As it turns out, there are more than just a few people that I know that have type 2 diabetes or they have a family history of it. When I hear them talk about it, it’s quite often that there is a tone of eventuality as if it will be on their doorstep before too long. In a way it’s sad to hear that people accept that as their fate without really looking any further.
If you’re lucky (like me), you’ll ask if there is a ‘cure’ or ask to see how other people ‘cure’ themselves of these symptoms. And, if you’re persistent (like me), you’ll Google up your favorite phrase like “Raw Food Diabetes cures”. When I perform that query, I get 218k hits.
The second non-sponsored link returned is a link to Amazon and a book by Gabriel Cousens:
The third link is to a little article at TheBestOfRawFood that’s linked in the trailer for Simply Raw – Reversing Diabetes in 30 days. It’s pretty inspiring, so I figured I’d also include it here. I highly recommend giving it the five minutes.
Now, things even get better. Not only can you pick up the DVD for a nominal 30 bucks (and if you really think about that, that’s less than what you’d spend going out for one dinner and drinks), but you can actually attend a seminar where they help you reverse the diabetic process. (note, I am not getting paid to push this DVD or the program! I’m writing this out of the goodness of my heart.)
As it turns out, I took the time to enquire for a brochure. It’s the 2009 brochure. If you don’t have the will power to change your life after watching the DVD, you can sign up and take the program for about 13k.
Let’s see. The last vacation I took to Hawaii cost me about $700 a day. If I’d stayed for 21 days, that trip would have cost almost 15k. Seems to me that attending the program would be better than a good vacation, it would be life altering!
Everyone gets to make their own choices in life. The fact that you’re reading this may mean that you were looking for a little encouragement or that you’re simply looking outside the standard dogma preached to people today – there is no cure for diabetes. Yet, if you no longer have the symptoms, do you still have the disease?
It’s quite often that when I come up with an idea for a blog article someone else has already put together something similar. In this case, RadiologyTechniciansSchools has done just that regarding the 50 Best Blogs for Raw Food Recipes & Inspiration. What a great collection of links!
If you want to learn about the raw food community, this is one of the best collections of links that I’ve found.
Doesn’t that look good? I’ve wanted to make this cheese-less Cheesecake for a long time. The first time I saw the picture in Sweet Gratitude I was sold for I LOVE caramel. And the picture they show has a light caramel top with chopped nuts and cacao nibs over a creamy ½ chocolate filling with a dark crust, that all looks like heaven on earth.
That slice looks really close to what they published!
The bottom crust is basically a combination of pecans, cacao powder, dates and a little vanilla. The filling is soaked cashews, agave, almond milk, lemon juice, Yacon syrup and coconut oil. The difference between the light and dark filling is that the dark has cacao powder and a little more vanilla added. Spread over the top is, by far the best, ‘caramel topping’. It’s macadamias, agave, cacao butter, vanilla and a little almond milk. Finally, on the back side and top, you’ll find chopped pecans, cacao nibs and a little Yacon syrup.
I have to say that I love the swirling technique that they introduced me to the book. Under that ‘caramel topping’ it looks like this:
The book that I go this out of is:
Chapter 4, which is all about cheese-less Cheesecakes has a short write-up about how to make the swirl. What it really comes down to is mixing up two contrasting colors (white and black) from the same material. The main ingredients made about seven cups cake batter, and you pour in all but two cups. To that, you add cacao to give it a deep dark color and then pour it in. If you hold the blender high enough above the pie, the falling batter will penetrate what’s already there. As the stream tapers down, you get a light drizzle across the top. Then, you put your magic chopsticks to work – not overdoing it so it doesn’t mix all together (thus losing the contrast).
I had to take this before finishing things up. It looked great event without the topping.
The final result looks like a party! A big party.
If I could talk to the authors, I’d have them clarify a little about this recipe for anyone else taking the bold steps to put it together. Specifically:
It’s a two day project!
No, not that it will take you two days, but in order to really do what they outline, you have to let the cake setup. Ultimately, you’ve got to take it out of the form to spread pecans around the outside. To take it out of the case, you’ve got to let it set for hours. Well, that normally takes overnight (unless you know some magic that I don’t). I wish I’d thought more about that before starting this ‘project’ because I really like deserts that I can whip up on less than an hour.
Also, I wish they’d created recipes for 7 inch cheesecake forms rather than 10. Ten inch pies are for the diehards that need to eat more than what’s humanly possible. If they keep for three days, I’d be eating slices for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between!
Ultimately, if you love nuts, you’ll love this desert.
You ever try to grow a seed after heating it? Everyone knows that if you heat something too much you kill it. We all take that for granted. We learn that at a young age and simply don’t question it. Well, that is what we will do now.
Why did heat kill the seed?
And, probably more important:
Did the heat kill the seed?
Both questions are kind of puzzling. Why would anyone question how the seed died?
To understand this a bit better, let’s look at the first signs that a seed provides to indicate that it is alive. That process has a well known name, germination. Here is what the Wikipedia has to say about germination:
Germination is the process in which a plant or fungus emerges from a seed or spore and begins growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm.
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Germination is the growth of an embryonic plant contained within a seed; it results in the formation of the seedling.
So, if the seedling can germinate, we know that the seed is alive. I know this next part is going to sound really simple, but what makes a seed germinate? Yes, I know. This is another one of those things that just about everyone also takes for granted. At the same Wikipedia link, we see:
Seed germination depends on both internal and external conditions. The most important internal factors include temperature, water, oxygen and sometimes light or darkness.
As it turns out, the requirements needed for that little seedling align pretty well with what we humans need to stay alive. But let’s continue to focus on the seedling.
If you look closely at what the Wikipedia says about the effect that water has on germination, we find some interesting points:
Water – is required for germination. Mature seeds are often extremely dry and need to take in significant amounts of water, relative to the dry weight of the seed, before cellular metabolism and growth can resume. Most seeds need enough water to moisten the seeds but not enough to soak them. The uptake of water by seeds is called imbibition, which leads to the swelling and the breaking of the seed coat. When seeds are formed, most plants store a food reserve with the seed, such as starch, proteins, or oils. This food reserve provides nourishment to the growing embryo. When the seed imbibes water, hydrolytic enzymes are activated which break down these stored food resources into metabolically useful chemicals.[2]
So, if the seed is alive, when it takes in water and oxygen at the right temperature and with the correct amount of light, enzymes are activated which break down the stored resources into usable building blocks that the plant can use to grow.
What I find interesting is that the Wikipedia can always take a simple subject and confuse it with a lot of big words. What are hydrolytic enzymes? And what are metabolically useful chemicals?
Hydrolysis is distinct from hydration. In hydration, the hydrated molecule does not “lyse” (break into two new compounds).
Something worth noting here is that when something goes through hydrolysis, it is a chemical reaction that splits down certain polymers. Also, form the seed perspective, it’s using enzymes to perform this function. (What we don’t cover here is the reference to pH. That is a article for another day!) Yet, what is a polymer?
A polymer is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalentchemical bonds. While polymer in popular usage suggests plastic, the term actually refers to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a wide variety of properties.
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Because of the extraordinary range of properties accessible in polymeric materials,[2] they play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life[3]—from plastics and elastomers on the one hand to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are essential for life on the other.
So the addition of water to the seed enables it to put its water sensitive enzymes to work breaking down the stored protein or other long molecules that have covalent chemical bonds. The seed can convert long macromolecules and proteins into what it needs to grow by simply applying water based enzymes.
If you remember from a previous article (Is food another form of light) you’d remember that when the chemical bonds break down, the molecules give off electromagnetic energy (light) in the process. Thus, light is part of the growing process – from the inside out!
So, if I’m following this correctly, the enzymes are the molecules that first go to work in the germination process that will eventually show up to us humans as a growing plant.
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (i.e., increase the rates of) chemical reactions.[1][2] In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at significant rates. Since enzymes are selective for their substrates and speed up only a few reactions from among many possibilities, the set of enzymes made in a cell determines which metabolic pathways occur in that cell.
Like all catalysts, enzymes work by lowering the activation energy (Ea‡) for a reaction, thus dramatically increasing the rate of the reaction. Most enzyme reaction rates are millions of times faster than those of comparable un-catalyzed reactions. As with all catalysts, enzymes are not consumed by the reactions they catalyze, nor do they alter the equilibrium of these reactions. However, enzymes do differ from most other catalysts by being much more specific. Enzymes are known to catalyze about 4,000 biochemical reactions.[3] A few RNA molecules called ribozymes also catalyze reactions, with an important example being some parts of the ribosome.[4][5] Synthetic molecules called artificial enzymes also display enzyme-like catalysis.[6]
Enzyme activity can be affected by other molecules. Inhibitors are molecules that decrease enzyme activity; activators are molecules that increase activity. Many drugs and poisons are enzyme inhibitors. Activity is also affected by temperature, chemical environment (e.g., pH), and the concentration of substrate. Some enzymes are used commercially, for example, in the synthesis of antibiotics. In addition, some household products use enzymes to speed up biochemical reactions (e.g., enzymes in biological washing powders break down protein or fat stains on clothes; enzymes in meat tenderizers break down proteins, making the meat easier to chew).
Looking a little deeper into the enzyme link at Wikipedia:
Like all proteins, enzymes are made as long, linear chains of amino acids that fold to produce a three-dimensional product. Each unique amino acid sequence produces a specific structure, which has unique properties. Individual protein chains may sometimes group together to form a protein complex. Most enzymes can be denatured—that is, unfolded and inactivated—by heating or chemical denaturants, which disrupt the three-dimensional structure of the protein. Depending on the enzyme, denaturation may be reversible or irreversible.
There they go using another collection of relatively unknown words. Let’s look at denatured:
When food is cooked, some of its proteins become denatured.
Hey, that is the link I was looking for! We should eventually come back to that.
First, let’s look back at our question: did the heat kill the seed? Logically, it would seem that the heat denatured the proteins that make up the enzymes that are used to break down the stored resources that the seed needs to grow.
Looking at this a different way, after applying heat, the seed has no means of convert the stored resources (proteins and carbohydrates) into useful building blocks for growth. Because of this, the seed is effectively locked in a state of not being able to use its energy reserves.
Ultimately, the heat killed the seed. But why the heat killed the seed has to make you wonder. If heat can denature the proteins that are needed by the seed to life and grow, what kind of ramifications does it have on the human body? Doesn’t the human body need enzymes – just like the seedling does? More importantly, if heat can denature enzymes, which are protein molecules, it would hold that heat would change all types of protein molecules.
We see what heat does to proteins, what about carbohydrates?
Let’s look that up:
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the general formula Cm(H2O)n, that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the last two in the 2:1 atom ratio. Carbohydrates can be viewed as hydrates of carbon, hence their name.
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Monosaccharides can be linked together into what are called polysaccharides (or oligosaccharides) in a large variety of ways. Many carbohydrates contain one or more modified monosaccharide units that have had one or more groups replaced or removed. For example, deoxyribose, a component of DNA, is a modified version of ribose; chitin is composed of repeating units of N-acetylglucosamine, a nitrogen-containing form of glucose.
Polysaccharides have a general formula of Cx(H2O)y where x is usually a large number between 200 and 2500. Considering that the repeating units in the polymer backbone are often six-carbon monosaccharides, the general formula can also be represented as (C6H10O5)n where 40≤n≤3000.
This polysacchraride is not simple sugar!
Yet these longer molecular structures don’t taste all that great, nor do the digest readily until they are broken down into smaller pieces. Some enzymes can perform this work, but the fastest process is heating. The heating process breaks the chemical bonds that attach the longer molecules into smaller ones.
This can be seen in the simple process of cooking a potato. Does it taste better raw, or cooked? Anyone can tell you that it tastes sweater after cooking. That’s because the longer starch molecules have been broken down into simpler sugars with register as sweet to the taste budds.
What’s also interesting is that plants have developed molecules that humans have a hard time with. Specifically, if we look up Cellulose, we find:
Cellulose is the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteria secrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most common organic compound on Earth. About 33 percent of all plant matter is cellulose (the cellulose content of cotton is 90 percent and that of wood is 40-50 percent).
It’s a really long polysaccharide that forms the cell wall in plants. It’s something that we don’t digest well. Cows and horses do a much better job handling this molecule with the help of microbes. Yet, the human solution to getting around this problem is to cook it. Applying heat breaks apart the cell wall which makes what’s inside the cell available to the body. Yet heating also denatures other elements of the cell.
So, what do we do?
It would seem that heating destroys key elements of our food. Elements like enzymes that we need to break down other molecules. At the same time, our bodies can’t get to all the ‘food’ in what we eat unless we can get past the larger polysaccharides that block our digestive way.
If we want the best of both worlds here, we’re going to have to get to what’s in the cell without ingesting the larger indigestible molecules. Off hand, I can think of two techniques:
Juicing
Here we simply squeeze what’s inside the cells out. If done with little friction, which causes heat, the results should be pure and highly digestible by the body.
Blending
Similar to juicing, a good blender will apply enough force to the cells to get them to break apart rendering a mixture that still contains the fibrous material along with the ‘nectar’ found inside the cells.
Both of these techniques seem like great alternatives then heating.
This investigation still leaves a number of unanswered questions.
If heating denatures proteins (destroys them) and you consume them. Can your body still use them effectively? Do these fractured pieces of molecules find function in the body? Or, do they create a situation like looking for an intact glass in a pile of glass fragments? (A nearly impossible task for surviving enzymes.) Also, might the body actually use the denatured proteins thinking that they were the real intact versions? What might this cause?
The more I learn about how heat changes molecules, the more I ask myself is it really worth consuming denatured food? Are there other alternatives like juicing and blending – or simply eating the food unaltered? What might be the best choice?
I guess I’m going to have to investigate whether or not the body can create its own enzymes and how that is done. On top of that, I’ll have to look into mucus and see what that’s made of. I heard it was undigested proteins – the above information could support that idea. Pausing and reflecting on the above, I can understand why so many people have runny noses!
The real question is what are you going to do? It seems pretty clear to me that we should be consuming foods with unaltered molecular structures. I’m going to make it a point to do so. What about you?
At one time, I called these fantastic creations Shamrock shakes. Then I discovered that McDonalds cornered the internet with that name and quickly dropped the term. I make Green Smoothies Las Vegas style. Can’t find the YouTube video of the woman making what she called a Las Vegas style smoothie, but until I can come up with another name, that’s what I’ll call them.
Smoothies with style
If you search around the internet, you’ll find tones of articles (and video clips) showing people making green smoothies. Do you have the time? I did. And now I’ve got the confidence to just whip one up.
The basic ingredients consist of:
Liquid
Greens
Fruit
And, of course, a high powered blender. I found the money for a Vita-mix 5200 and I’ve got to say I’ve been satisfied with my purchase so far. One of these days’ I expect the Raw Vegan Source will update their webpage with the latest and greatest.
In any case, if you just throw together these three main ingredients, you might not get something that really makes you want to drink it. Thus, let’s look at each category.
The Liquid
Lots of people simply add water. Not me. The liquid that you put in as the base is the predominant flavor. I almost always use some type of juice. One of my favorites is Apple Blackberry. Unfortunately, I’ve now run out of frozen blackberries so this will not be an option until August rolls around again. Another favorite is Orange Pineapple Banana. I love the creaminess of this combination. Come summertime, my absolute favorite is Honey Dew Melon juice!
On days when the raw versions of these juices elude me, I turn to frozen coconut milk (drained from fresh Thai Coconuts that I save in ice cube trays) or the Whole Foods pasteurized equivalent with the vanilla flavoring. Or, if I’ve made some Almond Milk, that works great!
Even though I’ve found my favorites, don’t be afraid to come up with a base that you really love. Some people add teas, I haven’t tried that yet. Others just stick with water, yet I find that a little plane.
Jazz up your smoothie by adding a liquid base of some sort. Experiment and you’ll find combinations that work great with the different greens that you’re consuming.
The Greens
Now what about those greens? When you first start thinking about green smoothies, the number of greens that come to mind are fairly limited. Yet, as time goes on, you’ll figure out what’s the cheapest and what has the biggest nutritional bang-for-the-buck.
Baby spinach really does foot the bill. I buy it a couple pounds at a time, but don’t buy more than a few days worth of greens. You always want to consumer the cleanest freshest greens. If the leaves are turning (rotten tips) you’ve got to ask yourself if you’re feeling lucky! Those might be fine if you’re going to steam them for 10 minutes, but raw… no thank you. In any case, I use about ½ lb spinach in each smoothie. Spinach is pretty watery and it blends up smooth.
Parsley is another one of my favorites. It has a bit stronger flavor, but it blends up nice. When it comes to blending this up, I use the stocks and all. Most of the time, I’ll blend up one bunch into a smoothie. If the store is skimping, I’ll sometimes add one and one half. With this one, I’m always on the lookout for bunches that are clean. Parsley tends to hold dirt so it requires a little more time to give it a good shaking under water. If you do this in a bowl, you’ll get to witness the dirt that sinks to the bottom of the bowl that didn’t sink to the bottom of your green smoothie.
There are lots of different lettuces. I look for the ones on sale and the ones with the darkest green pigment. We’ve all heard that it takes more energy to digest lettuce than what it gives off, yet the chlorophyll is what you’re after here. (Of course there is fiber and some minerals, but the other greens have so much more.) In each green smoothie, I’ll use an entire head. Brake off the leaves, give them a rise and blend away. The flavor is a little bitter, but that can be masked by a good combination of fruit.
Kale’s like smoothie dynamite! The heavy structure of the leaf and its dark pigments make for a nutritionally packed dynamo. The problem is that when it blends up, it doesn’t shred like spinach, or parsley, so you’ve got to run it a bit longer. Also, taste it all by itself. It’s pretty bitter. Whenever I use really dark greens I offset the bitterness with lemon. A couple tablespoons (juice of a small lemon) will make a Kale smoothie palatable. In some cases, downright enjoyable.
Again, with kale, I use a whole bunch, or, if it’s in season and the bunches are really big, I’ll use about 2/3’s a bunch. They grind up to next to nothing, so why not add in a full meal?
Other leaves that I really like a beet greens. I look forward to picking a handful of leaves out of the garden in the morning when they are in season. Nothing’s better than picking and drinking greens in the same hour. Beet greens are pretty mild, especially if you get the young ones. They’ll also a the color red to your mix sometimes turning the concoction brown. But hey, if it tastes good, you’re body will ‘eat it up.’
Carrot tops, well there is something that I haven’t been able to really come to grips with. They are on the super nutritious side of things, but until I find a way to offset the bitters, they will remain bunny food.
Herbs can also be used, but I find that the one that stands out the best is mint. What a great addition to a smoothie! Come springtime with the mint is ten inches high I’ll pinch the tops of a half dozen stocks and add those in. Wow. Fresh mint, I highly recommend giving that a try.
On the flip side of adding herbs is that they are usually very potent. A little goes a long way. Most herbs are savory and stand out great with cooked meals. Yet, when added to a green smoothie they tend to drastically change the flavor so as to through things out of balance. I haven’t perfected the art of adding things like basil or thyme or oregano, but hope to find some helpful information one of these days.
The most important thing to remember about greens is that you’ve got to rotate your greens. All plants produce natural toxins that they use to defend themselves from predators. You’re body can take a lot, but it most likely expels the toxins slower then consuming the food. Thus, don’t eat spinach every day! Rather, buy what’s on sale and eat it for a few days and then switch to another green. Pick out a number of greens that you rotate through. Be sensitive to the seasons in which the plants get harvested and try to consumer what’s naturally growing in your region at any given time.
The fruit
This is where the flavor really comes from. This is what makes the body crave smoothies rather than be repulsed by them. All smoothies should taste good! If it doesn’t, make it differently. Add more fruit or add stronger fruit.
The number one fruit that makes it into every smoothie that I make is Dates. I buy them by the two pound container at Costco and add about 1 date per two cups of final product. These things are packed with great natural sugars that are great a countering the bitterness of greens. Some people don’t like their smoothies so sweet, but, my motto is, if your body doesn’t love it, it’s not going to drink it. And at the same time, I’m always looking to increase the amount of calories I consume, so Dates fit the bill.
Bananas are one of the key staples. When you add a banana to a smoothie, it’s going to give it a creaminess that most other fruits will not. Yet, make sure that you’re adding ripe bananas. Green ones just don’t perform the same. As a side note, if you buy too many bananas you can always freeze them in Ziploc baggies. Frozen bananas also work great!
All other fruit selections should be seasonal. It’s really hard to miss not know when different fruit is coming on in your area. Cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, apples, melons, or whatever; buy what’s ripe and enjoy it until it’s gone. Get what feels best to you and don’t be afraid to mix things up.
During the winter time, I’ve found that I love adding frozen fruit. When the fruit is in peak season, usually during the summer, I’ll buy boxes of peaches, apricots and cherries and freeze them on quart size baggies. Adding in the frozen fruit adds a chill to the smoothie that means you can run the blender longer without over heating the mixture. This leads to a smoother fluffier texture for the drink.
Volume
Now the question is, how much do you add?
I start every smoothie with the liquid base. I’ll add about a cup. Maybe a little more depending on how hungry I am. I usually add a bit of water so that the blender reads a cup and a half of liquid.
Next, I rinse off the greens. When I stuff them into the blender, it usually fills it to the top. I then add a couple Dates and grind it up. But only enough to break the leaves into bits. At this point I can gauge the volume of the mixture. It might be two and a half or three cups.
Now, I add fruit up to the volume that I’m looking for. That’s usually 4-5 cups. This might mean a couple bananas, or couple apples or a third of a bag of frozen apricots or… whatever. It’s just that I want to get up to the correct volume. For me, because I make green smoothies my breakfast, I’m looking for about a quart.
Toppings
Topping can change everything. Things that I like to add include cacao powder, vanilla powder, probiotics, green powders, protein powders or other dried fruit powders. There are hundreds of different items that you could add that will give a subtle change to the drink and add to it’s nutritional value.
The only caution that I would make is that you don’t want to mix in things that are really hard to digest with your green smoothie. Fruit and greens digest fast, proteins take a bit longer.
So when it comes to making your green smoothie, go with the flow and make it enjoyable. The better it tastes, the more you’ll consume. The more you consume, the better you’ll feel.
If you find something that you really enjoy, let me know. I’m always looking to give something new a try.
And don’t forget to search the web for other recipes. I would start with Victoria Boutenko’s site. She’s the mother of these magical creations. Buy her book (Green for Life) and learn more!
