to have Courage....In Family Life, In Spirituality, In Health, In Living Simply

I'm on a journey...... as we all are. Learning, remembering, re-discovering about health, spirituality, relationships, emotions and the mind.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Green Smoothies

I'd be totally surprised if you hadn't heard of Green Smoothies.  But, you might not know why they are so highly recommended.

Green Smoothies were made popular by a lady named Victoria Boutenko who is well known for her involvement in the raw food movement.  After having helped each of her family members and herself recover from various dis-eases and ailments, she shared her knowledge through "Green for Life", and "12 Steps to Raw" and her other books.  She totally believed in eating raw foods for health, but soon realized that for many people eating raw, there was an element missing.  Victoria discovered it to be Greens.

Most of us are lacking sufficient green leaves in our diets.  Victoria says that during the industrial revolution people started to process and can foods, changing the dynamics of their diet and health.  We are  now the 7th generation since then, eating more processed foods and not eating enough greens & other vegetables.  Subsequently, we are lacking zinc (along with other nutrients) from greens, therefore we don't produce enough stomach acids to digest our foods properly, which ultimately undermines our health.  If we can't properly digest our foods then we can't assimilate all the nutrients we need out of it, and then we 'need' more and more food to obtain the nutrients we require, but by then we have over eaten calories, and we have way over-taxed our digestive system which causes a downward spiral in our energy and health.

Green Smoothie Challenge

 If you aren't drinking Green Smoothies on a daily basis, start with committing to having at least 1 Green Smoothie a day.  If you already have 1 a day, then up that to 2.  Try and drink a quart a day of Green Smoothie for at least 3 days, and see how you feel.  You don't need to change the rest of your diet; just add Green Smoothie to begin.

A more serious Green Smoothie Challenge would be to commit to doing it for 2 weeks.  Keep a journal during this time, to see how you feel as your health begins to improve. 

You may have heard of Superfood Smoothies, which have their place.  But they aren't the same at all as Green Smoothies.  For better absorption, refrain from adding other ingredients to your smoothies.  Keep it simple.  Just greens, fruits and water.  That's it!!

There's lots of recipes for Green Smoothies online, or books like Victoria's 'Green Smoothie Revolution'.  When starting, you can use more fruit than greens.  Be sure to make it palatable particularly for children who care about taste, not health.  Over time you can sneak more and more greens into it, but start out slowly to ensure it's a big hit!!






Just adding a Green Smoothie to your already existing diet, no matter what your diet is, can greatly improve your health.  By adding 1 quart to your current diet, it will increase your hydrochloric acid which will improve your digestion of all your foods.  Hydrochloric acid seems to decrease as we age, especially as we eat a SAD (Standard American Diet) and our bodies become more and more acidic. 


Green Smoothies are satiating, and can help you stay clear of fatty and salty foods.  Start the morning with one and, even if you are a raw foodist or a vegan, it can help you stay on track with your health, and help you not to over eat on nut butters, avocados, etc.

  It's easy, simple, and economical.



Juicing vs Blending

There is a huge difference between juicing and blending your foods.  Juicing removes all the fiber, which gives you virtually nothing now to digest, giving your digestive system a break.  You are able to ingest high amounts of nutrients (from a volume of vegetables that would be difficult to eat if chewing) which quickly get into your bloodstream and nourish your body.  This can be great for rapid detox, particularly when you have more serious health issues.  However, you should seek guidance if you are dealing with serious health issues and want/need to deal with them quickly through natural means.

Blending your foods keeps all of the proponents intact, but breaks them down.  The blender ruptures or cracks open the cell-walls to make those nutrients readily available to you.  If you were to just chew them, you break open less of those cells to make nutrients available (and most of us don't masticate our foods enough, to begin with!).  That's why you'll get way more nutrients out of your food by blending them.  However, that means that your foods are oxidized, so you don't want them to sit around for the day while you sip away, nor store for any length of time in the fridge.  Too much of the nutrients will be lost to the air rather than put into your thirsty body.



Making a Green Smoothie takes very little effort, but you'll get big gains.

Nobody in the world will claim that green vegetables are bad for you!!


 

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