Raw Family Newsletter, January 2006
http://rawfamily.com
In this issue:
1. Tonya’s Green Pudding
2. Cartoon by Valya
3. Most Popular Green Smoothie Questions
4. Cartoon by Valya
5. New DVD: Greens Can Save Your Life
6. Jaw Exerciser. By Victoria Boutenko
7. Cartoon by Valya: The Evolution of a green smoothie drinker
8. We invite you to participate in our up-coming book
Please note: Previous issues of the Raw Family Newsletter are now available free of charge on our website: www.rawfamily.com
Tonya’s Green Pudding
I never new anything could be so tasty, until Tonya prepared it for my family for the holiday breakfast.
Tonya Zavasta is a raw food teacher and author, but most importantly, she is a true hero.
Afflicted from birth with hip problems she went through numerous surgeries that enabled her to walk,
but left her aging and ailing. Nevertheless, she has transformed her body and made it truly beautiful with
the help of living foods. Learn more about Tonya on www.beautifulonraw.com
˝ pineapple, sliced
2 ripe mangos, peeled and sliced
1 bunch Swiss chard chopped (without stems)
No water!
Put all the ingredients in a Vita-Mix blender and blend well using the tamper.
Serves 6
====================
Most Popular Green Smoothie Questions answered by Victoria:
QUESTION: Do you think it is beneficial or helpful to add any fat to raw smoothies? I don't eat salads, so instead I just add a little fat,
a couple tablespoons of flax seeds, or half an avocado, occasionally I will have a whole one if I'm feeling really decadent.
VICTORIA: Each person is unique and thus has different needs. Some people might need fat, however, fat does slow down the
digestive process. You may add anything you want to your smoothie to make it suit your personal needs. As for me, I believe that Green
Smoothies are a complete food.
QUESTION: Do you think it is better to use powdered greens in green smoothies as apposed to fresh greens?
VICTORIA: I think that if one remembers to rotate the greens they consume and drink at least one quart of green smoothie per day,
they will receive an optimal amount of nutrients. I recommend leaving green powders for the times when green smoothies are not accessible
for example, during travels. I do not think that dried greens are nearly as vibrant or nutritious as fresh greens. My daughter Valya recently
decided to further explore the theory of dried versus fresh greens with a group of volunteers who were not susceptible to advertisements.
It happened that my husband was invited to help out at a horse farm. Valya preformed an experiment by offering six horses the option
eating green, professionally dried, high quality hay, (super food) or fresh kale, and grass. Six out of six horses chose the fresh greens
over the dry hay. (heh-heh…)
QUESTION: How much greens does one really need? I generally consume a head of lettuce. Do you think this is enough?
VICTORIA: One needs fewer greens in the form of green smoothies than in the form of salad, because blended greens assimilate
several times more thoroughly then chewed greens. People who have an acidic pH balance in their body could benefit from consuming
up to 80% greens in their diet. When they reach a stage of balance, they will notice that they want less greens and less green smoothies,
but they will enjoy them more than ever.
QUESTION: When greens are broken up in the blender, do they oxidize and lose most of their nutrients? Incidentally, I do
consume a ton of greens by eating huge salads and juicing.
VICTORIA: In my book, Green For Life, I explain that in order to get nutrients from greens, every cell of the green leaf has to
be ruptured. To get all of the nutrients from food by oral mastication, one would have to spend several hours a day chewing, and have
extremely healthy teeth that are all in place, including wisdom teeth. By observing the results of those who regularly consume green
smoothies, I now think that the assimilation of nutrients from smoothies is several times more efficient than from chewing greens.
Of course, these numbers are different from person to person, but I estimate that two bunches of greens chewed are equal to
approximately to half a bunch of greens blended (not juiced, because juice is missing an important ingredient: fiber).
When I was juicing my greens on a daily basis, I noticed how quickly the green juice turned brown and began to taste bitter.
This doesn’t appear to happen with blended greens, probably because of the large quantities of antioxidants in the fiber.
Green smoothies continue to stay bright green and taste fresh for many hours if kept in a cool place.
QUESTION: I thought Victoria’s point for green smoothies being superior to green juices was lacking. One of the main
benefits of juice is that it requires next to no digestion and can be absorbed and assimilated immediately into the bloodstream,
allowing the digestive system to rest.
VICTORIA: I agree with Dr. Doug Graham that juices are a fractured food, which is missing an essential component—fiber.
I believe that when we consume enough fiber, we take a load off of our organism by dramatically improving our elimination.
Toxins build up in the colon. Fiber cleans them out. When most toxins have been removed by fiber, then the body has a greater
ability to absorb nutrients, thus improving digestion. There are many more important benefits in having fiber. For example,
in my previous newsletter, I cited research about good bacteria needing raw fiber from fruits and vegetables in our colon to be
able to survive. These bacteria are linked to the B complex vitamins--another important issue. Juices are not a complete food;
humans could not live on juices alone. Very often juices have unbalanced amounts of sugar. Contrary to juices, green smoothies are
a complete food. Also, I have met people who went on prolonged juice fasts and saw no improvement in their hydrochloric acid.
QUESTION: What falls under the category of 'greens'?
VICTORIA: Greens are the leaves of all edible plants. On page 102 of my book Green for Life I listed 34 different greens
that are available to us from stores and farmers markets.
QUESTION: How did Eskimos live without any greens?
VICTORIA: I was born on an island in the Far East in Russia and lived near many Eskimos tribes. My answer to your question is:
One probably can live without eating greens, if he or she is ready to eat meat and fish that have been rotting for over two weeks on a
daily basis. That was living food for the Eskimos I knew. In addition, they consumed moss called yagil, and probably other things that
I never thought to ask about (I left the island when I was 16). In addition to that, their lifespan was usually less than 50 years.
Victoria’s lectures about greens on DVD:
“Greens Can Save Your Life”
I consider this to be one of my best classes on greens.
It was taught at the Creative Health Institute in Michigan in October of 2005.
Running time - 3 hours, on two compact discs.
Price - $24.95
This DVD is currently available at our website: www.rawfamily.com
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©2006 Copyrighted material! Please reference this source when sharing this information:
http://www.rawfamily.com
Jaw Exercise
By Victoria Boutenko
When I began drinking green smoothies on a regular basis, I realized that by consuming most of my food in a blended form,
I had almost completely eliminated chewing, which I knew was an important part of the digestive process. I decided to create some
exercises for my jaws and eventually came up with a jaw exerciser; a simple device that I started carrying around with me to practice
jaw workouts when I had a chance.
At first I was amazed how weak my jaws were. They would get numb after as few as five movements. I kept progressing very
quickly and by the end of the second day of practicing I was able to perform 20-30 movements at once.
I have to admit that moving my jaws against the resisting force of the exerciser is pleasant to such a degree that I actually enjoy it.
I realize how much my jaws have longed for this kind of movement all these years. In addition to this pleasant sensation, I have
noticed that my teeth have become whiter and a lot stronger. My gums became healthier. I also noticed that performing a little
workout in my mouth right before eating improved my digestion.
I did some research and found out that bone tissue that forms our skeleton is a truly remarkable material. It is constantly
modeling and remodeling itself. This process of continuous bone regeneration reminds me of our road service that is constantly
performing construction on highways, taking old cracked pavement off, and laying down new strong smooth asphalt instead.
Furthermore, the roads that are used most heavily get more attention and better concrete, while the roads that are rarely used
stay overlooked and eroded.
In 1892 a German doctor, J. Wolff, discovered that, “Mechanical forces have a major influence on the bone modeling and
remodeling processes in both cortical and trabecular bone, since their effects on bone morphology are obvious…The mechanical
forces are sensed in the bone, and all of these mechanical forces are translated to structural adaptation of the internal tissue architecture.”[1]
Dr. Wolff has explained that our bones can strengthen or weaken in response to the forces applied to them. In other words, when we
load our bones with work, as a response to such a workout, our bones result in higher bone mineral density, and thus become stronger.
A recent medical study in Manchester, UK, demonstrated that, “The playing arm of adult tennis players has up to 40% more bone mass
than the non-playing arm.”[2] On the contrary, if we do not exercise, our bones detrain and lose strength from inactivity. For example,
astronauts in space lose some of their bone mass due to an absence of gravity. In conclusion, to strengthen our bones we need to
exercise. No pills, food, or supplements can substitute for exercise to make our bones stronger.
Many people have problems both with the narrowing of their jaws and thinning of the jawbone. "It's a major problem in dentistry,"
said Ichiro Nishimura, associate professor of restorative dentistry at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. "The thin jaws can be easily fractured.
Also, placing dentures is very difficult, since there's no supporting structure." One way to solve these problems would be to get the
jawbone to grow new supporting bone. But this solution has the ring of a fantasy, something for a future age. [3]
Dr. Weston Price[4] was deeply concerned with the fast growing number of increasingly deformed dental arches, crooked teeth,
and cavities. In 1939 he wrote about a profound degeneration of health in so-called civilized nations. That was almost 100 years ago.
In his research, Price demonstrated the connection between the development of jaw deformities and eating processed foods. I would
like to emphasize that raw, natural, unprocessed food requires a lot of chewing, while most processed foods are too soft and do not
need any work on behalf of jaw muscles. For example, compare soft wonder bread, baked potato or oatmeal (which hardly need
chewing at all), to some tough plants such as, celery stalks, hard-shelled nuts or fibrous roots that require vigorous masticating.
The absence of a workout for the muscles of our jaws is probably one of the major factors contributing to the development of weak,
narrow, degenerative jaws.
While working with a patent attorney, I found several other inventions that are very similar to my jaw exerciser that have already
been patented by other inventors. I have picked one of them that has been clinically tested for over 12 years. I have immediately ordered
four of them for my family and we started using them to make up for the lack of chewing. After one month of “chewing” on this device all
four of us have noticed improvement both in gums and teeth. Our teeth became whiter, stronger and not sensitive to all to sour fruit.
This particular device has been designed by Australian Dentist Dr Kevin Bourke. Dr. Bourke named it Myo-munchie. His vast research
demonstrated that chewing on this device for just a few minutes each day can produce rapid improvements in a number of common
dental conditions for both adults and children. Jaw exerciser is very easy to use: just put it into your mouth in between teeth while
taking a shower, watching TV or during other activities for a few minutes and “chew”. Then rinse, dry with a paper towel and store
in a visible location. Jaw exerciser is produced from hybrid latex, this exerciser has hundreds of tiny projections on its inner surfaces
to provide cushioned force to the teeth and gums. My dentist told me that there are millions of Americans who suffer from severe jaw
deformity. Especially many young people and children. He said that they usually have to go through a very painful surgery that gives
them only temporarily relief. I hope that some dentists will consider including jaw exercise program into their prevention
recommendations.
I am thrilled to tell you that we now sell jaw exercisers on our website: www.rawfamily.com
Jaw exerciser comes in two sizes:
Medium for women and children $45.00
Large for men $50.00
Includes information booklet.
Please note: no returns on this item.
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We invite you to participate in our up-coming book, The Green Smoothie Revolution.
This book is a compilation of green smoothie recipes that my family has collected over time. It is a beautiful book decorated with
lots of Valya’s drawings. If you have a favorite smoothie and would like to share it with many other people, please email it to us and
we will include your recipe under your name. In appreciation for your contribution, we will send a complimentary copy of
The Green Smoothie Revolution to everyone whose recipe we will include. Each recipe submitted will be tested and evaluated
by the Boutenko family.
Please submit your recipe via email: recipe@rawfamily.com by February 15, 2006.
Please provide your full name, phone number, and address with your submission.
We are looking forward to working together!
Sincerely,
Victoria and the Boutenko family
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[1] Ruimerman, Ronald. Modeling and remodeling in bone tissue. Eindohoven: University Press Facilities. 2005.
[2] Sartin, Daniel. “Osteoporosis: Why Prevention is the Best Cure.” Touching Lives: Action Medical Research. Winter 2003/4.
[3] Nishimura Ichiro. Getting to the Roots of the Jaw Bone. Dentistry Harvard, 1995, May12.
[4] Price, Weston A., D.D.S. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. California: The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Inc. 2003. 6th Edition.
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