Nemo and his greens

[Rawkinlocs]

Calling you out Nemo...

I notice in many of your posts you mention of really liking greens...bitter greens.

Was that always the case? How/why did you begin the "love affair" with just eating plain greens and bitter ones at that? What benefits have you noticed since consuming large quantities of them and was it an acquired taste? How much of your diet consist of greens? Do you really enjoy them or do you eat them for the benefits they provide and put the taste out of your mind?

We have been discovering the whole "greens thing" thanks to Victoria B. and her green smoothies, but you seem to really enjoy them in their natural state. Just wanted you to tell us more if you don't mind sharing. I'm just wondering at what point in MY raw life will I get to actually LIKING greens by themselves like that. Right now, if they're not marinated, in a salad or in a smoothie, I don't find an interest in them.

Thanks!

[nemo]

weeeeeell, now, lemmee see here...

...i've kind of got an exoteric answer for you and an esoteric answer...

...when i first started out i deffinitly wasn't as into them as i am now... i mean i'd eat a salad the size of 4-5 puny mortal salads, with lots of parsley, kale, dandelion, whotnot... but deffinitly with some raw dressings, or avocado and lemon, or whatever...

when i started i wasn't all that hip to green juices...

...then i just kept adding more, and more kale to my salads, and less, and less lettuce... soon i was eating 'mostly kale salads'... or mostly kale, with parsley...

then i was makining 'all parlsey salads', that is salads which were all parlsey, for greens, tomatos, onions, sunflowerseeds...but only parlsey, or kale for greens... when it came down to being only able to afford dark greens, or lettuce, i started going for the dark greens...

it's the minerals... the darker the green, the more the minerals... the more POWER!!!!

(that would be the power of the 'darkgreen side'... join us!)

eventually i found 'black kale'... this was kale that was so dark green that was purple black!!! with dark purple blue stems, and veins running through the leaves... ::EYES:::LIGHT::UP:: oooooooh...

heeheehee...

then i moved from a small po'dunk town to nyc... and got ahold of some truely righteous farmer's market greens!!! the organic farmers would laugh to see the 5-7 bags of 'weeds' i'd buy every saturday...

i started to love juicing dark leafies, with celery, and red cabbage... i started by adding apple...but eventually that seemed like a waste... (sidenote: The Cosmic Pepper Man taught me to add Daikon to my greenjuices for some serious POW!!!!)

i do not always budget to have enough juiceables on hand (hey and evil genius has to buy gizmos, gadgets, and suchnot...) so came a day when i was craving the GREEN, yet didn't have the cash to go full out... i could only afford a gallon of water, and bunch of kale... what to do? so i just started chewing the kale up... chomp, chomp, chomp...

hey, waddaya know, it weren't so bad!

then i learned about chewing my food up about 200x a bite... (just try you whiners!!!)

suddenly i could live off a kale leaf or two and a gallon of water for a few days before my body gave the signal for a change of venue (heh... try chewing up a mouthful of parsley 200x chews...FUN!!)

i began to suspect that the hybrid fruits grown in weak soils might be less nutritous than 'weeds'... oh sure you could get a bunch of calories from them... but your metabolism needs more than just sugar for fuel... when your alkaline mineral reserve is fully loaded...

:D

your perception of reality begins to shift... and this is where things get strange... i began to explore 'Green Diet'... and learn about the alternate metabolic settings the human body can adapt to... and then gabe cousens releases his 'rainbow green' book...

now bear in mind nemo gets into some pretty esoteric stuff here... he does LOTS of qi gong (nei gong even more specifically-hour and a half minimum) he's getting more of his energy from the air, so his need for calories feels lessened...(don't try this at home kids... you are NOT a breatharian, neither is nemo, or anyone else you've ever heard of...) black magic, mind control... alien autopsy stuff... yeeaaahh...

...so now i LOVE Greens... so much more refreshing than froot... so much more nourishing than fats... it's all in the chewing, and the MINDPOWERS!!

i am really looking forward to experiementing with oceangrown solution, and doing some hydroponic microgardening, and greens gardening... oceangrown wheatgrass is SO much better than any driedout 'supergreenfood' i've ever had... POWERFUL STUFF!!! can't wait to try it with nettles!!

anyway, that's enough outta me on this subject for now... hope i wasn't being too kooky for you... i may have said too much already

"Mr.MeanGreens, BlackHeartKale" hiz sef

nemo

[VeryBerry]

It is so cute

[angelandarose]

Totally Kool Nemo... you inspire me. :D


Love,
Angie

[Essensual]

Nemo,

You're a mess....but we like it. You definitely keep it interesting. I'm gonna have to pony up an give kale a try. I bought some collards today. It should be interesting watching this Southern girl eat collards that haven't boiled to bejeezes in pork fat.ROFL!

[Rawkinlocs]

Thanks so much for sharing Nemo! Very interesting indeed. I might have to try that one of these days.

[Autumn]

Nemo,

You're a mess....but we like it. You definitely keep it interesting. I'm gonna have to pony up an give kale a try. I bought some collards today. It should be interesting watching this Southern girl eat collards that haven't boiled to bejeezes in pork fat.ROFL!

I am not a Southern girl (only 6 years here in AL) and I had never tasted collards until I came here. Since the idea of pork fat or "fatback" made me sick to my stomach, I only seasoned my collards with a no-butter substitute and parmesean cheese (Italian collards LOL!) Everyone here thought I was nuts. There I realized something IMPORTANT. The collards we ate were those from our garden, and they were picked VERY small-the size of your hand at the very biggest. This made all the difference in the world. The huge leaves you find in the supermarket are so bitter (I had tasted these only after 2 years of eating our own garden grown, during the off-season). Also, after a frost, most dark greens are sweeter.

So now I have no problem using my collards raw for wraps and torn up in salads or in a smoothie. YUM!

I'm a big greens lover naturally (I'd rather eat veggies or salad than fruit most of the time.) and I love having many different varieties available at all times. Pity I can NEVER find escarole here in AL-not even seeds to grow it! I guess I'll have to order some online eventually.

[WinterSun]

I've been on a kale kick for 2 weeks now. I marinate it in orange juice, olive oil, and nama shoyu then heat it in the dehydrator, I've been eating it every day.
I bought beets at the store and they still had the big green leafy tops attached, I am using the tops in my smoothies, not too bad either.

[twinee1]

Good Post...I too am into "Green Raw". I use Kale daily, dark red cabbage and the darker the green the better. I get more energy from the deep greens. Fruit is a great treat but I find it hard to exist on it. Everybody is different right ?!

I made a bitter green drink the other day, not knowingly, as I used Collards, Escarole and Kale, 1/2 lemon and celery. At first I pucked and thought no way could I drink it. A few hrs later I drank a little and thought.."hmm, now it tastes Good !" and it was gone.

Green Power rocks !

[Arky]

Even though it's been going for a while, I hadn't read this thread up until now.

I just wanted to say, Nemo, that all joking aside, I find your above post one of the most inspiring posts I have ever read. Although I do eat a lot of fruit (for the calories, as per Doug Graham's recommendation) I too am very firmly of the conclusion that true nourishment lies in the dark-green-leafy domain (to be fair Doug also recommends large green salads, in the evenings), to say nothing of the fact that green-leafies don't take a metaphorical baseball bat to one's insulin system as do high-sugar hybridised fruits (yes, it's 'natural' fructose, blah blah blah, but it's STILL Sugar, despite the beneficial fibre it co-exists with).

Since I fully concur with your beliefs, Nemo, on mineralisation of leafy-greens being top-notch (provided they are organically-grown in decent soil, obviously), I strive to consume decent levels of dark green leafies on a daily basis. Currently, I only manage limited quantities of these on a chewed basis, the vast majority of my intake being blended instead (invariably WITHOUT the fruit which so many people are obsessed with chucking into the mix, in order to sweeten the bitterness - to me this is missing the point). Thus, I am gradually working towards chewing more greens (if nothing else, it's superb for remineralizing the teeth and is the most natural way to eat, anyway).

I aspire, therefore, to being able to eat huge kale salads, as you have become accustomed to, and your post serves as inspiration in my pursuit of this goal, thankyou!

May I just ask you, though, your outlook on the goitrogenic influence of dark-green leafies from the Brassica family (of which, of course, Kale is a member)?


**********************************************


What also fascinated me, in your post, was your mention that you do Qi Gong - I have been wanting to learn this (So far, I've only bought, and read a little of, Roger Jahnke's The Healing Promise of Qi: Creating Extraordinary Wellness Through Qigong and Tai Chi. How did you get started? Do you do Yoga and/or meditation, too? Do you have any advice for me, in terms of taking up Qi Gong practice?



Thanks again, Nemo, keep using The Force! ...which, in your case, would actually be Chi, right? ;)

J.

[Essensual]

This week I started trying some of the recipes in Alissa's book and DVD. I used Alissa's Dressing to marinate (more like saturate) some raw collard greens. Oh my goodness! I sliced them cole slaw thin and marinated over night and until lunch the following day. They actually looked a tasted similar to cooked greens. I recommend this one highly! Yummyness! :)