It's June and soon we will see the longest day of the year. I hope you are getting your share of vitamin D by getting out and enjoying the sunshine.
My events newsletter talked about buying local and I know many of you are not on that list since you are not in Lansing. I'd like to encourage you to seek out your own local markets and give them your business. You will be helping yourself and helping a local farmer. They need all the help they can get.
Go out and pick some organic strawberries. To put them in the freezer all you have to do is wash them, remove the top and throw them in a bag. Blueberries are even easier. Wash and freeze.
If you are blending fresh organic strawberries you don't even have to bother removing the tops. They just add to the green content of your drink.
Enjoy the summer, it will be snowing before you know it.
hugs
cricket
Victoria has a new book coming out soon. Check it out on their website Green Smoothie Revolution
Order an advance copy and be the first on your block to have one.
Here is a sneak preview of one chapter:
A chapter from Victoria’s up-coming book “Green Smoothie Revolution”
After I published my first book about green smoothies, I have received many inquiries from my readers asking whether blending was preferable to juicing. I also heard that some nutritionists were concerned that blending might accelerate the oxidation of the food. I was very curious to find the answer for myself and decided to seriously research this question.
I conducted a simple experiment. I chose potatoes for my experiment because it is easy to observe the process of oxidation in potatoes. You probably remember an instance when you left a slice of raw potato on your cutting board and observed it turning brown within several minutes. That is why my grandmother used to put peeled potatoes in water, to prevent browning or oxidation.
First, I peeled two potatoes so that the color of their peel wouldn’t interfere with the results of my experiment. I then juiced one potato in a twin-gear juicer and blended the other one in a Vita Mix blender with one cup of water. I placed both cups of fluid on the table and took a photograph of them. I was taking photographs frequently for two days. The potato juice started to turn brown within a matter of minutes and became dark brown by the end of the first hour. The blended potato stayed almost white for two days. The top of both liquids, which was exposed to the air, turned dark almost instantly. I repeated this experiment three times with different kinds of potatoes and various shapes of glasses. The results were the same.
It was clear that the juiced potato oxidized much faster than the blended potato. Since I am not a professional scientist, I decided to seek the opinion of someone with the appropriate expertise. I went to the local university and consulted with Gregory T. Miller, professor of chemistry of Southern Oregon University. After researching this matter, he wrote the following:
The browning is the result of oxidation of specific biomolecules in the fruit or vegetable. My students study this in lab so I have some familiarity with the process (albeit they are studying the enzymatically regulated oxidation). My wife is also a winemaker and deals with oxidation of her juice/wine or a regular basis. I also possess a huge number of resources on the oxidation topic in the form of biochemistry, medical, and nutritional books.
Many people believe that the blending process will cause increased oxidation due to thousands of tiny air bubbles getting mixed into the "juice". This effectively increases the surface area of oxygen in the liquid and facilitates the oxidation process. However, in grapes at least, I have observed the opposite to be true. The blended grape stays a truer color much longer. I believe this observation in grapes to be a result of numerous antioxidants released as the grape is blended (breaks open more cells than juicing). I believe this is what you are seeing with the potato, as well.
Potatoes contain numerous antioxidants. This may come as a surprise to many people because of the pale color of many varietals. Among others, potatoes are rich sources of phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. The concentration of each vary with the type of potato. Since your potatoes are skinless (where the greatest concentration of the tyrosinase enzyme is located), I believe the blending process releases a much higher percentage of these antioxidants from the tissue than the juicing process.
It is also possible that, in many fruits and vegetables, the bulk of the fiber released during blending reduces the oxygen saturation in the solution but, if true, I think this is a secondary issue.
Now I understand why it is commonly advised to drink squeezed juice within minutes of making it, and why smoothies can stay fresh for two or three days in the fridge. Even though I can clearly see the many benefits of smoothies, I still don’t want to completely disregard juicing. One of the main advantages of juice is that it requires next to no digestion and can be absorbed and assimilated immediately into the bloodstream, allowing the digestive system to rest. This important quality of juice allows it to be used by people who suffer from severe nutritional deficiencies or have highly irritable digestive system. People with these conditions often cannot tolerate any fiber at all, and juice may provide invaluable nourishment for them. Later, when their health will improve, these people can switch to drinking smoothies.
I agree with Dr. Doug Graham that juices are a fractured food, which is missing an essential component—fiber. When we consume enough fiber, we take a load off of our organism by improving our elimination. Toxins often build up in the colon and fiber cleans them out. When most toxins have been removed by fiber, then the body has a greater ability to absorb nutrients, thus improving digestion. Humans could not live on juices alone, whereas green smoothies are a complete food.
If I don’t have a blender around me, I juice. One time I gave my blender to my brother because I thought that he needed it more than I. While waiting for my new Vita-mix, I was juicing greens because I could not live without them. While I was juicing, I quickly got tired by the limited variety of flavors, in addition to that, I noticed that I I felt hungrier and I had to add more salads to my menu, as juices were not as filling as smoothies. Contrary to that, smoothies are very filling; I can live on them for days, and even weeks. I know of people who have chosen to live on smoothies for several weeks or months with beneficial results. You will find the extraordinary story of Clent Manich’s green smoothie experiment further in this book.
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The Power of Positive Thinking
I've been listening to a CD about setting goals and the author likes to say "You are what you think about most of the time. So if you are spending a lot of time thinking that eating raw food is hard and you'll never be able to stick with it, then of course it is going to be hard.
I suggest you think about how fantastic you feel now that you are eating all raw food (even if you are not). Think in the present tense about the energy you have and the glowing face and trim body you enjoy. If others complain about how hard it is to stick with the diet, tell them you have no problem. You love the food and you are able to ignore all the bad food that is around you. Again, even if it's not true.
I was skeptical of this approach, as I'm sure you are. But I tried it even so and found it does make a difference. It takes some practice but is worth the effort, this can apply to any habit in your life as well. Try it and let me know how it works for you.
The CASE FOR VEGAN
I've also received several e-mails, some have been forwarded by people on this e-mail list, about things the American Heart Association or the Cancer Society have just discovered about the dangers of eating meat.
Silly things like how people who eat meat are 20% more in danger of heart attacks or 15% more likely to contract cancer.
We all know these things.
They suggest you only eat 2.5 oz of red meat twice a week.
The China Study
Resolve to be a vegan. I'd rather see you be a cooked food vegan than not be able to stick with raw foods and add some portion of animal foods to your diet. Cut out that cheese. Remember it takes 4 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese so if you are cutting out milk you should cut out cheese. Leave the eggs along. They just cause your sinuses to stuff up. And the meat is very hard to digest anyway. Get your protein from your green smoothie.
That's my sermon for the week and I'm sticking to it.
Monthly Book Review
Skinny Bitch