12 Steps to Whole Foods

Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
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.)
36 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw