QUESTION: I make my green smoothies with a lot of sweet fruit and even dates, raisins, figs, prunes, etc. I’m worried that I consume too many sweets. Should I use less?

VICTORIA: You may put more sweet fruit and even dates in the smoothie for a beginner or for a child. Most people are not yet accustomed to the taste of chlorophyll and simply will not drink it if it will taste too “green” to them. I think it is very important to prepare smoothies that are so delicious that everyone will look forward to them. Based on my observation and feedback from other smoothie drinkers, most people naturally start to crave greener smoothies in several weeks. On the other hand, some people were trying to be too perfect too quick, and prepared “super-green” smoothies from the very beginning. Then they complained that the green smoothies tasted awful, quit, and never wanted to try them again. If you are sensitive to sugar, for such reasons asdiabetes, candida, hypoglycemia, and other reasons, then you may have to start with less-sweet smoothies by adding low glycemic fruit, such as berries and apples. As another option, you may prepare savory smoothies made from greens and non-starchy vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers, and others.

Dear Friends:

I would like to share with you my hypothesis about the conditions that may cause diabetes, candida and other diseases.

Ever since my son Sergei was diagnosed with diabetes, I have been collecting all the information about this disease that I came across. From reading hundreds of studies and talking to countless diabetic friends, I have developed my own theory about the cause of this illness. I kept my ideas to myself for many years because I am not a medical doctor, and cannot give medical advice to anyone. Now I have decided to share my thoughts with you, just as a woman, friend, and mother of a diabetic child. So please don’t take my words as a directive, and perhaps some of you will be able to benefit from my reasoning.

The liver is the main organ in our body that processes the fats that we consume and the chemicals that we ingest and are exposed to. Even though the liver is the largest gland in the human body, it has a certain limit on how much fat and chemicals it can process. An adult human liver normally weighs around three pounds and can only process a certain amount of fat per day. Let us suppose that the following yellow circle represents the maximum amount of fat that our liver can process per day, and the red circle represents the maximum amount of chemicals:

What happens when we consume more fat and chemicals than we can process on a daily basis? For example this much more:

While the chemicals keep accumulating in different organs of our body and cause a variety of problems, including nutritional deficiencies, it is not entirely clear what happens with the excess fat. In this article I would like to talk about fat.

Continue Reading

QUESTION: “Does the large amount of fruit found in green smoothies cause a problem for those fighting Candida?”

VICTORIA: In my experience I’ve noticed that those who are drinking green smoothies are having fewer complaints about Candida. I know several people who have been very sick with Candida. One of them is Elizabeth who I quote in my book ‘Green For Life.’ I have a whole testimony from her. She had a very bad case of Candida and she was completely healed from it. Another is my friend Irene from Denver who had a very terrible case of Candida and now she doesn’t have it. She said she can eat any fruits and it doesn’t bother her. What she cannot eat is any fats. She says as soon as she begins to eat any fats like olive oil, nuts or avocados, her Candida comes back.

I understand that Candida results from very low immunity, and what else can improve immunity more than good nutrition? I believe that most of us have nutritional deficiencies. It doesn’t matter where we live. This is the result of our process of civilization. In my book ’12 Steps to Raw Foods’ (and I want to emphasize that it is quite different from the previous book ‘Raw Family’, about 90% different) I describe my anthropological and historical research that humans have been eating lots of greens and predominately raw food all through history. They did occasionally eat meats, but they were eating raw foods predominately, they were not eating a lot, they ate no processed food and they constantly consumed greens. Continue Reading

Dr Doug Graham is author of ‘The 80-10-10 Diet’ and famous for his work with training raw food athletes. 80-10-10 refers to the three-calorie nutrients. There are only three nutrients in human physiology that supply us with calories; they are carbohydrates, protein and fat.

The Raw Family  support Dr Graham’s views about the relationship between fat content and candida and want to make this information available to as many people as possible. Victoria Boutenko says “I agree with Dr. Graham’s research and have witnessed positive results in reversing Candida symptoms by reducing fat consumption”.

Valya invited Dr Graham for an interview where he explains what Candida is and how we should not attempt to live without having Candida; that would be like living without a natural backup system in place. Please learn more about Dr Graham’s research by enjoying the film below. Diabetics may find this information useful.