Dear Friends
While visiting Sweden and Denmark earlier this year I learned new important facts about essential fatty acids that changed my entire approach to my concept of the raw food diet. That is why I added it to the new edition of Green for Life. I encourage you to read this entire article.

This entire article is © Copyright by Victoria Boutenko, 2010 www.rawfamily.com

Greens – the Original Source of Omega-3s

The important thing is not to stop questioning.     — Albert Einstein

What is one of the most striking differences between a hummingbird and a hibernating bear? Their metabolism. One moves extremely fast and the other is extremely slow, largely due to differences in the composition of fat in their bodies. According to recent scientific research on factors affecting metabolism, “the fats of high-speed animals such as the hummingbird are loaded with the omega-3 fatty acids.” Contrary to that, bears have to accumulate a lot of omega-6 fatty acids in their fat before they can go into hibernation. Omega-3s and omega-6s are seemingly alike substances and are even united under one name: essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. However, there are major differences between them.

The omega-3 molecule is unique in its ability to rapidly change its shape. This exceptional flexibility of omega-3s is passed to organs that absorb it. Omega-3s thin the blood of humans and animals as well as the sap of plants. As a result of these qualities, omega-3s are utilized by the fastest functioning organs in the body. For example, omega-3s enable our hearts to beat properly, our blood to flow freely, our eyes to see, and our brains to make decisions faster and more clearly.

The omega-6 fatty acids, on the other hand, serve the opposite function: they thicken the blood of humans and animals as well as the juices of plants. Omega-6s solidify and cause inflammation of the tissues. Some scientists link an excess of omega-6s in the human diet with such conditions as heart disease, stroke, arthritis, asthma, menstrual cramps, diabetes, headaches, and tumor metastases.

According to Allport, there are numerous studies looking into the role omega-6 fats play in the promotion of certain cancers, including breast, prostate, and colon cancer and exploring the benefits of omega-3s in treating psychological disorders such as depression and postpartum depression, attention deficit disorder, and bipolar disorder. A growing number of diseases are being associated with an imbalance of the essential fats, not just heart disease, cancer, depression, immune disorders, and arthritis but also obesity and diabetes.

For many decades, nutritionists have been linking obesity to the over-consumption of foods high in fat, particularly in saturated fat. Since then, many people have been trying to reduce the percentage of fat in their diet. From 1955 to 1995 Americans reduced fat consumption from 40 percent of their total calorie intake to 35 percent. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Americans decreased their consumption of saturated fats and increased their consumption of salad and cooking oils from 9.8 pounds per person in 1955 to 35.2 pounds per person in 2000. Yet despite these efforts, during the same time period the percentage of overweight adults in the U.S. grew from 25 percent to 47 percent.    Apparently we have been eating the wrong fats.

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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

We are all spiritual beings. How do I know this? I feel it every time I look
in another human being’s eyes. Sometimes I sense such intense energy coming from people’s eyes that I have to turn away. This never happens when I am looking into the eyes of my grandson’s teddy bear. I can even feel other people’s glances with my back. Often I wonder why I am so certain that someone is looking directly at me, even if they are standing on the other side of a soccer field or farther. There is no way to possibly see the other person’s pupils from such a distance. They are even smaller than letters in a book. Trying to read a book from the other side of a soccer field would be insane. However, we can always tell when someone is looking directly at us.

Not only do we feel this unexplained and unmeasured energy from humans, but we can also feel these same deep vibrations from different animals and plants. Have you seen, for example, how a blade of grass makes its way through a thick layer of asphalt? It’s difficult to believe that such a tender plant could break concrete. I cannot find any other explanation for this phenomenon other than the invisible, yet powerful energy that comes from the sprout, in an effort to survive in spite of any obstruction.

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