RawKnitster]

May I know more about your "No Fat Green Smoothie Fast and ate fruit for 7 days"? Did you have only green smoothie (fruits blended with greens) or did you have green smoothie plus whole fruits?

I had green smoothies blended with fruits plus I ate whole fruits, usually 2 apples a day, several times I had melon or pineapple, one day I made a fruit salad. Some days I found I didn't want fruit blended in my evening smoothie. I guess those could be called Savory Smoothies. The really important part for me was 7 days without adding in extra fats. I managed to stick with that most days. There were a few exceptions for coconut milk and a couple crackers. If you really want specifics you can find them in my blog starting on April 10.

For reasons I won't go into here I've had some bad encounters with raw desserts and overeating this past 9 days. I gained back 5 of the 7 pounds.(Sigh) It's all in my journal. I'm going back on the 60/40 green smoothie and whole fruit plan tomorrow. I felt better and had a lot more energy. I also spent a lot less money on food and a lot less time preparing food and cleaning up the kitchen. :)

[RawKnitster]

When she says percentages of fruits to greens, is she referring to calories or what exactly?

I don't think she considers calories. I took 60/40 to mean volume. I just eyeball what I'm putting in the blender, and really stuff those greens in, then add two cups of water.
I drink 3 cups and store the rest in a glass jar in the fridge or cooler.

I've tried her recipe for pear and parsley smoothie. I cut it in half, 2 pears and 1/2 bunch of parsley with 1 cup of water. That was a good size smoothie with no leftovers. Very tasty, too. :)

[Zoocrew10]

curious why it says not to add carrot or beets, etc? I love carrot in my smoothie. Gives it sweetness, imo

[rawbabymama]

Neat! Thanks for posting this.

Interesting about rotating the greens. Should this be daily or weekly? This could be an issue of mine, since I eat mostly kale.

I made the mistake of putting a carrot in my smoothie, and it was like punishment. Awful. Punishment.

I completely forgot about my green smoothie fast I was going to do! Darned ADD. I think I will start now. :D

[rawbabymama]

I had green smoothies blended with fruits plus I ate whole fruits, usually 2 apples a day, several times I had melon or pineapple, one day I made a fruit salad. Some days I found I didn't want fruit blended in my evening smoothie. I guess those could be called Savory Smoothies. The really important part for me was 7 days without adding in extra fats. I managed to stick with that most days. There were a few exceptions for coconut milk and a couple crackers. If you really want specifics you can find them in my blog starting on April 10.

For reasons I won't go into here I've had some bad encounters with raw desserts and overeating this past 9 days. I gained back 5 of the 7 pounds.(Sigh) It's all in my journal. I'm going back on the 60/40 green smoothie and whole fruit plan tomorrow. I felt better and had a lot more energy. I also spent a lot less money on food and a lot less time preparing food and cleaning up the kitchen. :)

Back in the day, when I was all raw for quite a while, I used to do monthly fasts for a week. I noticed I always gained back about 5-7lb after I began eating solid/heavy raw foods again...I think this amount of weight is from the food which is in your digestive tract. It was always the same amount gained back, no more, rarely less. So don't feel too disappointed! Anything I lost on the fast over that amount stayed lost.

Good luck!

[Jennifer2005]

Rawknitster, Thanks for your reply for my question.

[RawKnitster]

Interesting about rotating the greens. Should this be daily or weekly? This could be an issue of mine, since I eat mostly kale.



Kale is the King of Greens. :D

I don't know the answer to that. I would say rotating greens is an individual choice. I talked to one raw foodie who would switch up her staple green every couple months. It could be one of those choices that our body will help us make when the time is up.

I have been using Rainbow Chard as my staple green this winter. I also use kale, romaine, parsley, and a few others, but chard was my fav and I used it a lot. I switched to spinach for a couple days. Then I made another chard smoothie. After one glass I felt sick. I think I'm getting the message, enough chard already.