MOST POPULAR GREEN SMOOTHIE QUESTIONS

Answered by: Victoria Butenko

QUESTION: Do I have to make fresh smoothie several time per day?

ANSWER: 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 green smoothie do you recommend I drink daily?

ANSWER: 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: I have been on raw food for eight years and feel that my body is

very clean. Why do I feel nauseous from drinking wheatgrass juice?

ANSWER: If you have read my book Green for Life, you are familiar with the part

where I speak about all greens, without exception, containing alkaloids. Alkaloid

build up is toxic. Wheatgrass also contains a small amount of alkaloids. If you

begin to drink it on a regular basis, the alkaloids accumulate and the body

rejects it. This is why people get nauseous after drinking wheatgrass regularly

for a while. When they take a break and come back to it, they can tolerate it

better. Many people do not consume enough greens, and due to the fact that

wheatgrass juice is almost 100% chlorophyll, the benefits of chlorophyll override

the drawback of poisoning by alkaloids. That means, that even though people

still get the alkaloid poisoning, the presence of chlorophyll in their body still helps

to heal cancer, makes the body more alkaline and has other healing effects. That

is why the green smoothies are so helpful, because when one begins to use a

larger variety of greens in the form of green smoothies, one doesn’t have to

constantly drink wheatgrass juice. Just keep rotating and get as many different

greens as you can.

QUESTION: I tested my urine and my saliva. My urine is very alkaline and my

saliva is very acidic. I think I am still detoxing (four weeks raw now) because I

have cold sores, rashes etc. Could that be why my saliva is acidic or is it not a

good way to judge your PH level? I just don't understand why they are both so

completely different.

ANSWER: Measuring your body pH by testing your urine is much more accurate

than testing saliva. Alkalinity in saliva appears only after having the body’s

alkaline pH established for some time. Also, saliva changes more rapidly and

more often than urine. You can do some experimenting: for example if you put a

drop of honey on your tongue, the saliva instantly becomes very alkaline

because the alkaline solution amylase (that helps digests sugar) will be present

in the saliva. If you put a teaspoon of any green smoothie or wheatgrass in your

mouth, your saliva instantly becomes acid, because in order to digest greens, the

saliva first has to become acid. Of course, greens are alkaline-forming once

digested. So, testing pH by checking saliva is tricky. It has to be a long time

between meals, you have to have your mouth clean and empty, and not even

have food in SIGHT. That is why I don’t recommend it. Urine doesn’t change by

what we look at, and thus is more reliable. The most accurate time to test saliva

for alkalinity is in the morning as soon as you wake up.

QUESTION: Why is it so important that humans model their diet after

chimpanzees? From my understanding, they only live an average of 50 years.

They are usually riddled with parasites too.

ANSWER: Chimpanzees are genetically the closest creatures to humans. They

share 99.4% of genes with humans. That is why, unfortunately, chimpanzees are

used for medical research. However, chimpanzees have often demonstrated

such a strong immunity, that doctors were not able to infect them with HIV or

hepatitis C. In my book, I brought up the point that instead of making chimps ill

with human diseases, researching how they are able to stay healthy may reveal

immensely valuable information on human health. In captivity, chimpanzees do

live much longer than in the wild because they are guarded against accidents

and environmental dangers.

Chimpanzees are not only healthy, but have the ability to intuitively find

and use healing herbs. Scientists from the Jane Goodall Institute described in

their research that chimpanzees are familiar with natural ways of parasite control

by eating medicinal herbs. On the other hand, any colonic therapist will tell you

how so many humans are laden with all kinds of parasites.

QUESTION: I drove to three towns, at least eighty miles apart from each other

and looked in more than five different health food stores. When I asked the

produce person for lambsquarters, plantain, chickweed, stinging nettles,

purslane, etc., they looked at me like I was nuts! For lambsquarters, they kept

sending me to the meat department. Where, and how can one find the wild

edible greens?

ANSWER: Even though it can be difficult for one to buy wild edible greens in the

store, one still would greatly benefit from consuming them. That is why I put

wild edible greens in my smoothie recipes.

I don’t have a way of recommending which wild plants are edible in your area

since I am unsure of what weeds grow in your area. The best thing to do is to

talk to people who plant flowers and bushes in parks. They can usually identify

edible plants quite well. Another way to find out which plants one can eat is to

talk to farmers, who need help weeding their organic gardens. In the summer,

my children pick lambsquarters and plantain from a local farmer who pays them

to pluck these pesky weeds from his fields. Once you learn to recognize a couple

of edible weeds, it’s a good idea to share your knowledge with others so that you

can learn about sill more scrumptious plants. This year, I plan to plant lots weeds

in my own garden. I will report back to you how that works out for me.

QUESTION: How long should I blend my ingredients to make the green

smoothie?

ANSWER: I usually blend my greens and fruits for 30-45 seconds. I always start

on the low speed and turn it up to high.

QUESTION: How important is it to make good tasting smoothies?

ANSWER: Very important! Research shows that every delicious food leaves an

imprint on the human brain, and as a result we only desire the most palatable

foods. If the smoothie is not tasty, it is likely that one will stop drinking it. If it

is palatable one will crave it!

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!

MOST POPULAR GREEN SMOOTHIE QUESTIONS

Thersa Sharp

2006-07-30