QUESTION: How much green smoothie do you recommend I drink daily?
VICTORIA: In the beginning people tend to drink more green smoothies, sometimes up to two gallons per day depending on how acidic their body pH is. After several months the quantity goes down to 1-2 quarts per day.

QUESTION: Do I have to make fresh green smoothie several times per day?
VICTORIA:  Smoothies can stay in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, but fresh is best. As soon as a smoothie is warmed to room temperature, it should be consumed.

QUESTION: How much greens does one really need? I generally consume a head of lettuce. Do you think this is enough?
VICTORIA: One needs fewer greens in the form of green smoothies than in the form of salad, because blended greens assimilate several times more thoroughly then chewed greens. I estimate that if you prefer to eat greens as a salad, you should consume at least two bunches of greens (or 6 packed cups) per day. If you drink your greens in blended form, then one bunch (3 packed cups) will be sufficient per day.

People who have an acidic pH balance in their body could benefit from consuming up to 80% greens in their diet. When they reach a stage of balance, they will notice that they want less greens and less green smoothies, but they will enjoy them more than ever.

QUESTION: It seems you talk about having an entire bunch of chard, or other greens, daily. Yet in your recipes, a smoothie only has 3-5 leaves from an entire bunch. Are you having more than 1 smoothie a day?
ANSWER: The goal is to eventually consume more greens in the smoothie than fruit. However, many of us are not used to consuming large amounts of greens. Also many don’t have adequate hydrochloric acid to digest greens. For this reason, I recommend starting with more fruity green smoothies and slowly using more and more greens. As the body finds out the many benefits of greens, it becomes very excited and starts craving greener smoothies. Experiment with what amount of greens you find palatable and gradually add more greens so that you work up to the equivalent of one average-sized bunch of greens per day.

It is possible that you will start with a fruity green smoothie and progress to extremely green smoothies. Yet, there will be another change later. As you keep consuming green smoothies on a regular basis for many months, you will eventually reduce the total amount of green smoothies that you consume daily.

This happens because the assimilation of nutrients increases and the body can get more nutrients from less smoothies, your body satisfies the most urgent needs for nutrients, it also becomes more alkaline and doesn’t need as much greens as before. Please remember to keep rotating your greens for variety! Continue Reading

Tips on how to sleep well from Victoria Boutenko:

There are many more factors than just food in helping one achieve optimal health. One of the most important factors is sleep.

Whoever created human beings was very smart and prophetic. He predicted that we humans will engage in different kinds of abuse and do harm to our health during our active part of the day. So the Creator magically cursed us with everyday sleep so that no matter what we do in the daytime, at night our sleep prevents us from continuing the insanity of the day. Every single person in the world must lie down and stay motionless for at least 8 hours everyday. We are unable to drink, smoke or overeat when we are asleep. No matter what damage we do to ourselves in the daytime, at night our bodies are healing themselves.

Our body is trying to reach homeostasis during the night hours in order to heal. However, we humans have succeeded in our destructive behavior during the day such that it even impairs our nighttime sleep. Very often we don’t realize how little things can harm our health. I would like to share several observations with you.

1. Sleep in the fresh air, where possible: When God created the earth, 55% of the air was composed of oxygen. We have cut down most of the forests and jungles, covered lots of soil with concrete. Now the amount of oxygen in the air is 12-19% depending on where you are. In our bedroom the oxygen content is only about 6%. Why does it seem to be too time consuming for us to open the window before going to bed? Remember, that 75% of our bodily metabolic waste is supposed to be eliminated through the lungs.

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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

A chapter from Victoria’s newest book “Green Smoothie Revolution”

Many different fruits and vegetables are green in color simply because they are unripe. They do not belong to the category of greens. For example, many green apples, grapes, melons, bananas, limes, and pears are unripe yellow fruits. Similarly, green bell peppers are unripe colored bell peppers. Unripe fruit usually contains enzyme inhibitors, which slow the action of our digestive enzymes and may cause irritation of the intestines. In addition, unripe fruit has a higher content of starch and less fruit sugar, which makes it harder to digest. For this reason, I never buy unripe fruit. However, I am concerned that many people don’t understand which greens are most beneficial, because I have received e-mails from confused readers who stopped buying ripe fruit in order to consume more greens. Keeping greens in the same category as vegetables is misleading and can even be harmful to public health. I suggest that our produce departments have at least the following three separate sections: fruits, vegetables, and greens. I define “greens” as the flat leaves of a plant, attached to the stem, that can be wrapped around a finger, with a very few exceptions, including nopal cactus leaves and celery.

Dr. Anne Wigmore, who pioneered raw food in the United States, taught in her lectures that green leaves are the only food that can be combined with every other food group without any negative effects.

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