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

Blessings to everyone for the New Year. May the next century be filled with health, happiness and green smoothies!!! Prioritizing your health by adding more greens to your diet is the perfect New Years resolution. I thought we could start 2010 by contemplating the value of leafy greens and the idea that they should be a separate food group.  Please enjoy this article from Victoria Boutenko.

I wonder how greens got classified as vegetables? Why do we call many completely different food groups, vegetables, while they look different and contain different sets of nutrients? A produce manager from a local health food store complained to me that his customers often got confused when looking for a particular ingredient among 150+ pieces of produce all gathered under the single name: vegetables. This man had worked in the produce section for more then ten years. He suggested that the produce section be divided into several different smaller groups of plant foods with specific similarities, like roots (carrots, beets, daikon, etc.) flowers (broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke, etc.) and non-sweet fruit (cucumber, zucchini, squash, tomato, etc.). Combining foods with similar nutritional values would not only help shoppers to find necessary ingredients faster, but also would help them to become familiar with more plant foods and increase their variety of vegetarian food consumption.

Obviously, people have never considered plants to be important enough to be classified properly. Even at the regular supermarket one can see that other food departments have more detailed classifications. For example, the meat department is divided into poultry, fish, and meat, which in turn is subdivided into smaller sections, like veal, ground meats, bones, sub-products. Every item is carefully categorized, specifying which part of the carcass it is from. Cheeses have their own specification. Nobody would ever classify cheese and meat together in one group like “sandwich food”, because it would be inconvenient and unclear. Yet this kind of confusion and error continually occurs in the produce section at the present time. Some errors are quite serious, to such a degree that it could cause health problems. As an example of this, placing starchy roots in the same category with tomatoes and cucumbers could prompt customers to make improper food combining choices.

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‘How do you wash your fruits and vegetables to make sure that there are no harmful parasites or bacteria on them? Do you use hydrogen peroxide or apple cider vinegar?’”

I don’t usually wash my produce at all. Sometimes I use a little water. I have a garden in the back of my yard and I buy only organic food. Buying organic food is important and I buy my produce from a farmer’s market five months of the year, where I know the growers personally. I don’t even rinse them in tap water first because I understand that chlorine often destroys bacteria and other things that are good for us. For example, I believe that little bits of soil contain microorganisms and that these contribute to our B12 levels. I did research and found that some who follow a raw food diet are B12 deficient and some aren’t. By questioning those people, I found that those who thoroughly wash their produce usually have a B12 deficiency. They are not getting the microorganisms that stay on those greens. My answer is that I’m not afraid of parasites as much as I am afraid of chemicals. Parasites and humans have lived together for thousands of years, but chemicals are killing us now. I want less chemicals and a strong immune system. I rarely get sick anymore now.

” I submit that scientists have not yet explored the hidden possibilities of the innumerable seeds, leaves and fruits for giving the fullest possible nutrition to mankind.”                            - Mahatma Gandhi

Every protein molecule consists of a chain of amino acids. An essential amino acid is one that cannot be synthesized by the body, and therefore must be supplied as part of the diet. Humans must include adequate amounts of 9 amino acids in their diet.

In his book, The China Study, Professor T. Colin Campbell shows that the U.S. RDA for protein is greatly overestimated. Studies of the diets of chimpanzees compared to that of humans confirm the same truth. “Chimpanzees maintain a fairly low and constant protein intake …”[1]

I have looked at the nutritional content of dozens of various green vegetables and I was pleased to see that the aminos that were low in one plant were high in another. In other words, if we maintain a variety of greens in our diet, we will cover all essential aminos in abundance.

I decided to calculate by myself the essential amino acid content in one big bunch of kale and one big bunch of lambsquarters (a weed). I have chosen kale because it is available in most produce markets. Lambsquarters is one of the most common edible weeds that grows in different climates. Most farmers should be able to identify lambsquarters for you.

I then compared the numbers that I got with the amounts of essential amino acids for an average adult recommended by USDA[2]. For more information on the content of Essential Amino Acids in Lambsquarters and Kale, please see page 43 in my book Green For Life www.greenforlife.com

The resulting numbers demonstrated that dark green leafy vegetables contain similar or larger amounts of amino acids than the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). However, because of the confusion between vegetables (roots) and greens, we are told that vegetables, including greens, are a poor source of amino acids. This inaccurate statement has led to the malnourishment and suffering of people for decades. The lack of research on the nutritional content of greens has led to a great confusion among the majority of people, including many professionals. Dr. Joel Fuhrman wrote in his book Eat to Live: “Even physicians and dietitians… are surprised to learn that …when you eat large quantities of green vegetables, you receive a considerable amount of protein.”

Where do I get my protein? Being aware of the confusion around vegetables, I understand why this became a popular question. Since most people were not aware that greens have an abundance of readily available essential amino acids, they were trying to eat from the other food groups known for their rich protein content. However, let me explain the difference between complex proteins found in meat, dairy, fish, etc. and individual amino acids, found in fruits, vegetables, and especially in greens.

It is clear that the body has to work a lot less when creating protein from the assortment of individual amino acids from greens, rather than the already combined, long molecules of protein, assembled according to the foreign pattern of a totally different creature such as a cow or a chicken. I would like to explain the difference between complex proteins and individual amino acids with a simple anecdote.

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Victoria Boutenko often receive questions about oxalic acid in greens, especially spinach. Here is an excerpt from the book Green Smoothie Revolution, page 34.

QUESTION: Should I avoid eating spinach because it has oxalic acid?

VICTORIA: The oxalic acid in food is considered harmful because it can combine with calcium and may leach the body of this important mineral. For some reason everyone knows of the oxalic acid in spinach, but is not aware of the oxalic acid content in many other commonly eaten foods such as grains, beans, and especially coffee and tea. While spinach is loaded with calcium which minimizes the loss of this mineral from your body, coffee has none. I would be more concerned about the oxalic acid content in coffee and other products than in spinach. At the same time, even though the oxalic acid content in spinach is minute, if you do not rotate your greens and use only spinach for many weeks, you may accumulate oxalic acid and experience symptoms of poisoning. Remember, rotate your greens!

You can buy Green Smoothie Revolution at most book stores or from our website  click here .

Millions of years of co-existence on the same planet has resulted in plants, people, and animals developing a strong symbiotic connection. Plants do not mind if people and animals eat their fruits because such practice benefits the plant by spreading its seeds and thus promoting future generations. In fact plants are “interested” in someone eating their fruit, but only when it is ripe.

The ultimate goal of all plants is to continue their species and provide adequate living conditions for themselves. That is why so many fruits in the world have a round shape, so that they can roll away and start a new life. Plants have learned to make their fruit colorful, palatable, fragrant, and nutritious, to ensure that its consumers not only eat one fruit but continue to return for more. This strategy works very well and all fruit gets eaten. Have you ever noticed how thoroughly birds clean cherry trees or how squirrels keep working on an oak tree until there are no more acorns left? What happens next? The “eaters” digest their food and have bowel movements far away from the mother plant and the seeds are covered with nice “organic fertilizer.” The seeds get a perfect start. Inside the fruit, the seeds are wisely protected from being digested with hardy shells and inhibitors. Note that the plant keeps its fruit extremely un-tasteful, colorless, and without attractive fragrance all the way until the seeds are ripe, so that nobody wastes them before the seeds have matured.

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