QUESTION: When I’m making a green smoothie and breaking up greens in the blender, do they oxidize and lose most of their nutrients? Incidentally, I do consume a ton of greens by eating huge salads and juicing.

VICTORIA: In my book, Green For Life, I explain that in order to get nutrients from greens, every cell of the green leaf has to be ruptured. To get all of the nutrients from food by oral mastication, one would have to spend several hours a day chewing, and have extremely healthy teeth that are all in place, including wisdom teeth. By observing the results of those who regularly consume green smoothies, I now think that the assimilation of nutrients from smoothies is several times more efficient than from chewing greens. Of course, these numbers are different from person to person, but I estimate that two bunches of greens chewed are equal to approximately to half a bunch of greens blended (not juiced, because juice is missing an important ingredient: fiber). When I was juicing my greens on a daily basis, I noticed how quickly the green juice turned brown and began to taste bitter. This doesn’t appear to happen with blended greens, probably because of the large quantities of antioxidants in the fiber. Green smoothies continue to stay bright green and taste fresh for many hours if kept in a cool place.

QUESTION: I thought Victoria’s point for green smoothies being superior to green juices was lacking. One of the main benefits of juice is that it requires next to no digestion and can be absorbed and assimilated immediately into the bloodstream, allowing the digestive system to rest.

VICTORIA: I agree with Dr. Doug Graham that juices are a fractured food, which is missing an essential component—fiber. I believe that when we consume enough fiber, we take a load off of our organism by dramatically improving our elimination. Toxins build up in the colon. Fiber cleans them out. When most toxins have been removed by fiber, then the body has a greater ability to absorb nutrients, thus improving digestion. There are many more important benefits in having fiber. For example, in my previous newsletter, I cited research about good bacteria needing raw fiber from fruits and vegetables in our colon to be able to survive. These bacteria are linked to the B complex vitamins–another important issue. Juices are not a complete food; humans could not live on juices alone. Very often juices have unbalanced amounts of sugar. Contrary to juices, green smoothies are a complete food. Also, I have met people who went on prolonged juice fasts and saw no improvement in their hydrochloric acid.