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Summary
On episode 126 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Victoria Boutenko, an author, teacher, inventor, researcher, and mother of three whose books include Green for Life and Green Smoothie Revolution, to discuss her book The Green Smoothie Prescription.
Victoria explains how she landed on green smoothies after studying diets closest to humans genetically, discovering that greens contain seven nutrients humans can’t get anywhere else, and figuring out how to blend them into something actually palatable.
They cover why a whole blended smoothie beats juice for keeping nutrients intact and blood sugar stable, the specific nutrients greens deliver that most people are missing, and how foraging wild greens like dandelion and stinging nettle can outperform what’s sold in stores.
Links
- https://rawfamily.com
Key Takeaways
- Green smoothies came out of studying our closest genetic relatives. Victoria found chimpanzees eat roughly 45 to 50 percent green leaves and that greens supply seven nutrients humans can’t get from any other source, which led her to start blending greens with fruit to make them drinkable.
- Blended smoothies beat juice for keeping nutrients intact. The fiber left in a smoothie keeps antioxidants stable for up to three days in the fridge, while juice oxidizes and loses nutritional value quickly, so juice has to be made fresh several times a day to get the same benefit.
- Fiber in the smoothie also slows sugar absorption. That keeps blood sugar from spiking the way straight fruit juice can, which matters for anyone managing cravings, weight, or blood sugar control.
- Magnesium, not calcium, is the most important nutrient in greens. Greens are nearly the only dietary source of magnesium, and Victoria cites USDA data suggesting about 80 percent of Americans are deficient, a gap she links to heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and depression.
- Greens outperform the foods people usually credit for certain nutrients. By her figures, 100 grams of greens carries more potassium than the same weight of bananas, kale edges out carrots on vitamin A, and parsley has roughly triple the vitamin C of orange juice by weight.
- A retreat case study: a 77 year old with type 2 diabetes came off her medication by day three. After drinking nothing but green smoothies four times a day, Victoria attributes the change to magnesium’s effect on the pancreas and insulin resistance.
- Lutein, found almost exclusively in greens, is tied to eye and brain health. Victoria notes it isn’t added to baby formula and that greens poor diets, including in breastfeeding mothers, may shortchange infant cognitive development.
- Foraged wild greens can be more nutrient dense than store bought produce. Dandelion, stinging nettle, and lamb’s quarters are naturally more potent than cultivated lettuce, and store greens can already be up to two weeks old by the time they’re purchased.
- Recipes are built around specific conditions, not just general health. Following the “food is medicine” idea, the book pairs ingredients like cherries, a source of melatonin, with conditions like poor sleep, which becomes more common as natural melatonin production declines after 40.
“Your food should be your medicine and the medicine should be your food.”
Victoria Boutenko