Greens, Recipes

Valya’s New App “Quality Produce”

0 Comments 10 April 2013

Dear Friends,

If you are tired of stringy avocados, sour grapefruits, and flavorless peaches, then you will love the Quality Produce App. This tool will help you choose the ripest, sweetest, and freshest produce every time without fail!

Having this app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch will inspire you to sink your teeth into some of the world’s most delicious edible treasures. We have worked hard to compile this ultra user-friendly app, filling it with clear images and hundreds of useful tips that will take the guessing out of shopping. Use the Quality Produce app right in the store to become an expert in no time. With the audio function, just plug in your headphones and listen while you peruse the produce section.

Android phones do not provide sufficient memory, so we won’t be able to create this app for them. Maybe someone in your family owns an iPhone or iPad that you can use if you do not have one yourself.

Valya based her recommendations on 19 years of personal experience shopping and preparing food from quality produce. She provided lots of useful tips in this app.

You may learn more about this app here:

http://www.iosnoops.com/appinfo/quality-produce-for-iphone-and-ipad/613581716

We appreciate your sincere comments and ratings so please feel free to leave a comment about this app on iTunes when you purchase it. Thank you!

 

Meet the Athletes for Sergei’s Documentary

Sergei has started shooting his feature film about the effect of green smoothie consumption on performance of hardcore, endurance athletes. Watch this short clip for an introduction to the athletes that will be participating in this amazing experiment:

 

Green Smoothie Questions, Greens, Raw Food, Recipes

Green Smoothie with Stinging Nettles

0 Comments 08 April 2013

Stinging nettles is more nutritious than most greens in the store. Compared to spinach, it has 29x the amount of calcium, 14x the amount of iron, 8x the amount of magnesium, and 4x the amount of potassium. See what you get from just one cup of stinging nettles ¹:

Mineral Content
Serving Size: 1 cup (89g or 3.1 oz)
—————-	————–	———
	Amount	RDI%
Protein	2.4119g	5%
Calcium	428.09 mg	43%
Iron	1.4596 mg	8%
Magnesium	50.73 mg	13%
Phosphorus	63.19 mg	6%
Potassium	297.26 mg	6%
Zinc	0.3026 mg	2%
Copper	0.06764 mg	3%
Manganese	0.69331 mg	35%

On this photo you may see nettles growing in our yard. Prior to last summer we were unsuccessful, trying to grow nettles from seeds. Last summer Valya bought two small stinging nettle plants at the farmers market and planted them in our garden. Now they are producing abundantly.

Today my family is living on green smoothies made out of nettles, mangos and water. The recipe is depicted on the next photo.

Often people ask if nettle smoothie stings. No, it doesn’t. You may use gloves or a plastic bag to pick nettles. You can also use scissors to cut them right into the blender. As soon as you blend them they don’t sting any more.

Nettle smoothie is fragrant and refreshing. We hope you can find a patch of nettles too and join us for a cup of green goodness.

Update on Sergei’s Kickstarter Project

 

Less than two weeks left:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sergeiboutenko/powered-by-green-smoothies-feature-film

¹ http://skipthepie.org/ethnic-foods/stinging-nettles-blanched-northern-plains-indians

Greens, Health & Testimonials, Raw Food, Videos

Athletes Need More Nutrients Than Less-Active People

0 Comments 27 March 2013

By Sergei Boutenko

If you run, hike, swim, snowboard, cycle, attend crossfit, or actively engage in any other sports, then you’re probably aware that your body requires extra nutritional supplementation in order to function properly. Simply put, athletes need more nutrients than less-active people. They demand more from their bodies and thus must compensate with the right nutrients to keep up performance and recovery. Unfortunately, today’s athletes have been duped into believing that in order to maintain proper health, they must consume a wide range of animal products, supplements, and power gels.
I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in the field of sports and fitness. In this post, I am not interested in arguing whether athletes should be vegans or not. I simply want to challenge the traditional approach and illustrate that the nutritional needs of an athlete can be met through natural means. I believe all athletes can benefit by consuming more fresh, organic greens and fruits in a blended concoction commonly referred to as a “green smoothie.”

To keep the body performing optimally, you must consistently replenish the following seven essential nutrients: calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium, sodium, and zinc. Traditional athletes accomplish this by taking multivitamins and supplements. In my personal practice, I have found it beneficial to disregard tradition and instead blend green smoothies made from dark leafy veggies and fresh fruit. While I do not consider myself an “endurance athlete,” I live an extremely active life. Here is my idea of a good time: last summer I climbed Mt. Shasta (a 14,179 foot tall mountain in Northern California) in four hours and forty-five minutes. The following day I decided that I needed to climb more mountains so I scaled nearby Mt. Mcloughlin (9495 feet) and Mt. Thielsen (9182 feet) in one day. Mind you, I have never taken artificial supplements and base my success and endurance largely on my diet.

Let us now look at the essential nutrients needed to sustain prolonged exercise, as well as how one can get these elements in natural form.

1.) Calcium is essential because it prevents muscle cramps and helps strengthen bones. According to the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) most athletes don’t meet their need for daily calcium intake. Lack of calcium can lead to a slew of problems, such as, osteoporosis and hormone imbalance. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommended daily dose of calcium ranges between 1,000-1,500 mg per day. Most people think that the best way to get calcium is to drink a glass of milk. Few people are aware that dark leafy greens are just as effective at loading the body with calcium. According to the USDA, one cup of milk has 314 mg of calcium (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov). A cup of collard greens has 357 mg of calcium. That’s 63 mg more than a glass of milk. Thus a green smoothie crammed with collard greens can meet ones need for calcium no worse than milk.

2.) Iron is another common element that athletes are deficient in. One of iron’s primary functions is to carry oxygen to cells and eliminate carbon dioxide from the body. Most sports nutritionists recommend eating red meat to get your daily dose of iron. In traditional sports nutrition it is rarely mentioned that tomatoes, apricots, pomegranates, currants, olives, Swiss chard, and parsley are also excellent sources of iron.

3.) Magnesium is essential for athletes. Its presence is vital in more than 300 chemical processes that sustain basic human function and health (http://triathlon.competitor.com). These functions include blood pressure regulations, muscle contraction and relaxation, nerve function, immunity, and cardiac activity. Foods that contain high amounts of magnesium include: almonds, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, spinach, beet greens, collards greens, and dates. Adding these foods to your green smoothies will aid your body in many of its metabolic processes.

4.) Potassium is easy! Every good smoothie needs a banana. According to the USDA, one cup of mashed banana has more than 800 mg of potassium. If you’re not a fan of bananas, here is a list of other foods that are high in this essential nutrient: avocado, beet greens, spinach, apricots, cantaloupe, figs, nectarines, and pears.

5.) Selenium is critical to antioxidant production. Athletes who don’t get enough selenium in their diet experience more cell damage and take longer to recover from strenuous exercise. Regular consumption of Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, spinach, and seaweed will ensure that your body gets enough selenium.

6.) Sodium retains water in the cells and prevents dehydration. Fresh fruits and vegetable are better at helping cells retain water than any sports drinks on the market. Period!

7.) Zinc levels are directly correlated to endurance. Athletes who have lower than recommended zinc levels in the body will struggle to perform at their peak. According to the ICPA (www.chiro.org) zinc is also crucial for tissue repair. Here are some foods that contain high amounts of zinc: pumpkin seeds, squash seeds, water melon seeds, peanuts, bee pollen, sweet peppers, spinach, parsley, and seaweed.

In addition to the seven essential nutrients, sports enthusiast also require higher than normal amounts of protein. If you look at the nutritional composition of most dark green, leafy veggies, you will find that they rival many types of meat in essential amino acids (protein). For example, one pound of romaine lettuce or kale provides you with roughly the same amount of protein as a quarter pound steak (www.drfuhrman.com). One pound of greens may seem like a lot, but when you blend a pound of greens in a smoothie, it’s not too difficult to consume it in its entirety. After all, large, muscular animals like elephants and cows get their protein from greens.

In a nutshell, my message is simple… “Stop spending money on expensive supplements and instead, blend a smoothie!” I am so confident that green smoothies rival conventional supplements; I’m making a documentary about it. One week ago I launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a documentary about how green smoothies affect endurance athletes. For more information on my project, check out this link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sergeiboutenko/
powered-by-green-smoothies-feature-film

If you pre-order my video your contribution will help me fund this documentary.

	Sergei’s Green Power Smoothie 1 cup spinach 1 cup Swiss chard 1 cup collard greens 1-2 stalks of celery with dark green leaves 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 1 banana 1 peach, pitted 1 pear ½ avocado 4 dates, pitted 2 Tablespoons bee pollen (optional)Add enough water to blend everything in the blender. Blend until smooth and enjoy! Serves 2-3

Greens

Powered by Green Smoothie: A Note from Sergei

0 Comments 20 March 2013

Dear Friends,

I am now working on a full-length documentary about how hardcore, endurance athletes perform when given regular doses of fresh, organic green smoothie.

MY EXCITING NEW PROJECT

Greens are incredible, they’re healthy and they’re edible! Since my mother (Victoria Boutenko) popularized green smoothies in 2004 with her book “Green For Life” I have encountered a plethora of people who transformed their bodies and their health by regularly consuming homemade green drinks. After what I’ve seen over the last decade, I am beyond convinced that green smoothies benefit everyone who chooses to consume them regularly. Now I want to find out what effect these same blended concoctions will have on seemly healthy, endurance athletes. I plan to put a half dozen extremely athletic people on a two-month green smoothie challenge and film the entire shebang.







I’M SO CURIOUS…

From my interactions with hardcore athletes in my community I’ve observed that while many of them have specific beliefs about exercise, few seem to consider the importance of a good diet. Practically none of the sportspersons I know eat in a manner that I consider to be healthy. Many of them drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. When I first announced at the local running store that I wanted to film a documentary about green smoothies and ultra runners, people chuckled and were skeptical that my experiment would produce a positive shift in the health, performance, and endurance of runners. I predict that the benefits my participants are going to gain will be off the charts.


DOCUMENTARY IN FULL SWING

Several months back my feet hit the pavement and I began gathering people for my film. I now have several ultra runners, cyclists, and cross-fitters that are ready and willing to drink at least one quart of fresh green smoothie every single day religiously for two months. I’ve invited a licensed medical doctor to help me oversee and monitor this experiment. I’ve also negotiated with two local farms to supply me with a steady stream of their freshest, organic fruits and greens. To raise the funds for this film I have initiated a Kickstarter project.


There are great rewards for supporting this project, find out more about this film here

Green Smoothie Questions, Greens, Raw Food

Best Spring Salad from Sergei

0 Comments 05 March 2013

Dear Friends,

In the springtime, with more sunshine, we observe a growing abundance of wild greens everywhere. In my family we now enjoy wild greens every day in our smoothies and salads. Wild greens are nature’s true delicious superfood. I invite you to enjoy Sergei’s fun new 2-minute video.

Sergei is a wild edible enthusiast and expert. He has conducted countless workshops and hikes. Over the years Sergei has created dozens of videos about different wild foods that you can watch on Youtube.com at no charge.

Sergei’s iPhone app on wild edibles is popular among iPhone and iPad users. For more information click here.

Sergei’s brand new book called, “Wild Edibles” has just been published by North Atlantic Books and will become available in July 2013.

On March 10th Sergei starts an easy-to-follow, 17-week online course completely laid out to introduce you to the food and medicine discovered in your backyard or local forest! For more information click here.