If you have browsed the Green Smoothies Blog you know that rotating the variety of greens in your diet is very important. Wild edibles are a fantastic way to increase the diversity of greens in your smoothies, they are higher in nutrition than store bought greens and they offer a cost effective solution for those on a budget.

This article is written by Sergei Boutenko. Sergei  is extremely passionate about wild edibles and has shared his knowledge through talks and guided hikes all over the world. Sergei will be touring Australia in April 2010, click here for more information.

Wild Edibles

By Sergei Boutenko

After several months of drinking green smoothies I got very tired of using kale and spinach. It was at that time that I first embraced weeds. I appreciate that weeds presented me with a practically unlimited variety of greens. This summer I discovered heavenly scrumptious and nutritious “new” foods such as: pumpkin leaves, grape leaves, chicory greens, young and tender borage leaves and flowers, tightly curled fists of young ferns, clover leaves and flowers, plantain, sorrel, and even lemon grass. Next year I plan to fill my garden a large variety of weeds. Continue Reading

Victoria recommends that we use a Vitamix for making our green smoothies. She says that a Vitamix is not just a simpleblender 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. To receive the full benefits of green smoothies, the cell walls of the greens need to be ruptured which means a high speed blender is a worthy long term investment.  I have used the same Vitamix for                                                over 12 years.

If you are interested in purchasing a Vitamx you may like to go to our web site and use the link to place an order so you will receive free shipping www.rawfamily.com

Tips for Using Blenders from Victoria Boutenko

• After washing your blender container, always let it sit upside down, to prevent water from getting into the bearings. In my family we simply keep our blender containers upside down at all times. I learned this important tip while visiting the Vita-Mix Corporation. The staff explained that this simple habit could extend the life of the blender at least 50%. Continue Reading

In this  cold weather, I wanted to introduce you to ginger root. Fresh ginger root tastes great in most green smoothies; namely kale, collards, spinach and dandelion, and is especially nice with apple. It adds warmth to your smoothie and strengthens the immune system. Feels good on a sore throat too. Cut off anywhere from half an inch to an inch of the fresh root, slice off the dry peel and chop into bits small enough for your blender to handle. Blend with the other ingredients of your smoothie.

Enjoy!

There are many theories around which is better, blending or juicing. I’ve read that quiet a few people think it’s up to personal choice or blending it better because it causes less mess. Rather than leaving it to convenience or theory, I invite you to read about the experiment Victoria conducted which shows that blending is superior because it contains a higher amount of antioxidants and fiber.

A CHAPTER FROM ‘GREEN SMOOTHIE REVOLUTION’, BY VICTORIA BOUTENKO

After I published my first book about green smoothies, I have received many inquiries from my readersasking whether blending was preferable to juicing. I also heard that some nutritionists were concerned that blending might accelerate the oxidation of the food. I was very curious to find the answer for myself and decided to seriously research this question.

I conducted a simple experiment. I chose potatoes for my experiment because it is easy to observe the process of oxidation in potatoes. You probably remember an instance when you left a slice of raw potato on your cutting board and observed it turning brown within several minutes. That is why my grandmother used to put peeled potatoes in water, to prevent browning or oxidation.

First, I peeled two potatoes so that the color of their peel wouldn’t interfere with the results of my experiment. I then juiced one potato in a twin-gear juicer and blended the other one in a Vita Mix blender with one cup of water. I placed both cups of fluid on the table and took a photograph of them. I was taking photographs frequently for two days. The potato juice started to turn brown within a matter of minutes and became dark brown by the end of the first hour. The blended potato stayed almost white for two days. The top of both liquids, which was exposed to the air, turned dark almost instantly. I repeated this experiment three times with different kinds of potatoes and various shapes of glasses. The results were the same.

It was clear that the juiced potato oxidized much faster than the blended potato. Since I am not a professional scientist, I decided to seek the opinion of someone with the appropriate expertise. I went to the local university  and consulted with Gregory T. Miller, professor of chemistry of Southern Oregon University. After researching this matter, he wrote the following:

The browning is the result of oxidation of specific biomolecules in the fruit or vegetable. My students study this in lab so I have some familiarity with the process (albeit they are studying the enzymatically regulated oxidation). My wife is also a winemaker and deals with oxidation of her juice/wine or a regular basis. I also possess a huge number of resources on the oxidation topic in the form of biochemistry, medical, and nutritional books. Here are my thoughts:espiratory tract ailments.

Many people believe that the blending process will cause increased oxidation due to thousands of tiny air bubbles getting mixed into the “juice”. This effectively increases the surface area of oxygen in the liquid and facilitates the oxidation process. However, in grapes at least, I have observed the opposite to be true. The blended grape stays a truer color much longer. I believe this observation in grapes to be a result of numerous antioxidants released as the grape is blended (breaks open more cells than juicing). I believe this is what you are seeing with the potato, as well.ermelon-like slices, or scoop out the two white fleshy halves with a tablespoon.

Potatoes contain numerous antioxidants. This may come as a surprise to many people because of the pale color of many varietals. Among others, potatoes are rich sources of phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. The concentration of each vary with the type of potato. Since your potatoes are skinless (where the greatest concentration of the tyrosinase enzyme is located), I believe the blending process releases a much higher percentage of these antioxidants from the tissue than the juicing process.

It is also possible that, in many fruits and vegetables, the bulk of the fiber released during blending reduces the oxygen saturation in the solution but, if true, I think this is a secondary issue.

Continue Reading

Today, green smoothie is becoming a common household term. If you’re reading this blog you probably know that green smoothies are not just another fad, they are an amazing discovery that makes finding personal health accessible to anyone, no matter what their income or lifestyle choice.

Have you ever wondered how the nutritional benefits of green smoothies were discovered, if there is truth in the talk that green smoothies improve health, who first started this new wave and who’s advice to listen to? There is only one woman who can claim to be the true pioneer in the modern ‘Green Smoothie Revolution’ and that is Victoria Boutenko. While inspired by the research of Dr Anne Wigmore and trying to improve her own family’s health, Victoria discovered that the modern human diet needs more greens, and the easiest way to consume the correct amount was to simply blend them with fruit.

Her tireless effort to seek the truth and the most effective way to optimum natural health has influenced thousands. If you are a fan of Victoria Boutenko then you know that she has given her information freely to the world so that anyone from any walk of life can find and share health. If you have never heard of her I suggest you do a quick Google search to familiarize yourself with someone who personally researches everything they recommend and discover, a true pathfinder. She gives without seeing dollar signs because her discovery is truly a gift to us all.

In this blog post I would like to share an article written by Victoria in 1995, just before her most famous book ‘Green for Life’ was published (and later became one of the top go-to books for anyone even considering raw food or natural health solutions). I’m sure you will find it personal, interesting and like me encouraging hearing directly from the source.

GREEN SMOOTHIE

An Easy Way to Love Greens

By Victoria Boutenko – 1995

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. Continue Reading

In this video by Sergei Boutenko he demonstrates how to make a green smoothie and explains the following key guidelines…

1 – Never blend anything except fruit, green leafy vegetables and water.

2 – Keep your green smoothie simple.

3 – Make your smoothie delicious and enjoyable.

4 – Rotate your greens!!!!

This article is a must read for all green smoothie drinkers.  Through everyday blending, research, experience, and letters from  readers, the Raw Family has come up with these basic principles for green smoothie making and consuming. To help people receive the most benefits from drinking green smoothies and to avoid some typical mistakes, Victoria  created the following guidelines:

• Prepare your green smoothie first thing in the morning in the amount that you usually consume in one day, one or two quarts (liters). Pour enough smoothie in a glass for your morning enjoyment and keep the rest in a refrigerator or another cold place.
• Sip your green smoothie slowly, mixing it with saliva. Sometimes I put my smoothie in a coffee mug with a lid and carry it with me to the car or to my office. That way I minimize a chance of spilling it and keep it private without distracting others. Continue Reading

A chapter from Victoria’s newest book “Green Smoothie Revolution”

Many different fruits and vegetables are green in color simply because they are unripe. They do not belong to the category of greens. For example, many green apples, grapes, melons, bananas, limes, and pears are unripe yellow fruits. Similarly, green bell peppers are unripe colored bell peppers. Unripe fruit usually contains enzyme inhibitors, which slow the action of our digestive enzymes and may cause irritation of the intestines. In addition, unripe fruit has a higher content of starch and less fruit sugar, which makes it harder to digest. For this reason, I never buy unripe fruit. However, I am concerned that many people don’t understand which greens are most beneficial, because I have received e-mails from confused readers who stopped buying ripe fruit in order to consume more greens. Keeping greens in the same category as vegetables is misleading and can even be harmful to public health. I suggest that our produce departments have at least the following three separate sections: fruits, vegetables, and greens. I define “greens” as the flat leaves of a plant, attached to the stem, that can be wrapped around a finger, with a very few exceptions, including nopal cactus leaves and celery.

Dr. Anne Wigmore, who pioneered raw food in the United States, taught in her lectures that green leaves are the only food that can be combined with every other food group without any negative effects.

Continue Reading

Victoria wrote ‘Ode to Green Smoothie’ after ’Green For Life’ was published in 2005. This article is a great summary of  the Green Smoothie facts and benefits. I highly recommend reading this information as a helpful reminder or as an excellent introduction to anyone joining the Green Smoothie Revolution.

ODE TO A GREEN SMOOTHIE

by Victoria Boutenko

As the Russian proverb says: New- is something old, that has been long forgotten. This summer I re-discovered green smoothies. What do I mean by green smoothie? Here is one of my favorite recipes: 4 ripe pears, 1 bunch of parsley and 1 big cup of water. Blended well. This smoothie looks very green, but it tastes like fruit. I like green smoothies so much that I bought an extra blender and placed it in my office, so that I could make green smoothies throughout the day. More than half of all the food I’ve had in last several months have been green smoothies. I have so much more energy and clarity that I have removed green juices from my diet. (Juicing has been something that I’ve been doing regularly for years.) Green smoothies have numerous benefits for human health.

1. Green smoothies are very nutritious. I believe that the ratio in them is optimal for human consumption: about 60% – ripe organic fruit mixed with about 40% – organic green vegetables.

2.  Green smoothies are easy to digest. When blended well, all the valuable nutrients in these fruits and veggies become homogenized, or divided into such small particles that it becomes easy for the body to assimilate these nutrients, the green smoothies literally start to get absorbed in your mouth.

3. Green smoothies, as a posed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.

4. Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for all humans of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the green vegetables balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding nice zest to it. Green smoothies are simply the best tasting dishes for the majority of adults and children. I always make extra smoothie and offer it to my friends and customers. Some of them eat a standard American diet. They all finished their big cup ofgreen smoothies with complements. They were quite surprised that something so green could taste so nice and sweet.

5. By consuming two or three cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough of greens for the day to nourish your body, and they will be well assimilated. Many people do not consume enough of greens, even those who stay on a raw food diet. The molecule of chlorophyll has only one atom that makes it different from a molecule of human blood. According to teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore, to consume chlorophyll is like receiving a healthy blood transfusion.

6. Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after. Many people told me that they do not consume green juices on a regular basis because it is time consuming to prepare green juices and clean the equipment after juicing, or to drive to the juice bar.

7. Green smoothies are perfect food for children of all ages, including babies of six or more months old when introducing new food to them after mother’s milk. Of course you have to be careful and slowly increase the amount of smoothies to avoid food allergies.

8. When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.

9. Regular consumption of Green smoothies forms a good habit of eating greens. Several people told me that after a couple of weeks of drinking green smoothies, they started to crave and enjoy eating more greens. Eating enough of green vegetable is often a problem with many people, especially in children.

10. Green smoothies can easily be freshly made at any juice bar, restaurant or health food store for the great convenience of health-oriented customers. Please bring a copy of this article to your local juice bar.

I encourage the readers of this article to start playing with green smoothies, and to discover the many joys and benefits of this wonderful delicious and nutritious addition to the menu. Here are more ideas for your green creations. Some of my favorite greens to add to green smoothies: parsley, spinach, celery, kale and romaine. My favorite fruits for green smoothies are: pears, peaches, nectarines, bananas, mangoes and apples. Strawberries and raspberries taste superb in green smoothies, when combined with ripe bananas.