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
Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies 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!”) © Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 37
- Page 7 and 8: Table of Contents Kale Recipes . .
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- Page 23 and 24: Foreword By family physician Denise
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Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies<br />
You are likely <strong>to</strong> see a mouthful of <strong>to</strong>rn-up greens, nowhere near “creamed.” That’s because over the past few<br />
generations, our palates have narrowed (thus the meteoric rise in orthodontic work—more and more<br />
orthodontists are widening children’s palates). Our jaws have weakened. We are no longer capable of breaking<br />
down the most important foods in our diet, greens. Blended greens have been shown <strong>to</strong> increase nutrient<br />
absorption. Grey hair, for instance, is a sign of mineral deficiency. Ann Wigmore, the wheat grass juice<br />
pioneer, famously regained her hair color with blended greens.<br />
Maybe you can’t back up “devolution” of the jaw. But the good news is that while I still highly recommend<br />
salads, and chewing them well, your high-powered blender “creams” the greens—i.e., predigests them—for<br />
you. It breaks them down <strong>to</strong> actually crushing the cell walls, making nutrients highly bioavailable when eaten<br />
right after processing in your blender. The only thing you need <strong>to</strong> do with your green smoothie is “chew” it<br />
fully in your mouth (even though it is smooth and liquefied) <strong>to</strong> add the important digestive juices and enzymes<br />
from saliva <strong>to</strong> your food before it goes <strong>to</strong> the s<strong>to</strong>mach.<br />
Closer <strong>to</strong> the Diet Nature Intended. Boutenko studied the dietary<br />
habits of our closest relatives, large primates. Because we share<br />
almost 99% of our DNA with our cousins, the primates, we would<br />
do well <strong>to</strong> observe what they do in nature, driven by instinct. Of<br />
course, primates are largely vegetarian and eat a diet of primarily<br />
greens. Gorillas don’t eat a whole tree in a day; rather, they eat a<br />
little every day of a wide variety of greens.<br />
The problem is, we have devolved as a species as a result of eating<br />
an increasingly soft-food (processed) diet the past few generations.<br />
Parents in <strong>to</strong>day’s generation protect their children from having <strong>to</strong><br />
chew...well...anything. My friends cut the peel off their children’s<br />
apples, even after all the children’s teeth have come in. Some of my<br />
friends even cut the crusts off their children’s white bread<br />
sandwiches!<br />
Plant fiber is completely missing from the diets of modern children as their muscles are developing. An openminded<br />
child willing <strong>to</strong> eat a salad is likely <strong>to</strong> barely chew it before swallowing—and while the insoluble fiber<br />
is still beneficial, no doubt, the body simply cannot break down and utilize the nutrition in the greens without<br />
them being fully chewed.<br />
Big Bang for the Buck and for Your Time in the Kitchen. Fifteen servings and loads of fiber. The first time<br />
I measured, I couldn’t believe how much green food a $2.50 homemade quart of smoothie has in it: fully 15<br />
servings of raw greens and fruit. This included lots of plant energy from chlorophyll, which is the equivalent in<br />
a plant <strong>to</strong> the hemoglobin in a human red blood cell. Chlorophyll neutralizes internal body odors and bad<br />
breath, and it mops up free radicals that cause cancer and all degenerative disease. Greens are a powerhouse of<br />
enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. They are, ounce for ounce, the most nutritionally dense foods on the planet.<br />
(Please note that I am not including iceberg lettuce in the category of “leafy greens,” because it is an essentially<br />
nutrition-free food that is not easily digested by humans. So I suggest you purchase vibrant greens for your<br />
smoothies.)<br />
36 <strong>12</strong> <strong>Steps</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Whole</strong> <strong>Foods</strong><br />
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw