The Latest Green Smoothie Debate: Part 2 of 3

In addition to that formalized piece of research, we have had thousands of testimonials mailed to the site, and I’ve spoken in 2011 to 50 live audiences of approximately   9,000 people. Many of them stay after and wait for up to 2 hours to talk, and many email us, and I daily hear stories that cause me to continue traveling to share my message.

None of the three people spreading this idea to avoid blending greens have the experience I do speaking to audiences of 15,000 the past 2 years and asking questions like this:

“How many of you are eating the amount of greens on this platter?” (The platter represents what’s in a quart of green smoothie.)

EVEN IF a salad is superior (and I dispute that, even though I love salads too!), guess what? Virtually no one is eating that much salad. I choose to operate in facts and realities to come up with solutions that people will actually DO.

Try putting 2 lbs. of fresh greens and vegetables on a giant platter. Tell someone to eat it in a day.  (That’s the goal in 12 Steps to Whole Foods. It’s also the goal of Eat to Live, Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s program.) It’s beyond daunting—it’s virtually impossible unless you’re going to spend 30 mins. chopping and 90 minutes chewing. Remember, we are debilitated (thanks to three generations of our people eating processed foods, weakening the jaw and narrowing the palate). I am working within current realities.

Remember, green smoothies require no salad dressings, with all their calories, preservatives, fat, refined oils and processed/chemical sweeteners. And cell walls are broken open, making nutrition instantly available. Some of the nutrition in salad is locked away to us because our narrow palates cannot break it down, and we swallow chunks rather than creamed greens.

I obviously feel strongly that green smoothies are a great way to spend 10 minutes to get up to 15 servings of raw fruits and greens in the diet. That said, an important point we can take from this new criticism of blending our raw greens, is that we should eat a variety of high-fiber plant foods.

If you don’t think that regular ‘chewed’ food that you eat with a fork or spoon is important, you haven’t made one of my granola recipes in Chapter 11 of 12 Steps to Whole Foods. My challenge has always been,

Eat it daily for two weeks and tell me if it doesn’t radically change your digestion.

I texted my friend Jennie just now who was complaining about constipation, “Make my granola from Ch. 10 and it will change your life.”

Let me be graphic. You will eliminate regularly, with more bulk, and feel very “cleaned out” and energized. Honestly, I don’t talk enough about eating granola. Not store-bought kinds. Homemade, with lots of bran and grains and seeds and nuts. Fabulous sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. And loads of roughage.

To drag your digestive tract with lots of insoluble fiber, granola wins.

For overall nutrition, made quickly, consumed easily, for high impact on many different health issues, green smoothies win. Don’t forget that a quart will completely fill your stomach, with only 200 calories. You don’t need any dressing to get it down. You don’t have to prep it for 30 minutes and spend another 30 minutes eating it.

Posted in: 12 Steps To Whole Food, Green Smoothies, Tools & Products, Whole Food