12 Steps to Whole Foods

12 Steps
to
Whole Foods
by
Robyn Openshaw
i

12 Steps to Whole Foods
Published by Robyn Openshaw/GreenSmoothieGirl.com
Lindon, UT
5th Printing December 2011
Copyright © 2008-2011 Robyn Openshaw/GreenSmoothieGirl.com
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior
written permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN 978-0-9831113-7-5
Printed in the United States of America.
Credits
Cover photography & design: Alana Mae Jenkins (southcoastdesigner@hotmail.com)
Food staging & photography: Katie Dudley (katiedudley3@gmail.com)
Editing & page design/formatting: Deb Tokarewich (dtokarewich@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer
Nothing in this book is intended to claim to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This book is not a substitute for
primary medical care, but should be seen rather as an educational resource.
Trademarks
All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
ii

Table of Contents
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
What Is the Goal of This Program? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How Do I Know What’s True and What’s Not in Nutrition? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
How Do I Get My Kids to Eat Right? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
More Reading on Raising Kids and Nutrition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Don’t I Need to Eat for My Blood/Metabolic Type? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
What about Food Combining and Digestive Problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Will I Have to Use Lots of Tools and Ingredients I’m Not Familiar With? . . . 21
Why Should I Document My Health in 12 Steps Journal Entries? . . . . . . . . . . 22
Why Should I Make Changes with a Support System in Place? . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
How Will I Find the Time? The GreenSmoothieGirl Law of Physics . . . . . . . 26
CHAPTER 1 Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Why Soft Drinks Are Bad for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
What to Do about a Cleansing Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Highest and Best Use of Your Kitchen Time: Green Smoothies . . . . . . . . 33
Benefits of Green Smoothies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Sugar Restrictions and Sweeteners for Smoothies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Nutritional Facts of Various Greens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Protein in Green Smoothies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Money-Saving Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Green Smoothie Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Green Smoothie Testimonials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods i

Table of Contents
Robyn’s Green Smoothie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie Recipe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
CHAPTER 2 Making Salad the Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
What about Protein? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Why Are Enzymes So Important?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Why Maximize Raw Food?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
What Salad Greens Should I Buy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Money-Saving Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Basic Salad Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Everyday Green Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Party Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Craisin Salad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Spinach-Strawberry Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Cabbage Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Christmasy Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Waldorf Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Asian Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Southwest Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Salsa Verde Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Sprouted Quinoa Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Avocado-Almond Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
CHAPTER 3 Dressing Up Your Salads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Dangerous Ingredients in Commercial Salad Dressings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
High-Nutrition Ingredients to Use Instead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Money- and Time-Saving Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Salad Dressing Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Craisin Salad Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Orange-Walnut Salad Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Avocado Dressing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
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© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Table of Contents
Cabbage Salad Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Tangy Dill Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Maple Syrup Dressing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Asian Ginger Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Ranch Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Green Goddess Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Bleu Cheese Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Balsamic-Miso Vinaigrette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Ginger-Miso Dressing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Honey Dressing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Yogurt Curry Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Pesto Vinaigrette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Salsa Verde Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Lemon Tahini Dressing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Lemon-Lime Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
CHAPTER 4 Avoiding Bad Fats, Enjoying Good Fats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Why Should I Eat Flaxseed Oil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Shouldn’t I Be Eating Fish Oil?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Why Should I Eat Coconut Oil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Why Should I Eat Olive Oil?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
What Are the Best Oils for My Beauty Regimen? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
How Can I Eat Coconut, Olive, and Flax Oils?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Coconut Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Extra Virgin Olive Oil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Flaxseed Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Coconut Oil Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Almond Joyful Fudge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Microwave Popcorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Faux Kettle Corn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods iii

Table of Contents
Rice Pudding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Millet Porridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Flaxseed Oil Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Flax/Coconut “Butter” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Flaxseed Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Garlic Mayo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Tomato-Basil Pasta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
CHAPTER 5 Reaping a Gardener’s Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Making Gardening a Family Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Why Heirloom Seeds?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Where to Put Your Gardening Efforts—And How. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
What to Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
What Are the Easiest Green Smoothie Ingredients to Grow? . . . . . . . . . . . 128
What about Organic Produce? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Why Should I Consider Square-Foot Gardening? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
How Do I Keep the Pests Away without Using Chemicals? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
How Can I Get Garden Produce in the Winter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Money-Saving Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Beet Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Russian Borscht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Marinated Steamed Beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Bell Pepper Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Tempeh Pitas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Carrot Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Buttery Dill Sautéed Carrots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Carrot-Orange Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Chard Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Pasta and Garlic Greens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Chard Rice Rolls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Green Bean Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Sweet-Savory Green Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
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Kale Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Easy Kale Salad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Pasta with Kale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Braised Kale and Tomatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Spinach Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Sautéed Garlic Spinach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Dinner Pancakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Zucchini/Squash Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Squash Fritters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Zucchini Carpaccio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Zucchini Pitas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Rainbow Salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Vanilla Pudding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
CHAPTER 6 Making Plant-Based Main Dishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Will I Get Enough Protein and Calcium with Plant Foods? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
What If I Love Potatoes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
What about Protein, Carbs, and Glycemic Index?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Introducing Grains/Seeds You Can Cook With. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Cautions about the Glycemic Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Tips for Cooking Beans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Tips for Saving Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Potato (and Root Vegetable) Main Dish Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Baked Potato Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Quinoa Main Dish Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Curried Quinoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Southwest Quinoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Grain/Seed, Pasta, and Legume Main Dish Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Lentil Tacos (also Taco Salad) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Pink Hummus Quesadillas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Mexicali Wraps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
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Tabbouleh Wraps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Falafel Pita Pockets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Pasta with Pesto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Country Market Stew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Vegetarian Chili . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Green Lentil Soup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Split Pea Soup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Avocado Basmati Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Potato-Garbanzo Curry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
CHAPTER 7 Sprouting and Dehydrating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
Why Is Sprouting Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
How Can I Eat Bread with Sprouted Grains? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
How Do I Sprout Grains, Nuts, and Seeds? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
What Foods Should I Sprout? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Other Sproutable Foods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
The Virtues of Flax Seed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Dehydrated Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Money-Saving Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Sprouted Almond Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Sprouted-Nut Milk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Candied Nuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Teriyaki Almonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Cocoa Almonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Almond Cherry Cookies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Sprouted Pumpkin Seed Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Spicy Pumpkin Seeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Sprouted-Seed Crackers/Chips Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Nori Nachos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Green Pesto Crackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Cilantro-Corn Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Flax-Veggie Crackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
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Parmesan Flax Crackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Savory Flax Crackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Kale Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Dill Pickle Kale Crisps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Lemony Kale Crisps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
“Cheesy” Collard / Kale Crisps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Other Recipe Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Debbie’s Manna Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Sprouted Hummus Spread. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Roasted Eggplant Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Salsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Guacamole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
CHAPTER 8 Preserving Raw Foods with Natural Probiotics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Fermented Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Fermented Dairy Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Fermented Grains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Money-Saving Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Kefir Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Dairy or Goat Milk Kefir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Coconut Liquid Kefir / Water Kefir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Yogurt Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Basic Yogurt Recipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Almond Yogurt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Other Fermented Dairy Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Crème Fraîche (Sour Cream) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Cultured Butter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Rejuvelac Recipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Raw Kombucha Recipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Fermented Vegetable Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Pickled Beets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Beet Kvass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Pickle Slices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Spiced Carrots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Sauerkraut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Kimchi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
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CHAPTER 9 Replacing White Flour with Whole Grains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
What Are the Whole Grains? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
How Do I Substitute Whole Grain for White Flour? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
What Are Phytates and How Do I Avoid Them? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Should I Combine a Grain and Legume for “Perfect Proteins”? . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Why Is Commercial Yeast Bad and Sourdough Good? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
What Other Grains Besides Wheat Make Good Bread and Other
Baked Goods? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
What Is the 1, 2 Rating System in the Recipes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Money-Saving Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Whole-Grain Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Buttermilk Cornbread (1 or 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Blueberry Flax Muffins (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Ethiopian Flatbread (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Chapati (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Whole-Wheat Biscuits (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Sesame Seed Crackers (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Polenta (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Rice Milk (1 or 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Amaranth L’Orange (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread and Variation (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Kamut Sourdough Pita Pockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread and Variations (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Darlene’s Kamut Sourdough Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
CHAPTER 10 Starting Your Morning Off Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275
Why Drink Water upon Waking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Why Should I Use Salt, and What Kind? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
How Do I Make Sole (Salt Solution)? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Breakfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
What Is the 1, 2, 3 Rating System in the Recipes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Breakfast Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Robyn’s Granola (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Kefir Smoothie (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
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Nut Milk (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Coconut Milk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Breakfast Burritos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
German Pancakes (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten Free) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Flax Waffles (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Three Toppings for Pancakes and Waffles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Live Granola (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Breakfast Pudding (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Chia Pudding (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
CHAPTER 11 Creating Delicious Whole-Food Treats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
How Do I Convert a Treat Recipe to Be Nutritious?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
What Is the 1, 2, 3 Rating System in the Recipes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Treat Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Chocolate Beet Cake (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Zucchini Bread (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Chocolate Walnut Muffins (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Chocolate Frosting (1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Quinoa Cookies (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Peanut Butter Cookies (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies (1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Orange-Glaze Donuts (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Cherry-Almond Blondies (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Berry Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Almond Cream Sauce (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Gelatin Dessert (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Popsicles (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Fruity Sorbet (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods ix

Table of Contents
Chocolate Shake (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Chocolate Goji Smoothie (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Raw Key Lime Pie (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Chocolate Pudding (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Lemon Chews (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Chocolate Balls (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Halva (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream or Shake (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Butter Pecan Ice Cream (3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
GreenSmoothieGirl’s Oat-Coconut Cookie Mix with Variations (1). . . . . . 321
Michelle Jorgenson’s Amazing “Power through the Day” Bars (2). . . . . . . 323
Other Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
CHAPTER 12 Achieving an Alkaline Inner Terrain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325
Why Is Water So Important?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Shouldn’t I Avoid Drinking Water Because It’s Contaminated? . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Why Is Alkalinity Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
WHY Should I Drink Alkaline Water?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
WHEN Should I Drink Alkaline Water?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
HOW Do I Get Alkaline Water? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
What Foods Are Alkaline and Acid? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Should I Buy a Dehydrated Greens Product? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Your Journal Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Whole-Food Sweeteners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Non-Whole-Foods Sweeteners to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Other Unfamiliar Ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
For Those Wanting to Eat More Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
For Anyone Wanting to Read the World’s Most Important Books
on Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
For Those Interested in Cleansing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
For Parents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
For Those Wanting to Grow a Garden (the #1 Way to Save Money
When Eating a Plant-Based Diet) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
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12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

About the Author
Robyn Openshaw grew up the eldest of eight children, raised on a tight budget where the menu was dominated
by simple plant foods: whole grains and legumes, greens, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds. She has a
Web site, GreenSmoothieGirl.com, with tens of thousands of new visitors monthly, dedicated to helping people
achieve high energy and vibrant health. Its mission is to teach families how to live a whole-food lifestyle
(mostly plants and 60-80% raw) diet that is easy, inexpensive, and delicious in addition to nourishing.
Robyn taught at a university and now lectures all over the U.S. She is the author of 12 Steps to Whole Foods
with over 175 recipes, The Green Smoothies Diet, Healthy Holiday Favorites and several other recipe books,
and a children’s book, The Adventures of Junk Food Dude.
She is a single mom of four competitive athletes with high-caloric needs who help develop and test her
recipes. She converted to a whole-foods, 95% plant-based diet when her oldest child was a year old and
critically ill and underweight. Not only is that boy now a 6'3" standout high school pitcher, but she also cured
herself completely of 21 chronic health conditions, including being overweight, three auto-immune conditions,
transient ischemic attacks and migraines, and the need to wear corrective eyewear.
She received undergraduate and graduate degrees from BYU and the University of Utah and loves “arranging
the elements” in the kitchen, reading and writing, cycling, running, skiing, and competitive tennis.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods xi

Reviews
What People Are Saying about 12 Steps to Whole Foods
My friends and I left at 4:45 a.m. to attend your class in Portland several hours away. I was so nervous to meet
and talk with you, and sat on the front row trying to get the courage to talk to you.
I started 12 Steps to Whole Foods just over a year ago and I have lost 100 lbs.! When you introduced me to the
crowd in Portland, everyone gasped. Until that moment it had not really occurred to me what losing 100 lbs.
meant. I just knew how wonderful it was to look in the mirror and see “me” again and know I am on the right
path that will allow me to stay this way forever. [Following are K’Lynne’s “before” and “after” photos.]
I have been overweight my whole life. I have tried tons of “diets.” Sometimes I lost weight, but the weight
came back. Someone told me about GreenSmoothieGirl.com, and I loved what I saw there. I read 12 Steps
cover to cover within a few weeks and immediately put it into practice. I drank my vegetables in a green
smoothie, cut out processed foods, ate more whole grains and natural foods, and sprouted and dehydrated food
as well. I’m off my blood pressure meds and I feel better and happier than I have in many years.
People noticed my transformation and asked me what I was doing. I am usually a woman of few words, so I
just told them about the first step, green smoothies, and directed them to GreenSmoothieGirl.com. I am amazed
how people are so ready to get healthy, and it’s so easy to share, so I tell everyone because I am so passionate!
My good friend with breast cancer told me that whatever I was doing, she wanted to know more, because she
could tell I’d made a comprehensive change for the better.
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© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Now she has 12 Steps to Whole Foods and is in remission, loving being healthy and sharing with others as well!
I have done all 12 steps. I did not count calories. I did not feel deprived. I ate yummy food. Everything in the
program makes logical sense and is the way we should naturally eat. I love the recipes and feel the knowledge
I have gained is a blessing. I’m excited to learn and experiment with new things, more whole foods.
I feel like I’ve been asleep and now I am awake, full of life, looking forward to a long, happy, healthy life!
—K’Lynne Wagner, Oregon
Decades ago, “scientists” and “nutritionists” assumed control over the creation and dissemination of nutrition
information. With 12 Steps to Whole Foods, Robyn Openshaw gives the control back to the best sources of
wisdom: Mother Nature…and mothers.
I was fortunate to discover 12 Steps to Whole Foods when my children were very young (i.e., still in diapers).
My oldest was just beginning to eat solid foods and had no firmly established eating habits or preferences. For
my family, this book has been more than a “health kick” or fad—it is a lifestyle and parenting guide. The things
I have learned and experienced with this program empower me to raise my children with confidence that if I
nurture their bodies with good food, their bodies will take care of themselves. I’ve learned from Robyn that
providing my family with good nutrition at each and every meal is not impossible; it is doable, fun, fairly
inexpensive, and yummy!
12 Steps to Whole Foods is a compendium of all the best practices in good nutrition, a concise yet thorough
summary containing as much information as you might get in a dozen other books. This program fills two gaps
in the existing body of nutrition education: (1) it provides research-based information about the basic principles
of nutrition, giving readers the knowledge necessary to make informed choices about what we put in our
bodies, and (2) it contains hundreds of delicious recipes that empower and excite readers to act on their new
knowledge. And though the people of our world have ample cause to be alarmed by the state of our health,
Robyn writes in a voice that is nurturing, encouraging, and helpful—not angry, strident, and paranoid.
The step-by-step organization of this program helped my family make significant changes without getting
overwhelmed and quitting. And the results of our new habits manifested themselves immediately:
• Step 1 gave us healthy digestive systems that operate like clockwork (a huge benefit with potty training
young ones!).
• Steps 2 and 3 showed us that salads can be diverse and delicious—the centerpiece of every dinner—and
that even two-year-olds can eat and enjoy salads.
• Step 4 taught us natural and efficient ways to use healthy oils to obtain Omega 3s and improve the
softness of our skin.
• Step 5 motivated us to plant our first garden and to get our children involved in their own nutrition. As
a result, they tried several new vegetables and are proud to eat what they grow.
• Step 6 was a huge eye-opener for our family because it showed me how to bring vegetables out of their
side-dish hiding place and how to make plant-based dishes hearty enough to provide the main substance
of a meal.
• Step 7 taught me a skill I didn't even know existed: sprouting. The recipes help me provide healthy
snacks for my children so they don't feel deprived when I tell them we don’t eat goldfish and fruit
snacks.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods xiii

• Step 8 expanded my palate significantly and taught me to make and use kefir to keep our immune
systems at their best. It gives me confidence to say no to antibiotics and to pursue good nutrition even
when illness hits.
• Step 9 shattered my illusions that I was healthy because I followed government guidelines to make at
least half of our grains whole grains. I have since experimented with several of the grains Robyn
teaches about and have loved the variety of taste they bring to our table.
• Step 10 was a godsend for my children and husband who get bored eating the same breakfast (green
smoothie and granola) every morning. The delicious breakfast recipes make weekends a special time
for our family.
• Step 11 helps me share my lifestyle with others at parties and potlucks because my nutritious treats are
always a huge hit. I enjoy knowing that I can “splurge” a bit without setting aside all I know about
nutrition.
• Step 12 made me much more aware of the role that water plays in nutrition. I have significantly
increased the amount of water my family drinks each day, and we are feeling the benefits of that new
habit. Though I haven't purchased an alkaline filter yet, I am definitely more aware of how important
water is for my body.
Following 12 Steps to Whole Foods has absolutely changed my family's life. It gave us the knowledge and
confidence to turn away from the “Standard American Diet” and to embrace a whole-foods lifestyle that is
nurturing, joyful, and healthful.
—Tina Huntsman (New Mexico)
Robyn Openshaw’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods is by far the most comprehensive, must-read, nutritional material
out there! Our family has spent years reading the latest raw-food books/plans and struggled with contradicting
information. We found most recipes to be too time consuming, complicated, and expensive for our large
family. And we still had questions—if we are to eat “every seed bearing thing,” why aren’t grains widely used
in raw food recipes? What about good qualities of dairy, such as probiotics in yogurt, etc.? Most importantly,
how can a mom of four with a limited budget possibly make it all work?
I found Robyn’s site by chance—and all of a sudden the answers (plus more!) we’d been searching for were
right in front of our eyes. Robyn has covered pretty much every topic in the nutrition field with a
simple, doable approach. We are excited to finally have found a way to make nutrition work for our family!
—Jennifer Bartlett
Two years ago, illness and disease brought my life to a grinding halt. The medical community could not
explain my symptoms nor could they offer me relief from my pain. I began to read books on natural healing
and discovered the underlying truth that I needed to revamp my diet. I stumbled upon a GreenSmoothieGirl
video on YouTube and discovered 12 Steps to Whole Foods shortly thereafter on the GSG Web site [in early
2008]. What an amazing experience that was! Within a few short months, I was able to completely
revolutionize my nutritional world. Wow!!
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© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

The 12 Steps program is a well researched, easy-to-read guide on eating well, with lots of great suggestions on
how to save time and money. Since implementing this program, I feel so confident about nutritionally meeting
the needs of my family. Every chapter has fabulous recipes and challenging nutritional content. It charts a clear,
achievable course for people who want to eat well but just don't know how.
Since living the GSG diet, I have healed my metabolism. I weigh 20 pounds less and I finally feel comfortable
with my weight and how my clothes fit. My diet has become the foundation to my healing program, and the
improvement in my health has been remarkable in the last two years. I have way more energy and am excited
about how my health will continue to improve.
I greatly appreciate the information in the 12 Steps program; it is well balanced and integrates time-tested
traditional ways of eating with the latest research on healthy eating. Thank you for being a calm, reassuring
voice that encourages us to make lifelong change. It’s not about products or gimmicks. It works for moms on
tight budgets who stand as nutritional gatekeepers to the home. It worked for me, and now my family is reaping
the many, many benefits of whole foods! Thank you!
—Darlene U., Canada
I have LOVED 12 Steps! The book is very informational and easy to understand and implement. The biggest
thing I want to comment on are the recipes. Recipes are key to success, and you need good-tasting recipes to
make transitions like these. Robyn’s recipes are FANTASTIC! I have yet to try any that we did not love and
now use as a family favorite consistently. Whenever I am “experimenting” with new recipes, my hubby gets
nervous—but if I tell him it’s a 12 Steps recipe, he calms down and doesn’t worry since there’s not one he
hasn’t loved. I really like that I can count on the recipes being tasty since I’ve read/owned many, many health
books with terrible recipes in them—blah! But these are great!
Another thing I wanted to mention about the recipes is that we eat gluten, dairy, egg, and soy free, and a huge
majority of the recipes are naturally free of these things. There are still plenty of worthwhile recipes in the
collections having these restrictions that make it worth the purchase.
I love that Robyn has broken it into 12 steps—and if you can add them into your life, you will be so much
healthier and happier!
—Laura Tervort
I have been reading Robyn’s blog for a few months and then attended a class she taught about green
smoothies. It has been just over a month, but we are drinking green smoothies daily and I’ve already converted
a few friends. I can’t help but smile as I watch my five kids drink their smoothies loaded with veggies and fruits
every day.
I bought the 12 Steps program shortly after I started my new green smoothie habit. I had already watched all of
the YouTube videos and read everything on GreenSmoothieGirl.com. I just couldn’t get enough. I have read so
many books and articles on healthy eating, and this feels like a breath of fresh air. I find some of the same
things I’ve learned elsewhere, but 12 Steps is much easier and more enjoyable to read and follow.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods xv

I love the practical approach. I love that Robyn is sensitive to the time and money constraints that are part of
real life. The program is simple, affordable, and doable even for a busy mom with five kids. We are just getting
started, but I’ve made the Chocolate Beet Cake (Ch. 11) along with several different smoothies and some
fabulous salads. I’m so excited to implement each of these steps throughout the coming year and record the
benefits that we experience from each upgrade to our diet.
The 12 Steps program is loaded with information. I bought a freezer and am already planning for my garden
next year with all of this new information in mind. It has really changed the way I look at food and food
preparation.
I can’t thank you enough for the time and effort you’ve put into sorting through all of the information available
and bringing the most relevant and useful information into one program that can be followed by anyone.
Perhaps the biggest challenge is to take it one step at a time and not get overwhelmed by trying to do it all at
once. Thanks again, and keep up the good work.
—Kelleen P.
I started drinking green smoothies kind of sporadically about three months ago. I felt great when I had them,
but some days I didn’t plan well enough and forgot to make them. When I’m on green smoothies I feel lighter,
lose weight quickly, and sleep better. My whole energy over all is so much higher, and my skin looks the best it
ever has! A few weeks ago, for some reason, I stopped drinking them and dove back into not eating great, and
I felt awful immediately. My skin broke out badly and I was miserable. That’s when I said I am never going off
of them again. I started again last Tuesday, and here it is Monday—and I feel wonderful again!
I have a hot pink smoothie in the morning and a piece of fruit mid-morning. Lunch is a green smoothie and
salad, sometimes just some almonds. Dinner is something healthy and a large salad. I have no cravings for any
of the junk I used to live on. And my kids actually really do like green smoothies. The way I make mine, they
taste like lemonade, which they like. I also started cooking with coconut oil and using it on my skin. Wow! I
will never use anything else again! The recipes are awesome and the advice is great! This is the best lifestyle
change ever, so thank you!
—Beth from Connecticut
I am so glad I found Robyn’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods. The book is well organized and easy to read, and I feel
the step-by-step approach is so beneficial. In my counseling with people, very few people can jump into a
healthy lifestyle all at once. Taking one step at a time is more often lasting and permanent in their lives. It has
been a great tool for me to recommend to people wanting to be healthier and wondering where to start. 12 Steps
takes people by their hand and gently guides them into a healthier lifestyle. I would encourage you to change
your health step by step.
—NutriMom
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© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Over the years, I have learned a lot of good information about nutrition, but I have never been able to follow
through with what I know. So many nutrition gurus make it sound like you need to go to extremes to be healthy,
and it’s very difficult to follow these programs and still participate in social events. Robyn insists on good
nutrition, but she is not extreme.
The 12 Steps to Whole Foods program is something I can do—and with my children! Robyn makes fantastic
nutrition available to everyone, including single/working moms and families with low budgets. The program is
set up to work at your own pace. If you are overwhelmed, you can go slowly and introduce one step per month.
If you are ready to make big changes, you can speed up the steps.
Robyn’s recipes taste good! She includes many recipes that reluctant children and adults will enjoy. I tell
people about Robyn’s green smoothies all the time. If someone is ready to make changes in their diet, I tell
them about the 12 Steps to Whole Foods course. This is a program that I can recommend without worry—it is
not extreme and it is doable!
—Katie Gibson
I have learned so much from the 12 Steps to Whole Foods program! I have learned to go back to the basics,
what God intended us to eat. So many people ask me, “Well, what do you eat then?” There is an abundance of
food to eat! It is aggravating because so many people are so ignorant about good nutrition. I am now more
aware of all the advertisements promoting good nutrition in certain products just to make a sale, when they are
really so far from good nutrition.
I tell so many people about the 12 Steps program! It is very obvious that I do not eat according to the ways of
the world. I stand out like a sore thumb when I don’t eat the food at a party and I bring my own snacks. For
example, I was at dinner a few months ago and one of the other guests was a pharmacist. He was giving me a
hard time about why I eat the way I do. He asked, “Why do you eat like that?” I said, “To put you out of
business one day.” He said, “Well, what about when you get diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol?” I
told him I wouldn’t get those diseases because of the way I eat and the things I do. People don’t get how
important food is—not just to live but to live a healthy, full life and stay out of the doctor’s office. I have not
gotten sick since being on the program. I am a runner and feel better than I did before.
I have a degree in Exercise Science and have taken many nutrition classes. A whole-foods program makes the
most sense, since it is what our bodies were designed to have. I have a friend that is getting her masters in
Nutrition and she snubs me for the way I eat. She thinks it is bogus, but then wonders why she can’t lose 20
pounds. This program has no comparison to other nutritional plans. This one makes sense and it is easy, very
easy!
I absolutely love the recipes in 12 Steps to Whole Foods! I make my shopping list from the book. I printed off
all of the pages [from the Web site, before the actual book was available] and made it into my own book so I
could keep it in the kitchen. The salads are my favorite! (Well, and the treats too!)
I feel incredible since I have been on the program. And it is easier than most people think. I enjoy the fresh
food, and I look forward to the day when I can have a garden and just walk outside to pick ingredients for
dinner. The benefits are countless. The extra time in the kitchen and the extra money spent are more than worth
it. It is like putting money into savings because I won’t spend it on bad health in the future.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods xvii

I will continue on the journey for myself and continue telling others about the program. It is time to reverse the
way we eat. It will only help us. Thank you!
—Meghan Meredith
It’s been over 30 years since my husband and I started working on a healthy nutritional plan. It took 10 years of
that time for me to consider myself fairly knowledgeable about nutrition and to have a “health food kitchen”
with whole grains, cold-pressed oils, etc.
My impetus for going veggie was a diagnosis of Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD: Lupus,
scleroderma, and rheumatoid arthritis). Then I met my husband who was perfectly healthy but also working to
become a vegetarian.
I remember when we first started to be vegetarians, all I knew how to prepare was stir-fry. I mean, I put every
vegetable known together in every combination! We had so much stir-fry that if I never see it again, it will be
too soon!
The years passed, and we learned more and more and eventually became vegans. About four years ago I was
diagnosed with Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease and started to lose my hearing. It didn’t take long until I was
wearing hearing aids turned up to the maximum hearing ability. In all the trials I had with MCTD, I never even
considered I might lose my hearing.
Thankfully, last November, a BFF emailed me your website. I immediately downloaded “12 Steps to Whole
Foods.” I LOVE it and know that I could have saved 10 years off my nutritional education if I had your book
30 years ago! Of course, I know you were only 12 at the time!
I started in just as the book suggests to read one chapter a month and follow what it says. I bought a Blendtec
and I was off and running. Within 2½ months, my hearing was completely restored and my hearing tests
normal! I just never thought that might be a result of the smoothies and was so pleasantly surprised!
I’m sure you know that connective tissue disorders are very inflammatory, and with the grace of God and your
green smoothies my Sed. Rate (measure of inflammation) went to 1 on a scale of 1-30. I can just imagine what
other fabulous things green smoothies are doing for my body!
I feel so grateful for you and your book. I know for a fact that if we had not pursued good nutrition 30 years
ago, I would not be alive today. I know that with the knowledge I have gained from “12 Steps” that I will live a
quality life even longer!
Thank you, thank you!
—Margaret Kalin
xviii
12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

I knew a “whole-foods diet” was good for you. I knew it would help me with my health, weight, energy, and
such. I knew that it would be good for my family and my children. But where to start was the question.
Reading all of the information out there was overwhelming. With busy days and hectic schedules, it was simply
too much for me to add “one more thing”—studying nutrition— to my day, and it seemed (at the time) that it
would be much easier just to find the quickest meal and be done with it.
But I came across Robyn's 12 Steps to Whole Foods program, read more and more about it, and thought, “I
could do that!” Having it divided into 12 steps and being encouraged to take on one new step and habit each
month was something that didn’t seem overwhelming. Soon the idea of sprouting, dehydrating, drinking green
smoothies, and creating a lifestyle change with whole foods was not intimidating—rather, it was exciting and
motivating. As soon as I got the book, I dived right into it. I took it on vacation, on car rides, to appointments,
you name it—I was ready to make a change and it was so enjoyable to read.
I loved knowing the “why” behind what I was doing in each step, and then implementing those ideas with the
easy recipes. I can honestly say that this 12-step manual is the “cookbook” I now use the majority of the time.
While other recipe books sit in a drawer, Robyn's 12 Steps to Whole Foods is one that stays on the counter to be
referenced on a daily basis. It’s marked up with a highlighter pen, written on with my own “a-ha moment” side
notes and, yes, even a bit messy because of a little food here and there from the kitchen. I see it as both my
favorite health book and cookbook.
Thank you, Robyn, for the recipes, experiences, and the “you really can do this!” attitude you present in your
book, blog, and videos. It’s inspiring, and it does make a difference.
—Kim Christopherson (founder of YouCanMakeThis.com)
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods xix

xx
12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Foreword
By family physician Denise Punger, M.D.
Robyn Openshaw’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods is like having a personal nutrition coach in the kitchen
with me, guiding me towards better health.
Prior to finding GreenSmoothieGirl.com, my own eating habits were not a main concern. My mind
was on a busy medical practice. My husband, also a family physician, took on the responsibility of
picking up our groceries and take-out food. Before marriage, I was in school many years, depending on
dormitory meal plans and hospital cafeterias.
Holidays were a time for home-cooked meals by our families, who were glad to contribute something
to our insanely busy medical school lifestyle. Meals were always provided for me and very welcomed.
Besides my reckless eating patterns, preparing meals in the kitchen as I became a young mother was
intimidating. I didn’t know where to start. I never had to do it before. Good nutrition was barely a
thought, let alone a priority. Like most people, for me, it was all about taste and convenience.
In the months leading up to my wake-up call to feed my body right, I was always hungry despite
always eating. I couldn’t figure out why I never felt satiated. I was 40 pounds heavier than I am now,
and my skin often broke out. I had an irritating cough that disrupted work and time with patients. I
often had headaches. I didn’t represent the preventative health message that I wanted to give.
Like most Americans, I read labels and believed the “heart healthy” and “low fat” claims often made
on them, yet I was also confused by the labels. Finally, like a wake-up call, blood testing revealed that
I had some food sensitivities.
After a few months of feeling deprived while coping with my intolerances, I found
GreenSmoothieGirl.com. GSG changed my approach radically. As I became engrossed in Robyn’s
blog and videos, I became excited about all the new meal possibilities. “Good nutrition” once seemed
like a tasteless curse, but was now looking like an exciting adventure.
I had once wondered if I would live the rest of my life on the defensive side of food. But with all the
new recipes ideas and diverse ingredients to experiment with, I became empowered.
Once I found it, I read and reread Robyn’s blog and Web site to glean everything from it I could. I love
making green smoothies. When my ordinary blender burned out, I ordered the Blendtec Total Blender
Robyn recommends through GreenSmoothieGirl.com and finally received her 12 Steps to Whole
Foods program free when I purchased the blender.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 1

Foreword
The title of the course grabbed my attention. I initially assumed that “12 Steps” was a spin-off of anonymous
recovery type programs. That spoke to me, because I was and am a food addict.
Really, “12 Steps” refers to making small nutritional changes through the year, introducing a new idea each
month. Green smoothies were just the beginning. I was totally mesmerized as I read through this guide. It was
like having Robyn in the kitchen guiding me, step by step. Remember, I’d never spent time in the kitchen!
The mystery of making tasty, healthy meals out of whole foods was unraveled. I needed all the information she
posts on the Web, but the organized, sequential course was essential. I wish I had it when I first found out I was
food sensitive. In fact, I wish I had this information before I began dealing with my sensitivities. Now, I grow
my own herbs and sprouts. I use my dehydrator. I even make fermented vegetables. And it’s easy!
I finally lost weight without deprivation or hunger (and so did my two pre-teens!). In fact, I rarely feel hungry
eating whole foods now when starting my day with a green smoothie. My skin is clear. Ankle swelling, which
I tolerated because I attributed it to aging (had no idea was food related), has disappeared. Headaches, which I
thought were stress related, are rare. I focus on whole, plant-based foods as the 12 Steps course teaches, and
that naturally pushes the refined sugars and flours and preservatives and chemicals out of my diet. I am not a
slave to my food intolerances.
I have made virtually all the recipes from the videos. I use my Blendtec Total Blender several times a day for
smoothies, puddings, sauces and dressings, and desserts. I can’t imagine being without it, as Robyn predicted
would be the case.
In a broader sense, after years of medical school where nutrition is barely addressed, nutrition finally made
sense to me! I don’t depend on food labels anymore. In fact, packaged foods are a minimal part of my diet now,
and I feel better than ever.
I am excited about Robyn expanding the original 12 Steps course to include a journal, audio support, video
demos, and printed steps and recipes, because this will help me help my patients. I already refer my patients to
GreenSmoothieGirl.com via my blog and handouts I give in my office, but now I can recommend a
comprehensive and practical tool to all my patients.
GreenSmoothieGirl is also the nutrition plan I now suggest to my pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. The
program incorporates or supersedes any other previous nutrition recommendations I was making.
I find myself recommending green smoothies to many of my other patients to help control glucose and
cholesterol levels and to improve antioxidant levels, which decreases risk of cardiovascular disease and
cancers. And I immediately teach anyone with digestive problems about nutrition so they see the relationship
between what goes in their mouth and their symptoms of ill health.
Since many of my patients are facing surgery and other procedures, incorporating green smoothies and whole
foods into the pre-op plans optimizes nutrition to give them the highest probability of a smooth and easy
procedure. I am recommending green smoothie plan to most anyone who is motivated and self responsible. My
patients appreciate my offering a nutritional approach first, before considering drugs or surgeries.
Many of my patients have started on the first step, which is to incorporate green smoothies into their diets. I am
impressed by how the GSG nutrition program has influenced my practice. Many times my patients’ office
visits focus on staying well rather than searching for disease. Through nutrition, I can help prevent illness and
often alleviate symptoms.
2 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Foreword
GSG nutrition is compatible with both staying well and preventing disease. My young moms love green
smoothies and whole foods through their pregnancies and breastfeeding years. And my own family has been
tremendously blessed by my newfound education in nutrition. We are all enjoying the benefits of a much
healthier diet!
— Denise Punger, MD FAAFP IBCLC
About Dr. Punger
Dr. Punger is a family physician and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. In private practice
with her husband, John Coquelet, in South Florida, she emphasizes prevention and wellness through
breastfeeding and nutrition. She strives to set an example for her patients by following a high-raw, plant-based
GreenSmoothieGirl diet.
She is the author of Permission to Mother: Going Beyond the Standard of Care to Nurture Our Children,
inspired by her three sons and extraordinary patients, to show all mothers that they have choices when it comes
to their young children. She offers her blog as an extension of her services to further communicate with patients
and readers nationwide: www.permissiontomother.com.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 3

Foreword
4 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Preface
You’ve always wanted to eat better, and you know you should. But it seems so daunting! Fast food and
convenient processed foods are ubiquitous in the modern world, and our social lives revolve around
sugar and trans fats (and tobacco and alcohol, for many). Every day you wake up intending to regain
your energy and start losing that 10 pounds—or 100—but the day gets away from you, and you end up
eating beef jerky, a Big Gulp with an apple fritter, or a Quarter Pounder instead. Maybe all three, by the
time the day is over.
What should you eat? Where should you start? What should you buy? You might have a spouse or
child who isn’t willing to change with you. You want to get healthier, but you can’t do everything at
once—you’re just too busy. And you don’t want to be “extreme,” eating a macrobiotic, all-alkaline,
vegan, or all-raw diet.
If this is you, have no fear. I was in this position 15 years ago, with my four children being born one
after the other, each diagnosed with asthma in their first year, some as early as four months of age.
Doctors were not able to help me and provided nothing but prescriptions for steroids and
bronchodilators. I went out on my own for answers and have never been back to the doctor for a
prescription since.
Ironically, it was the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, who first said, “Let your food be your
medicine and your medicine be your food.” I took that ancient advice to heart and have spent
thousands of hours culling every nutrition book I could find, comparing and sifting through
contradictory theories, trying recipes, and experimenting on my sometimes-wary family.
Many hundreds of hours of efforts have certainly paid off big! Since undertaking to eliminate
processed foods and using whole, primarily plant foods, no one in my home has had the flu or strep
throat—not even me, even though I had it several times a year growing up and every winter as an adult
until I changed our diet years ago. I have never seen green snot (a sign of a highly acidic climate in the
body, the perfect host for ongoing infection) coming out of my child’s nose in 10 years.
My children are all strong, competitive athletes known for not ever asking to be taken out of a game:
their oxygen exchange is excellent because they drink no soft drinks, saying “no, thanks” to the cookie
and soda offered after games and the “sports drinks” offered during the games (full of dyes, other
chemicals, and sugar). We have no degenerative or chronic disease or unexplained health problems.
These rewards are more than I ever expected, more than I set out to accomplish—and well worth my
time and effort.
My original quest was just to find a way out of putting my little children on drugs. However, although
that goal was accomplished, so many more blessings have poured into my life as a direct result of
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 5

Preface
choosing to adopt a whole-food lifestyle—I could write a whole chapter just on that topic. I have felt very
grateful for the results of that choice and ensuing choices, and I have come to feel certain in the past few years
that my purpose in life is greater than just to help my children out of their chronic health problems. I feel a
drive and an obligation to help others—especially parents who will feed and teach the next generation—learn
and apply knowledge about whole foods that is altogether too rare in a world of convenience food.
I have written this course imagining you and thinking of what your hopes and dreams are. I picture you to be
someone who doesn’t always make good nutritional choices, but who wants to improve your health. As long as
it isn’t too hard and as long as you still get to have fun, right? You might be a mother or father who desperately
loves your children and doesn’t want to cause health problems for them with nutritional deficiencies or weight
problems. How am I doing so far?
This course is my effort to flatten the learning curve for everyone else, now that I’ve done it the hard way. I
always wished that just one book contained all the things I wanted to learn about—mostly because people
always ask me, “Tell me the one book I should read.” I have an arsenal of books that have added new facets to
my knowledge of nutrition, but I have never found one definitive book or resource. Thus, 12 Steps to Whole
Foods is the culmination of all the nutritional principles I find worthwhile and valuable.
The thing I hear most often teaching nutrition classes or counseling people is “I’m overwhelmed—where do I
start? Tell me what to eat!”
You can’t eat a whole elephant in one sitting…and because I want you to have a successful experience, I
suggest you don’t try to do everything at once. The premise of this book is that you can tackle one new
nutrition habit a month in your quest to replace refined foods with whole-food, plant-based meals that are at
least 60% raw. Find your favorite recipes within that chapter and habit and get in the zone of mastering that one
simple thing. If one chapter a month is too many, slow down and take it at your own pace. If you do just the
first month of this program and keep that habit for life, you’re far, far ahead of 98% of Americans!
I’ll be your guide for each new habit, condensing for you the best practices from my huge library of nutrition
research. I’ll give you tips to save time and money as you improve your family’s diet and, ultimately, their
health and well-being.
At the end of a year, you will be astonished at how you have become a whole-foods family, miles ahead of
where you were a year ago, with knowledge and recipes and tools. That may be your only goal right now, but I
assure you that you can also be an example, resource, and blessing to many people in your life who are
struggling.
Rather than reading this course through, skim it if you want. But just read one chapter before each month
begins—then at the first of each month, you should have on hand anything needed for that month’s goal. After
reading the chapter, you’ll know why its nutrition principle is important and how you can implement it, with
recipes and ideas to get started. At the end of each month, document any changes in your health, attitude, and
energy that result from the new habit in the Journal Entry section at the end of each step/chapter’s introduction.
The idea is not to tackle the project of “getting healthy” all at once in January! Too many people have tried and
failed, fallen off the wagon, gotten discouraged, and quit. My goal with this book is to help you take baby
steps. But although they're slowly paced steps, they’re actually very significant steps that will add years to your
life—and life to your years.
6 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Preface
If you struggle with your weight and have been on countless diets, you should be assured that pounds will melt
off when you begin eating and enjoying the best foods God put on the planet, in their unadulterated state. You
may feel that this is the first time you have lost weight and kept it off, and not felt “deprived.” Fads—and
dieting in general—should be counted part of your past, not your present and future.
Or the flip side of the same coin is that if you are underweight despite eating what everyone else is eating, you
may not be absorbing nutrition. It’s not just overweight people who need to address nutrition! A study released
in 2007 showed that over half of people who are normal weight are “overweight” on the inside, their organs
marbled with fat. The study discovered that people who are normal weight but do not exercise are at a higher
risk of morbidity than overweight people who exercise regularly.
This is just one of many examples of how one’s appearance on the outside, then, does not always indicate
health. (Neither does the fact that you don’t often catch the bug going around necessarily, by itself, indicate
good health.) You will achieve an optimal weight when your body is receiving the components it needs every
day to build healthy tissues—not when you spend short periods of time suppressing calories or eating a strange,
unnatural diet heavy in protein or lopsided in some other way.
My experience is that every minute you spend in the kitchen preparing whole-plant foods (60% to 80% raw)
will yield you two minutes in increased energy. You might find yourself tackling projects you’ve always meant
to do but never had the energy for.
Your expenditures of time and commitment learning about nutrition and preparing food should be considered
an investment in your family’s future—not a chore. I have considered carefully how to minimize that kitchen
time, because I’m a busy working mom of a big family, too. So 12 Step recipes are simple and easy to follow,
without long ingredient lists and complicated steps.
Best wishes for your future of a long, vibrant, energetic life!
~ Robyn Openshaw
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 7

Preface
8 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
What Is the Goal of This Program?
Although the virtues of a plant-based diet are not discussed in detail in this introduction, we will do so
in greater detail in various chapters. Suffice it to say that science points clearly, in hundreds of studies,
to evidence that eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds leads to a long,
vigorous, healthy life. This is the ultimate goal of 12 Steps to Whole Foods, that you will:
Achieve optimal weight, eliminate chronic health problems, dramatically reduce
disease risk, regain energy you may have lost years ago, and enjoy a newfound positive
attitude and outlook on life!
At the conclusion of 12 months in this program, you should find this daily diet easy:
1. 2 lbs. of vegetables—60-80% raw, half of them above-ground greens
2. 3-5 raw fruits
3. 1 C whole grains (cooked and/or sprouted)
4. 1 C legumes (cooked and/or sprouted)
5. 3-6 Tbsp. of fats found in vegetables, nuts, seeds, and the highest quality oils that are
antioxidant- and lignan-rich, with Omega fats (3, 6, and 9) and essential fatty acids
6. Organic, free-range animal products minimized to 5% or less of the daily diet, with processed/
refined foods and concentrated sweeteners minimized or eliminated
This simple list may sound boring but, in fact, the average American family eats a rotating diet of only
about 10 main dishes for dinner. In this single book, you have the option to adopt a whole new
repertoire of main dishes, as well as salads, dressings, snacks, breakfasts, treats, and smoothies.
Finding just one recipe you adore can make a huge impact on your life and your health. For instance,
my assistant, Kristin, has become addicted to my Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie (page 285). Like me,
it’s all she wants for breakfast. That, all by itself, has replaced 25% of her daily nutrition—with raw
food! Keep trying recipes until you have an arsenal, your own personal repertoire that lets you not only
become healthy, but enjoy the journey doing it! We provide you far more recipes in this program than
you need. (The Premium Course has over 1,000 recipes.) You'll never try all of them, so don’t task
yourself with that. Just enjoy the abundance of choices and try recipes until you’ve assembled your
own personal set. With this attitude, you needn’t be overwhelmed.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 9

Introduction
The best flavors on the planet are the natural ones, and I have made every effort to leverage a wide variety of
flavors and textures in my recipes. The goal is to make your exploration of a mostly raw, plant-based diet more
than just a move toward optimal health—it should also be an exciting adventure for your taste buds!
How Do I Know What’s True and What’s Not in Nutrition?
Advances in the field of nutrition are taking place faster than ever in history. For example, just this decade, the
“master hormone” leptin, which governs the other hormones, was discovered. New data calls into question the
popular counsel of the past decade to eat 4-6 small meals daily: leptin research suggests that we should eat
three meals daily and allow our bodies much rest from digestion. In just 2004, a class of glyconutrients (sugars)
have been found to have powerful healing properties, which disputes a decade of anti-carb “experts.”
Many people become frustrated by all the new information and competing voices telling us what to eat, what
not to eat, and why. So that you don’t give up and “throw the baby out with the bath water,” I have a bit of
common-sense advice that super-simplifies the essence of a statistics class.
The main way to push through the inevitable cognitive dissonance is to read and learn all you can: this book is
a good start, and you may also consider the reading list found on www.greensmoothiegirl.com (and also at the
end of this book). Whenever you encounter contradictions, consider several things.
First, what is the funding behind the research? You don’t have to become paranoid to examine whether research
was undertaken to objectively examine an issue or to promote an agenda. It’s simply a part of being a savvy
consumer of information in an age when we are all bombarded with thousands of voices. For instance, if a
study tells you that drinking wine daily prevents heart disease, use your critical thinking skills. Why did
researchers study wine instead of grape juice—or better yet, grapes? Before you go out and stock up on a
year’s supply of wine, ascertain, if you can, who paid for the study. Was it the wine growers of Sonoma Valley?
Often studies in the modern age are funded, second-level, by an industry wanting to promote a product (often
one that is under fire), even if the legitimate-sounding researchers named in the media, such as a university, is
not directly linked to a motive.
Second, is the study valid? This is the highest standard in statistics and research, and it means Does the study
measure what it purports to measure? This seems simple enough, but it is, in fact, a difficult thing for
researchers to achieve. If wine drinkers have much less cancer than beer drinkers, wine must be preventing
cancer, right? Not necessarily. Maybe wine drinkers are a higher socioeconomic class than beer drinkers, in the
aggregate, and beer drinkers also eat more fast food and smoke at higher rates.
Third, is the study reliable? This is the second basic research standard, and it means Is the research repeatable
with consistent results? Reliability is one of the best things about Colin Campbell’s The China Study, the
largest nutrition study in history, which will be referenced throughout this book. Dr. Campbell’s animal
research showing the benefits of a low-animal-protein diet were duplicated by other researchers, using various
animals, all over the world. The results were very consistent in showing that a plant-based diet prevents disease
and an animal-protein diet causes all the maladies of the modern age.
10 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
Finally, have a basic understanding of and consider carefully a few other things before placing much stock in
what you read:
• Is the study longitudinal (covering a long period of time)?
• Was it double-blinded, which means that neither the researcher nor the subject knows which of multiple
therapies the person is receiving?
• Was it placebo controlled, meaning that some subjects received a placebo (sugar tablet) instead of the
supplement or drug?
• Was the research published in peer-reviewed journals (often, though not always, ensuring more
scientific analysis)?
• How big was the sample size? Bigger is better, and although case studies (with only a few subjects) are
interesting, without further research, you shouldn’t bet the farm on findings of those kinds.
The more you read and study, the more confidence you can have that the very important decisions you make
about how to fuel your body are sound. This book undertakes to synthesize the research and best practices from
around the world, leading to dietary practice that is simple and achievable and customizable for your personal
dietary needs—a direct route to optimal health.
How Do I Get My Kids to Eat Right?
This may be the #1 question I am asked, and it’s also the one I care about most. It’s therefore worthy of dealing
with right here, before we even get started. Tackling 12 Steps to Whole Foods is a worthy goal for anyone, and
you can make these changes whether or not you have children, and whether or not they live at home.
But one of my greatest passions in life is to help parents understand the importance of excellent nutrition early
in life and implement strategies to achieve it. So if you have children at home (or are close to people who do),
this is for you.
I have found dietitians to be often useless and sometimes harmful in what they teach mothers about nutrition.
(Truth-seeking dietitians do exist, however, and higher education in nutrition is improving steadily.) Keep in
mind that these are the folks designing the menus in school and hospital lunchrooms. (Enough said?) It’s not
their fault: they are taught curricula heavily influenced and even written by the wealthiest industries in
America: the dairy and meat conglomerates.
My experience is that dietitians feel their main job is to push milk and dairy products, because they have been
taught that these products create strong bones and teeth. I spoke with a dietitian recently who had never heard
of any of the ingredients in Appendix A (whole-food sweeteners and other whole, organic, and raw products
you can find in health food stores). She taught in a class I attended that getting your child to drink “flavored”
milk is a great idea. By that she meant hormone- and antibiotic-contaminated milk with pink chemical dye and
plenty of sugar added.
Many dietitians also believe that to get protein, you need to eat plenty of animal flesh. When I was growing up,
the government-sponsored “food pyramid” pushed two servings of meat and four servings of dairy daily!
Fortunately, thanks to an overwhelming, virtually undeniable body of research pointing to disease prevention
being in the form of plant foods such as vegetables and whole grains, a very slow, positive shift is taking place
at the policy level. (The powerful meat and dairy industries still, however, have far too much influence on
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 11

Introduction
government standards.) I have mostly looked elsewhere for my own nutrition education and recommend that
you do the same. Know that not all research is equal, and use the practical, basic understanding of research
described in the previous section.
This book does not advocate for vegetarianism but, rather, teaches about the virtues of increasing whole plant
foods in the diet. But the most bioavailable sources of calcium for humans are not found in the milk of other
animals. And protein is manufactured and utilized by the human body very well when the range of amino acids
(the building blocks of proteins) in whole-plant foods are supplied as fuel. We need look no further than our
vegetarian cousins, the primates, for evidence of this.
If you are a young mother, you have the perfect opportunity that mothers of teens and adults do not have: you
have control over your family’s diet. You have the power to direct the course of your family’s health—for
good—forever! Young mothers do not feel very powerful. Many have turned away from other opportunities to
give their children first priority. It can be a thankless job. But the moms of young children are the only people
who can turn the nightmare of the Standard American Diet around!
Mothers of young children can follow the path of least resistance and send overweight children with thinning
bones and massive nutritional deficiencies out into the world with a host of risk factors. You also have the
choice to give them every possible advantage by incorporating the 12 great habits in this book. That way,
they’ll be prepared to be strong, energetic leaders and teach your grandchildren great habits, too.
You young parents are in a powerful position and are educating yourself at a perfect time. If you’re not a parent
of young children and you’re still reading, I hope you’ll undertake to get this book into the hands of someone
who is such a parent.
As of 2007, 35% of children in America are overweight, and half of those are obese. And those numbers will
double by adulthood. Soda consumption for American teen boys has tripled (and has doubled for girls) since
you young parents were born. The high phosphorus content in soft drinks (not to mention 10 teaspoons of sugar
per 12-oz. can) robs calcium directly from the bones at the critical age of childhood and adolescence. During
that time, bone mass must increase to offset bone thinning that begins almost inevitably in one’s 30s.
Children who drink soda are four times more likely to break a bone than those who don’t. Some evidence
suggests that even a 10% reduction in bone mass accumulation in adolescence leads to a 50% higher chance of
osteoporosis only a decade or two later.
Children who are overweight have quality-of-life ratings similar to children with cancer, according to a Yale
study. They are teased by peers and even teachers and parents, and the vast majority of them become
overweight adults with all the attendant physical and emotional risks. The obesity epidemic threatens to
bankrupt us, with $0.87 of every health care dollar spent on obesity-related issues. Cardiac problems are almost
always linked to being overweight, and cardiac problems are our #1 killer.
Now that you’ve absorbed that brief education, let’s move on to the positive and constructive topics of how to
get your kids to buy in.
First and foremost, as a parent, embrace your role as a leader in your home, with everything that entails. You’re
a teacher, a role model and, above all, the single most important leader your children look to for information,
opinions, and advice. You can’t count on the schools to teach your child good nutrition (for the reasons
mentioned above; the deficits in the field of dietetics, in general; and the curricula written with an agenda, in
particular). Nutrition education has to happen in the home—that’s where most food is prepared and served,
anyway.
12 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
Nutrition is no different than any other topic. Would you allow your 9-year-old to opt out of her least favorite
subjects in school—say, math and science? Just quit, not participate at all from kindergarten through high
school graduation? Why would we knowingly allow our children to opt out of the most important food groups
they need for growth, development, energy, and disease prevention? Yet this is what modern parents do: they
leave all food choices to the child and throw up their hands, saying, “She just won’t eat any vegetables!”
As parents who embrace being in charge, you can certainly be your child’s friend, just as long as you know that
you’re a parent-leader first—and sometimes your child will resist the structure you provide and even not “like”
you for short periods of time. I avoid fighting with my children about food, and I use firm but positive phrases,
with a smile, such as, “This is what we’re having tonight.” Or “I’m sorry this isn’t your favorite—sometimes
we have to try something a few times before it appeals to us.” Or “I think you’ll like this better mixed into your
salad—you’re welcome to have a small helping.”
Sometimes I point out that I don’t always get to eat my favorite foods every night, but if I did, they probably
wouldn’t be my favorite foods any more. To drive these points home and teach about nutrition on a level even
a young child will understand, I read two of my favorite books to my children about food choices: Bread and
Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban and The Children’s Health Food Book by Ron Seaborn.Bread and Jam
doesn’t teach about good nutrition, but it teaches children that life is more interesting when you try new foods.
Because I never found an appealing, completely true, children’s book about good nutrition, I wrote The
Adventures of Junk Food Dude. It teaches about good choices and consequences—in food, at home, and at
school—through a fiction story. There’s a picture quiz at the end, and I tested it on children before publishing
it. It is my favorite of the 10 books I have written or edited/published.
I don’t plead, beg, guilt-trip, wheedle, cajole, or whine at my children about food—and I don’t reward those
behaviors in them, either. The rules are clear (after you state and enforce them the first 20+ times): they can
have what is served or skip the meal. They rarely, if ever, choose to skip a meal after that initial period of
testing limits.
Some say, “Well, you must just not have picky kids like I do.” In fact, three of my four kids tried out “picky,”
and the youngest two would be insufferably “picky” if I allowed it. Only one of my children has happily
slurped up vegetables since infancy. But they are, at this point, all “very good eaters,” as the saying goes.
The natural consequences of skipping a meal are hunger pains. It’s not abuse and, contrary to the strange
traditions you see all around you, you have no obligation as a parent to provide a junk food alternative to the
family meal. The natural consequences of eating a few bites of zucchini are that you then get to eat the rest of
the meal that you like better. Trust in natural consequences as a teacher. They’re “natural” if they’re the family
rules. Parents have the prerogative and even responsibility to create consequences. Before the mac-n-cheese,
junk food era, agricultural communities had these family rules for thousands of years: one meal was served,
and everyone ate it or had to wait until the next meal. You’ll spare yourself gray hair and a lot of irritation and
drama if you adopt this simple rule.
You might also incorporate what my mom did: we were allowed to have one food we absolutely refused to eat.
One, not two—and certainly not 90% of foods, like many of the kids I know. Most of us kids had the same food
we loathed: spinach soufflé. (Some of my brothers chose mushrooms as their won’t-eat food.) My mother
consequently raised eight children who will eat virtually anything.
Many parents allow each child to eat his or her own separate, customized meal. I believe this is an outgrowth of
modern dietitians, pediatricians, and parenting publications always talking about offering your toddler or small
child “options.” As in, offer them a bowl of processed mac-n-cheese or a bowl of steamed broccoli. Modern
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 13

Introduction
parenting theory says that you should just keep offering the options, hoping that one day, the child’s natural
instinct will be towards the broccoli (while otherwise eating white flour and processed cheese for years). I
wonder how much broccoli you will throw away (or eat yourself) attempting to follow this advice!
This theory and advice is worthless on many levels, and I’ll mention just three. First, when we have given
children a taste for processed food by serving it regularly, any desires for natural foods change and often
diminish. (On the flip side: in my research published in The Green Smoothies Diet, 65% of regular greensmoothie
drinkers noticed that their cravings for sweets and junk food was reduced or eliminated!) Sugar is the
most addictive substance on the planet—more addictive than cocaine, according to several studies. Those
addictions and unnaturally altered tastes lead a child to make poor choices most of the time.
Second, a small child does not have the wisdom and judgment to make good food choices. He knows only what
tastes good, not what his body needs. Once one of my university students gave a presentation on nutrition and
asked the class, “When you were 8 years old, given the choice, would you have chosen a piece of Chuck E
Cheese pizza or a plate of fruit?” One hundred percent of the class, myself included, raised their hands for the
pizza. This is why God, in His infinite wisdom, gave children parents.
Third, the past two generations have been the first in history where this idea of “options” came into vogue,
especially where junk food is usually one of those “options.” I trust in the wisdom of history and tradition:
encouraging children to have tantrums, express an opinion about every food, and demand that parents go
running to find something else is unwise counsel.
Catering to every child’s likes and dislikes can be an exercise in frustration and burnout for a mom, and it’s just
a bad habit to get into. Young parents may not realize what the fruits of indulging “picky” will be. I may not be
popular for saying what follows, but I’m going to do it anyway. If you allow your children to say no to
nutritious foods now, you will spend hundreds of hours in your future making separate meals for each of
them—and preparing several different meals takes so much longer than just one. Do that today and I promise
that your child will absolutely demand it tomorrow. You will also feel guilty and wonder what the difference
good nutrition would have made, should your child encounter any of the many health problems caused by a
modern diet of processed food. It’s not worth it.
When you’re making a meal, everyone in the family eating that meal is both a worldwide tradition and an
opportunity to learn many good things, open mindedness being just one of them. Emphasize good manners as
you emphasize good nutrition. In my family growing up, we weren’t allowed to say that we “hate” or “don’t
like” any food my mother made. Both of my parents required that we show respect for the effort my mom made
in preparing the meal.
We were allowed to say, “I don’t care for this very much.” Of course, that became something we joked about:
imagine eight children saying that in the most proper British accent we could come up with. Imagine how I was
mocked when I told my husband’s teenaged siblings that rule when we were first married and I made broccoli
soup for his large family. But the joking did help my two youngest sisters-in-law open their minds enough to
try the soup. One of them even liked it.
We learned good manners in addition to being open to new foods, and both are important to learn as we
become adults and enter into social situations. I hereby publicly thank my parents for providing one
nutritionally sound meal, three times a day, with the only “option” being to eat it or go hungry.
14 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
Keep your talk about nutritious food positive, while expecting some reaction to your changes toward good
nutrition. Avoid adopting the attitude, as you speak to your kids, that eating good food is a chore to be endured
on our way to dessert.
With a little thought and effort on your part, children become “invested” in the process of improving the
family’s nutrition, through the several ideas that follow, and many more you may think of.
First, ask your children to taste a new recipe and suggest ways to change it. What ingredients does it need more
of, or less of? Treat the experience as a taste test. I have a lot of experience in this, having tested every one of
the recipes in this book on my own four kids (sometimes several times, because I didn’t get it right). They
loved telling me what they liked and what needed to be different, and they contributed many ideas to the
recipes herein.
Second, have a child help you make the recipe, or give him the entire responsibility. My mother always started
dinner with the “compliments,” such as, “The salad is compliments of Robyn. The vegetables in the soup are
compliments of Dave,” etc. We rolled our eyes at this tradition but secretly appreciated the acknowledgment of
our contribution.
Third, as you’re educating yourself, educate your kids. As with so many things, knowledge is truly the key!
Some of your children may relish the opportunity to read each chapter of this book with you and discuss it with
you afterward. Everyone knows “vegetables are good for you,” but when we know several very specific
reasons why they’re critical to a quality life, suddenly we care more. Then it’s a group project everyone is
invested in, not just you—and they know what’s coming next in your plans to get healthy, and why. Tell your
children what you’re learning as you read 12 Steps to Whole Foods!
Someone once said, “I’ll go to the ends of the earth for you, if I know why you want me to.” I often use the
dinner table conversation as an opportunity to talk about why the foods we’re having are so good for us. I use
descriptions relevant to my children’s lives. They may not be interested in a discussion of the interplay of
phosphorus in soft drinks and calcium in bones, especially when they’re too young to study chemistry.
However, my competitive soccer players are very interested that carbonation robs their red blood cells of the
ability to exchange oxygen—they are, therefore, more competitive than soda drinkers because they abstain.
A teenage, weight-lifting son might be interested to know that Bill Pearl was a vegetarian Mr. Universe. He’d
be interested to know that Arnold Schwarzenegger said that while Bill didn’t convince him to become
vegetarian, he did convince Arnold that a vegetarian can be a world-class bodybuilder! That leads into a
conversation about proteins—which proteins lead to lasting muscle mass and why.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 15

Introduction
I once taught my children about the three parts of a grain—the bran
(fiber), the germ (vitamins), and the endosperm (the glue). I’ve told
them that white bread throws away the two good parts and keeps
only the one useless part—the “glue” of the grain. Months later, I
happened upon a conversation between my daughter and one of her
friends, where she was explaining to her friend, waving a bottle of
Elmer’s glue, that the bread her friend eats every day is made of
exactly that substance. Obviously she’d taken what I said far too
literally. Consider it a challenge to explain nutrition principles you
read about in terms a child can understand.
My belief is that parents willing to “walk the talk” and fill their own
plates up with good things are teaching in the most powerful way
possible: by example. But also, as the parents, we believe that we
are in charge. Salad is not an option and it’s not a “side dish,”
something in a corner taking up a square inch or two. I started feeding my kids green salad when they were old
enough to chew. We did have to put it on the fork for them and help them with it, the first few years. In our
family, we eat salad first (to provide enzymes for any cooked food that will follow)—so if you want the rest of
the meal at our house, you are required to eat a big helping of salad.
All four of my kids love and crave raw, green salads. So much for the idea we’ve often heard that if we “make”
them do it, they’ll hate it and “rebel.” (My mom “made” me eat salad every night, too, and my siblings and I all
love salad.) People simply do not rebel against everything they’re taught, and so a sound strategy is to teach
true principles and set sound expectations regardless of any random guess about choices children might make
in 20 years in reaction to those principles and expectations. On the other hand, kids who rarely or never eat
vegetables aren’t likely to make the switch to eating nutritious food in adulthood.
My kids don’t give me a hard time about eating salad because (1) the rule is well understood, (2) they know
exactly why I provide them raw green food every night, and (3) they have learned, from listening to their
bodies, that they prefer how they feel when eating lots of green roughage.
Further, no one person burns out on making salads, because we take turns doing it—washing and chopping
greens and other vegetables, getting a large salad together in 10 or 15 minutes. Only my youngest doesn’t help
with that, because he’s not old enough to handle a knife yet (he can set the table and do other tasks, though).
Not only does this free my time so I don’t burn out on being a slave to the kitchen, but it also gives my children
a chance to contribute to the meal they will eat, a sense of accomplishment for having done a job well, and an
opportunity to learn healthy habits for life. Many busy parents these days do not teach their children to cook.
Not only will teaching them how to prepare a salad give them necessary skills for the future, but your child just
might enjoy it and it can take a task off your plate (pun intended)!
On this next suggestion, I’m going to mince no words: get rid of the worst choices from your fridge and pantry.
Just quit buying them, cold turkey. Especially soft drinks, processed meat, potato chips, and sugar. Life won't
be over or even less fun. They’ll still see those foods on occasions such as parties and barbecues—and that’s
where those foods belong, a once-in-a-while indulgence (if they are important to you), not daily fare. Tell your
family you’re going to learn to make treats that are both yummy and good for them. (Refer to Chapter 11 as
much as you want!)
I want to assure you that “picky kids” will not starve themselves. People who eat sugar every day have tastes
adapted to that very addictive chemical and the dopamine receptors that respond to the chemical. But get rid of
16 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
sugary foods for even a few days, and tastes change rather dramatically (of course, you have to live with the
withdrawal symptoms in the meantime, but they don’t usually last more than a few days). Fruit tastes better, for
instance, when you’re “off” sugar. And green smoothies are in the realm of possibilities when Capri Sun has
been out of the picture for a while!
A fair amount of research on “food neophobes,” which you can Google if you want to learn more, indicates that
picky children must be exposed to a food nine to 10 times before accepting it. So don’t try green smoothies, or
cauliflower, or Indian Dahl twice and then throw in the towel. Kids eat whole foods when whole foods become
a lifestyle.
When all else fails, resort to bribery. Do it in a subtle way you can live with. I haven’t used this technique, but
I might if I were starting out with older children and needing to break them of bad habits. My friend Brenda
pays her kids $20 for a month of eating no sugar, and then doubles that amount for each additional month. If
that’s too crass for you, start out your green smoothie experiment with a chart on the fridge and a fun family
outing planned for the end of the month for anyone who drinks a glassful every day that you make it during the
month. The downside to this approach is that kids will expect to be rewarded in the future as well, so decide in
advance how desperate you are, and if you can live with that.
Then have a conversation with your kids and document in a 12 Steps journal entry the health effects they
noticed, as well. Tell them at the beginning of the month that it’s a personal experiment for them as well as a
family experiment, and you want them to keep an eye on whether they have more energy, more focus in school,
better digestion, or a more positive mood. Tell them these are very common side effects of kicking out sugar
and eating nutritious food.
Tell your kids about Principal Yvonne Sanders-Butler in Lithonia, Georgia, who changed her diet when heart
problems threatened her life. She lost 60 lbs. and got her life back. But she also banned sugar in her school and
saw math and reading scores go up 15% and visits to the school nurse and discipline problems decrease.
Educating your children will help your changes become permanent rather than just another short-lived “health
kick.” The more you talk to your kids, the more they’ll hold you accountable for long-term changes!
I went on a highly rated network television show in the summer of 2007 and stayed with a family whose
lifestyle was the virtual opposite of my own. The inner-city skaters I was with ate a diet of exclusively junk
food. Most of them didn’t even know the names of most everyday vegetables and had never tasted whole-grain
bread. The crew, I’m sure, thought the kids would absolutely revolt when I whipped out the green smoothies.
Imagine the lack of drama—the boring, almost unwatchable footage—of a couple dozen boys drinking the
smoothies and saying, “Hmm, that’s pretty good. Can I have more?” The big vegetarian dinner I prepared
featuring lots of raw vegetables was probably just as frustrating for the directors and producers: the kids ate it
all up, said thank you, and asked for more!
If inner-city skaters who’d never eaten spinach or beets went for it, your kids will, too. Give it time and
patience and your best leadership skills, find the ingredients they like best, and tell them a few reasons why
they should give nutritious foods a try.
Avoid cutting the skins off fruit (and the crusts off whole-grain breads) for your small children. First, more
nutrition and fiber (and less sugar) is found in the skin than anywhere else. Second, the minute you do this one
time, the child will demand it, and you have now made nature’s perfect fast foods a labor-intensive chore for
the rest of your child’s life in your home. Third, you are helping the child’s jaw and palate weaken and narrow,
making him less able to break down fibrous whole foods with their superior nutrition.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 17

Introduction
More Reading on Raising Kids and Nutrition
You may like to read more of my extensive writings on the issue of raising children on whole foods in a junk
food world. In fact, this was the original mission of GreenSmoothieGirl.com, until I globalized and expanded it
to be more inclusive. Below are links to some of the series I have written on the subject.
• This would be my first choice, if you went to only one blog entry (November 28, 2010), because it
contains links to my most significant and serious blog writing on the subject—plus a more light-hearted
series, too, about the challenges of raising “picky kids”:
http://tinyurl.com/7mo4umr
• I recently answered at length on my blog this reader question: “Dear GreenSmoothieGirl: I get so sick
of cajoling my kids to eat right. It’s exhausting! So a lot of the time, I just cave to the pressure and let
them eat crap. What do I do?”
Here’s Part 1 of that Parenting and Nutrition series (November 10, 2011; parts 2 and 3 follow on
subsequent days):
http://tinyurl.com/76aj9sp
• Another good blog entry is “10 Minutes to Feel Like a Great Mom. Because You Are!” (December 10,
2010):
http://tinyurl.com/7s8xhxc
• My comments, in two parts, about a Washington Post series about the elementary school epidemic of
high blood pressure, joint conditions, diabetes, and obesity. Part 1 (May 22, 2008) is here:
http://tinyurl.com/7s6few2
• This is a very raw and honest three-part series on being a single parent trying to fight the good fight
with what I feed my kids. Part 1 (July 31, 2011) is here:
http://tinyurl.com/8xbzjvh
• One day (May 17, 2011) I wrote about thinking carefully about the hills you die on as a parent:
http://tinyurl.com/7dswc48
• And a blog entry (November 1, 2009) about reconsidering any statements that make spouse or children
fearful of a sea change coming—but, rather, doing it gradually and without fanfare:
http://tinyurl.com/7l2cnat
18 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
Don’t I Need to Eat for My Blood/Metabolic Type?
The fields of diet and nutrition have so many competing voices, it’s no wonder that most people have tried
many diets. Contradictory philosophies include the high-protein Atkins diet, the high-complex-carb and lowfat
McDougall-Pritikin diet, macrobiotics, vegetarian or vegan, raw food, alkalarian, and many other food cults
or fads. Recently, many people have put their confidence in eating for their blood or body type.
From studying all of these diets and reviewing the responses of people to them, one fact emerges: some people
find that a specific diet works brilliantly for them, and others find them impossible to follow. This leads to the
new view that we are programmed differently, individually, to need a variety of ratios of protein,
carbohydrates, and fats.
As with virtually all of these diet programs, we’re likely to find some truth and some falsehood. What is true is
that people are different and each of us needs to find our optimal balance. In particular, some need more protein
than others. What’s false is that a heavily meat-based diet is necessary for those who need more protein.
Remember the China Study (covered in more detail in Chapter 1), the largest piece of nutrition research in
history: people who eat an animal-protein diet are not healthy people. People think that meat is necessary
because they have not tried to maximize proteins within the realm of plant foods.
Every time you make a change of any kind, your body and sometimes your psyche reacts. Allow for this to be
temporary. Discomfort, or change, is not always a bad sign. In fact, sometimes it is a good sign. Your body is
also likely to detoxify when you decrease or eliminate animal protein and instead give it high-nutrient foods. It
detoxifies because it can, finally, perhaps for the first time in a long while.
Whole-plant foods contain a wide variety of ratios of the three main food components. Without much stress or
effort, and just a little knowledge and planning, someone who needs high protein but wants the advantages of a
disease-preventative, high-fiber, mostly live foods diet can thrive. Gone are the days where people must
assume that plant foods leave people hungry. Just in the last 10 years, high-protein ancient grains have been
rediscovered and popularized (Chapter 6 and Chapter 9 of this book), spirulina and blue-green algae with 60-
70% protein (Chapter 12) have become widely available, and research offers us options for vegetables with
extremely high protein content. (Did you know that both broccoli and spinach have higher than 40% protein?)
Nuts and seeds are another very important solution for protein seekers, and in this book you’ll learn how to
make dips, crackers, desserts, and many other interesting dishes from them. You can eat a 60-80% raw, wholefoods
diet and get plenty of protein. These issues are discussed in each relevant chapter for those who are
concerned that plant foods are too high in carbohydrates.
What about Food Combining and Digestive Problems?
You may have encountered a theory about good and bad food combinations. The theory behind these theories
revolves around the idea that a food that takes 20 minutes to digest will ferment in the gut when it’s present
with a food that takes 8 hours, and different enzymes, to digest.
Some experts dispute that this is something we need to worry about, and I prefer to keep my advice simple and
uncluttered by unproven theory. However, if you do find that starches and sugars are a bad combination for you
(for instance, fruits or above-ground vegetables with grains), feel free to avoid those. One way to tell if certain
food groups should not be combined is if you experience intestinal gas and/or bloating.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 19

Introduction
But you can rest assured that, in the case of green smoothies, the combination of greens and fruit is very valid
and will not cause digestive distress. That’s because greens are not precisely vegetables; they belong in their
own class. They are not starchy and are extremely low in sugar, and they are perfectly appropriate blended with
fruits.
For the most part, I don’t buy into food-combining theories for several reasons.
First of all, common sense suggests that we were not meant to make rocket science of exactly what foods to
eat, in combination with which others, and when. Eating is supposed to be varied, natural and, above all,
simple.
Second, I have never seen any real science behind food-combining theories with complicated diets built on
those claims. It has become big business and those advocating for heightened awareness of how to eat are
finding financial success, and some adherents claim to feel better. However, that success and improved health
may be far more related to these new “experts” advocating against eating processed food than any code of
combinations.
Third, food-combining “rules” make people fearful or even paranoid and damage our ability to truly enjoy
what we eat, especially in social settings.
Fourth, food-combining “no-no’s” resolve themselves anyway when you eat a plant-based diet. Plants digest
within a few hours, at most, so even if you buy into the idea that you should eat only foods that digest in the
same length of time, a vegetarian diet generally does not cause problems in a lot of combinations and variety.
That said, in the modern age, many of us have degenerative gut issues. Celiac disease and other milder gluten
intolerances, Crohn’s Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, colitis, and many other gastrointestinal disorders
have reached epidemic proportions, and untold numbers are as yet undiagnosed. I believe that due to three
generations of a processed-food diet, as well as a meteoric surge in genetically modified foods, we will
continue to see astronomical numbers of new diagnoses of food allergies and sensitivities as well as diseases of
the GI tract. Candida overgrowth affects at least one in three Americans and it gives rise to many of our health
complaints. (The candida yeast feeds on sugars.) I believe these maladies will continue to escalate until we
radically change our growing and eating practices.
If you are in the beginning stages of trying to ascertain why you have digestive problems, a few simple
experiments may be in order. The first two are related to simple, common-sense food combining.
First, I believe it may make sense to eat fruits only on an empty stomach, well in advance of a meal or a few
hours after it. Fruits take 20 to 45 minutes to digest.
Second, if there are two classes of foods I think do not go together, it is animal proteins (which take a long time
to digest) and fruits (which take a very short time to digest).
Third, anyone with digestive problems should make a strong effort to eat probiotic-rich foods, such as kefir or
yogurt, and homemade raw sauerkraut. And I advise doing Step 8 (page 223) of this 12 Steps program sooner
rather than later! Make a daily habit of consuming foods with live cultures to repopulate your stomach,
intestines, and colon with the friendly flora that are your best defense against invading viruses and bacteria,
yeasts, fungus, molds, and parasites.
20 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
Fourth, I strongly recommend a food-elimination cleanse program, overseen by a naturopath or another
practitioner you trust, to get to the bottom of what classes of foods are causing you problems. You may
eventually be able to heal your gut and eliminate some food intolerances under the care of a good practitioner
and while eating nourishing whole foods.
Fifth and finally, I have reviewed many (if not all) of the food-combining theories, and if you are going to do
one—especially to starve out candida (it never goes away, but it can become controlled and dormant, as the
immune system is strengthened)—I recommend Donna Gates’ Body Ecology Diet. It focuses heavily on sea
vegetables, which will be very foreign to most people. It also emphasizes probiotic-intensive foods.
I am not a big fan of the poultry, fish, and eggs Gates recommends (my review of The China Study, on
GreenSmoothieGirl.com under “Book Review” and in other places, will explain why). However, when you
eliminate fruits and grains, in an effort to regain a healthy terrain populated with good bacteria rather than bad,
getting enough calories is a problem. Therefore, for those with candida or significant health problems, I am
supportive of undertaking the Body Ecology Diet and then, when you are healed, shifting to eating fruits and
other whole plant foods.
Will I Have to Use Lots of Tools and Ingredients I’m Not
Familiar With?
You’ll be introduced to lots of whole foods in this book, but never fear: in Appendix A (page 337), ingredients
you may not be familiar with are explained, with tips on where you can find them. I have made an effort not to
use large numbers of ingredients in my recipes or exotic, hard-to-find ingredients. I’ve also made an effort to
use every ingredient in more than one recipe, so you have other places to “use it up” if you buy it—you can
look up any ingredient in the index to find all recipes in this manual that use it. Usually you’ll find a new
ingredient in your local health food store, a place you will inevitably become quite intimate with in the course
of following this program!
A whole-foods kitchen does have certain tools, but I have suggested them only when they are needed for each
new step. Most months, you won’t need any new or expensive tools. However, one thing that no one who cares
about nutrition should be without is the Blendtec Total Blender. On my site (www.greensmoothiegirl.com), I
explain why I like this high-powered blender best, even though I own several (including VitaMix, Bosch, and
others). This is a pricey machine at around $400, but it is the single best thing I own. Not the single best kitchen
tool I own, but literally the best thing I own, period! I use mine four or more times every single day. I even take
it in my suitcase to hotel rooms on vacation. I can’t overestimate the importance of having a high-horsepower
blender with a good warranty for increasing your nutrition using many of these 12 steps—especially step 1.
Some of the foods you’ll be introduced to are not expensive. For instance, whole grains and legumes are
inexpensive—much cheaper than processed, packaged foods and meat and dairy products. And most chapters
have a section on tips for saving money. Of course, some of the chapters, such as the vegetable garden, main
dishes, and whole-grain sections, are inherently going to help you save. I know that most people live on a
closely guarded budget, and being a frugal person with humble beginnings myself, I will not suggest you
purchase anything that isn’t really important and a great investment in your family’s nutrition. Most of the
people I know who are living this lifestyle—whole-food nutrition every day—are folks who live on a strict
budget. You don’t have to be wealthy to be healthy!
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 21

Introduction
Why Should I Document My Health in 12 Steps Journal
Entries?
As I have observed people making changes in their lives, it goes like this: on Jan. 1, we start exercising and
eating right. We feel great and we know that exercise and diet were the reasons. But what change, specifically,
led to what positive health benefit? That’s hard to know when multiple changes happened at once, which is so
often the case when you go on a “health kick.” My goal in helping you, in writing this book, is not to help you
get on another health kick. Or lose a few pounds (again). It’s to change your life.
Thus, one of the advantages to this 12-step program, besides that it’s easier to do piecemeal, is that you have
the rare opportunity to document each step’s individual effect on your health. Writing those effects down helps
you become very analytical about your health, and you will notice smaller effects on your health (for instance,
sounder sleep or fingernails no longer being brittle) in addition to those one or two big ones that have you
motivated right now to make a change (like reducing high blood pressure or losing weight).
May I recommend, to make your personal experiments in nutrition as pure as possible, that you do one thing at
a time? If you are not exercising, for instance, you may want to tackle that for a little while before making the
first nutritional change. Although this book is not about exercise, I love breaking a sweat every day, with the
accompanying endorphins, as much as I love good nutrition. I recommend that you move your body six days a
week, doing (a) aerobic exercise such as walking or running, (b) anaerobic exercise such as weight lifting or
isometric exercises, and (c) Pilates or yoga for energy, strengthening, and mind-body tuning.
I also recommend you undertake this year of exciting changes with your own scientific case study by using the
journal entry sections in this manual, found at the end of each step. Years from now, you may want to look back
and recall how you felt before you made some of the most significant changes of your life. That will help you
continue your commitment to honoring your body by giving it the very best fuel available.
Change can be scary, as you know. But after so many changes we’ve made in our lives, we look back and
wonder why we didn’t do it sooner. Making the transition to whole foods is just such a change: daunting at
first, but so worth the investment of time to learn how. So remember, change is good! This is not about denying
yourself foods you love: it’s about learning some positive new habits you’ll never want to be without.
Whenever you’re in your kitchen preparing food, that’s when you’re thinking about food, so it’s the perfect
time to jot down a few notes about changes you notice in your health as you adopt the monthly goal. So keep
this manual/journal and a pen handy in a kitchen drawer.
Start by articulating your goals for the year. Writing them down will help you be accountable to you. What,
specifically, would you like to change in your health, weight, or appearance? Don’t be afraid to say, “I want
pretty skin and hair” or “I want to be at my ideal weight of 140 lbs. by the end of the year.”
Begin documenting the differences you see as you improve your nutrition. Do you have more energy? Do you
notice your digestion changing? (Don’t be afraid to be graphic—your only audience is you!) Do you lose
weight without suffering, feeling deprived, and counting calories? Do your skin and hair look and feel
different? Do chronic conditions (heartburn, allergies, blood sugar problems, for instance) lessen or disappear?
What changes do you notice in your children’s behavior? Date and document changes you notice—and you
will definitely notice changes! If you find yourself tackling projects you’ve always meant to do, with newfound
energy, write it down.
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Document any “cleansing reactions” you have, noting them as such to help you get through them. Very
common are headaches, digestive disturbances, cold-like symptoms, and skin breakouts. Write about setbacks
you have—why did you have them? How do you anticipate success the next time you have a similar challenge?
What recipes do you like? What ingredients do you like so much that you want to find more recipes that use
them?
If you can afford it, you may also want to start this year of change with a panel of blood work to document that
your health risks are decreasing, which will be another powerful motivator for you. Ask your doctor for a
prescription for testing for cholesterol (LDL and HDL), triglycerides, B12 and folate, blood glucose, and
hormone testing (especially important for women age 40+).
You may then wish to get tested again at 6 and 12 months later as you begin to see changes in your health. The
more scientific you can be in documenting important changes both large and small, the more likely you will be
to make long-term lifestyle changes rather than going on yet another short-term “health kick.”
Why Should I Make Changes with a Support System in Place?
We are spiritually and emotionally connected, social beings. We need someone to talk to every day about things
that matter. Quit-smoking programs, Weight Watchers, professional organizations, church groups, and many
other examples are evidence of how people are more successful when they come together in a common goal.
Many research studies have documented how people lose weight more successfully if they do it with someone
else.
To that end, please talk about 12 Steps—your thoughts, successes, health improvements, favorite recipes,
challenges—on the 12 Steps blog at www.greensmoothiegirl.com/12-step-blog/. If you are married or have
children or roommates living with you, ask them forthrightly for support in your efforts. Tell them your hopes
and goals, why you want to make a change. You may want to ask a friend to do the program with you.
The importance of the support of a spouse or “significant other” cannot be overstated. My own family lets me
know when a recipe I invent isn’t very good, which I want them to do—but they also thank me for meals I
make. Some of my family members have genuinely appreciated that they are healthy and fit partly because of
my efforts, and they tell me so. I hope that you will obtain the support of those closest to you, because it’s
tremendously important.
You can’t always control what your spouse thinks about eating right, and many of us live alone. You can
control one thing, however. Almost regardless of where you live, support groups are available. I am a member
of a number of groups that gather for monthly potlucks and to discuss a topic related to health and nutrition.
Ask someone you know who is “earthy crunchy,” ask at the health food store, or call a naturopathic doctor’s
office until you find a support group. Of course, you can always start your own group, too! It’s probable that
you have several friends who would really like to take charge of their health but need a bit of hand holding, as
we all do. I like the names of a couple of support groups in my area: “A Healer in Every Home” and “Raw
Lunch Bunch.”
The benefits of a support network are more than just someone to share your experience with: you’ll gain new
friends, new knowledge, recipe ideas and, most importantly, inspiration every time you get together. I am just
like you. Even though I get hundreds of “love letters” from GreenSmoothieGirl.com readers whose lives are
changed for the better, and I love that, nothing recharges my battery like meeting with real, live people.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 23

Introduction
Let me share with you a great example of how one woman’s desire to share her enthusiasm for green smoothies
and a whole-foods lifestyle created a great support system in her local community. Here’s Kim Newhouse’s
story (with photos by her husband, Mark Newhouse):
Here in Tucson we’ve instituted
monthly “Green Smoothie Parties”
where we gather together to have fun
learning more about good nutrition.
After winning 12 Steps to Whole Food
Eating at one of Robyn’s lectures, I
knew this information was too good
to keep to myself! I had been on a
journey to better nutrition for several
years and had seen amazing changes
in my health. I went from having
constant infections and illnesses to
having a strong immune system. I
sleep better, have more energy, and
am so pleased that my 5 children love
this way of eating too! My friends call
me “the whole food evangelist”
because I’m so eager to tell others
how beneficial it is to get off of
processed foods.
Kim Newhouse following along with Robyn’s video at a GSG
party in her home.
Watching Robyn’s demo video. (Back to front: Tere Joe, Bethany
Newhouse [age 17, Kim’s daughter], Dale Fox [cancer survivor],
Tacia Kissel, and Jordan Newhouse [age 19], Kim’s oldest daughter.)
Now I use Robyn’s material to
spread the good news about healthy
eating. Each month my husband
creates a Web page where each
person can sign up to bring an
ingredient for a recipe or two that
goes along with Robyn’s video clip
that we are going to watch.
Everyone enjoys the demonstration,
tasting, and the related discussion
that ensues. It’s a great opportunity
to gather new ideas, and we have the
accountability of checking in with
each other to share about how we’ve
been putting into practice all that
we’ve learned. Women and girls of a
wide range of ages have attended
and even a few brave “Green
Smoothie Guys” have joined in.
They leave satisfied with what they’ve tasted and received and are eager to share what they’ve
discovered with others. It’s not just a girly thing! It’s families—teens, spouses, children—coming
together as a team. Well, that’s our mission, anyway!
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© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
I’ve invited the attendees to come early and explore our garden or help harvest an ingredient for a recipe
we’re going to make (basil for pesto, herbs for salad dressing, etc). The hands-on opportunity provides
inspiration and motivation—we’ve even distributed plant cuttings or new sprouts for them to take home
and get started with. I also encourage them to try out the high-powered blenders to see for themselves
how easy and fun it can be! It works best to have someone bring another blender so we can make
multiple recipes simultaneously.
Friendships have formed out of
these meetings as people meet
others with their specific
challenges (ie gluten or other food
allergy). Having a group of likeminded
folks can make all the
difference in one’s success—we
highly recommend it!
Enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of their labors! (Clockwise from lower
left: Tere Joe, Jordan Newhouse, Anne White, Stephanie Bleakmore, Helen
Vosburgh, Beth Flores, Katrina Livingood, Dale Fox, and Bethany
Newhouse.)
You’ve got many new followers in
Tucson now! Here’s a testimonial
from a 21-year-old who attended
my first party (she has 7 siblings):
“We all love the green smoothies
and are making them at least once
a day with ginger, bee pollen, kale,
collard greens, chard, spinach,
cabbage, chia, flax oil, and fruit.
My brothers think they are dessert
and say we haven’t made a green
smoothie they didn’t like yet!
Thank you so much for opening your home for green smoothie night, and we are looking forward to the
next one!”
And one of our regular attendees, Dale Fox, who is a three-time cancer survivor, has this to say: “After
I attended my first Green Smoothie Girl Party, I knew I found what I was looking for. I have been
wanting and needing to make dietary changes for some time, but felt overwhelmed and not sure where
to start. 12 Steps to Whole Foods has been key to achieving this goal. As a three-time cancer survivor, it
feels great to know I am finally eating in a manner I feel good about, both physically and mentally. I
look forward to the Green Smoothie Girl Party each month. We learn a lot from Robyn as well as
sharing tips, recipes, and products with one another. My family and I have been enjoying green
smoothies every day and we’re on our way to a whole foods lifestyle. I am so excited to be making
these changes and so very grateful to Robyn.”
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 25

Introduction
How Will I Find the Time? The GreenSmoothieGirl Law of
Physics
On this site, and in my book, I often preach to the unbelieving a certain principle. It can be an uphill battle to
get anyone to buy into my counterintuitive principle of physics until she gives it a try. And that
GreenSmoothieGirl Law of Physics is that an expenditure of energy yields more energy.
People are always saying to me, “I just don’t want to spend any time in the kitchen. I’m exhausted at the end of
the day and don’t have the energy for it!” Many folks have gotten in the “energy conservation” habit of
carefully doling out their limited energy for just the most basic of life activities (sleep, eat, work, start over), all
while watching with great horror that energy pool ever shrinking.
Readers of GreenSmoothieGirl.com know what I say, and I will repeat it here. A minute of kitchen time, eating
the way I teach you to prepare food, yields two minutes of newfound energy. Time freed up that you used to
spend in a depressed funk or, worse, oversleeping. Eating a GreenSmoothieGirl diet gives you quantifiable
gains in energy that open up a whole new world of service opportunities, goal achievement, fun, the ability to
invest in new and old relationships, and the disappearance of “energy conservation.”
And I say that, as with spiritual faith, if you can’t believe that, then just experiment upon the word. Simply try
it and tell me if I’m wrong. Don’t do it for two weeks, where everything is new and at first things take you
longer. Commit to making my recipes for several months, because the learning curve flattens and you’ll finally
understand what I’m talking about (as many have attested to in GreenSmoothieGirl.com blogs). For anyone
who begins this journey seriously ill, you may need to give this experiment a full year to see the gains clearly.
You think that the idea of spending a resource causing that same resource to double is simply scientific
falsehood? For the sake of the semantic debate, even before you put it to the test, let’s compare it to three other
arenas in life, to lower your cognitive dissonance.
First, are you a parent of at least two children, or are you close to someone who is? Many first-time parents are
so smitten by their firstborn that when they begin to consider bringing another baby into their family, they fret:
“I’m not sure I can love another baby as much as I love this one.”
Our concrete, finite minds not used to “abundance thinking,” sometimes can’t at first bend around the principle
that spending can yield dividends. That is, there’s more to be had, good things multiply, scarce thinking breeds
actual scarcity, and abundant thinking breeds actual abundance—in relationships and the world. Give some of
your love and your capacity for love multiplies.
And so parents take the leap and find, virtually universally, that they can, in fact, love another child as much as
the first. So much love that it makes your heart nearly burst sometimes.
Second, consider Olympic athletes. We all love swimmer Michael Phelps, of course. But Dara Torres is my alltime
Olympic hero: because she is my age and she silver medaled three times in the 2008 Olympic Games. She
did this all while nurturing her competitors and chasing a toddler and proving to all the disbelievers that she
achieved her athletic prowess and physique naturally. She had earned a few Olympic gold medals before at
least one of her 2008 competitors was even born.
Do Olympic athletes have less energy because they give so much energy to their sports? No, they are fireballs
of energy because energy begets energy. When they turn their attention to other things—volunteerism, media,
26 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Introduction
business, family—they have plenty to give. And it doesn’t stop there: thousands of others are affected by their
energy. I have a big photo of Dara Torres torn from a magazine taped right next to my computer screen. Her
arms, holding her daughter, are ripped and beautiful, and they inspire me to push myself lifting weights.
Third, if you’ve ever owned a real estate property or started a company, you know that spending money on
improvements often brings more business and profits flooding in. Hence, the old saying, “You have to spend
money to make money.”
So it also is with the time you will spend in the kitchen preparing a GreenSmoothieGirl diet. That time will give
back. It will richly bless your life. It will make possible your achieving goals you’ve had on the back burner a
long time. Go make it happen, one recipe at a time, one day at a time. Just one step to whole foods at a time!
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 27

Introduction
28 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

CHAPTER 1 Bye-Bye, Stimulants —
Hello, Green Smoothies
Your Goal:
Getting off stimulants (coffee and soft drinks)…and onto green smoothies!
What You’ll Need:
• A Blendtec Total Blender (ask for it for your birthday or Christmas!). An inexpensive blender
will not work long term (even my $100 Bosch blender attachment does not make edible green
smoothies). The Blendtec is the best investment you will make in your health, and you’ll use it
throughout the 12 Steps in this book. You can get one through the links to those companies on
GreenSmoothieGirl.com, where we always offer free products with that purchase.
• Fresh greens (preferably organic)—especially spinach, chard, collards, and kale, which are
plentiful in the market and relatively inexpensive even in the winter—as well as fruits such as
frozen berries, pears, and bananas.
America’s obsession with caffeine is undermining our health. Barring the unlikely event of Folger’s,
Red Bull, and Coca Cola going out of business, we’d all be better off making a resolution to get off
coffee, energy drinks, and sodas (including diet sodas). I’ve made a simple list for you of why this is a
critical goal for you and your kids as part of your resolutions for this year. You can put this list on your
fridge or mirror as a reminder and motivator.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 29

Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
Why Soft Drinks Are Bad for You
Since 1978, males age 12-29 have tripled their soda consumption,
now drinking 160 gallons per year on average—that’s almost half a
gallon per day. Girls’ consumption has tripled, and the average
person drinks 3 quarts per week. One 12-oz. can of soda contains 10
spoonfuls of sugar, and diet sodas are high in sodium and the toxic
chemical sweetener aspartame, which contains wood alcohol and is
linked to more health complaints to the FDA than all other food
additives combined.
Reasons to quit drinking soda now 1 :
1. Children who drink just one soft drink a day are 60% more
likely to become obese than those who don’t, according to a
2001 study by Harvard University and Boston Children’s
Hospital.
2. A huge body of published research links the rise in soft drink
consumption to osteoporosis and bone fractures, as soda is
high in phosphorus and robs the body of calcium. Kids who
drink sodas have a three to four times higher risk of bone
fracture than those who don’t.
3. Dr. Judith Valentine (Ph.D., C.N.A., C.N.C.) says that virtually every child she has treated who
complains of stomach problems has been easy to treat: get the child off soft drinks, and the symptoms
disappear. Sodas increase stomach acid levels, irritate and erode the gastric lining, and burn out tissue
binders, “eating away at your liver like Hannibal Lecter,” according to Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
4. Sugar and acid in soft drinks (an array of chemicals including synthetic acetic, fumaric, gluconic, and
phosphoric acids) dissolve tooth enamel.
5. The sugar from one soft drink damages the white blood cells’ ability to ingest and kill bacteria for seven
hours, according to the research of James Howenstine, M.D.
6. Carbonation robs the red blood cells of their ability to exchange oxygen, which sets back an athlete or
anyone who needs stamina and energy.
7. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms (experienced by people who drink as little as a single cup of coffee or
soda per day) include headache, fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain, flu-like symptoms, nausea, and
vomiting, according to a study at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine by Roland R. Griffiths,
M.D.
8. According to the Johns Hopkins study, women who drink caffeinated beverages are more prone to
PMS: the more they drink, the worse PMS symptoms are.
Why should you stop eating sugar now? Because sugar…
1. Is more addictive than cocaine.
2. Makes you fat.
3. Ages you perhaps more than anything else, decreasing tissue elasticity.
4. Makes you tired.
5. Controls your behavior, making you moody or anxious.
6. Destabilizes your blood sugar, notably causing energy crashes.
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Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
7. Rots your teeth.
8. Weakens your immune system.
9. Feeds cancer cells.
10. Burns out your adrenal glands so you can’t manage stress with calmness.
11. Massively increases your risk of Type 2 diabetes.
12. Increases your risk of arthritis.
13. Increases your risk of heart disease.
14. Causes hypoglycemia.
15. Spikes your triglycerides.
16. Increases your risk of Crohn’s disease and colitis.
17. Feeds Candida Albicans, which generally makes you miserable in a hundred ways.
18. Causes acidity in your body.
19. Damages your pancreas and draws heavily on pancreatic enzymes.
20. Makes you develop a fatty liver.
21. Causes your thinking to be fuzzy, decreasing grade performance and learning.
22. Makes you dizzy.
23. Makes your blood platelets stick together.
24. Makes you constipated, like glue.
25. Gives you headaches.
26. Causes kidney stones and gallstones.
27. Increases your risk of breast cancer.
28. Causes varicose veins.
29. Degenerates your eyesight.
30. Causes deficiencies in copper, calcium, magnesium, chromium, and your overall mineral profile.
The average American eats 150 lbs. of white sugar a year, plus 50 lbs. of high-fructose corn syrup. That’s 40
5-lb. bags of white sugar! It’s not amazing to me that more than 50% of us suffer from a chronic condition; it is
amazing that any of us lives, eating that way.
I made a bet with my friend Matthew that we wouldn’t eat sugar for a year. If we did, we had to pay each other
$10,000. No birthday cake, no Thanksgiving pie, nothing. We didn’t even miss it. Once the choice is removed,
you have no agonizing decisions, whether to eat that mint-frosting brownie or not! (No brownie is worth
$10,000.) I have never eaten much sugar to begin with, but I was amazed that I didn’t feel deprived when the
choice was virtually removed.
Not one bad thing happens when you eliminate refined sugar from your diet. Only good things happen.
If you want something sweet, use stevia, molasses, or small amounts of raw honey, agave, maple syrup, or
coconut palm sugar. If you go off sugar, you lose your cravings and addictions. The first four days are the
hardest. It gets better after that!
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 31

Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
What to Do about a Cleansing Reaction
Remember that you are, in a very literal sense, what you eat. Your body’s cells are programmed to preserve
themselves and build whenever they can. You are, at a most elemental level, without even knowing it or
making a conscious effort, very industrious! Thus, when the quality of the food coming into your body is of
higher quality than the tissues your body is built of, your cells begins to throw out the inferior materials and
tissues to make room for the good materials that it now wants to use to build healthier tissue.
When you make a change to throw out the bad and bring in the good, a “cleansing reaction” is common. For
instance, abandoning caffeine or other stimulants (like sugar, even) can cause headaches and the other
symptoms described in Reason #7 to get off soft drinks/coffee above. Introducing live, natural foods like
greens can initially cause changes in digestive habits, including loose stool. The point is to recognize the
cleansing reaction for what it is—a good thing, not a bad one—and push through it. Generally, headaches and
other reactions last no longer than three days and are followed by a period of feeling rejuvenated and newly
energetic because of a layer of toxic burden being eliminated.
If you suddenly gave up alcohol, cigarettes, and junk food, your body would move from a mode of struggling
to cope to a mode of fighting to cleanse and rebuild. In particular, your body will attempt to rid itself of
chemicals like caffeine and theobromine. Add in some good, raw plant food fuel, and the body will throw off
dead weight as fast as it can. Sometimes this can “swamp” the organs of elimination such as the kidneys, liver,
and skin. The skin can break out and other organs of elimination can take on more toxicity than they can
process in a short time—fatigue, weakness, and susceptibility to viruses can be the result.
Know this in advance and be aware of two things you should do:
1. Cleansing is a normal process and a good sign—and while it can be uncomfortable, the rewards are
worth it. Don’t quit because of an initial period of discomfort or pain. Instead, visually imagine tiny
armies of plant fiber and antioxidants marching the bad guys out of your body! The more bad guys who
fall, the more likely a traffic jam or pileup is likely. Get extra rest, drink extra water (at least one ounce
per day, for every two pounds of body weight), and be patient. Love your body and honor the way it
serves you well—enough to not stop the good process you have begun. After the cleansing reaction,
you should feel the best you’ve felt in a long time.
2. Respect your body’s signs and be willing to go slowly. If whole foods are relatively new to you, take the
12 Steps in this book as they’re intended: one at a time. If you want to accelerate the program to
tackling a new step more than once a month, fine—especially if you already eat several raw vegetables
a day, avoid processed food, and are not overweight. But consider that your body will be detoxifying
the whole time you introduce new habits. If you spent 30 or 50 years accumulating toxicity, you won’t
get rid of it in a week or a month. In particular, adding greens, raw foods, and coconut oil will be very
effective at cleansing. Just start small and add more of these vital foods gradually as your body adjusts.
At the same time that you’re getting off soft drinks (and to those who aren’t addicted, lucky you!), you’re
adding in a very positive habit: daily green smoothies.
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Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
The Highest and Best Use of Your Kitchen Time: Green
Smoothies
When I’m asked, “What one thing should I do for good nutrition, if my time is limited?” my answer is always
to make your one new habit green smoothies!
Why? Because in just one quart of green smoothie—your daily goal for this month—you get 15 servings of
raw, enzyme-rich greens and fruits! That is literally 150% of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance
(USRDA) of fruits and vegetables. Please don’t think you’re “overdosing” on greens, because you really can’t.
You can overdose on isolated, synthetic derivatives of the nutrients found in greens. But you aren’t likely to get
too much of any green, especially if you get a wide variety, as I teach you in this chapter.
The USRDA isn’t really targeting ideals: it’s considering the state of the modern diet and raising the bar from
there to what our government thinks the average person can reasonably do. Many indigenous peoples around
the world get more than the 5-10 fruits and vegetables our government recommends, especially when you
consider that the serving sizes recommended are tiny! One two-inch piece of a cucumber, or 10 berries, for
instance, counts as a “serving!”
With a green smoothie daily, you can do better than that. If you follow the 12 Steps all the way through, you’ll
be eating about two pounds of vegetables daily. And right now, with this first step, you’re already taking a huge
leap towards that goal.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 33

Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
Remember your primordial cousin, the gorilla. He eats greens all day long, and unless he’s captured and fed an
unnatural diet in captivity, he virtually never gets heart disease, cancer, or autoimmune diseases.
Believe it or not, kids will drink green smoothies, and you will be surprised that you enjoy them and even learn
to crave them. Don’t let the name put you off—I make them look more purple than green, with a magic
ingredient called frozen mixed berries.
Victoria Boutenko’s book Green for Life is a comprehensive report on why greens are so important and why
even long-time raw foodists like Boutenko, committed to good nutrition, find they can be nutrient deficient
without a large amount of dark, leafy greens. Her research of 30 people each drinking a quart of green smoothie
(made every two days and hand delivered by Boutenko and her family) for 30 days yielded 100% positive
reviews. The top three health benefits reported by those involved in the study were better digestion/
elimination, more energy, and weight loss. 2
The results of my own poll of 175 green smoothie drinkers published in my book The Green Smoothies Diet
yielded some interesting results that suggest quite definitively that it’s a 10-min. habit worth adopting! To
participate in the questionnaire, one had to be drinking green smoothies for at least 30 days, a pint a day for at
least 4 days a week. Many were drinking more, up to my recommended one quart daily.
The vast majority, 95.4%, said green smoothies noticeably improved their health or quality of life. Very
exciting to me is the fact that 84% of those drinking green smoothies are so enthusiastic about the positive
health benefits that they’ve told others about or taught them the habit!
The top health effects people experienced were (in order) more energy, improved digestion, fewer cravings for
sweets, a more positive mood, improvements in skin tone, and weight loss. And, significantly, although not all
the respondents needed to lose weight, 50% of them did—nearly the same percentage as the amount of
Americans today who are overweight (66%).
Interestingly, Boutenko’s three benefits coincide with the top three complaints of Americans: we are tired, we
have major digestive problems, and we are overweight. In the green smoothie, you find a triple whammy: three
sickly birds killed with one stone!
I’ve designed a master template for green smoothies at the end of this chapter that you can adapt to a wide
variety of greens and fruit. I also have many more recipes and additional information in my books The Big
Book of Green Smoothies (with 230 recipes) and The Green Smoothies Diet. 3
34 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
Benefits of Green Smoothies
Greens You’d Never Otherwise Eat. Who eats a big plate of plain,
raw, kale, collards, spinach, and celery? Mustard greens, arugula,
turnip greens, dandelion greens, beet greens, and chard don’t end up
in too many salads, even for the most health conscious among us.
Just the time to chew it would be half an hour—and add chopping
time to that. Those unusual but oh-so-good-for-you greens are a
regular feature in my green smoothies every day.
No Salad Dressings Required. Another benefit of a smoothie
versus a salad is that you don’t have to drizzle (or douse!) your
greens with fattening, chemical-laden salad dressings to get them
down. Many people are not aware that salad dressings you purchase
in the store are full of toxic chemicals like monosodium glutamate
(which goes by many names you may not recognize on a label); the
very worst refined sweetener, high-fructose corn syrup; refined salt;
and rancid, refined oils like soybean and other vegetable oils.
Lowest Calorie, Highest Nutrition, Least Expensive Meal You Can Eat. A quart of green smoothie is 188
calories, using the template recipe that utilizes water, greens, and fruit. (If you add some flax seeds or flaxseed
oil, that will add calories, but good ones! It will add good fats to your diet, the kind that burn the bad fats.)
Your stomach will be very full with a quart of green smoothie. Does a protein bar fill you up? No, and it has
more calories and fat and lots of refined-food products and salt in it. Simply put, there is no food you can eat
that will give you higher micronutrients, for fewer calories, than a green smoothie. (Micronutrients meaning
100 or more different phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.)
I bought retail-priced ingredients and measured how much a quart of green smoothie costs, and it was only
$2.50! A Starbucks latte costs more than that and its nutrition isn't even in the same galaxy! You can pay $4 for
fat, caffeine, sugar, and aging in your morning coffee. Or you can pay $2.50 for a full stomach, lots of energy, a
positive mood, stable blood sugar, weight loss, pretty skin/hair/nails, and excellent digestion. (See my book
The Green Smoothies Diet for details on these results in my research.) My smoothies cost much less because I
grow organic spinach, kale, collards, chard, and beet greens in my garden, and then in the fall I freeze them for
the winter. I also compost peels and other plant waste products to feed the soil that then grows my family’s
food. It’s easy and fun, and I teach you much more about this in Chapter 5 (page 119).
If you think $2.50 is a lot because you eat ramen noodles and a candy bar for lunch for only $1, consider that
you will spend far more than that differential in health care and lost productivity, when you choose
inexpensive, toxic food. Not to mention you’ll also be hungry again in about an hour and will likely look for
more food to help fill you up…and how much additional money will you spend on that?
Predigested Nutrition. Boutenko recommends you try an experiment of chewing your salad up and then right
before you would normally swallow it, spit it out and look at it. To be digestible, it needs to be fully broken
down into the tiniest particles—“creamed” like wide-palate primates with strong jaws are able to do easily,
without any observable “chunks” of green.
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You are likely to see a mouthful of torn-up greens, nowhere near “creamed.” That’s because over the past few
generations, our palates have narrowed (thus the meteoric rise in orthodontic work—more and more
orthodontists are widening children’s palates). Our jaws have weakened. We are no longer capable of breaking
down the most important foods in our diet, greens. Blended greens have been shown to increase nutrient
absorption. Grey hair, for instance, is a sign of mineral deficiency. Ann Wigmore, the wheat grass juice
pioneer, famously regained her hair color with blended greens.
Maybe you can’t back up “devolution” of the jaw. But the good news is that while I still highly recommend
salads, and chewing them well, your high-powered blender “creams” the greens—i.e., predigests them—for
you. It breaks them down to actually crushing the cell walls, making nutrients highly bioavailable when eaten
right after processing in your blender. The only thing you need to do with your green smoothie is “chew” it
fully in your mouth (even though it is smooth and liquefied) to add the important digestive juices and enzymes
from saliva to your food before it goes to the stomach.
Closer to the Diet Nature Intended. Boutenko studied the dietary
habits of our closest relatives, large primates. Because we share
almost 99% of our DNA with our cousins, the primates, we would
do well to observe what they do in nature, driven by instinct. Of
course, primates are largely vegetarian and eat a diet of primarily
greens. Gorillas don’t eat a whole tree in a day; rather, they eat a
little every day of a wide variety of greens.
The problem is, we have devolved as a species as a result of eating
an increasingly soft-food (processed) diet the past few generations.
Parents in today’s generation protect their children from having to
chew...well...anything. My friends cut the peel off their children’s
apples, even after all the children’s teeth have come in. Some of my
friends even cut the crusts off their children’s white bread
sandwiches!
Plant fiber is completely missing from the diets of modern children as their muscles are developing. An openminded
child willing to eat a salad is likely to barely chew it before swallowing—and while the insoluble fiber
is still beneficial, no doubt, the body simply cannot break down and utilize the nutrition in the greens without
them being fully chewed.
Big Bang for the Buck and for Your Time in the Kitchen. Fifteen servings and loads of fiber. The first time
I measured, I couldn’t believe how much green food a $2.50 homemade quart of smoothie has in it: fully 15
servings of raw greens and fruit. This included lots of plant energy from chlorophyll, which is the equivalent in
a plant to the hemoglobin in a human red blood cell. Chlorophyll neutralizes internal body odors and bad
breath, and it mops up free radicals that cause cancer and all degenerative disease. Greens are a powerhouse of
enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. They are, ounce for ounce, the most nutritionally dense foods on the planet.
(Please note that I am not including iceberg lettuce in the category of “leafy greens,” because it is an essentially
nutrition-free food that is not easily digested by humans. So I suggest you purchase vibrant greens for your
smoothies.)
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Better and Easier Than Juicing. Many of us have a Champion, Jack LaLanne, or Omega juicer collecting
dust in a back cupboard. We’ve juiced in fits and starts. Unlike these outdated kitchen tools (which make a
huge mess and cost us a lot of time to clean up and put away many breakable parts), your Blendtec blender
allows you to leverage all the benefits of many plant foods without throwing away most of the plant.
Green smoothies are packed with insoluble plant fiber cleaning the 30+ feet of your entire digestive tract, as
well as your blood and all the organs that your blood flows to. Think of kale as a little green guy with bulging
muscles: he can carry out of your body several times more than his own body weight in toxins! Eating plenty of
plant fiber is your main antidote to colon cancer, a leading cause of death and misery in the U.S.
Easy-to-Get Fiber. Drinking a quart a day of green smoothie addresses what I believe is the #1 deficit in the
American diet: enzymes.
Enzymes are catalysts in all bodily functions, including digestion. Digestive enzymes break down food for
storage in the liver of muscles. And while your body’s organs can produce the needed digestive enzymes, those
organs typically become exhausted in the body of anyone eating a typical Western diet of dead, processed
foods.
According to most estimates, you have at best about 30 years’ worth of enzyme production capacity. Eating
raw foods, particularly greens that have intact enzymes (heating above 116° destroys enzymes), gives you
energy that does not deplete your limited enzymatic capacity. Drinking a quart of green smoothie daily will go
a long way in providing your body the enzymes it needs to digest other cooked food.
The #2 deficit in the Western diet is overall plant fiber. Because fiber is removed from refined foods,
Americans eat an average of only 11-14 grams of it per day (you get more than that in your green smoothie
alone), and the USRDA recommendation is 25-30 grams.
May I strongly recommend that at least 40 grams is actually ideal. A chimpanzee in the wild (left to his own
devices to choose his diet) eats 300 grams per day! As with many other things, the FDA and USDA cave to
meat/dairy interests and water down the truth to appease those industries and avoid overwhelming middle
America. Of course, drinking a quart of green smoothie daily addresses this critical issue of insufficient plant
fiber, too.
Fiber lowers blood's “bad” cholesterol level and stabilizes blood sugar. It prevents hemorrhoids, constipation,
colon cancer, and other diseases of the colon. Insoluble plant fiber, while not digested, is critical in removing
toxins (including metals) from the body. It is found abundantly in greens as well as in vegetables, whole grains,
legumes, nuts, and seeds.
Fast to Prepare and Eat. I love that green smoothies are “fast food” that is healthful. I do love salads for sitdown
meals to further augment your consumption of greens (and will address that in Chapter 3). But unlike a
salad, I can make a green smoothie the night before and put it in my GreenSmoothieGirl Jug in the fridge.
When I leave for work, I grab the smoothie, a straw and a napkin, and put them in an insulated lunch box with
a refreezable coolant. Your coworkers will definitely say, “What is that?!” if you drink it openly like I do,
always hoping for a convert. (If you’re shy, you can always hide with a thermos.) But if you respond with
enthusiasm and a testimonial about the health benefits you’ve experienced, some of them will ask you later
how to make it. (I’ve been known to thrust my green smoothie at random strangers with an extra straw and say,
“Try it!”)
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Bring one to work the next day for your coworker, and spread the word as your good deed for the day! Pretty
soon your whole office will be converted. People love a live demo, if you’re willing to bring your turbo blender
and greens to work—but I’ve given very detailed instructions in my “template recipe,” and you can also guide
others to my three-minute YouTube green smoothie demo (www.tiny.cc/0dSxR).
What about E Coli? I’m often asked about whether I’m scared of spinach after the E Coli scare in 2006. I’m
not afraid of it at all. A 10-year study done by the Centers for Disease Control proved that eating raw plant
foods is the safest strategy, because less than 1/10 of 1% of food-borne diseases are caused by raw plant foods.
All the others are caused by animal and/or cooked foods.
In fact, I’m pretty sure my kids and I ate some E Coli-tainted spinach, a couple of days in a row, during the
outbreak in 2006. I barely noticed it. People with healthy gastrointestinal tracts who are eating excellent
nutrition every day are not the ones who succumb to parasites and intestinal bacteria. If you eat plenty of raw,
nutrition-dense plant fiber and stay away from foods that compromise your immune function, after a possible
initial cleansing period, you will likely find that you go through the winter without falling prey to the viruses
that are felling everyone around you.
Should I blanche my greens before freezing them? In a word, no! Blanching (or quick-boiling) kills all the
enzymes and many other nutrients as well. It’s an “old wives’ tale” that there is some benefit in this practice,
which ruins perfectly good raw plant food. Just wash your greens, put them in quart or gallon Ziploc freezer
bags, suck the air out with a straw to minimize the space they take in the freezer, zip tight, and freeze. You can
then put frozen greens in your blender later.
What about oxalates? A popular and growing theory and opinion among those interested in nutrition is that
greens (especially spinach) are high in oxalates and should be avoided because they cause kidney stones or
gallbladder problems, since oxalates may interfere with absorption of calcium from the body. Another popular
opinion is that cooking spinach renders the oxalates harmless.
In fact, a review of the peer-reviewed research reveals that the ability of oxalates to lower calcium absorption is
small and does not outweigh the ability of those foods to contribute significant calcium to the diet, since
spinach is rich in calcium. A few rare health conditions require oxalate restriction: absorptive hypercalciuria
type II, enteric hyperoxaluria, and primary hyperoxaluria. These are not the more common condition wherein
kidney stones are formed. The research is not clear that restricting foods such as spinach helps prevent stones
in those who have previously had them. Many researchers believe that dietary restriction cannot reduce risk of
stone formation. In fact, some foods that were assumed to increase stone formation because of oxalate content
(like black tea) have appeared in more recent research to have a preventative effect.
Further, cooking has a small impact (about 10%) on the oxalate content of foods, with no statistically
significant lowering of oxalates following blanching or boiling of greens. It appears that the nutritional
advantages of eating raw greens continue to far outweigh any benefit of cooking them.
Dr. Norman W. Walker says the following about oxalates in the “Vegetable Juices - Uses and Benefits” chapter
of his book Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices: What’s Missing in Your Body?
Spinach should never be eaten when cooked unless we are particularly anxious to accumulate oxalic
acid crystals in our kidneys with the consequent pain and kidney trouble. When spinach is cooked or
canned, the oxalic acid atoms become inorganic as a result of excessive heat and may form oxalic acid
crystals in the kidneys.
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When the food is raw, whether whole or in the form of juice, every atom in such food is vital
ORGANIC and is replete with enzymes. Therefore, the oxalic acid in our raw vegetables and their
juices is organic, and as such is not only beneficial but essential for the physiological functions of the
body.
The oxalic acid in cooked and processed foods, however, is definitely dead, or INORGANIC, and as
such is both pernicious and destructive. Oxalic acid readily combines with calcium. If these are both
organic, the result is a beneficial constructive combination, as the former helps the digestive
assimilation of the latter, at the same time stimulating the peristaltic functions in the body.
When the oxalic acid has become INORGANIC by cooking or processing the foods that contain it, then
this acid forms an interlocking compound with the calcium even combining with the calcium in other
foods eaten during the same meal, destroying the nourishing value of both. This results in such a serious
deficiency of calcium that it has been known to cause decomposition of the bones. 4
Two other classes of nutritional compounds, purines and goitrogens, are found in some leafy greens such as
spinach. Eating “excessive” amounts of spinach or cruciferous vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower, for
instance) containing these compounds can be a problem for people who suffer with gout, kidney stones, or low
thyroid hormone production. These chemical compounds are also found in peanuts, strawberries, soy products,
and other foods as well. However, the literature seems to support that a few weekly servings of these foods is a
good idea for almost everyone. 5
Sugar Restrictions and Sweeteners for Smoothies
If you are diabetic, hypoglycemic, or trying to cut down on sugar, using
stevia as your smoothie sweetener is wise if you want to use any
sweetener at all. Stevia is 100 times sweeter than sugar, but it is derived
from an herb and is natural (though processors do add fillers to the
powdered versions and a base to the liquid versions), so you can use ¼
to ½ tsp. to sweeten a full blender of smoothie. You can purchase stevia
either powdered or liquid form at any health food store.
In Asia, stevia has been widely used and well known for decades,
although it has not been studied in clinical trials. Many forces,
including governmental ones, conspired to keep stevia out of the hands
of American consumers for many years, even banning it from the
shelves of stores selling food. This was not because of any consumer
complaints about side effects (no side effects of stevia have been
documented as of this writing), but because of the monopolistic
chokehold that the manufacturers of the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet) had on the American food
industry.
I believe the erosion of aspartame’s power, as it began to give way to Splenda (much like saccharin gave way to
aspartame many years ago), created the opportunity for stevia to become accepted in the western hemisphere.
Aspartame’s current decline can be directly attributed to the fact that of over 4,000 food additives approved by
the FDA, aspartame has more health-related complaints than all the other food additives put together!
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If you don’t like stevia in the form you purchase it, you may wish to try another kind (powdered, liquid drops,
flavored drops, etc.) or brand. I don’t notice an “aftertaste,” but some who use stevia say they do.
My second-favorite smoothie-sweetening option nutritionally (it’s my favorite option taste-wise) is to use raw,
organic agave nectar, derived from cactus plants. It has one-third the glycemic index of sugar and honey. It is a
syrup with a pleasant, neutral flavor that you won’t notice, and it is sweeter than sugar. You can purchase it
online or in health food stores.
Nutritional Facts of Various Greens
The following charts show how wide the nutritional variety is among greens, demonstrating the value of eating
several each day. 6 Green smoothies make getting a wide variety very easy!
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Protein in Green Smoothies
If you are looking to increase protein in your plant foods, consider that spinach and broccoli are over 40%
protein and so use them liberally in your green smoothies (while also getting a variety of other greens). Try to
make your smoothies as low in fruit as possible for your own taste, and consider the no-fruit smoothie in this
chapter.
You can certainly add protein powder, though most whey- and soy-based protein powders are fractionated, heat
treated, and not good for you. Whey protein is highly refined, and soy is too estrogenic—and we have far too
many refined soy products in our food supply, causing endocrine problems. The best protein powder, for
nutrition as well as taste, is Sun Warrior’s, which you can find online in the GreenSmoothieGirl.com store. One
variety is made from brown rice, and the other is a proprietary blend of hemp, cranberry, and split peas, with a
little coconut oil medium-chain fatty acids. These two proteins are the best, both taste-wise and nutritionally.
I often eat a handful of sprouted, dehydrated almonds (see Chapter 7 on page 199) with my green smoothie for
extra plant protein in a very satisfying lunch.
Money-Saving Tips
• A variety of greens can be harvested from empty lots in your neighborhood when the weather is warm.
Edible weeds include lambsquarter leaves, nettles, morning glory, and purslane (or even thistle) found
in most climates. Purslane has a very mild flavor and texture for addition to smoothies; it is an
unusually rich source of Omega-3s and iron.
Dandelion weeds can sometimes be bitter, but are plentiful in most climates, and I often throw a handful
in the blender. Avoid picking these weeds in areas next to busy roadways, as greens absorb the toxins in
car exhaust fumes. Also avoid any areas that have been sprayed with pesticides or weed killer.
• Wholesale membership clubs like Costco usually carry huge (2.5 lb.) bags of washed spinach at lower
prices than regular grocery and health food stores (only $3.99 where I live). That’s half of what you’d
spend on the 10-oz. bags of spinach for $1.99 at regular grocery stores.
• Spinach, chard, and kale are very easy to grow in backyard or patio gardens, and you can replant at the
end of the summer for a fall harvest that really explodes again in the spring right through the frost
season. Chard in particular produces a massive amount of green food and does not bolt easily in hot
weather—and by staggering plantings, I harvest it from a few weeks after the spring frost until well
after the last fall frost.
• Keep an eye on the contents of the health food stores in your area. At my local health food store,
although organic bunches of kale, collards, and chard are admittedly more expensive than conventional
produce, the bunches are much bigger, so the higher price is probably not higher per ounce. In this case,
paying more is warranted for more reasons than just nutrition.
• Buy fruit on sale and in season, and freeze it before it goes bad. I have never thrown fruit away in quite
a few years, because if I see the bananas are getting black spots and I can’t use them all, I peel them,
break them into chunks, and put them in sandwich baggies in the freezer. I buy a box or two of peaches
when they’re in season, and I wash and quarter them in baggies to freeze and last through the winter.
• Greens, too, while they can’t be frozen for salads and other purposes, can be easily frozen for later use
in smoothies. No one will be able to tell. So you never have to let the spinach go bad again.
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• You can freeze pints or quarts of green smoothies to take them on a trip. I put them in a cooler for a road
trip, but I also take them on airplanes, frozen, packed well inside my suitcase. Most hotel rooms have
mini-fridges, and you can request a room with one or make sure to check for that amenity when
booking your hotel online. Thawed green smoothies don’t have a great texture; I just remind myself I
drink them for my health rather than for enjoyment.
Your Journal Entry
Use these next pages to record the health benefits you observe from following this first step for 30 days. This
will be important as you look back, later in your life, to determine whether to continue with this habit.
In my book The Green Smoothies Diet, I review my research of 175 participants who documented the changes
in their health after drinking at least a pint of green smoothie at least four times a week for 30 days. The top six
health benefits reported were higher energy, improved digestion, fewer cravings for sweets, a more positive
mood, improvements in skin tone, and weight loss. Other effects included elimination of PMS symptoms,
asthma, skin problems, insomnia, dandruff, depression, and blood sugar fluctuations. Others claimed a better
sex life.
You may wish to compare your own journal responses to questions asked of people in my study published in
The Green Smoothies Diet by taking the same questionnaire yourself below. You can also take the selfpopulating
poll online at GreenSmoothieGirl.com/poll.html to be a part of ongoing research.
GREEN SMOOTHIE QUESTIONNAIRE
Have you found that green smoothies have noticeably improved your health or quality of life? Yes / No
What health benefits have you noticed from drinking green smoothies? (Select all that apply.)
• Improved digestion (more regular and/or complete bowel movements, no straining, soft/formed stool,
etc.)
• Weight loss
• More energy
• Improved sleep (need less of it, decreased insomnia, more alert in the mornings, etc.)
• Decreased cravings for sweets and processed foods
• Fingernails grow faster and/or are stronger
• Decrease in PMS symptoms
• Improved libido (sex drive)
• Positive, stable mood
• Less stressed out
• Blood sugar stabilization
• Increased desire to exercise
• Improvement in skin tone and/or fewer blemishes
• People telling me I look better
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• Hair is shinier and/or dandruff is gone
• Other: ______________
If you have lost weight, how many pounds have you lost?
Did you have any uncomfortable cleansing reactions as you began drinking green smoothies? Yes / No
If so, what were they? How long did they last?
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Have you seen any chronic or degenerative conditions improved or gone? Yes / No
If so, please explain:
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Have you felt so positively about your green smoothie conversion that you’ve converted anyone else? Yes / No
Record any other observations you may have made during your first month of green smoothies:
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GREEN SMOOTHIE TESTIMONIALS
I have received hundreds of testimonials in my research and on my Web site www.greensmoothiegirl.com.
(You can read many more there, including quite a few with stories of measurable improvements in biomarkers).
These were the very first ones I was given as I began writing this course.
I am at my ideal weight and have never been overweight, and I run or lift weights six days a week and eat a
healthy diet. Imagine my shock when I went to a clinic and was told I was pre-diabetic, that it was just a matter
of time before I had full-blown diabetes. I burst out laughing when the nurse practitioner told me her
recommendation was to cut out sugar, since I eat so little of it already. Robyn taught me about green smoothies,
and I began making them daily for my family, as well as teaching others about them. I just went back to the
clinic after several months of my new green smoothie habit, and they said all signs of the pre-diabetic condition
were gone. The only thing I changed was adding green smoothies to my diet!
— Laura B., Utah
I started green smoothies in Dec. 2010. I wanted to be a little healthier—didn’t know all the benefits I would
receive! I have had stomach pain for 10 years, and two weeks after I started green smoothies, my stomach
stopped hurting. And I was no longer constipated. My husband had told me I had bad breath, and it disappeared
with my green smoothie habit. I read all about the colon online and learned what was causing a lot of my pain.
Now I am crazy about healthy whole foods, and Robyn’s books have helped so much!
I’ve lost 10 lbs. and am at my perfect weight of 112 lbs. without trying. I always had pain with sex, and it has
disappeared. My teeth are no longer sensitive, and I don’t crave candy bars, ice cream, and cookies.
This has changed my life and maybe saved it. My grandfather died of colon cancer at 69 and great grandmother
at 45. I am 42 and have always exercised and thought I was eating healthy. I feel better now than I have in the
last five years. Adding lots more greens and whole foods into my diet has been amazing for me and my family.
—LL, Utah
The power of peer influence is impressive. I’d been drinking green smoothies regularly for several months, but
had yet to convince my children to participate. One day I was looking at your Web site and my children, ages 4-
12, were looking over my shoulder. They saw a picture of Emma, flexing, with her green smoothie [on the
original GSG site's home page], and my daughter said, “Wow—she’s buff!” That day they all had a small glass
of green smoothie for the first time! I guess kids really will drink them.
— Leslie S., Utah
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Robyn first told me about green smoothies about a year and a half ago. I dabbled with making them at first, but
once I figured out what recipes worked well for me, I became hooked! I make a big green smoothie every
morning for breakfast, and I finally don't have a late-morning energy crash like I used to. As a busy college
student, it's become the perfect fast food—how else am I going to get all these great veggies into my diet
before noon? I find the smoothies refreshing and surprisingly filling (especially if I add an avocado)—and if I
eat something else for breakfast one morning, I always end up making a green smoothie later in the day
because I miss it! Both my mom and sister are hooked now, too, and make them every morning for breakfast.
— Laura T., California
Is it possible to be addicted to green smoothies? Ever since you first introduced me to green drinks years ago,
I've dabbled here and there with them. Things got serious, though, this past spring when I started working and
knew that my diet would suffer now that I don't have a lot of time to devote to thinking about what I am eating.
I decided to make green smoothies my daily morning meal—there isn't a quicker, more nutritious breakfast to
be had! I've even introduced green smoothies to my friends at the office, and even whip up an extra drink for
one of my co-workers, who now says she can't wait for Monday mornings to come so she can have a smoothie
for breakfast! I love the way I feel since incorporating green smoothies into my daily diet! I have energy for the
entire morning; I do not crave sugar nearly as much. I can definitely say without doubt that green smoothies
have made a difference; I just feel healthy!
This past week I made a green smoothie for a little nephew of mine who has never, ever eaten a vegetable in his
life. Ever. My sister was very skeptical that he would even try it, let alone like it. Not only did he like it, he
asked for more. My sister was blown away, and soooo happy to know that there was a way to get her little guy
to get so much more nutrition into his diet. Oh, my sister loved it too!
Thanks, Robyn, for introducing us slowly but surely to green-drink-heaven! If I miss a day of green smoothies,
I miss it—CRAVE it, even. I've become a true addict.
— Sheri H., Utah
When Robyn introduced me to green smoothies, I was intrigued by the idea of drinking my greens. I eat lots of
fruits and vegetables in my diet, but I was looking for an easy way to double my fiber. I love green smoothies.
I don't just drink a glass or two, but three or four—and then whatever is left over after my children drink theirs.
I feel better. I feel thinner, and by measurable standards—the scale, the tape measure—I am thinner.
The combination of green smoothies and lots of water promote weight loss in me. Feeling better about myself,
I have a brighter outlook on life, naturally, but I simply have more energy to meet the demands and challenges
of my busy days.
— Jill W., Utah
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Our family has been drinking green smoothies for the last 3 months and I feel that it has improved our overall
health. It has completely taken away the guilt in regards to my children's diet. I no longer have to worry about
if they have gotten enough fruits and vegetables. I give them healthy snacks to eat, but on crazy hectic days
even if they have not had one other fruit or vegetable, I don't worry because they’ve had their green smoothie!
I have a 5- and 3-year-old and worried if they would drink it. My 5-year-old loves it and many days asks for
seconds, and my 3-year-old occasionally has to be reminded to drink his smoothie, but it was a lot easier to get
them to drink it than I imagined it would be. I add frozen strawberries to our smoothies and they really like it.
My husband just had a bone marrow transplant and we are very conscious that good nutrition is a key element
in his recovery. One of the other benefits that I have experienced is I feel it has helped me keep up my milk
supply for my newborn. I have had milk supply issues in the past and I am nursing my third baby longer than I
was able to nurse my other two children. I feel green smoothies have played a part in my ability to do this.
Green smoothies are a great way to make sure your family is getting all the fruits and vegetables they need to
be as healthy as they possibly can be!
— Quinn S., North Carolina
My family—including my picky two-year-old—really enjoys green smoothies. We like the fact that we're
taking a significant step toward better health, and we've had far fewer illnesses since incorporating them into
our diet. We've also made them for visiting family and friends, and they're all pleasantly surprised at how good
they taste.
— Kari W., Utah
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ROBYN’S GREEN SMOOTHIE
The Highest and Best Use of Your Time in the Kitchen!
TIP: For beginners and those trying to convert children, consider using LESS greens and MORE fruit (especially
berries and bananas) in the beginning, gradually working up to a 50/50 ratio as described here. Use just the mild
flavors in this transition phase, like spinach, kale, collards, and chard. With kids, consider using only spinach the
first few days, then gradually sneak in the other mild but excellent greens (chard, collards, and kale). Add other
savory or bitter greens only when your family are “experts” in green smoothies! Add a bit more water if you feel
the smoothie is too thick.
1. Put 2 C filtered water in the high-powered blender.
2. Optionally, add:
¾ - 1 tsp. stevia (herbal sweetener) or C raw, organic agave syrup (low glycemic index)
¼ whole lemon, including peel (anti-skin cancer, high in flavanoids)
2-3 Tbsp. fresh, refrigerated flaxseed oil (Omega-3-rich oil)
3. Gradually add the following greens until briefly puréed and the mixture comes up to the 5-cup line (or
less, if you are “converting”), and then purée the mixture for 90 seconds until very smooth.
¾ - 1 lb. raw, washed greens:
spinach, chard, kale, collards (your mainstays)
turnip, mustard, dandelion greens, arugula (use more sparingly, as they are spicy or bitter)
lettuces and beet greens (also good—use freely)
avocado or cabbage or 1-2 stalks celery (try, to see if you enjoy their inclusion)
edible weeds from unsprayed fields (For the adventurous! Purslane has a mild flavor and vines are
along the ground everywhere. Use stronger flavors of lambsquarter leaves [not the woody stems],
morning glory, and thistle sparingly.)
4. Gradually add the following fruit until the container is very full, then blend for 90 seconds or until
smooth:
1-2 bananas (for a creamy texture and sweetness)
1-2 C frozen mixed berries (tastes wonderful and makes the smoothie purple rather than green)
any other fruit to taste: our favorites are pears and peaches, but can also use apples, oranges, apricots,
cantaloupe (with seeds—very high in antioxidants!), mango, pineapple, anything!
The more frozen fruit, the tastier your smoothie will be—and your high-powered blender can handle it! You
can save your smoothie in the fridge for up to two days—just shake well before drinking.
Makes approx. 8 cups of 100% raw smoothie.
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Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
EASIEST STARTER GREEN SMOOTHIE RECIPE
Anyone will enjoy this easy first-timer’s concoction, including children and those with finicky tastes!
1¾ C water
1 Tbsp. honey (raw) or agave (raw, organic)
1 10-oz. bag spinach
1 banana (preferably frozen in chunks)
2 C frozen mixed berries
1 peach, pear, apple, or orange
Blend all until very smooth. Pour in glasses and enjoy, or refrigerate for up to 48 hours, shaking well before
serving. Makes about 3 pints.
LAURA’S NO-FRUIT GREEN SMOOTHIE
If you’re diabetic or hypoglycemic, or just trying to reduce sugars in your diet, you may wish to cut fruits and
maximize greens. My former student, Laura, spent seven years of her adolescence and young adult life in bed
with serious health issues. She doesn’t do well with sugar of any kind and devised this green smoothie that is
highly alkaline and low in sugar.
Combine in high-powered blender:
1 avocado
1 large cucumber
2 C spinach
2 large leaves collard greens
2 leaves black kale
2 or 3 lemons, juice only (to taste)
1 C water
optional: a few slices of Gala apples
Purée well and enjoy.
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CHAPTER 2
Making Salad the Star
Your Goal:
Making a colorful, green/vegetable salad the “main dish” at supper. To make this a habit for life, the
keys are (a) simplicity and (b) variety. You can now make what was formerly your “main dish” half its
original size.
What You’ll Need:
You don’t need to buy anything new this month, though investment in a couple of very sharp knives
will make your life—newly committed to plant foods—so much easier! I love my Cutco knives, with
free sharpening for life (www.cutco.com).
It might seem strange to you that our second step
toward a diet of whole foods is still primarily
focused on vegetables, and even more greens.
That’s how strongly I feel that Americans are
mostly missing out on the best foods available on
the planet—raw vegetables and, particularly,
green foods. Remember from the introduction
that part of our goal is getting about two pounds
of vegetables (half of those greens) in an adult’s
daily diet. A big salad with dinner is a great
second step towards that end.
A comparison of beets, parsnips, radishes, and
turnips with their above-ground counterparts
(beet greens, parsley, and radish and turnip
greens) reveals why greens are worth taking
another look at for dinner. The below-ground root
vegetables are certainly good for you! But they
average more than double the calories, carbs, and
sugar than the greens attached to them above
ground. And they have only about 50-70% of the
vitamin, mineral, and enzyme content. The fact
that may surprise you most is that beet greens,
parsley, and turnip greens have about twice as
much protein as the root vegetables they’re attached to! Again, ounce for ounce, green foods are the
most perfect, sustaining foods on the planet—low in calories, high in nutrition.
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Making Salad the Star
So, we’re focusing again this month on a change that will move you closer from the typical American diet of
11 grams of fiber to the typical chimpanzee diet of 300 grams of fiber! Some studies suggest that ancient man
ate 150 grams of fiber daily. We won’t get as far as the chimps or even ancient people, but this step—along
with your green smoothie—will put you in the top 1% of Americans for having a healthy diet! (That’s assuming
the remainder of your diet isn’t burgers, fries, and candy bars, of course.) How many other areas in your life are
you in the top 1%? And you’re only on Step 2!
With these recipes, I’ve endeavored to help you explore the incredible variety of vegetables that are available
in your local market—vegetables you may not have eaten before. I believe the key to making a salad every
night a habit for life is to have a wide repertoire of food-combining choices. If you change it up, it never gets
boring!
Make a big salad the central part of your meal—the “main dish,” if you will. You can have whatever else you
like for dinner—keep your “comfort foods” on the menu if you want to—but begin to make the mental shift to
a mostly raw vegetable dish as the biggest thing on your plate. After a while, you won’t want to go back to the
way you felt before you began eating dinners featuring a big salad.
My family enjoys a tradition of going out every Saturday night to our favorite salad bar restaurant. My children
pile up a huge plate of raw greens and colorful veggies, and I always compliment the child with the most
colorful plate. They tend to compete with each other to impress Mom with their choices! Most of the other kids
at the restaurant choose mostly cubed ham, cheese, and Jell-O as they go through the salad bar. Occasionally
you see a child with peas or corn on the plate: these are the least nutritious of all vegetables, especially canned.
On several occasions, I have seen parents pointing to my kids’ plates and whispering to their children.
My children (clockwise from left) Emma, Tennyson, Kincade, and Mary Elizabeth making
people stare because of how many veggies they eat.
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This month, unless you’re feeling ambitious enough to tackle two new steps at once, continue buying whatever
salad dressings you normally like, because we will tackle salad dressings with high nutrition next month. If you
see a salad with a suggested salad dressing in Chapter 3, though, and you want to try it, you can jump ahead and
use that recipe—or just use whatever bottled dressings you currently have on hand.
What about Protein?
People are surprised to learn that many of the highest-protein foods are actually plants. They include quinoa,
soy, wheat, almonds, kidney beans, and black beans.
If you were raised in a meat-and-potatoes family, a dinner plate may not
seem proper without some meat, chicken, or fish on it, and without part of
the meal being hot. If this is important to you, transition to a diet higher in
plant food by practicing this month making your meat dish smaller. In
fact, you can cut your effort in half by making the same amount that you
used to serve your family for one night—but this time serve half the
portion sizes, replacing the big portion with the large vegetable “main
dish.” In essence, have the main dish and side dish trade places, size-wise!
Then you have the rest of that chicken or fish dish for another night,
saving time and money.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman, in Eat to Live, writes of how doctors and dietitians “are
surprised to learn that…when you eat large quantities of green vegetables,
you receive a considerable amount of protein.” 1 Eating a variety of greens
(spinach, kale, and broccoli are over 40% protein), you can build muscle
mass even for competitive body building, as is well documented by
weightlifter Stephen Arlin in Raw Power! 2 As you begin buying several
types of greens each week for your smoothies and several others for your salads, you have the complete array
of amino acids from which your body can build its own complete proteins. This method of getting protein,
from fundamental building blocks, is more work for your body, but the proteins are more durable and resilient.
If you still aren’t convinced, consider that legumes and nuts are another
excellent source of plant protein and are always a great addition to
salads. They are also a fantastic source of dietary fiber, and some recipes
in this chapter feature beans so meat eaters especially feel they are
getting a hearty meal. If you feel your body type needs extra protein, an
easy way to add it to a “main dish” salad to make it a meal (if you are not
vegetarian/vegan) is to add hard-boiled eggs or a can of tuna—making
sure that your eggs are free-range and organic.
Regarding eggs, if you choose to use them, consider that most eggs that
come from penned chickens are fed antibiotics, steroids, and other
chemicals that eventually become part of you. These eggs have a heavily
skewed 6:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids. Compare that to
what your body needs (and what organic eggs have), a 1:2 ratio of
Omega-6 to Omega-3. Of all the foods you may wish to consider buying
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Making Salad the Star
organic, place eggs at the top of the list. Most health food stores sell organic, free-range eggs—and many
regular grocery stores also sell them now.
Why Are Enzymes So Important?
If you read my Web site and blog, you know that I believe the #1 deficit in the American diet, and the root
cause of all disease, is that we are not getting enzymes in our food. Our ancestors got plenty of enzymes, as do
indigenous peoples around the world who eat close to the land. The peoples of the world who are free of
cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases are people who don’t cook most of their
food. Ironically, the legacy of affluence is that most of us now eat cooked, processed, refined foods as the bulk
of every meal and snack.
The body has a limited capacity to produce digestive enzymes, the catalysts in the digestive process. Most
experts estimate that our bodies have about 30 years’ worth of ability to produce enzymes. So, if we eat a diet
of dead foods (cooked and/or processed), our body is taxed, and we use up enzymatic potential that cannot be
replaced.
Every bodily system is affected by enzyme depletion. Because enzymes must be present to digest any food, the
body becomes very resourceful when cooked (or worse, denatured) foods are supplied as fuel. The body robs
the enzymes from other organs, and from other metabolic processes that need them, when the pancreas cannot
supply enough. The short-term effects of losing our enzyme-production capacity and drawing too heavily on
the body’s ability to manufacture them include indigestion, heartburn, constipation, gas, and bloating. The
long-term effects are all the degenerative diseases (cancer, heart disease, and many more) resulting from
burnout of our organs. It all starts with enzyme depletion.
On the other hand, if we eat live and raw food, the food itself provides the enzymes needed for complete
digestion and breakdown of nutrients. Amylase is an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates, lipase breaks
down fats, and protease breaks down proteins for absorption by the body. Live food—raw, not heated above
116° contains enzymes. Several of our 12 Steps to Whole Foods throughout this year of change are
concentrated on increasing the quantity of live, enzyme-intact foods in your diet.
The highest enzyme content is found in sprouted seeds, nuts, and grains. A nut, seed, or grain that is soaked for
a few hours explodes with enzyme potential when it germinates and becomes a live food with sometimes 100
times the nutrition of the unsprouted food—so much more than just a food with the potential to become alive.
Second only to sprouts in enzyme content are greens. Eat live and green foods at every meal, and you will be
vibrantly healthy even as so many around you making more typical choices are suffering the consequences of
those choices: aging and degenerating more quickly than is necessary.
Like you, I’m sure, I like to travel and go to parties, barbecues, or restaurants with friends or family now and
then. If I can, I always get a big green salad or plate of fruits and vegetables before eating anything cooked. I’m
a big fan of getting vitamins and minerals from food rather than synthetic supplements, which I think do us
little or no good and are largely a waste of money. However, I am a fan of two daily supplements: first, a
probiotic and, second, a comprehensive enzyme supplement. You can find both at health food stores.
For times when I can’t get that big plate of greens with my meal, I keep a bottle of digestive enzymes in my
purse. Take two capsules before any meal that you know will be heavy and less than 60% raw. You would be
wise, in fact, to take one capsule before any meal that is less than 80% raw.
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Why Maximize Raw Food?
I have many friends who eat only raw plant food, and they are the healthiest people I know. I have several times
eaten a 100% raw diet for a few months at a time and never felt better! But for most of the past 15 years, I have
eaten a 60-80% raw diet, and I have noticed something interesting.
The 60-80% raw goal is rather easy to achieve. The differential between 60-80% and 100%, however,
represents an enormous leap in terms of time spent. It reminds me of getting a B+ or A- in college, versus
getting an A: the time/commitment differential is most significant at that level. It’s especially hard to feed an
entire family 100% raw. Even my kids—who have been fed whole foods their entire lives—resist it. I believe
part of the reason is that eliminating bread is terribly hard when you’re feeding teenagers, because bread is so
filling and requires less time than most all-raw recipes. So when you’re making one thing for yourself and
another for your family, you may find you’re spending too much time in the kitchen.
Since I am interested in teaching things I believe to be achievable by anyone, I don’t set the bar that high. If
you wish to do that and are capable of it, I applaud and encourage you, and I have listed my favorite raw books
in Appendix B to help you continue.
But, to you who want a very manageable plan, I believe that a 60-80% raw diet is adequate to supply the
enzymes needed to break down the 40% of the diet that is cooked whole food. Most of the healthiest
populations of the world do eat cooked food along with raw food. But some caveats come along with this
counsel to get 60% raw.
First, you should aim for 60% raw in every meal or snack. Remember that a fully cooked meal will draw on
your body’s enzyme reserves. So, if you are drinking a quart of green smoothie every day, you may wish to
drink half of it before the cooked part of your lunch, and half of it before the cooked part of your late-afternoon
snack, for instance. This would be preferable to drinking nothing but the entire quart of smoothie for lunch, and
then three hours later eating a cooked snack. Then, eat a big green salad as at least 60% of your dinner. You
have supplied your daily enzyme needs and lengthened your own life (and/or supplied your existing years with
more vitality). Breakfasts that are largely raw are a step we will take later in the year. Getting a raw breakfast is
easier, since people often want a “hot meal” for lunch or dinner.
Second, if you are suffering from serious illness, including cancer, you may wish to undertake a 100% raw diet.
I have a large handful of friends, including my grandmother, who eliminated “deadly” cancers with an all-raw
diet. Cancer cannot live in the presence of oxygen, and raw plant foods oxygenate the blood and tissues.
Third, if 60% of your diet is raw and the other 40% consists heavily of dead, denatured foods rather than whole
foods, that 60% may be insufficient for you to experience vibrant health. The 60% advice assumes that your
consumption of the very worst foods (meat—especially processed meat, soft drinks, sugar, white flour, and
refined oils) is minimal, and that the other 40% of your diet is mostly whole grains, legumes, etc.
Try to keep animal products and refined foods like white flour and white sugar under 10% of your diet, if you
feel you must eat them occasionally to live in the “real world” and avoid feeling deprived. Also consider that
you can live a “normal” life while still having a few foods you simply never eat.
At my house, we never eat (even at a party) three foods: (1) processed meat like hot dogs and bacon, (2) sodas,
and (3) pork. Processed meat is full of the most carcinogenic food additives ever approved by the FDA
(nitrates/nitrites). The risk is not worth it. Sodas, as we have mentioned before, are full of nasty ingredients:
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Making Salad the Star
carbonation that robs your red blood cells of oxygen, chemicals your body cannot digest or eliminate, and
either 10 tsp. of sugar per can, and/or NutraSweet, and/or caffeine. Pork is considered “unclean” by various
religions for good reasons: pigs have no sweat glands or lymph system, and their cooked juices have a
chemical composition eerily similar to urine. Pork takes the human body three days or even weeks to
completely digest, and we humans are built to digest our food in a day or less; otherwise it becomes putrefied
and toxic in our long digestive tract.
You would be wise to make a short list of foods you simply never touch. People always say that “balance is the
key.” While that’s a good saying that applies to many things, you’d agree that common sense dictates that “just
a little” arsenic in one’s diet doesn’t equate to “balance.” Neither does getting “just a little” dose of poisons like
MSG, aspartame (NutraSweet), and nitrates/nitrites—even if you do choose to indulge in a little white flour,
white sugar, meat, or cheese occasionally.
What Salad Greens Should I Buy?
With green smoothies, we are able to easily use cruciferous greens, the heavy-textured ones with a peppery,
slightly bitter, or savory flavors (like kale, collards, mustard, radish, and turnip greens), along with milder
tasting spinach and chard. With salads, you can save a bit of those heavier greens out of your green smoothie to
add denser texture, if you want, but here we mostly concentrate on lettuces.
Primary Greens—with a Mild Flavor
NOTE: Iceberg lettuce isn’t included because it contains little nutrition and I never use it.
Romaine (crunchy)
Red leaf and green leaf lettuces (available year 'round)
Butterhead/Boston/Bibb lettuce (delicate texture and buttery taste)
Spinach
Mache (mild flavored, grows in the winter)
Mesclun or Spring Greens (a mixture of salad greens grown and/or packaged together)
Secondary Greens—to Mix into a Salad Made with One of the Primary Greens
Watercress (peppery flavor)
Arugula (mustard-like flavor)
Dandelion greens (can be bitter—harvest these weeds away from roadways)
Radicchio (shred it long and thin)
Escarole (mildly bitter)
Baby chicory / frisée / curly endive (curly leafed)
Belgian endive (bitter)
Cabbages (red, green, savoy—have a coarse, crunchy texture)
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Making Salad the Star
Money-Saving Tips
• If you buy too much lettuce for salads, don’t let it go to waste. Remember that before it goes bad, you
can put it in a Ziploc bag and freeze it. It won’t work for salads after being frozen, but it will work
perfectly in green smoothies!
• I cook big batches of beans for adding to salads. Black turtle beans are my favorite. Rinse dry beans
well, and cover them in a saucepan with twice as much water as beans. Bring to a boil and lower heat.
Simmer for 2-3 hours, until beans are tender. Allow to cool and freeze them in sandwich baggies. I take
a baggie out of the freezer in the morning, and by dinner time I have some extremely inexpensive,
sodium-free protein and fiber to add to our salads.
Your Journal Entry
Make sure you take a few minutes to document here any changes in your health that resulted from adding a big
salad to your dinner menu every night. These are questions to consider:
1. How do you feel after a dinner with salad as the main course, compared to your previous diet?
2. Do you notice any other changes in your health from adding more greens and raw vegetables to your
diet? Any changes in weight, energy, digestion, elimination, or chronic conditions?
3. Are you spending more time in the kitchen than you did before and, if so, have you found a
compensatory increase in your energy and ability to get other things done?
4. Is this change worth the investment of your time to learn about it and implement it?
5. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
6. Any other observations during this month?
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Making Salad the Star
60 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Making Salad the Star
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Making Salad the Star
BASIC SALAD RECIPES
Everyday Green Salad
I confess I keep these ingredients on hand and make this most nights, but changing the dressings give the basic
salad variety, and we also throw in whatever vegetables and beans we have on hand.
1 large head romaine lettuce, washed and torn into pieces
2 handfuls spring greens or spinach
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 bell pepper (any color), peeled and sliced thinly
¼ red onion, sliced thinly
½ C sprouts, any kind (nuts, grains, or seeds)
optional: ½ C black or green olives
optional: ½ C crumbled feta cheese
optional: ½ C walnut pieces
optional: 1 can black, kidney, or garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained well
Toss all ingredients, then do what the Italians do: drizzle
olive oil and any vinegar (or fresh lemon juice) over the salad
and toss. I also sprinkle Trocomare (a low-sodium herbal
seasoning found in health food stores) or dried kelp on the
salad.
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Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad
Make this when you’re in a hurry but want your 60% raw meal—a favorite tradition in Europe.
3 English cucumbers, peeled and sliced thinly
½ red onion, sliced thinly
8-10 Roma tomatoes, quartered
optional: basil leaves, chopped
Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh-ground pepper, and marinate for 30 min. if you
have time.
PARTY SALADS
I have noticed an interesting phenomenon: the salads people like best are the ones that have interesting
combinations of nuts and fruit in the greens. The next 10 salads are that kind—the ones you take to a party and
are the first to disappear. Everyone will ask you for the recipe. But your family will be delighted if you make
them at home, too, to avoid burning out on the “same old” salad.
Craisin Salad
1 head red leaf lettuce
2 heads Boston/Bibb/butter lettuce
1 large can mandarin oranges, drained
1 C Craisins
1 C mozzarella cheese, grated
1 C sliced almonds
1 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic) or maple syrup
Sauté almonds over medium heat with butter and maple syrup, stirring constantly until light brown (be careful
not to burn). Set aside. Toss all remaining ingredients together. Add nuts and dressing and toss right before
serving. Serves 6-8.
The Craisin Salad Dressing (page 82) is perfect for this salad.
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Making Salad the Star
Spinach-Strawberry Salad
2 washed bags of spinach, torn into pieces
4 C sliced strawberries
½ C pecans
optional: ¾ red onion, finely sliced
Toss spinach, strawberries, and pecans. The Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing (page 83) is perfect for this
salad. Serves 8-12.
Cabbage Salad
½ head red cabbage, shredded
½ head green cabbage, shredded
1½ C grapes, halved
2 cans drained mandarin oranges
1 C pumpkin seeds
½ C almonds (or walnuts), sliced or chopped
optional: ½ C Chinese crunchy noodles
optional: ½ C raisins or Craisins
Toss all ingredients along with any vinaigrette. The following dressings are also good with this salad.
Serves 8-10.
Asian Ginger Dressing (page 87)
Balsamic-Miso Vinaigrette (page 88)
Avocado Dressing (page 84)
Ginger-Miso Dressing (page 89)
(page 94)
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad
1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized chunks
3 heads broccoli, cut into bite-sized chunks
½ red onion, sliced
1 C raisins
1 C sunflower seeds
optional: 1 Tbsp. curry powder
Lightly steam cauliflower and broccoli (8-10 min.), let cool. Add other ingredients except curry powder.
Toss with the Avocado Dressing (page 84) (optionally mixed with 1 Tbsp. curry powder) or (page 94). Chill
and serve. Serves 8-10.
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Making Salad the Star
Christmasy Salad
4 C kale and/or collards, cut into ribbons
1 C green cabbage, finely chopped
1 C red cabbage, finely chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 C radishes, finely chopped or julienned
2 apples, shredded
1 large mango, finely chopped
seeds from ¾ of a pomegranate
2 avocados, diced
NOTE: To save time, I chop by hand only the kale, collards, mango, and avocado. The cabbage, apples, and radishes
I coarsely grate in my food processor.
Mix all well. The Tangy Dill Dressing (page 85) is perfect for this salad. Serves 8-12
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Making Salad the Star
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad
1 C walnut pieces
10 oz. mixed greens
1 head butter lettuce (or romaine if unavailable), chopped
2 large navel oranges, peeled and sectioned, with each section cut in half
½ red onion, sliced
1 tub Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
optional: 1 can kidney beans, well drained
Toast walnuts in a dry sauté pan or under an oven broiler until browned (being careful not to burn them). Toss
all salad ingredients except cheese. Sprinkle crumbled cheese on top of each serving.
The Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing (page 83) is perfect for this salad. Serves 8-10.
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad
1 10-oz. bag spinach
1 large jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 C dried coconut (large flakes, or shredded if not available)
3 grapefruits, halved and sections scooped out with grapefruit spoon and extra juice reserved
½ C walnuts, chopped
Dressing:
½ C grapefruit juice (squeeze out of grapefruits after sectioning them)
¼ C honey (raw)
2 tsp. dill weed
2 garlic cloves
Blend dressing ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth, and toss with salad ingredients. Let sit for
30 min. or more to marinate spinach before serving. Serves 6-8.
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Making Salad the Star
Waldorf Salad
1 large celery root, peeled and cut into thin 3" sticks
10 oz. spring mix greens
2 large handfuls of spinach
3 Jonathan or Gala apples, cut into thin 3" sticks
¼ C lemon juice
¾ C raisins
1 C walnuts, chopped
Dressing:
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
½ C yogurt
1 C extra virgin olive oil
¼ C white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
¼ tsp. sea salt
Blanch celery root sticks in boiling water for 1 min., rinse in cold water, and drain. Put them in a bowl, stir in
lemon juice, and refrigerate for a few hours. Blend all dressing ingredients in a high-powered blender until
smooth. Toss all ingredients with dressing. Serves 8-10.
Asian Salad
1 head red leaf lettuce, washed and torn up
1 head green leaf lettuce, washed and torn up
1 C cilantro, chopped
1 C dried currants
1 C dried coconut flakes (larger than shreds)
1 C peanuts
Toss all and serve with the (page 94) or Asian Ginger Dressing (page 87). Serves 8-10.
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Making Salad the Star
Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3 ears fresh corn (cut off cobs, then boiled 1 min.) or 2 C frozen white/sweet corn (thawed)
½ bunch cilantro, finely chopped
juice of 1 lime
C balsamic vinegar
2 roasted red peppers*, cut into long strips and then diced
* To roast red peppers: Wash and dry peppers. Broil close to the hot coil in the oven (or roast directly on a gas
stove flame or on a grill), turning until all sides are blackened and blistered. Put in a closed paper bag until
cool. Remove and peel off blackened skin. Cut open and remove seeds. DO NOT RINSE.
Toss all ingredients together and chill one hour or longer to let flavors mix. Serves 6-8.
NOTE: Optionally, for simplicity, use just the first three ingredients and a pinch of salt.
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Southwest Salad
1 head green leaf, red leaf, or romaine lettuce, washed and torn up
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 C corn kernels (preferably fresh or thawed frozen)
1 C black beans, rinsed well
whole-wheat bread croûtons*
* To make croûtons: Bush bread with olive oil, sprinkle with basil/oregano, chop into cubes, and toast under
broiler.
Toss all and serve with the Avocado Dressing (page 84). Serves 6.
Salsa Verde Salad
This big salad is a dinner all by itself for a family of 6, or you can serve it with corn bread (page 259) or wholewheat
biscuits (page 262).
1 head romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
2 C chopped green cabbage
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and julienned
1½ C jicama, peeled and julienned
1 can (rinsed) or 1½ C fresh (or frozen, thawed) corn kernels
2 avocados, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed well
1 can black olives, sliced
1 C feta cheese, crumbled
corn tortilla strips*
* To make corn tortilla strips: Cut 8 corn tortillas into long, thin strips, and then fry in ¼ C coconut oil until
crisp.
Toss all ingredients except tortilla strips. Serve tossed with the entire batch of (page 94). Add tortilla strips
right before serving.
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Making Salad the Star
Sprouted Quinoa Salad
This recipe is a teaser for sprouting, and for using high-protein grains, in two later chapters.
2 C sprouted quinoa*
juice of 3 small or 2 large limes
1 small apple (Pink Lady, Fuji, Jonagold)
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
1½ tsp. dried (or ¼ C fresh) mint leaves, chopped
1½ tsp. sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 C sliced red grapes
6 stalks celery, diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
½ C basil leaves, chopped
3 green onions, sliced (include most of the green part)
2 C diced broccoli or 2 red bell peppers, diced
1 C raw cashews, chopped
* To sprout quinoa: Rinse it well, then soak it several hours. Drain it, then let it sit in a fine mesh strainer on the
counter for a day or two—just rinse it twice a day until you use it.
In a high-powered blender, purée lime juice, apple, olive oil, mint leaves, salt, and pepper. Toss all ingredients
except cashews. Marinate a few hours in the fridge if time allows. Add cashews right before serving.
Serves 8-12.
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Making Salad the Star
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Making Salad the Star
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata
This is my duplication of my favorite salad they used to serve at Macaroni Grill, but nutritious and
vegetarian—and I think it even tastes better. It’s a hit everywhere I take it.
1 C uncooked whole-wheat orzo pasta (boil it approx. 6-7 min. and rinse well to keep grains separate,
then cool)
10+ C spinach (about 2 10-oz. bags), chopped
1 pkg. fresh basil, cut into ribbons
2 tomatoes, diced small
1 can black olives, sliced
2 oz. capers (half a 4-oz. jar), drained
½ C raw pine nuts
optional: shaved Parmesan to taste
Toss all ingredients except optional Parmesan. Add dressing to taste (the Tangy Dill Dressing on page 85 is
perfect) and toss. Top each plate with shaved Parmesan if desired. Serves 4 as a complete meal.
Avocado-Almond Salad
This is one of my favorite salads—filling as an entire lunch.
6 medium tomatoes, chopped
6 avocados, diced
1 C raw almonds, soaked and drained, then chopped
1 C celery, finely chopped
1 green onion, chopped
½ C chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
dash of agave (raw, organic)
¼ tsp. sea salt or Trocomare
optional: 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
optional: ½ tsp. cayenne
Mix and enjoy! Serves 6.
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Making Salad the Star
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad
4 beets
3 ripe pears
1 head of butter lettuce, washed and dried
1 C pumpkin seeds, soaked overnight and drained
juice of ¾ a lemon
¼ C olive oil
7 oz. feta cheese
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
optional: mint leaves, chopped
Cut the beets and pears finely into matchsticks. Add pumpkin seeds. Drizzle the lemon juice and olive oil over
all and toss. Crumble feta (and optional mint leaves) on top. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Serve on leaves of butter lettuce. (Optionally, the salad can be served as a wrap inside the lettuce leaves.)
Serves 6.
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Making Salad the Star
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CHAPTER 3
Dressing Up Your Salads
Your Goal:
To eliminate commercial salad dressings and begin making your own. You’ll eliminate carcinogenic,
rancid, processed oils and dangerous additives. You’ll enjoy fresh ingredients and extra virgin,
antioxidant-rich oils that nourish every cell and make your skin and hair beautiful.
What You’ll Need:
No new tools are required this month, but an inexpensive electric citrus juicer would be very helpful, as
fresh lemon, lime, and orange juices make fantastic fresh salad dressings. When you have a juicer, you
can quickly extract every drop of juice, making the process very efficient.
Have on hand extra virgin olive oil, and refrigerated flax oil found at the health food store. To make a
variety of delicious dressings, you should also have different vinegars on hand: balsamic, raw apple
cider, brown rice, red wine, white wine, and umeboshi plum (found at the health food store or online).
An interesting homemade salad
dressing (like the Tangy Dill shown at
right; see page 85) can make a simple
meal fabulous, much like accessories
transform an outfit. Salad dressings are
a great way to get good fats into your
diet—and eating good fats rids the body
of old fat because live, lipase-rich fatty
food helps us metabolize stored fat
deposits.
Quality salad dressings take only a few
minutes to make in your turbo blender,
and they store well in the fridge. The
best news of all about this month’s goal
is that homemade salad dressings taste
so much better than anything made with refined oils and preserved on the store shelf with chemicals. If
you take the challenge to eat no store-bought dressings this month, you will be amazed that at the end
of the month, you will find bottled dressings anywhere from unappetizing to inedible.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Dangerous Ingredients in Commercial Salad Dressings
Bottled salad dressings are a danger to your health. Virtually all of them, including the expensive refrigerated
kinds, contain one or more of the following dangerous ingredients that your fresh, homemade salad dressings
will not contain.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG). This chemical is purchased under the
brand name “Accent.” It is also hiding in hydrolyzed vegetable protein
and dozens of other food additives, so you may not recognize that it’s in
your bottled dressings, especially nonrefrigerated types. MSG makes you
crave more of the foods it is in and thus has been linked to the obesity
epidemic. Perhaps even more importantly, it is a neurotoxin that has been
linked to brain damage, central nervous system damage, and dozens of
other major health problems.
Chemical additives and preservatives. These include propylene glycol,
sodium laureth sulfate (SLS), and other chemicals whose names you
cannot pronounce. Although PG and SLS are known by the FDA to cause
liver and kidney damage, the FDA approves these chemicals and many
others if they are “food grade,” which means that the rodents and
droppings are strained out.
Refined oils. These are oils such as soy, safflower, canola, and other vegetable oils which are heated above
400° and made rancid and, therefore, carcinogenic. Everyone knows trans fatty acids (TFAs) are deadly, but
even refined oils that are not manufactured and bombarded with hydrogen atoms like TFAs are very harmful to
our health, damaging every cell they come into contact with. Despite the claims of soy product manufacturers,
who have been very successful at promoting soy in the past two decades, soy oil and other refined soy products
are thyroid suppressants. Since millions of American women are walking around with undiagnosed lowthyroid
(hypothyroid) problems, we would be wise to stay away from all refined soy products, which are in
many foods.
High-fructose corn syrup. The very worst of all the refined sugars, it is
linked to diabetes, tooth decay, and obesity, among dozens of other health
risks. This is what dietitians call “added sugar,” because it is totally
unnecessary topping a salad. Craving a treat and eating a piece of chocolate
is one thing. But no one will miss cheap, refined sugars in their salad!
You should recognize most of your favorite dressing types in this chapter’s
recipes, but none have chemicals or ingredients that will damage your
health. All feature lipase-rich, antioxidant-packed ingredients that will
make a dramatic difference in the longevity and health of every cell in your
body.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
High-Nutrition Ingredients to Use Instead
The best salad oils to use are olive oil and flax oil, as they are highly nutritious, are liquid (unlike coconut oil,
which is solid above 76°), and have flavors that complement raw vegetables. Feel free to experiment with
grape seed and other seed and nut oils as well, also highly nutritious—but buy extra virgin, unprocessed
versions.
Olive oil. Always buy organic, extra virgin—the greenest olive oil you can find. The greener it is, the higher in
antioxidants it is. “Extra virgin” means that the oil is raw and comes from the first pressing of the olives.
Subsequent pressings become more bitter, less nutritious and, more importantly, require more heat processing
to extract.
Flaxseed oil. Flax seed and, in particular, its oil are the richest source of Omega-3 fatty acids of any food.
These “essential fatty acids” are critical building blocks in the human body, and the body cannot manufacture
them from other elements, as with so many other things. Buy flax oil in dark, refrigerated bottles at the health
food store—and always keep it in the fridge, as it breaks down and goes rancid more quickly than other oils.
Sprouts. I add a couple of tablespoons of alfalfa sprouts to many of my salad dressing recipes, simply because
they are the most high-nutrition food on the planet (greens being in second place), and we can easily sneak
them into dressings. We will focus on sprouting and live foods later, in Chapter 7 (page 199). If you have never
sprouted, you can wait until Chapter 7 to start incorporating sprouts into your dressings (or purchase organic
spouts if you can't wait).
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Money- and Time-Saving Tips
• Because many good dressings call for citrus juice, to save
time, I juice a bunch of lemons, limes, or oranges at a time
when they are on sale or when a friend in Arizona, California,
or Florida gives me a bag- or boxful. I use a $10-$20 electric
citrus juicer, which you can get from such stores as Target or
Wal-Mart. It is worth the money because you can get double
the amount of juice compared to squeezing by hand. Then I
freeze 2 Tbsp. portions in ice cube trays and save the cubes in
a plastic freezer bag for easy use over a few months. I like to
have a bag each of frozen orange, lemon, and lime juice
always on hand.
• I cut up and freeze the lemon rinds in fourths, too, rather than
throwing them away! (You could also use orange or lime rinds
as well.) I put one-fourth of a lemon rind in a blenderful of
green smoothie. The rind adds a nice lemon flavor as well as
powerful flavanoid compounds that have been documented to
prevent and eliminate skin cancers (if you spent your
adolescence in the sun getting burned like I did, you’ll
especially want to use lemon rind).
• I keep several heads of romaine and standard salad vegetables
(tomatoes, red onions, peppers, and cucumbers) on hand every day, week, and month of the year. That
way, if I stop at the store, I don’t need an ingredient list or recipe to be able to grab items to make a big
salad several days in a row. I often just drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice on a basic
salad when I’m in a hurry and don’t have a fancier dressing made up (I also sprinkle the salad with
basil, kelp, or Trocomare).
• After dinner, I pour vinegar and oil from the salad bowl into a
pint jar. After a few days, I have enough salad dressing for
another salad. (Drain your lettuce well when making the salad,
or you’ll have watery salad dressing and unusable “leftovers.”
I love my $15 salad spinner.) Call me cheap, but somehow the
Depression-era frugal/conserving “make do” attitude lasted
three generations in my family.
• Make big batches of dressing and freeze some for later.
Dressings will last only as long as the perishable ingredients
in them, such as onions or sprouts.
• Use any of the homemade salad dressings for your leftovers.
My neighbor Kris says any of the 18 dressings in this chapter
go well with quinoa (which takes 10 minutes to cook) and any
steamed or raw veggies for a quick, nutritious, light meal.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Your Journal Entry
Make sure you take a few minutes at the end of this month to document any changes in your health from
committing to making nutritious salad dressings. These are questions to consider:
1. What changes in your health do you notice from getting olive and flax oil and other good fats into your
diet in the form of homemade salad dressings?
2. Do you notice anything different about your hair, skin, and fingernails, which are often dramatically
affected by inclusion of good fats in the diet?
3. How time consuming has it been to make salad dressings, and have any gains in your health been worth
that time?
4. Do you like the taste of homemade dressings better than store bought? Do you miss bottled salad
dressing?
5. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
6. Any other observations during this month?
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Dressing Up Your Salads
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Dressing Up Your Salads
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Dressing Up Your Salads
SALAD DRESSING RECIPES
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations
Mix in a high-powered blender until smooth:
1 C extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. unrefined flaxseed oil
¼ C red wine, apple cider, or balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
optional: 2 Tbsp. alfalfa sprouts
Variations
add two cloves garlic
Makes 1½ cups.
add finely chopped parsley, thyme, or oregano
add sun-dried tomatoes and green onion
substitute cream (or nuts like pine nuts or walnuts) for part of the olive oil, for a creamy-type
dressing
add tomatoes and basil
Craisin Salad Dressing
½ C honey (raw)
½ C apple cider vinegar
1 C extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. mustard
1 tsp. sea salt
1 small red onion, cut into fourths
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
Blend all ingredients except poppy seeds in a high-powered blender until onion is puréed. Add poppy seeds
and pulse a couple of times.
This dressing is perfect with the Craisin Salad (page 63). Makes over 2 cups, enough for 2-3 salads.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing
½ C extra virgin olive oil
½ C white wine vinegar
¼ C honey (raw)
¼ tsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
optional: 2-3 Tbsp. puréed strawberries or raspberries
optional: ¼ tsp. basil
Blend all ingredients except poppy seeds briefly in high-powered blender. Add poppy seeds and pulse a couple
of times.
This dressing is perfect with the Spinach-Strawberry Salad (page 64). Makes 1¼ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Orange-Walnut Salad Dressing
½ C extra virgin olive oil
C orange juice
¼ C agave (raw, organic) or honey (raw)
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
¼ tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. black pepper
optional: 2 Tbsp. alfalfa sprouts
Blend all in a high-powered blender just until smooth. This dressing is perfect with the Craisin Salad (page 63).
Makes 1½ cups.
Avocado Dressing
Avocado is rich in the best fats. I often eat an entire large avocado with a meal, day after day, and don’t gain
weight. You needn’t fear eating avocados in abundance if you love them, and they make a lovely salad
dressing.
2 large avocados
½ C fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. Nama Shoyu (page 339) or Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
½ tsp. sea salt
2-4 Tbsp. water to achieve desired consistency
optional: 2 Tbsp. alfalfa sprouts
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Toss a liberal amount with salad immediately
before serving. Makes 2-2½ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Cabbage Salad Dressing
1 C extra virgin olive oil
½ C raw honey (raw)
¼ C + 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. spicy brown mustard
½ white onion, chopped
pinch sea salt
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
optional: 2 Tbsp. alfalfa sprouts
Blend all ingredients except poppy seeds well in a high-powered blender. Add poppy seeds and pulse just to
mix. Makes 1¾ cups.
Tangy Dill Dressing
¼ C fresh lemon juice
¼ C fresh orange juice
½ C extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
¼ C apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey (raw)
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. dried (or ¼ C fresh) dill weed
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender.
This dressing is lovely on the Christmasy Salad (page 65) and the Spinach-Orzo Ensalata (page 72), or in
veggie wraps made with sprouted-wheat tortillas or pitas. Makes 1½ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
¼ C fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey (raw)
2 Tbsp. brown mustard
½ C extra virgin olive oil
¼ C unrefined flaxseed oil
3 cloves garlic
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp. cayenne
2+ Tbsp. water (to achieve desired consistency)
1 Tbsp. whole mustard seeds (soaked in 2 Tbsp. water, above, for 30 min.)
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Makes scant 2 cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Maple Syrup Dressing
This is my favorite dressing. Easy to make, good on anything, and lasts weeks in the fridge if you use 1 tsp.
onion powder instead of fresh onion.
¾ C extra virgin olive oil
¾ C red wine vinegar
6 Tbsp. maple syrup
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ C brown mustard
¼ yellow or white onion
½ tsp. garlic powder
Blend in a high-powered blender until smooth. Makes 2 cups.
Asian Ginger Dressing
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger root, minced
¾ C extra virgin olive oil*
C rice vinegar
½ C Nama Shoyu (page 339)
3 Tbsp. honey (raw)
* Optionally, substitute organic, unrefined toasted sesame oil (which is less nutritious but more authentic).
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until the honey is liquefied and the ginger root and garlic are
well blended. Makes scant 1½ cups.
This dressing is delicious with shredded cabbage and toasted sesame seeds, or with the Waldorf Salad
(page 67).
Ranch Dressing
1 C buttermilk
1 C sour cream
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 Tbsp. dried chives
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
Blend briefly in a high-powered blender until just mixed, pour into a jar, and put in the fridge for a few hours to
meld flavors. Makes scant 2¼ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Green Goddess Dressing
After using this on salad one night, use the rest drizzled over steamed broccoli the next night—delicious!
3 cloves garlic
juice of 2 small lemons (or 1 very large one)
2 Tbsp. alfalfa sprouts
1 C cilantro
1 C fresh parsley
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338) or Nama Shoyu (page 339)
1 Tbsp. umeboshi plum vinegar
½ C extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. dried kelp
optional: 1-4 Tbsp. water (to achieve desired consistency)
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Makes 1½-2 cups.
Bleu Cheese Dressing
1 C extra virgin olive oil
C rice vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic
½ Tbsp. dried tarragon
6-8 oz. bleu cheese, crumbled
¼ tsp. sea salt
optional: 2 Tbsp. alfalfa or clover sprouts
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender. Best if chilled overnight to blend flavors. Makes 2 cups.
Balsamic-Miso Vinaigrette
¾ C extra virgin olive oil
6 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. honey (raw)
1 Tbsp. oregano
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
3 Tbsp. white Miso (page 339)
3 cloves garlic
¼ C chopped parsley
¼ tsp. sea salt
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Makes 2 cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Ginger-Miso Dressing
This is reminiscent of Thai flavors.
½ C lemon juice
½ C orange juice
2 green onions (the entire stalk and bulb)
2 cloves garlic
¼ C fresh, raw ginger root
C white Miso (page 339)
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
½ C extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
¼ C Umeboshi plum paste (page 339)
¼ C water
sea salt to taste
optional: 2 Tbsp. alfalfa sprouts
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender, and add water if too thick. Makes 2½-3 cups.
Honey Dressing
¾ C extra virgin olive oil
½ C honey (raw)
1 C fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. sea salt
Blend in a high-powered blender until smooth. Makes 2¼ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Yogurt Curry Dressing
½ C plain yogurt (thick yogurt is best, but kefir works too)
C extra virgin olive oil
C rice vinegar
¼ C white wine vinegar
2 tsp. curry powder
tsp. allspice
1 tsp. fresh ginger root
¼ tsp. chili powder
tsp. pepper
Blend vinegar, oil, and ginger in a high-powered blender on high speed until smooth. Add remaining
ingredients and blend on lowest speed until just mixed. Makes 1½ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Pesto Vinaigrette
Great recipe for using leftover pesto sauce.
¾ C pesto sauce (see recipe (page 183) or use store-bought pesto)
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
¼ C flaxseed oil
½ C red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. C fresh lemon juice
tsp. freshly ground pepper
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender. Makes 2 cups.
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette
1½ C puréed fresh tomatoes
¼ C sun-dried tomatoes
½ C extra virgin olive oil
1 C cilantro leaves
½ C white wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. chili powder
juice of 1 lime
½ tsp. sea salt
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until desired consistency is achieved. Makes 3 cups.
Salsa Verde Dressing
3 tomatillos, husked
½ C cilantro
5 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. jalapeño pepper (remove seeds unless you like it HOT)
1 garlic clove
6 Tbsp. olive oil
4 large green onions (entire onion, just the ragged ends cut off)
¾ tsp. sea salt
¾ tsp. freshly ground pepper
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. This is perfect served with the Salsa Verde Salad
(page 69). Makes 1½ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Lemon Tahini Dressing
In addition to being a great salad dressing, you can also toss this with cooked quinoa, whole-grain couscous, or
soba noodles and chopped raw or steamed veggies.
½ C raw tahini (sesame seed paste, found in health food and grocery stores)
½ C fresh lemon juice
½ C fresh orange juice
a small chunk of lemon peel, about the size of a quarter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ - ½ C water (to achieve desired consistency)
1 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp. ginger root
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
¼ C parsley
¼ C cilantro
¼ tsp. sea salt
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Makes 2½ cups.
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Dressing Up Your Salads
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Dressing Up Your Salads
Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette
½ - ¾ C basil leaves
1 C oil (2 Tbsp. flaxseed, the remainder olive)
½ C Parmesan cheese
¼ C balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
¼ tsp. sea salt
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender, then put in fridge to meld flavors for 2 hours. Makes 2 cups.
Lemon-Lime Dressing
½ C honey (raw)
¾ C fresh lemon juice
¼ C fresh lime juice
C Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
1" fresh ginger root, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic
¾ C extra virgin olive oil
¼ C flaxseed oil
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender on high speed until ginger is puréed. Makes 3 cups.
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CHAPTER 4
Avoiding Bad Fats,
Enjoying Good Fats
Your Goal:
To throw out refined oils and learn to use and enjoy the good fats in your diet and beauty regimen
necessary for silky, shiny hair; dewy, clear, unlined skin; and robust cells in every organ and tissue of
your body. We will focus on three extremely nutritious oils that have different virtues and uses, both
internal and external.
What You’ll Need:
You’ll want to buy some refrigerated flaxseed oil (at the health food store); some extra virgin olive oil;
and some virgin, organic coconut oil. See “Robyn Recommends” on www.GreenSmoothieGirl.com for
coconut oil—and if my source is out of stock, try again shortly, as they keep only small, fresh
quantities on hand.)
Fat in general was unfairly maligned for about 10 years in the “low-fat” obsession that damaged the
American psyche. Even otherwise-sensible proponents of a plant-based diet continue to operate under
the fallacy that fats should be avoided and that a low-fat diet is a natural one. To this day, people in my
community come up to me everywhere I go and, in an effort to tell me about their own interest in
nutrition, catalog their meals of skim milk and oatmeal, low-fat yogurt, egg substitutes, spray salad
dressings, and other denatured or fake foods engineered to avoid fat
.
Long before I undertook to study the issue for myself, long before good research replaced the “low-fat”
craze, I was brainwashed (like you, I’m sure) by the constant barrage of illegitimate information we
were fed that we should avoid foods with fat in them. I still struggle a bit to put coconut, olive, and flax
oil in my food—or eat an entire avocado—because of the way I was influenced in those years.
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Avoiding Bad Fats, Enjoying Good Fats
Fortunately, my vain desire to have healthy skin, hair, and nails usually wins out, and I put that avocado on my
salad after all. It feels like a guilty pleasure, and it shouldn’t be! I wish I could undo the damage to my health of
that decade of my 20s I spent buying artificial foods to avoid the natural, good ones: butter, olive oil, nuts,
seeds, olives, avocados, and—gasp!—even saturated fats like coconut oil.
I know a number of people, and you probably do as well, who still embrace eating “low-fat” as being
synonymous with “healthy.” They are thin, but they don’t look good. That’s because we need fats to protect
every cell membrane to keep it hydrated, elastic, and youthful. People who avoid all fats look dry, prematurely
aged, leathery, and unhealthy.
The first year I began using coconut oil and flax seed oil in my diet regularly, my longtime problem with
wintertime dry skin and eczema disappeared completely. Further, my lifelong circulation problems (cold hands
and feet) stopped that winter as well.
Now, of course, we’ve been enduring a decade of silliness about how carbohydrates are going to kill us. It’s
pure marketing genius, of course, to decide every 10 years to tell the American public that one-third of the
nutrition in natural foods is bad for them (fats, carbs, and protein making up the three parts). I wonder if an
anti-protein fad is next.
Still, most of the fats used regularly by Americans are destructive rather than nourishing. These include all
refined and processed oils, which are often heated above 400°, deodorized, and purified. They are also
sometimes made into “trans fats” by bombarding them with extra hydrogen atoms to make them solid at room
temperature. They are already rancid and, therefore, carcinogenic (full of free radicals) when they arrive on the
store shelf. Additionally, they are heavy in Omega-6 fatty acids and deficient in Omega-3s), leading to extreme
imbalances in our Essential Fatty Acid stores.
In particular, avoid processed canola, corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, and cottonseed oils. Canola oil has
some linoleic acid (which is good) but, unlike flaxseed and olive oils, it doesn’t have a venerable history of
being used for centuries by healthy populations. It was discovered in Canada and derived from the rape seed,
and many negative health effects have been linked to it. In particular, store-brand peanut butters often have
rapeseed oil added to stabilize the natural oils in the peanuts that would otherwise separate and cause people to
spend a minute stirring. The hydrogenated version of this oil is the worst of the bad, and you would do well to
avoid processed canola oil completely.
So, eat nuts, avocado, flaxseed oil, coconut oil, and olive oil daily—not necessarily all of those every day, but
some of them every day! That said, a word to the wise is in order: excess fats are stored as fat deposits on the
body—so, as a guideline, 1 Tbsp. daily of each of these oils, or 1-2 oz. of nuts, is plenty for an adult or a child.
If this month you continue to eat all the bad fats from your “former life” and add only some good fats, you may
not see weight loss. Let the good stuff bump out the bad!
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Why Should I Eat Flaxseed Oil?
Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are the unsaturated Omega-3 (alpha-linoleic acid)
and Omega-6 (linoleic acid) fatty acids called “essential” because the body
cannot manufacture them and therefore must be supplied by diet. (Your body
can produce adequate Omega-9s if enough essential fats are available.) These
fats support many of the body’s systems, including the nervous, immune,
cardiovascular, and reproductive systems. EFAs are used by the body to make
and repair cell membranes and eliminate waste from cells. They also produce
prostaglandins, which regulate blood pressure, clotting, heart rate, and fertility.
EFAs are particularly critical for babies, pregnant women, and children for
neural development.
Americans are Omega-3 deficient. We need a ratio of between 1:1 and 4:1
Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids, but most Americans get between 10:1 and
25:1. Deficiencies in Omega-3, as well as inappropriate Omega-6 to Omega-3
ratios, have been linked to many of the diseases the U.S. leads the world in:
depression, cancer, heart disease, stroke, asthma, lupus, diabetes, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s. Americans get too
much Omega-6 partly because of our reliance on processed vegetable oils, which are high in damaged, lowgrade
versions of that nutrient.
If anyone experiences symptoms of depression or anxiety, the first thing I recommend trying is flax seed or
flaxseed oil in the diet every day, which can create dramatic improvement by addressing Omega-3 deficiency.
Yet another reason to enjoy foods rich in EFAs is that they have the effect of combating damage done by the
“bad fats.” The phytoestrogens in flax have a documented result of balancing hormones for women: too-high
estrogen counts tend to come down and too-low estrogen counts tend to come up when eating flax seed. And
compounds in this power food are well established tumor inhibitors, so anyone with a history or risk for cancer
should take note.
The American Cancer Institute acknowledges 27 different compounds in flax seed that are anti-carcinogenic.
In particular, a diet containing flax inhibits breast and colon cancers. In recent years, a hot topic of research is
the lignan compounds, a special carbohydrate known to prevent both cancer and heart disease, as well as other
inflammatory conditions. Virtually all of our modern diseases are inflammatory diseases. Flax has the highest
known concentration of these lignans, 75 times higher than the next-highest food!
Possibly the best way to get EFAs is in the form of flax or hemp seeds. However, two cautions are in order.
First, smell them when you purchase them (and look at the expiration date to make sure that they are fresh).
You can usually tell if they smell rancid. Grind them in your high-powered blender only just before using them,
as they oxidize quickly once ground. Second, whole flax seeds that aren't broken down pass through the
intestine doing little other than absorbing liquid—so chew flax very well if you eat it whole, or grind it instead.
You can get your EFAs easily from high-quality flaxseed oil, which must be purchased refrigerated in dark
bottles at health food stores. Barlean’s and Udo’s are excellent brands that use organic flax and refrigerate it
from production to point of sale. One tablespoon of flaxseed oil daily provides an adequate quantity of EFAs
with the ideal Omega 3:6 ratio. Including the whole seed in your diet, however, will be less expensive and will
add dietary fiber. Use about 2 Tbsp. a day of flax seeds. If you eat flax crackers, eat a few small crackers, not a
cup of them. We will focus more on flax seeds again in Chapter 7 (page 199).
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In addition to flax, foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids also include walnuts, pumpkin and sesame seeds,
avocados, and leafy greens like kale, spinach, and collards. Eating these foods may be even better than eating
oil, because their nutrition will be utilized by the body throughout the day, absorption being slowed by the fiber
in the seeds. Uses for pumpkin and sesame seeds are found in Chapter 7 (page 199) and Chapter 10 (page 275).
Shouldn’t I Be Eating Fish Oil?
Fish oil enjoyed a lot of attention for about 10 years and has been considered to be a great way to prevent heart
disease. Fish oils are rich in Essential Fatty Acids, and many people think they are the best source. That’s
because most of the research on EFAs focused on the fish oils for many years. More recent studies show no
difference in heart disease between people who take fish oil and people who don’t. And Harvard-educated
M.D. Donald Rudin says that his own research yielded better results with flaxseed oil. 1
Furthermore, fish oil has risks associated with it. First, one
study shows that you could drink lake water for 100 years and
not get as much deadly PCBs as you could get from eating half
a pound of fish from that lake. 2 Relying on eating fish itself can
be problematic because some of the EFAs (linoleic acids) are
destroyed in cooking.
Also, fish oil is often rancid in the capsules. Try cutting one
open, if you have some—it will not likely taste fresh, and may
very likely taste horrible. And many people burp the fish taste
up for hours afterward, a sign of poor digestibility and possibly
rancidity.
Unlike fish oil, flax is a whole-plant food packaged with lots of fiber and other virtues—not least of which is
the fact that it’s much less expensive than fish oil. In fact, I believe flax seed to be potentially the most
nutritious food on the planet, with such a rare, full array of merits. You do not need to eat much of it: 1-2 Tbsp.
daily is plenty.
Flax is high in Omega-3 EPA but does not have as much Omega-3 DHA as fish oil does. However, you should
consider several factors along with that information. First, you need very little DHA. Second, your body stores
and recycles it rather effectively. Third, if you would like to supplement with DHA, you can get it
inexpensively from plant sources in tablet form at your health food store.
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Why Should I Eat Coconut Oil?
A very successful political campaign in the 80s and 90s by the soy industry effectively blacklisted tropical oils
(coconut and palm) and made “saturated fat” a swear word in nutrition. We were told instead to use canola or
corn oils when we couldn’t avoid oil in a recipe. Unfortunately, refined and nutritionally inferior vegetable oils
that replaced coconut oil ended up increasing health problems rather than decreasing them.
Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are necessary in our diet and lead to silky skin and hair, as well as healthy
cellular function buffered by lipids (fats) everywhere in the body. Organic, virgin coconut oil has the highest
levels of MCFAs (58%) and has provided for thousands of years some of the healthiest and most beautiful
people on the planet with excellent nutrition. Dr. Bruce Fife has documented in The Coconut Oil Miracle how
indigenous Pacific Islanders who are relatively unaffected by Westernization have virtually no heart disease
and cancer, with ideal height/weight ratios. Their diet is up to 60% fat, most of it saturated fat from coconut! 3
MCFAs supply quick energy because they are metabolized in the liver like carbs rather than being stored in the
adipose tissue or as belly fat. MCFAs enhance our immune system with critical nutrients. Coconut oil is
antimicrobial, antibacterial, and antifungal—shown to kill strep, staph, fungus, the virus that causes leukemia,
and much more.
My teenaged son once had a fungal infection on his face that wouldn’t go
away all summer. We tried everything on it, including colloidal silver and
even over-the-counter topical drugs. Nothing worked, and the spot was
growing bigger and becoming a social liability. Finally, I had the idea to
apply some virgin coconut oil. The quarter-sized fungal infection
disappeared in 36 hours! My 8-yr. old has twice gotten painful urinary tract
infections, and they disappeared quickly when I had him eat a few
spoonfuls of coconut oil twice a day. (He doesn’t like it plain, so I spread a
thick layer on a sprouted-wheat English muffin or whole-grain toast, and he
thought that was a treat.)
The good and bad fat debate centered on saturation for many years,
obscuring other factors. Not all saturated fats are bad. Lauric acid (the
immune-boosting compound in mother’s milk) is found abundantly in
coconut oil, as well as in smaller amounts in butter. Many supplement
makers isolate lauric acid or make it in synthetic form and sell it as an
immune system aid. Coconut oil has lauric acid in the whole-food form,
which is always utilized better by the body than an isolate or synthetic.
Unlike other oils, coconut oil does not produce dangerous trans fatty acids, even when cooked at high
temperatures. (Even olive oil produces some TFAs.) For this reason, coconut oil is ideal for sautéing. If you
don’t like the coconut flavor imparted to fried foods, I would recommend non-virgin coconut oil—for this
purpose only—since cooking with high heat would kill many of the enzymes and nutrients anyway. The nonvirgin
oils tend to not have the coconut flavor.
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Although coconut oil is low in Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), it increases the utilization of EFAs by up to 100%.
It also nourishes the thyroid and increases metabolic rate for up to 24 hours. You may know that proteins and
carbs have 4 calories per gram, and fats have 9 calories per gram. But you may be surprised to learn that the
MCFAs in coconut oil actually have only 6.9 calories per gram, making coconut oil a slightly lower-calorie fat!
Again, eat coconut oil, but don’t go crazy with it. Bruce Fife recommends 3-4 Tbsp. daily for an adult. 10 I
personally don’t eat anywhere near that much but, including what I put on my lips and face every day (my
teenagers do the same), I get probably 2 Tbsp. daily. With fats, small amounts are all you need, and 10% of
your diet is enough.
Why Should I Eat Olive Oil?
Of the three oils promoted in this chapter, olive oil’s benefits are the most
widely known, since it has been extensively studied for the longest time. That
is partly due to the fact that olive oil has been consumed in abundance (often
35% of calories) in some of the healthiest populations of the world for
literally thousands of years. My friend David Wolfe—author, nutritionist, and
leading raw-food expert—says that his research indicates that olive oil and
chocolate are the two foods most linked to longevity.
One study documented that those eating a typical Mediterranean diet rich in
olive oil, raw vegetables, and poultry had a huge advantage—50% lower
mortality risk!—over those eating lots of pasta, meat, bread, and wine. Greek
research published in Clinical Cardiology found that those using only olive
oil (forgoing other fats) had 47% less heart disease than the control group—
whereas those using other, refined fats as well had no protection against heart
disease. 4 At least one very large study (20,000 subjects) even isolated the
factor making the biggest difference in the Mediterranean diet’s exceptional
effect in lowering blood pressure: virgin olive oil. 5
Olive oil is a monounsaturated fat that actually leads to breaking down stored fats in the body, and published
research shows both animals and humans losing weight when other oils are replaced in the diet with olive oil,
even with caloric intake remaining constant.
Olive oil is rich in the antioxidant classes polyphenols and carotenoids, as well as chlorophyll and vitamin E.
Many studies for several decades have documented that those who eat olive oil regularly (instead of other fats)
have dramatically lower rates of diabetes, colon cancer, asthma, and heart disease. Olive-oil-rich diets lower
blood sugar as well as prevent diseases as diverse as atherosclerosis, inflammation, and bone loss. So
significant were the findings of a French study on olive oil’s effect on bone health that a Brazilian company is
now developing patented olive polyphenol supplements and teas for anti-osteoporosis effects. And more than
one group of researchers has documented a much lower risk of breast cancer in populations eating olive oil
daily.
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Even small amounts of olive oil have been found to kill helicobacter pylori—an antibiotic-resistant bacteria
that causes chronic inflammation, peptic ulcers, and gastric cancer—because it contains antimicrobial
properties.
Always use extra virgin olive oil, which comes from the first pressing of the olives, as it is unrefined and
highest in polyphenols. It is a longer-chain fatty acid, and while 2 Tbsp. daily has been studied as a good
amount to reduce heart disease risk, large amounts of this oil (more than 2 Tbsp. per meal) can lead to weight
gain. Instead of sautéing food in oil, a good idea is to dress vegetables or grains in olive oil immediately after
steaming them or sautéing them in vegetable broth. This preserves all the compounds discussed above that are
found in the raw oil.
You need no more than 1-2 Tbsp. of olive oil daily. And that’s instead of, not in addition to, the bad fats in
animal flesh and processed foods.
What Are the Best Oils for My Beauty Regimen?
I use pure coconut oil, the same virgin oil from my kitchen, every night on my face as a moisturizer, with
excellent anti-aging results. The skin absorbs the oil quickly, so you won’t have shiny skin with standing oil on
it. A nice benefit is that although coconut oil may be expensive compared to other refined oils you formerly
cooked with, it’s very inexpensive compared to commercially prepared facial treatments!
One night a week, work a couple tablespoons of warmed oil through
your hair and into the scalp. (Put the oil in a glass and set the glass in
hot tap water to warm it.) Wear a stocking cap to bed and wash your
hair in the morning. This practice makes hair silky and smooth, and
the cost of the treatment is very low compared to commercial oil
treatments that include emulsifying and preserving chemicals.
I also keep a small container of coconut oil close by to use as a lip
balm. By applying it to the skin, it is absorbed and utilized by the
body the same way as when you eat it. Applying it directly to the skin
has all the same benefits, as it is absorbed into the bloodstream, in
addition to the direct moisturizing effect on the skin, hair, and lips.
If you have dry skin, you may wish to put a tablespoon of coconut oil
in your bath water, to restore the antimicrobial oils that are a natural
barrier on your skin and that get washed off when showering or
bathing. In the shower, you can apply coconut oil (olive oil works
well, too) to the face and body after washing, then pat the skin dry
with a towel. Just keep a small container of oil in the shower and
bath.
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How Can I Eat Coconut, Olive, and Flax Oils?
This is an easy and fun step in month 4 of your 12 Steps, because some of the coconut oil recipes are snacks
and treats, and flax oil can be easily added to salad dressings (replacing ¼ of the olive oil) and green smoothies
you’re already making. The recipes in this chapter will give you new ideas, and Chapter 11 has plenty of ideas
to use coconut oil in treats, as well.
Coconut Oil
This oil is excellent for frying, baking, desserts, popcorn, and “buttering” whole-grain toast. Substitute for
butter or shortening in any cookie recipe, using it in its solid form.
Coconut oil doesn’t work well in salad dressings (or in things that are cold, such as green smoothies). That’s
because it becomes solid in the refrigerator (lower than 76°), and unprocessed oil has a strong coconut flavor.
Some of the main dishes in Chapter 6 use small amounts of coconut oil, which you can replace with olive oil if
you don’t like the slight taste of coconut in the food.
You can use coconut oil as a solid fat (like shortening) or as a liquid oil.If your home is colder than 76°, and
you want liquid oil, don’t microwave it (which kills nutrition with radiation). Instead, just put your bucket of
coconut oil in a sink with a couple of inches of hot tap water for a few minutes until enough oil becomes liquid
to pour out.
Several coconut products are in the recipes in this book. However, while they are all good for you, these are the
coconut products you should use, in order of highest to lowest nutrition:
1. Raw young coconut meat and liquid (perfect electrolyte balance, completely raw and unprocessed—see
my GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube video on how to open them: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi)
2. Extra virgin, organic coconut oil
3. Coconut cream concentrate
4. Dried coconut, shreds or flakes (from a good source, not the sweetened kind containing the toxic
chemical propylene glycol)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
This oil is rich in oleic acid and antioxidants and is an excellent salad oil. It is comprised of long-chain fatty
acids that contribute to body fat, so use it in moderation. Use olive oil for salad dressings, as well as for
sautéing when you don’t like your food to have a slight coconut flavor. The greener your olive oil is, the more
nutritious and unprocessed it is—so don’t buy olive oil that doesn’t say “extra virgin.” Extra virgin means that
the oil came from the first pressing of the olives and is not heat treated.
Flaxseed Oil
This oil is best added to a green smoothie. I put a couple of tablespoons in my blenderful every day, unless I
will be eating flax crackers with my smoothie for lunch. The other way to use flaxseed oil is to replace a little
of the olive oil in salad dressings with flaxseed oil instead. Do not heat flaxseed oil.
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Summary
Know the difference between good and bad fats, because fats are critical and necessary for a healthy life.
Obsessively counting fat grams will not lead to health and leanness. I have personally eaten a handful of nuts
and one entire avocado daily for extended periods of time with absolutely no weight gain over my ideal weight.
Actively seek out adequate amounts of good dietary fat, including unprocessed, organic coconut oil; extra
virgin olive oil; and refrigerated, fresh flaxseed oil. Coconut oil, used in baking or directly on the skin, is
metabolized more like a carbohydrate, in the liver, than other fats. It supplies medium-chain fatty acids missing
in most Western diets, and is high in lauric acid, an immune-system support. Extra virgin olive oil can be used
in sautéing and in dressings. It is linked to longevity, is well documented in many studies of the Mediterranean
diet, and has many heart-healthy nutrients. Flaxseed oil, used cold only (not for cooking), helps address an
Omega-3 fatty acid deficiency in our diet; it is a compound found in very few foods that the body cannot
manufacture from other materials. Flaxseed oil in salad dressings or green smoothies can help prevent mood
disorders and hormone imbalances and it has cancer- and heart disease-preventative effects.
Eat a variety of high-fat whole plant foods like avocados, seeds, and nuts every day. Avoid “like the plague”
fake fats like margarine and shortening (and other hydrogenated fats such as rapeseed oil found in low-quality
peanut butters), vegetable oils, and any processed oil such as canola and safflower. If you purchase specialty
oils (such as almond or sesame) for special recipes, remember that “virgin” oils are unprocessed and others
should be avoided as much as possible.
This month, you have a small number of recipes to try, but Chapter 11 (page 299) has many treats that feature
dried, shredded coconut and coconut oil, if you want to augment your experimentation this month. Chapter 6
(page 157), Chapter 9 (page 245), and Chapter 10 (page 275) also have recipes using coconut. Using the tips
above for each oil, using these oils is simple, in both your food and your nightly beauty regimen.
Your Journal Entry
What changes do you notice, using these highly nutritious oils, both externally and internally, and avoiding
processed oils?
1. Do you notice any difference in your skin, lips, and/or hair using coconut oil topically?
2. Do you notice any differences in your hair, skin, or nails from internal use of lipid-rich, high-nutrient
oils?
3. Did you gain or lose any weight while using these oils?
4. What are your favorite ways to make sure you get the wide-ranging benefits of these various oils in
your diet?
5. Do you feel better using these oils rather than the refined vegetable oils or butter or shortening that you
used before?
6. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
7. Any other observations during this month?
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COCONUT OIL RECIPES
My favorite ways to use coconut oil (and oil-rich coconut milk or coconut cream concentrate) are in baked
goods, vegetable sautés, and cream sauces that bring whole grains and vegetables together.
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations
I don’t even usually like sweet potatoes, but I like these!
8 C sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into sticks
¼ C coconut oil
1 tsp. sea salt
Heat oil on medium-high in a large skillet, add sweet potatoes, and sauté several minutes, stirring frequently
with a spatula, until tender. Sprinkle with salt and serve.
Variations
To serve fries on a bed of hot, quick-to-make whole grain for a more filling main dish:
1 C quinoa or bulgur
2 C water
¼ tsp. sea salt
Bring water and salt to a boil, add rinsed quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 min. (For
bulgur, cover and turn off heat, then let sit for 15 min.)
To make “Thanksgiving-like” sweet potato fries:
Add 2 Tbsp. maple syrup and ½ tsp. cinnamon to basic recipe and toss to coat well.
To make Steffanie’s spicy fries:
1 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. cayenne
1-2 C chopped cilantro
Blend spices and sprinkle over 8 C of just-sautéed fries, then toss. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve over
quinoa.
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Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars
A delicious way to use coconut in several forms.
¾ C coconut oil (solid)
C agave (raw, organic)
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ C water
C fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest
1 C shredded coconut
1½ (packed) C shredded carrots
2½ C whole-wheat flour (finely ground, preferably soft white wheat)
2 tsp. baking soda
Cream the coconut oil and agave in a mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla and blend. Add the salt, nutmeg,
water, orange juice, orange zest, coconut, and shredded carrots and mix well. Add the flour and baking soda
and mix well. Spread the mixture with a spatula into a greased 9"x13" pan and bake at 350° for 35 min. Pour
Creamy Glaze (see below) over the bars and cut them into pieces. Excellent served warm.
Creamy Glaze:
½ C coconut cream concentrate* (found at health food stores or online)
¼ C agave (raw, organic)
½ C fresh orange juice
Blend well in a blender, then pour the glaze over warm bars and serve.
* You can also use coconut milk instead of coconut cream concentrate, for a thinner glaze. I like to use the rest
of the can of coconut milk the next morning, with any leftover orange juice and agave mixed in, poured on
millet porridge (recipe below).
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Almond Joyful Fudge
2 C agave (raw, organic)
2 C coconut oil
If your coconut oil is solid, place its container in a sink of hot tap water to melt it first. Then put both
ingredients in a high-powered blender and add:
1 C raw powdered chocolate (or unsweetened cocoa)
Blend well, then pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in:
2 C shredded coconut
2 C chopped almonds
Pour the mixture into a 9"x13" pan, chill 2 hours, and cut into squares to serve.
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Chocolate-Coconut Brownies
C coconut oil (liquid)
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
C unsweetened applesauce
C agave (raw, organic)
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ C water
1 C raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat
1¼ C whole-wheat flour, finely ground (soft white wheat is best)
1 C shredded coconut
6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1½ tsp. baking powder (the no-aluminum variety)
¼ tsp. sea salt
optional: ½ C walnuts or pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°. Blend the eggs, water, coconut sugar/Sucanat, applesauce, agave, vanilla, and coconut
oil and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter into a greased 9"x9" pan and bake for
35 min. Cool and cut into squares.
Microwave Popcorn
Stir 1 Tbsp. liquid coconut oil into ½ C popcorn kernels. Put corn/oil inside a paper bag, and then put that
inside another paper bag (double-bagging the corn/oil). Pop in the microwave until 2 seconds pass between
pops. Pour into a bowl and sprinkle with sea salt.
Faux Kettle Corn
Air-pop 3 batches of popcorn, then pour it into a paper grocery bag or very large mixing bowl.
If your coconut oil is solid, place its container in a sink of hot tap water to melt it first. Then put
C raw, organic agave nectar and C coconut oil in a blender and blend well. Then slowly pour the mixture
over the popcorn in the bowl or paper bag. Gradually sprinkle with 2 tsp. sea salt while shaking or stirring it
well.
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Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup
1 pound asparagus, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, washed and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 C water
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 cans (14 oz.) coconut milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. paprika
½ tsp. dried (or 1 Tbsp. fresh, chopped) tarragon
1 tsp. dried (or 2 Tbsp. fresh, chopped) basil
Bring the water to boil, then add the asparagus, celery, potatoes, and onion. Cover and reduce the heat to
medium low and simmer 20 min. Add the artichoke hearts and simmer another 10 min. In a blender, blend the
coconut milk, cornstarch, salt, paprika, tarragon, and basil. Add the blend to the simmering vegetables and heat
to boiling, then simmer on low/medium until thickened, stirring frequently.
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce
2 C brown rice, rinsed well
4 C water
1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. curry powder
½ C chopped cilantro
¼ C fresh parsley (or 1 Tbsp. dried)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1½ tsp. sea salt
3 stems of broccoli (including most of stalk), cut into bite-sized pieces
8 oz. mushrooms, washed well and cut in thirds
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
Bring the water and rice to a boil, turn down to medium low, cover, and simmer for 45 min. In a large wok or
frying pan, lightly sauté broccoli on medium high for 5 min., then add mushrooms and sauté another 2 min. In
a blender, blend coconut milk, cornstarch, curry powder, and salt. Add the blend to the vegetables and heat on
medium high, stirring frequently, gradually reducing to a simmer until sauce is thickened. Toss mixture gently
into brown rice, along with the parsley, tomato, and cilantro. Serve hot. Serves 6-8.
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Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce
My teenaged son calls this dish “Asia Meets Europe.” You can serve it with 4 C of cooked brown rice instead
of pasta, if you prefer to keep it truly Asian.
16 oz. whole-wheat or spelt pasta, cooked according to package directions
3 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 can coconut milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 onions, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 red bell peppers, sliced
3 carrots, chopped
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. red curry paste (or green or yellow, if you prefer)
1 can lychee fruit, drained (pronounced “LEE-chee”)
1 can baby corn, drained
¼ tsp. sea salt
Heat the coconut oil in a wok or skillet and sauté vegetables until tender-crisp. Blend the coconut milk,
cornstarch, fish sauce, curry paste, and salt in a blender. Add to the vegetables, along with the lychees and baby
corn. Heat and stir until sauce thickens. Toss vegetables/sauce with pasta and serve.
Rice Pudding
1½ C brown rice, rinsed and drained well
3 C water
1 can coconut milk
¼ C maple syrup
½ C raisins
½ C shredded coconut
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla
optional: 3 eggs (organic, free-range), lightly beaten
Bring water to a boil, add the rice and salt, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer 45 min. Mix all other
ingredients into the rice and fold into a greased 9"x13" pan. Optionally, lightly sprinkle with additional
cinnamon. Bake at 350° for 30 min., then serve warm.
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Millet Porridge
1 C millet, washed well (soak a few minutes, stir well, and drain with fine strainer)
2½ C water
tsp. sea salt
½ can coconut milk
¼ C agave (raw, organic)
½ C fresh orange juice
Bring water, salt, and millet to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 min. Turn off the heat and allow
to sit 10 min. Blend coconut milk, agave, and orange juice in a blender and then stir into the millet. Serve hot.
Serves 3-4.
FLAXSEED OIL RECIPES
My favorite ways to use flaxseed oil are, first, as an addition to a green smoothie. Good fats help increase your
absorption of the nutrients in greens, so it’s a good idea to use flaxseed oil or an avocado in your smoothie.
Second, substitute a couple of tablespoons of flaxseed oil for olive oil in any of the salad dressing recipes in
Chapter 3 (page 75). Third, add flaxseed oil to any soup or other cooked food, but add it after cooking rather
than before or during, as heat destroys the delicate compounds in the oil.
Flax/Coconut “Butter”
I like to spread this on sprouted whole-wheat English muffins. Coconut oil increases your absorption of the
Omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed oil by up to 100%!
1 C coconut oil, melted (place oil container in a few inches of hot water in sink)
½ C flaxseed oil, frozen for a few hours
1 tsp. chili powder
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp. sea salt
Blend well in a blender, then store in the fridge.
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Flaxseed Cookies
We will have more flax recipes in Chapter 7 (page 199), but this recipe has both flaxseed oil in the whole,
ground flax form as well as coconut oil, which increases your absorption of the essential fatty acids in the flax.
This large batch makes 5-6 dozen cookies, but you can bake ¼ of the frozen dough at a time.
1½ C honey (raw)
1 C coconut oil, solid
3 eggs (organic, free-range)
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 C flax seeds, ground in a high-powered blender (measured after grinding)
3 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (for best results, use soft white wheat)
3 C regular rolled oats, coarsely ground in a high-powered blender (measured after grinding)
½ C regular rolled oats, coarsely ground in a high-powered blender and set aside
1 Tbsp. baking soda
Cream together the coconut oil and honey, then blend in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flax seed, flour, 3 C
rolled oats, and baking soda and mix well. Form dough into four logs about 1½" in diameter and roll in the ½ C
rolled oats, as they will be sticky. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze immediately. When ready to bake, preheat
the oven to 350°, remove the dough from the freezer 10-15 min. before you want to use it, and slice the frozen
dough into ¼" slices. Bake 8-10 min. Note that the cookies will not brown very much.
Garlic Mayo
5 cloves garlic
1 egg yolk (organic, free-range)
½ C extra virgin olive oil
¼ C flaxseed oil
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
Put all ingredients except the oils in a blender and purée briefly. Gradually add the oils in a very thin stream,
with blender on low, until smooth and well incorporated.
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Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa
Use this as a dip for sprouted-tortilla chips or whole-wheat pita chips (cut either into triangles and broil for a
couple of minutes). Or, simmer 2 C of well rinsed quinoa with 2 C water for 15 min., then toss with some of
this salsa for a hot meal.
4 C papaya, diced (1 medium papaya)
1 C dry black-eyed peas, rinsed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 Anaheim pepper (seeds removed), finely diced
½ small red onion, finely diced
½ C cilantro, chopped
Dressing:
¼ C lime juice
zest of 1 lime
¼ C flaxseed oil
1½ inches of fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped
2 tsp. agave (raw, organic)
½ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. chili powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
Bring 3 C water to a boil, add the black-eyed peas, cover, and reduce to a simmer for 45 min. Drain and cool
the peas. Combine all the non-dressing ingredients into a bowl and mix. Blend the dressing ingredients in
blender until smooth, then pour over other ingredients and toss.
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Tomato-Basil Pasta
16 oz. whole-wheat angel hair pasta (or any whole-grain pasta)
4 large tomatoes, chopped
1 C fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 C fresh spinach, chopped
1 C artichoke hearts, chopped
½ C flaxseed oil
1 C sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1½ tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. dried basil
freshly ground pepper to taste
Cook pasta according to directions. In a high-powered blender, blend the flaxseed oil, sun-dried tomatoes, salt,
and dried basil until sun-dried tomatoes are broken down into small bits. Scrape the mixture into the pasta, and
then add the fresh tomatoes, spinach, fresh basil, and artichoke hearts. Grind the pepper on top, toss well, and
serve immediately. Serves 6-8.
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CHAPTER 5
Reaping a Gardener’s
Rewards
Your Goal:
To plant a garden and use absolutely everything in it! This month will consist of planning and planting,
but the execution of this month’s goal—the harvest, and learning new ways to use each vegetable—
will go on for several months.
NOTE: This chapter assumes you are starting this fifth step of the 12 Steps in the month of May. If you began
the 12 Steps in any month other than January, you will need to wait until May rolls around again to
plant your garden—though you may be able to get some things planted that can be harvested before
winter sets in, depending what month it is now. Read on and do as much of this step as you can now,
or wait until your planting conditions are ideal.
What You’ll Need:
• A garden space (ideally with wooden square-foot boxes) or pots for gardening on a patio if you
have no back yard.
• Compost to add to the soil (and consider building one or more compost boxes in your back yard
to reuse plant waste).
• A package of (preferably non-hybridized, untreated) seeds for each of the vegetables you’d like
to grow. A good source is www.heirloomseeds.com. Or, on May 1 in most climates, you may
purchase seedlings from your local nursery for tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, and many other
plants.
• Optionally, a new or used full-sized freezer to put in the garage. After gardening, this is the
second-best way to save money eating a plant-based diet. It can dramatically extend the life of
your garden produce, giving you vegetables and fruits through the winter. It also allows you to
buy seeds and nuts in bulk through co-ops.
In other chapters, I’ve featured
“money-savings tips,” but this entire
chapter is a way to feed your family
practically for free. People who garden
tend to eat much more fresh produce
and have an advantage in any kind of
emergency situation, such as job loss.
It’s an excellent habit to cultivate—and
to teach children the “law of the
harvest” very directly—that what you
sow (and make an effort at), you reap.
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Fresh, organic garden produce is not only far more nutritious than what you can buy in a grocery store (which
was picked a week or more before and perhaps chemically ripened), but it’s also fabulously delicious. You may
have forgotten what “real” produce tastes like, and gardening will let you remember! As John Denver famously
wrote, “Only two things that money can’t buy, and that’s true love and home-grown tomatoes!” and “Where
would I be without home-grown tomatoes?” In the age of Monsanto controlling our seed supply and
genetically engineering our food supply, that question becomes rather profound, far more than I think the
famous, late folk singer intended.
Making Gardening a Family Project
Saundra Lorenz and fellow researchers at Texas A&M University discovered that when children spent 30
minutes weekly gardening, they were more likely to eat vegetables. Lorenz pointed out that young children
often think food comes from a grocery store, and letting them work in a garden helps them make a connection
to their food source, making whole-plant foods more appealing. 1
My children tend the garden and pick weeds throughout the summer; they get very excited about bringing food
in for our table later in the summer. We plant radishes not because I particularly like them, but because they’re
the “short-term reinforcer” for the new little gardener: they’re ready to pick only a few weeks after planting the
seeds, satisfying for small children with short attention spans.
My third child, Libby, and I plant together in my square-foot garden in the spring. It’s a
bonding experience and helps us remember and appreciate where our food comes from.
I must admit that my kids’ enthusiasm fades with the zucchini harvest, after they’ve eaten it a few times a week
for a month. An old joke in Utah revolves around an out-of-state visitor being surprised by the fact that Utahns
don’t lock their car doors at the market, gas station, or restaurants he visits with his host. But they go to the
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church parking lot, and suddenly his host carefully locks all his car doors. It’s zucchini season, and you’re
likely to find the back seat full of baseball-bat-sized, unwanted zucchinis from neighbors desperate to “gift”
them when you come out after church services! If nothing else, my family is entertained by how many ways I
can come up with to cook zucchini. I buy some ingredients to add to garden-vegetable recipes, but otherwise
consider it a challenge to see how close to “free” I can make dinners in the late summer and early fall.
Why Heirloom Seeds?
Heirloom seeds are seeds that produce nonhybridized food plants that produce viable seeds. These special
seeds have lineage that has been protected and cultivated for 50 years or more. Pollination occurs with
heirloom crops by insects and wind, natural means rather than artificial.
A frightening and powerful movement is afoot, led by giant biotech company Monsanto, now responsible for
most food production in the U.S., to industrialize and genetically engineer our foods. Monsanto is aggressively
buying up seed companies, acquiring more than 11,000 seed patents, and bullying small farmers out of
business. They have been ruthless in seeking monopolies on seed production in their labs. Virtually all corn and
soy grown in America is genetically engineered.
Monsanto views seeds that are pest resistant, high yield, and do not produce a next generation of seeds as a
positive development. They have developed a glyphosate tolerance gene for plants, which are seeds that will
survive being sprayed with Roundup. The “Terminator Gene” makes plants’ seeds sterile. Thus, agricultural
economies controlled by Monsanto, such as in India, recently devastated by a drought, must buy their seeds
from the giant corporation because the seeds they save do not reproduce the following season.
While Monsanto’s profits are soaring as a consequence, the public health ramifications of increasing
hybridization and genetic modifications of our food are not fully known. But the potential implications of
changing even one gene, in one plant are far reaching. Studies have shown that altering genetics even slightly
can create havoc in the environment and in the organisms that eat the modified plant. I believe that evidence
will soon become so voluminous, mainstream, and undeniable that mass hybridization of grains has led to
widespread gut issues in North Americans and other cultures who have adopted a Western diet. Gluten
intolerance has become an epidemic, and most people are undiagnosed. Grains have been hybridized to
maximize gluten for bread making.
When man tries to outsmart Mother Nature, we must expect consequences. We cannot always control those
consequences or pull them back. Monsanto’s genetic mutations have been found in crops far from anywhere
that their seeds have been planted.
Monsanto produced saccharin, DDT, and Agent Orange in the last century. Documentaries like Food, Inc.
show how relentless and powerful Monsanto’s efforts have become in changing our food supply to further their
agenda. Recently this company has rather successfully lobbied our government to make saving seeds illegal.
As we alter our foods, it can only be to our detriment.
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When you have tasted an heirloom tomato, you remember how God
intended tomatoes to taste. They bear no resemblance to Monsanto’s
high-yield, early picked, chemically ripened “tomatoes” sold in grocery
stores. Another handful of companies, combined with Monsanto,
control 98% of the world’s seeds. Those other agri-chemical companies
include DuPont, Mitsui, Syngent, Aventis, and Dow.
In the past 30 years, this conglomerate of companies has decimated seed
diversity, squeezing the number of varieties of vegetables from over
5,000 to fewer than 500. We depend on biodiversity for our survival in
natural calamities (such as drought or pest infestation) that can wipe out
large swaths of agriculture. If you plant your heirloom crop within five
miles of a hybridized farm, genetically engineered plants will crosspollinate
with yours. Then, Monsanto’s secret police can find out if your
crop has Monsanto’s patented genetics and take you to court against
their lawyers and deep pockets. You will have to hire expensive genetic
testing and legal counsel, as other farmers have had to do, driving them
into bankruptcy.
I would like to encourage you to take a little extra time to find, purchase, plant, and store heirloom seeds only.
(Heirloomseeds.com is one place you can still acquire non-hybridized seed.) This is just one way you can take
a stand against the unethical, profiteering, deadly practices of Monsanto, and preserve the great things of our
past. Store a few years' worth of seeds in sealed cans in cold storage.
Knowing what we face in the coming generations—as Monsanto may increasingly control our institutions,
including the entire industry of farming, and our policy-making government—may motivate you to get your
hands in the dirt and take an important step to control the food you eat. The Seed Savers Exchange web site is
www.seedsavers.org. I agree with their mission statement, which begins with this premise: “The future of our
planet depends on a genetically diverse food supply.”
Also please take the time to educate your lawmakers and take a stand against Monsanto’s practices and agenda.
Europe has banned Monsanto products. We should take our agricultural policy back from greedy corporations
and put it back in the hands of the people who have nourished us for thousands of years: small farmers and
anti-trust laws that protect the free market system.
At the time of this writing (2011) over 60 small companies have joined together to file a class-action lawsuit
against Monsanto for a variety of egregious practices.
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Where to Put Your Gardening Efforts—And How
Many gardeners love to grow vegetables and then wonder what to do with it all when the plants offer up a
yield. In this chapter, gardening tips are minimal, and I stick to the basics related to getting whole foods on the
table economically rather than giving a detailed how-to of the science of gardening.
The main goal of this chapter is to give a beginning or intermediate gardener a few suggestions, to offer new
ideas for ways to use some garden vegetables grown easily in U.S. climates, and to convey a description of
why, nutritionally, each one is a great addition to your family’s menu. Covering every vegetable is impossible;
thus, I have included only those I find (a) easy to grow, (b) very high in nutrition and yield, and (c) harder to
think of uses for. Secondarily, I chose vegetables to include in this section that yield great benefits when grown
at home because the store-bought vegetable is often chemically sprayed and nutritionally inferior.
What to Plant
I find broccoli difficult to grow, with a low yield. Pumpkins take a massive amount of space, and peas are low
yield, high effort. Thus these are not featured in this chapter, though you may wish to grow them.
Onions are in many of the recipes in this book already, especially main dishes coming in Chapter 6 (page 157).
Garden staples tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radishes, and corn are easy to grow, well known, and a snap to
use raw in virtually any salad—including recipes in Chapter 2 (page 53)—as well as salsas. Many people don’t
know that radish tops are edible, so don’t throw them away, and try them in your green smoothies. Raspberries
and strawberries are also great perennial additions to your garden, if you have the space, and you can use them
in everyday green smoothies as well as desserts. An excellent resource for gardeners wanting hundreds of
recipes and color photos for 30+ garden vegetables is Marian Morash’s Victory Garden Cookbook.
Many communities offer gardening space for free, or for a very small fee, so ask your city about its resources.
When my husband and I were college students and living in apartments, we still had huge gardens, because one
year we asked an elderly neighbor with unused garden space to let us use it, and another year we used the
university community garden plots.
These are foods I recommend growing, depending on the space you have:
Beets Corn Lettuce Spinach
Bell Peppers Cucumbers Onions Strawberries (perennials)
Cabbage Goji Berries (perennials) Radishes Summer Squash
Carrots Green Beans Raspberries (perennials) Tomatoes
Chard Kale Spaghetti Squash Zucchini
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Why Should I Grow and Eat Beets?
Beets are not only easy to grow, they’re a “bonus” food since you get two for the price of one. Not only are the
colors in the root vegetable indicative of powerful nutrients, but the greens contain much more iron, vitamin A,
potassium, and calcium than the roots—and they are a mild-tasting green smoothie ingredient. So never throw
them away!
The juice of the beet is rich in sodium, sulphur, chlorine, iodine, copper,
bioflavanoids, and vitamins B1, B2, and C. Folic acid, found abundantly in
beets, helps prevent anemias and cervical cancer. The juice is excellent for
cleansing and rebuilding the kidneys and gallbladder. As a fibrous root, it’s
excellent for eliminating constipation, adding bulk to the diet, and improving
peristalsis in the intestines. The red color is actually betacyanin, a powerful
anti-carcinogen known to prevent colon cancer. And a study showed a 30-
40% drop in the cholesterol and triglycerides of animals fed beet fiber.
Some say that if you see red after you eat beets, you shouldn’t be worried,
because it’s harmless beeturia that dyes your urine or stool. Others, including
Victoria Boutenko, claim that red in the stool or urine after eating beets is a
symptom of hypochlorhydria, or low stomach acid secretion. Thus, eating
beets may be a good test for a health problem that is both important as well as
pervasive in modern culture, with up to half of us suffering with low stomach
acid and therefore not absorbing nutrients, especially minerals. Some with
low stomach acid are being incorrectly treated with antacids.
Dr. Ron Kennedy, M.D., says you can take 3-10 capsules (don’t buy tablets) of Betaine HCL (glutamic acid or
hydrochloride) with each meal, starting with one capsule and working your way up, stopping where you feel
any heartburn. If this eliminates the “red” problem, you may have solved your low stomach acid problem. He
also recommends getting vitamin B12 injections twice a week for a few weeks, and taking folate, as you begin
to address a hypochlorhydria problem. Someone close to me took his suggestions for only a couple of months
and the problem has never returned in the ensuing two years.
For recipes, see “Beet Recipes” on page 140.
Why Should I Grow and Eat Bell Peppers?
Bell peppers can be eaten in large quantities because, unlike most other peppers, they aren’t hot. And grow and
eat them in large quantities you should, not just because they’re crunchy and delicious, but because their bright
colors betray fantastic nutritional properties. Red and orange bell peppers are dramatically higher in vitamin C
than green ones. When the summer harvest provides more bell peppers than you can eat, dice and freeze them
for use in soups and sautéed dishes later.
Peppers are high in two B vitamins, B6 and folic acid, consumption of which leads to healthy blood vessels and
lowered risk of stroke and heart attack. The antioxidant lycopene is found in red peppers and known to prevent
cancers of the prostate, cervix, bladder, and pancreas. And lowered risk of colon cancer is associated with
vitamin C, beta-carotene, and folic acid—all some of bell peppers’ virtues. Those same compounds also
protect against cataracts, and the lutein and zeaxanthin in red peppers also prevent macular degeneration.
Bell peppers are an important garden crop because they are part of the “dirty dozen,” those fruits and
vegetables most likely to contain residues of harmful pesticides when commercially grown. And the colorful
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red, yellow, and orange varieties are usually rather expensive to buy. When you grow them yourself, you can
rest assured you have inexpensive, organic produce.
For recipes, see “Bell Pepper Recipes” on page 143.
Why Should I Grow and Eat Chard?
I find rainbow, swiss, and red chard to be the longest-lasting, most prolific
green in my garden: I harvest several varieties from spring until well past the
first frost. The stalks grow to be as much as 2’ long, providing a great deal of
food—both the leaves and stalks are highly nutritious and full of fiber. You
can cut stalks from the perennial plant, and they will regrow. It’s one of the
mildest-flavored greens for making green smoothies and, unlike spinach,
chard doesn’t bolt easily in hot weather.
Swiss chard is particularly high in vitamins K, A, and C as well as potassium,
manganese, and magnesium. Chard and other greens like it have been
documented to contain phytonutrients called anthocyanins, which prevent
digestive tract cancers. Including chard in your diet can protect the kidneys of
diabetics, and its high fiber content can prevent high blood pressure and
atherosclerosis. Vitamin K is necessary for bone mineralization and has been
documented to dramatically lower the risk of cataracts.
Chard is also high in beta-carotene, which lowers the risk of skin cancers, and
a study shows that eating it may lower emphysema risk in those who are exposed to smoking.
For recipes, see “Chard Recipes” on page 146.
Why Should I Grow and Eat Carrots?
Everyone knows that eating carrots preserves your eyesight because of beta-carotene, which improves night
vision and prevents macular degeneration and cataracts. But other lesser known nutrients in carrots called
alpha-carotene and falcarinol also dramatically decrease the risk of cancers of the bladder, colon, esophagus,
larynx, prostate, and cervix. And at least half a dozen studies link carotenoid-rich foods like carrots to reduced
risk of heart attacks.
Eating even one carrot daily can cut lung cancer rates in half. Carrots are high in fiber and an excellent source
of vitamins A, K, and C as well as potassium. They keep well in cold storage and sustain indigenous peoples
through the winter along with other root vegetables such as onions, potatoes, and beets. Beta-carotene is not
destroyed by cooking, and their sugars become more bioavailable when carrots are steamed or lightly sautéed.
Carrots got a bad rap as being high in sugars during the anti-carb craze, but eating them actually is beneficial to
blood sugar regulation and is inversely associated with insulin resistance, possibly because of their high fiber
content. No evidence links them to diabetes, despite the hype and conjecture of the high-protein diet doctors.
For recipes, see “Carrot Recipes” on page 144.
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Why Should I Grow and Eat Cabbage?
Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C, most of the B vitamins, folate, calcium, potassium, manganese, as
well as protein and Omega-3 fatty acids. Polish women’s rate of breast cancer triples when they immigrate to
the U.S., and researchers hypothesize the reason is that their consumption of cabbage, which averages 30 lbs.
annually in Poland, averages only 10 lbs. in the U.S. The highest nutritional and healing potential is found in
raw and fermented cabbage (not cabbage cooked for long periods of time).
Raw cabbage juice has been very effective in treating peptic ulcers, eliminating them in an average of 10 days.
This is probably because of the amino acid glutamine that fuels stomach and intestinal cells. Another study
shows that the antioxidant polyphenols, especially the anthocyanins, can protect brain cells against
neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Red cabbage has 6-8 times as much vitamin C as green
cabbage and is an excellent addition to salads, as are Chinese (Napa) and bok choy cabbages.
For recipes, see Cabbage Salad (page 64), Kimchi (page 243), and Sauerkraut (page 242).
Why Should I Grow and Eat Green Beans?
Green beans are an excellent source of vitamins C, A, K, and most of the B vitamins, as well as manganese,
potassium, iron, copper, calcium, and beta-carotene. They are a very good source of fiber, protein, and Omega-
3 fatty acids. They have a perfect combination of nutrients for preventing diabetic heart disease, lowering
cholesterol, and maintaining healthy vessel walls to avoid stroke.
Green beans’ combination of fiber, folate, vitamin C, and beta-carotene are a recipe for colon cancer
prevention, as well as having anti-inflammatory effects to prevent arthritis and asthma. A good source of
riboflavin, green beans may also prevent migraines. And although red meat has iron, green beans provide
highly bioavailable iron (and copper needed to utilize iron) without any fat or significant calories.
For recipes, see “Green Bean Recipes” on page 147.
Why Should I Grow and Eat Kale?
Kale has many varieties, including dinosaur (a.k.a. black or Lacinato), curly,
ornamental, and others. It is a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli and
cabbage, shown by a number of studies I surveyed to reduce risk of a wide
variety of cancers (including lung, prostate, bladder, breast, colorectal, skin,
and ovarian) by 30-70% in those who eat them even just a few times a week.
Compounds in kale called glucosinolates activate detoxifying enzymes in the
liver that neutralize carcinogens. Kale also contains carotenoid antioxidants
lutein and zeaxanthin, which prevent eye damage. It’s a power food rich in
vitamins A, C, and B6 as well as manganese, calcium, potassium, and copper.
And it contains plenty of insoluble fiber that can bind to more than its own
weight of carcinogens and other toxins to remove them from the body.
It’s excellent and easy-to-eat blended in green smoothies. And
GreenSmoothieGirl.com 12 Step beta tester Ruth blogged that she put
steamed kale in her peanut butter sandwich and thought it was great!
For recipes, see “Kale Recipes” on page 149.
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Why Should I Grow and Eat Onions and Garlic?
Onions and garlic, which have similar properties, add flavor to many or most of the salads (Chapter 2) and
dressings (Chapter 3), main dishes (Chapter 6), and sauces and dips (Chapter 9) in this book. Therefore, I
provide no specifically “onion” or “garlic” recipes in this chapter. Virtually every culture on earth prizes onions
and garlic for the way they flavor cuisine beautifully. But they are also power foods.
Because onions give such nourishment to your immune system and are easy to grow in almost any climate, I
recommend dedicating a few garden squares to your favorite types: green (good for salads and garnishes), red
(colorful addition to many dishes), yellow (great for cooking), or white (perfect for salsa) onions. You may not
know that yellow onions have much higher levels of flavonoids than white. As a class, onions also are a good
source of fiber, potassium, phosphorus, copper, manganese and, molybdenum, as well as vitamins B6 and B9
(folate).
Onions are also rich in the trace mineral chromium, plus vitamin C and flavonoids including quercetin, which
combine with other compounds in a virtually perfect package to be very effective against the many
inflammatory diseases that plague Americans (asthma, arthritis, and many others). Both onions and garlic are
in the allium family, and onions’ compound allyl propyl disulphide lowers blood sugar, an important
consideration for diabetics. The more onions clinical test subjects ate, the lower their blood glucose levels.
Chromium also aids in blood sugar levels, and Americans are sometimes chromium deficient, possibly because
eating white flour/sugar and not exercising deplete levels of this mineral. Onions are also one of the highest
known cholesterol- and blood-pressure lowering plant foods.
The antioxidant quercitin protects against colorectal and many other cancers according to a number of studies,
and other researchers have found that a newly isolated compound in onions (GPCS) inhibits bone breakdown
and performs similarly to anti-osteoporosis drugs. So eat onions abundantly, since onion breath is a much less
serious side effect than the results of bone loss and the side effects of bone-loss drugs.
You can store onions and garlic very well for a few months at a time in the right conditions: a cool, dark, dry
place such as cold storage or a hole in the ground built against an outside wall. Store them away from potatoes,
however, as onions will spoil more rapidly if exposed to potatoes’ ethylene gas and moisture.
Why Should I Grow and Eat Spinach?
Spinach is easy to grow, a great crop for spring and fall. Unfortunately, it bolts easily when hot weather hits, so
plant it very early. Plant in the fall and you will find it wintering over and then exploding with new growth
early the next spring. If you have spinach you won’t be able to use before it goes bad, freeze it for use in green
smoothies.
One cup of cooked spinach contains more than the daily recommended allowance of vitamins K, A, and C,
as well as manganese, folate, magnesium, and iron. Various studies have linked 13 different anti-cancer
compounds found in spinach to protection against stomach, skin, breast, colon, prostate, and ovarian cancers.
Anti-inflammatory properties are preventative of arthritis and asthma, and other studies show spinach
consumption wards off osteoporosis and heart disease risks.
The Chicago Health and Aging Project found that elderly people eating three daily servings of green and
yellow vegetables had 40% less cognitive decline than people who ate fewer than one serving. Unsurprisingly,
green leafy vegetables were correlated most highly to good mental function.
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Lutein is found plentifully in spinach and is linked to improved eyesight, especially when combined with highnutrition
fat (a green smoothie with flax oil is perfect). My own story is testament of that. After 10 years of
daily green drinks of mostly spinach, and no other intervention or surgeries, my eyesight improved steadily. At
age 40, it is 20/20 again—I had first worn glasses for nearsightedness at the age of 20!
My friend Randy sautés spinach and briefly marinates it in fresh apple juice, with chopped apples and any nuts
or seeds on top.
For recipes, see “Spinach Recipes” on page 151.
Why Should I Grow and Eat Squash?
Zucchini and yellow squashes are easy to grow and yield famously
large amounts of food. Don’t let it go to waste if your garden makes
more than you can use: shred it and put it in soups and in
sandwiches and salads, and then freeze the rest for zucchini bread
and other dishes during the fall and winter. Spaghetti squash is a
favorite with children, since it can be steamed, scraped out, and
served just like spaghetti with a marinara sauce. Don’t overcook it,
so it has an “al dente” character just like spaghetti. It is a filling dish
like pasta, but more nutritious and very low calorie.
Lab studies have shown vegetable juices obtained from squash to
prevent cell mutations, and squash extracts have reduced symptoms
of prostate enlargement. Squash is a great way to get beta-carotene, manganese, vitamins C and A, potassium,
folate, copper, phosphorus, and riboflavin. It is also high in fiber, which prevents atherosclerosis, diabetic heart
disease, and colon cancer. The magnesium in whole foods reduces high blood pressure, heart attacks, and
strokes. Copper helps reduce arthritis symptoms, and vitamin C and beta-carotene reduce inflammation that
causes asthma and arthritis.
For recipes, see “Zucchini/Squash Recipes” on page 152.
What Are the Easiest Green Smoothie Ingredients to Grow?
My favorite green to grow is chard, because it’s easy to grow, mild in flavor, and very prolific—it continues to
produce long after spinach has gone to seed. I have fresh chard from May through October, literally half the
year, despite being in a cold climate. You can cut stalks of chard off the plant, and it just regrows! Freezing my
abundant chard harvest gets me through the winter making green smoothies, too, so I can access this food
virtually year-round. I buy rainbow-colored and regular swiss chard seeds for variety in nutrition.
I do love spinach, and I recommend planting it as early as possible in the spring, and planting at the beginning
of the fall as well—it will be dormant through the winter and suddenly explode with growth in the very early
spring, giving you a harvest long before you could have planted and cultivated it. If you have hot summers, you
won’t have spinach after the temperature hits about 90°, because it does “bolt” (or “go to seed”) rather easily.
I also find beets very easy to grow and multi-purposed in that I love both its below-ground vegetable and its
green, for very different recipes. I thin the beet greens by cutting a few stalks every time I go out to the garden
for spinach and chard. The beets take a few months to grow, but feel free to use some of the beet greens early
(just leave some of them to aid the growth of the root vegetable).
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You can also grow kale, collards, lettuces, and many other greens rather easily. Make sure to grow plenty of
cabbage, as it is a good smoothie ingredient, with its impressive cruciferous anti-cancer properties, and we will
also learn in Chapter 8 (page 223) how it is the perfect fermented vegetable as well.
To summarize, grow these ingredients for six months of fresh greens and six months of frozen greens:
Arugula Chard Spinach
Beets Lettuces Squash (eat the leaves too)
Cabbage Kale Turnips
What about Organic Produce?
Besides cost savings and dramatically improved taste, home-grown vegetables have another huge advantage:
you can easily grow them organically. Some studies show that organic produce has higher concentrations of
vitamins and minerals, and other studies have found that “conventional” (sprayed) produce is nutritionally
equal to organic. The jury is out on whether nutrient levels are higher, but results clearly prove that unsprayed
produce is lower in toxic pesticide and herbicide residue. If you cannot afford to buy organic produce, growing
garden produce is an excellent option. Also, using a quality vegetable wash on sprayed produce will
significantly help with pesticide residues—as does cutting out the top and bottom parts of apples and peppers
where pesticides tend to accumulate.
The government’s research on pesticide residues revealed that 12 foods tend to be high in pesticides—they
have become known as the “dirty dozen”: apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines,
peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, and strawberries. Note that several of these 12 are in the list
above of recommended foods to grow in your garden, and others can be grown by planting fruit trees.
Although research reveals mixed results on nutrient content in organic and conventional produce, I like to
support local growers rather than international conglomerates wherever possible. Shipping food all over the
planet is unique to the generations currently living on the Earth. This practice consumes a lot of nonrenewable
energy in its transportation. I like to feed my family organic produce that hasn’t been preserved with long
refrigeration and gassed when green to become ripe unnaturally.
However, if your question is whether you should eat conventional produce or just skip it and eat something
else, the answer is clearly to eat produce almost however you can get it! Choose U.S.-grown produce over
foreign-grown, whenever you can, since higher regulation means that many of the most dangerous chemicals
are not used in the U.S. (like DDT, still used in some foreign countries and linked to birth defects). Also
remember that the farther produce has to travel to get to your local market, the more nonrenewable energy is
used to get it there.
My rule of thumb is to buy organic when it’s not more than 50% more expensive than conventional—for
example, I am not going to pay $1.29/lb. for organic watermelon when conventional watermelon is $0.19/lb. I
suggest creating a rule like this based on your own budget, to help guide your buying decisions. Remember that
most of the massive volume of nutrition research showing that vegetable and fruit consumption prevents
disease studied people eating conventional grocery-store produce.
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Be sure to wash produce, especially conventionally grown selections, very well with lukewarm water (cleans
best and doesn’t damage enzymes) and vegetable soap in a spray bottle. I use Shaklee Basic H (a gallon lasts
me a decade), but a variety of options exist online and in stores.
In 2011, I discovered an exciting appliance for the kitchen that uses superoxygenation
of water to eliminate pesticides, herbicides, and bacteria from
plant foods. A cycle takes about 4-5 minutes, and extremely pesticideheavy
produce such as soft-skinned fruit may take more than one cycle.
But the water ozonation technology, which has been used in many other
industrial applications for years (carpet cleaning, for instance), is now
available, affordably, for home kitchens. I have a YouTube video
demonstrating its use, and you can read more about it under “Robyn
Recommends” (the topic “Eliminate Pesticides”) on
GreenSmoothieGirl.com. It’s called the Lotus Sanitizer. It is tremendously
helpful for people who cannot afford to grow or buy all their produce organic—and that’s most people. It will
give you some very helpful peace of mind. Even if your Lotus doesn't register 100% elimination after a couple
of cycles (for strawberries or grapes, for instance), you can rest assured that the vast majority of chemicals
have been eliminated.
Why Should I Consider Square-Foot Gardening?
For limited spaces, or to make the most of the space you have, I highly recommend square-foot gardening,
which maximizes the yield per foot of space. You are gardening based on squares instead of rows, which lets
you get twice the amount of produce out of half the space.
In one square foot, you might have nine beets, or four lettuce heads, or one corn stalk or tomato plant. This
method is eco-friendly, because you use much less water than with traditional gardening. You also have less
weeding and a space designed for better access, since the grow boxes are up off the ground. The author of the
system says that square-foot gardening uses 80% less space, time (especially weeding), water, and money than
the traditional method.
I also recommend that you plan ahead to stagger plantings (planting hardier greens and vegetables as early as
possible) so that your harvest doesn’t come all at once, providing much more than you need. With staggered
plantings, you enjoy vegetables for an extended period of time. Square-foot gardening is the perfect way to
achieve that: I go out every Saturday from April onward, planting just a few squares each week of greens,
beets, corn, and some other crops that I like to extend.
If you live in climates that are cold and snowy through the winter, you can plant a few crops as early as 3-5
weeks before the last spring frost, as indicated below. In Utah, we plan on that being May 1, though on a rare
occasion is it later—if you’re new to gardening, you’ll have to get used to the fact that you have no guarantees
in nature! Warm-weather crops are planted on May 1 (and then hold your breath and cover your tomatoes if the
forecast calls for a freeze). But these are a few exceptions:
You can plant these as early as the first week in April:
Peas and spinach from seed; broccoli and cabbage from seedlings
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You can plant these as early as the second week in April:
Beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, and chard from seeds; onion sets
Be sure to use untreated lumber to build boxes that will not leach chemicals into your soil and, therefore, your
food. Boxes sit on top of the ground and can be 4'x4', 4'x6', or even 2'x2'. Use string wound around nails or
screws to divide the boxes into squares that are 1'x1'.
I plan my square-foot garden by drawing tables that match each of my boxes, like this 6'x4' box below. I plan
for staggered plantings by detailing the date I want to plant that crop in each box. Then I write a check mark
when I have planted the square, to keep track of what to water.
Carrots
Apr. 1
Spinach
Apr. 1
Spinach
Apr. 8
Spinach
Apr. 15
White onions
Apr. 1
Yellow onions
May 1
Carrots
Apr. 8
Spinach
Apr. 1
Spinach
Apr. 8
Spinach
Apr. 15
White onions
May 1
Scallions
May 1
Carrots
Apr.15
Spinach
Apr. 1
Spinach
Apr. 8
Spinach
Apr. 15
Beets
May 1
Radishes
Apr. 15
Carrots
Apr. 22
Spinach
Apr. 1
Spinach
Apr. 8
Spinach
Apr. 15
Beets
May 15
Radishes
May 1
Plant 16 per square:
Radishes, carrots, onions, pole beans
Plant 9 per square:
Beets, spinach, bush beans
Plant 4 per square:
Lettuce, chard, parsley, marigolds
Plant 1 per square:
Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, tomatoes, zucchini, corn, peppers, basil and other herbs
The author of square-foot gardening actually says to give zucchini four squares, and tomatoes and cucumbers
two squares. But I vine my zucchini and cucumbers down the rock wall below my garden, or up the fence
behind my garden, away from the squares so they don’t take up so much ground space. And I cage my
tomatoes and plant one per square.
Water newly planted crops every day until you see the plant above ground. (If the seed dries out, it dies.) After
the plant appears, you can water it every three days, and tomatoes should go 4-7 days between waterings.
One of the best reasons to do square-foot gardening is that you can often get two crops out of one square in one
season. For instance, in April, you can plant cool-weather-loving lettuce, which matures quickly. Then you can
pick it around the end of May, add some compost to that square, and plant some radishes or beets in that square.
For detailed information on this method of gardening, I recommend Mel Bartholomew’s Square-Foot
Gardening. You can learn more about vining in the square-foot method, building trellises for vines (I use the
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fence next to my garden, but we did build metal trellises at our last home), how to plant quick-to-grow small
vegetables such as radishes in the same square around a plant like bell pepper that takes some time to mature,
and much more.
How Do I Keep the Pests Away without Using Chemicals?
Lots of natural and safe techniques can help you leave the good organisms in your garden thriving while killing
the bad ones.
TIP: Feel free to mix and match, making teas of a variety of the natural pest-repelling compounds listed below.
• Employ companion planting.
Plant a square of marigolds, onions, or garlic interspersed throughout your gardening boxes, because
pests tend to avoid these plants.
• Use garlic, onions, hot peppers.
They kill soft-body insects and paralyze flying insects, as well as serving as a fungicide and repelling
rabbits. Liquefy some of these vegetables in water in your blender and spray the mixture on plants and
soil. You can also pour boiling water mixed with garlic onto ant mounds.
• Use apple cider vinegar, ground cloves.
Use 1-2 Tbsp. per gallon of water for a mild fungicide or acidic liquid fertilizer that also contains many
trace elements as a fertilizer. Cloves kill flying insects.
• Use corn meal, diotomaceous earth.
Sprinkle on the ground or work into the top inch of soil. Diotomaceous earth can work in your soil for
many years; it is the petrified remains of insects and shreds the digestive system of bugs and dehydrates
them. Note that it will kill bees, so avoid spraying it, as we have a honeybee shortage.
• Set traps.
Place a can containing rotten fruit inside a larger can or cut-off milk jug. Around the can, pour a liquid
made of water with 2 Tbsp. dish soap and 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil to kill pests. Optionally add 2 Tbsp.
molasses to the rotten fruit to attract more pests.
• Kill snails and slugs.
Sprinkle calcium carbonate products like lime, dolomite, or crushed egg shells on soil where snails and
slugs live. Their anti-fungal properties are another advantage.
• Use acidic water.
You can also spray the leaves of your plants with acidic water if you have a water ionizer (see Chapter
12) to kill many pests.
• Plant vines later.
According to old-timer gardeners, cucumbers and squash do better when planted on June 1. Often when
I jump the gun and plant on May 1, they end up dead of pest problems. When I wait, they grow and
bloom quickly and produce well.
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How Can I Get Garden Produce in the Winter?
If you want to extend the life of your garden and grow cold-weather greens without an expensive and
complicated greenhouse, I highly recommend the following book:
Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long, by Eliot Coleman
The author lives in Maine and gets hardy greens like mache (lamb’s lettuce) and spinach throughout the winter,
using modifications to the square-food gardening boxes that protect plants and allow the sun to warm them
through Plexiglas. You can also interact with others and ask questions about four-season harvesting online,
where support communities are thriving.
Keep in mind that we will be learning about fermented vegetables in Chapter 8 (page 223). We will “put up”
cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, and beets while preserving and enhancing all the raw-food nutrition!
Money-Saving Tips
Using the Produce of Your Garden Long after the Growing Season
Make sure to grow as much as possible of cabbage, carrots, beets, and pickling cucumbers. In August, when
fermented foods become your focus, you will have plenty of “free” nutritious food for the winter, without
having to invest in new canning lids and without having to pressure cook, steam, or boil the food.
The following is adapted from a blog on my Web site, www.greensmoothiegirl.com, that I wrote one Saturday
in October 2007 on extending the life of the garden to have raw foods past the first frost.
Since I quit putting up sugar-added, processed food in jars years ago, I’ve learned new ideas to preserve
nutritional value in my garden’s yield. Here’s how the garden will “keep on giving” its raw food in the winter
months—this is what I did today with the help of my family:
• We made sauerkraut. It’s both raw and preserved for the winter, and it provides good lactic acid and
healthy cultures your body needs to aid digestion, when used as a condiment or side dish at dinner. You
will read more about the importance of fermented foods and how to make sauerkraut in Chapter 8
(page 223).
• Emma and Kincade cut down all the chard, washed and dried it, cut it in thirds, bagged it in gallon
freezer bags, and put it in the freezer. It’s months’ worth of green smoothie ingredients. [Note: I used
the last of it on Apr. 24, the next spring!] You can’t preserve greens for other uses, but who cares if
wilted, formerly frozen greens go into your green smoothie where it gets all blended up anyway.
• I made 3 quarts of pesto sauce in our high-powered blender with spinach and basil from the garden. I
put enough for individual family dinners in containers and stuck them in the freezer.
• The kids brought in all the bell peppers—red, yellow, and green—as well as jalapeños and Anaheim
peppers, and I chopped and bagged them in sandwich bags to add to big pots of vegetarian chili this
winter.
• Kincade pulled most of the beets—some as big as softballs!—and washed, bagged, and froze the beet
greens for use in green smoothies. I peeled the beets and froze chunks for my Hot-Pink Breakfast
Smoothie (page 285) and Chocolate Beet Cake (page 305). [Don’t use frozen/thawed beets for steamed
beet recipes in this chapter, though—they just aren’t the same.] I think I have enough to last the year in
my freezer.
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• My two youngest picked all the green tomatoes and laid them on newspapers in the basement. Once we
had fresh tomatoes all the way until Christmas using this method of slow-ripening green tomatoes,
having left the green tomatoes attached to the plants as long as possible. I chopped some tomatoes and
froze them in small bags in the freezer, too, for soups and chili when it’s cold.
• I shredded all the zucchini (I hate to see it go to waste, and we’ll get it out when we’re no longer sick of
eating it like we are now). We put it in the freezer in quart-size bags, to make zucchini bread, fritters,
and pitas [all in this chapter’s recipes].
• I didn’t have much corn this year, but if I did, I’d cut corn off the cobs and freeze it for our favorite
black bean/corn/roasted red pepper salad [see Salsa Verde Salad on page 69].
Composting
As someone who eats a lot of plant food, you have many peels and other vegetable waste that should be going
to good use, providing recycled nutrition to your plants (and, later, you). Don’t throw any parts of any plants
away!
We have three compost piles that we rotate to make good soil supplementation for our garden. We throw
vegetable waste and grass clippings into the first one until we have enough, and then we mix that “green” layer
with the “brown” layer of leaves or sawdust. When our neighbors are bagging their leaves in the fall, we take
some home, poke holes in the bags, and let the water from rain and snow percolate through the bags to
decompose it, in addition to using our own (unbagged) leaves to mix with “green” compost. We “turn” the
compost with a pitchfork every month or two, to give it oxygen to assist in decomposition.
After we stop adding to one compost pile, we throw our clippings and peels into the second pile, while the first
one is decomposing for use in the next planting. By rotating the three piles, we have one that is ready to use in
gardening, one we are actively adding to, and a third that we’re not adding to, but still needs some
decomposition time.
Our compost boxes after 6 months of decomposition, about “half done.”
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Our compost piles also create some bizarre benefits and drama unrelated to “green” recycling and good
nutrition. Our dogs immediately eat some of the produce peels, melon guts, and other waste that we throw into
the boxes, which tells me that they want better nutrition than the animal-produce dog food provides. Also,
during the winter of 2007-08, a family of ferrets took up residence in one of our boxes, and a family of quail in
another box!
Your Journal Entry
You may not yet have received the benefits of your planting a garden yet, after just 30 days. So come back to
this list at the end of the growing season, but answer just the first few questions now:
1. Do you have a sense of accomplishment from growing some of your own food?
2. How will you save money by gardening? Estimate the savings, through the months of the growing
season.
3. Name the various crops that you can “put up,” fermenting raw vegetables, freezing greens and fruit for
smoothies, chopping or shredding and then freezing vegetables such as beets, zucchini, etc.
4. What would you like to grow next year that you didn’t this year?
5. What are your best crops?
6. What crops do you need to find more ways to use?
7. Did any of your crops not grow, and why?
8. What taste difference do you notice in your organic, absolutely fresh, homegrown produce? Can
anything compare to a homegrown tomato?
9. Do you want to extend your garden into the winter?
10. If you have young children, what are the benefits to them of seeing you garden and/or participating in
growing food?
11. Are the efforts worth the rewards?
12. What are the effects on your health in the height of the growing season (Aug., Sept.) when you’re using
many things from your garden every day?
13. Do you enjoy getting outside in the sun to work in your garden and seeing the fruits of your labor?
14. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
15. Any other observations during this month?
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BEET RECIPES
Russian Borscht
This is a classic Russian beet soup that can be served hot or cold.
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large potato, scrubbed and chopped
2 medium beets, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 C cabbage, chopped
1 large tomato
1 tsp. caraway seeds
4 C water
2 tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. dill weed
optional: sour cream
Sauté the onion in oil until tender. Put all ingredients except the vinegar, agave, and dill in a large stock pot,
bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer for 30-45 min. Purée the mixture in a high-powered
blender, adding the agave, vinegar, and dill. Serve hot or cold with a dollop of sour cream if desired.
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Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce
3 pounds fresh beets, washed and trimmed
½ C extra virgin olive oil
½ C cashews
¼ C spicy brown mustard
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. thyme
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
Steam the beets for 60 min. or until tender. Drain and cool just until the beets can be handled. Peel and cut them
into ¼" thick slices. Purée remaining ingredients until smooth in a high-powered blender. Pour over warm
beets and toss gently. Serve warm or cooled.
Marinated Steamed Beets
2 pounds beets, washed and trimmed
C fresh lemon juice
C extra virgin olive oil
C fresh (or 2 Tbsp. dried) dill weed or basil
Steam the beets for 60 min., cool, then peel and slice them ¼" thick. Purée the oil, lemon juice, and herbs in a
high-powered blender. Pour the mixture over the beets, toss gently, and marinate in the fridge for several hours.
Other Recipes
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie (3) (page 285)
Kimchi (page 243)
Sprouted Quinoa Salad (page 70)
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BELL PEPPER RECIPES
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers
6 large or 8 small green or red bell peppers
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 C dry lentils, washed
1 can vegetable broth
½ C fresh parsley, chopped
8 oz. pkg. mushrooms, chopped
1 C walnuts, chopped
1 piece whole-wheat bread, diced and air dried for 24 hours
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 (14-16 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
1 C pepper jack cheese, cubed
optional: 2 eggs (organic, free-range), lightly beaten
Heat the oil and sauté the onions and 2 cloves of garlic for 1 min. Add the lentils and broth, reduce the heat,
cover, and simmer for 45 min. or until the lentils are tender. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in all
other ingredients except for the peppers, crushed tomatoes, and cheese. Wash the peppers well and slice the
tops off, setting them aside. Remove the seeds, then stuff the peppers with the lentil mixture and put the cubed
cheese on top. Cover each pepper with a top. Pour the can of crushed tomatoes in a 9"x13" baking dish. Place
the peppers in the dish, cover it with foil, and bake at 350° for one hour. Serve with tomato sauce spooned over
each serving.
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Tempeh Pitas
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided in half
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Tempeh (page 339) (any kind), sliced
¼ C Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, any color, thinly sliced
1 Anaheim pepper, diced
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
garlic mayo* or grapeseed oil Veganaise (health food store or online)
½ C feta cheese, crumbled
4 whole-wheat pita breads, cut in half
* See Flaxseed Cookies (page 114).
Sauté the tempeh slices in 1 Tbsp. oil until lightly browned. Turn and brown other side. Add the Liquid
Aminos, stir gently, and set aside to marinate in bowl. Now use the same skillet to sauté the onion and all the
peppers in the remaining oil. Spread the inside of the pitas with the garlic mayo or Veganaise and stuff them
with the tempeh, onion/pepper mixture, sliced cucumbers, and 1 Tbsp. feta. Toast briefly or serve immediately.
Other Recipes
Salsa Verde Salad (page 69)
CARROT RECIPES
Never peel your carrots, because the skin of carrots (as well as other fruits and vegetables) contains high
concentrations of nutrition. Just scrub them clean.
Buttery Dill Sautéed Carrots
2 lbs. carrots (about 6 C), sliced diagonally ¼" thick
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
¼ C unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic) or honey (raw)
2 Tbsp. dried (or ¼ C fresh chopped) dill weed
2 Tbsp. flax seeds, freshly ground
Put carrots with C water in a frying pan and bring to a boil. Cover pan and lower heat to medium-low for 8
min. or until carrots are tender-crunchy. Drain any remaining water. Add the butter and sauté for another 1-2
min. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients, then toss until just mixed.
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Carrot-Orange Soup
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
12 average (or 10 large) carrots, scrubbed and chopped
4 C vegetable broth
1 C fresh orange juice
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. orange zest
Sauté the onions in the olive oil until tender. Add the carrots and vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the
heat to low and simmer 30-60 min. until the carrots are tender. Purée the mixture in a high-powered blender
until smooth. Return the mixture to the pot and add the orange juice, salt, pepper, and orange zest. Add water if
consistency needs to be thinner. Simmer until just heated through, then serve.
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Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce
Steam 3 lbs. of any vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, asparagus, and green beans are especially good).
Dressing:
1 C plain yogurt
½ C white wine vinegar
½ C olive oil
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. dried (or 2 Tbsp. fresh) dill weed
1 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
½ tsp. garlic powder
Combine all dressing ingredients on low speed in a high-powered blender. Add 1-2 Tbsp. water if needed to
achieve desired consistency. Drizzle dressing over vegetables, toss well and serve hot, or chill and serve.
(Dressing makes enough for 2-3 batches of vegetables.)
Other Recipes
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie (3) (page 285)
CHARD RECIPES
Pasta and Garlic Greens
1 lb. whole-wheat (or spelt) penne pasta, cooked according to directions and drained
1½ lbs. chard, chopped
C extra virgin olive oil
C fresh lemon juice
8-12 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
In large skillet, sauté the chard, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the olive oil until wilted. Toss the pasta with
lemon juice and the greens mixture.
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Chard Rice Rolls
The beans and rice make a complete protein.
8-10 large chard leaves, rinsed and drained
2 C cooked brown rice
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced green chili peppers
2 C shredded or diced jalapeño jack cheese
C chopped cilantro
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
Cut stems off chard leaves, then dice them and place in a strainer. In large saucepan, bring 3 qt. of water to a
boil. Submerge the strainer full of diced stems in the boiling water and remove after 5 min. Add the leaves to
the pan and boil for 2 min. Carefully remove leaves, drain, and set aside.
Mix together the brown rice, black beans, cooked chard stems, chilis, cilantro, red pepper, salt, and pepper.
Place a scoop of the rice mixture in the middle of each chard leaf and wrap. Place the rolls in a greased
casserole dish, then cover and bake at 400° for 20 min. Serves 5-6.
GREEN BEAN RECIPES
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad
3 lbs. green beans:
Trim the ends, then blanch in salt water until tender-crisp. Rinse in cold water and refrigerate, preferably
overnight.
Dressing:
C dried (or 1 C fresh) dill weed
½ C parsley
C walnuts
2 bunches green onions
6 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 C unrefined walnut oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
Purée all ingredients in a high-powered blender. Toss with the green beans. Optionally garnish with sprigs of
dill and extra walnuts.
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Sweet-Savory Green Beans
2 lb. green beans
¼ C coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ chopped onion
½ tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. dried basil leaves
2 tsp. agave (raw, organic)
¼ tsp. pepper
½ C water
Wash the beans, remove the tips, cut in halves. Heat the oil in a skillet, and sauté the onion and garlic until soft.
Add the beans and other ingredients, cover, and cook on medium heat until tender-crisp (about 20 min.).
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
1 lb. string beans, trimmed
¾ C any garden onions (scallions, or red/white/yellow variety), chopped
8 radishes, sliced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. flax seeds, freshly ground
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the beans and cook, tossing frequently, until just
beginning to soften (about 3 to 4 min.). Add the onions and radishes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook and
stir often until onions are tender and beans are crisp-tender. Toss with flax seed and serve.
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KALE RECIPES
Easy Kale Salad
Thanks to 12-Stepper Kara Fisher for this idea!
1 large bunch kale, washed well and cut into small ribbons
C fresh lemon juice
C extra virgin olive oil
½ C pine nuts, toasted in dry sauté pan or under broiler
½ C golden raisins
Blend the lemon juice and olive oil and pour over the kale. Toss well and allow to marinate several hours or
overnight to soften the kale. Then toss with the pine nuts and raisins and serve immediately.
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Pasta with Kale
1 lb. whole-grain pasta (spaghetti, linguine, or penne)
1 lb. curly kale, cut into thin ribbons
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
¾ C pine nuts
4-6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
½ C Lemon-Lime Dressing (page 94)
Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Sauté the kale in the olive oil until very tender (taste test it to
make sure it’s broken down to be soft and easily chewed). Toss with the pasta, along with the pine nuts, feta
cheese, and dressing. Serve hot.
Braised Kale and Tomatoes
You can serve this dish with Buttermilk Cornbread (page 259) for an excellent winter meal.
1½ lb. kale (about 2 bunches)
2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red onion, sliced
¾ C vegetable broth
1 pt. cherry tomatoes, washed and sliced in half
½ tsp. sea salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. brown rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. brown rice syrup or agave (raw, organic)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
¼ C toasted sesame seeds
2 Tbsp. flax seeds, freshly ground
Wash, trim, and chop the kale. In a large wok (or sauté/fry pan), toast the sesame seeds and set them aside. Put
the oil in the wok and lightly sauté the garlic and onion. Add the kale and vegetable stock. Cook for 10 min.
and stir occasionally, adding the tomatoes, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, vinegar, and syrup/agave in the last 2
min. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and ground flax seed, and serve. Serves 4-6.
Other Recipes
Christmasy Salad (page 65)
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SPINACH RECIPES
Sautéed Garlic Spinach
This is my very favorite way to eat spinach.
2 lbs. spinach leaves, coarsely chopped (80% of a big Costco bag)
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
10+ cloves garlic, coarsely chopped (or you can use whole garlic cloves)
½ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
optional: ½ C pine nuts, toasted under broiler
optional: Parmesan cheese
optional: lemon wedges
Sauté the garlic in olive oil for about 1 min. until garlic is clear. Add the spinach and seasonings and sauté for
1-2 min. or until spinach is wilted. Optionally, toss in pine nuts and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and serve
immediately with lemon wedges.
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Dinner Pancakes
Putting applesauce on top of this dish might sound strange, but it’s really good!
5 oz. (½ of a 10-oz. bag) spinach (or frozen, squeezed dry)
2 C zucchini, shredded
1 large potato, shredded
½ of an onion, finely chopped
½ C whole-wheat flour (or more if your batter is too thin)
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
½ tsp. nutmeg
4 eggs (organic, free-range), lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. coconut or olive oil
1 bottle 100% natural applesauce
Combine the eggs, flour, and spices in a mixing bowl. Add the vegetables and stir well. On a griddle, heat
coconut or olive oil on medium-high heat, then drop the batter by ¼ C onto the griddle. Flatten to form patties
and fry until golden brown. Turn and cook until second side is lightly brown. Serve topped with applesauce.
Other Recipes
Spinach-Strawberry Salad (page 64)
ZUCCHINI/SQUASH RECIPES
Squash Fritters
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
2 C grated zucchini or yellow squash
¼ C whole-wheat flour
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. mint or dill weed
2 Tbsp. finely crumbled feta or Parmesan cheese
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Beat the eggs, then combine them with all ingredients except the oil. Form the mixture into fritter patties and
fry them in hot coconut oil until browned on both sides. Serve hot.
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Zucchini Carpaccio
This recipe is all raw except for the pistachio nuts, and it’s easy, unique, and gourmet. My two youngest
children are zucchini haters and they thought they were eating cucumbers, it’s so good!
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice
½ tsp. fine sea salt
¼ C virgin olive oil
1 large zucchini (1-1½ lbs.)
3 or more avocados
½ C pistachios, shells removed, chopped
4 sprigs lemon thyme, leaves and flowers only (not stems)
Stir together the lemon juice, salt, and oil. Drizzle mixture over very thinly sliced zucchini layered with thinly
sliced avocado on a platter or 9"x13" glass dish. Marinate 30 min. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and lemon
thyme leaves and flowers. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Zucchini Pitas
6-8 whole-wheat pita pockets
1 large zucchini (about 16" long), grated
1 large onion, grated
2 large tomatoes
½ C Parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper to taste
½ tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS) (page 339)
Steam the zucchini and onion for 10 min. Add chopped tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and then
toss. Fill pita pockets at the table and serve immediately. (Optionally, you can put the zucchini mixture on top
of a whole pita, rather than try to fill it.)
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Rainbow Salad
2 medium zucchini (about 1 lb. total), diced
2 large yellow squash (about 1 lb. total), diced
6 Roma tomatoes, chopped (or 4 regular tomatoes, liquid drained)
½ C kalamata or green olives, drained and chopped
½ C sun-dried tomatoes (bottled, drained, and finely chopped)
½ of a red onion, chopped
½ C apple cider vinegar
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. dried (or ¼ C fresh) basil, chopped
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp. flax seeds, freshly ground
Toss all ingredients well and serve.
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Vanilla Pudding
Steam and purée the squash when the kids aren’t looking. They’ll never know. My four kids, including the one
who gags on squash, all gave this pudding, served warm, thumbs up.
3-4 small yellow squash, chopped (about 5 C raw)
3 C water
1 Tbsp. Agar powder (page 338)
2 Tbsp. arrowroot powder
½ tsp. sea salt
1 egg yolk (organic, free-range) or 1 Tbsp. lecithin
2 Tbsp. ghee*
½ C maple syrup (or raw, organic agave with 1 tsp. maple flavoring)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
* Ghee is clarified butter from India. You can buy it in health food or Indian-cuisine stores. Or, I melt butter on
the stove and barely simmer it on low for about 10 min. to eliminate the water. Some nutrition experts claim
ghee converts to a short-chain fatty acid in the gut that regulates intestinal flora and promotes colon health.
Chop and steam squash for 10 min. Dissolve agar and arrowroot in 2 C of water in saucepan and cook over low
heat until thickened. Add the salt, egg yolk, maple syrup, ghee, and remaining water. Simmer 10-15 min. Cool
30 min., then blend with the squash in a high-powered blender, adding vanilla, until smooth. Serve warm.
If you refrigerate leftovers, the pudding will become gelatinous. To use leftovers, heat pudding and then
reblend in a high-powered blender until smooth and creamy.
Other Recipes
Chocolate Walnut Muffins (2) (page 307)
Peanut Butter Cookies (1) (page 309)
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CHAPTER 6
Making Plant-Based
Main Dishes
Your Goal:
To begin making filling, enjoyable, plant-based main dishes to reduce or eliminate animal proteins, to
accompany your big salad for dinner.
What You’ll Need:
The only new tool you need this month is a large, inexpensive fine strainer to wash whole grains. A
regular colander won’t work, because we will be trying some new grains that are very small such as
quinoa. If you are used to buying refined grains (white rice, white flour), the refining process that strips
the grain of nutrition also gives you a clean product. Whole grains, however, come to you straight from
the field and must be rinsed well—especially quinoa, which sometimes has an outer layer of a bitter
natural chemical called saponin.
You will use inexpensive grains, beans, and other legumes that you can find at a health food store or
buying co-op.
The goal this month is not to make a vegetarian of you unless that’s your wish. At my house, only one
of us (my teen daughter) is a pure vegetarian, although we eat very little meat and virtually never eat it
at home unless we’re having carnivorous company over to dinner. The goal this month is, rather, to
make a significant shift toward eating more plant-based whole foods.
I will not try to indoctrinate you against meat eating altogether—after all,
the Bible warns against telling people to never eat meat. However, I
highly recommend reading The China Study by Colin Campbell, Ph.D.,
the most significant and scientific evidence for eating a much more plantbased
diet than most Americans are eating. Campbell, director of the
Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University (former senior
advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research), undertook the
largest nutrition study in history. He was raised on a cattle farm and fully
expected, as he set out to study liver cancer in Filipino children early in
his career, to find that sick children needed more protein.
He was astonished to repeatedly find the opposite of his original
assumptions: both animals and humans thrive on a highly plant-based
diet. They grow more tumors, develop more heart disease and autoimmune diseases, and die earlier
when they eat a diet comprised of 20% animal protein, which is precisely the Standard American Diet
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(SAD). Over 200 statistically significant correlations were discovered and published in The Oxford/Cornell
China Project. 1
Campbell’s largest study (examining eating habits of 6,500 humans for 30 years) documented that those who
eat 5% animal protein are leaner, more energetic, and have extremely low rates of all the modern diseases.
High rates of disease and being overweight were found in those eating a 20% animal protein diet, which
parallels the typical American diet. Campbell’s animal studies are even more compelling, since the researchers
could switch the 5% and 20% milk-protein diets and watch cancerous tumors grow or shrink and rats and mice
gain or lose weight, all dependent on the easily isolated, single factor of quantity of animal protein
consumption.
Anyone eating meat every day ought to take note of its implications and move toward a diet that follows the
China Study’s findings that have been duplicated consistently by other researchers all over the world: clearly,
5% or less animal protein is ideal for a longer, more healthful life. This corroborates ancient scripture from my
own faith, that meat is to be eaten “sparingly” and in times of “winter and famine.” Eating this ratio is both
easy to achieve and realistic, allowing for eating what is served at parties, restaurants, and Thanksgiving. For
an adult woman eating 1,600 calories per day, 5% animal protein equates to 80 calories, or 2 oz. of chicken.
This chapter endeavors to give you ideas to put hearty, substantive dishes on the dinner table that feature plant
food: primarily vegetables, grains, and legumes. I have found in teaching people about nutrition that many
people are very interested in eating more plant food and less meat and dairy—and they usually even know why
they should—but they simply don’t know what to make. Most people were raised with beef, poultry, or fish on
the plate every night for dinner.
Eating dinners using the main dishes in this chapter, plus a salad, will not take excessive time in the kitchen and
will leave you feeling satisfied but light. You will spend less money making these main dishes than other
dishes that require beef, poultry, or fish. All of my recipes in this chapter are quick to make, with reasonably
short ingredient lists. Best of all, these meals will not tax your body’s enzyme-producing organs or organs of
digestion and elimination. Further, forgoing standard American dinner food for these flavorful dishes will lead
you to your ideal weight.
Will I Get Enough Protein and Calcium with Plant Foods?
I’m constantly asked, “How do you get enough protein?” on my family’s plant-based diet. This is usually
followed closely by “How do you get enough calcium?”
The proof may be in the pudding: When I was tested at age 40, I had a bone density in
the highest percentage category—comparable to a 20-year-old. My diet has consisted
of less than 5% animal protein my entire life. I have never drunk a glass of cow milk
in my life. And according to some blood typing, metabolic typing, and ethnic origin
theories, I’m a “protein type.” Remember, before you believe “typing” philosophies,
that these are new, fairly untested fads in nutrition propagated by a charismatic few.
Blood typing has been articulately and soundly debunked by Joel Fuhrman, M.D., in
Eat to Live. 2 )
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Americans have been falsely educated into thinking they won’t get enough protein if they don’t eat meat. In the
1900s, prevailing wisdom was that people needed 120 grams of protein daily. In this century, nutritionists
recommended about 80 grams a day. Newer research shows we need only about 25 grams, as recommended by
the World Health Organization.
A clinical study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association compared amino acids (the building blocks
of proteins) in the diets of meat eaters, vegetarians, and vegans. They used a high standard that would cover the
needs of pregnant women and growing children. All three diets provided more than enough protein, by double
or more! 3
Other studies document that Americans are getting 150-400% more protein than they need. You can certainly
eat plenty of dairy products (high in calcium) and have a calcium deficiency or absorption problem. How else
are we the highest dairy-consuming nation in the world (by double the next-highest country) and also have the
highest rate of osteoporosis—fully half of us over the age of 60? (I believe that this already high number will
grow dramatically as our soda-drinking youth age.) The massive amount of animal protein we eat causes such
an acidic state in the body that calcium from the bones is robbed in order to bring the blood and tissues into
alkaline balance.
Many “main dishes” in this chapter are rich in plant protein: remember from Chapter 1 that broccoli and
spinach are nearly 50% protein! But for some who have spent a lifetime thinking of meat as a main dish, a
mental shift will be required to recognize a dish with high-protein grains, beans, nuts, and/or whole-grain pasta
as a main dish. Keep in mind that if you feel you need meat, you can always add tuna, grilled fish, chicken or
turkey to these dishes, or serve a small side portion of meat on your plate. Eventually, you may find this no
longer necessary.
For those who cannot be dissuaded from maximizing protein, I like a few vegan protein powders that do not
use highly processed whey, or highly estrogenic soy. (See the GreenSmoothieGirl.com for store for my two
favorite options for both taste and nutrition.) This can be added to virtually any breakfast (from Chapter 10)
every day. I don’t think anyone needs more protein than what whole vegetables, grains, nuts, and legumes
provide. People who say they feel poorly when they don’t eat lots of meat are generally just experiencing
cleansing symptoms when they decrease heavy, acidic foods. The uncomfortable reactions make some want to
return to eating meat, and they mistake that desire for dietary “need.”
But for those who want more protein because they’ve been accustomed to a meat-heavy diet, who are
attempting to put on muscle mass, or who feel better with higher levels of protein, hempseed, split-pea, brownrice,
or another plant-based (but not soy) protein is the safest supplementary option. These are much better
nutritionally than soy or whey protein powders.
Most of the main dishes in this chapter are high in protein because I have designed the recipes to contain both a
whole grain and a legume. Together, their amino acids complete each other to make a “perfect protein.”
Recipes in this chapter that contain a grain/legume combination are identified with an asterisk (*) before their
titles, indicating that they qualify as a “perfect protein.” I include the “perfect protein” designations not
because I think such food combining is necessary, but because others do and they feel better knowing they have
it in their main dish.
No wonder indigenous people used legumes and grains together for thousands of years—millions of people on
this planet have subsisted primarily on the combination of beans and rice. At dinner, everyone wants energysustaining
food, and that’s a good way to get it. However, don’t obsess about the “perfect protein,” feeling that
the only true meal must qualify under this banner. Many experts, including Dr. Robert O. Young, say that if you
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eat green food, your body has all the amino acids in a free-floating pool to assemble proteins, so you don’t have
to eat all of them simultaneously in one meal to get enough protein. The amino acids you eat are used over a
24-hour period, so you needn’t make rocket science of your eating habits. 28 Above all else, just eat lots of plant
foods, especially greens.
Because of the way amino acids in plant foods combine, the amount of protein in the chart below, both for the
legume and the grain, don’t give the whole picture. Trust your body to manufacture enough protein, even if
your food isn’t “quality” protein. “Quality” only means that it matches human flesh closely, as animal protein
does. The building blocks of proteins are amino acids, and your body can assemble proteins when you give it
all the amino acids found in dishes made of a variety of five natural, whole food categories: grains, legumes,
nuts, seeds, and vegetables. If you are imagining these foods being a limited menu, think again: you have a
huge variety of highly sustaining foods to choose from!
When your body builds muscle mass from plant proteins, the muscle mass is more durable and long lasting,
even if it takes longer to come by. I am an avid weight lifter, and when I once injured my shoulder kickboxing,
I had to stop lifting weights for nine months. When I started again, I was thrilled to find that I had lost virtually
no strength, and was lifting my previous weight within two weeks. This was personal proof to me of my studies
that plant proteins create durable muscle mass.
I seem to have regular conversations with my powerlifter friends about this topic. Suggesting that a
competitive weightlifter consider eating less meat and more plant food is like trying to tell a Catholic priest to
quit going to Mass. What powerlifters do to build up huge pecs, lats, biceps, and triceps muscles might win
competitions, but it also accelerates aging as well as disease risk. My friend Roy (who maxes the bench press
with 455 lbs.) recently told me he’s on a 60% protein diet. While he’s thinking of his upcoming competition
and fearing the ungodly carbohydrate, I’m thinking of the massive enzyme-draining load on his body.
So, the question isn’t “How do I get enough protein?” The more appropriate question may be “How can I avoid
getting too much?”
Dr. Colin Campbell says this, referring to the Oxford/Cornell China Project:
There is a strong correlation between dietary protein intake and cancer of the breast, prostate,
pancreas, and colon. The culprit in many of the most prevalent and deadly diseases of our time,
according to this study, is none other than the very thing most of us have been taught to hold
virtually sacred—animal protein. People who derive 70% of their protein from animal products
have major health difficulties compared to people who derive just 5% of their protein from
animal sources. They have 17 times the death rate from heart disease and the women are five
times more likely to die of breast cancer. In conclusion, animal protein is at the core of many
chronic diseases. 14
Consider that along with the protein in animal sources also comes synthetic hormones, steroids, antibiotics,
pesticide chemicals, bacteria, and sometimes saturated fat.
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What If I Love Potatoes?
Some popular foods are not “glycemic friendly.” Potatoes are a highglycemic
index food, releasing sugars into the bloodstream quickly, but many
people love them. The good news is that as a whole food, with the right food
combining, you can include them in your dinners. Use two tips to allow you
to significantly slow the impact on your blood sugar.
First, leave the potato peels on (scrubbing them well). Most of the nutrition
and valuable fiber in most foods are in the peel. Potatoes are no exception.
Fiber is well documented to slow the uptake of sugar into the bloodstream.
Second, eat potatoes in combination with a large portion of low glycemicindex
(GI) foods, and your blood sugar will remain stable. The effect of a low
GI food on blood sugar levels carries over to the next meal. Plan to eat at least
one low GI food per meal—and greens are perfect.
If you love potatoes, I recommend these recipes in this chapter, eaten with a
big green salad:
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes (page 169) (a bigger hit than regular mashed potatoes at our family
Thanksgiving)
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes (page 170)
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup (page 168)
The Twice-Baked recipe has plenty of broccoli and spinach, which are both more than 40% protein, so don’t
worry that your meal is too carb heavy. Just keep that green salad the biggest serving in your meal, as we
discussed in Chapter 2, and if you feel your personal need for protein is high, put some kidney beans or lentils
in your salad when you eat potatoes. I often keep cooked legumes in my fridge left over from making soups/
main dishes just for this purpose.
What about Protein, Carbs, and Glycemic Index?
Glycemic index refers to the measurement between 1 and 100 of how quickly a food raises blood sugar. Foods
with a high glycemic index (above 60) release glucose quickly into the blood stream. These foods include
refined sugar and fruit like bananas and watermelon. Foods with a low glycemic index (under 45) release
glucose more steadily over several hours, keeping blood sugar levels stable. These foods include greens, most
vegetables, nuts, beans, yogurt, and whole grains. These foods are the emphasis in this chapter.
Eating low-glycemic foods prevents insulin resistance, Type II diabetes, weight gain, colorectal cancers, heart
disease, and many other conditions. Carbs have been vilified in the media as being high glycemic index
foods—but, in fact, legumes and whole grains, especially when combined with greens and vegetables, are
excellent foods that do not contribute to blood sugar problems and associated health problems. Also consider
that the carbohydrates in whole grains and legumes are complex, slowing the absorption of sugars. Eating a
salad with a whole-grain dish further slows sugar uptake in the bloodstream, as greens are a very low glycemic
index food. They are also high in dietary fiber, leading to healthy digestion.
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The four most effective ways to lower the glycemic index of your meals are to leave the peel on (as in the case
of potatoes), add vegetables, add legumes and whole grains, and/or add good fats—all of which are the primary
focus of this book for this reason and many others.
Introducing Grains/Seeds You Can Cook With
A number of grains and seeds you may be unfamiliar with will significantly expand your repertoire of cooking
whole foods, especially as you are looking to serve hearty, filling main dishes that replace an old habit of
serving meat. Protein is found in ideal ratios in grains and legumes, and when served with vegetables, these
extremely inexpensive plant foods are easy to digest.
We will leave a more detailed discussion of the virtues of each grain and their various combinations for
Chapter 9, specifically dedicated to whole grains. But this month, we will use some grains that are easy to cook
with for main dishes. Living in an abundant age with access to whole foods from all over the globe, you may be
surprised at how many options you have for nutty, varied, and interesting tastes and textures that are also high
protein, low glycemic index, and low gluten.
Quinoa, millet, and buckwheat are each featured in several “hot meal” recipes in this chapter. Although
commonly thought of as grains, they are technically seeds or fruit.
Quinoa. Most people do not know about the ancient grain (actually a seed) quinoa (pronounced “KEENwah”),
used for 5,000 years in South America, grown primarily in Bolivia. It is high in protein and is, in fact, a
“complete protein” because it contains all nine amino acids. It is exceptionally high in lysine, an amino acid
that isn’t particularly easy to find. Quinoa is also a good complement for legumes, which are low in methionine
and cystine. It’s also high in calcium, phosphorous, iron, vitamin E, and several of the B vitamins.
Because of its recent discovery on this continent, it has not been hybridized for high yields and pest resistance;
thus, its a more simple and natural food than wheat. It is less than 1% gluten (and, therefore, tolerated well by
most with allergies) and it is an excellent addition to your diet. This book provides several easy main dishes
featuring this unique, delicious food that is the fastest whole grain to cook.
The bitter outside layer of quinoa, called saponin, must be rinsed off very well. Because the grains are tiny,
they will run through a sieve. To avoid this, soak them for a few minutes before rinsing/draining, stir well to
clean thoroughly, and pour them through the sieve wet and in large amounts on top of each other, to avoid
losing them down the drain. Rinse at least twice.
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Millet. This grain is alkaline even when cooked, stores well long term, and is finely textured, mild flavored,
and easy to digest. It may be unfamiliar to most Americans, but it is one of the most important grains in the
world, growing wild in droughts and heat, and feeding populations of Asia and Africa. It makes a delicious
cooked breakfast cereal.
Buckwheat. Actually a fruit seed rather than a cereal grain, buckwheat has a hardy flavor and texture (doesn’t
go “mushy” when you cook it) and has been found in research to help control blood sugar and avoid heart
disease. It satisfies hunger perhaps more than any other grain and, with a little maple syrup, makes a good hot
breakfast.
The following tables list the macronutrients and Glycemic Index for grains and legumes:
Grain // Legume
(1 C cooked) Protein (g) Carbohydrates (g) Fiber (g) Glycemic Index*
Barley (hulled, not pearled) 7 59 14 Low
Brown rice 5 45 3.5 Medium
Buckwheat 6 34 4.5 Medium
Millet 8 57 3 Low
Oats, rolled (not pearled) 6 25 4 Low/Medium
Quinoa 6 29 2.5 Low
Rye 8 39 8 Low/Medium
Spelt 6 30 4.5 Medium
Whole wheat 6 34 8 Medium
Beans, common (black, pinto, kidney) 14-15 40-44 11-15 Low
Chickpeas (Garbanzos) 15 45 8 Low
Lentils 18 40 10 Low
Split peas 16 41 5 Low
* Low GI = 1-44, Medium GI = 45-60, High GI = 61-100
Cautions about the Glycemic Index
I want to suggest caution about taking the glycemic indexes (GI) as the “gospel truth” to guide all your eating
habits. I use it to keep an eye on how fast sugar enters the bloodstream with various foods, but other factors
must also be considered, including the fact that you rarely eat a food all by itself. For instance, potatoes,
carrots, and bananas are high on the GI chart—but they also provide excellent nutrition. Also, significant
evidence has come to light that a food’s glycemic index is not an accurate predictor of the effect that the food
has on blood sugar, insulin, or cholesterol levels.
Basing my opinion on a survey of the literature, I suggest you feel free to eat high-glycemic foods if they are
whole plant foods, rich in fiber and nutrients. No evidence exists that fruits cause weight gain or diabetes; in
fact, quite the opposite is true. Avoid high-glycemic foods that are stripped of nutrition (white flour, white
sugar), and eat high-glycemic foods in their natural state, along with fibrous plant foods such as greens, grains,
legumes, fruits, nuts, and seeds.
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Tips for Cooking Beans
• Although it requires thinking ahead, try to cook your own beans rather
than using canned. Canned beans add too much sodium in the form of
refined salt. If you do buy canned beans, look for the “reduced
sodium” versions that are becoming more common. Also, rinse your
canned beans very well regardless of whether they are regular or low
sodium.
• Some people avoid beans because they cause flatulence. Presoak your
beans for several hours to reduce the oligosaccharides, the sugars
known to cause flatulence, and then rinse and cook them in fresh
water. Cooking with old beans will also cause more gas.
• Grind any kind of (uncooked) small beans in your grain grinder (the
K-Tec Kitchen Mill and GrainMaster Whisper Mill are guaranteed to
grind all kinds of grains and beans). Cooking bean flour with three
times as much water creates cooked beans in just a few minutes, and
this makes a good gravy base as well.
• Do not add salt and seasonings until beans are fully cooked, as doing
so will increase the cooking time.
• As a rule of thumb, use three cups of water for every cup of beans.
• When you cleanse your intestinal tract with several months of drinking green smoothies, you may find
that things that used to cause gas for you don’t anymore.
Tips for Saving Money
To save on energy and time, and to avoid using more expensive, salt-added canned beans, soak and drain a
large amount of dry beans all at once, and then bring them to a boil and simmer them in a huge pot or slow
cooker. Drain the beans and freeze 4 C each in quart-size freezer bags. Then you have the advantage of very
inexpensive, fresh-cooked, unsalted beans that are as quick and easy to use as canned beans.
You can do the same with brown rice, if you find the 45-min. cooking time is a deterrent in meal planning.
Your Journal Entry
Make sure you take a few minutes at the end of this month to document any changes in your health, as well as
your budget, from decreasing or eliminating meat from the dinner plate and learning new “main dishes” that
are plant based and high in nutrition.
1. What changes in your health do you notice from using legumes and whole grains in your dinner?
2. How you feel different after dinner now, compared to after a meat-based dinner? And has your sleep
changed as a result?
3. Has your digestion and elimination changed as a result of getting more fiber in the form of legumes and
whole grains?
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4. Do you feel that you’re getting enough protein from your dinner, based on your energy, perceived or
measured muscle mass, etc.?
5. Have you experienced any weight loss?
6. How has your spending changed, based on using legumes and whole grains in your dinners instead of
fast food, meat, prepared dinners, or whatever you were serving before?
7. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
8. Any other observations during this month?
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POTATO (AND ROOT VEGETABLE) MAIN DISH RECIPES
Glycemic Load Minimized
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup
If there’s a “good” dairy product, it’s yogurt or kefir, with live cultures to keep your gastrointestinal tract
populated with the good organisms that keep the bad bacterial organisms at bay.
2 leeks (white and green parts, with just the top 6" cut off), cleaned and chopped small
1 C barley (hulled, rather than pearled—pearling partially refines the grain)
3 potatoes, scrubbed and unpeeled
3 turnips, peeled and chopped
6 C vegetable broth
10 oz. bag fresh spinach, chopped (or a box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed)
1½ C plain yogurt
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
optional: 2 green onions (green part as well as white) or small bundle of fresh chives, chopped
optional: steamed asparagus, carrots, or broccoli, chopped
In a stock pot, boil the potatoes and turnips in 4 C of the broth, simmering 20 min. or until soft. In a separate
pot, cook the barley in 2 C of the broth (bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer 45 min.). Sauté the leeks in the
oil until tender, adding the spinach for the last 60 seconds of sautéing. Purée the leeks/spinach/broth mixture in
a high-powered blender with the potatoes/turnips/broth mixture.
Pour the combined mixture back into the stock pot and cook until hot, adding salt to taste. Stir in the cooked
barley and yogurt, as well as any chopped steamed asparagus, carrots, or broccoli as desired. (The broccoli
may be puréed with the other ingredients, if your family doesn’t like it.)
Serve immediately with chopped green onions or chives sprinkled on top.
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Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes
I served this at Thanksgiving, and it disappeared faster than the regular mashed potatoes we brought for my
non-vegetable-loving nieces and nephews.
8 potatoes, scrubbed well but not peeled, cut into chunks
8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
8 C spinach or collard greens
¼ C butter (or extra virgin olive oil)
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
Place potatoes in a heavy saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and
reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook 15-30 min. or until the potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile, cut the spinach or collards into ribbons and sauté in a bit of the ¼ C butter (reserving the rest) with
garlic until the greens are wilted and bright green.
When the potatoes are tender, remove them from heat,
drain them, and return them to saucepan. Add the salt,
pepper, and remainder of the butter, then mix with
hand-held blender until desired consistency is
achieved (smooth or lumpy). Add a bit of water if
needed. Stir in the spinach mixture (including any
liquid) and serve.
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Twice-Baked Green Potatoes
My sister-in-law Kelli makes this recipe, and even her vegetable-hating 3-year-old will eat it, even though she
won’t eat broccoli. Of course, I’ve added even more greens.
8 large potatoes
1 large head broccoli
4 C spinach
8 green onions, diced (including the long green part)
¼ C grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1½ tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
Bake foil-wrapped potatoes at 350° for one hour, then let cool enough to handle the potatoes. Chop the broccoli
into small pieces and steam for 15 min., adding the spinach for the last 5 min. of steaming. Cut each potato in
half and scoop out the potato “guts,” being careful to leave the skin intact with about ¼" of potato all the way
around, to keep it firm to use later. Set the skins aside.
Use a hand mixer to blend until smooth the potato “guts,” steamed broccoli, onions, spinach, Parmesan, olive
oil, and salt and pepper. Add a bit of water if the mixture is too thick to blend.
Scoop the mixture back into the potato skins. Optionally sprinkle with additional Parmesan, then bake at 350°
for 15-20 min. Serve immediately.
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Baked Potato Bar
Bake potatoes in foil for 45-60 min. at 350°.
Top with:
• Roasted-Garlic Aioli Sauce (recipe below)
• Steamed broccoli
• Chopped raw vegetables including tomatoes, green onions, bell peppers, squash, anything in season,
and anything from your garden
• Leftover Vegetarian Chili (page 189)
Roasted-Garlic Aioli Sauce:
1½ C raw almonds, soaked overnight and drained
1½ C raw sunflower seeds, soaked overnight and drained
1 head garlic, roasted, cooled, and skins removed from cloves
1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, and seeds removed OR ½ C sun-dried tomatoes
1½ C extra virgin olive oil
½ C fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS) (page 339)
freshly ground pepper to taste
Blend all ingredients well in a high-powered blender. Add a bit of water if necessary to blend to a smooth or
chunky texture, whichever you prefer. We love to use a generous scoop of this as topping for baked potatoes
instead of sour cream. You can also toss it into whole-grain pasta with steamed veggies, or into wraps. Can be
frozen for later use.
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QUINOA MAIN DISH RECIPES
Power Food, High in Protein
(* = Grain / Legume combo “perfect protein” dish)
The following five recipes feature quinoa, the base of some of my family's favorite dinners. 12-Stepper Kris
says that she often puts any salad dressing from Chapter 3 (page 75) on some cooked quinoa (10-15 min.
simmered in 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa). She says every one she has tried tastes fantastic. I also recommend
tossing into the mix any variety of your favorite chopped raw veggies to make an easy, complete meal. This is
one of our favorite dinners on nights we are running around to kids’ soccer and baseball games.
Another thing I love to toss with quinoa is sweet potato sticks sautéed in coconut oil, seasoned any way you
like it and with a bit of sea salt.
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa
1 C quinoa, rinsed well (soak for a few minutes, then drain in a fine strainer)
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 clove garlic
2 C water
½ C pecans, chopped and toasted under broiler or in dry sauté pan
1 orange, red, or yellow bell pepper, diced
½ C dried cranberries
2 green onions, chopped (use most of the green part)
C chopped cilantro
½ tsp. sea salt
optional: ¼ C dried apricots, finely chopped
Dressing:
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
¼ C fresh orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange zest
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
1 Tbsp. dried basil
In a saucepan, sauté the garlic in the oil, then add the quinoa and stir until toasted. Add the water and bring to a
boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 15 min. Blend the dressing ingredients in a high-powered blender.
Toss the cooked quinoa with all other ingredients and the dressing (or any Chapter 3 (page 75) dressing that
features orange, lemon, or lime juice—such as Green Goddess Dressing (page 88) or Lemon-Lime Dressing
(page 94). Serve cold or hot.
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Curried Quinoa
1¼ C quinoa, rinsed well (soak for a few minutes, then drain in a fine strainer)
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp. ginger root, grated
1 can diced green chili peppers
1¼ tsp. turmeric
1¼ tsp. coriander
¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. sea salt
2 C water
Rinse and drain quinoa well (after soaking for a few minutes first, so grains absorb water and don’t run through
the sieve). Sauté the onions and peppers in oil in a saucepan. Add the ginger, quinoa, and green chilies, and
cook for 1 min. Add the remaining spices and cook for another minute. Add the water and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 min. Fluff with a fork before serving.
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red onion, finely diced
½ C sun-dried tomatoes, julienned or chopped
2 C vegetable broth
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 C quinoa, rinsed well (soak for a few minutes, then drain in a fine strainer)
½ tsp. sea salt
4-6 C broccoli, cut into small pieces
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 C cashew pieces, toasted in oven
Heat the coconut oil over medium heat in a saucepan and sauté the onion and garlic for 3 min. Add the sundried
tomatoes, vegetable stock, vinegar, agave, and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Stir in the quinoa and salt,
then put broccoli on top. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for about 20-30 min. Remove from the heat
when the broccoli is tender. Add the ground pepper and cashews and toss.
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* Southwest Quinoa
I serve this hot, but it also makes a delicious cold salad.
2 C quinoa, rinsed well (soak for a few minutes, then drain in a fine strainer)
4 C water
2 cans black beans, rinsed well
4 medium tomatoes, diced
8 green onions, chopped (including most of the green part)
1 C chopped fresh cilantro
Dressing:
1 heaping Tbsp. grated lime zest
¼ C fresh lime juice
6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
Whisk together the lime zest and juice, olive oil, maple syrup, salt, and pepper in a serving bowl. Simmer the
quinoa in water uncovered for about 10 min. Turn off the heat, cover, and let stand 10 min. Strain any excess
water. Add the quinoa to dressing and toss well, then stir in the remaining ingredients (beans, tomatoes,
scallions, cilantro).
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Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 small onion, diced
1¼ C quinoa, rinsed well (soak for a few minutes, then drain in a fine strainer)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 C chopped carrots
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 C snow peas
2½ C water
1 Tbsp. Nama Shoyu (page 339) or Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
1 tsp. dried rosemary
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ C walnuts
Preheat the oven to 400° and roast the walnuts for a few minutes until lightly browned. Heat the oil in a
saucepan and add the onion and quinoa. Sauté over medium heat, stirring constantly for 3 min. Add the red bell
pepper, carrots, snow peas, and mushrooms and sauté for an additional 2 min. Add the water, Liquid Aminos,
pepper flakes, and rosemary. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on low for 15 min.
Remove the lid and simmer another 10 min. until the water is almost absorbed. When the quinoa is cooked,
turn off the heat and mix in the walnuts. Let it sit a few minutes before serving.
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GRAIN/SEED, PASTA, AND LEGUME MAIN DISH RECIPES
(* = Grain / Legume combo “perfect protein” dish)
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas
Serve with hot, vegetarian refried beans, shredded vegetables (carrots, cabbage), and sliced vegetables
(tomatoes, onions, bell peppers) stuffed inside, with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. Sometimes we
leave the tortilla flat and put lots of lettuce on top of the beans and veggies, in lieu of a salad. My husband’s
family calls these “flat things” (our version doesn’t contain taco meat, though you can use taco lentils (recipe
below).
2¾ C plus 1 Tbsp. whole-wheat or buckwheat flour
¼ C freshly ground flax seeds (do not grind flax more than a few days in advance)
¼ tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
½ Tbsp. seasoning (brewer’s yeast, powdered garlic, powdered sage, chili powder are some options)
½ tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 C warm water
Using a dough hook in a food processor (you can also knead by hand), mix the dry ingredients, then add the
wet. If it’s too dry, add more water a spoonful at a time. Mix until a ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap
and let stand for 10 min. Separate the dough into 16 pieces and form into balls. Roll each ball into a very thin
10" circle. Stack them on plate and cover with a damp cloth.
Preheat a griddle to medium-high. Place the dough rounds on the griddle (nongreased), flipping when air
pockets form and piercing the air bubbles. Tortillas are done when they are golden on both sides. Use
immediately or store in a Ziploc bag in the fridge or freezer. Makes about 10 tortillas.
* Lentil Tacos (also Taco Salad)
My friend Kristin takes taco lentils to parties as a dip—they’re a big hit!
2 C lentils, well rinsed
1 pkg. taco seasoning (choose one that does not include MSG or hydrolyzed protein)
water
Make the lentils according to package directions, but instead of just water, also add taco seasoning.
Make tacos using this nutritious, tasty filling in the taco shells (or soft tacos with sprouted whole-wheat tortillas
or homemade Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas (page 177)) instead of ground beef. Continue filling the shells/
tortillas with chopped tomatoes, cheddar cheese, romaine lettuce, and salsa.
You can also use these lentils to make taco salads by combining them with crumbled taco chips, tomatoes, and
salsa on a bed of lettuce. Serves 8 twice (as tacos and/or taco salad).
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Pink Hummus Quesadillas
My kids really love this East-Meets-West recipe—and if you fry them until barely crispy on both sides, the live,
sprouted nutrition of the chickpeas (garbanzo beans) is mostly retained. If using dried chickpeas, start a few
days early to sprout them, rinsing, draining, and turning them in a jar 2-3 times a day.
1 C dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and sprouted 3 days (will grow sprouts and become more
volume than 1 C) or 1 can chickpeas, rinsed well
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2-4 Tbsp. water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
½ C sun-dried tomatoes (drained)
½ C salsa
¼ tsp. sea salt
12 corn tortillas
2 C spinach, chopped
1 C cilantro, chopped
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese
Put the lemon juice, olive oil, water, and garlic into a blender, then add the chickpeas and blend until smooth.
Spray a skillet with nonstick cooking spray or heat ½ tsp. olive or coconut oil on medium-high heat. Place a
corn tortilla in the pan, sprinkle with mozzarella, and spread hummus on top, ½" thick. Pile the chopped
spinach and cilantro and top with another sprinkle of mozzarella. Put another tortilla on top, and flip after 60
seconds. Fry on the other side for 60 seconds, then remove from the pan. Cut in half with a pizza cutter and
serve immediately. Makes 6 quesadillas.
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* Mexicali Wraps
Tempeh, found in health food and Asian food markets, is a delicious soy- or other grain-based fermented food
that contributes to hearty dishes for those used to eating meat. Combined with the corn tortillas, this is a unique
“perfect protein” meal.
1 Tbsp. coconut or extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 orange or red bell pepper, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
12 oz. soy tempeh, cut into thin strips 3" long
10 corn tortillas
1 C shredded pepper jack cheese
½ C cilantro, chopped
Sauté the onions and bell peppers in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 3 min., adding the garlic for the
last minute. Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir, cover, and cook
for 8 min. Remove the lid and place the tempeh pieces into the sauce, then fold together gently. Cover and
simmer on low for 3 min.
Just before serving, wrap the tortillas in a clean dish towel and heat in a microwave oven until hot, about 1 min.
Fold the tempeh and sauce into the tortillas, and sprinkle with the cheese and cilantro. Serves 6-8.
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Tabbouleh Wraps
½ head romaine lettuce, washed and whole leaves set aside for wraps
½ C medium or fine bulgur (a whole grain, found at health food and grocery stores)
1 C water
1 cucumber, finely chopped
½ large red onion, finely chopped
½ C fresh parsley, finely chopped
¼ C mint leaves, finely chopped (or 2 Tbsp. dried mint leaves)
¼ C fresh dill weed, finely chopped (or 2 Tbsp. dried dill)
3 large Roma tomatoes, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
¼ tsp. ground allspice
¼ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
¼ tsp. dried kelp
3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
¼ C fresh lemon juice
In the morning, bring the water to a boil in a saucepan, add the bulgur, then turn off the heat and cover with a
tight-fitting lid. Put the pan in a 350° preheated oven, then turn off the oven. Let the pan sit in the oven all day
in order to steam. (Alternatively, bring the water to a boil, add the bulgur, reduce the heat, and simmer on low
for 30 min.)
Shake the lemon juice, olive oil, and seasonings together in a pint jar. Add all the other ingredients to the bulgur
and toss. Toss in lemon juice/olive oil mixture. Scoop the mixture into romaine lettuce leaves to serve. Serves 6
(2-3 wraps each).
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* Falafel Pita Pockets
1 pkg. whole-wheat pita pockets
1½ C dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas) (or 3 C canned garbanzo beans [taken from 2 cans], rinsed
and drained; use remaining beans in a salad another day)
3 C water
2½ C parsley, chopped and loosely packed
2½ yellow onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. pepper
½ Tbsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cayenne
coconut oil, for frying
1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
Soak the dried garbanzo beans overnight (or 8-12 hours), then drain well. Bring 3 C water to a boil and add the
garbanzo beans. Reduce the heat, simmer for 1 hour, then drain. (Optionally, use canned beans.) Blend the
beans into a paste (not totally creamy) with the parsley and onions in a high-powered blender. Mix the paste
with the spices in a bowl. Refrigerate to allow flavors to blend, then form into small patties and fry in coconut
oil until lightly browned on both sides. Serve with tahini sauce (below) and sliced tomatoes and cucumbers in
whole-wheat pita pockets. Serves 6-8.
Tahini Sauce:
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ C tahini (sesame seed paste)
½ C fresh lemon juice
3-4 Tbsp. water (or enough to make a thick but pourable sauce)
Blend everything in a high-powered blender until smooth.
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* Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps
1 pkg. sprouted whole-wheat tortillas or 8 homemade whole-wheat flax tortillas (recipe above)
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1½ tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. cayenne
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 tsp. agave (raw, organic)
1 Tbsp. tamarind concentrate (found in Asian markets and health food stores)
2 (15 oz.) cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
1 10-oz. package prewashed baby spinach
¼ tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened and golden brown. Add
the cumin, coriander, and cayenne to the skillet and stir well. Add the diced tomatoes with their juice, agave,
and tamarind concentrate. Stir to mix well. Add the chickpeas and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Reduce
the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 min. Stir in the spinach and simmer until wilted. Season with salt and
pepper. Serve hot, folded into warm tortillas. Serves 6-8.
Pasta with Pesto
This doesn’t use expensive pine nuts and is light on oil while high in greens. It’s my kids’ very favorite dinner!
1½ lbs. whole-wheat spaghetti, linguine, or penne pasta, cooked according to directions
1 lb. spinach, lightly steamed
1 large pkg. fresh basil, leaves only (if grown in your garden, use 30+ leaves; cilantro will work if
you don’t have basil)
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
1 large tomato or 2 Roma tomatoes
4 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic
sea salt to taste
½ C walnuts
optional: chopped steamed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, or broccoli)
Purée the spinach, basil, oil, tomatoes, Parmesan, garlic, salt, and walnuts in a high-powered blender. Serve
tossed with cooked pasta, sprinkled with extra shredded Parmesan cheese. Add the chopped steamed carrots or
cauliflower or broccoli and toss. Serves 8.
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* Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
6-8 large Roma tomatoes, diced
2 C cooked lentils, drained
1 C pitted green and/or kalamata olives, sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 oz. whole-grain (wheat or spelt) spaghetti
1 C feta cheese, crumbled
Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the coconut oil over
medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and sauté for 5 min. or until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5
min. longer. Stir in the lentils and olives and heat through. Add the salt and pepper. Drain the pasta and toss
with the other ingredients, then top with the feta cheese. Serves 8
.
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* Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens
8 oz. whole-grain penne, cooked according to directions
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or 1¼ C home-cooked)
1 lb. kale, washed and finely chopped
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ C oat groats, soaked and sprouted 1-2 days (overnight, minimally)
½ C water
¼ C tahini
1 tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt
1 tsp. cornstarch (or more/less, depending how thick you want the sauce to be)
¼ C Bragg Liquid Aminos (see Appendix A)
2 green onions (including the green part)
Sauté the kale in the olive oil until it is very tender. Add the kidney beans and continue cooking until they are
hot. Purée the oats, water, onion, tahini, salt, cornstarch, and Liquid Aminos in a high-powered blender until
smooth. Toss together the sauce and just-sautéed greens/beans mixture with the hot, cooked pasta. Serve
immediately. Serves 6-8.
* Country Market Stew
¾ C dried multi-bean mix, sorted and washed well
½ C brown rice, rinsed well
1½ cans vegetable broth
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1½ C water
1 tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. ground pepper
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 can chopped green chili peppers, drained
Soak the beans overnight, then drain. Add the water and vegetable broth to the beans and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour (or longer, if the beans are very old), until they are beginning to be
tender. Add all the remaining ingredients except the lime juice and simmer 45 min. Stir in the lime juice and
serve. Serves 6-8.
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* Vegetarian Chili
I can’t overestimate this recipe’s role in helping my mom raise eight children on my father’s military income.
Vegetarian chili is inexpensive, nutritious, filling, and a complete protein with brown rice added. As kids, we
loved seeing it on the table on winter evenings with chips, shredded cheese, and a big green salad.
2 C dried pinto beans, soaked overnight and rinsed well or 2 cans pinto beans, rinsed well
6 C water, for dried beans or 2 C water, for canned beans
1 C brown rice, rinsed well
1 diced yellow onions
2 cans tomato sauce
2 (14½ oz.) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
¾ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. pepper
1-2 bay leaves
optional: 1 green bell pepper, diced
optional: 1 Anaheim or jalapeño pepper, diced
In a very large stock pot, either bring 6 C water and dried beans to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours (or
longer, if the beans are very old) until they are almost tender or combine 2 C water and canned beans. Add all
the remaining ingredients, simmer for 1 hour, and serve. The taste improves overnight after refrigeration. Save
leftovers to use for a baked potato bar—or, if you have a small family, you’ll have enough to freeze for another
night’s meal. Serves 8 to 10.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Green Lentil Soup
Lentil soup is better the second day, but you may need to add water, as it absorbs water as it sits.
½ lb. green or red lentils
½ C brown rice, rinsed well
1½ large onions, diced
1 leek, diced (use green part too, throwing away only the top few inches)
4 stalks celery, diced
2½ carrots, diced
1½ cloves garlic
C coconut oil
1½ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. cumin
1½ qt. vegetable broth
½ small (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1½ tsp. red wine vinegar
Cover the lentils and rice with boiling water and let sit for 15 min., then drain. In a large stock pot, sauté the
onions, leeks, and garlic with the coconut oil and seasonings until the vegetables are tender. Add the carrots and
celery and sauté another 5-10 min. Add the vegetable broth, tomato sauce, and lentils.
Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for one hour. Add the vinegar and serve. Serves 6-8.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Split Pea Soup
1½ tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onions, chopped
1 bay leaves
1½ cloves garlic, minced
1 C dried split peas, rinsed well
½ C brown rice, rinsed well
7 C water
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1½ potatoes, diced
2 Tbsp.dried (or 4 Tbsp. fresh) parsley
1½ tsp. dried basil
1½ tsp. dried thyme
tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. sea salt
In a large pot over medium-high heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add
the peas, rice, bay leaves, salt, and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 min., stirring
occasionally.
Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme, and pepper. Simmer for 30 min. until the vegetables are
tender. Serves 6.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup
1 C dried black beans, rinsed well
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ Tbsp. dried oregano
½ Tbsp. ground cumin
1½ dried chipotle chilies
1 tsp. hot chipotle sauce
4 C water
1 bay leaf
¼ C barley (hulled, not pearled—pearling partially refines the grain)
½ Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ C fresh orange juice
¼ C chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Soak the black beans overnight, then drain and rinse well. Heat the coconut oil in a large pot over medium-high
heat. Add the onion, peppers, carrots, and garlic and sauté 5 min. Reduce the heat and add the oregano, cumin,
chilies, and sauce and sauté for 1 min. Add the water, bay leaves, beans, and barley. Bring the soup to a boil,
then lower it to a simmer and cook uncovered for 1½ to 2 hours, until the beans are tender. Stir in the cocoa
powder, cinnamon, orange juice, cilantro, vinegar, and salt and simmer for 5 min. uncovered.
Remove the dried chipotle peppers before serving (either throw them away or purée them with a bit of soup and
add them back in). Optionally serve with Buttermilk Cornbread (page 259) or Whole Wheat Biscuits
(page 262). Serves 6-8.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry
¾ C raw buckwheat
1½ C water
3 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
1½ Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. water
½ Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger root, grated
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 C fresh asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 C broccoli, chopped
2 green onions, chopped (use most of the green part)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
½ clove garlic, chopped
¼ C slivered almonds
¼ C sesame seeds
½ can mandarin oranges, drained
In the morning, toast the raw buckwheat in a dry frying pan on high heat, stirring constantly until it turns a few
shades darker. Bring 3 C water to a boil in a saucepan and add the toasted buckwheat. Turn off the heat, cover,
and allow it to sit until dinnertime. Using the same frying pan you used for the buckwheat, dry roast the
almonds on medium-high heat a few minutes, stirring constantly, adding the sesame seeds for the last 1-2 min.
until both are golden. Set aside.
Purée the Liquid Aminos, cornstarch, ginger, red pepper flakes, 2 Tbsp. water, and vinegar in a high-powered
blender until smooth. In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil and stir-fry the vegetables and garlic until the
vegetables are crisp/tender, adding the green onions only for the last 30 seconds. Pour the sauce mixture over
the vegetables. Stir until the sauce is thickened. Remove from the heat and gently fold in the nuts, seeds, and
mandarin oranges. Serve over hot buckwheat. Serves 4-6.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake
2¼ C water
¾ C wild rice, rinsed well
¾ C brown rice, rinsed well
1 C water
¼ C raw almonds
¼ can kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or 1 C dried, cooked)
1 (10-oz). bag fresh spinach, chopped (or you can use frozen chopped, well drained)
1 lb. mushrooms, cleaned and coarsely chopped
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1½ cloves garlic, minced
1½ Tbsp. whole-wheat flour
2 tsp. sea salt
Bring 2¼ C water to a boil, then add the brown and wild rice. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 45 min. In
a high-powered blender, blend 1 C water, almonds, and whole-wheat flour on high speed until very smooth.
Pour the mixture into a pan and add the mushrooms, garlic, onion, and flour. Stir often on medium heat until
the mushrooms and onions are tender.
Pour the hot mixture into a high-powered blender and purée until smooth. Return the mixture to the pan and
add the spinach, stirring on medium heat until it is just wilted. (If your family doesn’t like greens, you can
optionally purée the sauce again with the spinach and then return the mixture to the pan.)
Preheat the oven to 350°. Gently stir the kidney beans and cooked rice into mixture in the pan, then pour
everything into a 9"x13" baking dish. Cover and bake for 20 min. until heated through. Serves 8.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce
Peanuts are actually legumes, so in this dish you have the blend of amino acids in the legume plus the grain, for
your body to assemble a very filling “perfect protein.” If you don’t like rice very “sticky,” don’t soak it
overnight, and cook it in 4 C of water rather than 3 C. Asian ingredients can be found in the Asian section of a
grocery market or in health food and Asian markets.
2 C brown rice
3 C water
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp. Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. dried basil
½ tsp. sea salt
C organic peanut butter
1½ Tbsp. Umeboshi plum paste (page 339)
½ - 1 Tbsp. red curry paste (depending how spicy you like it)
1½ Tbsp. fish sauce
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
C dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
¾ C cilantro, finely chopped
¼ C parsley, finely chopped
Wash and rinse the brown rice well. Cover with water and soak overnight, then drain well. Bring the water to a
boil in a saucepan and add the brown rice, basil, and salt. Cover the pan and place it in a 350° preheated oven,
then turn the oven off and leave the rice there for several hours to absorb the water. (Or, if you are in a hurry,
simmer it covered on the stove top for 45 min. instead.)
In a small skillet, sauté the onion in the olive oil. Blend the peanut butter, Umeboshi paste, red curry paste, fish
sauce, and lemon juice in a small bowl by hand. Stir both mixtures into the cooked rice along with the peanuts,
cilantro, and parsley. Serves 4-5.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
Avocado Basmati Rice
1½ C water
¾ C basmati brown rice, rinsed well
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. ground cardamom
3 whole cloves
tsp. freshly ground pepper
tsp. turmeric
1 bay leaf
½ C green beans, washed, trimmed, and cut into 1" pieces
½ C carrots, chopped
½ C celery, chopped
Bring the water to a boil, add all the other ingredients, and stir well. Cover, reduce to medium-low heat, and
cook for 45 min. Serve topped with cold avocado sauce (below). Serves 4-6.
Avocado Sauce:
1½ ripe avocados
1½ cloves garlic, minced
½ Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1½ Tbsp. white wine vinegar
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Mash avocados by hand in a small bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables
1 C whole-grain couscous
1¼ C water
½ can black beans, rinsed and drained well
½ C carrots, diced very small
1 bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), diced very small
1½ green onions, diced
1 C mushrooms, sautéed for 2 min. in 2 tsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest
¼ C each fresh parsley and cilantro, chopped
½ Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
optional: C fresh mint, chopped
Bring the water to a boil in a large pan, add the couscous, then turn off the heat. Cover the pan and let it sit for
20 min.
Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl, then add the mixture to the couscous. Toss with dressing (below) and
serve warm. Serves 4-6.
Dressing:
C extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. flaxseed oil
¼ C fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. ground turmeric
Shake all ingredients in a pint jar and stir into warm couscous mixture.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Potato-Garbanzo Curry
¾ C dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
½ C brown rice, uncooked
2 C water
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp. cinnamon
tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. allspice
2 C chopped new (red) potatoes
1 C vegetable broth
¼ C water
¾ tsp. sea salt
¼ C organic peanut butter (no rapeseed oil or corn syrup/sugar added)
1 Tbsp. red curry paste (for medium-hot; use less if you prefer less spiciness)
C molasses
Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans and brown rice together, and then soak them in water overnight and then
drain well. Bring 4 C water to a boil, add the garbanzos and rice, then reduce the heat and simmer for 50 to 60
min. until the water is absorbed.
Sauté the onions in the oil until tender, add the spices and potatoes, and sauté together briefly. Add the
vegetable broth, ½ C water, and salt. Simmer until potatoes are tender (about 30 min.).
Add the garbanzos and rice, peanut butter, curry paste, and molasses and heat through. Serve hot. Serves 4-5.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
* Indian Green or Yellow Dahl
1 C split peas (or yellow lentils, depending on whether you want green or yellow dahl)
¾ C brown rice
water
3 cloves garlic
½ tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. kelp granules
¾ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
½ C chopped cilantro
In separate saucepans, rinse the split peas and brown rice well and then drain. Cover each with fresh water and
allow to soak several hours, then drain well. Add 3 C of water to the rice and 4 C of water to the split peas,
bring each to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 min. Add all the seasonings except the cilantro
to split peas/lentils and mash with a spoon.
Serve the dahl over the brown rice and sprinkle with the cilantro. Serves 4-5.
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
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Making Plant-Based Main Dishes
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CHAPTER 7
Sprouting and Dehydrating
Your Goal:
To increase your use of live, sprouted foods—a quantum leap in your nutrition!—and to learn to use a
dehydrator for live snacks, lunches, and treats.
What You’ll Need:
• A few pint jars (or quarts, if you have a big family) and a few sprouting lids than you can buy
very inexpensively on Amazon.com or at your health food store. I actually just make my own
by purchasing plastic mesh sheets at a craft store and cutting them circle-size, to fit inside a
regular or wide-mouth canning ring. Just use a canning lid as a template to cut them out. (See
photo below.)
• Some raw seeds, grains, legumes, and nuts, which you can purchase at any health food store,
usually in the bulk-foods section.
• A dehydrator (one with up to nine levels if you have a large family or want to put up garden
produce in larger batches). See “Robyn’s Recommendations” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com for
suggestions about the best option for raw-food preservation.
This month is a rather dramatic change for most
people, because very few of us are eating live foods,
especially sprouts. The potential to relieve stress on
your body’s organs is enormous when you take this
step, because you are providing live digestive
enzymes rather than drawing on your body’s reserves.
Sprouting and then drying your food below 116°
preserves living enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.
You may know that the juice of wheat grass is a
powerfully medicinal digestive aid and blood
oxygenator. But it isn’t a complete, life-sustaining
food by itself. When you soak and, therefore, sprout
wheat (or another grain, nut, or seed), you bring life to
it. You are then able to use the dense, readily available
nutrition in that seed before the plant uses it.
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When most people think of sprouts, they think of the 4-inch, scraggly alfalfa sprouts sold in most grocery
stores and found on some salad bars. Because of an E. coli scare several years ago, this food has disappeared
from many of the places that used to carry it.
But it’s no big loss, because when you grow a sprout that long, and it sits for a week or more, like those
containers of sprouts sold in your local supermarket, you lose some of the benefit anyway as the sprouts age
and lose nutrition. Many commercial sprouters also spray the sprouts with enzyme inhibitors so they don’t go
brown. Thus, sprouts should be made at home, because with only a minute or two of your time, you can sprout
a much more nutritionally powerful food. Barely sprouted, you can eat less of the germinated seeds and nuts
for much higher gain in vitamins and minerals.
The nutrition in sprouts is maximized when they are 1 to 1½ times as long as the grain, so you should begin to
think of a sprout as a natural seed, legume, or grain that is barely bigger than the unsprouted version. You can
slow its growth dramatically at that point by putting it in the fridge. You can also, if you want, continue
growing the sprout to provide more “greens” to your diet, such as long sunflower sprouts that are wonderful in
salads. To do that, you must “put it to air,” letting it obtain air and sun (on the windowsill) to grow greens.
Adding sprouts to various foods—sauces, dressings, salads, cereals, and more—is a great way to increase plant
protein in your diet as well, because sprouts are high in protein.
Why Is Sprouting Important?
Enzymes are the vitality sustaining all of our body’s processes. Without enzymes, we die. Thus, enzyme
depletion causes aging, slowing cellular processes and cellular reproduction and causing cells to be susceptible
to free-radical damage. We age as the body becomes unable to replace old cells with healthy new ones. This
applies to immune cells, too. Enzyme depletion is why immunity decreases with age: immune cells aren’t
regenerating quickly enough to protect the body from disease.
Staying young and healthy (regardless of how many years you’ve been alive) is simply a matter of keeping
enzyme activity maximized in your body. Sprouts do precisely that, and they are the closest thing we have to a
“fountain of youth!” 1 Enzyme expert Dr. Edward Howell says that ancient cultures ate most of their grains
partially germinated (or sprouted) and that, unfortunately, modern farming prevents the grains from sprouting
before being stored. 2
Sprouting seeds, grains, nuts, and legumes causes the starches to convert to easily digested sugars.
Germinating activates the enzymes so the plant begins to produce vitamins that it needs for its own growth.
According to research performed at the University of Minnesota, sprouting increases the nutrient density of
foods. Sprouted wheat had 28% more thiamine (B1), 315% more riboflavin (B2), 66% more niacin (B3), 65%
more pantothenic acid (B5), 111% more biotin, 278% more folic acid (B9), and 300% more vitamin C than
nonsprouted wheat. In some legumes, vitamins multiply by up to 500% after the bean is sprouted. Enzyme
content is sometimes more than 40 times higher in the sprouted grain, and even fiber multiplies 300-400% over
the ground, dry whole grain! Another change brought about in the sprouting process is that carbohydrates
decrease and protein increases substantially, as atmospheric nitrogen is absorbed in the breakdown of
carbohydrate molecules, reformed as amino acid building blocks of protein.
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Sprouting and Dehydrating
Note the change in mung beans after sprouting, as provided by Sprouts for Optimum Nutrition at
www.healthlibrary.com 3 :
Content
% Change
Total Calories (energy) -15
Total Carbohydrates -15
Calcium +34
Iron +40
Phosphorous +56
Potassium +80
Protein (availability) +30
Sodium +690
Vitamin A (Beta-carotene) +285
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) +208
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) +515
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) +256
Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid)
Infinite increase
Sprouts regenerate human cells and tissues because they have high concentrations of RNA, DNA, protein, and
essential nutrients found only in living cells. You cannot obtain these benefits from any synthetic supplement
source. All of this makes very clear the fact that we are meant to eat raw foods, the only natural sources of
digestive enzymes. Although all raw foods have enzymes, they are found in most concentrated form in
sprouted seeds, nuts, grains, and legumes.
Sprouted wheat and other grains are highly nutritious herbs, no longer “grains.” Thus, by storing grains, you
have the potential to always have live nutrition “in season,” even when fruits and vegetables are in short
supply. Legumes’ starches are broken down by the sprouting process, and those who experience gas/bloating
from eating legumes generally have no problems with sprouted legumes. That’s because when germination
occurs, oligosaccharides that cause flatulence decrease by 90%.
The LDS Church (Mormons), known for encouraging members to store food for emergencies, suggests storing
200 lbs. of grain per person, per year. My family follows this counsel, and we keep 1,200 lbs. of grain for a
one-year supply! One could live on the nutrition in grains quite well, while other foods are unavailable, if those
grains are sprouted. You can get basic calculations of how many pounds of grains and legumes to store for your
family's size on www.lds.org.
How Can I Eat Bread with Sprouted Grains?
Sprouted grain can be made into a powerfully nutritious, “live” bread called Essene bread. I know someone
who lives almost exclusively on 14 oz. of dry wheat a day—in the form of Essene bread. His bread is just
sprouted wheat, ground and baked in a round loaf at 185° (in a homemade oven made with light bulbs) for
three hours. (Some of the enzymes will die at that heat, as they are fragile and are damaged when heated over
115°.)
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Sprouting and Dehydrating
The idea of soaking and sprouting grain and drying it into bread comes from an apocryphal book of scripture
known as The Essene Gospel of Peace that some say contains the teachings of Jesus to a congregation of
Essenes.
To make Essene bread, you sprout wheat, spelt, kamut, rye, or oats according to the directions below. When the
tail (or “hairs”) are about as long as the wheat berries, you then grind the grains (with a meat grinder or food
processor, or you can use a Champion juicer with the homogenizing plate on). You can also add in chopped
nuts or dried fruits such as almonds, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, dates, raisins or apricots. Then form the
dough into patties about 1" thick and dehydrate them at 100-115° for several hours until the desired texture is
achieved. (In an emergency situation, you could allow the bread to dry in the sun as described in The Essene
Gospel.) Even a small amount of this bread is very filling, because it is so nutrient dense.
If your family doesn’t like sprouted- or fermented-grain food, you can sprout wheat berries and then dry them
in your dehydrator below 115°. Then grind them in your grain mill and use the flour in any recipe that calls for
it, preferably recipes not cooked at high heats.
How Do I Sprout Grains, Nuts, and Seeds?
More complicated ways of sprouting exist: a Yahoo online group is dedicated just to sprouting, and they talk
about complicated methods using blankets, mesh bags, soil, and all kinds of gadgets, and they support each
other in successes and failures. The following simple and quick method has worked for me the past 15 years
and takes just a minute or two of my time. (I also show this in a short GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube video:
http://tiny.cc/4VM1J.)
For anything you choose to germinate, fill of a pint or quart jar with the seed or nut. Leave it on a counter
with the remaining of the jar filled with filtered water. Let small seeds like alfalfa/clover/radish sit for about
4-6 hours, and then put the sprouting lid on and drain the water completely. The sprouting lid can be
cheesecloth inside a canning lid, or wire or plastic mesh (I buy plastic mesh from craft stores) cut to fit the
inside of a canning lid. You can also purchase canning lids with screens in them at health food stores.
With larger beans like mung or garbanzo, or seeds like sunflower or pumpkin, soak 8 them hours or overnight
before draining. (If you accidentally forget and let them go too long, it’s no big deal—just drain them as soon
as you remember.) I find soybeans and wheat berries difficult to sprout, because they go sour or moldy easily.
Wheat berries sprout in soil more easily.
Put the jar of soaked and drained seeds on its side, turning it two or three times during the day. The second
morning, rinse and drain the sprouts again. You do this until you see the seeds/nuts just barely begin to grow a
sprout, usually after a day or two. With almonds or other nuts, don’t worry about them growing a sprout: they
are germinated and “live” after soaking for eight hours.
Then remove the sprouting lid and put a regular, air-tight canning lid on the jar. Put the sprouts in the fridge,
where growth will slow, and they will last a week or two. Sprouting will happen more quickly in warm
weather. If you live where it is hot and humid, or if you are sprouting in late summer, rinse and turn your
sprouts more often.
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What Foods Should I Sprout?
Cashews are somewhat heat treated and will not germinate. Also, in September 2007, the almond growers in
California were required by law to begin pasteurizing almonds, which heat treats them above 115° and makes
them unsproutable. This means that, since California produces 80% of the world’s almonds, those who care
about enzymes now have to go to more trouble to find raw almonds for sprouting. (They can still be sold under
certain conditions and in certain limited amounts to consumers.)
I recommend you always have soaked, dried almonds on hand for snacks (see Sprouted Almond Recipes on
page 210). This is a good on-the-fly lunch with a green smoothie. Almonds taste wonderful, are lower in fat
than other nuts, high in fiber, and are alkaline-forming, nutritional standouts. Try to always have some of this
snack on hand for emergencies where you’d be tempted to turn to other crunchy foods that aren’t nutritious.
Since I seem to always be running behind, I often just grab a little bag of dehydrated sprouted almonds with me
to work, and my kids often eat them as an after-school snack. Nuts are good for you, great sources of fiber, B
vitamins, and good fats. But they can be enzyme inhibitors until germination unlocks their impressive enzyme
potential. Use sprouted/dried almonds in any recipe calling for almonds.
Soak 8+ C of raw almonds overnight, and then drain. They do not need to grow sprouted “tails.” In fact, they
will likely grow mold before that—but germination occurs in an 8-hour soak, so dehydrate the nuts after that
until they are crunchy, to avoid mold. You need truly “raw” almonds to germinate them, since all almonds
coming from California now are pasteurized and, therefore, unsproutable. (You can get up to 100 lbs. per day
direct from a California rancher. We facilitate an annual group buy in Oct./Nov. so you can do that. You will
know about it if you are signed up for the GreenSmoothieGirl.com free newsletter or “Like” the GSG
Facebook page.)
Place the almonds on dehydrator racks and dry at 105° until completely dry (6-12 hrs.). Store in the fridge. (I
learned the hard way that if not completely dry, sprouted almonds will mold if you leave them out on the
counter for more than a few days in the summer.)
Besides the nutritional advantage, the middle of the soaked almonds pop open, and when dehydrated, they
make a crunchy snack that’s lighter and more fun to eat than regular almonds.
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Sprouting and Dehydrating
Additionally, I suggest you have three types of sprouts in your fridge at all times, to use in these ways:
• Sprout an alfalfa/clover mix, and add a large spoonful to your granola or oatmeal every morning. Also
notice that you can put 2 Tbsp. in many of the salad dressing recipes in Chapter 3. Alfalfa is one of the
best natural sources of vitamin K. This nutrient helps blood to clot by moving calcium into proteins that
form a microscopic net to capture red blood cells. Vitamin K likewise helps bones to knit by working
with vitamin D to build good bones. Your body can’t use calcium without it. Alfalfa not only helps keep
calcium in bones, but it also helps keep calcium out of the linings of arteries.
• Sprout sunflower seeds, which have a mild flavor and most people like, and add a spoonful of these to
your granola or other cereal every morning.
• Sprout savory, heavier seeds such as broccoli seeds and mung beans—add ¼ - ½ C to a dinner salad or
sandwich. The only thing more nutritious than broccoli is a sprouted broccoli seed!
Other Sproutable Foods
Beans: kidney, lima, black, soy, adzuki—ready in 3 days
Buckwheat: ready in 2 days
Grains: wheat, rye, oats, spelt, Kamut, barley—ready in 3-4 days (rinse very well and be careful to
avoid standing water in the grains)
Legumes: lentils—ready in 3-4 days
Nuts: pecans, walnuts—ready in 1 day
Quinoa: ready in 1-2 days
Seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, melon, sesame—ready in 2-3 days
Small seeds: chia, onion, radish, clover, flax, cress, fenugreek, coriander, carrot—ready in 2 days
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The Virtues of Flax Seed
Flax, a seed cultivated since ancient times but gaining new popularity the more it is studied, is one of the most
perfect foods available in nature. I can’t think of a food that, by itself, provides as many benefits. When you
soak flax a few hours so that it germinates, it is absolutely unparalleled, nutritionally. The American Cancer
Institute has acknowledged 27 different compounds in flax that are anti-carcinogenic!
Flax is comprised of 35% essential fatty acids (EFAs), the ones your body cannot manufacture on its own and
must be provided by diet. More than half of those EFAs are Omega-3s, critical for heart health and hard to find
in other foods. No other food has higher Omega-3s than flax does.
The flax seed also is high in protein, vitamins, and phytonutrients, and it contains a massive dose of fiber—
both soluble and insoluble. In a flax cracker with ¼ C of seeds, you get 10 grams of fiber!
Little-known but critically important compounds that
are garnering more interest from researchers are
lignans, which are important in immune function and
help neutralize estrogens and metabolize
phytoestrogens. Flax has 75-800 times more lignans
than any other plant foods. It has also been linked to
preventing depression, and it’s the first food I
recommend when someone tells me they’ve been
battling a mood disorder.
All these benefits together yield immune support,
healthy digestion and cholesterol levels, a positive
mood, and even glossy hair and dewy skin. I
recommend you buy whole flax, not preground seeds.
Flax oxidizes quickly when ground. When you grind
them in your high-powered blender (or an inexpensive coffee grinder), you should use them right away or store
them in the fridge for only a short period of time before using them. I buy them in bulk in our
GreenSmoothieGirl.com group buys and freeze gallon bags of flax for use in granola and crackers made in my
dehydrator. I share my family’s favorite recipes with you in this chapter.
A small amount (1-2 Tbsp.) of flax daily is plenty. Don’t overdo it, as it is powerful medicine and estrogenic in
too-large quantities.
Dehydrated Snacks
Using the dehydrator is a great way to preserve live food, to add crunch to living food if you like chips and
crackers, and to find new and interesting ways to eat treats that are exploding with life and nutrition. My
favorite lunch is a green smoothie and dehydrated live-food crackers with guacamole or eggplant dip. Eating a
lunch like this will give you massive energy throughout the afternoon until dinnertime.
To preserve all the enzymes in the food, dehydrate under 115° To be safe, I set my dehydrator at 105°, which
takes a bit longer. Dehydrating preserves food rather well, but if the snack is not completely dry and you keep
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it at room temperature in the pantry, it will mold in warm weather. Put anything chewy or not completely dry in
the fridge, if you won’t be eating all of it in a few days.
IMPORTANT! Always drink water with a dehydrated food, because those foods will rehydrate in your stomach, pulling
liquids from anywhere it encounters them. Without moisture, the mucilaginous foods like flax do less
good, because they cannot absorb toxins on their way through the body and are instead sticky and
looking for hydration.
In general, I recommend drinking no water 20 min. before or 90 min. after a meal, since water dilutes the
gastric juices (pyloric and hydrochloric acids) needed for digestion. Try to get in the habit of drinking two
glasses of water no sooner than 30-60 min. before each meal. However, an important exception is that with
dehydrated fruits, crackers, etc., you must add the water that dehydration has removed by drinking a glass of
water with it.
Money-Saving Tips
• Nuts, seeds, and legumes can be fairly inexpensive when bought in bulk. After you experiment with
small amounts from the bulk foods area of your local health food store, and you figure out what types of
sprouts you like and will use, find a local buying co-op (such as Azure Standard, which has everything
you can get at your health food store) and buy a few pounds or more at a time, to save significant
amounts of money.
Ask someone you know who is “into” nutrition and health who she knows, then call that person, and so
on, until you find the healthy buying co-ops. I am in at least half a dozen local co-ops. That includes
one I run myself for group buys, as well as a couple of community-supported agriculture (CSA) organic
co-ops. Joining a CSA is a great idea to keep your local growers in business and reduce the carbon
emissions you are responsible for, since local food doesn’t require lots of fossil fuel to transport.
If you cannot find an Azure Standard buying co-op, you may be able to start one by contacting them
(azurestandard.com) to inquire about a monthly drop-off for you and others near you who want to eat
right and save money, as several 12-Steppers have done in California, Canada, and the Pacific
Northwest.
• You can buy a clover/radish/alfalfa mix, but if you buy them individually and mix them in gallon bags,
you save significantly. I leave the radish out because I want the mild flavors to use mostly in granola
(and radish seeds have a “kick”).
• I have a large freezer in my garage, in addition to the two small freezers in the side-by-side refrigerators
in the kitchen. I use the deep freeze to store gallon Ziploc bags of alfalfa-clover seed mix, sunflower
and pumpkin seeds, almonds, and cashews (cashews are not generally fully raw and, therefore, will not
sprout).
If I ever had to rely on my food storage, I would depend on these items to give my family live nutrition,
offsetting and improving whatever other low-quality foods we may be forced to eat in an emergency
situation. Raw seeds, nuts, and grains are some of very few storage items that are high in nutrition.
Unfortunately, seeds and nuts will not keep well for a year or more on the shelf, and should really be
frozen if you want them to last longer than three to six months.
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Your Journal Entry
Take a few minutes to write down anything you noticed after a month of using sprouted, live nutrition in your
daily routine. Make sure to record what sprouted foods you were eating, so you can refer to this in the future
when you no longer remember your initial experimentation.
1. Do you find you have more energy since eating live foods?
2. Do you find you sleep better because of less work involved for your body in digesting cooked food?
3. Do you find that crunchy, live snacks satisfy your snacking or salty cravings?
4. Do you feel your time investment in making live food is worth it?
5. Do you notice any other health benefits?
6. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
7. Any other observations during this month?
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SPROUTED ALMOND RECIPES
You will enjoy plain dehydrated almonds—but for both a savory and a sweet snack, try the following variations
as well after soaking and dehydrating. I can’t keep any of them around for more than a couple of days after I
make them, and they are good Christmas gifts for the neighbors. (If you’re the resident health food nut, your
friends come to expect that you’re going to give them something healthful!)
Sprouted-Nut Milk
For a milk to use on cereal, soak any seed or nut (such as almonds), drain, and then purée with four times as
much water as nuts. With almonds, you can strain the pulp and make dehydrator cookies with it rather than
throw it away.
Candied Nuts
8 C raw almonds (or pecans), soaked and dehydrated at 105° approx. 6 hours
C chopped dates, soaked and drained
1½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
C water
½ C maple syrup
½ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. butter, butterscotch, or rum flavoring
Blend all ingredients except almonds in a high-powered blender until smooth. Pour into a bowl and fold nuts
in, stirring to coat. Let nuts sit for 20 min. to absorb the liquid, then stir again. Spread the nuts on Teflex sheets
in a dehydrator. Dry at 105° for about 16 hours. Place the nuts on mesh sheets and dry again until crunchy
(about 10 hours).
Teriyaki Almonds
10 C raw almonds, soaked and dehydrated at 105° approx. 6 hours
½ C chopped dates, soaked and drained
C Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cayenne
2 tsp. prepared brown mustard
Blend all ingredients except the almonds in a high-powered blender on high until smooth. Pour into a bowl,
add the almonds, and stir well. Let the mixture sit for an hour to allow the nuts to absorb the liquid, then stir
again. Spread the nuts on Teflex sheets in a dehydrator. Dry at 105° for about 16 hours. Place the nuts on mesh
sheets and dry again until crunchy (about 10 hours).
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Cocoa Almonds
2 C raw almonds, soaked and dehydrated at 105° approx. 6 hours
1 Tbsp. coconut oil, warmed in hot water if necessary so it’s liquid
2 Tbsp. date syrup
1 Tbsp. raw chocolate powder or nonalkalized unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS) (page 339)
Soak raw almonds in water overnight, then drain and allow them to air dry (an hour or two). Mix all remaining
ingredients together well, then stir in the nuts. Spread mixture evenly on dehydrator tray and dry until no longer
wet/sticky—about 14-18 hours, below 115°.
Almond Cherry Cookies
2-2½ C almond pulp
¼ C natural peanut butter
1 C sesame seeds, soaked several hours and drained
1 tsp. almond extract
½ C honey (raw)
¼ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 C Craisins, soaked several hours and drained
Process all ingredients except the Craisins in a high-powered blender until smooth. Add the Craisins and blend
on low just to chop up the Craisins, not purée them. Press large spoonfuls onto Teflex sheets in a dehydrator.
Dehydrate for 12+ hours until dry on the tops, then flip and dry another 2 hours until desired consistency is
achieved.
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SPROUTED PUMPKIN SEED RECIPES
Spicy Pumpkin Seeds
6 C raw pumpkin seeds (hulled)
pure water
C Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
2 tsp. “The Zip” seasoning mix (by Spice Hunter, found at health food store) or other spicy seasoning
(Avoid MSG and salt. One idea: 1 tsp. cayenne, and 2 tsp. basil, oregano, thyme, etc.)
Soak the pumpkin seeds in water overnight, then drain well. Dry the seeds in a dehydrator for 3-4 hours until
they are mostly dry (to be able to absorb liquid again). Blend the Liquid Aminos and the seasoning mix in a
high-powered blender. Pour the mixture onto the pumpkin seeds and stir well. Let them sit, stirring
occasionally, until all the liquid is absorbed (15-30 min.). Spread them on Teflex sheets in a dehydrator and dry
until crispy (a few hours).
SPROUTED-SEED CRACKERS/CHIPS RECIPES
Nori Nachos
This is a great recipe if you like cheesy chips—and it’s a great way to get iodine-rich nutritional thyroid
support.
6 sheets raw nori (roasted has a milder flavor)
1 tomato
1 carrot
2 Tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
¼ C cashews
½ C macadamia nuts
¼ C sunflower seeds
1 tsp. sea salt
Puree the tomato, carrot, vinegar, and lemon juice until smooth in a high-powered blender for about 60
seconds. Then add the remaining ingredients except the nori sheets and blend again until smooth, about another
60 seconds.
Spread the mixture in a thin layer on the nori sheets. Cut the sheets into desired shapes and place on racks in a
dehydrator. Dry below 115° for approximately 24 hours until crispy. Store in a paper sack at room temperature.
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Green Pesto Crackers
The bright green “batter” looks daunting, but the crackers dry to a darker color—and they got six thumbs-up
from my family the first time I made them. To be objective, the response was not as positive from my niece
who was spending the night, who did politely try them. These crackers are a nutritional powerhouse. If you will
be traveling and unable to take your high-powered blender with you, you’ll miss your green smoothies less if
you take along these crackers. Don’t forget to eat them with a big glass of water, to “rehydrate” in your
stomach!
1 C flax seeds
1 C sunflower seeds
1 C pumpkin seeds
1 C sesame seeds
3 large bunches of leafy greens (collards, kale, chard)
2 onions
½ - 1 C fresh (or 2-4 Tbsp. dried) basil
1 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
2 C water
½ C extra virgin olive oil
Blend all four seed types into a meal in a high-powered blender. Place the mixture in a large bowl and set aside.
Blend all the other ingredients into a smooth purée, then fold it into the dry meal. Mix it well and let it sit for 2-
4 hours. Spread the mixture ¼" thick on Teflex trays and dry at 105° for 24 hours or until the tops are dry. Flip
and remove the Teflex, then continue drying until crispy. Break them into cracker pieces, and keep them in
Ziploc gallon bags in the fridge if they will last you longer than a week.
Cilantro-Corn Chips
Serve with guacamole for a perfect snack or lunch of good fats, varied textures, and live nutrition.
4 C corn (fresh or frozen)
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
½ C water
½ C ground flax seeds
1 large Anaheim pepper
1 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
1 bunch cilantro
½ tsp. sea salt
Mix all ingredients except the flax in a high-powered blender until smooth, then add the flax slowly while
continuing to blend. Spread the mixture in thin layers on Teflex sheets in a dehydrator. After several hours, turn
and score into large triangles. Finish drying until the chips are crispy.
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Flax-Veggie Crackers
Soak in 4 C water for several hours:
3 C flax seeds (half brown, half golden)
1 C raw sunflower seeds
Shred in food processor, or very finely dice:
1 red bell pepper
2 carrots
Purée in high-powered blender:
4 tomatoes
2 stalks celery
4 cloves garlic, peeled
C Nama Shoyu (page 339)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. chili powder
Mix all three mixtures together well, by hand, and spread about ¼"
thick on plastic dehydrator sheets. Cut into cracker shapes and
dehydrate at 105° until crackers are dry on top (about 24 hours). Turn
over, remove the Teflex sheets, and finish drying until the crackers
are crispy.
We like to eat these plain, but we also often put slices of avocado on
top.
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Parmesan Flax Crackers
4 C flax seeds, ground dry in high-powered blender
3 C water
C Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. sea salt
Soak the flax seed for 2-4 hours in the water. Add additional water if the mixture is too thick to spread. Add the
Parmesan and seasonings, then mix well. Spread ¼" thick onto Teflex sheets on dehydrator trays and dry at
105° until the tops are dry. Then flip and remove the Teflex sheets, and finish drying until the crackers are
crispy. Break them into pieces and store in the fridge if they will last you longer than a week.
Savory Flax Crackers
2 C flax seeds
1 C water
½ C alfalfa or clover seeds, soaked 2 hrs. and drained
2 tomatoes
1 large onion (chopped into four pieces)
2 stalks celery, chopped into a few pieces
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1 tsp. coriander
½ tsp. sea salt
optional: ¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
Grind the flax seed dry in a coffee grinder or a high-powered blender, then set aside. Blend all the other
ingredients in a high-powered blender. Fold the ground flax seed into the blended mixture by hand (the dough
will be slimy). Cover and ferment the dough slightly (2-3 days). Spread the dough ¼" thick onto dehydrator
sheets, cut into cracker shapes, and dry at 105° until the tops are dry. Turn in each tray, remove the Teflex
sheets, and finish drying until the crackers are crispy.
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KALE CHIPS
My favorite thing to do with my dehydrator is make kale chips. In two crispy, enjoyable bites, you’ve eaten an
entire huge leaf of kale, one of the most powerful greens there is! The dehydrator removes the water with a bare
minimum of nutrient and enzyme loss, qualifying it as a “raw food.” These are three recipes to help you learn
yet another simple habit to get more low-calorie, high-nutrition, alkalizing, disease-preventative green food in
your diet.
Dill Pickle Kale Crisps
¼ C chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
1½ Tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
½ tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS) (page 339)
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. dried dill
1 C cashews
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
16 kale leaves
Blend all but the kale leaves in high-powered blender, adding a minimum of water to make mixture blend. Pour
into a shallow bowl and dip one side of each kale leaf into the mixture. Dehydrate the kale crisps, dipped side
up, until dry and crispy, below 115° in a dehydrator. Do not seal in Ziploc bags or Tupperware, or they lose
their crispiness. I leave them in the dehydrator racks or put them on a plate until they’re gone.
Lemony Kale Crisps
8-10 large leaves of kale (any kind), washed and dried
C extra virgin olive oil
C fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS) (page 339)
Cut off stems, then chop kale into 2" strips. In a large bowl, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt with a fork
until well blended. With your hand, mix in kale pieces and rub mixture into them. When all are well coated,
place kale pieces on dehydrator trays. Dry at 105° for 12 hours or until crispy. Eat within a few days, as storing
in a Ziploc bag or sealable container causes the crisps to lose their crunch.
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“Cheesy” Collard / Kale Crisps
20-30 small collard or kale leaves
C cashews
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp. water
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS) (page 339)
¼ C brewer’s (nutritional) yeast
2 green onions (including green part)
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. cayenne
¼ tsp. turmeric
1 clove fresh garlic, peeled
black pepper to taste
Blend all the ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth, then pour the mixture into a plate or pie tin.
Press one side of the washed and dried kale or collard leaves into the mixture. Place dry side down on
dehydrator trays and dry below 116° until crispy (about 4-6 hours).
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OTHER RECIPE IDEAS
In addition to the “raw” crackers in this chapter, when you’re craving something crunchy, you can also quickly
cut whole-wheat pita bread, corn tortillas, or sprouted-wheat tortillas into large triangles and broil them in the
oven for a few minutes until lightly browned (or you can dehydrate sprouted tortilla triangles) to make crispy
chips. Optionally, brush them with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder and sea salt before broiling.
Now that you have plenty of crunchy snack ideas, following are five great ideas to increase your vegetable,
enzyme, and good fats consumption, and with varying textures and tastes—perfect with your dehydrated chips/
crackers.
Debbie’s Manna Bars
This is a high-energy snack created by my friend Debbie Mackintosh.
1½ C pitted dates
½ C raisins (soaked with the dates in 4 C water overnight)
1 C raw sunflower seeds
¼ C sesame seeds (soaked with the sunflower seeds in 2½ C water overnight)
¼ C golden flax seeds (soaked in ½ C water for a few hours or overnight)
1 C buckwheat (soaked in 2 C water overnight)
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ C agave (raw, organic)
pinch of sea salt
¼ C ground flax seeds
C raisins
¾ C almonds, soaked, drained, and chopped
¾ C pecans, chopped
¾ C dried fruit (any kind), chopped
optional: 2 allspice berries
optional: 2 whole cloves, crushed
Drain and rinse all the seeds. Cream the dates and raisins and their soak water in a high-powered blender while
adding the next 8 ingredients (buckwheat through salt) to the blender. In a large bowl, hand mix the seeds with
the creamed fruit mixture. Then add the final 5 ingredients (flax through dried fruit) and mix well.
Pat the mixture onto Teflex sheets in a dehydrator. Let it dry about 12-15 hours at 105°. Peel off the Teflex and
dry another 2 hours or until chewy.
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Sprouted Hummus Spread
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed well (Optionally, substitute half-sprouted chickpeas: soak
½ C dry chickpeas overnight, drain, then rinse twice a day for two days.)
3 cloves garlic
1 C fresh parsley, chopped
½ C raw sesame tahini
½ C fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. sea salt
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth, using a spatula to scrape the sides.
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Roasted Eggplant Spread
1 medium eggplant
1 red or white onion, peeled
2 red bell peppers, seeded
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
Preheat oven to 400°. Chop the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into cubes approx. 1" square and then toss
them with the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast them on a baking sheet for 45 min. until lightly browned
and soft, turning once during cooking.
Put the mixture into a high-powered blender, add the tomato paste, and pulse until chunky-smooth.
Salsa
I collect many salsa recipes, but this one’s my enduring favorite. Salsa is the greatest thing to make in the highpowered
blender—no more chopping, so a big batch takes just five minutes!
10+ medium tomatoes
1 lg. or 2 med. onions
5-10 cloves garlic
1 jalapeño pepper
1 Anaheim pepper
2-5 tsp. chili powder
1-2 tsp. cumin
1-2 tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 bunch cilantro (you can put it directly into the high-powered blender, but I like to chop this one
ingredient by hand and add it at the end—the machine can make it a bit stringy)
optional: 1 bell pepper, chopped
optional: 2 chopped avocados and 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
Place all ingredients (except half of the tomatoes, and any optional items) in a high-powered blender. Blend
until smooth, then add the reserved tomatoes, already chopped cilantro, and any optional items. Pulse until
desired chunky consistency is achieved.
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Guacamole
1 avocado
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tomato, finely chopped (or ¼ C fresh salsa)
1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
¼ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. dried kelp
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Mash the avocado with a fork and stir in other ingredients, mixing well.
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CHAPTER 8
Preserving Raw Foods with
Natural Probiotics
Your Goal:
To learn about why fermented foods promote excellent gastrointestinal health and begin making and
eating them.
What You’ll Need:
You will need wide-mouth quart or pint jars as well as a wooden pounder for making sauerkraut, and
quart or half-gallon jars for making yogurt/kefir. You may wish to purchase kefir grains to make kefir
or culture starter to make yogurt and/or fermented vegetables. Find a source under those topics on
GreenSmoothieGirl.com under “Robyn Recommends.”
When I took the step of making
and eating fermented foods, my
family and I completely stopped
getting sick. Where I used to get
sick 10 times every winter
throughout my childhood,
college, and well into my 20s, I
now go year after year after year
not getting sick at all.
The importance of this step
cannot be overstated, especially
in a world where harmful viral
and bacterial organisms are
becoming “superbugs” and antibiotics are no longer the savior they once were.
If I had to pick the two most important steps in this course, it would be Step 1 (green smoothies) and
this one. Why is this Step 8, then, rather than Step 2? Because it's very unfamiliar to most people. If
you are ready for it, you are an advanced thinker and you are a truth seeker willing to do what most in
the mainstream won’t. My observation is that even if their lives are at risk, most people will not change
their diet.
Not that this step is difficult. It’s amazingly easy. But I say that to congratulate you. These are easy, but
advanced-thinking, habits.
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I suggest a goal of trying all of the fermented foods in this chapter in the coming month. Then, adopt your
favorites as habits and eat at least two different fermented foods every day.
Fermented Vegetables
Perhaps you grew up, as I did, preserving fruits and vegetables by putting them in jars with lots of sugar and
boiling or pressure-cooking them to death (literally). Until I began studying nutrition, I got a lot of satisfaction
out of “putting up” fruits from my trees and vegetables from my garden this way.
Unfortunately, by heavily cooking our produce, we kill all the enzymes and most of the vitamins and minerals
as well—which are the reasons to eat produce in the first place. The more I studied about nutrition, the less I
was willing to can at the end of the summer. I chopped and froze many things, and still do, but the freezer can
hold only so much.
Imagine my excitement to learn that ancient cultures, without canning methods or freezers, preserved
vegetables for long periods of time, using lacto-fermentation. Europeans, Asians, and Russians use fermented
foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi today, and the U.S. is almost alone in not regularly eating fermented
foods. Although we have pickles and sauerkraut on our grocery store shelves, unfortunately, they are heattreated
and chemically processed to the point that the benefits of natural, raw fermentation are gone.
Lactic acid is a natural substance, present everywhere, that inhibits the bacteria that cause plant foods to rot.
But lacto-fermenting has more significant advantages beyond simply preserving summer garden produce
throughout the winter. Fermented vegetables have much higher vitamin content. They also promote healthy
microorganisms populating the gastrointestinal tract to protect against harmful bacteria that cause illness,
discussed in more detail below. Cultured foods are more digestible than regular vegetables, and they make the
other foods eaten with the fermented product more easily digested as well. Some of the byproducts of the lactofermentation
process are antibiotic and anti-carcinogenic in nature.
The process of lacto-fermentation begins when lids are placed tightly on jars, and the salt preserves the
vegetables long enough for the microorganisms to begin to proliferate enough for more long-term preservation
to occur. Using whey from your yogurt or kefir (discussed below) or a culture starter you can purchase are
ways to minimize the amount of salt in a sauerkraut recipe, since the whey or culture introduces live,
multiplying organisms. So I recommend starting your fermented-food experiments this month with kefir or
yogurt, and then you can branch out using the whey/culture to ferment veggies.
Fermented vegetables, including homemade sauerkraut, should be used as a condiment at meals. Sauerkraut is
easy to make from your garden cabbage—and if you don’t have a garden, cabbage is widely available for a
good price at grocery stores in the late summer and early fall. You don’t even need new canning lids! Used lids,
and canning jars run through the dishwasher, are just fine.
Fermented Dairy Products
This step is very possibly the most important step since Chapter 1’s green smoothies in terms of the potential
positive impact on your health for very little effort. Some evidence shows that fermented milk products prevent
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bone loss and cardiovascular diseases. Kefir and yogurt are a great source of Vitamin B12, which most people
believe is deficient in vegans.
Tryptophan is abundant in milk and has a well documented calming effect on the nervous system. It converts to
serotonin, which you need to avoid depression. It also helps achieve a regular, peaceful sleep cycle and
prevents constipation. Conversion of tryptophan requires Vitamin B6, which goat’s milk and cow’s milk kefir
also contain in high amounts.
But one of my favorite benefits of kefir is that when you’ve established a strong population of “friendly”
bacteria in the gut, you’re able to metabolize sugar much more easily—natural sugars from fruit, but also
occasional refined sugars if you choose to eat them. That’s because the “friendly” yeast and bacteria eat sugars
for their food, thus potentially reducing the effect of those sugars on your own body. (Still, you should
minimize or eliminate refined sugar.) And when you eat lots of cultured foods, your craving for sugary foods
decreases dramatically.
Daily consumption of these foods is a habit of many ancient cultures and modern indigenous peoples who live
long and are disease free. Fermented milk products are extremely common in Western and Eastern Europe,
Russia, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and Africa. In fact, Westerners consuming unfermented animal milk is
unique in the world and a relatively new tradition.
This is the only place in this book that I promote the use of an animal product as highly nutritious. When
fermentation occurs in a dairy product, enzymes proliferate and milk protein (casein) becomes much more
digestible. The enzyme lactase predigests lactose proteins, and several enzymes created by the fermentation
process increase absorption of calcium and other minerals. Even “lactose-intolerant” people usually have no
problem with cultured dairy products like kefir and yogurt. They are also ideal foods for babies, elderly people,
and those with digestive problems. Claude Aubert, in Les aliments fermentés traditionnels, quotes research that
yogurt proteins are digested twice as quickly as those same proteins in unfermented milk. 1
Thus cultured dairy products are a host for beneficial organisms that populate and protect the human
gastrointestinal tract. Some strains of healthy bacteria actually support other strains and they are your insurance
against a takeover by harmful bacteria resulting in infectious diseases. Dr. Bernard Jensen’s extensive studies
show that most Americans have a ratio of 10:1 favoring bad bacteria rather than the exact opposite, a 10:1 ratio
favoring good bacteria, which indicates a healthy digestive system and protects us from illness. 2 Many people
in the Western world today are susceptible to harmful bacteria due to the absence of good, homemade
fermented foods plus the widespread consumption of toxic foods.
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I personally asked Colin Campbell, author and lead researcher of The
China Study, about the beneficial properties of yogurt or kefir, since the
protein consumed in his animal studies was casein derived from cow’s
milk. He acknowledged that his studies have not examined fermented
products and people’s or animals’ reactions to them. Chemical changes
occur in dairy products when lacto-fermentation takes place that may
mean a place is warranted in the human diet for these types of animal
products. Keep in mind that Campbell’s studies involved 20% animal
protein diets and 5% animal protein diets (not 0%). That said, pure
vegans can also make kefir out of raw coconut liquid (or canned, though
raw is more nutritious) using water kefir grains (shown at right).
I made a gallon of yogurt every week for many years until I learned that
kefir has a wider variety of probiotic organisms, both bacteria and
friendly yeasts, than yogurt does. These colonize the digestive tract well
(and also the birth canal, which is important for expectant mothers).
Kefir is also easier to make once you acquire infinitely reusable kefir
grains (as starter) and it does not require cooking the milk, thereby preserving its enzyme content. Kefir is
more liquid, whereas yogurt is firmer. Yogurt will support the probiotic strains in your gut that keep it clean,
but kefir will actually colonize the gut proactively.
Now I make a gallon of yogurt or kefir every week. I serve it every morning to my kids as a smoothie, blended
with bananas and other fruit (along with a bowl of granola and sprouts). You can also make delicious, creamy
popsicles with yogurt/kefir blended with fruit. Keeping the gastrointestinal tract colonized with healthy
bacteria from daily kefir or yogurt dramatically boosts your body’s ability to fight bad bacteria. I believe it to
be the reason none of my children has ever had strep, the flu, or any infection in well over 10 years—nothing
requiring an antibiotic.
“Antibiotic” literally means “against life,” and “probiotic” means “for life”! Taking an antibiotic kills all the
good bacteria as well as the bad, leaving your body wide open to the next infection that comes along. So if you
or your child takes a course of antibiotics, you can replenish the good microorganisms killed in your gut by the
antibiotics with about 30 days of eating live, fermented probiotic foods such as kefir or yogurt, raw cultured
vegetables, and/or kombucha.
Unfortunately, antibiotics are so powerful and devastating, often children will become ill again before that
significant amount of time needed for good bacteria to regain a foothold has passed. Therefore, my family
avoids antibiotics except in absolute crisis, as a once- or twice-in-a-lifetime event.
Many people take expensive probiotics, which are dried and dormant. These probiotics are inferior to the
growing and thriving bacteria in live yogurt or kefir—a very inexpensive, effective probiotic!
Kefir—which originated in the Caucasus region and is still a daily staple there, as well as having become
popular in parts of Europe and the Middle East—is less familiar to Americans than yogurt. Some research
suggests that the right-turning, active, live bacteria in kefir are far superior and more beneficial to the digestive
tract than left-turning, transient yogurt cultures. Kefir actively populates the gastrointestinal tract with more
species of natural flora, whereas yogurt merely supports that colonization of the gut. The lactose in kefir is
digested by the time you eat it, with the proteins broken down, so it can be used by many people with milk
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sensitivities. And you don’t have to scald the milk, so all the enzymatic benefits of raw milk are preserved
when you make kefir.
To make it, you use kefir “grains,” best obtained from someone
near you who has extra (the grains grow and proliferate). Or you
can purchase live kefir grains online: see the “Kefir Grains”
topic under “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com.
You can purchase dried kefir starter at health food stores, but you
have to continually buy it for each batch, whereas grains are
infinitely reusable and are live rather than dried. (You do have to
feed them fresh milk every day, to keep them healthy and
proliferating.)
Kefir does have a slightly stronger taste, so if you like yogurt
and aren’t sure about kefir, you can start with yogurt. You can
certainly purchase yogurt at the store rather than make it, though it will be a pasteurized product, often with
less-than-ideal additives. If you do purchase, be sure to buy plain, organic yogurt. Flavored yogurts (even
vanilla) are full of sugar and corn syrup—some of them have more sugar than ice cream!
Although you can purchase yogurt, by buying a gallon of milk and fermenting it into yogurt or kefir, you’ll
save at least 75% of what you’d spend buying that same amount of commercial yogurt/kefir. Once you’ve
made milk into yogurt/kefir, it lasts a long time in the fridge (preserved by lacto-fermentation), unlike the milk
it is made from that goes bad in a week or so (even if it is pasteurized). I have never had yogurt or kefir go bad
in my fridge.
Raw milk is best—but if you can’t obtain that, at least find milk from cows that are untreated by hormones.
Stores that sell hormone-free milk usually promote it very publicly (with loud outcries and much regulation by
government agencies, because of the pressure by the large dairy companies who use hormones). The dairy
industry is very powerful and wants to promote fear about raw milk—and certainly about goat’s milk, its
competitor. Small goat farmers in some states have been so squeezed by the dairy industry’s chokehold on the
FDA that they cannot sell goat’s milk as “food.” You may have to find a small local farm to sell it to you as a
product “unintended for human food.”
Goat’s milk is often tolerated well by people who have problems with cow’s milk. It is not mucous-forming
like dairy is, because it has a much smaller fat molecule than cow’s milk that permeates the human semipermeable
membranes. When the body produces mucous in response to a food, that’s a sign that the body
wants to flush that food out. Getting an occasional cold is a positive thing, because thin, clear mucous is a
natural defense mechanism that bathes and cleanses the tissues and organs. Lots of mucous production and
mucous turning thick and discolored (yellow or green), however, causes a buildup of acids in the body that are
destructive at a cellular level, burning out tissue binders and leading to many chronic health problems.
Goat’s milk is more similar to human mother’s milk than cow’s milk and, therefore, makes a more nutritious
yogurt or kefir if you have access to it. My oldest child had very negative reactions to cow’s milk when I was
too young to know better and he was constantly fighting a green snotty nose. I switched to goat’s milk, and the
mucous never returned. I weaned all my other children onto raw goat’s milk, yogurt, and kefir with only
positive results. However, at times, I have been unable to obtain raw goat’s milk and I have discovered that my
children do fine with cow’s milk only in its fermented (predigested) forms of yogurt or kefir. I credit strong
internal populations of beneficial organisms from daily kefir/yogurt consumption with the fact that none of my
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children has ever had strep, the flu, or any infection or other serious illness. None has ever had yellow/green
(stagnant, acidic) mucous since I made nutritional changes those many years ago.
My mother and some of my friends love to drink kefir straight. I don’t personally drink milk of any kind, but I
add two tablespoons of whey to my Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothies to get the health benefit, or I use part or all
coconut-liquid kefir in it. Whey is the clear yellow liquid that separates from the creamy white part of yogurt or
kefir and it is rich in sodium (not table salt, or sodium chloride, but naturally occurring sodium that you need to
get from food to build healthy tissues).
In addition to taking a probiotic, many of us take digestive enzymes. But some studies suggest that cultured
foods will actually replenish the body’s enzyme stores, helping us digest other foods. Bringing fermented foods
back, since they have been largely lost since ancient times, is an important step in achieving health and
wholeness.
I recommend making yogurt or kefir first this month, because having some whey on hand (especially
homemade) is very helpful in making sauerkraut with consistent results and with minimal salt added. In fact, if
you anticipate bottling lots of fermented vegetables for a garden harvest, for instance, you may want to
stockpile whey for a week first.
TIP: If you want to make fermented vegetables but making whey is daunting for you, or you do not want to use any
animal products, we have a vegetable starter recommendation for you. Click on “Robyn Recommends” on
GreenSmoothieGirl.com, then select “Culture Starter” to learn more.
Fermented Grains
Vegetables and dairy products can be fermented, but by far the least expensive, easiest food to ferment for
outstanding health benefits are grains.
Ann Wigmore pioneered the technique of sprouting and then fermenting grains. A half gallon of Rejuvelac—a
drink made from cultured, live grains—will cost you about a nickel. I drank a few glasses a day at Creative
Health Institute in Michigan, one of the Ann Wigmore institutes. Director Bobby Morgan wrote me later,
“You can ingest huge amounts of nutrients, but unless your body is able to actually absorb them, they’re
useless. Dr. Ann Wigmore taught us that Rejuvelac is full of the vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates,
destrines, caccharins, and phosphates that our bodies need to be healthy. In fact, she felt that ‘Although a
beverage, Rejuvelac is actually so nutritious, it could be classified as a food by itself.” 3
At CHI, we were told not to drink Rejuvelac after 4 p.m. because it gives you so much energy that it could
interfere with your sleep. This leads to a good strategy for those who suffer with low energy, rather than using
chemical stimulants and caffeine, which are not natural and are harmful in a variety of ways.
I use Rejuvelac as a base for my green smoothies. I did not write about this in Chapter 1 and I do not talk about
it in my lectures, because it is too advanced for people currently entrenched in the Standard American Diet. I
have learned that people must take baby steps, and Rejuvelac, as simple as it is to make and use, is too far
outside mainstream concepts most people have been exposed to.
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Some wonder if Rejuvelac (also Kombucha and other fermented foods) are alcoholic. There is a very small
amount of alcohol produced naturally in the chemical process of digestion. Your gut, however, produces
alcohol as well, far more than in a fermented tea or grain drink, especially if you eat sugar. In fact, one of the
major causes of indigestion is undigested proteins, as a chronic problem. And the best way to improve that
situation? Eating probiotic-rich foods, because the cultures also help break down those proteins in the gut as
well. The amount of alcohol produced in a natural cultured food is less than 0.005%, compared to beer, which
would be 0.04% or higher.
I read about Rejuvelac 20 years before I began making it. My failure to originally implement this habit was due
to a bit of a controversy about it. My friend, Dr. Brian Clement, director of the Hippocrates Institute in Florida,
said that in the 1980s they tested Rejuvelac to be “contaminated.” I do not believe that just because there are
bad bacteria in some foods that we should avoid those foods. In fact, even in an ideal condition, the human gut
is 10% bad bacteria and 90% good. (Most Americans, according to Dr. Bernard Jensen, have the opposite ratio:
90% bad, 10% good.) I believe that the successful use of Rejuvelac by Ann Wigmore, Max Gerson, and many
other natural and holistic practitioners warrants serious consideration of the practice of making and consuming
this delicious and inexpensive power food. It gives the body higher ability to neutralize and eliminate
organisms that jeopardize our health.
I’ve made a YouTube video showing how to make Rejuvelac. Watch it at http://tinyurl.com/3ubw5bj.
Money-Saving Tips
Everything in this chapter will save you money! Using a gallon of milk to make kefir saves quite a bit of money
over buying it commercially. And growing lots of cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and beets in your garden allows
you to put up, almost for free, dozens of quarts of raw, fermented vegetables that you may find keep illnesses at
bay throughout the winter. If you have incorporated many of the suggestions in the first eight months of this 12-
step program, you should find that from here on out, your family will be much healthier through the winter.
And Rejuvelac is the most inexpensive habit in this entire course, costing you a nickel a day.
If you have incorporated many of the suggestions in the first eight months of this 12-step program, you should
find that from here on out, your family will be much healthier through the winter. That in itself is a significant
health-care cost savings, in terms of both money and stress.
If you enjoy fermented vegetables and would like many more recipes for fruit chutneys and ways to preserve
more vegetables (radishes, turnips, and more), I recommend Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. I do not
agree with Fallon’s promotion of heavy use of animal proteins (including flesh), based on my own research and
experience, along with empirical evidence such as that found in The China Study that came out after
Nourishing Traditions was published. (Fallon does, at least, advocate for organic meats and only cultured milk
products.) However, much of her information is very correct, especially the fermented vegetables and fruits and
dairy products chapter, as well as her information on good fats. I also like all the historical information about
the dietary practices of various healthy cultures and the quotes from many nutrition sources in the page
margins. I recommend owning a copy of this important book. 4
If you’re like me, you don’t want to own and milk goats, though I understand they make great pets. So call
around and network to find a small, family farm or ranchette with goats that produce milk, and get on a weekly
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schedule to pick yours up. This is much less expensive (as well as more nutritious and natural) than buying
homogenized, pasteurized goat’s milk from the rare grocery store that carries it.
Find your local community-supported agriculture groups that will sell you organic local produce such as
cabbage, apples, and even corn that you can pick yourself for free at the end of the harvest. Join all the email
lists of buying co-ops. I am a member of at least six of them locally, including one I run myself for group buys
several times a year. By doing this, in addition to saving money and supporting local agriculture, I have made
quite a few friends who enrich my life and teach me many things. They are experts in herbal remedies, or
gardening, or yeast-free bread making, and they give me a support system for raising a healthy family that I
value tremendously. In fact, I learned about fermenting vegetables, making yogurt, and baking sourdough,
whole-grain breads from people in early co-ops I joined.
Sea salt needed in fermentation is certainly more expensive than refined table salt, but I buy it inexpensively
from a local co-op (this year from the local family-owned Bosch store) in a 25-lb. bag. We should have salt on
hand for emergency supplies anyway, and salt lasts forever, so there’s no concern about it going bad. For
cooking purposes, buy it finely granulated.
If you do not have cold storage in your basement, you can dig a dirt cellar next to your house while it is still
warm, using a wooden lid to lift when you want to remove something. A buried barrel or box can also work,
and you can read more about these options in Eliot Coleman’s Four-Season Harvest. 5 You can store your
fermented vegetables—as well as raw root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, turnips, and onions—in an
easily built root cellar to last through the winter.
Your Journal Entry
After beginning to use fermented foods, especially after you’ve gone through your first winter, take note of any
health changes you have experienced.
1. After a winter of using fermented foods, note whether you succumbed to viruses and infections less
often than usual (or not at all).
2. When you add fermented foods to any meal, do you have fewer or no digestive disturbances, quick and
easy digestion, and easier sleep?
3. Do you notice any other health benefits?
4. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
5. Any other observations during this month?
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KEFIR RECIPES
Learning to make kefir is one of the most important steps in the 12 Steps course. It’s easy to make and, when
eaten daily over a period of time, can begin to heal the gut from antibiotic use and many degenerative gut issues
plaguing many, if not most, in the Western world. If you are going to indulge in a small amount of refined sugar
occasionally, having a gastrointestinal tract well populated with good microorganisms is the best way to break
those sugars down without harm to you. And because it is easy to put into your diet every day, kefir may be the
very best way to accomplish that.
NOTE: These instructions assume you have live kefir grains, which will allow you to make kefir indefinitely, using the
same living grains. (For my recommendation on obtaining live kefir grains, see the “Kefir Grains” topic under
“Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com.) If you purchase a dried starter, you can follow the
directions on the box.
Dairy or Goat Milk Kefir
1 quart jar (or however much you will use in a day)
1 qt. raw milk* (dairy or goat)
2 Tbsp. live kefir grains or one packet culture starter (find a source on GreenSmoothieGirl.com under
“Robyn Recommends”)
* Not all milk is made equal. You may believe that skim or 1% milk is best, if you were indoctrinated in the
“low-fat” age. In fact, it is a refined product, and whole milk is far superior nutritionally. The best option for
your kefir is raw goat’s milk, if you can obtain it and if you like the taste. My second choice would be organic,
raw, whole cow’s milk. (You must culture it when it’s very fresh, as it goes bad quickly.) Lastly, if you cannot
obtain those, at least make sure your milk is Rbst/hormone free.
1. Put kefir grains (or dried kefir start, like Yogourmet’s, that states it has both beneficial or “friendly”
bacteria and yeast) into the jar. Then fill it with the milk, leaving a couple inches of headroom.
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2. Put the jar on the counter (or, in the winter, put it on top of the fridge where the heating coil is, near a
heat vent, or under a light bulb for warmer conditions) and stir occasionally.
The mixture is cultured after 1-2 days, and faster in a warmer place than a colder place. It will usually
separate into layers, including the whey (clear, yellowish liquid), and it will smell tart.
3. Stir and strain out the kefir grains (if that’s what you used) with a slotted spoon or fine-meshed strainer
to keep in the fridge for later use.
Drink kefir plain with a meal for excellent digestion or make it into smoothies with bananas in your highpowered
blender. The kefir will keep for one to two weeks in the fridge, and the grains will keep indefinitely.
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Coconut Liquid Kefir / Water Kefir
Vegans may prefer to make kefir from coconut liquid or from water. It does not get thick; fermenting makes it
fizzy and tangy. I use it every morning in my Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie (see Ch. 10).
Put 1 to 3 Tbsp. of water kefir grains (pictured left) in a
pint jar of coconut liquid. Cover it with a lid and leave it
for 24 hours at room temperature. (Do not refrigerate kefir
grains of any kind. If you do, they will become dormant
and inactive.)
I simply strain the water grains from the coconut liquid that
has been sitting on my counter for 24 hours with a small,
fine-meshed strainer. I transfer it to a new jar of coconut
liquid for the next day. It’s okay if the grains ferment the
liquid for an extra day or for less than a day. The longer
you allow the fermentation process, the more tart and tangy
your kefir becomes.
You can get water kefir grains, which are different than milk grains, by selecting “Kefir Grains” on the “Robyn
Recommends” tab on GreenSmoothieGirl.com. Or you can purchase a dehydrated starter at some health food
stores—and then, after making your first batch, you can use a little of the old batch to start a new batch. (Do
this for up to two batches, but then use a new start to ensure your cultures don’t degrade over time.) Live kefir
grains are better, compared to dried starter.
To store and to grow your water grains, or to make true
“Water Kefir,” fill a quart jar with filtered water and C
organic Sucanat, coconut palm sugar, or agave. Add 1 tsp.
molasses or a piece of an egg shell (make sure the egg has
been cleaned out), because water grains thrive on minerals.
Stir until dissolved and then add ¼ to 1 C water grains.
Cover and let it sit at room temperature for up to five days.
This, by itself, can be consumed as Water Kefir. The sugars
are mostly consumed by the fermentation process. You can
then start a new batch using the same grains.
You can watch my short GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube
video showing how to open and drain a young coconut (www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi). Don’t use an older (hairy, brown)
coconut, which will not likely contain much liquid. Alternatively, you can purchase coconut liquid (also known
as “coconut water”) in cans from a health food store or Asian stores (I have even seen them at Wal-Mart).
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YOGURT RECIPES
Basic Yogurt Recipe
Scald no-hormone-added milk on the stove (turn the stove off when a light skim forms on the top and tiny
bubbles appear around the edges of the milk, as shown in the photo below). Let cool until milk is still very
warm but no longer hot.
Pour milk into half-gallon or quart jars. Stir in about 3 Tbsp. plain yogurt per half-gallon of milk (at first, you
may purchase this from the store, but after that, save out a cup of yogurt to start your next batch). Stir gently
but thoroughly. Pour the mixture into your quart or half-gallon jars and seal the lids.
Turn your oven on (any temperature) for 90 seconds just to warm it up, then turn it off. Place the sealed jars in
the oven for 8-12 hours. (Or, you may prefer to put the jars near a heat vent, possibly covered by a wool blanket
for slightly higher temperatures.) I have sometimes forgotten my yogurt for over 24 hours, which does not
cause a problem.
Although the thickness will vary depending on a
variety of factors, you can tell fermentation has
occurred because the milk smells tart when it has
become yogurt. Remove from the warm
environment and refrigerate. Yogurt keeps for
weeks because of the natural preservative of the
cultures in the milk.
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Almond Yogurt
2 C dry, raw almonds
2 C filtered water, plus more for almond soaking
1 tsp. probiotic powder (see the “Culture Starter” topic under “Robyn Recommends” on
GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
optional: pinch of vanilla bean
Put almonds in a bowl and cover with several inches of filtered water. Soak for 4-8 hours and drain. Rinse well.
Blend soaked almonds with 2 C filtered water, probiotic powder, and optional vanilla in your high-powered
blender for 1 min.
Pour mixture into a container with a lid, but leave the lid off. Cover with a tea towel for 4 hours in a warm
place, then for no more than 8 hours in a cooler place. Cover the container with its lid, store in fridge, and use
any time within a week. (Microorganisms will continue to flourish in the fridge.)
TIP: This yogurt makes a wonderful smoothie base, or it can be mixed with fruit and soaked pumpkin, chia, or
sunflower seeds for breakfast.
OTHER FERMENTED DAIRY RECIPES
Crème Fraîche (Sour Cream)
1 packet culture starter (see “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
1 pt. organic, fresh, heavy whipping cream
1 qt. jar with lid
Pour cream into quart jar and let sit for 30 min. to come to room temperature. Add culture starter, put lid on jar,
and shake well. Let sit for 24 hours at room temperature. Shake again. Refrigerate until used. Texture and
flavor improve over about 2-3 days.
Cultured Butter
1 packet culture starter (see “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
1 pt. organic, fresh, heavy cream
1 qt. jar with lid
Refrigerate empty jar. Pour cream into jar and add culture starter. Put lid on jar and shake for about 30 min.
until mixture has separated into butter and buttermilk. (You can also use a churn or an electric hand mixer in a
chilled bowl.) Refrigerate until used.
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REJUVELAC RECIPE
½ C wheat (any type), rye, quinoa, buckwheat, triticale, or other whole and unmilled grain
½ gal. filtered or distilled water
Soak grains for 6-8 hr. in a quart jar. Drain water, cover jar with a screened lid, and lay the jar on its side for the
grain to spread out and be exposed to air. Cover with tea towel to keep light (and fruit flies, in summer) out of
the aerating jar.
Rinse and drain the sprouting grain, twice a day, for 1-2 days. The grain does not need to grow a long tail to be
sprouted.
Put grain and half of the water in a high-powered blender and pulse for about 1 min. until grain is broken down.
Then pour the mixture into a half-gallon jar (or two quart jars) along with the remaining water. Cover the jar
with a mesh lid, then cover the lid with a tea towel.
Allow the mixture to culture in a dark place for 24 hours or more. The longer the mixture ferments, the more
tart it becomes. Do not be alarmed that the mixture does not smell particularly appealing! It should taste tart
and lemony, reminiscent of the grain you have sprouted. If you feel the need to smell it, just rest assured it does
not taste like it smells.
I have never had Rejuvelac mold. I have heard of it happening, though. If yours molds, throw it out and start
again. This is more likely to happen when the fermented grain is neglected for too long or when your
conditions are very hot and humid.
Cover the Rejuvelac and refrigerate it. It will last up to 1 week in the fridge. I use it with the sprouted grain as
the base of green smoothies. However, if I drink it as a beverage, I strain out the grain solids with a nut milk
bag or cheesecloth.
You can reuse the sprouted, fermented grain once more to make a second, weaker batch of Rejuvelac by adding
water to it again and leaving it on the counter for another 1-2 days.
I recommend rotating the grains you use for the widest possible nutritional variety.
RAW KOMBUCHA RECIPE
Kombucha is a fermented tea and one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get live probiotics in your diet
while increasing your fluids. It’s easy to make once you understand the process and when you get used to using
a “mother” and covering your product on the counter while it ferments.
My recipe calls for black or green tea, which contains caffeine, as well as agave, which is a natural sweetener.
However, both the caffeine and the sugars are metabolized or consumed by the “scoby,” or “mother” (the living
culture complex that begins the fermentation; also sometimes called a “mushroom” only because it is a solid
mass of yeasts and microorganisms that looks rather like a mushroom). Those beneficial cultures proliferate in
the tea and then in your stomach and bowels.
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There are trace amounts of alcohol in this fermented tea, but not enough to cause anything anywhere close to
intoxication or impairment. Beer has 4.5% to 7% alcohol, and the most that kombucha will have is about 0.5%.
You can buy live kombucha scobys online or find a raw foodist who makes kombucha in your community; they
are often willing to share.
2 half-gallon jars or 1 large glass bowl/dish
3 qt. filtered water
5-6 black, white, or green tea bags (not herbal teas)
3 Tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
1 C agave (raw, organic)
2 kombucha scobys or 1 C of raw kombucha from the health food store
optional: ¼ C raspberry or mango puree or 1 Tbsp. Ormus Greens
Boil 1 qt. filtered water and steep the tea bags in it for 20 minutes or longer. Throw the tea bags away and add
2 qt. filtered water plus the apple cider vinegar to the mixture. Pour the mixture into the bowl/dish or jars. (Jars
allow less surface area exposed to oxygen, so fermentation will take 10-20 days instead of 7-10 days in a bowl/
dish. The best are dark-colored glass bowls or jars to protect from light.) When the mixture has cooled to room
temperature (70°-80°), add to the jars one of the following:
• Dried (purchased) kombucha scoby (1 in each jar or 2 in bowl/dish)
• Room-temperature, raw bottled kombucha (½ C in each jar or 1 C in bowl/dish)
Cover the bowl or jars with a clean tea towel or paper towel (put a rubber band around the neck of the jar) to
keep debris from getting into the tea but allow air in. Leave on the counter, at room temperature and away from
light and sun, for 7-10 days (if using dish/bowl) or 10-20 days (if using jars). After 7 (bowl/dish) or 10 (jars)
days, taste the kombucha to see if the taste is tart and acidic. (You will have to gently move aside the thin
kombucha scoby forming on the surface to taste the liquid below it.) Leave it to ferment longer, if desired. The
scoby may float or sink (this doesn’t matter).
When it has reached the desired level of fermentation, gently scoop the scoby from the bottle and use it to begin
a new batch. Or you can use 1 C of finished kombucha to start a new batch. (You can do this several times, but
the microorganisms will decrease, so after four batches, use a new start or scoby.)
NOTE: If you find mold on top of your kombucha, you must discard it. It happens occasionally when lactic acid does
not do its work before the mold, or bad microorganisms, get a foothold.
At this point, you can add the optional fruit puree or Ormus Greens (see the GreenSmoothieGirl.com store for
this) for 24 hours before refrigerating, adding a bit more fermentation as well as a lovely flavor for variety.
If you made the kombucha in a bowl/dish, transfer it to glass jars or bottles with some head room. Sometimes
kombucha is very fizzy, so the best type of bottle is pop bottles with rubber gaskets on them, but any glass jar
will do.
Keep finished kombucha in the fridge. It will keep for a long time and gets even better after a month or two.
Finished kombucha will grow little scobys on top, and there’s nothing wrong with them. For the first
subsequent batch, putting the original “mother” in with one of the “babies” is best for efficient culture growth.
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Preserving Raw Foods with Natural Probiotics
FERMENTED VEGETABLE RECIPES
Using dill and whey (or culture starter) in these recipes allows for minimizing salt. If you do not use at least the
whey, you will need to increase the amount of salt by 50%, to preserve the vegetables longer initially as the
fermentation gets off to a slower start. You will also have a higher risk of mold (it happens to me about 1 bottle
in 50). If a cultured food molds, throw it out.
Pickled Beets
These were one of my favorite things to can, before I learned how to preserve raw vegetables.
7 C beets, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces (do not shred in food processor)
¼ C whey OR 1 pkg. culture starter (see “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
2 C distilled or filtered water
2 tsp. Original Crystal Himalayan Salt
Place the chopped beets into two wide-mouth quart canning jars. Mix other ingredients and pour over the beets,
leaving 1" of head room at the top of the jar. Screw the lids on tightly. Keep at room temperature for one week
before transferring to cold storage. Lids do not need to be new, and bottles will not “seal” like in traditional
canning. Makes approximately 2 quarts.
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Beet Kvass
Remove your raw pickled beets from cold storage or fridge (or you can use them after just a few days at room
temperature) and blend in high-powered blender until smooth. Add extra water to achieve the right texture.
Enjoy chilled as a drink, mixed with a little bit of fresh lime juice or freshly ground pepper. You can also use
kvass in recipes to replace vinegar.
Pickle Slices
10 pickling cucumbers
2 Tbsp. whole mustard seeds
¼ C fresh (or 2 Tbsp. dried) dill weed
2 tsp. sea salt
¼ C whey OR 1 pkg. culture starter (see “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
2 C distilled or filtered water
Place the cucumbers into two wide-mouth quart canning jars. Mix the other ingredients and pour over
cucumbers, leaving 1" of head room at the top of the jar. Screw the lids on tightly. Keep at room temperature
for one week before transferring to cold storage. Lids do not need to be new, and bottles will not “seal” like in
traditional canning. Makes approximately 2 quarts.
Spiced Carrots
8 C grated carrots
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger root, grated
1 Tbsp. fresh dill weed
2 tsp. Original Crystal Himalayan Salt
2 Tbsp. whey OR 1 pkg. culture starter (see “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
Mix all ingredients in a large plastic bowl and pound with a wooden pounder to release the juices before
packing the mixture into two wide-mouth quart canning jars. Leave 1" at the top of the jar and put the lids on
tightly. Keep at room temperature for a week before transferring to cold storage. Lids do not need to be new,
and bottles will not “seal” like in traditional canning. Makes approximately 2 quarts.
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Preserving Raw Foods with Natural Probiotics
Sauerkraut
This recipe is adapted and printed with permission from Sally Fallon; her book Nourishing Traditions is an
important one to have in your nutrition library.
8 C shredded cabbage OR 6 C shredded cabbage and 2 C shredded carrots
2 C distilled or filtered water
¼ C whey OR 1 pkg. culture starter (see “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
4 tsp. Original Crystal Himalayan Salt
Optionally, add one or more of the following:
1 tsp. dried (or 2 Tbsp. fresh) dill weed
½ tsp. cumin seeds
½ tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
In a large plastic bowl, pound the cabbage with a wooden pounder for several minutes to release its juices. Mix
the salt, whey, and any optional seasonings into the water, and pour it over the cabbage. Mix well. Pack the
cabbage tightly into two wide-mouth quart canning jars and add enough liquid to cover, leaving 1 inch of space
at the top of the jar. Cover the jars tightly, keep at room temperature for a few days, and then place in cold
storage.
Lids do not need to be new and bottles will not “seal” like in traditional canning. You can eat sauerkraut at that
point, but it’s best after six months when the fermentation has softened the shredded cabbage. Do not open the
jars until you are ready to eat the contents, as lacto-fermentation is anaerobic and is interrupted by the
introduction of oxygen. Makes approximately 2 quarts.
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Kimchi
2 Chinese (Napa) cabbages, shredded large with food processor or chopped into 1" pieces
1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
¼ C raw sesame seeds
6 cloves garlic, chopped fine
6" piece of ginger root, peeled and finely chopped or shredded
1-2 tsp. cayenne
2 Tbsp. sea salt
C whey OR 1 pkg. culture starter (see “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com)
optional: 2 C sprouted mung beans (1 C dry beans makes about 2 C sprouted)
optional: 1 bunch white or red radishes, chopped
Mix all ingredients by hand for about 5-10 min., to help the cabbage begin releasing its juices. Allow it to sit on
the counter for several hours or overnight, covered with a tea towel, so that the cabbage wilts and releases more
water content.
Pack into sterilized pint or quart jars, distributing the liquids evenly (should cover the vegetables), leaving 1" of
head room at the top of the jars. Screw the lids on tightly. Keep at room temperature for a few days before
transferring to the refrigerator. You can eat the kimchi within a few days if you like, or within a few months.
Makes approximately 3-4 quarts.
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Preserving Raw Foods with Natural Probiotics
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CHAPTER 9
Replacing White Flour with
Whole Grains
Your Goal:
To replace refined (white) flour in your diet with a variety of hearty, nutritious whole grains full of
vitamins, minerals, and fiber. You’ll learn how to make old-fashioned, whole-grain bread without
mineral-leaching phytates, and without quick-rising commercial yeast that causes significant health
problems.
What You’ll Need:
You can grind grain in your high-powered blender. (Note that if you're using a VitaMix blender, you
will need a separate “dry” container for this.) But, if possible, you should have a grain mill (Blendtec
offers an excellent one which we have in the GreenSmoothieGirl.com store). A grain mill allows you
to grind large quantities of grains into very fine flour, especially helpful for cookies, cakes, and
pastries. It is a good investment for a whole-foods kitchen.
You’ll want to obtain a high-quality sourdough start. See our best source for sourdough bread starter
for whole-grain breads under “Robyn Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com.
You will also want a large bread-baking stone or bread pans.
My great-great-great-great-great grandfather, the world-traveling pioneer Benjamin Franklin Johnson,
once lived for six months on horseback eating nothing but cornmeal. He developed scurvy as a result,
in addition to other nutritional deficiencies that made him susceptible to malaria and smallpox. I don’t
recommend that one-grain-only diet!
However, the Biblical prophet Ezekiel, as
documented in Ezekiel 4:9, once lived on a
combination of four grains and four legumes
for over a year—resulting in much more
robust health than my pioneer ancestor. Some
companies now sell Ezekiel Bread, or a grain
mix based on this formula of excellent
proteins, complex carbohydrates, and fats.
Every nutritional component needed by
humans, except sunlight, is contained in that
combination of grains and legumes.
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Replacing White Flour with Whole Grains
In North America, the bowl of white sugar replaced the molasses and honey jar at the beginning of the
twentieth century, and our health has dramatically declined ever since. Additionally, the discovery and
widespread use of the worst refined sweetener of all, high-fructose corn syrup, has only accelerated health
problems. White flour was new at about the same time as well, and it makes essentially the same impact on our
blood glucose that white sugar does. That has led to a terrible toll on insulin production, a meteoric rise in
diabetes and weight problems, dental decay, and countless effects of acidosis (acids burning out our tissue
binders)—in essence, all the modern “diseases of affluence.”
In May 2007, the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases reported on research that eating
grains such as brown rice, barley, and oatmeal in their whole form prevents clogged arteries, heart attacks, and
strokes. The researchers at Wake Forest University surveyed seven major studies: adults eating 2.5 servings of
whole grains were almost 25% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those who rarely ate whole
grains. 1
Countless studies link diets that include whole grains to protection against diabetes, obesity, stroke, and heart
disease. We should eat about three servings of whole grains daily, but more than 40% of adults in the U.S. eat
none at all. High-fiber diets lead to a much lower risk of heart disease, and whole grains are excellent sources
of fiber.
The problem with white flour is two-fold: the removal of the bran and the removal of the germ. The bran
contains lignans, antioxidants, and minerals—in addition to most of the fiber in the grain. The germ is packed
with vitamins. Together, they are a food with sustainable energy rather than the quick-acting kind provided by
white flour. The only thing remaining in white flour, with the germ and bran gone, is the almost useless
endosperm (heated and usually bleached), which has just 5% of the antioxidants that the bran contains.
Eating the whole grain lowers the glycemic index of your overall diet while providing plenty of your daily
needs for vitamin E, magnesium, and fiber. White flour, on the other hand, has the same effect on the body as
refined sugar, causing blood sugar to spike and then come crashing down and leading to a higher risk of
diabetes.
According to the USDA’s Web site listing nutrients in whole wheat and in non-enriched white flour, the
following is the tragic loss of nutrition when whole wheat is refined to become white flour:
Content % Lost Content % Lost
Calcium 56 Protein 25
Copper 62 Selenium 52
Fiber 95 Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) 73
Folate 59 Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) 81
Iron 84 Vitamin B3 (Niacin) 80
Manganese 82 Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) 87
Phosphorous 69 Vitamin E 95
Potassium 74 Zinc 76
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One of the virtues of whole wheat is that it’s easy to store. Those who opened King Tut’s tomb found wheat
still capable of sprouting. Wheat can last many years in sealed buckets or cans because of its hard, protective
exterior. When you break that outer layer, grinding it into flour, however, it begins to oxidize rapidly, becoming
rancid in a short period of time (a few weeks or months). I believe that many people who say they don’t like
things made with whole wheat actually mean that they don’t like the taste of things made from rancid grain,
since many things made with whole grains go rancid by the time the consumer eats them. When the oils in the
grain become rancid, they are carcinogenic, so you should avoid them for more reasons than just taste. An
electric grain grinder is a worthwhile investment, then, so you can grind your wheat just in time to use it.
Even some products being touted as “whole grain” in health food stores are not nutritious. For example, puffed
grains and many other cereal products, even though they are advertised as “whole grain,” are in fact harmful,
for a few reasons.
Most whole-grain granolas and cereals contain a high level of concentrated sweeteners, as well as harmful
refined oils, usually canola or soy oils. And virtually all of them contain toxic refined salt. Also, most contain
soy and corn products, which are America’s most genetically modified foods, and we should avoid them as
much as possible.
Finally, they are processed in other ways besides removing the germ and bran. A particular trend to begin
noticing and avoiding is the puffed grains that were documented in an unpublished study done by a cereal
company and documented by Paul Stitt. One group of rats received plain whole wheat, water, and synthetic
vitamins and minerals. A second group received puffed wheat (an “extruded” cereal), water, and the same
vitamins and minerals. A third set was given only water. A fourth was given only water and the vitamins and
minerals.
The rats that actually attained “longevity” were those eating only whole wheat. They lived over a year. The rats
on water and vitamins lived two months. Those on water alone lived a month. But the rats given vitamins,
water, and puffed wheat died within two weeks. It is unsurprising that the cereal company elected not to
publicize these findings.
Another experiment in the 1960s, designed as a joke at Ann Arbor University, fed 18 rats three different diets:
corn flakes, the cardboard box the cornflakes came in, and rat chow. The rat-chow group lived a long time. The
ones who ate cardboard got sick and died. But the cornflake-eating rats died first! Before they did, they
developed schizophrenia, became aggressive with each other, and had seizures.
The chemical changes resulting from pressure of the puffing and other processing apparently causes a
nutritious grain to become a toxic fuel. So, whole grains are not all made equal!
These trends in packaged foods, or what I call “feel-good health foods,” make it that much more important to
learn to use whole grains, freshly milled, in our own homes, where we can avoid the pitfalls of processed foods
masquerading as good nutrition.
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Replacing White Flour with Whole Grains
What Are the Whole Grains?
Whole grains are plentiful and varied, and you can try any of these for positive effects on your fiber intake and
overall diet:
Rye 1 Barley 4
Spelt 2 Buckwheat 5
Kamut 3 Millet 6
Oats Quinoa 7
Corn and popcorn
Sorghum
Wheat and bulgur (cracked wheat) Amaranth 8
Brown rice and wild rice
(many varieties of each)
Emmer, farro, grano
(lesser known grains)
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Replacing White Flour with Whole Grains
How Do I Substitute Whole Grain for White Flour?
If you have been using refined flour in baking, you could strategize shifting to whole grains by adding more
and more whole-wheat flour and less and less white flour in your bread and recipes, over time. But if you want
to quit buying white flour cold turkey, now that you know how utterly deficient in nutrition and even harmful it
is, another way to transition to whole grains is to use soft white wheat, ground as finely as your grain grinder
allows, for “pastry” flours (cakes, cookies, etc.). It’s very light, and I’ve noticed that children can’t tell the
difference. It does not have the protective outer layer that hard white or hard red wheats have, though, so the
hard wheats are best for long-term storage (they are also highest in protein and gluten).
For bread, start by using hard white wheat, also ground finely. Once you are enjoying whole-grain breads, you
can transition to substituting other grains like red wheat, Kamut, and spelt.
I regularly substitute whole-wheat flour for white flour in cookie and cake recipes, in a 1:1 ratio, with good
success. It’s easy, so don’t be afraid to give it a try in virtually anything calling for flour.
What Are Phytates and How Do I Avoid Them?
Getting off refined-grain products and onto whole grains is a great first step! But you need to learn about two
things: first about phytates, and then about yeast.
Phytates are natural, acidic chemical compounds in the bran of grains that some experts say bind to calcium,
magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc, making those nutrients less bioavailable and potentially leading to
deficiencies. So that we can absorb the nutrition of grains well in the gastrointestinal tract, grains should ideally
be soaked in water, sprouted, or fermented to neutralize the phytic acid. This is easy to do and requires only a
little planning ahead. You already learned about the power of lacto-fermentation in Chapter 8, with vegetables
and milks. The way this works with grains is that enzymes and microorganisms break down starches, tannins,
and proteins including gluten.
Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, Ph.D., say in Nourishing Traditions that “virtually all pre-industrialized people
soaked or fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes and casseroles” (p.
452). 22 Modern culture has largely abandoned this practice, and Fallon and Enig say this represents a
detriment to our health. That said, I do not believe (as Fallon does) that unsoaked grains pose a great risk to our
health, and I believe much evidence exists that unsoaked grains have also been widely used by healthy
populations.
Jordan Rubin (The Maker’s Diet) claims that ancient peoples stacked damp grain in storage, thus neutralizing
phytates. This makes no sense to me, since damp grain quickly becomes moldy grain. I personally have a very
difficult time sprouting grains, as they mold quickly, even though I live in a dry climate. Nuts and seeds sprout
well, and grains can be soaked for up to 24 hours—but beyond that, they are difficult to grow unless you put a
great deal of effort into the perfect conditions.
The phytate issue is fiercely contested in the nutrition world, with some believing that soaking grains is critical
and others believing it’s unnecessary. I have studied compelling evidence on both sides, leading me to the
recommendations that follow.
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Regardless of whether phytates in whole grains lead to mineral deficiencies, soaking and slightly fermenting
your grain clearly aids in digestion. It costs nothing and doesn’t really add time to a recipe’s preparation,
although you do a portion of the work in advance. Most adults in the Western world need to be kind to their
digestive systems. That’s because before most of us get serious about treating our bodies right (which you have
done, if you are reading this book), we have abused our bodies with the modern lifestyle. In particular, we’ve
abused our digestive systems. Some of us have decades of damage to undo.
Part of your new whole-grain habit, then, is to soak your flour or grain for up to 24 hours as often as possible
and add a bit of whey, kefir, or yogurt. Even 8 hours of soaking is very helpful. Many of the recipes in this
chapter call for soaking the flour or grain.
The grain with the highest phytate content is oats, so if you like oatmeal, put the boiling water in the rolled oats
right after eating breakfast. Add 1-2 Tbsp. of yogurt or kefir, cover with a lid, and just reheat it for breakfast the
next morning. Leaving it out for 24 hours will not create any problems. If you like sourdough and fermented
foods, you’ll probably like the slight tang of the oatmeal done this way. This requires thinking ahead, but if you
do it for a while, it becomes a habit—and one worth developing.
Unlike oats and wheat, brown rice, millet, and buckwheat have low phytate content, so you can soak them just
overnight, for shorter periods of time. When I am serving brown rice for dinner, I put boiling water in it in the
morning, cover it, and leave it to steam all day in the oven, preheated to 350 and then turned off. The rice is
perfectly cooked at dinnertime. When making kasha (buckwheat cereal), I put the boiling water in the night
before, letting it steam overnight.
When making baked goods, get in the habit of putting the flour in the blender or bowl with the required liquids
(and with a bit of a fermented dairy product like kefir), and just leaving it all day (or night) before completing
the recipe. You’ll also find that your baked goods are lighter, with a lovely texture, as you take this additional
step. The fermentation creates leavening, so you can reduce or leave out the baking powder when you have
presoaked flour with kefir or yogurt. This extra step of soaking grains or flour, while requiring you to think
ahead, doesn’t add time to your preparation, since the dish is then ready, or nearly ready, when breakfast or
dinnertime rolls around.
You’ll be glad to know that you don’t always have to make soaked-grain breads and grain products from
scratch. At your health food store, you can buy sprouted-grain tortillas, English muffins, and manna bread with
several varieties like sunflower seed, carrot-raisin, and more.
Don’t be frustrated if you just learned about phytates for the first time and now wonder if whole grains are
good for you! If you’re stumped about whether eating whole grains (even unsoaked) is better than white flour,
the answer is a definitive YES! First of all, white flour robs your body of minerals, too, at a faster rate—and it’s
virtually devoid of fiber and nutrition. Second, remember that literally hundreds of studies document the link
between whole grains and blood sugar control, among many other health benefits. And those studies were
based on unsoaked grains. That one benefit alone—that fiber dramatically slows the release of sugars into your
bloodstream—is critically important to your future.
Third, the phytate issue, while worth discussing here, is by no means settled science. In fact, Reddy and Sathe
published a book in 2001 called Food Phytates that surveys the growing body of research on phytates. They
claim that phytates are free-radical scavenging antioxidants that may reduce blood glucose as well as the risk
for high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, kidney stones, and some forms of cancer. 2 So, the jury is still
out on the precise role of phytates. Whether or not they are heroes or villains is a hotly debated controversy—
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so perhaps the best strategy is to soak, sprout, or ferment wherever possible, but enjoy eating unsoaked whole
grains sometimes, too.
Should I Combine a Grain and Legume for
“Perfect Proteins”?
Twenty years ago, a fad in vegetarianism was to create “perfect proteins” in any given dish or meal with a
legume and a grain. The amino acid profiles of legumes are complemented well by the amino acids in grains,
so that all the amino acids needed for the body to assemble proteins are there simultaneously when you eat, for
instance, beans and rice. Those avoiding meat became fearful that they would become malnourished if they
didn’t go to a great deal of food-combining effort.
Fortunately for those who find this tedious, we now know that special food combinations are unnecessary,
because the body stores and releases a free-floating pool of amino acids over an approximate 24-hour time
span. Also, a significant portion of our protein needs are met by the body recycling its own cell proteins. This
also helps balance out any variation in amino acid intake from meal to meal. This logic is borne out by the fact
that powerful animals such as gorillas, elephants, and rhinoceroses are vegetarians who are very obviously
supplied plenty of protein by plant sources.
This should put your mind at ease about any need you may have felt to make each meal contain particular
elements, which unnecessarily complicates dietary planning and preparation. However, you can rest assured
that your body will assemble plenty of protein only if you are eating predominantly whole-plant foods. If your
diet is heavy in white flour and sugar, for instance, you may possibly have amino acid imbalances, since
refined products do not contain them in anything close to a complete or balanced state.
All that said, many of the recipes in this book are marked with an asterisk (*) before their names, showing that
they are, in fact, “complete proteins” combining a grain and a legume. Partly that’s because, as many of the
cultures on this planet show, those foods simply go well together. A second reason I did this is to satisfy those
readers who feel they need high-protein meals to achieve a sense of satisfaction (usually because of a lifetime
of meat eating). And finally, I did it because I personally exercise intensively six days a week and burn a lot of
calories: I find the legume/grain combination to be a more satisfying and sustaining meal.
Why Is Commercial Yeast Bad and Sourdough Good?
For thousands of years, bread was made with natural sourdough (fermented grain) traditions. The bread was
given lots of time to rise naturally, and “yeast” was a starter culture that gathered natural yeast spores from the
air, which I will call “wild yeast” or “natural leavening.” Bread was also baked at higher heats in stone ovens.
The entire process was an all-day activity for women in ancient times.
On the other hand, commercial yeast was created only in the past 100 years. And more recently, “quick-rise”
yeast makes bread making faster than ever, for people who don’t want to plan ahead and wait for their bread.
The manufacturers have isolated certain yeast spores that are very enduring and hardy for this purpose.
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Replacing White Flour with Whole Grains
The ancient methods of using wild yeast were vastly superior, because modern quick-rising yeasts do not all
die in the short, lower-temperature baking process. Therefore, yeast can continue to proliferate in the gut,
giving rise to proliferation of yeasts, molds, and fungus. Even worse are the mycotoxins, the waste products of
yeast, molds, and fungi. Of particular concern is Candida albicans, a yeast overgrowth in the hundreds of feet
of digestive tract and the blood, in about 95% of Americans according to most estimates.
Yeast thrives in warm conditions and explodes with growth when sugar is added. Thus the “perfect storm” for
health problems is created with the modern diet of commercial yeasts in every bakery product and sugar in
most of our foods. Along with a yeasty environment, harmful bacteria also thrive, and these organisms create
acidic waste products that flood the bloodstream and overwhelm the capacity of white blood cells.
I have asked several natural health-care practitioners and nutrition experts what they think the worst nutritional
threat is to the public health. White sugar and flour? Excessive meat eating and processed meat full of
carcinogens? Trans fats and refined oils? Or something else? Knowledgeable practitioners tell me that yeast
overgrowth is the most significant, most destructive part of the modern diet, because along with sugar and acid
conditions and chemicals, it’s exceedingly hard to heal health problems with yeast overgrowth in the body.
Yeast is very possibly the most destructive problem in the modern diet, contributing to the explosion in
autoimmune diseases, infectious disease, and allergies.
And yeast very well may be the least known problem among the general population, even among those who are
health conscious. Many people I know who try to eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and limit fast food
and junk food have no idea how destructive yeast is and have, in fact, never heard about the history of bread
making and yeast as I have described in this chapter. For those who want more information and scientific
background and evidence behind these very important nutritional issues, I recommend Dr. Gabriel Cousins’
Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine and Dr. Robert O. Young’s Sick and Tired and The pH Miracle.
In this chapter, you will learn to make sourdough bread with whole grains. When added to whole-grain flour,
sourdough starter begins to ferment the grains and predigest their proteins, in much the same way that we
learned about dairy products and vegetables benefiting from culturing in the last chapter. Thus sourdough
bread is much easier on your digestive system than commercial-yeast breads, especially if you have difficulty
digesting the gluten protein. Further, breads made from sourdough are lower on the glycemic scale, their sugars
being absorbed more slowly into your blood stream.
What you will need, then, is some high-quality sourdough start. All are not created equal, because when you
import Norwegian sourdough starter to the U.S., for instance, the start picks up yeast spores from the air and
eventually becomes identical to a U.S. product. If a company is making a sourdough starter in a building with
commercial yeast, that commercial yeast will eventually populate the sourdough starter. These are all
frustrating issues in purchasing a start.
When I first published this manual, I went through a series of providers of good sourdough starter for wholegrain
breads. They are not easy to find. Because those providers became obsolete, we now maintain a page
called Sourdough Start on GreenSmoothieGirl.com, under the Robyn Recommends tab. Please go there for upto-date
information on where you can obtain a starter.
The sourdough starter is a fermented grain product, and when you feed it, it will keep in the fridge indefinitely.
However, you should keep it fresh by “feeding” it with equal parts water and flour at least once a week. When
you make bread, never use all of your sourdough start. Whenever you use some of it, “feed” it by adding 1 C of
flour and 1 C of pure water, stirring well and letting it sit on the counter until the mixture is bubbly. Then return
it to the fridge. You may do this every day, or every few days, to build up your supply of starter for your next
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bread batch, or to share with others. You can also freeze sourdough starter (but let it defrost naturally, not in a
microwave, to avoid killing the microorganisms). It’s a good idea to keep some in the freezer as well as in the
fridge, just in case.
If you eat whole-grain sourdough bread along with many raw plant foods, forgoing the store-bought breads
with all their additives, you are giving your body’s systems the opportunity to clean house and control the yeast
and resulting waste products. You also have delicious bread with sustaining energy that is easy on your
digestive system.
One of my family’s favorite dinners is a big salad and a batch of sourdough bread from the recipe at the end of
this chapter, made into focaccia bread by pressing the dough onto two cookie sheets, brushing it with olive oil,
and sprinkling it with herbs. We dip it, warm out of the oven, in balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.
This is a main dish made for just pennies—just $0.25 worth of whole wheat, and a bit of oil and vinegar!
What Other Grains Besides Wheat Make Good Bread and
Other Baked Goods?
Kamut and spelt are ancestors of modern wheat, but have not been hybridized in the past 100 years like wheat
has to increase crop yield and resist diseases, fungus, and pests. Kamut, from Egypt, and spelt, from
Mesopotamia, have been unchanged for thousands of years because they’ve been rediscovered only recently.
Many experts theorize that hybridization has caused a deterioration in wheat’s nutrition and has contributed to
a host of health problems. Specifically, some scientists theorize that the meteoric rise in “gluten intolerance”
allergies and celiac disease are directly related to the genetic modifications and changes in the nutritional
properties of wheat.
Although they are more expensive, nonhybridized grains are still inexpensive relative to other foods, including
animal proteins. You may wish to substitute some of the following superior, ancient grains and seeds for wheat
in bread and other recipes calling for grain. With low-gluten or gluten-free grains (like spelt, buckwheat,
amaranth, or quinoa), substitute no more than 25% of the wheat in a bread recipe.
Spelt. A grain with 30% higher protein than wheat, spelt is often tolerated well by wheat-sensitive people. It
can be purchased as a whole grain or rolled, like oats. It is higher in fat as well as protein (still a low-fat food,
however) and is much lower in gluten. It consequently makes a heavier bread product than wheat. This is
probably why it was not selected for massive cross-hybridization and genetic modifications.
It responds exceptionally well to fermentation (with sourdough starters), which breaks down its proteins for
easy digestion. Spelt is more highly water soluble than wheat and is, therefore, easy on the digestive system.
You can substitute spelt for wheat in any recipe, but reduce the water called for by one fourth. Also, for bread
recipes and others that require rising, keep in mind that spelt is low in gluten, so substitute no more than 30% of
the wheat called for in the recipe and/or add a bit more leavening agent.
Storage. Spelt is an excellent grain for long-term storage.
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Kamut. A close Egyptian relative of wheat with a much larger grain. It has 30% more protein than wheat and
is tolerated well by about 70% of people with wheat allergies. If you like peanut butter sandwiches or toast,
keep in mind that peanuts or another legume high in lysine round out Kamut’s amino acid profile to give you
an excellent protein source. Kamut hasn't been changed by hybridization, so it retains its ancient nutrition and
flavor.
Because it has slightly higher fat content, it’s a high-energy food, with higher levels of vitamin E, selenium,
thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), phosphorus, copper, magnesium, zinc, and pantothenic acid than wheat. Spelt
and wheat are higher in fiber, but Kamut is a low-glycemic-index food, helping to keep insulin levels steady
and avoid blood sugar highs and lows.
Storage. Kamut is an excellent grain for long-term storage.
Buckwheat. Technically, buckwheat is not a cereal grain, but rather a fruit seed—and a highly nutritious one.
If you substitute 25% of your wheat flour with buckwheat flour, the amino acids round out those in the wheat,
giving you a virtually perfect balance of the full spectrum of amino acids. This is actually a better protein
balance than animal proteins!
Further, buckwheat is rich in linoleic acid (an essential fatty acid) that is fairly rare in foods, and B vitamins as
well as phosphorus, zinc, copper, iron, and manganese. Buckwheat, along with amaranth and quinoa, is one of
the few plant sources constituting a “perfect protein” because of its well rounded amino acid profile.
Storage. Buckwheat comes to you with its outer shell removed, causing it to have less protection
against oxidation of its oils than some other grains like wheat. It is, therefore, not a great choice for
long-term storage. Store it for up to a year in airtight containers, preferably with oxygen absorbers.
Cooking directions. Toast buckwheat in an oil-sprayed skillet until lightly browned, tossing often.
Use 1 part toasted buckwheat to 2 parts water, bring to a boil, and reduce the heat to simmer for 20-30
min. or until the liquid is absorbed. This is called “kasha” cereal. I like to add shredded apples,
cinnamon, and a bit of peanut butter and maple syrup to it for breakfast.
Oats. The whole kernel is called a “groat,” and you can use your grain grinder to make flour with the groats, or
use regular rolled oats in muffins, cookies, cereal, and many other recipes. Quick oats are a processed food,
having been rolled, cooked, and dehydrated with much of the fiber and vitamins eliminated. Avoid quick oats
and their quick release of sugars to the bloodstream, and use “regular rolled oats” instead. If you use 25% oat
flour in your bread, its vitamin E helps keep the bread fresh longer.
Quinoa. Quinoa is not technically a grain, but a fruit seed. If you mix 25% quinoa into your wheat, your bread
or pancakes are a complete protein. Some wheat varieties come close to matching quinoa’s protein content, but
barley, corn, and rice have less than half the protein of quinoa. And, quinoa tastes good! The National
Academy of Sciences calls quinoa one of the best sources of vegetable protein, as its amino acid balance is
close to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization ideal.
Storage. Quinoa’s shell is stripped and its oil is more exposed than wheat’s. Therefore, it can be stored
for up to a year in your pantry or fridge, or a few years in an airtight container (preferably with oxygen
absorbers).
Cooking directions. Use 1 part well rinsed quinoa to 2 parts water. (Rinsing well to eliminate the
natural but bitter and slightly toxic saponin coating is important—let it sit for a couple of minutes in
water, stir well, then rinse with a fine strainer.) Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 min.
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Millet. This is the only grain that is alkaline rather than acidic on the pH scale. Since most of us have a tooacidic
internal environment thanks to refined foods, meat, and other factors in the modern lifestyle, we should
be seeking as many ways as possible to alkalize our cells, blood, and tissues. Eating millet is an excellent way
to do that, and its alkalinity makes it very easy to digest.
Millet is a good source of manganese, magnesium, potassium, copper, and phosphorus. It is a staple in Africa
and is also grown and consumed in Asia and India. Here in the U.S., most people think of it as birdseed or
livestock feed, but those who try it find it to be a great addition to the diet. Millet is gluten free and is being
discovered by increasing numbers of gluten-intolerant individuals.
Storage. Millet is an excellent grain for long-term storage. In an airtight container with oxygen
absorbers, it will last for many years.
Cooking directions. Use 1 part millet to 2.5 parts water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer
15-25 min.
Amaranth. Prized by Mayan and Incan people anciently, amaranth isn’t truly a cereal grain, but has been
classified variously as a vegetable or herb. It has a phenomenal nutritional profile in dozens of vitamins and
minerals that more traditional American grains like wheat cannot even come close to. It is one of the highest
grains in the world in both fiber and protein, and it contains no gluten. It can, therefore, be substituted for wheat
no more than 25% in bread, but use it freely in flatbreads, muffins, or other baked goods.
Storage. Amaranth is not a good long-term storage grain as it has high oil content, so it goes rancid
before long. I freeze mine in gallon freezer bags if I intend to keep it longer than a year. You can store
it for a few years in airtight containers with oxygen absorbers.
Cooking directions. Use 1 part amaranth to 2 parts water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer
for 20 min.
What Is the 1, 2 Rating System in the Recipes?
The recipes in this chapter are rated 1 or 2.
Recipes rated 1 are whole grain (and naturally sweetened, where applicable) and are a great transition for
anyone coming from a diet high in refined foods. They are much more nutritious than anything using refined
flours or sugars.
Recipes rated 2 are even more nutritious, because they are made with the highly alkaline grain millet or the
high-protein grain quinoa, or they have lots of raw vegetable ingredients—or they use soaked, sprouted, or
fermented grains to neutralize phytic acid and release nutrients in the grains for absorption. This soaking
process also breaks down (or predigests) proteins in the grains, making them easier on your digestive system.
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Money-Saving Tips
• Storing and using whole grains is automatically a money saver. They simply cost a tiny fraction of what
meat and dairy products, as well as refined and processed foods, cost.
• You can save even more by buying grains through a co-op like Azure Standard (which grows its own
organic grain) in 25 lb. or 50 lb. bags.
• You can store hard-shell grains like wheat virtually forever in sealed buckets lined with plastic bags.
• Use diatomaceous earth to keep pests out of grain you store for the long term. (It will not hurt you when
consumed, though I sift most of it out before using the grain.)
Your Journal Entry
After using no white flour and replacing it with the impressive nutrition of whole grains for a month, make
notes about these issues:
1. Do you have any improved sense of well-being eating whole grains instead of white flour?
2. Do you find that whole grains give you more sustained energy than their refined counterparts?
3. Do you find that you digest sourdough bread more easily and quickly?
4. Do you find that you digest soaked-grain foods more readily?
5. What are your favorite recipes in this chapter?
6. Any other observations during this month?
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WHOLE-GRAIN RECIPES
(* = Grain / Legume combo “perfect protein” dish)
* Buttermilk Cornbread (1 or 2)
Serve this delicious cornbread with any of the legume soups in Chapter 6 or by itself for lunch. Although we
mostly avoid dairy products, I make exceptions for cultured products such as yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, sour
cream, and butter. If you soak the flour and cornmeal in buttermilk overnight (recommended), you can cut the
baking powder in half.
¾ C finely ground whole-wheat flour
¾ C yellow cornmeal**
½ C white bean flour (or add ¼ more flour and cornmeal instead)
¼ C raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat (which is dehydrated cane juice)
1 Tbsp. baking powder (no aluminum)
½ tsp. sea salt
1 large egg (organic, free-range), lightly beaten
1 C buttermilk
C applesauce (no sugar added)
** The cornmeal sold in the grocery store usually says “enriched” because the germ of the corn kernel has been
removed, so it is a refined product. The label should tell you if the corn meal is “degermed.” You can make
your own whole cornmeal by finely grinding unpopped popcorn in your grain mill or high-powered blender.
Preheat oven to 400°. Mix the flours, cornmeal, coconut sugar/Sucanat, baking powder, and salt together. In a
separate bowl, stir together the egg, buttermilk, and applesauce. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
and mix. Pour the batter into a sprayed or greased 8"x8" pan and bake for 25-30 min. Serve warm with butter or
coconut oil.
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* Blueberry Flax Muffins (2)
These are lightly sweetened, but if you are transitioning from refined baking products, you may wish to add
another ¾ C of Sucanat. The muffins will rise more and be lighter and more digestible if you soak the grains
overnight as described in the instructions.
3 C warm water
3½ C whole-wheat flour (finely ground soft white wheat is best)
½ C white bean flour
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
½ C yogurt or kefir (or whey)
1 C Sucanat
2 tsp. vanilla
½ C melted coconut oil
1 Tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder (reduce by half if you soak grains overnight)
½ C flax seeds, freshly ground
1 tsp. sea salt
2½ C blueberries, fresh or frozen
Combine the water, flours, flax, and yogurt. Cover and let the mixture sit overnight or all day (this is an
optional step to eliminate phytates). Add all remaining ingredients except the blueberries and mix thoroughly.
Gently fold in the blueberries. Bake in lined or greased muffin tins, full, for 23-25 min. at 400°. Makes about
3 dozen muffins.
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* Ethiopian Flatbread (2)
Millet is a staple of Africa, and this recipe is adapted from their native, daily recipe. In our family, we sauté
garbanzo beans in a bit of coconut oil, adding garam masala or taco seasoning and salt, to taste. Then we put
the mixture on top of this flatbread.
2 C millet, ground in grain mill (or high-powered blender)
½ C whole-wheat flour
¾ tsp. sea salt
¾ tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
1 C water
coconut oil for frying
Mix the ground millet, flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the water and stir with a spoon until well mixed.
Scoop large spoonfuls of dough onto a small amount of coconut oil melted in a frying pan. Flatten the dough to
be ¼" thick and cook it until lightly browned on both sides. Serve it warm with the topping of your choice.
Serves 6.
* Chapati (1)
These corn cakes were one of my favorite snacks (or breakfast or dinner!) when I was growing up—but I’ve
made this version higher in protein with the bean flour. My mother learned how to make these living in El
Paso, TX, and Silver City, NM, among many Latinos, but her Spanish was really bad so she always called them
“chapitas.”
You can put a little butter or coconut oil on chapatis, and a bit of maple syrup if you don’t use the green chilies.
You can make the cornmeal yourself by finely grinding unpopped popcorn in your wheat grinder or highpowered
blender. What sells as “cornmeal” in grocery stores is a refined/enriched, “degermed” product.
1½ C cornmeal
½ C lentil, split pea, or white bean flour (or another ½ C cornmeal instead)
1½ C hot water
1 egg (organic, free-range)
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ C coconut oil
optional: 2 Tbsp. nutritional/brewer’s yeast
optional: 1 can chopped green chili peppers, drained
Pour the water over the cornmeal, bean flour, yeast, egg, green chilies, and any optional items. Mix well by
hand. Let it sit 10 min. (or overnight, covered, to eliminate phytates). Spoon the batter onto a coconut-oiled
griddle and fry on medium-high heat, turning once. Makes 8 chapatis.
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* Whole-Wheat Biscuits (1)
2 C whole-wheat flour
½ C white bean flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder (no aluminum)
1 tsp. sea salt
¼ C coconut oil (liquid)
1 egg (organic, free-range)
1 C milk (any kind)
Stir dry ingredients together, reserving ¼ C wheat flour. Cut in the coconut oil, then mix in the milk and egg.
Spread the reserved ¼ C flour on the counter and knead the dough on it by hand until it is smooth. Roll the
dough out 1" thick, cut it into circles, then bake at 450° for 10-12 min. Makes 12-14 biscuits.
* Sesame Seed Crackers (2)
2 C whole-wheat flour
½ C white bean flour (or another ½ C whole-wheat flour)
½ C flax seeds, freshly ground
1 C kefir (or yogurt)
½ C water
1 ¾ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. baking powder, aluminum-free
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
¼ C sesame seeds
1½ tsp. caraway seeds
¼ C coconut oil
Mix the wheat and bean flours, kefir, and water and let it sit overnight. Melt the coconut oil in a frying pan and
cook the sesame seeds just until lightly browned (about 1 min. on medium-high heat). Mix the soaked flour
with the oil/sesame seed mixture, salt, baking powder, ground flax seeds, and caraway by hand until just
mixed.
Knead thoroughly on a floured counter top until smooth. Roll out the dough as thinly as possible on floured
counter top and cut it into desired shapes. Bake on an oiled cookie sheet at 250° for 60 min., flipping the
crackers after 40 min.
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* Polenta (2)
For one Valentine’s Day, I made a red heart out of pimientos in the polenta before baking it, and that went over
big with my family. You could do it with sun-dried tomatoes or red peppers.
2 C cornmeal (whole grain—I grind unpopped popcorn in grain grinder)
½ C white bean flour (or another ½ C of cornmeal instead)
2 C water
2 Tbsp. kefir (or whey or yogurt)
3 C vegetable broth
1 tsp. sea salt (omit this if the vegetable broth is canned and not low sodium)
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
– 1 C Parmesan cheese (quality, refrigerated kind)
butter or olive oil
Optionally, add one or more of the following:
2 Tbsp. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 red bell peppers, optionally roasted under the broiler and peeled, chopped
1 can diced green chili peppers, drained
1 C corn
Soak the cornmeal, bean flour, water, and kefir overnight (8-24 hours). Sauté the onion in olive oil, then
remove from the heat. In a large saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil, adding salt (if broth is low
sodium). Add the soaked cornmeal ½ C at a time, stirring well. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring often,
until the mixture is thick.
Stir in the remaining ingredients and then pour the mixture into a greased 9"x13" pan and bake for 1 hour at
350°. Let it sit for 10-20 min. before serving. Serve topped with butter or olive oil.
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Rice Milk (1 or 2)
If you have been buying Rice Dream to replace dairy milk on your breakfast cereal, you will save money by
making your own rice milk with inexpensive brown rice with this recipe (sweet brown rice is the best for this
purpose, but they all work).
½ C dry brown rice, rinsed and drained (and preferably soaked overnight)
8 C filtered water
½ tsp. vanilla extract
optional: ¼ tsp. sea salt
optional: ½ tsp. stevia
Bring 4 C of the water to a boil, add the rice, and cover. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 45 min.
Pour the rice/water mixture into a high-powered blender and blend on high speed until very smooth. Strain the
mixture using a cheesecloth if you like your milk very smooth, or with a fine strainer, or not at all if whole
nutrition is most important and you don’t mind the sediment. Add another 4 C of water plus the vanilla, salt,
and stevia, and stir. The milk will keep for one week in the refrigerator.
Amaranth L’Orange (2)
All I can say is…this is a weird recipe. But my kids and I really like it for dinner, along with a salad. The tiny
seed grains are crunchy, and the sauce adds raw nutrition and makes it interesting.
2½ C amaranth seeds, dry roasted under the broiler or in a dry sauté pan until golden
6 C vegetable broth
2 tsp. Herbs de Provence (a common French herb combination you can buy at most markets) or
rosemary
8 C broccoli, chopped small
Sauce:
1 C fresh orange juice
½ C raw sunflower seeds, soaked in water several hours, then drained
¼ C yellow miso
¼ tsp. sea salt
optional: 2 tsp. orange zest
Put the first four (main) ingredients in a saucepan, stirring as it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for
35 min., stirring occasionally and removing the lid for the last 10 min.
Blend the sauce ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Serve this dish hot, in bowls, with the
sauce spooned over the top.
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Turnip Buckwheat Casserole (1)
2 C hulled buckwheat, dry roasted (you can buy it this way or roast it yourself)
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
10 baby (or 2 medium) turnips, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
4 C vegetable broth or stock
Sauce:
½ C cashews
2 Tbsp. brown mustard
½ C water
½ tsp. cayenne
Sauté the buckwheat, garlic, turnips, onion, and carrots in the olive oil until tender crisp. Add the vegetable
broth, then pour the mixture into a baking dish. Stir until well blended, then bake at 350° for 30 min. Blend the
sauce ingredients in a high-powered blender pour the sauce over the casserole and serve.
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers (2)
I like this recipe as a whole dinner, and I don’t even make a salad to go with it because you get an entire bell
pepper plus other raw veggies in one serving.
1 C bulgur
1 C boiling water
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained (or 1½ C home-cooked)
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
4 green onions, chopped (use most of the green part)
2 avocados, chopped
5 yellow, red, or orange bell peppers, washed, cored, sliced in half
Dressing:
¼ C fresh lime juice
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
½ tsp. cayenne
Pour the bulgur into the boiling water, then remove it from the heat and allow it to sit for 30 min. Put the
dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir with a fork. Add the cooked bulgur and all remaining ingredients
except the peppers to the dressing and mix. Stuff the pepper halves with the bulgur mixture and serve.
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Red Quinoa Arugula Salad (2)
You have five quinoa recipes to try in Chapter 6 (“Quinoa Main Dish Recipes” on page 172). Here’s another
interesting one using a different variety of my favorite grain that is delicious, quick to prepare, and high in
protein.
2 C red quinoa, rinsed well and drained in a fine strainer
4 C water
1 Vidalia (sweet) onion, diced
½ C shelled pistachios, chopped
5 oz. package of arugula, chopped
½ C dried apricots, soaked, drained, and chopped
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, diced
½ C flaxseed oil
½ tsp. sea salt
Bring the water to a boil, add the quinoa,
cover, and reduce the heat. Simmer for 20
min., then drain any excess water and cool.
In a serving bowl, whisk the juices, garlic,
salt, and oil together. When the quinoa is
cooled, toss all the ingredients well in
dressing and serve immediately.
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No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread and Variation (2)
I like making this bread because it takes very little of my time. You never touch the dough, so if it’s sticky, it
doesn’t matter, because you pour it into the pans using a rubber spatula.
5 C whole-wheat flour (optionally, ½ spelt or kamut; also optionally, up to 1 C of this amount can be
white bean flour)
1 C sourdough starter
¼ C kefir
1½ C water
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
2 tsp. sea salt
C coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
2 Tbsp. dried dill weed
2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes
Mix the flour, sourdough start, kefir, onion flakes, and water in a bread mixer, then let stand overnight. In the
morning, stir the dough down. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Use a rubber spatula to pour the
batter into two oiled bread loaf pans.
Cover and let them rise for 60 min. (in a slightly warm oven if room temperature is cold). Bake at 350° for 50
min. until the tops are browned. Serve warm, thick slices with butter.
Rye Bread Variation
• Substitute 2 C of rye flour for half of the whole wheat
• Add 2 Tbsp. caraway seeds (ground in coffee grinder if you don’t want the seed crunch)
• Omit the agave
Kamut Sourdough Pita Pockets
Preheat oven and baking stone to 500º. Follow the recipe above to make the dough. Then divide dough into
fist-sized portions. Roll out each portion until it is ¼" think and coat all portions in cornmeal to keep them from
sticking. Once oven and stone are HOT, toss pitas onto the baking stone and bake for 4 min. Pitas should puff
up nicely. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 16 pitas.
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* Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread and Variations (2)
If you don’t have a sourdough starter, please see the topic “Sourdough Start” under “Robyn Recommends” on
GreenSmoothieGirl.com.
Mix in a Bosch or other mixer:
4 C water
½ C sourdough starter + 1 Tbsp. yogurt or kefir
Add 3 C whole-grain flour and mix well. Add another 6+ C flour (including 1 C any type of bean flour) or until
the dough is quite thick, gluten develops, and the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer.
Cover the dough and let it rest overnight (to rise, but also to soak the grains to eliminate phytates), ideally at
78°. Then stir it down and add:
1 Tbsp. salt
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
optional: ½ C honey (raw)
Let it rest for 30 min. Preheat the oven to 425º and preheat a baking stone (or loaves will flatten).
Shape the dough into two round loaves and let them rise for 20 min. on the stone (I put ground cornmeal on the
stone to keep the bread from sticking).
Bake the loaves for 20 min. at 425º, then lower the heat to 375º for 25 min. Spray the loaves with water before
and during baking. Cool the loaves on a rack.
Variations
• Pretzels
Roll the dough into “snakes” and form them into pretzel shapes. Sprinkle them with, or roll them in,
coarse sea salt, then let rise for 20 min. Bake for 12-15 min. at 425°.
• Navajo Tacos
Flatten fist-sized balls of dough coated with olive oil and bake for 15-20 min. at 425°.
• Focaccia bread
Press the dough into an olive-oiled cookie sheet (coat both sides of the loaf) about 1" thick. Sprinkle
with Parmesan cheese and herbs such as Spice Hunter brand Garlic Herb Bread and, optionally, press
dried tomatoes and chopped pumpkin seeds into dough. Bake for 20 min. at 425° in the middle (not top)
of the oven. Cut into squares and dip in balsamic vinegar/olive oil/Italian herbs.
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Darlene’s Kamut Sourdough Bread
Darlene U., in Canada, was one of the very earliest loyal readers of GreenSmoothieGirl.com when it went live
in 2007. She faced daunting health challenges and became, and remains, one of the most committed wholefoodies
I know. Like me, her health crisis has become a blessing in many unanticipated ways: she’s become an
educator of others, she’s been able to help her children and parents, and she remains committed because her
health quickly backslides if she even briefly experiments with inferior food.
She makes sourdough bread far more than I do and she is tremendously detail oriented and analytical, so I
asked for her recipe for you. She says that bread making is an art and you must have patience to get to know
your starter and to experiment with textures, temperatures, and details.
Kamut is a nonhybridized wheat and makes a wonderful bread. The photos are Darlene’s.
4 C active starter (which means that it is rising well and has the ability to double in size between
feedings) *
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 C water
2 tsp. sea salt
5-6 C Kamut flour
Preheat oven to 350º. Mix ingredients together until they combine well. Knead the dough for about 10 min., let
it rest 10 min., and then knead another 10 min. Form it into two loaves.
NOTE: A stickier dough will produce a lighter loaf, whereas a less tacky dough will produce a denser loaf.
Line loaf pans with parchment paper and allow each loaf to rise, covered, until it doubles in size. Then bake for
30-35 min. until loaves are nicely browned.
* About my starter: I begin with a couple of
tablespoons of starter in a mason jar and then feed it
equal portions of water and flour 2 or 3 times,
allowing it to double in size between feedings until
the final rising period results in 4 C of active starter
(4 C is when the starter reaches the top of the jar).
The jar makes it easy to see when it has doubled.
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Other Recipes
NOTE: * = Grain/Legume combo “perfect protein” dish.
Chapter 4
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce (page 111)
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars (page 108)
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies (page 110)
Flaxseed Cookies (page 114)
Microwave Popcorn (page 110)
Millet Porridge (page 113)
Rice Pudding (page 112)
Chapter 6
Avocado Basmati Rice (page 193)
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa (page 173)
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry (page 190)
* Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup (page 189)
Curried Quinoa (page 173)
* Green Lentil Soup (page 187)
* Indian Green or Yellow Dahl (page 196)
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa (page 172)
Pink Hummus Quesadillas (page 179)
* Potato-Garbanzo Curry (page 195)
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa (page 176)
* Southwest Quinoa (page 174)
* Split Pea Soup (page 188)
* Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce (page 192)
Tabbouleh Wraps (page 181)
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup (page 168)
* Vegetarian Chili (page 186)
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas (page 177)
* Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake (page 191)
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Chapter 10
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies (3) (page 296)
Breakfast Pudding (3) (page 296)
Flax Waffles (2) (page 291)
German Pancakes (1) (page 290)
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes (2) (page 291)
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal (2) (page 287)
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal (1) (page 288)
Live Granola (3) (page 294)
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes (2) (page 292)
Robyn’s Granola (2) (page 284)
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten Free) (page 290)
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes (2) (page 289)
Chapter 11
Chocolate Walnut Muffins (2) (page 307)
Peanut Butter Cookies (1) (page 309)
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CHAPTER 10
Starting Your
Morning Off Right
Your Goal:
To start every day off right with hydration and needed minerals, and then good nutrition for breakfast.
You’ll get off of morning stimulants and sugar cereals and onto the sustained energy of whole foods.
What You’ll Need:
You’ll want to order some fine-granulated Original Himalayan Crystal Salt for cooking and salt stones
for making “sole” (see www.tiny.cc/zekBn for the most reputable source). No new tools are needed this
month.
Even before breakfast, you should know some important
information and create a critical new habit. This habit has the
potential to hydrate your body as well as address your body’s
ability to absorb and utilize minerals more effectively.
You likely wake up dehydrated in the morning. The proof of that
is extremely yellow urine (a well hydrated person has very light or
clear urine). In my family, the first thing we do upon waking is
drink a pint of water. But the next thing I’m going to tell you may
sound strange: I also add 1 tsp. of high-mineral crystal salt
solution, or sole (pronounced “so-lay”), into half of that pint of
water. Let me explain, by first detailing how important water is,
starting at the minute you wake up, and then by telling you about
salt.
Why Drink Water upon Waking?
F. Batmanghelidj, an Iranian medical doctor, was a true pioneer, ahead of his time, and probably the
main researcher behind changing attitudes toward water. Now, one or two fringe voices are telling us
water’s not such a big deal, so go ahead and count your soda as “fluids” for the day. Beware of these
voices; they have no real evidence, that critical “reliability” standard in research. Your body is 70%
water, and some parts are as high as 90% water, so the need to flush the body with its primary element
is common sense.
Though Dr. B.’s theories have gained much traction since the 1980s thanks to his doggedness, so many
of us are still calling “liquids” or “fluids” our hydration, and we’re not drinking much water. Dr. B.
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states that absolutely nothing stands in the place of pure water. In fact, sugar or caffeine in a beverage has its
own agenda that competes with water’s agenda. To put it very simply, sugar and caffeine not only confuse the
body’s signals that it needs water, but they defeat water’s purpose.
Dr. B. spent over 30 years of his life trying to get the attention of the National Institutes of Health, the FDA,
and medical journals to take note of his documentation of this free, life-saving cure for common ailments. He
addressed a phenomenon every bit as common as constipation in our culture: dehydration! (And dehydration is
related to our chronic constipation problem, too.)
His teachings have often been repeated with the slogan, “You’re not sick, you’re thirsty.” But we are still
dehydrated and unaware of the many symptoms and problems that occur from not being hydrated.
Dr. B.’s first experience as a young doctor reminds me of Dr. Colin Campbell’s paradigm shift studying cancer
in children in the Philippines—and, for that matter, many great discoveries, like Ben Franklin, the kite, and
electricity. That is, his great discoveries were accidental and totally contrary to what he expected to find based
on conventional knowledge.
The doctor. was called to tend to a young man curled up in the fetal position, in acute pain from a peptic ulcer.
The young man was lucky his ulcer didn’t perforate, as he had eaten an entire bottle of antacid with no relief.
Having no medication, the doctor gave him two glasses of water, and the boy began to recover. Twenty minutes
later another glass of water was given, and the boy was up walking around the room, pain free.
In Iran, Dr. B. was wrongfully incarcerated after medical school during the Iranian Revolution and was about
to be executed when they discovered he was a doctor and could help in the prison. During his stay of execution,
he found an “ideal stress laboratory” in which to test his water hypotheses. He presented a paper to his
executioners, and they dropped the 32 false charges so he could continue his research. His discoveries about
water were published as an editorial in Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and in The New York Times. The
Anticancer Research journal published the essence of his first book on pain relief and water—all in the 1980s.
The vast majority of his efforts to get the attention of the medical profession and policy makers were
completely unsuccessful. But I believe the public is now much more aware of the importance of drinking water
primarily thanks to him. You can read his theories in his books Water Cures and Drugs Kill and Your Body’s
Many Cries for Water. 1
Dr. B. studied over 3,000 peptic ulcer patients and found that all of them responded favorably to being
hydrated.
His research showed that chronic pain involved in a number of “disorders” can often be treated easily and
without drugs or expensive diagnostics, with water. Those include dyspeptic pain (for instance, heartburn,
gastritis, duodenitis), rheumatoid arthritis, anginal pain, low back pain, leg pain, migraines, hangovers, colitis,
and constipation.
The plain, simple, common sense advice to drink 1 ounce of water daily for every 2 lbs. of body weight
reminds me of another story. In the Bible, Naaman was a captain in the Syrian army, and he was very ill with
leprosy. He went to Elisha the prophet, the introduction having been made by the kings of Syria and Israel.
Imagine his surprise when Elisha, rather than receiving him, sent a messenger out to tell Naaman to simply
wash in the River Jordan seven times. Naaman was indignant.
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In 2 Kings 5:13, Naaman’s servants say to him, “If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou
not have done it? How much rather then, when he sayeth to thee, wash, and be clean?” Naaman follows the
simple advice and is healed.
The simplest answers are sometimes hardest to believe. Sometimes—especially in this day and age where
we’ve come to expect whiz-bang, high-tech miracles—simple answers are the last ones we consider instead of
the first. Doctors don’t often start with the most simple answers, like chronic dehydration. They go right to
pharmaceuticals. So we have to try those simple answers ourselves.
Are you drinking 8-10 glasses daily? How can you find a way to fit this habit into your schedule? For me, a
very important part of achieving that involves drinking about 16 oz. immediately upon waking up. I drink
another 16 oz. after my workout in the morning. The rest I fit into my day, avoiding drinking water right before
or after meals (you should abstain 2 hrs. before/after meals to avoid diluting gastric juices).
When I was a first-time breastfeeding mother, a friend told me, “Never walk past a sink without drinking a
glassful.” This was very helpful advice. I’ve been made fun of for the weird, even obnoxious fact that I bounce
out of bed in the morning like the Energizer Bunny while others need an hour to clear the fog. I wonder if that’s
because I drink lots of water, including a sole salt solution, every morning and, therefore, I'm not low on
hydroelectric energy like Dr. B. speaks of?
Dr. B. and other experts say you should drink half your weight in ounces (that’s 8 glasses of water for a 128 lb.
person). Of course, the most important fact is that most people are chronically dehydrated and need to drink
more. Clear or very light-colored urine shows good hydration—and the darker your urine, the more dehydrated
you are (and first thing in the morning, most of us are dehydrated). Small children, the elderly, and athletes are
at highest risk for dehydration, because we lose 10-15 C of fluids daily through elimination, sweat, and
breathing. The biggest factor increasing that amount is exercise—but altitude and temperature are other
variables to consider.
You can, in fact, drink too much water and achieve water intoxication. This usually happens only to athletes,
since your kidneys can’t process water during exercise, so competitive athletes must balance sodium and water
intake. Thirteen percent of distance runners (whose weight was measured before and after running and whose
water consumption was measured) drank too much water, causing abnormally or dangerously low blood
sodium levels. So athletes may wish to use a small amount of sole in water before and after practice and
competing.
Get in the habit of taking your favorite reusable water bottle with you everywhere you go. Find spaces in your
routine where you learn to always drink a glass or two. For instance, drink your 16 oz. water bottle all the way
home from work in the car, before you prepare dinner.
Why Should I Use Salt, and What Kind?
If I go to a restaurant and eat something with a lot of sodium, I can barely make a fist when I wake up the next
day. My fingers are like pudgy sausages. My body hates salt. Or so I thought!
You probably know that sodium chloride (table salt) consumption is linked to heart disease. Your body can’t
handle more than a minute amount, and when it gets too much, edema results. Swelling of heart tissues is
especially dangerous—and my pudgy fingers are just the first thing I notice if I eat food with refined (table)
salt.
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Your body needs 23 times the amount of water as it receives in table salt in order to neutralize it. The excess
salt recrystallizes, causing uric acid to form, binding with sodium chloride to form crystals which are then
deposited in joints and bones. The results? Arthritis, kidney and gall stones, gout, and more.
Yet you’ve seen salt licks in fields for cows or horses, and you know salt is needed in the body. Are you
confused? The problem is the devastating consequences of refined salt, added to so many modern processed
foods in obscene quantities. It bears no resemblance to natural crystal salt. You actually need about .007 oz. of
salt daily, and not having enough salt creates health risks just as significant as having too much.
I recommend drinking sole first thing every morning. sole consists of
1 tsp. of a solution of Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS)
dissolved in water. (Important note: sole is not a teaspoon of salt—
rather, a teaspoon of saltwater solution!) You make it by filling a
small jar with the OHCS stones (see the source at the beginning of
this chapter), covering it with water, and letting it sit several hours.
(It can be used indefinitely, as salt never goes “bad.”)
Why do this? The body is made up primarily of water and salt, the
most elemental primal force of all. When water and crystalline salt
come together, they release their properties and are no longer H 2 O
and NaCl. The combination of water and completely unrefined salt
has a higher energetic vibration than either the water or salt alone. 2
With OHCS, hand-mined from where pristine ancient oceans
receded from what are now the Himalayan Mountains, you are
getting a natural concentration of all 84 trace minerals in a natural
form bioavailable to the human body. That mineral list is the entire
periodic table except for the 10 inert gases! You may be able to
address longtime problems stemming from mineral deficiencies over
the course of several months merely by adding this simple habit to your routine while also eating a healthy diet.
I have zero water retention using this salt. One tsp. of sole every morning is only 411 mg. of sodium, and the
USDA recommends no more than 2,500 mg. The average American gets 5,000 mg. of sodium (the bad kind,
no less).
Table salt is cooked, refined, and doesn't contain the 84 trace minerals needed for digestion, electrolyte
production, and other bodily functions. People who are salt deprived have aches (especially headaches) and
muscle cramping, especially at night, among other symptoms. You can eat table salt and still be salt deprived,
because that toxic substance is not recognized and used well by your body.
And people who are mineral deprived suffer more symptoms than I can list here, but they include fatigue, hair
loss, brittle nails, and graying hair. Mineral deficiencies affect every system in your body.
A double-blind study done in Austria in 2003 examined the effects of drinking a minimum of 1.5 liters of water
with table salt, versus 1.5 liters of water with Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS). Remember that a
double-blind study is one in which neither the researcher nor the subjects know which treatment they are
receiving, thus preventing bias.
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Those who drank water with OHCS achieved improvements in respiratory, circulatory, connective tissue,
nervous system, and organ functions. They reported improved sleep, energy, and concentration, as well as
weight loss, noticeable hair and nail growth, and heightened brain activity and consciousness. Those using
table salt saw deterioration rather than improvements in health measurements.
Drinking a teaspoon of sole (the solution of maximum OHCS dissolved in water) added to a glass of water
every morning restores the body's acid-alkaline balance, normalizes blood pressure, dissolves and releases
crystallized deposits, cleanses the intestines, improves skin conditions, and has even been found to weaken
addictions. Electrolytes are created that improve the body's conductivity and stimulate circulation. To do this,
you have to think of salt in a new way: as a critical element for your health, rather than a spice.
Taking a 30-minute bath in OHCS is said to be the equivalent of a three-day cleanse or fast: minerals are
absorbed through the skin, and the sole maintains the natural protective film on the skin so it does not dry out.
In addition to the daily dose of sole, dissolving 2 lbs. of OHCS in a tub of water helps with skin conditions such
as psoriasis, eczema, Herpes infections, athlete’s foot, and insect bites. Inhaling OCHS salt steam helps with
allergies, asthma, and colds. 27
Some have asked me if Real Salt (mined in Utah) is a good product. The answer is that it's much better than
refined salt, but it claims to have only 50 minerals and is still somewhat refined. OHCS has all 84 trace
minerals and has many superior qualities as a crystal salt (developed under high pressure, with minerals the
most bioavailable) rather than a rock salt.
I hope you avoid using chemically processed salt starting now. (Canned and boxed foods contain high amounts
of table salt, even if you don’t add it to homemade food.) About 93% of salt worldwide is used for industrial
purposes wherein pure sodium chloride, with minerals removed, is required. Using that substance has enabled
food processors to preserve foods for long periods of time, but the consequences for human health have been
disastrous. Refined salt is an aggressive poison, looking to bind to minerals in your body that you desperately
need.
How Do I Make Sole (Salt Solution)?
You can find Original Himalayan Crystal Salt stones (and the same salt stones finely granulated for cooking)
from the most reputable importer, through the link direct to that importer on GreenSmoothieGirl.com and the
URL at the beginning of this chapter. Others are not reputable and may be importing another product entirely.
Some are reportedly importing, for instance, road salt from India, which has a high profit margin but no benefit
for your health. I recommend getting some finely ground salt for use in your food, as well as salt stones to get
started making your own sole.
When you obtain the stones, follow these steps to make sole (which is a 26% salt solution):
1. Fill a small glass jar with Original Himalayan Crystal Salt Stones. Then fill the jar with drinking water,
completely covering the salt stones. Let it sit overnight. Add more water as you use the sole. You will
always see undissolved salt crystals in the bottom of the jar, indicating that the saltwater solution is
maximized. The sole will never go bad, as salt is antibacterial and antifungal. Just keep the jar covered
with a lid to avoid evaporation. When the stones eventually dissolve, fill the jar with them again.
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2. Each morning, at least half an hour before eating or drinking anything else, add 1 tsp. of the sole
solution to a glass of water and drink it. Your body will receive the energetic vibration pattern for 24
hours.
Breakfast
What your mother always told you is true: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Another truism is
the saying to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and dinner like a pauper. (Letting your body rest at
night from digestion is critically important for the health of your digestive tract, which needs a break just like
your muscles and brain and eyes obviously do.)
And the more live or raw foods you can eat for breakfast, the higher and more sustained your energy will be
throughout the day. Half an hour or so after drinking sole (salt water), have a bowl of granola with a scoop of
sprouted seeds added—a highly nutritious breakfast for athletes, men with higher caloric needs, and anyone
suffering from constipation. If you choose to eat cold cereal, choose whole-grain options such as Shredded
Wheat, Grape Nuts, or Kashi.
Another hot meal that is filling, satisfying, and very alkaline is hot millet porridge with a bit of maple syrup
and coconut oil or butter. Add a big spoonful of soaked (sprouted) alfalfa seeds for live enzymes and high
nutrition. (See the recipe for * You can also use coconut milk instead of coconut cream concentrate, for a
thinner glaze. I like to use the rest of the can of coconut milk the next morning, with any leftover orange juice
and agave mixed in, poured on millet porridge (recipe below). on page 108.)
If you don’t have time to sit down and eat, have a Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie (page 285), a delicious all-raw
breakfast that you can take in the car, in a quart jar with a straw, to drink on the way to work or school.
Another of my favorite breakfasts is Breakfast Pudding (page 296), which has live, sprouted nutrition but is
also filling, slightly sweet, and delicious.
For weekends and holidays, you can replace your processed breakfast food with more nutritious, whole-grain
alternatives. We especially love Pumpkin-Oatmeal Waffles (page 292) topped with applesauce and a little
maple syrup. And we make Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten Free) (page 290) with Berry
Sauce (page 313) a few times a month.
What Is the 1, 2, 3 Rating System in the Recipes?
The recipes in this chapter are rated 1, 2, or 3.
Recipes rated 1 are whole grain (and naturally sweetened, where applicable) and are a great transition for
anyone coming from a diet high in refined foods. They are much more nutritious than anything using refined
flours or sugars.
Recipes rated 2 are even more nutritious, because they are made with the highly alkaline grain millet or the
high-protein grain quinoa, or they have lots of raw vegetable ingredients—or they use soaked, sprouted, or
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fermented grains to neutralize phytic acid and release nutrients in the grains for absorption. This soaking
process also breaks down (or predigests) proteins in the grains, making them easier on your digestive system.
Recipes rated 3 contain only raw plant-food ingredients, the most nutritious of all, for those who are seeking a
diet maximizing raw foods that provide their own enzymes and, therefore, don’t draw on the body’s ability to
produce them.
Your Journal Entry
Most breakfast foods eaten in the Western world today are poor energy sources, full of stimulants and quick
jolts to the blood sugar. As you’ve replaced those with sustaining, high-fiber, whole-plant-based recipes for 30
days, what have you noticed?
1. Do you have more energy throughout the morning?
2. Do you notice more stability in your blood sugar throughout the day, and particularly when you wake
up?
3. Do you notice any improvement in your overall feeling of well-being?
4. Did you enjoy the breakfasts in this chapter? Which ones are your favorites?
5. Did you find that whole-grain weekend breakfasts give you something to look forward to?
6. Did you miss junk breakfast?
7. Have you eliminated any stimulants you used to use for breakfast (coffee, tea, etc.)? Do you miss them?
Was it a difficult transition at first?
8. Any other observations during this month?
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BREAKFAST RECIPES
Robyn’s Granola (2)
Try eating this every morning for one week and document what happens to your digestion. (I’ll give you a hint:
it will clean you out!) Full of fiber and Omega-3 fatty acids, this is whole-foods nutrition perfect for children
and adults! Kids won’t get hungry before lunch or nag for snacks. I double this recipe and make it in a big
broiler pan with a lid, where I keep it until it’s gone. To each bowl, add a heaping tablespoon of sprouted raw
sunflower seeds and a tablespoon of sprouted alfalfa/clover seeds to provide live digestive enzymes.
Mix well:
8 C rolled oats (not instant oats, which are a processed food)
1 C raw wheat germ (found in bulk at the health food store, high in B vitamins)
1 C shredded coconut (found in bulk at the health food store—not the sugar kind)
½ C freshly ground flax seeds (grind fresh, in your high-powered blender)
1½ C nuts (walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds)
¼ C sesame seeds
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
Heat on the stove until barely melted, stirring together:
½ C honey (raw)
½ C molasses or Grade B maple syrup
½ C water
½ C coconut oil
optional: 1 Tbsp. maple flavoring or vanilla
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until distributed evenly (this takes a few minutes).
Bake at 250°, stirring well every 20 min. for 45-90 min. or until dry. Keep in the pantry for up to 2 weeks in
cooler weather, or in the fridge for up to six weeks. Makes 11 cups.
Serve the granola with nut or rice milk (nut milk recipe below; rice milk recipe on page 264) plus 2 Tbsp.
sprouted raw sunflower and alfalfa seeds mixed in.
To sprout sunflower seeds, cover ½ pt. of sunflower seeds with filtered water overnight, then drain in the
morning. They are now living food with vastly more enzymes and nutrients. You may also sprout raw almonds
or pumpkin seeds to add to your granola for variety as you serve it.
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Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie (3)
I have been drinking this every morning for quite a few years, just because I love it. Raw beets are an excellent
blood purifier and coconut liquid is packed with minerals and electrolytes—and how many breakfasts do you
know that taste great and contain raw carrots and beets? A 450-calorie breakfast that has four servings of fruits
and vegetables, 15% plant protein, and good fats in the cashews. (View the GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube video
on how to open a coconut easily: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi.)
1½ C coconut liquid (best raw, or use from a can—both can be found at Asian markets)
1 large carrot, cleaned and cut into 3 pieces (or 5-6 baby carrots)
¼ of a medium beet, raw, peeled
¼ C cashews or (for better nutrition) raw sunflower seeds, soaked overnight and drained
¼ C chopped dates (inexpensive in bulk foods at a health food store)
2 tsp. vanilla
12 frozen strawberries (organic, if possible)
Purée all ingredients except the strawberries and protein powder in your high-powered blender for 90 seconds.
Add the strawberries and purée on high until smooth. Add the protein powder for the last 5 sec. Makes 1 quart.
TIP: See Chapter 8 for how to make your coconut
liquid into kefir for excellent added nutrition. It’s a
simple habit to make your coconut liquid a
probiotic drink that will not change the taste
significantly, but can aid in preventing viruses
and bacterial infections and improve your
digestion. I remove the water kefir grains from
my coconut liquid every morning and put it in a
new pint jar of coconut liquid for the next day.
Your water kefir grains are infinitely reusable.
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Kefir Smoothie (3)
I have made this for my children every day for many years. I think it’s the most important contributing factor to
their immunity to viruses and infections that “go around” every winter. They never become seriously ill and
never require antibiotics, because they are fed live probiotics every day in a form far superior than dried
cultures stored for months in pill form.
C kefir (see recipe on page 233)
1 banana, frozen in small chunks
1 peach or 4 strawberries, frozen
optional: 1 scoop WarriorBlend protein powder
Blend all until very smooth in high-powered blender.
Nut Milk (3)
½ C nuts or seeds (such as cashews, almonds, or sesame seeds), soaked and drained
2 C filtered water
optional: ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Blend ingredients in your high-powered blender (optionally with ½ tsp. vanilla). Purée on high speed until
smooth. Strain pulp with nut-milk bag or cheese cloth. (Optionally, mix a small amount of raw, organic agave
and some dried fruit into the pulp, then dehydrate as “cookies.”) Keeps well in the refrigerator.
Coconut Milk
You can purchase coconut milk in a can, but this is a lower-fat version that is quick and easy if you have dried
shredded coconut on hand.
½ C shredded dried coconut (organic, no sweetener or chemicals added)
1 C filtered water
¼ tsp. vanilla
Pinch of stevia (to taste)
Blend coconut and water until very smooth, about 90 seconds. Strain pulp with nut-milk bag or cheese cloth.
(Optionally, mix a small amount of raw, organic agave and some dried fruit into the pulp, then dehydrate as
“cookies.”)
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High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix (1)
People who identify themselves as “protein types” should find this breakfast highly sustaining, with the
“perfect protein” combo of lentils and grains. This is a good emergency preparedness recipe you can store in
gallon freezer bags or buckets. Oat groats are just the grain before the oat is rolled.
1 C kamut (or regular wheat)
1 C millet
1 C brown rice
1 C oat groats
2 C lentils (or garbanzo beans/chickpeas)
1 C popcorn, unpopped
Mix all ingredients together, grind the mixture in a grain grinder on the coarse setting (or, if you don’t have
one, blend it in your high-powered blender until the mixture is coarsely ground). Store in the fridge.
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal (2)
1 C breakfast cereal mix (recipe above)
2 C water (divided equally into two portions)
2 Tbsp. kefir (or whey, buttermilk, or yogurt)
¼ tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. honey (raw) or agave (raw, organic)
optional: handful of raisins or other dried fruit (add a bit of extra water)
optional: shredded coconut, ground flax seeds
Mix the cereal mix, 1 C of water, and kefir, and let it sit overnight or, preferably, for up to 24 hours. In the
morning, bring the other 1 C of water to a boil. Then add the soaked cereal, dried fruit, honey, and salt, and
simmer for 5 min., stirring often to avoid lumps. Sprinkle each serving with shredded coconut and ground flax
seed (optional). Serve with any kind of milk and/or a spoonful of coconut oil or butter. For a treat, serve with
cream and berries. Serves 2-4.
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Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal (1)
1 C kasha (buckwheat groats)
1 egg (organic, free-range)
½ tsp. sea salt
2 C boiling water
½ tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. maple syrup or molasses
optional: 2 Tbsp. peanut butter, organic, peanuts only (no rapeseed oil or sugar/corn syrup added)
optional: 1 apple, grated or diced
In a large saucepan, combine the buckwheat and egg, stirring well. Place over medium-high heat and stir while
the grains begin to separate. When all the grains have separated and are roasted, add the boiling water and salt,
and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low and steam for about 15-20 min. For the last 5-10 min. of
cooking, add the apple, peanut butter, and optional cinnamon and maple syrup or molasses. Serve with Hot-
Pink Breakfast Smoothie (3) (page 285) or * Polenta (2) (page 264). Serves 3-4.
Breakfast Burritos
This is a good way to use leftover baked potatoes.
1 pkg. of 6 sprouted-wheat tortillas (or Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas on page 177)
1 16-oz. package firm tofu, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 C fresh (or 1 pkg. frozen) broccoli, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 baked potatoes, chopped (leave peels on)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos (page 338)
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
1 C cilantro, chopped
plenty of salsa
Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan, then add the vegetables and tofu, and sauté until tender-crisp. Continue
cooking, adding all the seasonings except for the Liquid Aminos and tossing until well coated. Remove the
mixture from the heat and toss in the Liquid Aminos and cilantro. Serve in warmed whole-grain tortillas with
salsa.
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Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes (2)
2 C dry wheat, soaked overnight, drained, sprouted 2-3 days
2 C milk (any kind, or ½ yogurt and ½ water)
1½ C shredded coconut
4 eggs (organic, free-range)
½ C coconut oil (liquid, warmed)
1 Tbsp. honey (raw)
½ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. soda
1 Tbsp. baking powder (no aluminum)
Blend the sprouted wheat and milk in your high-powered blender on high for 2 min. Blend in all the other
ingredients until smooth. Pour by ¼ C onto a hot, oiled griddle and cook until both sides are browned. Serve
with applesauce and maple syrup, or the Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes (3) (page 293) and plain yogurt.
Serves 6-8.
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German Pancakes (1)
These are not as nutritious as other breakfasts in this chapter, but they are a big step up from the alternative, and
we make them on holidays.
6 eggs (organic, free-range)
½ C kefir
½ C water
1 C whole-wheat flour, finely ground
Mix the flour, kefir, and water, cover, and allow to sit overnight. Add the eggs, mix well, and pour the mixture
into a greased 9"x13" pan. Bake at 425° for 22 min., or until puffy and browned. Serve immediately with maple
syrup.
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten Free)
No flour and gluten free—we love this recipe, which makes a large batch to serve 6-8. You can make all the
pancakes and put leftovers in the fridge or freezer. I don’t much like buckwheat-flour recipes, but this one
tastes fantastic because the buckwheat is soaked and then blended.
2½ C raw, dry buckwheat
½ C flax seeds
4 C water
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 bananas, peeled
1 Tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder
2 C blueberries
coconut oil
optional: ½ tsp. stevia powder
Soak the buckwheat overnight, then drain and optionally sprout in a strainer for 24 hours (rinsing about every 8
hours). Blend the water and buckwheat in your high-powered blender until smooth. Pour some of the mixture
into a large bowl if blender is too full. Add the flax seed to the blender and blend until smooth. Add the stevia,
salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, bananas, and baking powder, then blend for 60 seconds.
Pour the mixture into the large bowl that you already put some water/buckwheat mixture into. Add the
blueberries, then stir by hand. Pour by ¼ C onto a hot, oiled griddle and fry with a minimal amount of coconut
oil until both sides are browned. Pancakes may still be slightly gooey in the middle: this preserves much of the
sprouted nutrition and actually tastes good, though you can cook them extra long if you want them solid all the
way through.
Serve with maple syrup or any of the Three Toppings for Pancakes and Waffles on page 293.
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High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes (2)
Pancakes are a good way to get a wider variety of whole grains in your diet. Although thought of as a high-carb
meal, these pancakes instead feature high-protein grains.
2 C spelt, freshly ground
1 C buckwheat, freshly ground
1 C amaranth seeds, freshly ground
2 C water
2 Tbsp. kefir (or whey)
2 eggs (organic, free-range), beaten
1 tsp. sea salt
¼ C raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat
2 tsp. baking powder (aluminum free)
2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
½ Tbsp. vanilla extract
Mix the flour, water, and kefir, then cover and let it sit overnight. In the morning, add the eggs, salt, baking
powder, coconut sugar/Sucanat, vanilla, and oil, then mix with an electric hand mixer. Pour by ¼ C onto hot,
oiled griddle and cook until both sides are browned. Serve with Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes (3)
(page 293) and yogurt, or Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes (3) (page 293).
Flax Waffles (2)
1½ C whole-wheat flour
¼ C raw wheat germ
¼ C flax seeds, freshly ground
1¼ C water
1 C kefir (or yogurt)
2 Tbsp. agave (raw, organic)
1 tsp. baking powder (aluminum free)
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
Combine the water, yogurt, flour, wheat germ, and flax seed. Let it sit overnight. In the morning, beat the eggs
with an electric hand mixer until fluffy, then blend them into the milk/flour mixture along with the agave, oil,
and other dry ingredients until smooth. Bake in a preheated waffle iron. (They will take longer to bake than
other waffles.)
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Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes (2)
These are my favorite “weekend” breakfast—pumpkin pie in the form of waffles!—and so filling. This is a big
batch that will give you leftovers for the fridge or freezer, unless you have teenagers with huge appetites like I
do!
2 C whole-wheat flour (finely ground, soft white wheat preferable)
2 C regular rolled oats
1 C yogurt or kefir
3 C filtered water
1 (30 oz.) can pumpkin
¼ C coconut oil (liquid)
3 Tbsp. raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. sea salt
1½ tsp. baking powder (no aluminum)—reduce by ½ tsp. if you soaked grains overnight
2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs (organic, free-range)
Mix rolled oats in your high-powered blender to break them down to a coarse meal. Mix the whole-wheat flour,
oats, yogurt, and water together, then cover and let sit overnight. In the morning, add the remaining ingredients
and mix by hand but don’t overmix. Pumpkin and whole wheat make the batter very dense, so cooking time is
at least twice as long as for waffles from a mix. If you are making waffles, you will have to let them cook
through at least two cycles. Top with Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes (3) (page 293) or maple
syrup.
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Three Toppings for Pancakes and Waffles
Using these as toppings for your waffles or pancakes reduces your sugar consumption (compared to using
maple syrup), and they add fiber and 1-2 servings of fruit to your day.
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes (3)
6 C frozen mixed berries
½ C maple syrup
1-1½ C hot water (to make frozen fruit easier to blend)
Purée or pulse all ingredients in your high-powered blender until desired consistency is achieved (smooth or
chunky). Serve over waffles or pancakes. (See photo on page 289.)
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes (3)
4 large Jonathan or Fuji apples, washed, cored, and quartered
1 C water
C fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
C maple syrup
Pulse all ingredients in your high-powered blender for a chunky sauce. Serve over waffles or pancakes.
Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes (1)
1 large (29 oz.) can fruit cocktail (no sugar added), including the liquid
¼ C arrowroot powder
½ C water
½ C white grape juice concentrate (no sugar added)
Pulse all ingredients in your high-powered blender until almost smooth. Cook over medium heat until the
mixture thickens, stirring often. Serve over waffles or pancakes (and optionally top with fresh raspberries and
plain yogurt).
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Live Granola (3)
This is more labor intensive than my first granola recipe in this chapter. But everything except the rolled oats is
live, with the full enzyme potential of all the nuts, seeds, and grains unleashed! And you cannot buy a more
delicious granola. I am warning you that this breakfast is addictive: my whole family snacks on this when I
make it, even after breakfast.
Put in very large bowl, cover with filtered water, and soak for 22 hours:
1½ C sunflower seeds
1½ C oat groats
1½ C pumpkin seeds
1½ C raw almonds
1½ C raw walnuts
6 C rolled oats
Drain and rinse, then cover with several inches of water again and add the following to the bowl and then soak
the entire mixture for 2 more hours:
1 C flax seeds
1 C sesame seeds
Rinse, drain, and grind the mixture to a coarse texture with a nut chopper or food processor.
Next, purée in your high-powered blender:
1 C coconut oil (liquid, container warmed in a sink of hot tap water)
1 C raw honey (raw)
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Stir this into the seed, nut, and oat mixture. Spread on dehydrator trays and dry for 24 hours, then stir in any
dried fruit you like (raisins, etc.). Store in the fridge if this batch will last you longer than a week.
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Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies (3)
My friend Jill asked me if I had a good recipe for “breakfast cookies.” I’d never heard of such a thing, but this
is what I came up with: live, low-sugar nutrition you could eat in the car on mornings you’re in a hurry.
1½ C almonds (preferably soaked and dehydrated)
2 C dry oat groats, soaked, rinsed, and sprouted 2 days
½ C fresh orange juice
½ C sliced (or chopped) almonds
1 C chopped dried apricots
½ C chopped dates
3 Gala or Jonathan apples, cored and chopped (but not peeled)
½ C Craisins, chopped
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon
In a dry container, blend the almonds into flour with your high-powered blender and then set aside in a separate
bowl. Blend the orange juice, sprouted oats, dates, apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the blender until creamy.
Scrape the mixture into a bowl and stir in the Craisins, almonds, and apricots. Stir in almond flour and mix
well. Press spoonfuls onto Teflex sheets in a dehydrator and dry at 105° until the cookies are chewy (about 10-
14 hours).
Breakfast Pudding (3)
Blend well in your high-powered blender:
½ C cashews (soaked a few hours in the water to be used in this recipe)
1½ C water (add a bit more if needed for consistency)
1 small banana
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
pinch of vanilla bean
dash of cinnamon
dash of sea salt
Add and pulse until broken down into small chunks but not totally smooth:
½ C golden raisins
2 C oat groats, soaked overnight and drained (optionally sprouted 1-2 days)
Serve warm or chilled.
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Chia Pudding (3)
This is a perfect breakfast for a diabetic or anyone with blood sugar problems and for anyone who is anemic
(chia is high in bioavailable iron) or who wants to increase protein on their plant-based diet.
Stir together and let soak for 20 min. or longer:
Then add:
2 Tbsp. chia seeds
C coconut or almond milk
1 tsp. organic ground cinnamon (for additional blood-sugar control)
optional: 1 tsp. raw ground cacao nibs
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp. pumpkin seeds
1 Tbsp shredded coconut (unsweetened)
C mixed berries
Add some water if needed for desired consistency, then stir all together. Can be saved in the fridge for up to 2
days. Makes 2 servings.
Other Recipes
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars (page 108)
* Polenta (2) (page 264)
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CHAPTER 11
Creating Delicious
Whole-Food Treats
Your Goal:
This is our most-fun step yet, replacing processed-food treats in your diet with more nourishing ones
made with whole foods. The goal is to enjoy!
What You’ll Need:
You need nothing new this month, although you may want to have some higher-nutrition, unrefined
sweeteners on hand: agave nectar, stevia, molasses, and raw coconut palm sugar (see Appendix A for
explanation of bad and good sweeteners). This is also your chance to eat chocolate! So, get some raw
chocolate powder or at least less expensive (but not as nutritious) non-alkalized, unsweetened cocoa
powder.
This is an exciting month of experimenting with treats you will enjoy that are easy to make, provide
good variety, and are nourishing as well as delicious (such as the peanut butter cookies below; see
page 309). The GreenSmoothieGirl cookie mixes are great neighbor, teacher, and coworker gifts for
the holidays, so you’re not contributing to your friends being ill in the winter. All of these recipes can
help you get through the winter holiday season without processed junk food and the resulting lowered
resistance to viral bugs. And, an occasional treat will help you not feel “deprived” while staying on
your path to good health. I like to keep some nutritious cookies or candies in my freezer for any
occasion calling for a treat.
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How Do I Convert a Treat Recipe to Be Nutritious?
Many people don’t know that the six “magic tricks” to making any cookie or cake recipe much more nutritious
are really rather simple.
1. Replace the white flour with an equal amount of finely ground soft white wheat flour. You can use other
types of wheat, but soft white wheat most closely resembles white flour, without nutritional loss of the
germ and the fiber loss of the bran.
2. Replace the sugar with raw, organic coconut palm sugar or the less optimal Sucanat (dehydrated,
unrefined organic cane juice). For powdered sugar, blend the coconut sugar or Sucanat in the Blendtec
until it is very fine. Or you can substitute raw honey or agave for better nutrition. Honey is high in
vitamins and minerals and agave has a lower glycemic index. But if you’re using a liquid sweetener,
you can generally cut the amount by half because agave and especially honey are much sweeter than
sugar or Sucanat. With liquid substitutions, you must experiment with the flour amount, increasing it by
one-fourth to one-third the amount called for. See Appendix A (page 337) for explanations of good and
not-so-good sugar replacements.
3. Replace shortening, margarine, butter, or oil with coconut oil. Of those three, butter is preferable, if you
choose not to use coconut oil, as shortening and margarine are full of fake trans fats, and butter does
have medium-chain fatty acids and some positive nutritional qualities. If you don’t like the taste of
coconut added by virgin, unprocessed coconut oil, use a more processed version of it, which will have
little or no flavor. This option is still much better than the usual fats used in cookie recipes since
coconut oil does not create trans fats even when heated to high temperatures. (See page 99.)
4. Use only organic, free-range eggs for a good balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids. Or you can
omit the eggs and instead use 1 Tbsp. of ground flax seeds or 1 Tbsp. whole chia seeds mixed with
3 Tbsp. water for each egg in the recipe. (This is preferable to using lecithin, which is a fractionated soy
product. Soy products are overused in our food supply, leading to a host of hormonal imbalances.)
5. Keep aluminum-free baking powder on hand. The verdict is pretty clear that ingesting aluminum (as
with commercial baking powder) or absorbing it through the skin (as with commercial antiperspirants)
causes Alzheimer’s and a host of other problems.
6. Use sea salt or, best of all, Original Crystal Himalayan Salt for all the minerals in the whole food rather
than the processed salt stripped of nutrition, and also cut the amount of salt called for in half. (See
page 277.)
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Making these simple changes to your favorite recipes improves nutrition and decreases disease risk in half a
dozen important ways! Do take caution, however, to limit concentrated sweeteners in the diet, even less refined
ones like raw coconut sugar or Sucanat. They are still acidic and should be minimized.
The recipes in this chapter take treats to the next level of nutrition: all raw, sometimes even sprouted,
ingredients!
One of the best ingredients for desserts that is both delicious and very good for you is the meat of young
coconuts (page 339). Don’t confuse the hairy, brown coconuts sold in most regular grocery stores with young
coconuts. The brown ones are older and contain hard meat that will not work in raw dessert recipes. The
smooth meat of young coconuts makes a creamy base for frostings, puddings, ice creams, and more. The liquid
inside the coconut (averaging about 1¾ C per coconut), according to my friend and raw food researcher/author
David Wolfe, is possibly the best source of electrolytes on the planet—sodium and potassium in suspension. He
says that a drink of 45% coconut liquid and 55% wheat grass juice is a “blood transfusion” because of its
perfect nutritional parallels with regeneration of the human blood supply. Most health food stores, in fact, now
carry serving-sized boxes of coconut liquid in the refrigerator with the sports drinks!
Another common ingredient in raw desserts is nuts, especially cashews, which have a smooth consistency
when blended in sauces and take on other flavors and sweeteners well.
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What Is the 1, 2, 3 Rating System in the Recipes?
The recipes in this chapter are rated 1, 2, or 3.
Recipes rated 1 contain no processed ingredients: they are whole grain and naturally sweetened. Some of these
recipes have a lower glycemic-index sweetener such as agave for a lower impact on your blood sugar.
Recipes rated 2 are even more nutritious, because they call for a vegetable, contain raw food with enzymes or
power foods like flaxseed, and/or call for the grains to be soaked to neutralize phytic acid.
Recipes rated 3 are the most nutritious of all, as they are 100% raw or very close to it.
Your Journal Entry
When I was a brand-new mother, I took my little child to the pediatrician, who was about 70 years old. In
dispensing advice, he told me that if my little one got a stomach bug, I should feed him 7-Up or Sprite. I wasn’t
particularly well educated about nutrition at that time, but I was still surprised and uncomfortable with that
advice. I asked, “Wouldn’t apple juice be better?” He said, “Well, whatever. They’re the same thing. Sugar is
sugar—Sprite and an apple have the exact same effect on the body.”
Is this your experience? Do you feel the same, drinking a can of Sprite as you do eating an apple? Document at
the end of this month of eating no refined-food treats, only treats made from whole-food ingredients, the
difference in the way you feel:
1. Do you notice any more stability in your blood sugar?
2. Do you notice any improvement in your overall feeling of well-being?
3. Did you enjoy naturally sweetened, whole-foods treats? Circle your favorite recipes and make notes in
this book, so when you’re craving something damaging to your health, you can make these recipes
instead.
4. Did you get a sense of satisfaction from preparing whole-food treats and serving them to your family or
others?
5. Did you miss junk food, as long as you knew you could have treats from the recipes in this chapter?
6. Does anything make you want to go back to junk-food treats? If so, spend a few minutes documenting
WHY. What are you missing, physically or psychologically? How could you change things to meet
those needs better without your former junk-food habits?
7. Do you feel that with whole-food treats, you don’t crave more than you should eat? (Are those foods
less addictive?)
8. Any other observations during this month?
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TREAT RECIPES
Chocolate Beet Cake (2)
Great for birthdays and parties—my kids beg for this decadent but rather nutritious cake!
3 eggs (organic, free-range)
1½ C organic, raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat (unrefined cane sugar)
¾ C coconut oil (can substitute applesauce for half of this, if desired)
1 tsp. vanilla
1¾ C (about 4 medium-large) beets, peeled and steamed
¼ C baking cocoa (non-alkalized) or raw powdered chocolate
2 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
1½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. sea salt
Preheat oven to 350°. Purée the beets in a
high-powered blender, then add the eggs,
sugar, oil, and vanilla. Add the chocolate
and other ingredients. Bake in a 9"x13"
greased pan for 30 min.
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Zucchini Bread (2)
3 eggs (organic, free-range), beaten
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2½ C finely shredded zucchini
1 C coconut oil, melted
2 C organic, raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat (dehydrated cane juice)
3 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. allspice
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. cloves
Preheat oven to 325°. Blend the wet ingredients well in a free-standing mixer, then add the dry ingredients and
blend well. Pour the mixture into two oiled bread pans and bake for 45 min. or until done.
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Chocolate Walnut Muffins (2)
½ C water
2½ C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
1 C buttermilk
1 C unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
2 tsp. vanilla
¾ C cocoa
¾ C agave (raw, organic)
2 tsp. stevia powder
1½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. sea salt
1 C walnuts (optionally toasted)
The night before, mix the water, flour, buttermilk, and applesauce, then cover and let it sit overnight. In the
morning, stir in the eggs, vanilla, cocoa, stevia, and agave using first a spoon and then an electric hand mixer.
Add the soda and salt, and mix just until thoroughly blended (don’t overmix).
Let the batter sit 10-20 min. to become “fluffy” while the oven preheats to 400°. Spray or rub oil on muffin tins
and fill ¾ full (using a ¼ C measuring cup). Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top. Bake for 20 min. or until
muffins spring back when pressed lightly. Makes 2 dozen muffins.
Chocolate Frosting (1)
Cream together:
½ C unsweetened cocoa (even better, raw powdered chocolate)
1 C butter, softened (or coconut cream concentrate*, if it is soft but not turned to liquid—you can’t
put frosting made with coconut oil/cream on a refrigerated cake or it will become hard)
1 C organic, raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat, powdered/blended in your high-powered blender in
a dry container until very fine (or your frosting will be grainy)
* Coconut cream concentrate is called for in one other recipe in this book, Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars
(page 108).
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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies (2)
You can buy “M&Ms”-like candy or chocolate chips (naturally colored and sweetened, such as the Sunspire
brand) at the health food store.
1½ C water
1½ C organic, raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat (unrefined, dehydrated cane juice)
2 packets or 1 tsp. powdered stevia
1 C coconut oil, melted
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
2 C finely grated zucchini
2 C rolled oats (lightly blended in high-powered blender to break them down a bit)
7 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
1½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. vanilla
optional: 1 (12-oz.) pkg. chocolate or carob chips
optional: 1 C walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°. Cream the coconut sugar/Sucanat and coconut oil together, add the water and eggs, and
then add the rest of the ingredients, adding the chocolate chips, walnuts, and vanilla last. Drop spoonfuls onto
cookie sheet and bake for 12 min.
Quinoa Cookies (2)
Low in sugar and high in protein, I send these as a school lunch along with a bag of fruits and veggies.
1 C quinoa flour (blend quinoa in high-powered blender)
1 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
¼ C organic, raw coconut palm sugar, Sucanat, or raw honey
1 Tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder
½ C coconut oil
1 egg (organic, free-range)
Preheat oven to 350°. Add small amounts of water if needed for mixing. Mix all the ingredients well and bake
for 10 min. or until very lightly browned.
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Peanut Butter Cookies (1)
2½ C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. sea salt
½ C butter or coconut oil
½ C peanut butter (organic, peanuts only—no rapeseed oil or sugar/corn syrup)
1 C organic, raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat
½ C applesauce (unsweetened)
1 egg (organic, free-range)
½ tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 375°. In a bowl, beat the butter or coconut oil, then add the peanut butter and coconut sugar/
Sucanat and continue beating. Add the egg, vanilla, and applesauce to the mixture and beat again. Add the dry
ingredients and mix well. Shape into 1" balls, place 2" apart, and flatten with fork. Bake for 10 min.
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies (1)
½ C pine nuts
3 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
¼ tsp. sea salt
1 C coconut oil
1¼ C organic, raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat, blended in high-powered blender until fine
1 egg (organic, free-range)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon (or regular) thyme, finely chopped
1 C finely chopped dried apricots
Preheat oven to 350°. Toast the pine nuts in the oven or in a dry sauté pan until golden, watching carefully for
over-browning. Let them cool and then chop them finely. In a bowl, beat the coconut oil and coconut sugar/
Sucanat until blended, then mix in the egg and vanilla. Next mix in the flour and salt well. Then mix in the
thyme, apricots, and pine nuts. Add 1 tsp. water if needed to make the dough stick together.
Roll the dough into two smooth, even logs about 9" long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and twist the ends to
seal, then chill overnight. Cut the logs into ¼" thick slices and bake for 12-13 min. at 350° until lightly
browned around the edges.
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Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) (1)
These are a great treat at Christmastime, and molasses is high in B vitamins and iron.
¾ C coconut oil
C agave (raw, organic)
½ C molasses
2 eggs (organic, free-range)
3½ C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
1½ tsp. soda
½ tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ground cloves
3 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg
optional: freshly grated ginger root, to taste
Preheat oven to 375°. Cream together the coconut oil and sweeteners, then add the egg and mix well. Add all
the dry ingredients and mix well. Roll into walnut-sized balls and bake for 6 min.
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies (2)
This will satisfy a craving for something chocolaty and crunchy, for those who like candy bars. Great nutrition
with five excellent raw ingredients: almonds, coconut oil, honey, chocolate, and chia seeds!
IMPORTANT! Drink water with these, as chia absorbs up to 10 times its own weight in liquid.
1 C almond butter* (or organic peanut butter)
C raw honey (raw)
¼ C chia seeds
¼ C raw cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa, which is less nutritious)
C coconut oil
1 Tbsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. sea salt
6 C crisped brown rice (in a cereal box at the health food store)
* You can purchase almond butter at a health food store or you can, more inexpensively, put raw or roasted
almonds through a Champion Juicer with the blank plate on. I like to use “live” raw almonds that have been
soaked for 8-12 hours.
Cream together all the wet ingredients in large bowl by hand. Add the chia seeds, cacao, and salt and then
blend well. Add the crisped rice and stir until evenly mixed. Chill the dough for 1-2 hours, then form into balls
and refrigerate until serving.
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Orange-Glaze Donuts (1)
2 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
¼ C flax seeds, finely ground
¾ C organic, raw coconut palm sugar
2 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
¾ C milk (any kind)
1 tsp. sea salt
2 eggs (organic, free-range), beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. butter, melted
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cinnamon
Glaze:
½ C honey (raw)
¼ C fresh orange juice
2 tsp. hot water
Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly spray a donut pan with oil. Mix the flour, flax seed, sugar, baking powder, and
salt together. Add the melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat until well blended. Fill each donut hole
full. Bake for 8 min. or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool and remove from pan. (Wipe the
pan clean with a cloth and repeat the process.)
When the donuts are cooled, dip them in the glaze.
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Cherry-Almond Blondies (2)
3½ C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
2½ C organic, raw coconut palm sugar
1¼ C water
1 C kefir
2 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
2 tsp. sea salt
¾ C coconut oil, melted
4 eggs (organic, free-range), lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. almond extract
1 (12 oz.) bag frozen sweet cherries (no sugar added), thawed
1 C agave (raw, organic)
¾ C slivered or sliced almonds, toasted
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine the flour, water, coconut sugar, and kefir, and let it sit for 8-12 hours. Add the
coconut oil, baking powder, salt, eggs, and almond extract, and blend well with hand mixer on low. Pulse the
cherries and agave in a high-powered blender until chunky. Pour the cherry mixture into the batter and use the
hand mixer to mix the cherries in.
Pour the batter into a 9"x13" greased pan and bake for 20 min. Remove the pan and sprinkle toasted almonds
on top, then bake another 40 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm with Almond Cream Sauce
(below).
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce (3)
Psyllium husk powder bulks to up to 50 times its own volume when added to liquid. It’s a great way to add
fiber to your diet, and it thickens this pudding as well. But for that reason, keep in mind that this is very filling,
and you should drink extra water whenever consuming psyllium.
2½ C water
½ tsp. sea salt
12 large pitted dates (or C chopped dates, rinsed)
1¾ tsp. almond extract
1 C almonds (soaked and dehydrated, or just soaked)
½ an orange, leaving up to half the peel on
1-1½ Tbsp. psyllium husk powder (found at health food store)
½ tsp. powdered stevia
Blend the water, salt, dates, orange, almonds, and almond extract in a high-powered blender until very smooth.
Add the psyllium ½ Tbsp. at a time to the mixture, blending well. Pour the pudding into parfait glasses
immediately, alternating with layers of berry sauce (pudding will thicken within a few minutes). Or just pour
all the sauce on top of the pudding—easier but not as pretty.
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Berry Sauce
Blend in a high-powered blender until desired texture is achieved:
1½ C mixed berries
¼ C agave (raw, organic)
½ C water
optional: ¼ tsp. stevia
Almond Cream Sauce (1)
C cashews
½ C water
C agave (raw, organic)
1 tsp. almond extract
Purée all the ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Drizzle over Cherry-Almond Blondies
(above).
Gelatin Dessert (1)
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin (you can buy kosher, made without animal products, at a health food
store or Jewish delicatessen)
1 (12-oz.) can frozen 100% fruit juice* with 3 cans filtered water mixed in
ice cubes
optional: fruit, nuts, and/or coconut, as topping
* This makes stiffer, “jiggler”-type gelatin, so use a bit more juice if you like it set not so stiff.
Put 1 C of the cold juice into a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let it stand 1 min. Then add 3 C of juice
heated to boiling and stir until gelatin completely dissolves (about 5 min.). Pour the liquid into a pan or cups
and then chill. Stir in fruit after 30 min. in fridge, if desired. Optionally, top with one of the suggested toppings.
Popsicles (2)
1 C homemade plain yogurt or kefir
1 C strawberries, peaches, bananas, mixed berries, or other fruit
optional: pinch of stevia (herbal sweetener) OR 1 Tbsp. maple syrup, raw honey, or fruit juice
concentrate
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Pour the mixture into Popsicle trays, insert the
sticks, and freeze. Dip the trays into hot water for a few seconds to remove the treats.
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Fruity Sorbet (3)
2 bananas, broken into chunks and frozen
1 mango, cut into pieces and frozen
½ C (approx.) pineapple, cut into pieces and frozen
½ C frozen berries (any or mixed)
Put frozen bananas through a Champion Juicer with the blank plate on. Optionally, you may wish to process
the banana a second time to make it creamy. Then put the mango, pineapple, and berries through. Mix just to
swirl and serve immediately.
Chocolate Shake (3)
2 C frozen banana chunks
¼ C raw almonds (preferably soaked and drained)
¾ C water
1 tsp. stevia (or ¼ C maple syrup or raw, organic agave)
2 Tbsp. cacao nibs or raw chocolate powder
½ tsp. almond extract (or a pinch of vanilla bean)
pinch of sea salt
optional: 1 scoop protein powder (brown rice or hemp protein)
Purée the water and almonds in a high-powered blender until
very smooth. Add the bananas, then add all the other
ingredients and blend until creamy.
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Chocolate Goji Smoothie (3)
This is both delicious and a nutritional powerhouse, with outrageous levels of antioxidants in the raw
chocolate, fiber in the raspberries, protein and rare plant nutrients in the goji berries, and the perfect electrolyte
and fats balance in the coconut liquid and meat.
1 C young coconut liquid
½ C young coconut meat*
¼ C goji berries (if dried, preferably soaked in the coconut liquid 30 mins.)
3 Tbsp. raw chocolate powder
½ C frozen raspberries
¼ C agave (raw, organic)
crushed ice to achieve desired consistency
* See the GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube demo on how to get the meat out: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi.
Puree all ingredients in a high-powered blender and enjoy!
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake (3)
Crust:
2 C pecans or almonds, ground in food processor
¼ C coconut oil (set container in very hot water to make oil liquid and warm)
¼ C agave (raw, organic)
Filling:
C raw chocolate powder (cacao)
C agave (raw, organic)
1 inch of vanilla bean
½ tsp. sea salt (OHCS is best)
1 C cashews, soaked for 1+ hour and drained
1 C young coconut meat*
1 small avocado
½ C coconut oil
* See the GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube demo on how to get the meat out: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi.
To make the crust, mix the ground pecans/almonds with the ¼ C coconut oil and ¼ C agave by hand, and then
press the mixture with the back of a spoon into a 9"x13" pan. For the filling, blend the chocolate, C agave,
vanilla bean, salt, cashews, coconut meat, avocado, and ½ C coconut oil in a high-powered blender until
smooth.
Pour mixture into the crust. Chill the pie well or freeze it and then partially thaw it before serving. (Optionally,
serve with the Berry Sauce on page 313.)
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Raw Key Lime Pie (3)
Optional Crust:
2 C pecans
½ C fresh orange juice
¼ tsp. sea salt
Filling:
1 avocado
C young coconut liquid
C young coconut meat*
¼ C fresh lime juice
½ tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ C agave (raw, organic)
¼ tsp. stevia
2-3 tsp. psyllium husk powder
* See the GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube demo on how to get the meat out: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi.
Optionally, soak pecans in orange juice for one hour or more. Process them with the salt in a high-powered
blender or a food processor with an S blade several times until the texture is sticky enough to press into a pie
plate for a crust.
Blend the filling ingredients in a high-powered blender, adding psyllium only at the end to thicken. Pour the
filling into the above or other no-bake pie crust and chill.
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Chocolate Pudding (3)
2 C young coconut meat*
1 C cashews
4 Tbsp. raw chocolate (or use non-alkalized cocoa powder)
¼ C Grade B maple syrup or honey (raw)
¼ C agave (raw, organic)
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. peppermint extract (no alcohol) or orange, almond, butterscotch, or other flavoring of your
choice
1 C water
optional: ¼ C spinach
* See the GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube demo on how to get the meat out: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi.
Blend the water and optional spinach together in a high-powered blender until the spinach is completely
pureed. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, then serve immediately.
Lemon Chews (3)
1 C cashews
C fresh lemon juice
3½ C young coconut meat*
C agave (raw, organic)
1 tsp. lemon zest (finely grated rind)
tsp. sea salt
* See the GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube demo on how to get the meat out: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi.
Blend the cashews, lemon juice, lemon zest, and agave in a high-powered blender until creamy. Add the
coconut meat gradually until the mixture is smooth and thick enough to be spooned onto Teflex sheets in a
dehydrator. Spoon onto the sheets and dry at 105° for 10 hours.
Remove the cookies from the Teflex and turn them over onto mesh sheets. Dehydrate them another 6-10 hours
until they achieve desired consistency.
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Chocolate Balls (3)
1 C raw almond butter
1 C raw tahini
½ C agave (raw, organic)
½ C raw chocolate powder
tsp. sea salt
optional: ½ C flax seeds, freshly ground
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, roll the dough into balls, and chill. Optionally, roll the balls in chopped
nuts or shredded coconut.
Halva (3)
½ C raw honey (raw)
1 C raw tahini (sesame paste)
½ C white and/or black sesame seeds
Stir the honey and tahini together well, roll it into small
balls, and then roll the balls in the sesame seeds.
Refrigerate or freeze.
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World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream or Shake (2)
1 C coconut milk
C agave (raw, organic)
¼ C raw chocolate powder (or cocoa)
¼ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender. Then do either of the following:
• Process the mixture in an ice cream maker (according to the machine's directions) until frozen, and then
serve.
• Pour the mixture into ice cube trays, freeze, and then blend the cubes in the blender just until smooth
and ice cream consistency. If you blend a bit longer, you will have the consistency of a chocolate shake.
Butter Pecan Ice Cream (3)
You won’t miss dairy ice cream with this delicious recipe.
4 C water
1 C soaked raw almonds (soaked overnight and drained; becomes about 1½ C)
2½ C young coconut meat*
C chopped dates
1 Tbsp. vanilla
C peanut butter (preferably organic without rapeseed oil and sugar added)
½ C plus 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
¼ tsp. sea salt
1 C pecans, chopped
* See the GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube demo on how to get the meat out: www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi.
Blend the water and almonds in a high-powered blender until very smooth. Pour out 2½ C into a jar and
refrigerate, leaving the remainder (about 3 C) still in the blender. Add the coconut, dates, vanilla, peanut butter,
maple syrup, and salt to the blender, and blend on high speed until smooth. Freeze this mixture in ice cube
trays.
When you are ready to serve, put the reserved refrigerated almond milk in a high-powered blender and blend
on high speed while gradually add the frozen mixture cubes (or make half a batch at a time, saving some of the
liquid and some of the frozen cubes for later). Blend until the mixture is thick like ice cream. Sprinkle pecans
on top right before serving.
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GreenSmoothieGirl’s Oat-Coconut Cookie Mix with Variations (1)
This base mix makes 15 C, which you can store in the pantry for a few months or freeze for much longer for
making quick, warm cookies or muffins all winter using the five variations that follow.
1½ Tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder
1½ Tbsp. baking soda
2 tsp. Original Crystal Himalayan Salt
6 Tbsp. dehydrated powdered eggs*
4 C rolled oats (pulse in high-powered blender until still chunky but somewhat broken down)
8 C finely ground whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat is best)
2 C shredded coconut
4 C organic, raw coconut palm sugar or Sucanat
* You can omit the egg powder from the mix, if you wish, and add one fresh (organic, free-range) egg to the
ingredient lists in the variations below.
Mix all ingredients well. Mix can be kept in the pantry for three months, fridge for six months, or freezer
indefinitely. Store in quart jars or Ziploc freezer bags.
Variations on the Basic Cookie Mix
Coconut-Oat Cookies
To 2 C of the base mix, add:
¼ C coconut oil
¼ C agave (raw, organic) or honey (raw)
3 Tbsp. water
Mix all ingredients well. Allow the batter to sit for 10 min. Drop small spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake
at 350° for 10-12 min. Makes 24 cookies.
Almond Cookies (Robyn’s favorite)
To 2 C of the base mix, add:
¼ C coconut oil
¼ C agave (raw, organic) or honey (raw)
3 Tbsp. water plus 1 tsp. almond extract
optional: ¼ C sliced or finely chopped almonds
Mix all ingredients well. Allow the batter to sit for 10 min. Drop small spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake
at 350° for 10-12 min. Makes 24 cookies.
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Chocolate Cookies
To 2 C of the base mix, add:
¼ C coconut oil
¼ C agave (raw, organic) or honey (raw)
¼ C water
¼ C Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa (or powdered raw chocolate)
Mix all ingredients well. Allow the batter to sit for 10 min. Drop small spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake
at 350° for 10-12 min. Makes 24 cookies.
Peanut Butter Cookies
To 2 C of the base mix, add:
¼ C coconut oil
¼ C agave (raw, organic) or honey (raw)
¼ C water
¼ C peanut butter (preferably organic without rapeseed oil and sugar added)
Mix all ingredients well. Allow the batter to sit for 10 min. Drop small rolled balls onto a cookie sheet, press
with a fork, and bake at 350° for 10-12 min. Makes 24 cookies.
Oat-Coconut Muffins
To 4 C of the base mix, add:
1½ C milk (any kind)
½ C coconut oil, melted
6 Tbsp. water
Mix all ingredients well. Allow batter to sit for 10-20 min. Use ¼ C measuring cup to scoop batter into muffin
liners or muffin tin sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake at 350° for 20 min.
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Michelle Jorgenson’s Amazing “Power through the Day” Bars (2)
Michelle is a dentist where I live, and she led her entire dental office to apply for my TV show pilot,
“GreenSmoothieGirl Makeover.” I loved working with Michelle and her enthusiastic employees as they shifted
to whole-foods habits. She made foods for the entire office to improve their health, as well as for her own
husband and four children. One day we swapped über-healthy treats, and this was her creation that I love!
2 C unsweetened shredded coconut
2 C chopped nuts (almonds, pecans, etc.—or a combination)
2 C chopped dates (you can buy chopped dates rolled in oat flour inexpensively in bulk at many
health food stores)
½ C flax seeds
½ C chia seeds
½ C raw cocoa, carob, or cacao powder
½ tsp. Original Himalayan Crystal Salt or sea salt (¼ tsp. to be used twice)
2 tsp. vanilla (1 tsp. to be used twice)
1½ C mini chocolate chips, naturally sweetened
1 pkg. plain vegan gelatin
½ C hot water
½ C raw honey
Blend the coconut, nuts, dates, and flax seeds each separately in a high-powered blender until medium
fine. Mix the blended ingredients with the chia seeds, cocoa powder, ¼ tsp. salt, 1 tsp. vanilla, and the
chocolate chips in a large bowl, then set aside.
Dissolve the gelatin in the hot water and let stand for 5 minutes. Then add the honey, ¼ tsp. salt, and 1 tsp.
vanilla, then beat until fluffy (or mix in a blender until frothy).
Add the honey mixture to the mixture in the bowl and stir until everything is moistened. Press into a 9" x 13"
pan with moistened hands. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours until set. Cut into bars and keep in a container in the fridge
or freezer.
Other Recipes
Debbie’s Manna Bars (page 219)
Microwave Popcorn (page 110)
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CHAPTER 12
Achieving an Alkaline
Inner Terrain
Your Goal:
To understand the importance of eating and drinking alkaline-forming foods and water. You’ll want to
improve the acid/alkaline balance in your body with ionized water plus more alkaline-forming foods
and fewer acid-forming foods.
What You’ll Need:
You will need a means to provide alkaline water, and the best solution is to save for a water ionizer.
You may also wish to add a quality dehydrated greens product to your daily drinking water.
Why Is Water So Important?
Our bodies are over 70% water. Thinking of
yourself as mostly water, ask yourself this:
Would you rather be a river or a pond?
Ponds sit stagnant, with nothing much
feeding them most of the time. They’re full
of algae and pollutants, and no one wants to
swim in most of them except the occasional
one that is fed from underground. A river,
however, is in flux, constantly cleaning and
regenerating itself.
Flushing your mostly water body, similarly,
is critically important. Dr. Bernard Jensen
said that most people are chronically
dehydrated, causing all tissues and fluids in the body to become viscid and thick. The mucous lining in
the colon changes when dehydrated and fails to provide lubrication for feces to move easily. Plenty of
water leads to a healthy digestion and elimination.
People who drink lots of water eat about 200 calories per day less than people who drink much less.
This is likely one of the reasons why people who drink more water lose weight and people who drink
less water gain weight.
We already addressed water, as a first-thing-in-the-morning habit, in Chapter 10 which talked about
breakfast. It’s so critically important, this water issue, that I bring it up in Chapter 1 as we start green
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smoothies and almost inevitably detoxify. Then I bring it up again in Chapter 10, because it’s the first thing to
consider upon waking up dehydrated. And here again, in our last chapter, I ask you once again to think about
your water intake all day long.
Are you drinking 8-10 glasses daily? Before I leave it behind for the third time, I want to reiterate: it’s the
single most important thing you do to nurture your physical health! The type and quality of water you drink
deserves your attention.
Shouldn’t I Avoid Drinking Water Because It’s Contaminated?
We know we should drink water, and yet we’re afraid to drink it because it’s so full of toxic chemicals. The fact
is, even with the chlorine and fluoride and other additives from the average municipality, flushing the body
with water is still preferable to allowing those same chemicals (absorbed from food, air, and anything
containing water) to build up in the body by not drinking much at all. After all, it’s water that is most likely to
cleanse our organs of chemicals in the first place.
This reminds me of the organic produce debate I’m often confronted with: eat some organic produce or none at
all? Similarly, eating lots of raw plant food, even if it has been sprayed with chemicals, is better than not eating
it, because your alternatives to meeting your calorie requirements (animal foods and processed foods) have
much higher concentrations of pesticides and herbicides. (But, wash your produce well, and buy or grow
organic when you can.)
I don’t say this to downplay the problems in our drinking water supply. I highly recommend making it a high
priority to get clean water, not just water. The Environmental Protection Agency sets MCLs (maximum
contaminant levels), which allow for some toxins in our water—they enforce standards only when water is
found to contain more than the MCL of any chemical. And they enforce only when the offending polluter or
municipality is caught in occasional tests.
Contaminants commonly found in drinking water, according to the EPA’s Web site, include microorganisms
such as cryptosporidium, E. coli, and giardia. Disinfectants and their dangerous byproducts are also usually in
our water supply—such things as chlorine, bromates, and chlorites, which are known to cause cancer and
anemia as well as liver, kidney, and central nervous system problems.
Inorganic chemicals found in our water include arsenic, fluoride, asbestos, cyanide, lead, mercury, nitrates, and
nitrites. Organic chemicals like dioxin, xylenes, and benzene are also highly dangerous. And the final category
is radionuclides, like radium and uranium. They are, obviously, radioactive and cancer causing.
Chlorine is pervasive in our water supply as a disinfectant, and even if you drink filtered water, you absorb
more chlorine through your skin in one shower than you could ever drink in a day. Fortunately, for a few
hundred dollars, you can have a plumber install a carbon filter on your water source to the whole house, to
remove almost all of the chlorine, in the same low-tech way a Brita pitcher removes chlorine (but nothing else)
from drinking water.
Lots of companies are selling various technologies. You can get confused and disillusioned studying
oxygenated water, hydrogen water, PiMag water, and various “energy” waters—all of which are scientifically
unproven to help us. More commonly, many people rely on bottled, spring, reverse osmosis, or distilled water
to simply avoid pollutants.
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Pi water and PiMag water. Hoping to jump in on the booming altered-water industry, a magnet-selling
Japanese network marketing company is marketing a technology that, no matter how much I read, makes no
scientific sense whatsoever. The only research I find documenting its value is dubious claims about goldfish
living in the water, sealed, for months, and other claims of that nature. I can’t find any evidence that this
machine is worth your money. The company, Nikken, has marketed magnets as health cures for many years,
without any scientific evidence I can find that they are effective.
Bottled water. When bottled water first came on the scene in the 1990s, it was always “spring water,” bottled
at the source in clean springs. Since then, water in bottles has become so pervasive that I was once asked by a
woman in her 20s, “If there weren't water bottles until the last 10 years, how did you used to get your water?”
Only people in their 30s or older will smile at that. We used to drink out of cups, or fill a thermos or bottle from
the tap or water cooler.
So, because people no longer think that bottling makes water somehow special—it’s simply the only way they
know how to get water now—often the water sold in bottles is no more clean or pure than tap water. It’s simply
convenience water, and very little of it is bottled from springs anymore. Sadly, over one million water bottles
daily are landing in U.S. landfills.
Spring water or mineral water. When water in an underground aquifer surfaces, it has generally picked up
dissolved minerals by flowing through underground or mountainous rocks. The term “mineral water” is
misleading, though, since no extra minerals are added; the water is simply natural water containing nature’s
trace minerals. However, this is rather ideal water in its natural state.
Reverse osmosis water. Reverse osmosis (R.O.) filters remove over 99% of impurities from the water. I have
had one in my kitchen for many years, and when I added an ionizer, I had to install an inexpensive
remineralizer after the R.O. and before the ionizer. (Water flows through organic minerals to replace what has
been removed.) That’s because you cannot ionize water that contains no minerals, and reverse osmosis
removes all minerals, including those naturally found in water that are beneficial. Thus, water molecules with
minerals removed become aggressive in seeking out and leaching those missing minerals from bone and tissues
in the body over time. And R.O. water is slightly acidic.
Distilled water. Distilled water goes through a steam process to collect water completely free of impurities.
However, it has a distinctive taste that many people don’t like. And, as with R.O. water, all the minerals
naturally occurring in water are removed along with impurities, with the same result described above regarding
reverse osmosis. This water is also slightly acidic.
Why Is Alkalinity Important?
Reputable nutritionists, doctors, and others are mostly unaware of the effects of “acidosis” or the overacidification
of the human body. But those who have been studying it, such as Dr. Gabriel Cousens and Dr.
Robert O. Young, all come to conclusions like Young’s:
Physiological disease is almost always the result of too much acid stressing the body’s pH balance, to
the point where it provokes the body into producing symptoms of disease. (Disease can also be simply
the toxic effects of an external source, but that is much more rare.) Symptoms can be the expression of
that stress, but they can also be a sign of the body’s effort to balance it. 1
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The stress that occurs through difficult circumstances in life, job deadlines, relationship problems, and more
contribute to acidosis, or more acidity than our body can effectively neutralize, thus burning out the potassium,
calcium, magnesium, and sodium in our tissue binders. Environmental toxins in the air and water contribute,
too. These things we have little control over. But an enormous contributing factor is our diet, and that is where
we do have control.
All our body systems try to balance our acid/base internal terrain. As we lose that balance, we experience the
milder of the hundreds of complaints common in the Western world: allergies, sinus problems, succumbing to
viruses, skin problems, headaches. As time goes on, chronic underlying issues occur that include malfunctions
of the adrenal and thyroid glands. And tipping the scale even further, for years, acidosis causes our decreasing
oxygen levels and a burnout of our cellular metabolism, so that we develop cancers and very serious diseases
that kill us. A highly acidic internal environment in the body causes us to gain body fat, since fat cells carry
acids away from our vital organs to protect them. As helpful as that is as a non-ideal coping mechanism, when
you eat more alkaline foods, your body doesn’t need the fat stores anymore and weight problems correct
themselves.
When our internal terrain becomes acidic, yeasts, molds, bacteria, viruses, and fungi thrive. They, along with
the cancers they eventually lead to, proliferate in a low-oxygen climate. And even worse than that are the
highly acidic waste products they create, microforms that Dr. Young calls mycotoxins and exotoxins, poisons
that feed on glucose and pollute our bloodstream, lymph, and cells. 28
WHY Should I Drink Alkaline Water?
Dr. Young says that in the blood, 20 parts base (alkaline) are required to neutralize 1 part acid, so it’s easier to
maintain than to correct an imbalance. Eating 20 lbs. of alkaline food for every 1 lb. of acid is difficult.
(However, I highly recommend minimizing your acidic foods intake, especially processed foods and animal
proteins.) So, drinking alkaline water as often as possible on an empty stomach is the easiest and most effective
way to alkalize your body. Adding an excellent dehydrated greens product (like my favorite, Ormus Greens) to
your water throughout the day is another way to boost your alkaline intake.
WHEN Should I Drink Alkaline Water?
You should drink alkaline water any time and always, except during a meal. The best habits to achieve are
drinking lots of water upon waking up, and avoiding drinking for 20 min. before and two hours after a meal.
This gives your body a chance to do the work of digesting with digestive juices intact and undiluted. For that
reason, do not drink alkaline water during a meal. Also do not drink it with medications. (Take any needed
medications an hour or more before or after drinking alkaline water.)
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HOW Do I Get Alkaline Water?
You can purchase sodium chlorite ion drops online. This product will increase the pH of your water. Over the
long run, however, this will be more expensive than purchasing an ionizer and installing it in your kitchen to
make all of your drinking water alkaline (as well as giving you acid water for other purposes, such as killing
bugs on plants in the garden, washing and cleaning, or gargling for a sore throat). I’m also a little
uncomfortable with this way of making water alkaline (or adding hydrogen peroxide to water). I started out
trying alkaline water this way and felt no difference in my energy or health.
A network marketing company called Enagic was the most dominant presence in the U.S. market, with its high
quality but very expensive countertop machine. The $4,000 price tag necessitated by an eight-levels-deep
compensation plan puts the machine out of range for most.
When I determined I wanted my own machine, I began to
research the competitors, all of whom manufacture in Asia, and
the most reputable companies/machines are manufactured in
Korea. Through talking with all the company reps and comparing
machines, I decided to purchase a Life Ionizer because they have
an under-counter-installed model that is very high quality with a
five-year warranty. I love that the water comes out of a stainless
steel faucet drilled into my counter top (where my reverse
osmosis faucet used to be), without the bulky machine and tubes
on top of the counter.
Because readers of my site asked me to obtain discounted pricing,
I do group buys every few months on Life Ionizers (all models) in
order to obtain wholesale pricing. By collecting 10 buyers at a time through my local and online communities,
we have made wholesale group purchases to save well over 60% over the Enagic price several times now. At
the time of this writing (late 20011), Enagic and Jupiter have no under-sink-mounted model. (Life does have
other models, and renters or those who split time between multiple homes may want to choose a more mobile
counter top model.)
If you are interested in participating, you may email us at ionizers@greensmoothiegirl.com for more
information on models, wholesale prices, and when the next group buy will be. We also have a short
educational series of emails for you, which you can sign up for on the Alkaline Water page under “Robyn
Recommends” on GreenSmoothieGirl.com.
What Foods Are Alkaline and Acid?
I am not going to go into great scientific detail in this book, as I am condensing a massive amount of
information on alkalinity, which has been made a lifestyle by the “alkalarians” (most famously including Dr.
Gabriel Cousens, Dr. Robert O. Young, and lifestyle coach and speaker Anthony Robbins). Most of my readers
will not necessarily want a detailed list of the exact “ash level” of every food. (That’s the pH level of the
metabolized residue of any food. We want a food to be “alkaline forming,” or causing a shift toward alkalinity
in the body as the food is metabolized.)
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So what I provide in the following table is a list of the most alkaline-forming foods, for you to increase in your
diet—and the most acid foods, for you to reduce or eliminate. Many foods aren’t on the list because they’re
either uncommon to our diet (see similar foods in the chart) or only very slightly acidic or alkaline.
Even for those who try to eat right every day and study nutrition rigorously, the pH issue can put some off and
confuse many. I recommend putting the issues here in perspective: unless you are ill with cancer or another
serious disease, just eat more alkaline and less acidic, and stay away from highly acidic refined foods like soda,
coffee, meat, dairy, and refined oils. Worry less about acidic foods that are also whole plant foods (especially
raw). If you have serious health challenges, you would be wise to consider eating as close to 100% alkaline as
possible.
Food Category
Alkalizing Foods
(eat more)
Bread none white, whole-grain
Condiments/Spices
raw apple cider vinegar, sea and Celtic
salts, tamari, chili pepper, miso, dried
mustard, curry, cinnamon, ginger, herbs
Acidifying Foods
(eat less)
MSG, prepared mustard, vinegar, ketchup,
jam/jelly, yeast, cocoa, malt, carob, soy
sauce, black pepper, refined salt, nutmeg,
vanilla, mayonnaise
Drinks alkaline water, distilled water fruit juice, alcohol, beer, tea, coffee, wine,
soft drinks
Fruits
very slightly: lemon, lime, grapefruit,
coconut, sour cherry, date, plum, currant,
fig, nectarine, orange, peach, apricot, all
melons, all berries, avocado
dried fruit, blueberry, cranberry, prune,
ripe banana
Grains millet, quinoa, buckwheat, spelt (mildly) barley, corn, rye, oats, wheat, all rice
types, all pastas, kamut, amaranth
Legumes lentil; soy, lima, kidney, white bean chick pea, black beans, split pea
Meats none pork, veal, beef, chicken, eggs, organ
meats, ocean and farm fish, shellfish, wild
freshwater fish
Milks
goat milk, human breast milk, fermented
milk products
soy milk; rice milk; dairy (cow milk)
products including milk, cheese, ice cream
Nuts/Seeds almond, pumpkin seed pistachio, peanut, cashew, walnut, sesame
seed
Oils olive, coconut, flax, cod liver corn, canola, sunflower; butter and
margarine
Sweeteners
Vegetables (non-root)
Vegetables (root)
stevia, chicory (sweeteners), blackstrap
molasses
spouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber,
spinach, kale, collard greens, mustard
greens, zucchini, leek, pumpkin, radish,
garlic, pea, cabbage, celery, tomato
beet, radish, turnip, carrot, sweet potato,
parsnip
sugar, aspartame, saccharin, corn syrup,
maple syrup, fructose, honey, rice syrup,
dried cane juice
mushroom, olive
potato (stored)
Note: A food item in italics means it is either highly alkaline or acidic, respectively.
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Should I Buy a Dehydrated Greens Product?
It would be hard to read this book without coming away with a clear picture that greens are critical for excellent
health. Ounce for ounce, green foods have the most powerfully healing properties of any food. Packed with
chlorophyll, they are the plant equivalent of hemoglobin in the human body’s red blood cells.
Countless studies document that green foods protect human beings against cholesterol, high blood pressure,
cancer, and much more. They strengthen our immune system, mop up free radicals, and neutralize odors and
bad breath. They’re the most alkaline, highest-micronutrient, lowest-calorie foods you can eat. Green foods are
the most critical components of our diet, and they are in scant supply in the modern diet.
The megahertz of energy in green foods can be found nowhere else. Dried, powdered greens can have up to 60
MHz of electrical energy, compared to chicken and beef’s energy of 2 MHz (which is the same measured
energy of a cancerous tumor, according to Dr. Young’s research). A really great greens-food product has so
much energy it literally jumps off the measuring spoon.
I think that adding organic, finely powdered greens to one’s daily drinking water (or taking it in capsule form
with water) is a fantastic and simple idea that will improve your goal of getting more alkalinity and more
greens into your diet.
Many companies now manufacture greens products, and I spent many hours looking at their ingredients and
comparing prices for my GreenSmoothieGirl.com readers. I bought and used many brands for years. I hoped to
clear the confusion for those wanting to (a) put more greens in their diet easily, and (b) store raw, power foods
against emergencies.
Many issues arose in my research. Many people complain that they hate the taste of greens products, especially
spirulina. Some products are not finely ground and therefore settle to the bottom of the water and cause you to
gag on them. Some products are very expensive (especially those that are network marketed). But my biggest
issue with almost all the products I tried was the quality and, in particular, the inexpensive “filler” additives
that add little or nothing nutritionally.
I wanted to recommend a product that does not taste unpleasant, is finely ground so it isn’t noticeable in water,
is affordably priced, is dehydrated at low temperatures, is bottled in amber glass with a long shelf life, and has
nothing in it but the very best ingredients. I wanted only young cereal grasses (wheat grass, barley, Kamut
grass, etc.), and freshwater algae and sea vegetables like high-protein, high-chlorophyll broken-cell-wall
chlorella and spirulina, as well as dulse and kelp that nourish depleted thyroids.
The last requirement—only the best ingredients—eliminated all but two products! I didn’t want sweeteners,
apple pectin, stevia, FOS (fructo-oligosaccharides, which is a sweetener that some like to say has health
benefits which I think are dubious), lecithin (a soy derivative), chia, or flax seeds. Chia and flax are nutritious,
but they cost pennies (unlike dehydrated greens), and they also go rancid quickly on the shelf.
My favorite greens product is in the GreenSmoothieGirl.com store. It has all pure, organic ingredients grown in
ormus-rich volcanic soil in Southern Utah. The ingredient list is simple, which I prefer to elaborate herb or
greens products as I think the body is confused and overwhelmed by complexity. Also, unlike another highquality
greens product I used for several years, I actually like the taste of Ormus Greens because it is very
lightly sweetened with stevia (an herb that has no impact on your blood sugar) and peppermint leaf extract.
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You can get $5 off your Ormus Greens purchase in the Whole Foods section of the GreenSmoothieGirl.com
Store using the coupon code “ILoveStep12”. I add a teaspoon of it to a pint of water and drink it first thing
every morning!
Your Journal Entry
After drinking alkaline water for 30 days, my friend—who had beaten cancer by eating a 100% vegan, raw diet
for five years—quantified the gains in her health and logged 28 different ways her health had improved in just
that one month. She stated to me that the difference in 30 days was as big as the gains from five years of eating
all raw! Make sure you make your own list of how you feel different eating alkaline foods, drinking alkaline
water, and/or adding dehydrated greens to your water, as recommended in this chapter:
1. Do you notice having more energy when you drink alkaline water?
2. Do you notice any improvement in any of the following conditions that are caused by overgrowths of
yeast, molds, fungus, and their toxic byproducts?
lupus diabetes low blood sugar cancer general pains
atherosclerosis fatigue muscle aches poor circulation rheumatoid arthritis
indigestion diarrhea intestinal pain hemorrhoids osteoporosis
colitis ulcers gas/bloating bladder infection joint pain
headaches colds & flu hay fever dry skin & itching numbness
thrush skin rash & hives endometriosis acne dizziness
bad breath receding gums dry mouth heartburn lethargy/laziness
shakiness anxiety mood swings PMS/menstrual problems hyperactivity
irritability depression lack of sex drive hormone imbalances infections
hiatal hernia vaginal yeast infection cysts and tumors memory problems food cravings
insomnia chemical sensitivities burning/itchy eyes puffy eyes
overweight or
underweight
athlete’s foot/nail bed
fungus
asthma/respiratory
problems
general feeling of being
unwell
3. Any other observations during this month?
4. Any final observations or thoughts about your journey this year, now that you’ve completed the
12 Steps to Whole Foods?
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APPENDIX A
Recipe Ingredients
These are ingredients in 12 Steps recipes that you may be unfamiliar with.
Whole-Food Sweeteners
Agave. A syrup or “nectar” derived from a plant similar to cactus. You can find agave online or in
health food stores raw and organic. It’s a liquid sweetener and thus can’t be substituted directly for
sugar in baking without alterations to the recipe. Despite being very sweet, it has the glycemic index
of sugar and a neutral taste and is, therefore, an excellent sweetener for sauces, dressings, and green
smoothies.
Coconut Palm Sugar. This is my favorite sweetener for baking, with its neutral taste and easy 1:1
substitution (for refined sugar) in a recipe. It has a glycemic index (GI) score of 35, which makes it a
low-glycemic food with slow conversion of sugar in the bloodstream. It has up to 1000% more of
minerals like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese (and more)
than agave, honey, or maple syrup. It’s also the world’s most sustainable source of sugar, as coconut
palms are twice as productive as sugar cane, can grow in very depleted soils (sand), and improve soil
structure. This sweetener is not yet widely available—especially in raw, organic form—so we offer it,
at a bulk discount, in our annual group buy on GreenSmoothieGirl.com and by the 5 lb. bag year round.
Honey. In its raw state, honey is extremely nutritious. Some theorize that eating raw local honey
ameliorates seasonal allergies. It’s very sweet, so you can substitute half the amount of honey when
sugar is called for in a recipe. Its effect on your blood sugar is virtually identical to sugar and it is high
in calories, so use it sparingly.
Maple syrup. A whole food with a flavor most people like, maple syrup is rich in minerals. (Don’t
confuse real maple syrup with the brand-name “syrups” on most grocery shelves, which are corn syrup
with maple flavoring.) Real maple syrup does have a high glycemic index and high calories, however,
so use it sparingly. The ratings for maple syrup are confusing: Grade B is the most unrefined, so choose
that over Grade A whenever you can.
Molasses. Buy blackstrap, organic, and unsulphured, and you have a very nutritious sweetener, very
high in iron and B vitamins. It’s one of the most inexpensive sweeteners (a gallon costs about $5). Not
everyone likes the dark taste of molasses, but it makes great ginger cookies, and I use it in granola.
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Stevia. Stevia is fairly new to the U.S., but has been used in other countries for a much longer time. It is an
herbal sweetener 100 times sweeter than sugar which has no impact on blood sugar. No complaints have been
documented or studied regarding its use in food. You can purchase it in liquid or powdered form. It is generally
refined from the plant version (the more unprocessed versions not tasting very good), and I use it in a limited
way, mostly just a pinch in a blenderful of green smoothie.
Sucanat. This is the brand name of dehydrated cane juice, the same as white sugar but without the nutrition
removed and the product bleached. It is brown and granulated, more coarsely than white sugar. This sweetener
is perfect for baking, as the taste is familiar and neutral and can be used in a 1:1 ratio when sugar is called for.
However, don’t consider this product’s superiority to refined sugar to be a free license to indulge in it in an
unlimited way. It is still a concentrated sweetener (or “added sugar”) and should be used sparingly. Raw
coconut palm sugar is nutritionally superior to Sucanat.
Non-Whole-Foods Sweeteners to Avoid
Fructose. Some people feel that fructose is preferable to other sugars and tastes better than many other options.
Derived from fruit, it may have a slower effect on blood sugar, but it is a very refined sugar and is probably not
the best option for baking. I do not use it.
Maltitol and other sugar alcohols. These have a much higher impact on blood glucose than most people
think (about as much as a white potato), and they cause gastric distress. These are chemical sweeteners rather
than whole foods and should be avoided.
Splenda and NutraSweet (aspartame). These are the very worst of the sweeteners and should be avoided
completely. I would rather feed my family sugar than these neurotoxic chemicals. More is known about
NutraSweet, for which more side effect complaints have been made to the FDA than any other of over 4,000
food additives. Splenda is newer but it, too, is a “fake” or chemical sweetener and will likely be as problematic
as its predecessors aspartame and saccharin were.
Xylitol. I avoid using this refined sugar made from birch trees and corn cobs. It does have the glycemic
index of sugar, however, and is therefore preferred by diabetics. Stevia and agave have low glycemic indexes
as well, but may not be as easy to bake with because stevia is so concentrated and agave is a syrup. Virtually all
corn now grown in the U.S. is genetically modified.
Other Unfamiliar Ingredients
Agar powder. Tasteless dried seaweed. Used as a thickener. Can be found online and in health food stores and
Asian markets.
Arrowroot. A natural, plant-based thickener for sauces, found in health food stores.
Bragg Liquid Aminos. Much less expensive than Nama Shoyu, this product has 16 amino acids and thus adds
protein to foods. The product uses non-fermented, non-genetically modified soybeans, and no salt is added.
You can find it at health food stores or online.
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Coconut liquid. I prefer to get coconut liquid directly from the young coconut itself, but you can also purchase
it in a can. It is low in fat and high in minerals and electrolytes.
Coconut milk. This product comes in a can and is a rich and creamy dessert base, higher in fat (but nutritious
fat) than coconut liquid.
Coconut oil. See “Why Should I Eat Coconut Oil?” on page 99 to find out why this is a power food that should
be substituted for any refined vegetable oils. Perfect for sautéing and baking because it doesn’t create trans fats.
A link to the best price on the Internet (much better than prices at your health food store) is found in the store
on my site: www.greensmoothiegirl.com.
Kelp noodles. A raw noodle from the sea vegetable, found in health food stores, Asian markets, and many
grocery stores.
Miso. Naturally fermented soy paste with several varieties/colors, found in health food stores, Asian markets,
and many grocery stores.
Nama Shoyu. Organic, unpasteurized soy sauce found at health food stores and online.
Nutritional yeast (similar to Brewer’s Yeast). Nutty/cheesy/creamy-flavored and -textured condiment great
on popcorn and high in B vitamins and protein. The yeast is deactivated, and can be found at health food stores.
Original Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS). Completely unrefined salt containing all 84 elements needed by
your body in bioavailable form (everything in the periodic table except the 10 inert gases). Available at http://
tinyurl.com/62jzmq.
Peanut butter (organic). Worth buying to avoid corn syrup and rapeseed oil (a hydrogenated fat) found in
regular peanut butters. Can be purchased at Costco, health food stores, and some grocery stores.
Tempeh. A fermented whole-soybean product from Indonesia. It has a higher content of protein, vitamins, and
dietary fiber than tofu as well as a firmer texture and stronger flavor. Can be found in health food stores and
online.
Trocomare. A low-salt herbal seasoning mix found in health food stores.
Ume plum vinegar. Found in health food stores and Asian markets, and online.
Umeboshi plum paste. Found in health food stores and Asian markets, and online.
Young coconuts. Most of these are imported from Thailand, the Philippines, and Fiji, but they are often
referred to as “young Thai coconuts.” Don’t confuse them with the hairy brown coconuts you can buy in any
grocery store. Young coconuts are sold with the fibrous white covering, and they are flat on one end and
pointed on the other end. (They are usually stripped of their green outer shell, which is how you buy them in
Asia.) You can find them at Asian specialty food stores by the case, most inexpensively (I pay $13 for a case of
9), health food stores, and even Wal-Mart. Watch the GreenSmoothieGirl demo on YouTube to see how to get
them open (www.tiny.cc/3X3Xi).
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APPENDIX B GreenSmoothieGirl
Resource Library
These are the recipe and information resources that I recommend.
For Those Wanting to Eat More Raw
Igor and Valya Boutenko: Eating without Heating
This book contains easy, great recipes.
Victoria Boutenko: I recommend any of her books
Jennifer Cornbleet: Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People
Gabriel Cousins: Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine
Jordan Maerin: Raw Foods for Busy People
This book contains easy, machine-free recipes.
Brigitte Mars: Rawsome!
This book gives lots of good info in addition to recipes.
Kenney and Melngailis: Raw Food Real World
This book contains gourmet recipes—some labor intensive, some pretty easy. The authors are
gorgeous—the perfect examples of what raw cuisine does for beauty.
Renee Underkoffler: Living Cuisine
There is one caveat about this book: the recipes are delicious and gourmet, but time consuming.
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For Anyone Wanting to Read the World’s Most Important
Books on Nutrition
Mike Anderson: The RAVE Diet & Lifestyle
This is a fun book that’s fairly quick to read because it pulls no punches. It’s hard hitting and unapologetic in its
promotion of the plant-based diet. It’s jam-packed with information (that duplicates Robbins, Fuhrman, and
Campbell), is well written, and contains lots of easy recipes at the end. My only slight quibble with Anderson
(and Fuhrman) is that I don’t think people in normal weight ranges need to be afraid of fats—the kind found in
nuts, seeds, and unprocessed oils.
Steven Arlin: Raw Power
This book is for anyone who wants to build muscle mass or compete athletically while eating a raw, vegan diet.
I’m just a girl who’s not a true bodybuilder, but I love weight training, and this book long ago helped me let go
of protein powders and bars and hold my own, strength-wise, with much-younger and carnivorous
weightlifting friends. Arlin has eaten a 100% raw vegan diet for 20 years and would be the biggest guy in most
gyms’ free-weight rooms. His recipes are interesting and unique.
Victoria Boutenko: Green for Life
This book documents how Boutenko, a long-time raw foodist, felt there was a missing link in her family’s
nutrition, even as good as it was. (They eliminated many chronic diseases from their lives when they went all
raw 15 years ago.) She undertook to study the diet of primates, since we humans share 99.4% of our DNA with
primates. Of course, what she found is that they eat copiously of greens, and a wide variety of them.
Boutenko asks the reader to undertake an experiment: to chew a mouthful of greens and then spit it out right
before swallowing. You’ll find it is simply torn up, not creamed and ready for digestion like it needs to be. This
is because over several generations of eating increasingly more refined foods, the human body has adapted by
developing ever-narrower palates. We no longer chew food to the extent that we need to in order to extract
nutrition from denser foods like raw green vegetables, as primates with wide palates do. The Blendtec Total
Blender does that breakdown for you, in the green smoothie: all you have to do is “chew” as you drink it, to
create saliva for digestion.
Greens like kale, collards, mustard greens, arugula, turnip greens, celery, spinach, dandelion greens, beet
greens, and chard don’t end up on too many salad plates. But they’re easy in green smoothies. And you don’t
have to drizzle them with fattening, chemical-laden salad dressings to get them down in a smoothie.
Best of all, in addition to the superior nutrition of dark leafy greens, Boutenko points out that kale fiber, for
instance, can remove many times its own weight in toxins from the body. She undertook to study a group of 30
people ranging from the morbidly obese in wheelchairs to people who already ate a fairly healthful diet: every
one of the 30 reported excellent improvements in health, some of them very dramatic. Many said they just
wished they had more than a quart a day! The top three health benefits were better digestion/elimination, more
energy, and weight loss.
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Dr. Colin Campbell: The China Study
This is the largest and most comprehensive nutrition study in history, conducted jointly by Oxford and Cornell
universities. It offers the most empirical evidence ever gathered validating a plant-based diet.
Colin Campbell is a professor of nutrition at Cornell University and has sat on the highest nutrition governing
boards in the U.S. He is the son of a cattle rancher and believed, in his early nutrition research, that he would
find lack of protein to be the cause of childhood liver cancer in the Philippines.
He found just the opposite: the wealthier children with good access to meat/milk were dying of liver cancer, not
the poor children who could afford only plant food. Time and again, Campbell and many other researchers
discovered the same results: that in animals and humans, high consumption of animal protein causes all the
modern Western diseases, including cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and much more.
The rodent studies are fascinating: two groups of mice are put on 5% animal protein pellets (casein, from milk)
and 20% animal protein pellets, respectively. That parallels an almost-vegan diet versus the typical American
diet. At the typical rodent life span, the 5% group were lean and healthy and the 20% group were full of
cancerous tumors and many were dead (and all would die prematurely).
Even more fascinating is how the researchers could switch the groups’ diets. Lean, healthy rodents develop
tumors and die when placed on the 20% animal protein diet, and formerly cancerous rodents lose weight,
tumors are eliminated, and they live and thrive when placed on the 5% animal protein diet. These studies were
duplicated, with the same results, by other researchers all over the globe.
Campbell went on to conduct the largest, most longitudinal, most comprehensive nutrition study in human
beings in history, yielding hundreds of statistically significant correlations. He has been studying 360,000
people in China for about 30 years now. Whether or not you completely eliminate animal foods from your diet,
this book is so compelling that you will be motivated to make a commitment to a plant-based diet and share the
message with others.
William Dufty: The Sugar Blues
This book was written in the 1950s in a very provocative and engaging style. This seminal book is your chance
to get up the motivation to kick the sugar habit. As many nutrition authors have stated, sugar is killing us. And
it’s more addictive than cocaine. (I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, am I?) Even more
fascinating is Dufty’s claim that the sugar industry sabotaged his efforts to publish his expose.
Sally Fallon: Nourishing Traditions
This book provides a massive amount of great information and tons of recipes (newtrendspublishing.com, 877-
707-1776). I mostly disagree with the author about meat and dairy (which she embraces, in fermented and
organic forms), in light of The China Study’s implications as well as a large body of other research
documenting the virtues of avoiding animal proteins. But I agree with everything else she promotes, and the
book is worth owning just for the fermented foods information and recipes, where Fallon is the reigning
authority.
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Dr. Joel Furhman: Eat to Live
This book presents excellent data about a plant-based diet versus meat and processed foods from a courageous
medical doctor willing to recommend vegetarian lifestyle changes instead of drugs and surgeries. The book
contains a limited number of simple recipes at the end. Possibly because many of Furhman’s patients are
cardiac patients, he is preoccupied with “low fat” in Eat to Live, which I think is unnecessary and even possibly
harmful for most people, but it’s a small criticism of a great book.
Dr. Edward Howell: Enzyme Nutrition: The Food Enzyme Concept
This is a 162-page abridgment of this medical doctor’s lifelong work that originally culminated in a 700-page
book with 700 references. It is an old book, published in 1985, reviewing all the scientific literature from the
beginning of the twentieth century pointing to enzymes being the most critical element that our diet is now
deficient in, as we have strayed from raw foods. It draws conclusions and postulates scientific theory long
before the recent raw-food movement gained any traction.
John Robbins: The Food Revolution
This is a pivotal book with a compassionate voice for the Earth, the animals we abuse raising them for food,
and the people of the planet. The son of Baskin Robbins’ founder, John abandoned his business career destiny
to instead teach people about the virtues of a plant-based diet—and you will be forever changed by reading his
book that comprehensively documents why we should eat lower on the food chain. The author is precise with
data and he covers all the data points comprehensively, from cancer and heart disease risk, to genetically
modified foods, to global warming, to animal cruelty. Also recommend his Diet for a New America.
James and Colleen Simmons: Original Fast Foods
This book is pure in its intent: to help others experience the same profound health improvements that the
formerly very ill Jim Simmons achieved when he undertook a whole-foods, plant-based diet. The book is
expensive but intelligently written, and it contains tons of information and lots of good recipes at the end, all of
them easy. This is currently the only book I sell by another author on GreenSmoothieGirl.com.
Dr. Robert O. Young and Shelley Young: Sick and Tired, The pH Miracle, and Back to the House of
Health
Dr. Young, with multiple doctorates, is the most credible authority on why an alkaline diet is the most
important aspect of disease prevention and treatment. His ace-in-the-hole over other authors is that his wife is a
recipe developer and, therefore, gives practical help (with the many excellent recipes) in addition to this
century’s leading-edge nutrition theory.
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For Those Interested in Cleansing
Richard Anderson: Cleanse & Purify Thyself: Books 1 and 2
These books chronicle this naturopathic doctor's quest (because of his own desperate health situation) to find
exactly the right herbs for a thorough intestinal and parasite cleanse. He walked around in the mountains for
months, with a friend, experimenting. The commercial products I enthusiastically endorse (because I have
personally experienced the promised results, as well as studied the methodology) that resulted from Dr.
Anderson’s quest are the Arise & Shine cleanse, found in health food stores and at www.ariseandshine.com.
The products are high quality, and the cleanse truly delivers a comprehensive cleanup of the entire
gastrointestinal tract. Other cleanses I researched are lightweight compared to this one, and the nutritional
support is astonishing: I lived my normal, crazy-busy soccer mom/professor/entrepreneur life the entire time I
did the regimen, with plenty of energy. These books, too, contain graphic photos of actual eliminations from
cleanse patients.
Bernard Jensen: Dr. Jensen’s Guide to Better Bowel Care: A Complete Program for Tissue Cleansing
through Bowel Management
This is a must-read for anyone willing to face the fact that the average person is carrying 10 lbs. of impacted
fecal material. The last 25 pages are color photos of what those who undergo a colon cleanse actually eliminate,
and I am warning you that it may turn your stomach. However, it may also be just the motivation you need to
get rid of it. Great information can be found in this book from an early pioneer in health, healing, nutrition, and
cleansing. Dr. Jensen is a man who lived what he preached well into his 90s.
For Parents
Dr. Joel Fuhrman: Disease Proof Your Child
This is an excellent primer, a book to buy as a gift for people who love their children and want them to be
healthy. It explains why eating plants is our kids’ best protection against the modern plagues that have become
epidemics, and “your new cookbook” at the end is a good resource. I disagree with some of the ingredients
Fuhrman uses, such as canola mayo and lots of soy milk/cheese/etc., as well as his promotion of multivitamins,
but these are small issues considering the dramatic potential of this book for families.
Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.: How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor
This is an enlightening, if old, book by a renowned pediatrician who left a top hospital post after becoming
disgusted with the way modern medicine treats children. Dr. Mendelsohn led a research hospital in Chicago
until he became so disgusted and disenchanted with medical practices that he wrote this book that every parent
should read to understand why it’s so critical to not put blind faith in medicine. Some of the things I recall most
vividly is how he challenged the escalating trend of tonsils and adenoids being taken out of young boys, only to
find that these surgeries were truly unnecessary and risky for the patients but were needed to fill quotas for
medical residents’ requirements.
I learned from Dr. Mendelsohn that a fever is a natural, healthy way for the body to fight infection, and that
fever should not be “fought” or drugged. He put my mind at ease with statistics reassuring me that an out-of-
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control fever is so rare as to be something I needn’t worry about. In his other writings, Dr. Mendelsohn warns
against America’s love affair with vaccination and the epidemic of health consequences we have earned as a
consequence.
This book is a good start toward realizing that the doctor isn’t God: a good first step down a road to a mother
becoming a healer in the home.
You won’t so much get alternative health advice from the doctor as you will get understanding about the
medical paradigm’s limitations and abuses, which is helpful in a parent’s initial effort to break loose of modern
pediatrics.
Denise Punger, M.D.: Permission to Mother: Going Beyond the Standard-of-Care to Nurture Our Children
Dr. Punger is a GreenSmoothieGirl 12-Stepper and a brave new voice in modern medicine. She’s a boardcertified
doctor married to another medical doctor, but she’s also a mother who has breastfed for 12 years and
delivered her last baby via home birth. She’s an advocate of home birth, doulas, breastfeeding, and trusting a
mother’s instincts. This book is an important one for young mothers to own.
Eric Schlosser: Fast Food Nation and Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know about Fast Food
These books are geared toward teens. Give your kid an incentive to read one or both of these books. My 11-
and 13-year-old kids loved these best-selling exposés and never wanted to set foot in a fast-food establishment
again. (Okay, they never set foot in fast-food establishments anyway, except to make a bathroom stop on a
trip.) They inspired my oldest daughter to become a vegetarian, and she later converted her sister. Written for
preteens and teens, this is an excellent education in why you want to avoid all fast food. I overheard my
daughter after she read Chew on This telling a friend regarding the friend’s sugar habit, “You know that
children diagnosed with diabetes by the age of 8 shorten their lives by 25-30 years, don’t you?” (Heh-heh! My
evil educational plot is working!) Too bad the author states in the introduction that his favorite meal is a fastfood
burger.
Ron Seaborn: The Children’s Health Food Book
This is a seriously weird book! A friend recommended it to me, and when I picked it up at a health food store,
my then-four-year-old son went crazy for it. I read it to him several times a day, because he begged me nonstop
until I just couldn’t take it any more and was making up my own words. The antiheroes are the Starch Creature,
the Dairy Goon, the Meat Monster, and the Sugar Demon. Of course, the vegetable, fruit, and whole-grain
superheroes come in and save the day. This book is good for younger kids—just beware that the preschool
teacher might call you and say your kid is scaring the other kids by pointing out how bad their snacks are (this
actually happened to me).
Randall Neustaedter: The Vaccine Guide
This is the most science-based, objective, and compelling look at the vaccine issue of all the books I read as I
made the difficult decision not to immunize my children. For instance, although the DPT shot seemed a nobrainer
to avoid after reading about the evidence, Neustaedter is fair and balanced in saying that no known
deaths result from the tetanus shot.
346 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

GreenSmoothieGirl Resource Library
For Those Wanting to Grow a Garden (the #1 Way to Save
Money When Eating a Plant-Based Diet)
Mel Bartholomew: Square Foot Gardening
This book has taken the home gardening world by storm, because it explains the very best way to grow a
garden—by maximizing space and minimizing work.
Eliot Coleman: Four Seasons Harvest
This book was a breakthrough for me, showing how to grow a winter garden even outdoors in a cold climate.
Marian Morash: The Victory Garden Cookbook
This is the definitive garden how-to, with hundreds of recipes on how to use each of those garden vegetables. I
use this recipe book constantly, except when someone borrows it, falls in love with it, and doesn’t return it!
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 347

GreenSmoothieGirl Resource Library
348 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

APPENDIX C
References
Chapter 1
1. www.newstarget.com/004416.html
2. Boutenko, Victoria. 2005. Green for Life. Ashland, OR: Raw Family Publishing.
3. Openshaw, Robyn. 2009. The Green Smoothies Diet. Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press.
4. Walker, Norman W. 1978 (revised ed.). Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices: What's Missing in
Your Body? Summertown, TN: Norwalk Press.
5. Mateljan, George. 2006. The World’s Healthiest Foods. Seattle: WA: George Mateljan
Foundation.
6. www.nutritiondata.com, www.whfoods.com.
Chapter 2
1. Fuhrman, Joel, M.D. 2003. Eat to Live. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co.
2. Arlin, Stephen. 2002. Raw Power! San Diego, CA: Maul Brothers Publishing.
Chapter 4
1. Rudin, Donald, M.D. and Felix, Clara. 1996. Omega-3 Oils: A Practical Guide. New York, NY:
Penguin Group (Avery Imprint).
2. “Some Fish Found to Contain High Levels of Contaminants.” Family Practice News, June 15-
30, 1989: 46.
3. Fife, Bruce. 2004. The Coconut Oil Miracle. New York, NY: Penguin Group (Avery Imprint).
4. Kontogianni M.D., D.B. Panagiotakos, C. Chrysohoou, C. Pitsavos, A. Zampelas, and C.
Stefanadis. “The impact of olive oil consumption pattern on the risk of acute coronary
syndromes: The CARDIO2000 case-control study.” Clin Cardiol, 3 (Mar. 30, 2007):125-9.
PMID:17385704.
5. Psaltopoulou, T., A. Naska, P. Orfanos, et. al. “Olive Oil, the Mediterranean Diet, and Aerterial
Blood Pressure: the Greek European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
(EPIC) Study.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 80 (Oct. 2004): 1012-1018.
Chapter 5
1. “Gardening Influences Tots’ Views on Veggies.” Reuters Health, Oct. 22, 2002.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 349

References
Chapter 6
1. Campbell, T. Colin, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II. 2006. The China Study. Dallas, TX: BenBella
Books.
2. Fuhrman, Joel, M.D. 2003. Eat to Live. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co.
3. Young, Shelley R. 1999. Back to the House of Health. Pleasant Grove, UT: Woodland Publishing.
Chapter 7
1. Peavy, Dr. William S. and Warren Peary. 1992. Super Nutrition Gardening. New York, NY: Penguin
Group (Avery Imprint).
2. Howell, Edward, M.D. 1985. Enzyme Nutrition: The Food Enzyme Concept. New York, NY: Penguin
Group (Avery Imprint).
3. “Sprouts for Optimum Nutrition.” HealthLibrary.com. Accessed October 2009. www.sproutnet.com/
Press/sprouts_for_optimum_nutrition.htm
Chapter 8
1. Aubert, Claude. 1985. Les aliments fermentés traditionnels. Mens, France: Terre Vivante.
2. Jensen, Bernard. 1999. Dr. Jensen's Guide to Better Bowel Care: A Complete Program for Tissue
Cleansing through Bowel Management. New York, NY: Penguin Group (Avery Imprint).
3. Wigmore, Ann. 1991. Rebuild Your Health: With High Energy Enzyme Nourishment. Atlanta, GA:
Living Foods Lifestyle.
4. Fallon, Sally. 2001. Nourishing Traditions. Washington, D.C.: NewTrends Publishing, Inc.
5. Coleman, Eliot. 1999. Four-Season Harvest. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Co.
Chapter 9
1. Mellen, P.B., T. F. Walsh, and D.M. Herrington. “Whole grain intake and cardiovascular disease: a
meta-analysis.” Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, 78 (2003): 383-390.
2. Reddy, N. Rukma and Shridhar K. Sathe. 2002. Food Phytates. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Chapter 10
1. Batmanghelidj, F., M.D. 2008. Your Body’s Many Cries for Water. Vienna, VA: Global Health
Solutions, Inc.
2. Hendel, Dr. Barbara and Peter Ferreira. 2003. Water and Salt: The Essence of Life. Natural Resources,
Inc.
Chapter 12
1. Young, Robert O. and Shelley R. Young. 2002. The pH Miracle. New York, NY: Warner Books. (quote
on p. 14).
350 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
Symbols
“Cheesy” Collard / Kale Crisps recipe 218
A
acidic foods, discussed 329
agar powder, explained 338
agave
Almond Cookies 321
Almond Cream Sauce 313
Almond Joy Fudge 109
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Berry Sauce 313
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Buttery Dill Sautéed Carrots 144
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars 108
Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
Chocolate Balls 319
Chocolate Cookies 322
Chocolate Goji Smoothie 315
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Cilantro-Corn Chips 213
Coconut-Oat Cookies 321
Craisin Salad 63
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
explained 337
Faux Kettle Corn 110
Flax Waffles 291
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps 183
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) 310
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
Lemon Chews 318
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Millet Porridge 113
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread 269
Orange-Walnut Salad Dressing 84
Peanut Butter Cookies 322
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Russian Borscht 140
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Sweet-Savory Green Beans 148
Teriyaki Almonds 210
Vanilla Pudding 155
Waldorf Salad 67
World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream or Shake 320
alfalfa seeds
Robyn’s Granola 284
Savory Flax Crackers 216
alfalfa sprouts
Avocado Dressing 84
Bleu Cheese Dressing 88
Cabbage Salad Dressing 85
Ginger-Miso Dressing 89
Green Goddess Dressing 88
Orange-Walnut Salad Dressing 84
alkaline
foods, discussed 329
water, how to get 329
water, when to drink 328
water, why drink 328
alkalinity, importance of 327
almond butter
Chocolate Balls 319
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
Almond Cherry Cookies recipe 211
Almond Cookies recipe 321
Almond Cream Sauce recipe 313
Almond Joy Fudge recipe 109
Almond Yogurt recipe 237
almonds
Almond Cherry Cookies 211
Almond Cookies 321
Almond Joy Fudge 109
Almond Yogurt 237
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Baked Potato Bar 171
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Cabbage Salad 64
Candied Nuts 210
Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
Chocolate Shake 314
Cocoa Almonds 211
Craisin Salad 63
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Live Granola 294
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
Nut Milk 286
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce 312
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
Robyn’s Granola 284
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 351

Index
almonds (continued)
Sprouted Nut Milk 210
sprouted, recipes 210
Teriyaki Almonds 210
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
aluminum in baking powder, problem with 300
Amaranth L’Orange recipe 266
amaranth seeds
Amaranth L’Orange 266
explained 255
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
Anaheim pepper
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Cilantro-Corn Chips 213
Salsa 221
Tempeh Pitas 144
Vegetarian Chili 186
apple
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Christmasy Salad 65
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
Laura’s No Fruit Green Smoothie 52
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Waldorf Salad 67
applesauce
Buttermilk Cornbread 259
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Peanut Butter Cookies 309
apricot
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies 309
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies recipe 309
arrowroot
explained 338
powder, Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
powder, Vanilla Pudding 155
artichoke
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
Tomato-Basil Pasta 117
arugula
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Asian Ginger Dressing recipe 87
Asian Salad recipe 67
asparagus
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
aspartame
explained 338
sweeteners 338
avocado
Avocado Basmati Rice 193
Avocado Dressing 84
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers 267
Christmasy Salad 65
Guacamole 222
Laura’s No Fruit Green Smoothie 52
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Zucchini Carpaccio 153
Avocado Basmati Rice recipe 193
Avocado Dressing recipe 84
Avocado-Almond Salad recipe 72
B
Baked Potato Bar recipe 171
baking
amaranth 255
buckwheat 254
kamut 254
millet 255
oats 254
powder, problem with aluminum in 300
quinoa 254
spelt 253
whole grains 253
Balsamic-Miso Vinaigrette recipe 88
banana
Breakfast Pudding 296
Chocolate Shake 314
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
Fruity Sorbet 314
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten
Free) 290
barley
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
glycemic index 163
nutritional info 163
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
bars
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations recipe 82
Basic Salad recipes 62
basil
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette 94
Green Pesto Crackers 213
Marinated Steamed Beets 142
Pasta with Pesto 183
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
Rainbow Salad 154
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
Split Pea Soup 188
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing 83
Sweet-Savory Green Beans 148
Tomato-Basil Pasta 117
Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad 63
Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette recipe 94
basmati brown rice, Avocado Basmati Rice 193
352 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
bay leaf
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Split Pea Soup 188
Vegetarian Chili 186
beans
cooking tips 164
glycemic index 163
mixed, Country Market Stew 185
nutritional info 163
beauty regimen, best oils for 101
beet
Beet Kvass 241
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce 142
Chocolate Beet Cake 305
greens, nutrition facts 40
greens, Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Marinated Steamed Beets 142
Pickled Beets 240
recipes 140
Russian Borscht 140
why grow and eat 124
Beet Kvass recipe 241
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad recipe 73
Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce recipe 142
bell pepper
Baked Potato Bar 171
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Breakfast Burritos 288
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers 267
Chard Rice Rolls 147
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Curried Quinoa 173
Everyday Green Salad 62
Flax-Veggie Crackers 214
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Mexicali Wraps 180
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Polenta 264
recipes 143
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Roasted Eggplant Spread 221
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Southwest Salad 69
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Tempeh Pitas 144
Vegetarian Chili 186
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
why grow and eat 124
berries, mixed
Berry Sauce 313
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
Fruity Sorbet 314
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes recipe 293
Berry Sauce recipe 313
biscuits, Whole-Wheat Biscuits 263
Black Bean and Corn Salad recipe 68
black beans
Chard Rice Rolls 147
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Everyday Green Salad 62
Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad 68
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Southwest Quinoa 174
Southwest Salad 69
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa recipe 115
black-eyed peas, Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
blender, type you need for plant-based diet 29
Bleu Cheese Dressing recipe 88
bleu cheese, Bleu Cheese Dressing 88
blondies, Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
blueberry
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten
Free) 290
Blueberry Flax Muffins recipe 260
bottled water, problems with 327
Braised Kale and Tomatoes recipe 150
breads
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
Darlene’s Kamut Sourdough Bread 271
Essene, explained 201
Ethiopian Flatbread 262
Ezekiel, explained 245
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Focaccia Bread 270
grains for making good 253
making, with sprouted grains 201
Navajo Taco 270
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread 269
Pretzels 270
rye 269
Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread 270
Zucchini Bread 306
breakfast
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Breakfast Burritos 288
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Breakfast Pudding 296
Coconut Milk 286
Flax Waffles 291
foods for 280
Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
German Pancakes 290
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
Hot-Pink Smoothie 285
importance of 275
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
Kefir Smoothie 286
Live Granola 294
Millet Porridge 113
Nut Milk 286
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes 292
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
recipes 284
Robyn’s Granola 284
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 353

Index
breakfast (continued)
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten
Free) 290
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes 289
Three Toppings for Pancakes and Waffles 293
Breakfast Burritos recipe 288
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies recipe 296
Breakfast Pudding recipe 296
broccoli
Amaranth L’Orange 266
Baked Potato Bar 171
Breakfast Burritos 288
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad 64
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Pasta with Pesto 183
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes 170
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa recipe 173
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad recipe 64
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce recipe 111
brown rice
Avocado Basmati Rice 193
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
Chard Rice Rolls 147
Country Market Stew 185
glycemic index 163
Green Lentil Soup 187
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl 196
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
nutritional info 163
Potato-Garbanzo Curry 195
protein powder, Chocolate Shake 314
Rice Milk 266
Rice Pudding 112
Split Pea Soup 188
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
syrup, Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Vegetarian Chili 186
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
brownies
Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
buckwheat
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
explained 162, 254
flour, Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
glycemic index 163
groats, Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
nutritional info 163
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten
Free) 290
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole 267
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry recipe 190
bulgur
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers 267
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations 106
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers recipe 267
Butter Pecan Ice Cream recipe 320
butter, cultured (recipe) 237
buttermilk
Buttermilk Cornbread 259
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
Ranch Dressing 87
Buttermilk Cornbread recipe 259
Buttery Dill Sautéed Carrots recipe 144
C
cabbage
Cabbage Salad 64
Christmasy Salad 65
Kimchi 243
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Russian Borscht 140
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Sauerkraut 242
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
why grow and eat 126
Cabbage Salad Dressing recipe 85
Cabbage Salad recipe 64
cacao
Chocolate Shake 314
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
cakes
Chocolate Beet Cake 305
Chocolate Frosting 307
calcium, plant-based foods and 158
Candied Nuts recipe 210
candy, Halva 319
cantaloupe, Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
capers, Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
caraway seeds
Russian Borscht 140
Rye Bread 269
Savory Flax Crackers 216
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
carbohydrates and whole foods 161
carob, Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
carrot
Avocado Basmati Rice 193
Buttery Dill Sautéed Carrots 144
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars 108
Carrot-Orange Soup 145
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Green Lentil Soup 187
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Nori Nachos 212
Pasta with Pesto 183
recipes 144
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Russian Borscht 140
Spiced Carrots 241
Split Pea Soup 188
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole 267
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
354 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
why grow and eat 125
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars recipe 108
Carrot-Orange Soup recipe 145
cashews
Almond Cream Sauce 313
Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce 142
Breakfast Pudding 296
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Cheesy Collard / Kale Crisps 218
Chocolate Pudding 318
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Lemon Chews 318
Nori Nachos 212
Nut Milk 286
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
Robyn’s Granola 284
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole 267
cauliflower
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad 64
Pasta with Pesto 183
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
celery
Avocado Basmati Rice 193
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Flax-Veggie Crackers 214
Green Lentil Soup 187
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
root, Waldorf Salad 67
Russian Borscht 140
Savory Flax Crackers 216
Split Pea Soup 188
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
cereal
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
Live Granola 294
Millet Porridge 113
Robyn’s Granola 284
Chapati recipe 262
chard
Chard Rice Rolls 147
Green Pesto Crackers 213
nutrition facts 40
Pasta and Garlic Greens 146
recipes 146
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
why grow and eat 125
Chard Rice Rolls recipe 147
cheddar cheese, Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
cheese. See specific cheese name
cheesecake, Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
chemicals, controlling garden pests without 132
cherry, Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
Cherry-Almond Blondies recipe 312
Chia Pudding recipe 297
chia seeds
Chia Pudding 297
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
chickpeas
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers 267
Everyday Green Salad 62
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps 183
glycemic index 163
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
nutritional info 163
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
Potato-Garbanzo Curry 195
Sprouted Hummus Spread 220
children
getting, to eat right 11
green smoothie recipe for 52
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup recipe 189
chipotle chili, Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
chips
Cilantro-Corn Chips 213
sprouted-seed recipes 212
chives
Ranch Dressing 87
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
chocolate
Chocolate Balls 319
Chocolate Beet Cake 305
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
Chocolate Cookies 322
Chocolate Frosting 307
Chocolate Goji Smoothie 315
Chocolate Pudding 318
Chocolate Shake 314
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream or Shake 320
Chocolate Balls recipe 319
Chocolate Beet Cake recipe 305
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies recipe 308
Chocolate Cookies recipe 322
Chocolate Frosting recipe 307
Chocolate Goji Smoothie recipe 315
Chocolate Pudding recipe 318
Chocolate Shake recipe 314
Chocolate Walnut Muffins recipe 307
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies recipe 110
Christmasy Salad recipe 65
cilantro
Asian Salad 67
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Breakfast Burritos 288
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
Chard Rice Rolls 147
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Cilantro-Corn Chips 213
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette 91
Green Goddess Dressing 88
Guacamole 222
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl 196
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 355

Index
cilantro (continued)
Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad 68
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
Mexicali Wraps 180
Pasta with Pesto 183
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Dressing 91
Southwest Quinoa 174
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations 106
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Cilantro-Corn Chips recipe 213
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette recipe 91
citations, source materials for 349
cleansing reaction, explained 32
clover seeds, Savory Flax Crackers 216
cocoa
Almond Joy Fudge 109
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Chocolate Beet Cake 305
Chocolate Cookies 322
Chocolate Frosting 307
Chocolate Pudding 318
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Cocoa Almonds 211
Frosting 307
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream or Shake 320
Cocoa Almonds recipe 211
coconut
Almond Joy Fudge 109
Asian Salad 67
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars 108
Chocolate Goji Smoothie 315
Chocolate Pudding 318
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Coconut Milk 286
cream, Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars 108
cream, Frosting 307
GreenSmoothieGirl’s Oat-Coconut Cookie Mix 321
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad 66
Kefir 235
Lemon Chews 318
liquid, explained 339
liquid, Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
opening 235
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
Rice Pudding 112
Robyn’s Granola 284
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes 289
Coconut Liquid Kefir recipe 235
coconut milk
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
explained 339
Millet Porridge 113
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
recipe for 286
Rice Pudding 112
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream or Shake 320
Coconut Milk recipe 286
coconut oil
Almond Cookies 321
Almond Joy Fudge 109
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies 309
benefits of 99
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars 108
Chapati 262
Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Chocolate Beet Cake 305
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
Chocolate Cookies 322
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Coconut-Oat Cookies 321
Dinner Pancakes 152
Ethiopian Flatbread 262
explained 339
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Faux Kettle Corn 110
Flax Waffles 291
Flax/Coconut “Butter” 113
Flaxseed Cookies 114
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps 183
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) 310
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Green Lentil Soup 187
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
incorporating into diet 102
Live Granola 294
Mexicali Wraps 180
Microwave Popcorn 110
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread 269
Oat-Coconut Muffins 322
Peanut Butter Cookies 309, 322
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes 292
Quinoa Cookies 308
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
recipes 106
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Robyn’s Granola 284
Rye Bread 269
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions 148
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten
Free) 290
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes 289
Squash Fritters 152
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations 106
Sweet-Savory Green Beans 148
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
Whole-Wheat Biscuits 263
Zucchini Bread 306
356 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
Coconut-Oat Cookies recipe 321
coffee, getting off of 29
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad recipe 147
collard greens
Cheesy Collard / Kale Crisps 218
Christmasy Salad 65
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes 169
Green Pesto Crackers 213
Laura’s No Fruit Green Smoothie 52
nutrition facts 40
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
composting, for garden 134
converting treat recipe for nutrition 300
cookies
Almond Cherry Cookies 211
Almond Cookies 321
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies 309
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Chocolate Balls 319
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
Chocolate Cookies 322
Coconut-Oat Cookies 321
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) 310
GreenSmoothieGirl’s Oat-Coconut Cookie Mix 321
Lemon Chews 318
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
Peanut Butter Cookies 309, 322
Quinoa Cookies 308
corn
Cilantro-Corn Chips 213
Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad 68
Polenta 264
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Southwest Salad 69
tortilla strips, Salsa Verde Salad 69
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
cornmeal
Buttermilk Cornbread 259
Chapati 262
Polenta 264
Country Market Stew recipe 185
couscous. See whole-grain couscous
crackers
“Cheesy” Collard / Kale Crisps 218
Flax-Veggie Crackers 214
Green Pesto Crackers 213
Lemony Kale Crisps 217
Parmesan Flax Crackers 216
Savory Flax Crackers 216
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
sprouted-seed recipes 212
Craisin Salad Dressing recipe 82
Craisin Salad recipe 63
Craisins
Almond Cherry Cookies 211
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Cabbage Salad 64
Craisin Salad 63
cranberry, Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
cream, sour (recipe) 237
Crème Fresh recipe 237
cucumber
Everyday Green Salad 62
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Laura’s No Fruit Green Smoothie 52
Pickle Slices 241
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Tempeh Pitas 144
Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad 63
Cultured Butter recipe 237
cumin seeds, Sauerkraut 242
currants, Asian Salad 67
Curried Quinoa recipe 173
D
Dairy or Goat Milk Kefir recipe 233
dairy products, fermenting
explained 224
recipes 233, 236, 237
dandelion greens
nutrition facts 40
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Darlene’s Kamut Sourdough Bread recipe 271
dates
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Candied Nuts 210
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce 312
Teriyaki Almonds 210
Debbie’s Manna Bars recipe 219
dehydrated greens products, discussed 331
dehydrating
explained 199
money-saving tips 206
recommended dehydrator 199
snacks 205
diabetes and whole foods 161
Dill Pickle Kale Chips recipe 217
dill weed
Buttery Dill Sautéed Carrots 144
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad 147
Dill Pickle Kale Chips 217
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad 66
Marinated Steamed Beets 142
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread 269
Pickle Slices 241
Russian Borscht 140
Rye Bread 269
Sauerkraut 242
Spiced Carrots 241
Squash Fritters 152
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Tangy Dill Dressing 85
Dinner Pancakes recipe 152
distilled water, explained 327
donuts, Orange-Glaze Donuts 311
dressing, salad
bottled, harmful ingredients in 76
homemade, making 75
ingredients to use in 77
money- and time-saving tips 78
recipes 82
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 357

Index
dried fruit
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
drinks
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
Coconut Milk 286
Nut Milk 286
Rice Milk 266
Sprouted-Nut Milk 210
E
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie recipe 52
Easy Kale Salad recipe 149
edible weeds, Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
eggplant, Roasted Eggplant Spread 221
enzymes, importance of 56
Essene bread, explained 201
Ethiopian Flatbread recipe 262
Everyday Green Salad recipe 62
Ezekiel bread, explained 245
F
Falafel Pita Pockets recipe 182
fats
coconut oil, benefits 99
coconut oil, incorporating into diet 102
fish oil, problems with 98
flaxseed oil, benefits 97
flaxseed oil, incorporating into diet 102
good vs. bad, explained 95
oils for beauty regimen 101
olive oil, benefits 100
olive oil, incorporating into diet 102
Faux Kettle Corn recipe 110
fermented food recipes
kefir 233
Kombucha 238
other dairy 237
Rejuvenac 238
vegetables 240
yogurt 236
fermented vegetables, recipes 240
fermenting, explained
dairy products 224
grains 228
money-saving tips 229
vegetables 224
feta cheese
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Everyday Green Salad 62
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Pasta with Kale 150
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Squash Fritters 152
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Tempeh Pitas 144
fish oil, problems with 98
flax seeds
benefits of 205
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Buttery Dill Sautéed Carrots 144
Chocolate Balls 319
Cilantro-Corn Chips 213
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Flax Waffles 291
Flaxseed Cookies 114
Flax-Veggie Crackers 214
Green Pesto Crackers 213
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
Live Granola 294
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
Orange-Glaze Donuts 311
Parmesan Flax Crackers 216
Rainbow Salad 154
Robyn’s Granola 284
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions 148
Savory Flax Crackers 216
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten
Free) 290
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
Flax Waffles recipe 291
Flax/Coconut “Butter” recipe 113
Flaxseed Cookies recipe 114
flaxseed oil
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette 94
benefits of 97
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Flax/Coconut “Butter” 113
Garlic Mayo 114
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette 86
incorporating into diet 102
Lemon-Lime Dressing 94
Pesto Vinaigrette 91
recipes 113
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Tomato-Basil Pasta 117
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Flax-Veggie Crackers recipe 214
flour. See specific flour type name
Focaccia Bread recipe 270
four season gardening, explained 133
frosting, chocolate (recipe) 307
fructose, explained 338
fruit
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
cocktail, Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
juice, Gelatin Dessert 313
Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes recipe 293
fruitless green smoothie recipe 52
Fruity Sorbet recipe 314
G
garbanzo beans. See chickpeas
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps recipe 183
garden
beets, why grow in 124
bell peppers, why grow in 124
cabbage, why grow in 126
carrots, why grow in 125
chard, why grow in 125
composting, explained 134
garlic, why grow in 127
358 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
green beans, why grow in 126
green smoothie ingredients to grow in 128
kale, why grow in 126
money-saving tips 133
necessary items for 119
onions, why grow in 127
pests, controlling without chemicals 132
planting 119
spinach, why grow in 127
square-foot, explained 130
squash, why grow in 128
what to plant 123
winter produce 133
garlic
Asian Ginger Dressing 87
Avocado Basmati Rice 193
Avocado Dressing 84
Baked Potato Bar 171
Balsamic-Miso Vinaigrette 88
Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette 94
Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce 142
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Bleu Cheese Dressing 88
Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Breakfast Burritos 288
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Cheesy Collard / Kale Crisps 218
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette 91
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Flax/Coconut “Butter” 113
Flax-Veggie Crackers 214
Garlic Mayo 114
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes 169
Ginger-Miso Dressing 89
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Green Goddess Dressing 88
Green Lentil Soup 187
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette 86
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl 196
Kimchi 243
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
Lemon-Lime Dressing 94
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Mexicali Wraps 180
Pasta and Garlic Greens 146
Pasta with Pesto 183
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Roasted Eggplant Spread 221
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Dressing 91
Sautéed Garlic Spinach 151
Savory Flax Crackers 216
Split Pea Soup 188
Sprouted Hummus Spread 220
Sweet-Savory Green Beans 148
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole 267
why grow and eat 127
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
Garlic Mayo recipe 114
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes recipe 169
Gelatin Dessert recipe 313
German Pancakes recipe 290
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) recipe 310
ginger root
Asian Ginger Dressing 87
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Curried Quinoa 173
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) 310
Ginger-Miso Dressing 89
Kimchi 243
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
Lemon-Lime Dressing 94
Spiced Carrots 241
Yogurt Curry Dressing 90
Ginger-Miso Dressing recipe 89
gluten-free
grains, listed 253
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes 290
glycemic index
cautions about 163
explained 161
grains and legumes 163
recipes with food lower on 168
goat’s milk
Dairy or Goat Milk Kefir recipe 233
explained 227
in kefir recipe 233
goji berry, Chocolate Goji Smoothie 315
Gorgonzola cheese, Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
grains
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
best, for baking 253
cooking with 162
fermenting, explained 228
main dish recipes 177
money-saving tips 256
nutrients and glycemic index of 163
sprouting, explained 202
sprouting, for bread 201
whole, listed 248
grape juice, Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
grapefruit, Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad 66
grapes
Cabbage Salad 64
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
grapeseed oil, Tempeh Pitas 144
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti recipe 184
green beans
Avocado Basmati Rice 193
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad 147
recipes 147
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions 148
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Sweet-Savory Green Beans 148
why grow and eat 126
green chili pepper
Chapati 262
Chard Rice Rolls 147
Country Market Stew 185
Curried Quinoa 173
Polenta 264
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 359

Index
Green Goddess Dressing recipe 88
Green Lentil Soup recipe 187
Green Pesto Crackers recipe 213
green smoothies
benefits explained 35
blender for 29
including in diet 29
ingredients, easiest to grow 128
juicing vs. 37
money-saving tips 41
protein in 41
questionnaire 42
recipe, easiest starter 52
recipe, for children 52
recipe, no fruit 52
recipe, Robyn’s 51
science behind 33
sweeteners in 39
testimonials 47
greens
dehydrated, discussed 331
mixed, Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
mixed, Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
nutrition facts of various 40
salad, which to buy 58
spring, Everyday Green Salad 62
spring, Waldorf Salad 67
GreenSmoothieGirl’s Oat-Coconut Cookie Mix with
Variations recipe 321
Guacamole recipe 222
H
Halva recipe 319
hemp protein powder
Chocolate Shake 314
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix recipe 287
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal recipe 287
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes recipe 291
homemade salad dressing, making 75
Honey Dressing recipe 89
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette recipe 86
honey, explained 337
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie recipe 285
Hummus Spread recipe 220
I
ice cream
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Fruity Sorbet 314
Popsicles 313
World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream 320
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl recipe 196
J
jalapeño jack cheese, Chard Rice Rolls 147
jalapeño pepper
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Dressing 91
Vegetarian Chili 186
jicama
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad 66
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad recipe 66
journal, reasons to keep 12 Step 22
juicing vs. green smoothies 37
K
kale
Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Cheesy Collard / Kale Crisps 218
Christmasy Salad 65
Dill Pickle Kale Chips 217
Easy Kale Salad 149
Green Pesto Crackers 213
kale chips 217
Lemony Kale Crisps 217
nutrition facts 40
Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens 185
Pasta with Kale 150
recipes 149
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
why grow and eat 126
kamut
Darlene’s Kamut Sourdough Bread 271
explained 254
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal recipe 288
kasha, Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
kefir
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
Coconut Liquid Kefir 235
Flax Waffles 291
Focaccia Bread 270
German Pancakes 290
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Kefir Smoothie 286
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread 269
Polenta 264
Pretzels 270
recipes 233
Rye Bread 269
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread 270
Water Kefir 235
Kefir Smoothie recipe 286
kelp
Green Goddess Dressing 88
Guacamole 222
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl 196
noodles, explained 339
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
kidney beans
Everyday Green Salad 62
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens 185
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
Kimchi recipe 243
Kombucha recipe 238
L
lambsquarter leaves, Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad recipe 68
Laura’s No Fruit Green Smoothie recipe 52
360 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
leek
Green Lentil Soup 187
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
legumes
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
main dish recipes 177
lemon
Avocado Basmati Rice 193
Avocado Dressing 84
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Baked Potato Bar 171
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce 142
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Cheesy Collard / Kale Crisps 218
Easy Kale Salad 149
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Garlic Mayo 114
Ginger-Miso Dressing 89
Green Goddess Dressing 88
Guacamole 222
Honey Dressing 89
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette 86
Laura’s No Fruit Green Smoothie 52
Lemon Chews 318
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
Lemon-Lime Dressing 94
Lemony Kale Crisps 217
Marinated Steamed Beets 142
Pasta and Garlic Greens 146
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Pesto Vinaigrette 91
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Salsa 221
Sautéed Garlic Spinach 151
Sprouted Hummus Spread 220
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Tangy Dill Dressing 85
Waldorf Salad 67
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Zucchini Carpaccio 153
Lemon Chews recipe 318
Lemon Tahini Dressing recipe 92
Lemon-Lime Dressing recipe 94
Lemony Kale Crisps recipe 217
lentil flour, Chapati 262
Lentil Tacos recipe 177
lentils
glycemic index 163
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Green Lentil Soup 187
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl 196
Lentil Tacos 177
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
nutritional info 163
Taco Salad 177
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers recipe 143
lettuce
Asian Salad 67
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Craisin Salad 63
Everyday Green Salad 62
Lentil Tacos 177
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Southwest Salad 69
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Taco Salad 177
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
lime
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers 267
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette 91
Country Market Stew 185
Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad 68
Lemon-Lime Dressing 94
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Dressing 91
Southwest Quinoa 174
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Zucchini Carpaccio 153
Live Granola recipe 294
lychee, Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
M
macadamia nuts, Nori Nachos 212
main dish
plant-based, making 157
using salad as 53
malitol, explained 338
mandarin orange
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Cabbage Salad 64
Craisin Salad 63
mango
Christmasy Salad 65
Fruity Sorbet 314
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
manna bars recipe 219
maple syrup
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Breakfast Pudding 296
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Candied Nuts 210
Chocolate Pudding 318
explained 337
Ginger-Miso Dressing 89
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Rice Pudding 112
Robyn’s Granola 284
Southwest Quinoa 174
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations 106
Vanilla Pudding 155
Maple Syrup Dressing recipe 87
Marinated Steamed Beets recipe 142
meats, alkalizing/acidifying types 330
Mexicali Wraps recipe 180
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 361

Index
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars
recipe 323
Microwave Popcorn recipe 110
milk
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
coconut, recipe 286
goat’s 227
kefir recipe 233
nut, recipe 286
Oat-Coconut Muffins 322
Orange-Glaze Donuts 311
rice, recipe 266
rice, Robyn’s Granola 284
sprouted-nut 210
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes 289
Whole-Wheat Biscuits 263
millet
Ethiopian Flatbread 262
explained 163, 255
glycemic index 163
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Millet Porridge 113
nutritional info 163
Millet Porridge recipe 113
mineral water, explained 327
mint
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Squash Fritters 152
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
miso, explained 339
molasses
explained 337
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) 310
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
Potato-Garbanzo Curry 195
Robyn’s Granola 284
money-saving tips
beans, cooking with 164
fermenting foods 229
gardening 133
green smoothies 41
preserving raw foods 229
salad dressing 78
salads 59
sprouting and dehydrating 206
whole grains 256
morning glory, Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
mother (kombucha), explained 238
mozzarella cheese
Craisin Salad 63
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
muffins
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Chocolate Frosting 307
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
Oat-Coconut Muffins 322
mung beans, Kimchi 243
mushroom
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
mustard greens
nutrition facts 40
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
mustard seeds
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette 86
Pickle Slices 241
Sauerkraut 242
N
nachos, nori 217
Navajo Tacos recipe 270
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies recipe 310
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread recipe 269
nori nachos 217
Nori Nachos recipe 217
Nut Milk recipe 286
nut milk, Robyn’s Granola 284
NutraSweet, explained 338
nutrients lost, in refined/white flour 246
nutrition
converting treat recipe for 300
discerning truth about 10
facts, greens 40
nuts. See also specific nut name
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
candied 210
sprouting, explained 202
O
oat groats
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Breakfast Pudding 296
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Live Granola 294
Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens 185
Oat-Coconut Muffins recipe 322
oats
explained 254
glycemic index 163
nutritional info 163
sprouting 202
oil, alkalizing/acidifying types 330
oils. See fats
olive oil
benefits of 100
incorporating into diet 102
olives
Everyday Green Salad 62
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Rainbow Salad 154
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
onion
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Baked Potato Bar 171
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Breakfast Burritos 288
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad 64
362 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers 267
Cabbage Salad Dressing 85
Carrot-Orange Soup 145
Cheesy Collard / Kale Crisps 218
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad 147
Country Market Stew 185
Craisin Salad Dressing 82
Curried Quinoa 173
Dinner Pancakes 152
Everyday Green Salad 62
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps 183
Ginger-Miso Dressing 89
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Green Lentil Soup 187
Green Pesto Crackers 213
Kimchi 243
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Maple Syrup Dressing 87
Mexicali Wraps 180
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens 185
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Polenta 264
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
Potato-Garbanzo Curry 195
Rainbow Salad 154
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Roasted Eggplant Spread 221
Russian Borscht 140
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Dressing 91
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions 148
Savory Flax Crackers 216
Southwest Quinoa 174
Spinach-Strawberry Salad 64
Split Pea Soup 188
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
Sweet-Savory Green Beans 148
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Tempeh Pitas 144
Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad 63
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole 267
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes 170
Vegetarian Chili 186
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
why grow and eat 127
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
Zucchini Pitas 153
orange
Amaranth L’Orange 266
Breakfast Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies 296
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars 108
Carrot-Orange Soup 145
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
Ginger-Miso Dressing 89
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
mandarin, Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
mandarin, Cabbage Salad 64
mandarin, Craisin Salad 63
Millet Porridge 113
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce 312
Orange-Glaze Donuts 311
Orange-Walnut Salad Dressing 84
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Tangy Dill Dressing 85
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce recipe 312
Orange-Glaze Donuts recipe 311
Orange-Walnut Salad Dressing recipe 84
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad recipe 66
oregano
Balsamic-Miso Vinaigrette 88
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Orange-Walnut Salad Dressing 84
Rainbow Salad 154
Sauerkraut 242
organic produce, discussed 129
orzo, Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
P
pancakes
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
German Pancakes 290
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes 292
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten
Free) 290
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes 289
Three Toppings for Pancakes 293
papaya, Black-Eyed Papaya Salsa 115
Parmesan cheese
Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette 94
Parmesan Flax Crackers 216
Pasta with Pesto 183
Polenta 264
Sautéed Garlic Spinach 151
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
Squash Fritters 152
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes 170
Zucchini Pitas 153
Parmesan Flax Crackers recipe 216
parsley
Balsamic-Miso Vinaigrette 88
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad 147
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Green Goddess Dressing 88
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Ranch Dressing 87
Split Pea Soup 188
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 363

Index
parsley (continued)
Sprouted Hummus Spread 220
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
Pasta and Garlic Greens recipe 146
Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens recipe 185
Pasta with Kale recipe 150
Pasta with Pesto recipe 183
pasta. See whole-wheat pasta
peach
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
peanut butter
Almond Cherry Cookies 211
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Kasha (Roasted Buckwheat) Cereal 288
No-Cook Chocolate Chia Crispies 310
Peanut Butter Cookies 309, 322
Potato-Garbanzo Curry 195
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
Peanut Butter Cookies recipe 309, 322
peanuts
Asian Salad 67
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce 192
pear
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
peas
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl 196
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Split Pea Soup 188
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa recipe 172
pecans
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Candied Nuts 210
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Michelle Jorgenson’s “Power through the Day” Bars 323
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
Robyn’s Granola 284
Spinach-Strawberry Salad 64
pepper jack cheese
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Mexicali Wraps 180
perfect proteins, explained 251
Pesto Vinaigrette recipe 91
pests, controlling garden without chemicals 132
phytates, explained 249
Pi/PiMag water, explained 327
Pickle Slices recipe 241
Pickled Beets recipe 240
pies
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
pine nuts
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies 309
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Easy Kale Salad 149
Pasta with Kale 150
Sautéed Garlic Spinach 151
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
pineapple
Fruity Sorbet 314
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Pink Hummus Quesadillas recipe 179
pinto beans, Vegetarian Chili 186
pistachios
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Zucchini Carpaccio 153
plant-based main dishes, making 157
planting garden 119
Polenta recipe 264
pomegranate seeds, Christmasy Salad 65
popcorn
Faux Kettle Corn 110
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Microwave Popcorn 110
Polenta 264
poppy seeds
Cabbage Salad Dressing 85
Craisin Salad Dressing 82
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing 83
Popsicles recipe 313
potato
Breakfast Burritos 288
Dinner Pancakes 152
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes 169
including in meals 161
main dish recipes 168
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
Potato-Garbanzo Curry 195
Russian Borscht 140
Split Pea Soup 188
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes 170
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup recipe 111
Potato-Garbanzo Curry recipe 195
preserving raw foods with probiotics 223
Pretzels recipe 270
probiotics, preserving raw foods with natural 223
protein
green smoothies and 41
perfect, explained 251
plant-based foods and 158
salad and 55
psyllium husk powder
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce 312
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
puddings
Breakfast Pudding 296
Chia Pudding 297
Chocolate Pudding 318
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes recipe 292
pumpkin seeds
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Cabbage Salad 64
Green Pesto Crackers 213
Live Granola 294
Robyn’s Granola 284
Spicy Pumpkin Seeds 212
sprouted, recipes 212
pumpkin, Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes 292
364 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
purslane
nutrition facts 40
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Q
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes recipe 293
quinoa
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Curried Quinoa 173
explained 162, 254
glycemic index 163
main dish recipes 172
nutritional info 163
Pecan-Cranberry Quinoa 172
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Southwest Quinoa 174
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations 106
Quinoa Cookies recipe 308
quinoa flour, Quinoa Cookies 308
R
radish
Christmasy Salad 65
Kimchi 243
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions 148
Rainbow Salad recipe 154
raisins
Breakfast Pudding 296
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad 64
Cabbage Salad 64
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Easy Kale Salad 149
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
Waldorf Salad 67
Ranch Dressing recipe 87
raspberry, Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing 83
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake recipe 315
raw food, importance of 57
Raw Key Lime Pie recipe 316
red pepper (roasted), Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad 68
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa recipe 176
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad recipe 268
refined flour, replacing in diet 245
refried beans, Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
Rejuvelac (fermented grains) recipe 238
reverse osmosis water, explained 327
Rice Milk recipe 266
rice milk, Robyn’s Granola 284
Rice Pudding recipe 112
Roasted Eggplant Spread recipe 221
roasted red pepper, Laura’s Black Bean and Corn Salad 68
Robyn’s Granola recipe 284
Robyn’s Green Smoothie recipe 51
rolled oats
Almond Cookies 321
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
Coconut-Oat Cookies 321
Flaxseed Cookies 114
GreenSmoothieGirl’s Oat-Coconut Cookie Mix 321
Live Granola 294
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes 292
Robyn’s Granola 284
romaine, nutrition facts 40
root vegetables, main dish recipes 168
rosemary, Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Russian Borscht recipe 140
rye
glycemic index 163
nutritional info 163
sprouting 202
Rye Bread recipe 269
rye flour, Rye Bread 269
S
salad
greens, which to buy 58
money-saving tips 59
protein and 55
using, as main dish 53
salad dressing
harmful ingredients in bottled 76
ingredients to use in 77
making 75
recipes 82
tips 78
salads
Asian Salad 67
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Beet-Pear-Feta Salad 73
Black Bean and Corn Salad 68
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad 64
Cabbage Salad 64
Christmasy Salad 65
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad 147
Craisin Salad 63
Easy Kale Salad 149
Everyday Green Salad 62
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad 66
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
Rainbow Salad 154
recipes, basic 62
recipes, party 63
Red Quinoa Arugula Salad 268
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions 148
Southwest Salad 69
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
Spinach-Strawberry Salad 64
Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
Taco Salad 177
Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad 63
Waldorf Salad 67
salsa
Breakfast Burritos 288
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
Salsa recipe 221
Salsa Verde Dressing recipe 91
Salsa Verde Salad recipe 69
salt
importance of, for body 277
solution (sole), making 279
which to use 277
sauces
Almond Cream Sauce 313
Berry Sauce 313
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 365

Index
sauces (continued)
Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Orange-Almond Pudding with Berry Sauce 312
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Sauerkraut recipe 242
Sautéed Garlic Spinach recipe 151
Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and Onions recipe 148
Savory Flax Crackers recipe 216
scoby (kombucha), explained 238
seeds
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
cooking with 162
main dish recipes 177
sprouted, recipes 212
sprouting, explained 202
sesame oil, Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Sesame Seed Crackers recipe 263
sesame seeds
Almond Cherry Cookies 211
Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Buckwheat Asparagus Stir Fry 190
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Green Pesto Crackers 213
Halva 319
Kimchi 243
Live Granola 294
Nut Milk 286
Robyn’s Granola 284
shakes
Chocolate Shake 314
World’s Best Chocolate Shake 320
smoothies
Chocolate Goji Smoothie 315
easiest starter 52
fruitless 52
Hot Pink Breakfast 285
Kefir 286
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
snacks, dehydrated 205
soft drinks
getting off of 29
why bad for you 30
sole, explained 279
sorbet, Fruity Sorbet 314
soups
Carrot-Orange Soup 145
Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup 189
Green Lentil Soup 187
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
Split Pea Soup 188
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
sour cream
Ranch Dressing 87
Russian Borscht 140
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
Sour Cream recipe 237
source material citations, listed 349
sourdough starter
Focaccia Bread 270
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread 269
Pretzels 270
Rye Bread 269
Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread 270
sourdough vs. commercial yeast 251
Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread recipe 270
Southwest Quinoa recipe 174
Southwest Salad recipe 69
spelt
explained 253
glycemic index 163
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
nutritional info 163
sprouting 202
spelt pasta
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Pasta and Garlic Greens 146
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
Spiced Carrots recipe 241
Spicy Pumpkin Seeds recipe 212
spinach
Chocolate Pudding 318
Dinner Pancakes 152
Easiest Starter Green Smoothie 52
Everyday Green Salad 62
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps 183
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes 169
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad 66
nutrition facts 40
Pasta with Pesto 183
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
recipes 151
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Sautéed Garlic Spinach 151
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
Spinach-Strawberry Salad 64
Tomato-Basil Pasta 117
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes 170
Waldorf Salad 67
why grow and eat 127
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata recipe 72
Spinach-Strawberry Salad recipe 64
Splenda, explained 338
split pea flour, Chapati 262
Split Pea Soup recipe 188
split peas
glycemic index 163
Indian Green or Yellow Dahl 196
nutritional info 163
Split Pea Soup 188
spreads
Hummus Spread 220
Roasted Eggplant Spread 221
spring water, explained 327
sprouted
almond recipes 210
pumpkin seed recipes 212
quinoa, Sprouted Quinoa Salad 70
seed recipes 212
wheat tortillas, Breakfast Burritos 288
Sprouted Quinoa Salad recipe 70
Sprouted-Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (Gluten Free)
recipe 290
Sprouted-Nut Milk recipe 210
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes recipe 289
366 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
sprouting
almond recipes 210
explained 199
foods recommended for 203
grain, nuts, seeds (explained) 202
grains for bread 201
importance of 200
money-saving tips 206
pumpkin seeds, recipes 212
seeds, crackers/chips recipes 212
sprouts, Everyday Green Salad 62. See also specific sprout
name
square-foot gardening, explained 130
squash
Baked Potato Bar 171
Rainbow Salad 154
recipes 152
Squash Fritters 152
Vanilla Pudding 155
why grow and eat 128
Squash Fritters recipe 152
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce recipe 146
stevia, explained 338
Sticky Rice with Peanut Sauce recipe 192
stimulants, getting off of 29
strawberry
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Spinach-Strawberry Salad 64
Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing 83
Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing recipe 83
string beans, Sautéed String Beans with Radishes and
Onions 148
Sucanat, explained 338
sun-dried tomato
Baked Potato Bar 171
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Broccoli-Cashew Quinoa 173
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette 91
Flax/Coconut “Butter” 113
Polenta 264
Rainbow Salad 154
Tomato-Basil Pasta 117
sunflower seeds
Amaranth L’Orange 266
Baked Potato Bar 171
Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad 64
Debbie’s Manna Bars 219
Flax-Veggie Crackers 214
Green Pesto Crackers 213
Live Granola 294
Nori Nachos 212
Robyn’s Granola 284
Sweet Potato Fries and Variations recipe 106
sweet potato, Sweet Potato Fries and Variations 106
sweeteners
agave 337
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
aspartame 338
fructose 338
green smoothies and 39
honey 337
malitol 338
maple syrup 337
molasses 337
NutraSweet 338
Splenda 338
stevia 338
Sucanat 338
which to avoid 338
whole-food, explained 337
Xylitol 338
Sweet-Savory Green Beans recipe 148
T
Tabbouleh Wraps recipe 181
Taco Salad recipe 177
tahini
Chocolate Balls 319
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Halva 319
Lemon Tahini Dressing 92
Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens 185
Sprouted Hummus Spread 220
Tangy Dill Dressing recipe 85
tarragon
Bleu Cheese Dressing 88
Potato-Artichoke-Asparagus Soup 111
tea, Kombucha 239
tempeh
Mexicali Wraps 180
Tempeh Pitas 144
Tempeh Pitas recipe 144
Teriyaki Almonds recipe 210
testimonials
12 Steps 1
green smoothie 47
thistle, Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Three Toppings for Pancakes and Waffles recipe 293
thyme
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies 309
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Beets in Spicy Mustard Sauce 142
Green Lentil Soup 187
Split Pea Soup 188
Zucchini Carpaccio 153
time-saving tips, salad dressing 78
tofu, Breakfast Burritos 288
tomatillo, Salsa Verde Dressing 91
tomato
Avocado-Almond Salad 72
Baked Potato Bar 171
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Braised Kale and Tomatoes 150
Broccoli-Rice Bake with Coconut Curry Sauce 111
Bulgur-Stuffed Sweet Peppers 267
Christmasy Salad 65
Cilantro-Tomato Vinaigrette 91
Country Market Stew 185
Everyday Green Salad 62
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Flax-Veggie Crackers 214
Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps 183
Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
Guacamole 222
Lentil Tacos 177
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 367

Index
tomato (continued)
Mexicali Wraps 180
Nori Nachos 212
Pasta with Pesto 183
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
Rainbow Salad 154
Russian Borscht 140
Salsa 221
Salsa Verde Salad 69
Savory Flax Crackers 216
Southwest Quinoa 174
Southwest Salad 69
Spinach-Orzo Ensalata 72
Tabbouleh Wraps 181
Taco Salad 177
Tomato-Basil Pasta 117
Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad 63
Vegetarian Chili 186
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
Zucchini Pitas 153
Tomato-Basil Pasta recipe 117
Tomato-Onion-Cucumber Salad recipe 63
tortillas
Mexicali Wraps 180
Pink Hummus Quesadillas 179
treats
converting recipe to nutritious 300
recipes 305
whole food, explained 299
Trocomare, Avocado-Almond Salad 72
turnip
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole 267
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
Turnip Buckwheat Casserole recipe 267
turnip greens
nutrition facts 40
Robyn’s Green Smoothie 51
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup recipe 168
Twice-Baked Green Potatoes recipe 170
V
Vanilla Pudding recipe 155
vegetables
alkalizing/acidifying types 330
fermented, recipes 240
fermenting, explained 224
Vegetarian Chili recipe 186
W
waffles
Berry Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Flax Waffles 291
Fruit Sauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles 292
Quick Raw Applesauce for Waffles/Pancakes 293
Three Toppings for Waffles 293
Waldorf Salad recipe 67
walnut oil, Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad 147
walnuts
Basic Salad Dressing with Variations 82
Cabbage Salad 64
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
368 12 Steps to Whole Foods
Cold Green Bean-Walnut Salad 147
Everyday Green Salad 62
Jicama-Coconut-Grapefruit Salad 66
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Live Granola 294
Orange-Walnut-Gorgonzola Salad 66
Pasta with Pesto 183
Red Pepper-Rosemary Quinoa 176
Robyn’s Granola 284
Waldorf Salad 67
water
alkaline, how to get 329
alkaline, when to drink 328
alkaline, why drink 328
bottled, problems with 327
distilled, explained 327
drinking, contamination 326
importance of, for body 325
Pi and PiMag, explained 327
reverse osmosis, explained 327
spring and mineral, explained 327
Water Kefir recipe 235
wheat
berries, sprouting 202
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal Mix 287
Sprouted-Wheat Coconut Pancakes 289
sprouting 202
wheat germ
Flax Waffles 291
Robyn’s Granola 284
whey
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
explained 234
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
High-Protein, Gluten-Free Pancakes 291
Kimchi 243
Pickle Slices 241
Pickled Beets 240
Polenta 264
Sauerkraut 242
Spiced Carrots 241
white bean flour
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Buttermilk Cornbread 259
Chapati 262
Polenta 264
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
Whole-Wheat Biscuits 263
white flour
nutrients lost in 246
replacing with whole grains 245
substituting whole grain for 249
white grape juice concentrate, Fruit Sauce for Waffles/
Pancakes 293
whole grains
listed 248
recipes 259
substituting, for white flour 249
whole wheat
Buttermilk Cornbread 259
glycemic index 163
nutritional info 163
whole-food sweeteners
explained 337
to avoid 338
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw

Index
whole-grain
couscous, Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables 194
flour, replacing white flour with 245
pasta, Greek Olive-Lentil Spaghetti 184
pasta, Pasta with Creamy Sauce and Greens 185
pasta, Pasta with Kale 150
Whole-Grain Couscous with Vegetables recipe 194
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce recipe 112
Whole-Wheat Biscuits recipe 263
whole-wheat bread
croûtons, Southwest Salad 69
Lentil-Stuffed Peppers 143
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas recipe 177
whole-wheat flour
Almond Cookies 321
Apricot-Pine Nut Refrigerator Cookies 309
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Carrot-Coconut-Orange Bars 108
Cherry-Almond Blondies 312
Chocolate Beet Cake 305
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
Chocolate Walnut Muffins 307
Chocolate-Coconut Brownies 110
Coconut-Oat Cookies 321
Dinner Pancakes 152
Ethiopian Flatbread 262
Flax Waffles 291
Flaxseed Cookies 114
German Pancakes 290
Ginger Cookies (Gingerbread) 310
GreenSmoothieGirl’s Oat-Coconut Cookie Mix 321
No-Knead Sourdough Dill Bread 269
Orange-Glaze Donuts 311
Peanut Butter Cookies 309
Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles or Pancakes 292
Quinoa Cookies 308
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
Squash Fritters 152
Whole-Wheat Biscuits 263
Whole-Wheat Flax Tortillas 177
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
Zucchini Bread 306
whole-wheat pasta
main dish recipes 177
Pasta and Garlic Greens 146
Pasta with Pesto 183
Tomato-Basil Pasta 117
Whole-Grain Pasta with Thai Coconut Sauce 112
whole-wheat pita bread
Falafel Pita Pockets 182
Tempeh Pitas 144
Zucchini Pitas 153
whole-wheat tortillas, Garbanzo-Spinach Wraps 183
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake recipe 191
wild rice, Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake 191
winter gardening 133
World’s Best Chocolate Ice Cream or Shake recipe 320
Y
yeast, commercial vs. sourdough 251
yogurt
Blueberry Flax Muffins 260
Flax Waffles 291
Focaccia Bread 270
High-Protein Grain/Legume Breakfast Cereal 287
Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie 285
Polenta 264
Pretzels 270
recipes 236
Sesame Seed Crackers 263
Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread 270
Steamed Vegetables with Yogurt-Dill Sauce 146
Turnip-Leek Barley Soup 168
Waldorf Salad 67
Yogurt Curry Dressing 90
Yogurt Curry Dressing recipe 90
young coconut
Butter Pecan Ice Cream 320
Chocolate Goji Smoothie 315
Chocolate Pudding 318
Lemon Chews 318
opening 235
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake 315
Raw Key Lime Pie 316
Z
zucchini
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies 308
Dinner Pancakes 152
Rainbow Salad 154
recipes 152
Squash Fritters 152
Zucchini Bread 306
Zucchini Carpaccio 153
Zucchini Pitas 153
Zucchini Bread recipe 306
Zucchini Carpaccio recipe 153
Zucchini Pitas recipe 153
X
Xylitol, explained 338
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 369

Index
370 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw