Sometimes I feel that in the search for health, we have been going over the same ground for many decades. In the meantime, the most prevalent illnesses, heart disease and cancer, are getting worse every year. Let us look at the statistics.

Coronary heart disease is the single leading cause of death in America today (466,101 deaths in 1997)

This year, 1,500 people will die from cancer every day, making it the second leading cause of death in the US.

As I observed both in Russia and in United States the allopathic medicine seems to have been focusing on the secondary causes of disease. To me that’s like pushing a car that ran out of gas with your bare hands instead of putting gas in, or comforting a hungry person instead of feeding them. So what is the main cause of disease?

Today we have an ocean of confusing information, articles in which different experts state many different reasons for illness. However, I think that the main reason for illness was stated very clearly in 1931! Over 75 years ago, Otto Warburg was awarded the Nobel prize for his discovery that cancer is caused by weakened cell respiration due to lack of oxygen at the cellular level. According to Warburg, damaged cell respiration causes fermentation, resulting in low pH (acidity) at the cellular level.

Dr. Warburg, in his Nobel Prize winning study, illustrated the environment of the cancer cell. A normal healthy cell undergoes an adverse change when it can no longer take in oxygen to convert glucose into energy. In the absence of oxygen, the cell reverts to a primal nutritional program to nourish itself by converting glucose through the process of fermentation. The lactic acid produced by fermentation lowers the cell pH (acid/alkaline balance) and destroys the ability of DNA and RNA to control cell division. The cancer cells then begin to multiply. The lactic acid simultaneously causes severe local pain as it destroys cell enzymes. Cancer appears as a rapidly growing external cell covering, with a core of dead cells.

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Sprouts

For variety, we include several kinds of sprouts in our diet, but never more than a handful and only one or two times a week. Approximately from the third to the sixth day of their life, sprouts contain higher levels of alkaloids, as a means of protection from animals nipping them off and killing them.[1] That doesn’t mean that sprouts are poisonous or dangerous, but only that we cannot live on sprouts alone. Most sprouts are rich in B-vitamins and have a hundred times more nutrients than a fully developed plant because sprouts need more nutrition for their fast growing period.

Toxins in greens

Once in a while I read in the news or receive an e-mail about kale or spinach or parsley or any other green having a toxic ingredient and therefore being dangerous for human consumption. This is all true but not to a degree as to exclude any particular green from our diet. Let us learn to increase the variety of greens in our diet and to constantly rotate them for better nutritional results.

Medicinal herbs

The medicinal herbs are edible but contain higher than usual levels of alkaloids, and have to be used in smaller amounts. I enjoy a variety of medicinal herbs in my green smoothies in the summer, but I always put them in my smoothie with other greens, and not very often. Please use them with caution. The following are medicinal herbs:

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Dear Readers,

Last week was slightly hectic as we suddenly began filming a new documentary while attempting to shoot and edit our 2 week video series with Valya for You Tube. Obviously, we took on too much and found it difficult to deliver the quality videos we intended, so while we shot the doco, we are postponing the video series. (I knew I shouldn’t have got so excited and announced anything ahead of time:) The good news is Victoria will be more available, so we can include her teaching in the series.

We will be back to the regular posting on the blog. Today I wanted to share with you an older video by Sergei as well as an article he recently published on his personal web site. Sergei shares why he loves dandelions, nutritional information as well as some recipes for dandelion green smoothies and snacks. Please feel free to visit Sergei’s site for more information about wild edibles.

Dandelions with Sergei Boutenko

Sergei says: Dandelions are one of my favorite weeds because of their widespread availability. I have traveled the world and set foot in 39 countries all of which have had at least one variety of dandelion growing vigorously. Therefore, this common plant is the perfect candidate for introducing people to wild foods.

Like all wild edibles, dandelions are extremely nutritious and beneficial for many different health reasons. Of these, they are most acclaimed for being great organ cleaners. It turns out that the bitter taste I once detested, actually stimulates bile production, aids digestion, and cleans pretty much every inner organ inside my body.

Because dandelions are bitter to the taste, and I am not particularly found of the bitter flavor, it took me many attempts to find a way enjoy eating them. After a great deal of experimentation, I found two ways to reduce the bitterness of dandelions and make them more palatable:

1.)   One way to kill the bitterness is to blend them with fruit in a green smoothie. (see recipe below)

2.)   The other way is to process them with some sort of fat, i.e. nuts, oils, and avocados. (see recipe below)

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Over the weekend we had some technical difficulties which means that Valya’s video series has been delayed. We hope to have the first video posted on Thursday.

We are currently enjoying lamsquarters in our green smoothies, so we wanted to share with you some useful recipes and information about this common edible weed.

What is Lambsquarters?

Lambsquarters is a wild edible weed perfect for green smoothies and packed with nutrition. It is also called wild spinach, pigweed or goosefoot depending on where you are located. It has a mild, chlorophyll flavor like our domestic  greens.  Lamsquarters is a relative of swiss chard, beets and a few exotic garden greens like orach, all in the chenopodium family.

You can find lamsquarters all over America and in many different habitats from rich farm soils to empty lots in desert towns. It tends to grow in  disturbed soils, close to humans rather than in remote places. Its highly likely  that you will find some in your garden.  Not only does it grow everywhere but it has a very long edible season. It gets to  be a good eating size around June, being a late spring arrival, and its tender leaves are available for the rest of the growing  season.

I cant find Lambsquarters, where can I get some?

Any farmer is familiar with lambsquarters. Farmers who grow animals use it for feed and farmers who grow vegetables weed them out. Lambsquarters are not yet popular in health food stores, but you can buy bunches of these greens at many farmer’s markets. If your local farmer doesn’t see it, you could ask him to bring you some.  I’m sure he would be happy to make a profit from a ‘weed’. Another option is to grow your own, you can purchase Lamsquarters seeds at Seeds of Change.

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QUESTION: I cant afford organic produce, can you please explain to me why organic is so important.

This is a question we are often asked. I have taken Victoria’s answer from a teleconference. You can also read about the importance of microorganisms in the soil in Green for Life. The chapter is titled ‘Healthy Soil is more Valuable than Gold’ and Victoria discuses that ‘when all microorganisms get destroyed with chemicals, the soil turns to dust’. Here she explains that  ’through the plants we eat, we receive essential nutrients that were created by microorganisms in the soil’

VICTORIA: I personally think that we absolutely have to strive for organic. Some will say it’s expensive and someone asked about pesticides. The problem is not that non-organic has pesticides, but rather that it doesn’t have any nutrition. My main message is that we are malnourished and have deficiencies. Commercial produce doesn’t have any nutrition.

I’ll give you an example from a table I published in Green for LIfe. This table was taken from a book by Dr Gary Far, Comparing Organic Versus Commercially Grown Foods…
Let us look at Organic Lettuce. It says that organic lettuce has 12mg of sodium and commercial lettuce has 0mg. Organic has 176.5mg of potassium, commercial only 53mg. Organic has 169mcg of manganese which is an important nutrient, while commercial has only 1mcg.

Let’s look at organic spinach which has 1584mg of iron, commercial has only 89mg.  Organic tomatoes have 1938mg of iron while commercial has only 1mg. That’s 2000 times more.
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Greens for Homeostasis:
Information taken from Victoria Boutenko’s book Green For Life.

How can we take care of our homeostasis when it is out of our reach? The process of homeostasis in the human body is tightly connected to the endocrine system. Homeostatic balance depends on the performance of the endocrine glands. If the glands do not secrete the proper amount of hormones, the homeostatic balance in the body will shift and disease could start.

The glands of the endocrine system and the hormones they release influence almost every cell, organ, and function of our body. The endocrine system is instrumental in regulating mood, growth and development, tissue function, and metabolism, as well as sexual function, and reproductive processes. To make it really simple, the endocrine system in a human body acts like a factory combined with a supermarket that manufactures and supplies every substance requested by any gland or organ at any time, in any needed quantity. What would such factory need? An abundance of high quality supplies! Similarly, the endocrine system in our body absolutely needs all nutrients, including vitamins, amino acids, carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, minerals and all trace elements. Supplying all of these nutrients to our body is critical for good health.

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Have you ever made a green smoothie with wheatgrass?

VICTORIA: Wheatgrass adds beautifully to the variety of green smoothies. Sometimes I purchase a small pot of wheatgrass in soil which I usually get three harvests of grass clippings from.

Please remember that it is very important to rotate the greens you consume. Nature, in order to protect greens from extinction, placed in greens a little bit of poison, a minute amount of alkaloids, because otherwise animals like deer, elk and horse would begin to eat one plant until it’s all gone. Alkaloids are a little bit different in different plants, and it forces animals to go from one plant to another and rotate them naturally. We have to abide by this law. We have to constantly rotate our greens. We cannot just eat kale, kale, kale or spinach, spinach, spinach or wheatgrass, wheatgrass, wheatgrass. We have to rotate. For example, I checked how many different greens chimpanzees consumed in one year and they enjoy  117 varieties. I mention in Green for Life the research that Dr. Daniel Moerman made in his book, he lists 1649 edible plants in just North America. Most of these plants have edible leaves. The Chinese listed more than 365 different edible greens in 5000 B.C. Humans have been consuming greens at all times throughout history except in the last 100 or 80 years. So yes, you can use wheatgrass, but you have to rotate it.

If you have heard Victoria talk recently she would have shared her theories on Vitamin B12 in much more detail. I wanted to post this response from Victoria because I think it’s interesting and we get asked about B12 regularly. Some people may find Victoria’s answer controversial, however please keep in mind that this is very brief, she has not drawn any official scientific conclusions and this response is an
observation from her own experience.
(Photo taken at a recent ‘Conscious Events’ talk in the UK)

QUESTION: Where do vegans get their Vitamin B12?

VICTORIA: Vitamin B12 is the only nutrient that we cannot get from
plants. There is a lot of research currently going on regarding B12. The
USDA recommends getting this vitamin from animal products. Many vegans
and raw fooder’s take vitamin B12 supplements. Dr Vivian V. Vetrano and
other doctors of Natural Hygiene state that vitamin B12 is made by
bacteria in the intestinal tract. As you can see, there is a lot of
confusion and conflicting information about this rather important issue.
At the same time, vitamin B12 deficiency may be dangerous for human
health. I have my own theory about vitamin B12, based on my experience
of eating raw food for over 15 years, and observing other people on
vegan and vegetarian diets.
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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

QUESTION:  I don’t understand chemistry, can you please explain to me in a simpler way why greens are good for me?

VICTORIA: The sunshine hits the greens and the process of photosynthesis occurs. The sunshine turns into chlorophyll which is the base molecule for any carbohydrate, that is, sugar. There is no carbohydrate in the world that did not originate from chlorophyll. Then most of the carbohydrates from the chlorophyll are split between the fruits and the roots. We all know how sweet the fruits are, and the purpose of this sweetness is to attract you and me and the rest of the fruit-loving creatures. When we eat the fruit, we help the plant to propagate their species through spreading the seeds.  That is why when the seeds are ready to be spread the fruit becomes beautifully colored and delicious.

The other large portion of the sweet carbohydrates is transferred to the roots. One would ask, why to the roots? Even though almost all roots are sweet, such as carrots, yams, potatoes, beets, jicama and others, they are not attractive. They look like hair covered with dirt and they are hidden in the ground. However, the plants go to great lengths to accumulate sugar in their roots, because the health and the mere existence of plants depends on the richness of the soil. Continue Reading