Basic Green Smoothie combo:

2-3 sweet fruits, e.g. apple or pear – blend first to form a tasty base,
1 vegetable fruit or a celery stalk – add next for extra minerals, e.g. summer squash or zucchini,
One packet of pre-washed organic greens, or a handful of farm greens or wild edibles.

Some folks add water to get the consistency they enjoy.

Always blend the fruit first –

2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates

1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water

Winter Smoothie – 1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water

Spring Smoothie – fresh orange juice, ripe bananas, frozen mangoes, and several large leaves of kale

(extra frozen mango gives lovely thick consistency you eat with a bowl + spoon)

1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water

4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water

2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water

1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water

1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water

1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger

1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon

3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana

1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water

1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya

These recipes were collected at the following web site, take a look at it for more good information:

http://www.greensmoothie.com/blend/green.html

Blessings,

Jo

Blending the greens with fruit in your blender or food processor breaks up the cell membranes, releasing the nutrients for you to easily digest and assimilate. You would have to chew your greens very thoroughly to adequately break up those cell membranes. Let’s face it, the majority of us simply are too impatient to chew a couple of hands full of raw greens that thoroughly every day. So blending greens with fruits makes life a lot simpler and us a lot healthier.

Let’s review the nutrients released in a green smoothie and add some others we haven’t talked about in prior articles.

Because you make these from all raw food you preserve the vital enzyme power that gives you that spark of life to keep the chemical processes in your cells proceeding fast enough to keep you alive!

Also in the previous post of Green Smoothies we discovered that green smoothies work to replenish our low magnesium levels. Magnesium resides mainly inside the cells. Most health care practitioners only check blood levels of magnesium. The body will rob magnesium from the cells to keep blood levels normal. That means we can be extremely depleted of magnesium but still have normal blood levels.

Magnesium acts as the gatekeeper of the cell, allowing good nutrients to enter and wastes to leave. But if the cell loses its magnesium the gate malfunctions allowing toxic substances into the cell. These toxins contribute to the development of disease, disability and death.

But hooray for green smoothies with their abundance of health regenerating magnesium and other companion minerals. Green leafy vegetables and fruit also contain an abundance of potassium which also functions primarily inside the cell. With potassium and magnesium replenished, your cells will pump out the energy and kick out the toxins.

The more fibrous greens like dandelion greens, kale or collard greens contain rich levels of calcium needed for strong bones and teeth.

Magnesium, potassium and calcium help alkalinize our tissues to restore the normal pH levels. Optimal pH levels create an environment that allows the enzyme and chemical processes of our cells to function at a much higher and more efficient level. On the other hand the Standard American Diet (SAD) low in vegetables and high in protein and junk food creates tissue acidity and undermines health. So enjoy those greens that make your tissues happier.

In addition to minerals greens contain a variety of vitamins, phytonutrients and fiber.

That’s another great advantage of smoothies over fresh fruit or vegetable juice, you drink the fiber instead of throwing it away. Between the fiber and the magnesium you may find that sluggish bowels perk up and behave normally with 2-3 soft bowel movements per day. Also the fiber slows the absorption of the natural sugars in the fruit and vegetables preventing blood sugar spikes.

And phytonutrients are even more amazing since they neutralize free radicals that damage cells and DNA, preventing a whole host of debilitating illnesses including cancer. Remember, even the American Cancer Society recommends eating at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruit per day to prevent cancer.

Green smoothies contain a nice variety of amino acids used to make protein in your body. If you grow your greens organically yourself, you may want to use them without rinsing them to retain the friendly organisms that help make vitamin B12 in your body.

So there you have it, an abundance of nutrients (and others we probably haven’t even discovered) in your green smoothies.

Although this is a hard concept for me to accept, in my research on green smoothies, I have seen testimonials that eating an all raw food diet high in fruit has actually reversed and healed the Candida overgrowth in some folks. With the high sugar content of fruit, that’s hard for me to accept. I don’t know if certain metabolic types will respond favorably to this high fruit raw food diet and some will not. I suspect that is the case.

Tell us your experience with a high fruit raw food diet. How did it work for you? Or how did it not work for you. If you know your blood type, you might include that in your comments as blood type is one factor considered in determining your metabolic type that makes you uniquely-you.

Watch for a list of green smoothie combinations that some folks enjoy in the next post.

For more information and green smoothie recipes you may enjoy Victoria Boutenko’s book, The Green Revolution.

Take a peek at these green smoothie recipes. I suspect even your kids will like them.

http://www.squidoo.com/greensmoothies

Have fun with your green smoothies.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

Oxalates in Greens

Oxalates occur naturally in plants and can be a problem for certain people that form oxalate stones in their kidneys. Most of us do not have this problem, but how do we know whether we do or not until a stone formed in a kidney tries to pass inducing extreme pain?  So we may need to use some precautions.

Some greens contain higher amounts of oxalates than others. Spinach, kale and beet greens tend to be higher in oxalates, so choose a lot of other greens to go with them or rotate the use of different greens on different days.

Adding lemon juice to the smoothie helps keep the oxalates from depositing in your tissues. And drinking lots of water flushes them out of your system.

Some folks believe so heartily in green smoothies that they drink 1-2 quarts of green smoothies per day. You may find a more moderate approach appeals to you especially if oxalate stone formation is a concern for you.

Of course, you can eat a lot of fresh raw vegetables without blending them into smoothies to get the health benefits you’re looking for too. However, you may find you digest the veggies in green smoothies better than the ones you chew because blending breaks up the cell walls, releasing the nutrients. If you have low stomach acid which a lot of us do, then blending the veggies into a smoothie helps you digest the veggies a lot better too.

Rotate Your Greens

Along with all the wonderful nutrients green leafy plants also contain alkaloids. Some scientists think our Creator put alkaloids in greens to keep cattle and other animals from over-grazing an area. If that’s true, isn’t it amazing cattle and other animals are smart enough to not overeat something that in large amounts would eventually cause them harm, but human beings are not that smart.

Somehow all of the junk food makes us dumb. Our taste instincts and cravings are deceived so we crave death-food instead of the food that we provide the nutrients we need.

Therefore, we need to teach each other the smart way to eat. So with green leafy vegetables, use a big variety of greens in your green smoothies to avoid collecting any one alkaloid in your tissues that may cause unwanted symptoms. Our bodies can eliminate small amounts of a variety of alkaloids better than large amounts of any one alkaloid. We have to be smart and balanced in what we eat.

Victoria Boutenko and her son Sergie will spark your creativity in finding a variety of greens.

Sergie posted a wealth of videos on YouTube.com about finding wild edible greens in nature. Simply go to YouTube.com and do a search for Sergie Boutenko. Then enjoy your viewing of his informative videos.

In the following article Victoria lists the greens her family has been able to find and incorporate in their green smoothies in the last year: (You may want to read the whole article and order Victoria’s book, The Green Revolution.)

http://www.rawbc.org/articles/greensinstore.html

Greens:

• Arugula
• Asparagus
• Beet greens (tops)
• Bok choy
• Broccoli
• Carrot tops
• Celery
• Chard
• Collard greens
• Endive
• Escarole
• Fresee
• Grape leaves
• Kale (3 types)
• Mitsuna
• Mustard greens
• Pumpkin leaves
• Radicchio
• Radish tops
• Rhubarb
• Romaine lettuce green and red leaf (no Iceberg or light colored leaf)
• Spinach

Weeds:

• Borage leaves and flowers
• Chicory greens and flowers
• Chickweed
• Clover
• Dandelion (greens and flowers)
• Fiddlehead ferns
• Lambsquarters
• Malva
• Miner’s lettuce
• Plantain
• Purslane
• Sorrel
• Stinging nettles

Herbs:

• Aloe Vera
• Baby dill
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Fennel
• Mint
• Parsley (2 types)
• Peppermint leaves
• Spearmint

Sprouts:

• Alfalfa
• Broccoli
• Clover
• Fenugreek
• Radish
• Sunflower

If any of you readers are familiar with the wild edible greens (often known as weeds) in your area, feel free to post that information in the comment section following this article.

Maybe we need to plant some “weeds” this year.

Enjoy your adventure in creating a big variety of green smoothies.  And become familiar with the nutrients in green smoothies in the next post.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

What’s in a green smoothie? 

Most recipes include whole raw fruit and leafy greens blended together in a blender or food processor. So experimenting with flavors you like becomes an enjoyable adventure. You will most likely be surprised that you like some of those greens that you thought you would never eat when you mix them with other taste tantalizing flavors.

A favorite recipe of many green smoothie fans includes this one from a faithful Be Wise-Health Wise reader who piqued my interest in green smoothies:

“Using the food processor, not the blender, put in two handfuls of fresh organic baby spinach, a handful of fresh organic pineapple chunks, a small piece of peeled fresh ginger, the size of your littlest fingernail, and about 1/4 cup of water.   Blend until you get a smooth consistency that you can drink.  They keep in the frig until the next day, and I like the fresh taste.”

But a Precaution: Although the benefits of green smoothies abound, some of us just cannot tolerate that much fruit in our diets.

Ingesting too much sugar over the years (causing rapid swings from high blood sugar levels to low levels)  wreaks havoc with our endocrine glands. The natural sugar in fruit will keep this upset metabolism from settling down and healing. For further enlightenment read more about sugar.

Also, the natural sugars in fruit feeds unfriendly organisms like the yeast Candida that have overgrown in our guts from the upsetting life styles that we lead. For awhile we have to avoid feeding those little beasties if we ever hope to restore the balance of friendly organisms in our bodily systems.

Lastly, some of us have so abused our digestive tracts by overeating refined carbohydrates (sugar and white flour products) that we simple do not digest and assimilate carbohydrates well. Since fruit contains mostly carbohydrates, we must keep serving sizes small.

So if you have problems with blood sugar and/or diabetes, Candida or weak digestion, experiment with making green smoothies out of greens and other vegetables for at least 3 months. Then see if you can gradually add some fruit to your smoothies.

Green smoothies help us feel better.

For so many of us eating the Standard American Diet (SAD – very descriptive acronym) we simply have dropped the nutritious green food out of our diets. Consequently our stores of magnesium have dropped dangerously low.

Magnesium resides and functions mainly inside the cell. Consequently, blood levels of magnesium can be perfectly normal and we can be extremely depleted of magnesium inside our cells where the action is. As just one of magnesium’s duties inside the cell, it acts as a gatekeeper to allow nutrients into the cell and keep toxic substances out.

But when magnesium disappears, toxic substances gain access to the internal workings of the cell and gradually poison it leading to low energy and degenerative diseases like diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

So adding lots of fresh organic raw greens to our menus helps replenish that severely needed mineral magnesium in a perfectly delicious and delightful way via green smoothies. Of course greens contain the life force of plant cells, chlorophyll. Right at the center of the chlorophyll, stimulating its activity sits that hard working, life restoring mineral magnesium. Plants capture the sun’s energy which transmits to our bodies when we eat fresh raw and preferably organic greens regularly.

You may find your abnormal cravings for sweets, alcohol or cigarettes will vanish as you replace that vital nutrient magnesium in your magnesium starved cells.

Because we probably wouldn’t sit and chew a couple of cups of greens regularly, green smoothies simply make it easier to nourish ourselves with a healthy amount of greens.

But green smoothies contribute a lot more nutrients to our bodies also. Find out more in the following articles.

Enzyme power in Green Smoothies

Green Smoothie Precautions

Green Smoothie Nutrients

Green Smoothie Combinations

Green Smoothie websites with good information and ideas:

http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/

Good writer, practical information. Advocates trying to eat 60% raw in diet.

http://www.greensmoothie.com/

This website has a lot of good information and resources.

Also you can sign up for newsletter which will refer you to another raw food site to sign up for their newsletter and then download free ebook with recipes. Be cautious though – recipes include a lot of fruit.

For a great book on green smoothies order Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

One of our faithful readers suggests a recipe from Body Ecology that uses more vegetables than fruit:

Good Morning Greens Smoothie    

Yield: 6 servings                                                                                                                      

1 granny smith apple, washed, cored but with skin
4-5 stalks celery, ends & tips removed, use leaves
2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
½ of a large Haas avocado
½ bunch cilantro or parsley, stems removed
3-4 cups filtered water

Chop vegetables into 1 inch pieces for easy blending. Fill blender with 3-4 cups filtered water (more or less water depending on how thick you desire your shake). Add all ingredients into blender. Puree till smooth or desired consistency. You can also add the juice from one half of a lemon or lime and even ¼ tsp sea salt and/or cayenne pepper.

The granny smith apple and a few other sour fruits like cranberries and blueberries are the only ones allowed on the BED diet.

The apple and/or avocado add a really nice texture to the smoothie. 
Cucumbers are real nice in smoothies also.

(Enter green smoothies as a search term on Body Ecology for more good information and ideas for making green smoothies.)

And are some more great ideas from another health conscious and wise reader:

“I’ve been doing Green Smoothies in my beloved Vita-Mix for about a year and have experimented quite a bit.

 I always add some form of fiber such as soaked chia or flax seeds (sometimes both) and that slows down any potential sugar punch.

 I mostly use organic mangos sometimes with frozen peach…..but most important, I always add some fresh or frozen lemon juice to compensate for the action of the oxalates in the spinach/chard/& or kale that goes into my green drink. I also love to put some fresh parsley &/or cilantro – yummy tang and good for detox.”

There you have it some great green smoothie ideas.

Now share your comments and recommedations in the comment box below. We love to hear from you.

And we would really like to know about some more tasty green smoothies made mostly from vegetables.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo