Green Smoothies

Every morning for the past two years I have greens for breakfast. Kale, chard, spinach, you name it. It's the most energizing way to start a day. A bit of exercise, a little morning news, and a large helping of arugula with pear and banana put into a blender and pureed to perfection. Purchasing books for the home economics section here at Faulk Central Library means I am constantly checking out and looking at the largest part of the section, cookbooks, which is how I stumbled across Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko. Boutenko, her husband, and three children had been diagnosed with a variety of potentially life-threatening illnesses and, frustrated by the limited options presented to them by doctors, turned to a raw food diet in an effort to heal. The entire family's health improved dramatically with this change including her son, Sergei, who completely overcame juvenile diabetes. As they learned to eat satisfying, tasty meals as raw foodists, Boutenko realized they were still missing significant nutrients, like those found in greens, and began adding them to smoothies, thus beginning her Green Smoothie Revolution.

The Boutenko's story certainly inspired me, but it also morphed my habit of just tossing a small handful of whatever greens I had lying around into my fruit smoothies into efforts to put as much as a full bunch of greens into them. I also learned some great new recipes and found that with a more powerful blender, I could put together some pretty amazing concoctions that were packed with nutrients and tasted wonderful. While Boutenako and others maintain that you retain more nutrients by blending rather than juicing, I've also developed an affection for green juices and have found a few books with some delightful recipes.

Start your day off right, drink your greens!

Raw Family
The website about Victoria Boutenko and two of her children Sergei and Valya Boutenko. Includes recipes!

BOOKS

Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It by Kris Carr
This book is about much, much more than green smoothies and juices. It's an entire lifestyle change to a more alkaline and raw foods diet. Carr was diagnosed with terminal cancer at 31 and radically changed her diet and lifestyle to help get the cancer under control. We have her first books as well Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips and Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor.

Green For Life by Victoria Boutenko
This is Boutenko's first book about the nutritional power of greens including recipes for green smoothies.

Green Smoothies Diet: The Natural Program For Extraordinary Health by Robyn Openshaw

The Juicing Bible by Pat Crocker

Microgreens: A Guide to Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens by Eric Franks and Jasmine Richardson
An easy way to eat greens is to grow microgreens - they're surprisingly easy to grow and just as full of nutrients.

Raw Family Signature Dishes by Victoria Boutenko

Super-Charged Smoothies by Sara Corpening Whiteford and Mary Corpening Barber