In this article, Victoria Butenko is divided into HCL levels, rotating greens and raising raw materials. Victoria Butenko is part of the raw foods family and is the author of Green Smoothies and Green for Life.
Kevin: So is someone just drinking green smoothies to raise the level of HCL again? Should someone test their HCL levels and then see how it works? How do you do it?
Victoria: There are different ways people can test the level of hydrochloric acid. There are some invasive and expensive methods as well as tests. I have in my book “Green for Life” a simple test that is 99% more accurate. If you answer any of the “yes” questions, for example, four or more “yes” questions, then you will probably have low hydrochloric acid. And then he explains that the whole chapter explains what is happening. And it doesn’t hurt even to just add green cocktails, just a warning to prevent this from happening.
And in my book, along with Dr. Paul Faber, we conducted an experimental study. Dr. Paul Faber, he worked with people who had low hydrochloric acid, and he put them for many years on a pill, a hydrochloride pill. With each snack, they had to take it in order to digest food. And so he asked if anyone would voluntarily add a green smoothie instead of this pill or add a green smoothie to the pill for one month. And he tested people before and after. After he repeated them, 28 people volunteered to participate in our experiment, and I provided a smoothie. I made them freshly prepared and delivered to them within one month. This was in 2004, and a month later he repeated them, and the improvement averaged 68.5%. This pretty much tells us that most people will reverse this situation, if not in a month, but in two months. Their improvement was depending on age. Young people have canceled it more, older people have changed it less.
Kevin: And do we know how this works?
Victoria: We know how it works. Most people have low hydrochloric acid due to zinc deficiency. This is one of the key flaws in my research and the research of other people. And greens, when they are mixed, they, of course, have easily digestible, absorbed zinc and other minerals. And when we have to feed our body, then our digestive system is restored, it relies on processing, and then the level of hydrochloric acid is restored, it becomes normal.
Kevin: You have released the book "Green Troubles", and now you are releasing a new book because of the large number of questions. What are some of the biggest questions people had about green cocktails or just about their health in relation to?
Victoria: Interestingly, my book has reached not only raw foods, but also the general public, who have not even thought about changing their diet or who thought they already had a good diet because of their simplicity. Raw foods are usually the typical question: how can you mix fruits and vegetables? This I have already explained. But other people ask more practical questions. For example, can you freeze them? Can you dry green smoothies? How much green do you need to rotate? Because I learn to rotate the greens, so you do not eat the same green all the time. I learn to always rotate the greens. This is very, very important.
Kevin: Can you explain this a little more?
Victoria: I can explain in just a minute. Other questions will be what diseases? How long can you keep green smoothies? There are a lot of questions. Why do I get bloated when I drink a green smoothie? Some people drink green, and they immediately eat steak or their breakfast or pancakes, and they swell. Therefore, I would say that drink your green smoothie first without any problems. Just a green smoothie. And drink it slowly, make sure it mixes with saliva, sip, sip, sip, and then 30 minutes after you make it, you can eat whatever you want. Because in 30 minutes it will be penetrated in your body. So many questions.
Therefore, in my next book, I do not repeat what I said in the first book. This is a completely new information, and I answer all these questions, many questions, and I add 150 recipes of green cocktails. Some unique recipes. Something with pine needles, with cacti and some just good ideas for recipes. How to make puddings, how to make super green smoothies and other things.
So, why do we need to rotate, because greens are the most nutritious food on the planet, and to prevent greens from disappearing, nature places a bit of poison on each green leaf. But do not be afraid. This amount of poison, or I should say, alkaloid, is so minimal, it is actually a minute or homeopathic amount. Homeopathy as a science was based on poison in green leaves. This small amount makes everyone's immunity stronger, but we have to rotate. Because, for example, parsley has arsenic as an alkaloid, and spinach has oxalic acid. For example, clover has alkaloid nicotine in it, and Romaine opium and so on, so on, so on. If you just take the same thing, you accumulate it, if you drink a green cocktail from cabbage for six months, you are going to accumulate this alkaloid, and this will affect your thyroid gland. You will feel cold. That is why I say that it is very important that you rotate the greens. If you rotate at least a dozen greens. One day parsley, one day, one day of grape leaves, one day peeled from your garden or dandelions. Turn. Then everything will be fine with you. But not just drinking the same thing all the time.
Kevin: We never put grape leaves in our puree, and they grow everywhere.
Victoria: Everything that was sold in the store came from the wild. In the wild, most things are edible. But, of course, you need to check if it is poisonous in your area. Before you pick up everything, you need to check what is poisonous in your area. Because I do not want you to make a cocktail of poisonous hemlock or foxglove. But most things are edible, and one thing you should always remember is choosing greens before flowering. This is when they are really nutritious. After flowering, the food moves in bloom - the flowers are also very nutritious. And when the seed is formed, the green becomes non-nutritious. Because greens accumulate food mainly for seeds and reproduction. And soon after the seed is gone, the nutrients from the green are returned to the soil, and then the green simply falls.
Kevin: Now you and your family are up ... have you gone to the Pacific Crest Trail?
Victoria: In 1998, we traveled from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.
Kevin: Wow, and you made all this raw?
Victoria: We made all the raw materials.
Kevin: Not even all raw, though, with fodder, is it?
Victoria: I will tell you that my husband, he carried a bag of 85 pounds. I had my 50. And Sergey, he was 12, he wore like 35. And then the girls, my daughter and my niece went with us, they wore maybe 10, 15. They were too young to bear very heavy backpack.
Kevin: Yes.
Victoria: So when we started, when we got up, my husband and I led most of the food. And we could not get as much food for five people to hike. For example, people dated by us gave us enough time to have seven days per person per day during the entire trip.
Kevin: OK.
Victoria: Many dates.
Kevin: Yes many.
Victoria: And we sent them along the trail. So at the beginning of a 100-mile stretch it will be a lot, very, very heavy piece of dates. And once at the beginning we did a 100-mile stretch, and the children asked: they will eat seven dates, they will ask for more, because they are cute, and there is no cure. And we let it go, well, if they eat them, then we fast with them for two or three days, and then they will know that they have to really ration.
Kevin: [laughs]
Victoria: But after we ate all the food and continued hiking, we realized that it was not easy to climb at the same time and quickly. We started to feel awkward. And all we have left is a small bottle of olive oil, maybe a head of garlic and some seaweed. And suddenly we noticed that a lot of greens, juicy greens around us look so tasty to us. Then we were so hungry. And I knew a little about herbs. We began to pick and taste, taste and smell and try to remember, and we found out that there was a mallow, there was wild celery, there was wild watercress. There were things that we knew, plantain, sorrel. We started to pick it up, and we prepared a salad with a few drops of butter, kelp, one clove of garlic, thinly sliced with a small pocket knife.
Kevin: Uh um
Victoria: And it was the best food we ever ate. Like the best food for gourmets. It was so delicious. Everyone ate and said, “Hm, never ate the best food in my life. And then, at the next station, we calculated that we have no reason to spend money and buy more food, because we can find it all the time. I went to the local library and picked up another greenery that we could pick up, and some berries. And for the rest of the trek, that's more than 2,000 miles, we traveled mostly for food.
Kevin: Wow. This is incredible.
