Recently I posted an article about Clent Manichs, who was able to reduce his weight to 170lbs from 400lbs. You can read about  Clents history and  green smoothie experiment here.

In this post Clent answers the most popular questions he received after losing weight on a raw, green smoothie diet. People who are struggling with the transition to a green smoothie diet or concerned about how to cope with cravings and the social pressure of being raw, may find Clent’s perspective helpful. I found it interesting to learn that even after such a dramatic change in his weight, Clent doesn’t have hanging skin. This is because the raw food diet helps bring the skin back to life and encourages its natural elastic ability. Victoria Boutenko explains that the Chlorophyll in the greens and especially from fresh wheat grass juice, can be responsible for skin elasticity. So if you are losing weight be sure to have lots of green smoothies and drink wheat grass.

This interview took place in 2008

Q: What are your favorite Green Smoothies?
A: ALL ORGANIC INGREDIENTS- if you can find them. I like to get my produce from the local growers market to save money and find the freshest available. Organic Produce is the most nutritiously grown, and grown without pesticides. There may not be enough nutrients in commercially grown produce. BEWARE!!!!!! STAY HEALTHY!!!!! BUY ONLY ORGANIC

Strawberry-banana-kale : Diabetic friendly:
1 cup strawberries 1 mango
2 bananas handful of blueberries
1/2 bunch kale 1 bunch of dandelion greens
2 cups of pure or filtered water 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional) tastes good
2 cups of pure or filtered water

My daily favorite that has helped me lose a good portion of weight:
Super high in greens (about 70-80 % greens):
big handful of mixed greens
big handful of spinach
4 leaves of kale (and /or)
4 leaves of collard greens (and/or)
l/4 bunch of dandelion greens (and/or)
1/4 bunch of parsley (and/or)
handful of beet leaves (and/or)
1 banana
1 large tomato or 2 medium tomato’s
1/2 avocado
1/2 lemon squeezed
1/2 lime squeezed
1 apple
4 large strawberries
2 tbls ground flax seed
2 cups of pure or filtered (clean) water
1 cup ice

Makes a full Vita-Mix blender pitcher of 64 fluid ounces. add or remove water for texture.

I use four 16 oz. plastic containers to hold my smoothies and I keep them cold in a ice packed lunch cooler and consume every 2-3 hours until gone. I start my day with a fresh carrot juice with wheatgrass and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. 1/2 hour later i begin drinking my green smoothies.

I will snack along the day on veggies and fruits if hungry (gives jaw some exercise). I drink lots of pure water all day long. Once a day I mix barley grass powder in my water especially during work outs to help reduce soreness in muscles. Do not mix powdered greens with smoothie. It will taste nasty! Do not add protein powder to your smoothie. There is a monster amount of excellent proteins in the green smoothie already. Too much protein can damage your kidney’s over time and increase your chances of certain cancers. This formula seems to rip the fat off my body and gives me energy all day. Remember what works for me may not work for you. Although I have received optimal health, extreme weightless and no longer have symptoms of Diabetes while on this program, I will not accept any responsibility for those that follow my program. You must discuss and seek advice from a health care professional and a lifestyle specialist such as Dr. Donato www.dolphindoctor.org before beginning a lifestyle change in your diet. Personally, I am closely monitored by my Physician, Endocrinologist and Dr. Donato. I have my blood work checked regularly and check my blood sugars daily. Those of you that follow my current program, please let me know your progress. I would love to hear from you!

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Clent Manich’s Green Smoothie Experiment (2008)

I called my experiment “The Green Smoothie Experiment 2″ because before I found green smoothies I read about Valerie Winters who lost  127 pounds in 25 weeks of just green smoothies. In my experiment, in addition to green smoothies I added some freshly made vegetable juice and chunks of fresh veggies. I have combined my Raw Lifestyle Diet and Green Smoothies to closely mimic Dr. Donato’s “Get Healthy Boot Camp”.

In the morning I usually drink a 12 OZ fresh carrot juice mixed with wheat grass juice. Next I prepare about a gallon of green smoothie, enough to supply four meals for me throughout the day. I usually add half of an avocado and two tablespoons of ground flaxseed  to my daily smoothie. I consume my green smoothies throughout the day, a large cup every two-three hours until I finish it. Along with the smoothie meals I snack during the day on a wide variety of raw veggies, such as celery sticks, baby carrots, asparagus, sweet peppers, zucchini, broccoli, or any raw veggies. Once in a while when I crave something sweet, I grab a banana, or peach, or a handful of grape tomatoes, but in general I consume fruit in moderation. I do not add any nuts, seeds, salt or oils. I drink lots of water all day long. This way I have enough to eat in a day to control my hunger.

In the very beginning of my experiment I weighed over 400 pounds, and I was hurting myself during exercise. Dr. Donato asked me to wait until I was under 300 pounds. I lost 102 pounds in fourteen weeks without exercising. Now I train with weight three times a week at the local gym under the supervision of Dr. Donato, along with a light cardio/anaerobic exercise daily. So far I have lost 204 pounds within 9 months.

I had type 2 Diabetes. I have now cured my Diabetes and currently weigh 197 pounds Lbs. My Goal is to get down to 170 Lbs. by the end of the year. Only 27 pounds to go. Easy! I began January 26th this year. That will be 230 Lbs. lost in less then one year. I am currently training to climb/hike Mt. Whitney in September.

Due to popular request Clent shares his life story and why he drastically changed his diet

Here is a brief summary of my life and how I found the raw lifestyle that’s helping me lose weight and regain my health.When I was a child I always seemed to be a little chunky. My family had to always finish our plates at the dinner table before being allowed to leave.

Growing up my body weight was like a roller coaster, constantly going up and down. As a teenager I became aware of my weight problem and cut back on my food. When I entered high school I was very skinny and ran on the cross country and swim team. And I delivered news papers on my bicycle. I was very active and skinny and weighed about 170 – 190 pounds.

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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.

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Clent Manich is an inspiration to all those that hear his story. After coming close to death, Clent was able to lose 226 pounds and beat diabetes by predominately drinking green smoothies and switching to a raw diet.

Clent’s green smoothie and weight loss experience is documented in Victoria’s latest book, Green Smoothie Revolution. Valya has also created a touching interview with Clent, who as you will see, is a very heart-felt and genuine person. We hope that many people will be inspired by his simple and stunning example.

I would like to share with you a unique true story from a diabetic who was able to reduce his insulin by drinking green smoothies with fruit for one week. Victoria sent this story and video out in her Raw Family news letters just after our latest Joy for Life Retreat.

We have two confirmed Joy For Life Retreats in 2010. In February there will be one at Pacific Palisades, Southern California and in August we will hold a retreat on Vancouver island. For more information please click here

Robert has been working on our websites for more than four years. During this time he developed type 2 diabetes and was placed on insulin. Of course he has read tons of information about green smoothies since he has been creating multiple pages devoted to this topic. Robert was open to drinking green smoothies whenever he visited our office, however he was afraid to drink a lot of them because of their fruit content. At home Robert was trying to make smoothies with minimal amount of fruit, on other occasions often he would blend himself savory green smoothies.

Robert was able to make arrangements at his main job so that he could participate at our recent Joy for Life Retreat. He arrived Stewart Mineral Springs completely equipped with his blood sugar monitor and plenty of insulin on hand.

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In response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat of diabetes, The International Diabetes Federation and The World Health Organization created World Diabetes Day on November the 14th, 1991.

The campaign is designed to draw attention to issues faced by diabetics, and to keep prevention of the disease firmly in the public spotlight.  It’s a worthy cause. Nonetheless, considering the alarming growth rate of diabetes in today’s society, it appears the message is not getting across. Over the last 20 years the world population has grown by 30%. During that same time the population of diabetics in the world has grown by 766%.

I would like to put another spin on the official World Diabetes campaign by encouraging people to research natural cures for diabetes. You may like to view this astonishing independent documentary called “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days.” The film chronicles six diabetic Americans who switch to an organic, raw vegan diet in order to reverse the disease without pharmaceutical medication.

There is currently a special DVD offer for World Diabetes Day, if you are interested click here for the DVD…

In honor of what we have learned to be possible I have included a wonderful testimonial given to Victoria Boutenko by Alex Romanov. Alex was able to stop taking insulin by drinking green smoothies and staying on the raw diet.

Reversing Diabetes Testimonial by Alex Romanov

My name is Alex Romanov, and I am writing this in thanksgiving for the help I recieved from the Boutenko family, which has forever changed my life.

As an adult, I was diagnosed as a type one diabetic. This was determined by the results of a C-peptide assay performed at Century City Hospital in Los Angeles, California while under the care of Dr. Englanoff. I was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and a septic condition of the blood. I was in end-stage diabetic Ketoacidosis. It was determined that my body was no longer producing insulin.

The news that I was diabetic came as a total shock! Looking back, I realize that I had been experiencing various symptoms for some time. These included frequent urination, insatiable thirst, pain in my feet and legs, blurred vision and slow healing of cuts and bruises.

The diagnosis was devastating for me because, for many years, I had dabbled off and on with raw foods, and felt I was in control of my health. After reading Victoria’s Green for Life, I had added smoothies to my diet occasionally with great results. I now realize that it was those very smoothies that were keeping the diabetes at bay.

I spent 4 days in critical condition in the ICU followed by an additional five days in the hospital. During that time, I found it was difficult not to buy into the doctor’s dire predictions. I was told that my life would depend on my taking a large amount of insulin daily.

When I got out of the hospital, I was so sad. I felt like I had lost control of my health and this horrible “boogeyman” named diabetes had taken charge. I attended classes and clinics, and at every one, I was endlessly informed that I should expect one dire outcome after another. I was told that the numbness in my feet was Neuropathy and that it could one day lead to amputation. I was warned to have my vision checked because I may develop Retinitis which could lead to blindness. It was a constant diet of negative outcomes.

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Last Tuesday I posted an article written by Victoria Boutenko which described her family’s experience with diabetes and the research she gathered to find a natural cure. Today’s post is a continuation of the original article; it covers some interesting facts about diabetes which can not easily be found in the main stream.

Here is part 2 of the article, Curing Diabetes, by Victoria Boutenko:

Click here to read Part 1 of this article…

I continued my studies on nutrition. One day, I came upon an article that discussed the benefits of adequate sunlight. In an experiment with 1200 children who were exposed to various degrees of sunlight, exposure to adequate amounts of sunshine lead to an 80% reduction in developing diabetes in comparison with the control group (9). Since then, everyone in my family started a regular practice of sunbathing. I believe that sufficient exposure to sunlight has also contributed to my son’s healing.

We checked my son’s blood sugar level frequently. Naturally we were curious to know what levels of blood sugar other people had too. For a while, we began checking the blood sugar of every person who entered our house. I still cannot find any reasonable explanation for the fact that so many of our friends often had very high readings of blood sugar. Readings such as 250, 300, or even higher were not uncommon. We had several monitors in our house and they all showed similar measurements.

In my search for information on improving diabetes, my collection of odd bits of helpful information began to expand. I read about pasteurized milk, and how it increased the chances of developing diabetes (10), and that aloe barbadensis leaf can help prevent and improve diabetes (11), and how cinnamon and cloves can improve insulin function (12) , and that by increasing the fiber content of a diabetic’s diet, the insulin requirement is reduced (13), and countless other facts. It has become my habit to hunt for new information on diabetes. Nowadays there is a worldwide on-line access to the newest scientific discoveries about diabetes. You can choose from an abundant assortment of research articles at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/diabetes

Throughout the years, I have received a great number of accusations and bitter letters, mostly from parents of diabetic children. Sometimes people tell me that my son could not have been a type 1 diabetic. For example, the following letter read, “I’m more than concerned at your continued insistence that you cured your son of insulin-dependent Juvenile Diabetes and saved him from a lifetime of insulin use. It’s impossible… “ or, “I suggest you try to find out more information about your son’s diagnosis before you attempt to convince others that they can be cured of type 1 diabetes by diet only…” Continue Reading

Many people write to the Bountekos seeking ways to cure diabetes naturally.  I would like to share with you some of the information that Victoria compiled in 2006 and some snippets from her own family’s personal experience with curing diabetes through diet. Victoria first began gathering books, articles and testimonials about this disease when her youngest son Sergei was diagnosed with diabetes in 1993. The following is an overview of the facts, thoughts and experiences she considers to be most valuable.

At the time my son was diagnosed, I was told that he had symptoms of type 1 diabetes. The doctor insisted that he had to go on insulin immediately.  However, the recent death of my dear grandmother was still fresh in my memory. She was killed by an overdose of insulin.

My grandmother Katherine had always  been a tremendous source of inspiration for me. Born in 1909, she was  adventurous enough to jump with a parachute at the age of 18 in 1927, when  airplane flights had just begun, and parachutes were rather bulky and unsafe.  She was an educated and well-mannered lady who managed to marry Count  Bulgakov, the cousin of the world-famous classical Russian writer, Michael Bulgakov.

My grandmother was one of the central figures in my family and her early death  was a big shock to us all. She had given herself the usual dose of insulin, but for  some reason, her body responded to it with a strong hypoglycemic reaction that  resulted in death. So of course, when the doctor pronounced that my son was  diabetic, the biggest threat to me was the idea of giving my child insulin shots.

I am aware that I am a very protective mother, and the motherly instincts are strong in me. While considering the treatment proposed for my son, I began  collecting and scrutinizing all the information I could get my hands on in order to  choose the optimal treatment for him. At first I could find nothing that even  devotedly suggested an alternative way of treating diabetes. I spent many hours in the  library, reading medical journals both new and old, with a stack of post-its and  a medical dictionary by my side marking everything that could help shed some  light on my understanding of my son’s disease. The very first book that brought  me hope and relief was the book, Reversing Diabetes, by Dr. Julian Whitaker. In  this book, Dr. Whitaker said, “Most diabetic patients can reasonably expect to  lower their insulin dose or eliminate oral diabetic medications. Some patients  may be able to stop injecting insulin altogether.”

Even though my doctor explained to me that my son’s pancreas was incapable of producing insulin, and he therefore had to immediately take insulin,  I strongly felt that if I didn’t try to correct his condition with diet first, I would be  devastated should unwanted complications from insulin occur later. It was a very  difficult decision to make. I never described in any of my books or conversations  what I had to go through during those first months, because I was afraid. I love  my children more than anything in the world, and I was afraid to lose my son  either to disease or to misunderstanding authorities. Even now, when my son  is 21 years old and vibrantly healthy, I still have some of those fears. I just want  to explain that my heart goes out to all the mothers and fathers of diabetic children  who have to go through the same torturous decisions. Very often I hear accusations  that I placed my son’s life at stake. Honestly I didn’t feel that way, because I was  always very close to him. I placed his bed in my own bedroom so that I could hear  his breathing day and night. I monitored his blood sugar several times a day, and  closely watched his symptoms.

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We are extremely honored and excited to present this testimony.  When I requested people submit their stories I never expected such an amazing heart felt and personal response. For me the below story is incredible; I never really understood that, as well as the many physical improvements, raw food can reverse abusive and negative mental patterns. I recommend you take the time to read this amazing story; it’s extremely moving and clearly demonstrates the benefits of the raw food diet.

If you have a testimony you would like to share, feel free to send your story to  info@rawfamily.com

It would have never occurred to me to share my life story with anyone. Until recently, I was doing my best to conceal as much of it as possible, never thinking once that someone out there might find it a source of inspiration and strength. The raw food experience changed all that, not only from a purely physical point of view – I did experience tremendous changes in a surprisingly short amount of time – but also from a mental one as well.

I am a survivor of violent childhood abuse. I have repeatedly been scarred both physically and mentally over a long period of time. As a result, I have to function with PTSD and other mental disorders, which manifest themselves on a daily basis. My nights are often worse than my days, with recurring night terrors, nightmares and the sleeplessness that ensues. Phantom and real pains have plagued my body every single day of my existence: I am still trying to come to terms with broken bones that never healed properly. Medications were the very inadequate, but unfortunately the best available help I was given to cope with my hellish life.

There’s more, but I’ll stop here. I think the picture is clear enough.

Last February, I was diagnosed with diabetes. This was the end of the road for me: to add one more catastrophic, painful disease to my long list of ailments was not an option. I gave myself an ultimatum to either change life paths completely or bring my miserable existence to an end. I did not want to be subjected to any more pain, whether physical or psychological.

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