http://www.naturemoms.com/benefits-of-raw-food.html

I do agree we should eat our foods raw. My family is switching over little by little. Anyway, I think the Green Smoothie Challenge is a great idea.

I’m curious your thoughts on taking Juice Plus suppliments in addition to getting raw fruits and veggies in the diet?

:–) Nell

Sorry about this rambling of mine!
did you know that our DNA and organ etc.. is more compatible to a pig then to the Chimpanzees!!! and look at what they eat!!!

bb

I recognize your writing style I like very much–snappy.and personal while filled w/ info–so I know I’ve read hit-and-miss from following my husband’s home page links several things you’ve written in the last year. However, this is the first time I have had anything to say on a subject you covered, so this is my first comment.

We started drinking Dr. Oz’s green drink from seeing him talk about it on Oprah months ago. (BTW, don’t tell me I’ve sold out to the establishment b/c I record and watch every Oprah show–it’s part of my job to know what is going on in the world and how to fit into trends, as President of Home Grown Food Network, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to educating about and promoting ultra low cost housing, edible landscaping, and use of renewable energy. Lucky me, to have an excuse to watch TV, and I’ll come up with a reason soon that the Gilmore Girls and Denise Richardson are important.)

Dr. Oz’s green drink is spinach, apple, celery, ginger, parsley, cucumber, and lemon juice blended together. The day we saw the show we did a Google search and found the exact recipe, which we put on the refrigerator with a magnet, but over the months we have used so many different variations it’s just a general guideline now. He said at the time you can put in other things as you want to, which we would have done anyway since we just can’t stop experimenting. We used spring mix for the base when we didn’t have spinach, left out cucumber or celery when we didn’t have any, added zucchini or tomatoes when there was a glut, used oranges instead of apples, all kinds of changes, and they all were good, some better than others, but nothing not good enough to drink.

We make that every day, fresh, using what we grew as much as we can b/c then we know what nourished the soil, what was not sprayed on or dug into it, whose hands did not have bacteria on them when harvesting, etc. The rest is certified organic as much as we can find and afford, but I have my doubts, so I’m aiming to grow it all myself. In the M/T, we do as well as we can.

Every time it tastes a little different, but Oprah said the drink Dr. Oz made for her that day was “a glass of fresh,” and that is how it has tasted to us every time. The fruit makes it palatable, but you just know drinking all those raw vegetables is building your cells and it tastes good too, so what’s not to like?.

We also started making what we call “green soup” from mixed greens like collards mustards, carrot tops, and anything else green that we just can’t stand to eat raw, steamed with almost no water for three minutes in the pressure cooker and then pureed in the blender. At first we were adding liquid aminos and Vietnamese fish sauce and all kinds of other things to season it, but lately we like how it tastes just plain. Like the smoothie, it is different every time b/c of what we put in it, but it just tastes great and is so simple to make that we actually eat it every day, which we didn’t do when we were just relying on our good intentions but the recipes were too hard and time-consuming to follow.

Talk about fast and easy, I even have a set of mixed soup cups, so I take it in the car with me and often drink a chopped up poached or hard-cooked egg and green soup plus a green smoothie for breakfast while I’m driving. That is so good and filling sometimes I can’t finish it until lunchtime. And it’s what? 200 calories? And nine or so servings of fruit and vegetables b/4 noon.

We also add vegetable purees like cauliflower and broccoli, again steamed with tiny amounts of water for three minutes in the pressure cooker, to anything they will hide in, a la Jennifer Seinfeld’s cookbook we saw promoted on Oprah also. She suggested putting these purees in things to get nutrition to kids without having to nag them and fight in convincing them to eat vegetables, when most kids just won’t. Dr. Oz said that is evolutionary, that in our history as a species kids who ate unfamiliar things died, so the species is filled with kids who will eat only white things and things that are similar to breast milk and other things they had as babies, easy to digest, etc. You can introduce the love of the nutrients into their bodies without their knowing it and just gently, a little at a time, get them to see by example that adults love vegetables and choose to eat them knowingly. If emulating adults causes teenagers to smoke and drink alcohol, this can’t hurt as an idea to try.

Every day we have at least one huge glass of the green smoothie each and a bowl of the green soup. When we have marinara sauce or (horrors!) mac and cheese or pancakes, we add some puree to them and don’t feel so guilty eating comfort food.

We noticed immediately a huge change in both of our bodies, so that is good. Loving delaying gratification is not a common human trait. I saw David Spade on TV talking about raw food, and disgusting as what he said was, he’s a comedian so he intended to be funny and was, and his talking about how often, fast and with how much volume he has to go “Number Two” made an impression on me. Certain people in my life have been hypochondriacs whose main topic of discussion every day was how everyone’s morning bowel movements went. When you think about stuff staying inside your body for as much as 24 hours between eliminations, which is what most people think is healthy if they try to have one bowel movement per day, that’s what’s really disgusting. Putting vegetables, especially raw ones, in your body means maybe one hour, not 24, and undoubtedly no putrefaction. Stops expense and embarrassment of colonics, too, for some people, I’d bet.

Then in the longer run we’ve both seen bigger, more important changes. Weight loss in my case, body firming and sculpting in my husband’s, both of us having more energy and vibrancy in our daily lives, hair and nails more healthy, needing to sleep less, huge brain-power changes, amazing things. It’s clear when you actually notice how your body is reacting, when you are doing more healthy things.

I’ll join the green smoothie challenge as you suggest, but what we have already observed fits in exactly with what you have said. I always laugh when people say you don’t need to take vitamins or some other supplement b/c a “good well-balanced diet” will provide all those nutrients. Who in America has a good well-balanced diet? Very few people. And one of the reasons is what Katie said about how hard it would be to consume enough raw food to get all those nutrients.

However, our website has lots of tips and lots of links to other sites that have more, about how to grow enough greens on a tiny lot where you live–and even on an 8′ x 10′ balcony, if you don’t have a lot of any size–to provide 80% of the needs of a family. Like you, I have not been able to eliminate some things I have to buy from what I really really want, so I still buy them. Milk and eggs are probably the last vice I have, but I don’t always crave milk now, so sometimes it gets sour on us. Chocolate still gets eaten here by someone, I think a woman since my husband has shifted to cacao beans, which I still just can’t like.

I like this gradual approach we’ve taken, with enough sudden changes to see what really works. Raw vegetables in the smoothie was that for us, and I’m grateful. Keep talking about it.

Thanks.

Brenda

After I read The China Study, (or any books by John Robbins) it was a no-brainer for me to cut out all animal products and by-products. IMO there is no place for animal flesh or products in the diet for health, ethical, and environmental reasons. The treatment of the animals is horrendous and gut-wrenching. I was vegan for a few years before turning to Raw and felt better as a vegan than I did as an omnivore. No doubt about that. But, I wasn’t filling my body with a bunch of soy products either. I definitely had some soy, but I also had grains, nuts, legumes, and veggies.

Then, I found Raw and my life definitely improved even more so :)
I have times when I’m all Raw and times I’m HRAV (High Raw, All Vegan). When I’m both 100% Raw or HRAV (70%+ Raw) I feel wonderful, radiant, vibrant, energized, my weight is perfect, my sleep is terrific and I couldn’t be happier.

Cheers,
Kristen