Chapter 4 – Green Smoothie Revolution

In my research, I noticed that chimpanzees really love greens. I remember watching chimps at the zoo and seeing how excited they became when given fresh acacia branches, young tender palm tree leaves, or kale, I was so inspired looking at them that I went to the nearby bushes and tried to eat acacia leaves myself. But the truth was, the green leaves were not very palatable for me and that presented another problem. Eating greens always seemed like a duty for me. I would think to myself, “I have to have my greens.” Some days I would “cheat’ by juicing my greens. I would quickly drink a cup of green juice and consider myself good for a couple of days. Or I would make a delicious raw dressing and sink my greens into it. That was another way for me to enjoy greens. But I could never imagine sitting and eating two bunches of kale or spinach.

Although I didn’t like greens, my husband, Igor, simply couldn’t tolerate them. When he was growing up he was encouraged to eat mostly meat and bread, “like a real Russian man.” While living in Russia we had never seen any greens in stores. Only in the summer people could buy dill, parsley and green onions at farmers markets. I recall seeing lettuce only about twice each summer and considered it rare and exotic.

The more I read about the nutritional content of greens, the more I became convinced that greens were the most important food for humans. If I could only find a way to enjoy them enough to consume the optimal quantity needed to become perfectly healthy!

I tried countless times to force myself to eat large amounts of greens in the form of salad or by themselves, only to discover that I was not physically able to do that. After about two cups of shredded greens I would either have heartburn or nausea.

One day, while reading a book on biology I became intrigued by the amazingly hardy composition of plants. Apparently, cellulose, the main constituent of plants, has one of the strongest molecular structures on the planet. Greens possess more valuable nutrients than any other food group, but all these nutrients are stored inside the cells of plants. These cells are made of tough material, probably as a means of survival for the plant, making it difficult for animals to eat. To release all the valuable nutrients from within the the cells, the cell walls need to be ruptured. To rupture these sturdy cells is not easy. This is why eating greens without chewing them thoroughly would not satisfy our nutritional needs. In simple words, we need to chew our greens to a creamy consistency in order to get the benefits.

In addition, in order to digest the released minerals and vitamins, hydrochloric acid in the stomach has to be very strong, with a pH between 1 and 2.

These two conditions are absolutely, vitally, necessary for the assimilation of nutrients from greens. Obviously when I tried to eat plain greens I did not chew my greens well enough and possibly did not have a high enough level of hydrochloric acid in my stomach. As a result, I experienced unpleasant signs of indigestion and formed a general dislike for greens altogether.

After many decades of eating mostly heavily processed foods, modern people have lost their ability to chew normally. Our jaws have become so narrow that even after extracting our wisdom teeth, we still need to wear braces. Our jaw muscles have become too weak to thoroughly chew rough fiber. Several times I have heard recommendations from my dentist to be more gentle on my teeth; and not to bite firm fruit, but rather to grate my carrots and apples. In addition to these compromising conditions, many people have lots of fillings, false, or missing teeth. All of these obstacles make chewing greens to the necessary consistency virtually impossible.

This is why I decided to try to “chew” my greens in the Vitamix blender. First I blended a hunch of kale with water. 1 was thinking, “I will just dose my eyes and nose and drink it.” But as soon as I opened the lid, I closed it again quickly because 1 felt queasy from the strong, wheatgrass smell. That dark green, almost black mixture was totally unconsumable. After some brainstorming, I added several bananas and blended it again. And that was when the magic began! I slowly, and with some trepidation, removed the lid and sniffed the air, and to my greatest surprise this bright green concoction smelled very pleasant. I cautiously tasted a sip and was exhilarated! It was better than tasty! Not too sweet, not too bitter, it. was the most unusual taste I had ever tried, and I could describe it in one word: freshness.

In four hours I had consumed all I blended, which was one bunch of kale, four bananas and a quart of water. I felt wonderful and made more. Triumphantly I realized that this evening was the first time in my life that I consumed two good- sized bunches of greens in one day. Plus, I ate them without any oil or salt! And I enjoyed the whole experience. My stomach felt fine and I was happy to have achieved my goal.

That was in August, 2004. The solution to my greens dilemma was so unexpectedly simple. To consume greens in this way took so little time that I naturally continued experimenting with blended greens and fruits day after day.

I must admit here, that the idea of blended greens was not new to me. Eleven years ago when my family was studying at the Creative Health Institute (CHI) in Michigan, we were taught about the extraordinary healing properties of energy soup: blended sprouts, avocado, and apple. This soup was invented by Dr. Ann Wigmore, the pioneer of the Living Foods lifestyle in the 20th century. Although we were told countless times how exceptionally beneficial energy soup was, most of the guests at the institute were not able to eat more than a couple of spoonfuls of energy soup because it was not palatable.

I was very impressed with the testimonials that I heard from people about the benefits of energy soup. When 1 returned home I desperately experimented with energy soup, trying to improve the taste because I wanted my family to benefit from eating it. My final attempt to perfect energy soup was ended one day when I heard Valya yelling to Sergei in the back yard, “Run! Mom is making that green mush again!”

Despite all the evidence of the healing powers of energy soup, I found that unfortunately even people who desperately needed and wanted it, could not make themselves consume it regularly. I am amazed that eleven years after being introduced to energy soup, when I had completely forgotten all about it, I came back to the very same idea of blended greens from an entirely new direction. When I first started drinking green smoothies, I didn’t mention it to anybody and did not expect anything significant to happen. Since I did not have any big health problems, I was not pursuing any dramatic changes. I just didn’t want to age so noticeably. However, after about a month of erratic green smoothie drinking, two moles and a wart I had since early childhood peeled off my body. I felt more energized than ever before, and started sharing my experience with my family and friends. The next thing I noticed was that those cravings I had occasionally for heavy foods like nuts or crackers, especially in the evenings, had totally disappeared. I noticed that many of the wrinkles on my face went away and I began to hear compliments from other people about my fresh look. My nails became stronger, my vision sharpened and I had a wonderful taste in my mouth, even upon waking in the morning (pleasure I hadn’t had since youth).

My dream had come true at last! I was consuming plenty of greens every day. I began to feel lighter and my energy increased. My tastes started to change. I discovered that my body was so starved for greens that for several weeks, I lived almost entirely on green smoothies. Plain fruits and vegetables became much more desirable for me and my cravings for fatty foods declined dramatically. I stopped consuming any kind of salt altogether, even seaweed.

Two weeks later, my husband and I were walking in California along a grassy trail when I suddenly began to salivate from looking at the dark green crispy branches of malva weeds growing in abundance along our path. I kept catching myself wanting to grab and eat them. I shared my observations with Igor and he listened attentively but didn’t get excited. He had already noticed that I was eating differently lately. Instead of making myself a huge salad consisting of multiple chopped vegetables, a large avocado, sea salt, lots of onion and olive oil, I now chopped a bunch of lettuce with a tomato, sprinkled it with lemon juice and enjoyed it tremendously, rolling my eyes and humming with pleasure. I did not miss my former food, and felt completely satisfied eating so simply. Now I knew that the human body can learn to crave greens!

There was another change that astounded me. I used to have cravings for unhealthy foods when I got tired. For example, in the past, when we were traveling and we spent the night in an airplane, or after we were driving all night, I experienced severe cravings for some heavy raw foods or even some authentic Russian cooked foods from childhood that I hadn’t eaten for more than a decade. These cravings were very strong and annoying. Driven by these urges, I would prepare myself some kind of dense raw food, like seed cheese with crackers, or stuff myself with nuts, sometimes late at night. I have heard from many other people that they experienced similar patterns. Also, during previous years, when I came home late from my office, often after ten p.m., I enjoyed changing my focus from work to other lighter topics, either by reading a chapter from a book or by watching a nice video. I noticed that if I allowed myself to grab an apple or a handful of nuts, I would tend to continue grazing and couldn’t ever achieve a feeling of satisfaction. Even if I used my will power and didn’t touch any food at home, I continued to feel discontent and food kept coming to my mind.

When I began to drink green smoothies, I noticed right away that those kinds of cravings disappeared. That was when my husband really noticed the difference in my behavior. In the evening after a hard work day he would still crave something to eat while I was relaxed and content by just reading a book or talking. When Igor saw how happy I was in the evenings, along with the noticeable improvements in my health, he joined me in drinking green smoothies. He started to ask for a cup of “that green stuff” whenever I was making it.

Neither Igor nor I had any illnesses, so in the beginning it was hard to tell if we were just excited or if we really felt better. But soon both Igor and I were able to testify that we experienced rejuvenation and we began to look younger.

After only two months of drinking smoothies, Igor’s mustache and beard started growing blacker, making him look like he did when we first met.

Igor became so enthusiastic about his youthful look that he became the green smoothie champion of my family. He would wake up early and make two or three gallons of smoothie every day: one for me, one for him, and one for Sergei and Valya to share. Both of our children enjoyed including this tasty green drink in their daily menu even though they were already experiencing great health. They noticed still more benefits, like the ability to sleep less, more complete .eliminations, stronger nails, and most of all, improvement in their teeth, which became less sensitive.

One of my fears was that I would get tired of green smoothies one day and I wouldn’t want them any more. Yet. after six months of regular consumption I was enjoying them more than ever. Now I couldn’t imagine my life without my green smoothies, as they had become 80% of my diet. In addition to smoothies, I ate flax crackers, salads, fruit and occasionally seeds or nuts. In order to always have the opportunity to make fresh green smoothie for myself, I purchased an additional Vitarnix blender for my office. Whenever friends or customers came in, they saw a big green cup next to my computer and I treated them to a sample of my new discovery. To my great satisfaction, everybody loved it, despite their different dietary habits. Unexpectedly for me, some of my friends and coworkers started to comment on their health improvements just from the cup of green smoothie they were drinking in my office! No kidding! My web designer began to crave more raw foods as a result of rather irregular helpings of smoothies and lost 15 pounds in a couple of months. The woman from the office across the road got rid of her eczema by drinking a cup of green smoothie almost every day. Even the UPS guy liked it.

Inspired by the warm reception, I wrote an article “Ode to Green Smoothie” and emailed it to all those in my Internet address book. Almost instantly I began to receive strong, positive feedback and many detailed testimonials from my friends, students, and customers. While I felt compelled to do more research, it looked like the multiple benefits of green smoothie became obvious to everybody who tried them, and the number of people who were drinking green smoothie turned into a “green wave,” growing rapidly every day.