In my research, I noticed that chimpanzees really love greens. I
remember watching chimps at the zoo and seeing how excited they became when
given fresh acacia branches, young tender palm tree leaves, or kale, I was so
inspired looking at them that I went to the nearby bushes and tried to eat
acacia leaves myself. But the truth was, the green leaves were not very
palatable for me and that presented another problem. Eating greens always seemed
like a duty for me. I would think to myself, "I have to have my greens." Some
days I would "cheat' by juicing my greens. I would quickly drink a cup of green
juice and consider myself good for a couple of days. Or I would make a delicious
raw dressing and sink my greens into it. That was another way for me to enjoy
greens. But I could never imagine sitting and eating two bunches of kale or
spinach.
Although I didn't like greens, my husband, Igor, simply couldn't tolerate them.
When he was growing up he was encouraged to eat mostly meat and bread, "like a
real Russian man." While living in Russia we had never seen any greens in
stores. Only in the summer people could buy dill, parsley and green onions at
farmers markets. I recall seeing lettuce only about twice each summer and
considered it rare and exotic.
The more I read about the nutritional content of greens, the more I became
convinced that greens were the most important food for humans. If I could only
find a way to enjoy them enough to consume the optimal quantity needed to become
perfectly healthy!
I tried countless times to force myself to eat large amounts of greens in the
form of salad or by themselves, only to discover that I was not physically able
to do that. After about two cups of shredded greens I would either have
heartburn or nausea.
One day, while reading a book on biology I became intrigued by the amazingly
hardy composition of plants. Apparently, cellulose, the main constituent of
plants, has one of the strongest molecular structures on the planet. Greens
possess more valuable nutrients than any other food group, but all these
nutrients are stored inside the cells of plants. These cells are made of tough
material, probably as a means of survival for the plant, making it difficult for
animals to eat. To release all the valuable
nutrients from within the the cells, the cell walls need to be ruptured.
To rupture these sturdy cells is not easy. This is why eating greens without
chewing them thoroughly would not satisfy our nutritional needs. In simple
words, we need to chew our greens to a creamy consistency in order to get the
benefits.
In addition, in order to digest the released minerals and vitamins, hydrochloric
acid in the stomach has to be very strong, with a pH between 1 and 2.
These two conditions are absolutely, vitally, necessary for the assimilation of
nutrients from greens. Obviously when I tried to eat plain greens I did not chew
my greens well enough and possibly did not have a high enough level of
hydrochloric acid in my stomach. As a result, I experienced unpleasant signs of
indigestion and formed a general dislike for greens altogether.
After many decades of eating mostly heavily processed foods, modern people have
lost their ability to chew normally. Our jaws have become so narrow that even
after extracting our wisdom teeth, we still need to wear braces. Our jaw muscles
have become too weak to thoroughly chew rough fiber. Several times I have heard
recommendations from my dentist to be more gentle on my teeth; and not to bite
firm fruit, but rather to grate my carrots and apples. In addition to these
compromising conditions, many people have lots of fillings, false, or missing
teeth. All of these obstacles make chewing greens to the necessary consistency
virtually impossible.
This is why I decided to try to "chew" my greens in the Vitamix blender. First I
blended a hunch of kale with water. 1 was thinking, "I will just dose my eyes
and nose and drink it." But as soon as I opened the lid, I closed it again
quickly because 1 felt queasy from the strong, wheatgrass smell. That dark
green, almost black mixture was totally unconsumable. After some brainstorming,
I added several bananas and blended it again. And that was when the magic began!
I slowly, and with some trepidation, removed the lid and sniffed the air, and to
my greatest surprise this bright green concoction smelled very pleasant. I
cautiously tasted a sip and was exhilarated! It was better than tasty! Not too
sweet, not too bitter, it. was the most unusual taste I had ever tried, and I
could describe it in one word: freshness.
In four hours I had consumed all I blended, which was one bunch of kale, four
bananas and a quart of water. I felt wonderful and made more. Triumphantly I
realized that this evening was the first time in my life that I consumed two
good- sized bunches of greens in one day. Plus, I ate them without any oil or
salt! And I enjoyed the whole experience. My stomach felt fine and I was happy
to have achieved my goal.
That was in August, 2004. The solution to my greens dilemma was so unexpectedly
simple. To consume greens in this way took so little time that I naturally
continued experimenting with blended greens and fruits day after day.
I must admit here, that the idea of blended greens was not new to me. Eleven
years ago when my family was studying at the Creative Health Institute (CHI) in
Michigan, we were taught about the extraordinary healing properties of energy
soup: blended sprouts, avocado, and apple. This soup was invented by Dr. Ann
Wigmore, the pioneer of the Living Foods lifestyle in the 20th century. Although
we were told countless times how exceptionally beneficial energy soup was, most
of the guests at the institute were not able to eat more than a couple of
spoonfuls of energy soup because it was not palatable.
I was very impressed with the testimonials that I heard from people about the
benefits of energy soup. When 1 returned home I desperately experimented with
energy soup, trying to improve the taste because I wanted my family to benefit
from eating it. My final attempt to perfect energy soup was ended one day when I
heard Valya yelling to Sergei in the back yard, "Run! Mom is making that green
mush again!"
Despite all the evidence of the healing powers of energy soup, I found that
unfortunately even people who desperately needed and wanted it, could not make
themselves consume it regularly. I am amazed that eleven years after being
introduced to energy soup, when I had completely forgotten all about it, I came
back to the very same idea of blended greens from an entirely new direction.
When I first started drinking green smoothies, I didn't mention it to anybody
and did not expect anything significant to happen. Since I did not have any big
health problems, I was not pursuing any dramatic changes. I just didn't want to
age so noticeably. However, after about a month of erratic green smoothie
drinking, two moles and a wart I had since early childhood peeled off my body. I
felt more energized than ever before, and started sharing my experience with my
family and friends. The next thing I noticed was that those cravings I had
occasionally for heavy foods like nuts or crackers, especially in the evenings,
had totally disappeared. I noticed that many of the wrinkles on my face went
away and I began to hear compliments from other people about my fresh look. My
nails became stronger, my vision sharpened and I had a wonderful taste in my
mouth, even upon waking in the morning (pleasure I hadn't had since youth).
My dream had come true at last! I was consuming plenty of greens every day. I
began to feel lighter and my energy increased. My tastes started to change. I
discovered that my body was so starved for greens that for several weeks, I
lived almost entirely on green smoothies. Plain fruits and vegetables became
much more desirable for me and my cravings for fatty foods declined
dramatically. I stopped consuming any kind of salt altogether, even seaweed.
Two weeks later, my husband and I were walking in California along a grassy
trail when I suddenly began to salivate from looking at the dark green crispy
branches of malva weeds growing in abundance along our path. I kept catching
myself wanting to grab and eat them. I shared my observations with Igor and he
listened attentively but didn't get excited. He had already noticed that I was
eating differently lately. Instead of making myself a huge salad consisting of
multiple chopped vegetables, a large avocado, sea salt, lots of onion and olive
oil, I now chopped a bunch of lettuce with a tomato, sprinkled it with lemon
juice and enjoyed it tremendously, rolling my eyes and humming with pleasure. I
did not miss my former food, and felt completely satisfied eating so simply. Now
I knew that the human body can learn to crave
greens!
There was another change that astounded me. I used to have cravings for
unhealthy foods when I got tired. For example, in the past, when we were
traveling and we spent the night in an airplane, or after we were driving all
night, I experienced severe cravings for some heavy raw foods or even some
authentic Russian cooked foods from childhood that I hadn't eaten for more than
a decade. These cravings were very strong and annoying. Driven by these urges, I
would prepare myself some kind of dense raw food, like seed cheese with
crackers, or stuff myself with nuts, sometimes late at night. I have heard from
many other people that they experienced similar patterns. Also, during previous
years, when I came home late from my office, often after ten p.m., I enjoyed
changing my focus from work to other lighter topics, either by reading a chapter
from a book or by watching a nice video. I noticed that if I allowed myself to
grab an apple or a handful of nuts, I would tend to continue grazing and
couldn't ever achieve a feeling of satisfaction. Even if I used my will power
and didn't touch any food at home, I continued to feel discontent and food kept
coming to my mind.
When I began to drink green smoothies, I noticed right away that those kinds of
cravings disappeared. That was when my husband really noticed the difference in
my behavior. In the evening after a hard work day he would still crave something
to eat while I was relaxed and content by just reading a book or talking. When
Igor saw how happy I was in the evenings, along with the noticeable improvements
in my health, he joined me in drinking green smoothies. He started to ask for a
cup of "that green stuff" whenever I was making it.
Neither Igor nor I had any illnesses, so in the beginning it was hard to tell if
we were just excited or if we really felt better. But soon both Igor and I were
able to testify that we experienced rejuvenation and we began to look younger.
After only two months of drinking smoothies, Igor's mustache and beard started
growing blacker, making him look like he did when we first met.
Igor became so enthusiastic about his youthful look that he became the green
smoothie champion of my family. He would wake up early and make two or three
gallons of smoothie every day: one for me, one for him, and one for Sergei and
Valya to share. Both of our children enjoyed including this tasty green drink in
their daily menu even though they were already experiencing great health. They
noticed still more benefits, like the ability to sleep less, more complete
.eliminations, stronger nails, and most of all, improvement in their teeth,
which became less sensitive.
One of my fears was that I would get tired of green smoothies one day and I
wouldn't want them any more. Yet. after six months of regular consumption I was
enjoying them more than ever. Now I couldn't imagine my life without my green
smoothies, as they had become 80% of my diet. In addition to smoothies, I ate
flax crackers, salads, fruit and occasionally seeds or nuts. In order to always
have the opportunity to make fresh green smoothie for myself, I purchased an
additional Vitarnix blender for my office. Whenever friends or customers came
in, they saw a big green cup next to my computer and I treated them to a sample
of my new discovery. To my great satisfaction, everybody loved it, despite their
different dietary habits. Unexpectedly for me, some of my friends and coworkers
started to comment on their health improvements just from the cup of green
smoothie they were drinking in my office! No kidding! My web designer began to
crave more raw foods as a result of rather irregular helpings of smoothies and
lost 15 pounds in a couple of months. The woman from the office across the road
got rid of her eczema by drinking a cup of green smoothie almost every day. Even
the UPS guy liked it.
Inspired by the warm reception, I wrote an article "Ode to Green Smoothie" and
emailed it to all those in my Internet address book. Almost instantly I began to
receive strong, positive feedback and many detailed testimonials from my
friends, students, and customers. While I felt compelled to do more research, it
looked like the multiple benefits of green smoothie became obvious to everybody
who tried them, and the number of people who were drinking green smoothie turned
into a "green wave," growing rapidly every day.
Disclaimer: We at
HCGFatLoss.com do not claim that HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin)
can alter fat or weight loss alone, but according to doctors in other
countries using HCG with a particular protocol will result in loss of fat
and weight by stimulating the hypothalamus gland. The clinical research
trials published by the Journal of the American Medical Association and
the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have shown that HCG is
ineffective as a weight-loss aid, but their findings never actually tested
the entire HCG protocol rather just bits and pieces of it. The tests they
did were not conducted in the same manner as Dr Simeons originally
specified in the HCG diet or in the HCG protocol. In some cases they did
not even give a HCG injection to the test subjects. However due to the
outrage of certain organizations in 1976 HCG was deemed as a drug that did
not promote weight loss. Many HCG clinics had to close their doors due to
the poor test results back in 1976, and people could no longer buy HCG in
the US. The HCG levels administered for some test subjects were not
listed, nor was their diet or beginning HCG levels to determine if they
were low HCG levels or not, their starting weight or their finishing
weight. We were just told by their results that people lose the same
amount with or with out HCG injections. In detailed studies where the HCG
hormone was used then with the entire HCG protocol proved the
effectiveness of HCG for weight loss in other countries. This is why so
many people today still want to buy HCG. It has never been proven as
harmful as cigarettes, while those are still sold there is still a lack of
HCG to buy. Since that time markets overseas continued to sell HCG shots,
HCG powder, HCG tablets, HCG supplies, HCG supplements, and HCG mail
order, while those of us in the US have had to sit and wait while
politicians have never passed a law against HCG. HCG blogs have emerged
since Kevin Trudeau has reintroduced the US to HCG. There have never been
any proven side effects of HCG while using it for weight loss. HCG is
still administered in clinics for fertility drugs, so if it is safe for
fertility drugs, then HCG must be safe enough for weight loss treatments
as well.
