Green for Life
by Victoria Boutenko
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Book Reviews of Green for Life
Book Review: Great introduction to blending, but should be taken with a grain of salt
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book based on the large number of positive reviews and read it with an open mind, but also some skepticism. I wanted to boost my energy level as well as cut down on meat consumption, but was wary of fad diets and radical lifestyle changes. I was already exercising regularly (3-4x a week), so weight loss wasn't a concern. I was just tired of feeling lethargic all the time and wanted to try a new way to stop being so lifeless.
Thankfully, Boutenko promotes healthy living, not gimmicky diets or fad lifestyles. I gave the book an earnest effort, and within 2 weeks of regular and frequent blending (4 or more smoothies a day), I began to notice a big change in the way my body reacted. I was surprised to see myself growing very sleepy around 11pm and was wide awake by 7, all without a need for an alarm clock. My body became more in tune with the circadian rhythm and day/night cycles whereas previously, I stayed up half the night and didn't wake until past noon. As many others have reported, my craving for meat and junk food sharply declined. After drinking 2 or 3 glasses of smoothies/veggie juice blends in the evening, I didn't have much interest (or room) for much else.
My initial 5 or 6 pitchers were sometimes downright disgusting, but after I got used to the juice blends and varying the ingredients (adding some fruits or store-bought orange juice), I came to like them a lot and looked forward to a tall cold glass of green goo whenever I felt hungry. Particularly effective energy-boosters are dark leafy greens like kale and Chinese mustard greens (Brassica rapa).
Prior to reading "Green for Life", I was juicing. I always felt guilty throwing away all that vegetable and fruit pulp and just drinking the juice, and Boutenko made me realize why. I was discarding all the good stuff, like valuable nutrients, enzymes, and fiber. I had tried to use the pulp in soup, but it didn't taste very good. Juicing also left a big mess to clean up (mesh screen, pulp bucket, juicer walls), and I hadn't even thought to blend. So, now I blend, and keep 100% of the benefits and all the cleaning that's required is rinsing out the pitcher of my blender. Another bonus is that vegetables and fruit are a lot cheaper than meat, so the savings add up. $5 can buy a week's worth of juicing ingredients. In the supermarket, I began to walk right by the meat section without second thoughts, even when there were some great sales. Lower meat consumption is also better for the planet because of how wasteful meat production is.
"Green for Life" is a good starting point to a greener, healthier lifestyle, and I highly recommend it. I do have to take some of what Boutenko says with a grain of salt though. She seems to claim blending as a panacea which solves almost any ailment or condition. Otherwise, I have no doubts as to the health benefits of regular blending. I fell off the wagon for the last 3 months because of work and definitely feel the difference. I'm very tired again during the day, so I've restarted my blending routine. Getting more vegetables into your diet and eating less meat is never a bad thing.
Book Review: Refreshing and Inspirational
Summary: 5 Stars
Green for life is an excellent book. I have been edging my way towards a raw food diet. I keep adding more and more raw foods to my meals. One of the things that I added to my diet was fruit smoothies. They make a great meal. I started adding the green smoothies to my diet instead of just fruit and it really makes a big difference. The author is not joking when she says that a green smoothie will fill you up and take away the cravings. I have been drinking them for almost two weeks straight and I really don't crave sweets anymore. If I do, I can just eat a fruit and be done with it. I have made the green smoothie my breakfast now. It really fills me up for the day. I can drink a big green smoothie for the morning and just have a few pieces of fruit for lunch and not be hungry until night time.
It really is important that you experiment with the different green smoothie recipes and find one that is for you. I started with just one leaf of kale. I now blend a whole bunch of kale and add parsley. I pack my 56 ounce blender to the top with greens, blend it down with water and pack it up with greens again. You really will get used to the taste after a few days. It might be harder for someone who is on the SAD (standard American diet) diet though. I have been vegan for 9 months so my taste buds have changed from the SAD diet.
In her book, Victoria compares the SAD diet with a typical Chimpanzee diet. Chimpanzees share an estimated 99.4% of genes with humans. She explains how chimps have a natural immunity to most diseases. Most of their diet is of fruits and greens. She also tells of a study that her family conducted with participants who drank 1 quart of green smoothies each day for a month and their reactions. The results of the study showed a lot of improvement for the participants. Almost all of them had more energy. Victoria says in her book that she has met many people who have survived cancer by switching to a raw diet with greens in it. There is a lot of other very important information in her book as well. For instance stomach acid, fiber, soil, etc.
I began researching nutrition nine months ago when I switched to a vegan diet. I began to realize after a very short amount of time, how corrupt the nutritional information is out there. Most of the data out there is somehow influenced by the pharmaceutical companies who are making billions of dollars off of the sick. Or it's influenced by the corporate companies. For instance the dairy industry spends around 180 million dollars a year in advertisement. There is no amount of advertisement for kale. I don't believe that if there was a cure for cancer out there, the cancer research programs would even mention it. The medical industry makes billions of dollars per year on people who have diseases. The medical industry makes money on people being sick. They don't make money on healthy people. It is in their interest for people to be sick.
We have to take care of ourselves. There are plenty of books out there to help us. This book is one of them. I also recommend The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.
Book Review: Love Green Love This Book
Summary: 2 Stars
I give the book two stars because of the green smoothies. She makes it seem like she came up with the idea and if she did, more power to her, since reading the book last year our family now drinks green smoothies 5-7 days a week. We love them and if there is any left over I freeze them into pops and my youngest really loves them this way. Everyone should be eating more raw food and green smoothies are wonderful way for busy families to incorporate more veggies and fruit into their diets.
That said, this book had to have been the worst written book I have ever read. She doesn't even try and make an actual scientific case for anything, has no scientific back ground, and basically literally just makes things up the entire book. My only guess is that either she is literally ignorant and uneducated regarding anything she is writing about OR she thinks she is writing mostly for people who have no basic clue about animals or wildlife. The parts about saying that when you see a deer in the wild that you can't tell it's age, just makes me wonder, has she not seen a deer in the wild? When she talked about how cows can live on only grass therefore we can too, I just literally had to scratch my head. For those that don't know cows have 4 stomachs, well not really 4 actual stomachs but 4 chambers, they basically have a giant fermentation vat, they regurgitate and chew their cud from this fermentation vat, this is how they can turn grass into meat. We actually can't do that, we have 1 simple stomach, one that can not digest cellulose, this is why you can't actually eat wheat grass but must juice it first. The entire book is chock full of things like this. If anyone does even a little research you will find you could drive entire semi-trucks through the wholes in most of her theories.
Even that is not the worst. The worst is that this should have been a recipe book with some information, I would have given that four or five stars because I love my green smoothies and I could have dealt with some of her wacky ideas in the side bars. It hardly included any recipes at all and almost all of my recipes that I have used over the last year have come from just internet searches and what veggies/fruit I have on hand. I wish I could have had a book with lots of good recipes. And the entire part about her "study", my goodness, has there ever been a least scientific study then this? I can't believe she (and the publisher) dedicated that many pages to the "study".
Save your money, look up "green smoothies" on youtube, watch some videos, buy a Vitamix or BlendTec (love my Vitamix) and incorporate more raw food, especially veggies in your diet (and your kids!). No doubt about it, the standard "American Diet" is killing us and not even slowly but very fast but this book is mostly just silly.
Book Review: User-Friendly and Inspirational!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Victoria has written one of the most user-friendly nutritional books I have ever read. She takes what very well could be a sweaty subject for most readers, and presents the information concisely, anecdotally, invigoratingly, and with pizazz!
This book details the benefits of transitioning to a raw foods lifestyle. I do not say 'diet' because this is not a diet at all, it is actually a way of life. A mind-blowing, body-transforming, attitude-improving, way of life. Sure, some people will employ the raw foods techniques to enhance their diet, but if you truly want to feel the 'epiphany' (and yes, you will have one if you stick to it), you must commit to living 'green' as fully as you can.
In her book, Victoria starts off with an inspirational message. She challenges everyone to seek their own personal truths, and to never accept what is read for fact until one has personally experienced it. She then goes on to discuss her personal journey and her family's journey into the raw food lifestyle - their pitfalls, their triumphs, and ultimately how it changed their lives for the better.
Victoria provides information on 'green smoothies' and how they have a profound impact on one's health. She also talks about nutritional aspects of traditional SAD (Standard American Diet) versus the Raw Food lifestyle.
Without getting too fussy or overly-technical, she emphasizes the need for fiber, protein, chlorophyll, and also introduces something I never considered - the pH of your stomach juices (aka acidity/alkalinity level), how to measure them, and how they play a key role in whether you 'sink' or 'swim' through life.
She ends her book with Testimonials from a test group who participated in a test study that she herself funded along with friends.
This book was a quick read (took me 4 hours cover-to-cover), easy to understand, realistic in its testimonials, personable, and anecdotal. The Green Smoothie recipes provided were simple and yummy!
Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is even minutely curious about the raw food lifestyle, specifically green smoothies, and living more green. It is understood that not everyone can live 100% raw, but Victoria encourages us to do our best and that even small steps will improve your health.
Book Review: Great, Accessible Information
Summary: 5 Stars
In her most accessible book yet, Victoria Boutenko brings the benefits of greens to everybody--not just those willing to commit to a 100% raw food lifestyle. The information she shares in Green for Life will improve the diet and nutrient assimlation for the heaviest meat eater, to the occasional vegetarian, to the 100% raw fooder.
Green smoothies make "objectionable" foods like heads of kale, lambquarters, or carrot tops completely palatable. Through the magic of blending fruits like watermelon or bananas with greens, they become tasty liquid treats that help everything from insufficient stomach HCL to arthritis.
I found this book surprisingly engaging. Admittedly, I enjoy eating greens. I've even been known to make the occasional kale-raspberry smoothie; however, I had no idea of the science behind these strange cravings. Victoria has collected nutritional profiles of specific greens, results from a scientific study about the effect of green smoothies on stomach acid, favorite recipes and some impressive testimonials from participants in the Roseburg Study.
I found her observations about chimpanzees especially refreshing: they share so much of our DNA that scientists ruthlessly experiment on chimps by giving them all kinds of human diseases. Victoria turns this similarity around and suggests we look to wild chimpanzees for ways to stay or become healthy, rather than inflicting illnesses on them in captivity. Chimpanzees naturally eat far more greens than humans.
Green for Life is filled with practical observations, and it contains Victoria's characteristic analytical and experimental quest for "what works." When she finally finds something reliably great, she wants to share it with as many people as possible. Her passion is as infectious as the green smoothies are delicious. Yes, I like greens anyway, but I have personally witnessed non-greens lovers actually enjoying the smoothies I make. These same Standard American Diet people now regularly request large helpings of raw fruits and vegetables. Thank you, Victoria, for such an easy way to make a difference in people's lives!