Green Smoothies

According to Victoria Boutenko greens are the primary food group that match human nutritional needs most completely.

Greens are loaded with amino acids, (the building blocks of protein), minerals, vitamins, fibre & chlorophyll.

Greens can be combined with any other food and enhance digestion by stimulating enzyme production. Hence the combination of greens and fruit in green smoothies is very acceptable i.e. versus the combination of fruit with other food types, and starch with protein e.g. classic SAD fair such as cheese and bread, milk and cereal (See the book by Victoria Boutenko, Green for Life for more detail).

Chimpanzees are the closest animal relative to humans sharing over 99% of the same genes. They eat a diet consisting of 50% fruit, 40% greens and 10% pith, bark and insects. This is all raw and whole food.

Over 50% of most SADs contain cooked carbohydrates such as potatoes, bread, pasta and rice. Approx 35% fats, oils and animal proteins and the rest fruit, veg and greens.

Even the average raw food diet has about 35% plant based fats and oils and a small percentage of greens.

The chronic diseases of humankind are not seen in wild chimps so why not take a leaf out of their book and see what their big secret is? No secret, lifestyle and diet are blatantly different.

A diet of 50% fruit, 40% greens and 10% or less fat is the ideal diet according to many experienced raw fooders and those with the best health. Hence green smoothies are an excellent way of getting extra greens into your diet in addition to eating alot of salad!

Greens are biologically very hardy on a molecular level as they contain cellulose. Nutrients are stored within the plant's cells and their cell walls need to be ruptured to release them. This requires a significant amount of chewing, which humans struggle with, our jaws are not strong enough and we are very impatient. We also need strong stomach acid which many of us lack.

To get enough greens, blending them in a smoothie is ideal as it ruptures the plant cell membranes releasing nutrients very easily. Victoria Boutenko recommends a quart (1 litre) a day of green smoothie.

Any greens eaten whole are still encouraged, however they should be chewed very well!!

What is the best blender you may ask.....well any blender works however cheaper ones will break down sooner. The popular, expensive and very effective blenders are Vitamix and Blendtec as brands. Personally I use a Thermomix which is a multi-purpose kitchen appliance that blends, food processes, cooks if you want it to; warms or melts at 37 degrees Celsius, weighs, times, crushes ice, mills grain and more...its awesome.

As a vegetarian or vegan one of the questions you regularly get from people who know far less then you do about nutrition is 'Where do you get your protein from?" After you wait for your blood to stop boiling from being asked AGAIN, you smile and politely reply "from my food".

Seriously though, there is no danger of protein deficiency if you eat calories that contain nutrition. I know there are vegetarians and vegans out there living on jam sandwiches, and yes, they may be protein deficient, however they will also be nutrient deficient overall.

The World Health Organisation states that we only need 10% of our calories from protein. T. Colin Campbell, who wrote the amazing book, 'The China Study', states that we only need 5-6% of our calories from protein, with 10% recommended to ensure we do get the 5-6% we need.

Carbohydrate is what we primarily need for energy, fat is what we primarily need for our brain and endocrine system, and protein is what we need primarily for growth and repair. As adults we are not growing like we do as children, and definitely as we do as babies. Mother's milk is the perfect food for for an infant up to 6 months of age and it contains around 6% of its calories from protein - only 6%!! at the most rapid period of growth our lives. Mother's milk is mostly fat and much of it is lauric acid, which is similar to the extremely healthy fatty acids in coconut water.

Many fad diets are high protein and low carbohydrate with the mistaken theory that excreting ketones in your urine is a good thing. Aside from overly taxing your kidneys, a high protein diet is reported to lead to problems such as kidney stones, osteoporosis, mood disorders and bad body odour. High protein diets do tend to cause weight loss but this is not due to ketosis, it is due to calorie deprivation and the fact that protein is more satiating than carbohydrate based food of the same volume.

It is important to eat protein at each meal if you wish to lose weight and keep your blood sugar levels even, however this does not mean a slab of meat at each sitting. Protein rich plant sources are very abundant and include green leaves! Also seed grains like quinoa and amaranth, sprouts like alfalfa and lentil, nuts and seeds like almonds and sesame, and legumes like chickpeas.

The idea that you have to combine different plant based protein sources together to make a complete protein e.g beans and rice, was debunked in the 1970s! As long as a variety of protein sources are being consumed regularly, it is not necessary to consume all essential amino acids in one meal.

What are amino acids? - They are the building block of protein. We eat foods that contain protein, our digestive system breaks it down into individual amino acids, then re -assembles them into new proteins needed by the body e.g. enzymes.There are 22 amino acids and 8 are essential amino acids, meaning we must eat them because we can't manufacture them. A complete protein has all 8 essential amino acids and includes foods like meat & eggs. The problem is that most concentrated protein sources are cooked and cooking destroys 50% of the available protein. It may be complete but it is only half available once eaten. Raw plant foods are 100% available and some plants are also complete proteins like soy, quinoa and amaranth.

A big misconception is that people wanting to put on muscle need to eat more protein and some bodybuilding often involves extraordinary amounts of eating lean chicken breast or drinking protein powder shakes. Yes, we need protein for growth BUT, what builds muscle is weight bearing exercise and we need fuel to do this. You cannot build muscle without resistance training e.g. weight lifting. You can eat lots of chicken and it will fuel your body, but its much harder fuel to process. Exercise and complex carbohydrate intake is the best combination as it is an energy efficient fuel. Training with higher carbs (complex/ wholefood carbs not simple/sugary/starchy carbs) will result in excellent energy, great mood, excellent elimination through the bowel (because diet high in fibre) and great muscle tone and recovery after exercise.

Green smoothies are a great source or protein when you are consuming a good 40% of your smoothie as greens. Greens are protein rich, with the obvious evidence being grazing animals like cattle and sheep. Not to mention apes! How muscular are these animals and they are vegan!!!! Spinach has 30% of its calories as protein compared to cheese at 26%, milk at 23% and beef at 50%. But remember cooking destroys protein by 50%, so 100g of cooked beef is similar to around 80g of raw spinach for available protein content.

Popeye couldn't be wrong could he??

Firstly can I say that green smoothies don't taste horrible. They look green but taste like the fruit in them. Obviously if you go overboard with the greens it will taste pretty green, but generally speaking you don't taste the them much if at all.

All recipes below are approximately enough for two large glasses of green smoothie holding 2 cups, or 16 fl. oz or 450mls each or around 1 Litre / 1 quart in total.

It is generally recommended to use 40% greens and 60% fruit. If you do happen to overdo the greens, try a bit of vanilla or some lemon juice to take the edge off.

Greens I use are usually a combination of kale, silverbeet/chard and spinach. If kale is used I usually use it with a milder green as it can be strong. I have also recently experimented with my regular salad mix when I have run out of my 'greens for green smoothies container' in the fridge. They are also great, however be mindful that the red leaves are generally more bitter.

I have also used celery (stalks and tops), cos/romaine lettuce, carrot tops & parsley stalks. Any green can be used but be careful it is not a mustard green or rocket as the taste is dreadful!!! Experiment yourself however don't use the same one all the time. Its important to rotate your greens to respect the seasons, however it is more important to get a variety of nutrients and avoid the same plant alkaloids in greens. e.g. chard & spinach have oxalic acid in them and if you only eat chard or spinach in your green smoothies, you may start to have problems with too much of it in your system. One issue is It binds with calcium which will decrease absorption of this important mineral. I can tell if I have been eating too much of the same green, because I start to not want smoothies and I feel a bit queasy mid morning.

Try to buy your greens organic, they won't contain pesticides and herbicides and will contain more nutrients than conventional greens. If you can only buy non-organic please wash them very thoroughly with a good quality and chemical free fruit and veggie wash. Even better, grow them yourself. Silverbeet/Chard is so easy to grow, even someone without green thumbs can do it!

Be sure to blend thoroughly to break up all the greens, rest your blender if needed if you have a cheap one.

Please only use filtered water or pure spring water.

Enjoy!

4 bananas or
2-3 bananas and 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
2 tsp bee pollen
2 tsp InLiven Probiotic Superfood
1 sachet of Berry Radical Antioxidant Superfood
1 cup of water or fresh squeezed orange juice
generous portion of greens
1 tsp vanilla extract (this is the secret of calming down the greenness that can sometimes overpower the smoothie, if you have put a bit too much in taste wise)

I had a serious problem this week, my organic veggie co-op was on on holidays and my fridge and fruit bowl was looking a but scary. I had a wedge of watermelon in the fridge, frozen blueberries and some silver beet leaves....that's all. I have never put watermelon a smoothie before, I don't know why. HELLO!!! its awesome!

2-3 cups of watermelon
1/2 cup of blueberries
silver beet leaves
1 cup of water

Blend........................................yippee, my new favourite

I bunch of flat leaf parsley
(keep the tender stalks and chop off the tough ones)
1-2 lemons with the rind, pith & seeds removed
1-2 bananas
20-30g of sweetener of choice e.g.honey/agave
1 cup of ice blocks
2 cups of water

Blend for 1-2 mins

variations
Keep the seeds for Vit B17
Keep the pith for bioflavanoids (will make the smoothie a little bitter)
No sweetening if you are hard core!!!!

2 bananas
1 cup chopped papaya (red or yellow)
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
a big handful of greens

This naturally enzyme rich smoothie is easy to digest as it won't tax your own pancreas! Yay!

55% coconut water
45% greens

Blood is made up plasma and blood cells
Plasma comprises 55% of blood fluid and is mostly water (90% by volume) and containing dissolved proteins, glucose, mineral ions, hormones, carbon dioxide, platelets and blood cells themselves.
Blood cells are mainly red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Red blood cells are the most abundant and they contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein.

The plant version of hemoglobin is chlorophyll which is a green pigment based around a magnesium ion as opposed to iron (haem). Both hemoglobin and chlorophyll exist to obtain energy.

Coconut water is a natural liquid closest in structure to blood plasma and has been used in the war instead of plasma when supplies were low!!

So combine 55% coconut water and 45% greens and you have a BLOODy great smoothie!!!!

4 bananas
2 cups of water (or coconut water for absolute decadence!!)
1 Tbs of raw cacao
2 handfuls of mint

Mint is my new green - so yummmmm

Mint is It is a good source of Niacin, Phosphorus and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. (from http://www.nutritiondata.com)

2 lemons- peel and pith removed
2 oranges- peel and pith removed
2 mandarins - peeled
ice blocks
water
Kale
sweetener to taste (optional)

Add peeled fruit to blender
fill a large glass with ice blocks, top it up with water, then add to the blender
add kale and blend for 1-2 mins

The addition of ice helps to incorporate the fibre from the citrus and kale into the liquid, and gives it a beautiful creamy top when you pour it out, reminds of the top you get on a Guinness (it's been many years but I still remember!)

Taste before you consider adding sweetener, because depending how big your lemons and mandarins/oranges are, you may not need it.

Kale is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese. It is also a very good source of dietary fiber, copper, calcium, vitamin B6 and potassium.

Vit C (in the kale and citrus) are known as potentially anti-cancer agents, and the Sulforaphane, which is formed when cruciferous vegetables such as kale are chopped or chewed (or blended), triggers the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer-causing chemicals, inhibits chemically-induced breast cancers in animal studies, induces colon cancer cells to commit suicide. Cool huh!

Sources;
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=38
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070910132848.htm

This was a case of 'what on earth is left in the fridge'. I had some:

Leftover fresh, young coconut milk
The tops off a baby fennel that I had the bulb in a salad for
Some pineapple

I added a bit more water and my usual InLiven Probiotic Superfood and OMG what a taste sensation!! The sweet acidity of the pineapple and the aniseed from the fennel is amazing...and so wickedly green!

Blend it lots though becuase the fennel tops are a fine green.

1 cup papaya (red is nicer than yellow)
1 cup of pineapple (include the core)
1-2 handfuls of flat leaf parsley (remove bigger stems)
1-2 passionfruit
2 cups water

Combine all except the passionfruit and blend
Scoop out the passion fruit pulp and sit on top of the smoothie like a garnish. You could blend the passionfruit through however the seeds will be gritty through the smoothie

The core and stem of raw pineapple contains the most bromelain in the whole fruit. Bromelain is an enzyme that helps with protein digestion. It is also suggested bromelain can help reduce inflammation, reduce coagulation of blood and reduce tumour growth.
Pineapple also contains excellent amounts of Vit C and the trace element manganese, which are both important for the immune system due to their antioxidant supporting roles.

If you feel like more than a freshly squeezed OJ and less than a full on smoothie and this hit the spot!!!!

Juice from 4 large oranges
Half a cup of blueberries
8 fresh strawberries
Handful of greens

blend and serve for two

Flesh and milk from a young coconut
2 tsp of cacao powder (preferably raw)
1 banana
1/2 cup of blueberries
1 Tbs coconut oil/butter
Agave or honey to taste
Big handful of greens

The MCFAs in coconuts are the healthiest fatty acids to consume and apparently aid weight loss! Bring it on!!
Coconut oil and butter are the same thing, it's oil above about 26 degrees celsius (79 Farenheit), and buttery below that. It can change forms with no issues regarding its stability

2-3 frozen bananas sliced (sliced before or after freezing doesn't matter)
1 mango
1 cup young coconut milk
1 cup water or 2 cups if no coconut milk
1 big handful or 2 of silverbeet
1 tsp vanilla

Blend lots...it's so creamy, just close your eyes and go to your special place!!

I love a banana based smoothies however I know not everyone does. I am aware that bananas are a higher GI fruit and the addition of greens will reduce the glycemic load compared to bananas without the greens included. I have been challenged to create more banana less smoothies and I find that a smoothie needs substance to it to be filling which is what bananas provide. Personally I like the creaminess that bananas provide too, probably as a substitution for milk/yoghurt/ice-cream that is in conventional smoothies. The other thing is we have just had cyclone Yasi in Australia which has decimated our banana industry up north. Organic bananas are up to $16 a kg!! So pears have became my new banana, well this week anyway!

2 ripe pears, cores removed
1 cup of pineapple, core included
spinach or other green of choice
1-2 Tbs of hemp seeds
1 1/2 cups water

This smoothie is a gorgeous colour using the spinach and the hemp makes creamy and still light. Hemp seeds are optional of course, but the addition of a little fat of your choice will aid the absorption of fat soluble vitamins, and minerals.

1/2 to 1 cup of blueberries and 1 ripe banana
1 young coconut - flesh and water
1 tbs of raw cacao powder
1 tbs maca powder
small handful of goji berries
1 tbs hemp seeds
1-2 tsp bee pollen (careful if allergic - more if you please!)
10 x 10 cm/ 4 x 4 inch piece of aloe vera inner leaf gel (or equivalent size)
Spirulina and/or E3Live blue-green algae and/or marine phytoplankton (dose according to bottle)

1/2 to 1 cup of water extra
Agave nectar, stevia or honey to sweeten

Blend all except the extra water and sweeteners
add extra water to desired smoothie consistency
add sweeteners a little at a time till the balance is right

Warning!!
This smoothie may not be a taste sensation but it contains David Wolfe's 10 top superfoods and will probably keep you going all day long@!!
Fell free to play around with the ingredients to suit your palate and don't let it sit around. Drink immediately as the maca tends to make the smoothie tastes of radishes if left to develop...it's gross!!

1-2 cups fresh pineapple chopped
1 banana
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup water
big handful of greens - try bok choy/pak choy, its really mild and helps make it nice and creamy

This is a good one when getting used to the green-ness of smoothies, as the sweetness and acid of the orange and pineapple cuts through any green taste.

3-4 whole oranges only just peeled
2 bananas
1 cup of water
big handful of greens

Keeping some pith on the oranges reveals the rich bioflavanoids which are excellent during menstruation as they are capillary (baby blood vessel) strengthening. Furthermore the pips have Vitamin B17, a potent anti-cancer agent.

2 cups fresh pineapple
1-2 bananas
generous handful of mint leaves
1 cup of water

so simple, and so stunning..................
I actually won a competition with this smoothie!

4-5 ripe fresh figs
1 cup of red seedless grapes
1 cup of water
1 cup of ice blocks
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp InLiven Probiotic superfood

This is not my creation I am afraid but worthy of your pleasure! It's Sarma Melngailis' Fig and grape cleansing shake and I have added my Probiotic Superfood to make it qualify (sort of) as green. You could put greens in it but I didn't. It takes a bit earthy (not dirty, I did wash the fruit!)and is so satisfying I have had it for lunch.

In Doug Graham's excellent book the 80/10/10 diet, he provides lots of simple recipes to eat a low fat, nutritious and high energy raw food diet. This diet cured my candida and hormone issues.

Anyway....one of my favorites recipes is a salad made of red papaya, tomatoes and basil. I had left overs and turned it into a smoothie and it's not bad!

1-2 cups of ripe red papaya
1 cup of really good tomatoes
1/2 to 1 bunch basil
pinch of salt
add water as needed to achieve desired consistency

Blend half the basil to start with and add more if you want. Some basil is strong and some bunches are big, so just see how you go.

This tastes a little savoury so you may find it odd at breakfast time. You can of course have it any old time!

2 bananas
1 cup red papaya
2 celery stalk ends with leaves (pale green ends)
2 handfuls of middle romaine/cos lettuce leaves
1 cup water
2 tsp InLiven Probiotic superfood (optional)

This green smoothie creation was a a bit of a mish mash of left over ingredients, but turned out a beautiful pale green, despite the significant amount of greens in it.

1-2 bananas
1-1.5 cups of frozen or fresh pitted cherries
(or blueberries if you can't get cherries)
2 cups of water
(or baby coconut water to make it even sexier!!)
a big handful of greens

If you choose to follow rules of food combining then fat is not supposed to be eaten with sugar. The theory is that it is easier on our digestive system to follow food combining principles. The classic recommendation is no acid foods or protein with starchy carbohydrate and not to eat fruit with anything else (except greens), because it may ferment in your stomach and cause gas or abdominal discomfort. There are lots of other food combining rules which if you were to follow them, would see you eating a very strict diet of mostly mono foods.

The main constituents of food are fat, protein and carbohydrate. They each need different mechanisms of being broken down.

In the mouth we have teeth to chew which mechanically starts to break down food into smaller pieces. We also have amylase in our saliva that starts to break down carbohydrates, we also have salivary lipase that starts fat digestion.

In a healthy stomach we have a high acid environment which is ideal for the beginnings of protein digestion. The stomach itself secretes pepsinogen which is activated by stomach acid to form pepsin, the necessary enzyme to start protein digestion. The churning action of the stomach will move all the food around which will mechanically break down food a bit further.

In the start of the small intestine (which comes next), bile is dumped in from the gall bladder to help break down fats. Its like the effect of soap suds when washing greasy dishes. Bicarbonate ions are released to neutralise the acidic stomach juices so its more alkaline. The pancreas also secretes enzymes into the small intestine like lipase to break down fats, trypsin to break down protein and amylase to break down carbohydrate.

There are many more enzymes to work on all the constituents of our food than this, however these are the basic principles that you will find in any physiology textbook. Deeper down in the small and large intestine there are beneficial bacteria and more enzymes to break everything down to small molecules, that we then use as building blocks to run and heal our bodies.

Naturally the arrival of food stimulates the secretion of digestive enzymes. However the smell and thought of food does too. We salivate, our stomach can growl and our pancreas is stimulated. In particular our pancreas is stimulated and the pancreas is responsible for secreting enzymes to digest protein, carbs and fat. The thought of any food type will stimulate digestive enzymes...not just one type of enzyme for one type of food. The body prepares itself to digest all three major components of food at the same time.

Essentially it seems our digestive system is well designed and equipped to deal with food combinations.

It makes sense that if we don't chew our food properly we don't start fat and carb digestion in the mouth properly.
It makes sense that if we have low stomach acid, then the stimulation of pepsin is poor and we will struggle to start protein digestion.
It makes sense that if we think of food all the time, overeat, and eat foods devoid of active enzymes (i.e raw, uncooked food) that we may deplete our pancreatic enzyme ability. This will then affect digestion of all three groups.
It makes sense that if our diet is too high in fats, particularity saturated animal fats, cooked fats, hydrogenated and trans fats, our liver will struggle to keep producing enough bile to store in the gall bladder to be used as needed to help digest fat.
It makes sense if we are low in beneficial bacteria then bad bacteria proliferate and interfere with nutrient absorption and the production of gas and bloating.

So if we eat unconsciously (i.e. not literally unconscious but say in front of the TV), don't chew or swill food in our mouths, have hypochloridia (low stomach acid), eat too much bad fats, don't supplement with probiotics or eat fermented foods and eat no or very little raw food, then our digestive system is going to be very very stressed!!

I am starting to believe like some do, that food combining is simply a band-aid solution to a greater underlying problem If your digestive system is stressed enzymatically, then it makes sense that eating one type of food at a time will be more comfortable. There is also the point that wholefoods are not just protein or just carbohydrate, they are combinations. Meat is fat and protein, fruit is mostly carbohydrate but will have small amounts of protein and fat. Leafy greens are rich in carb and protein and many contain essential fatty acids that we need desperately, like the omega3 rich purselane. Beans and nuts are combinations of protein and fat.

So here is the action plan that should work of we respect the design of our magnificent body
Think consciously about you food prior to and during eating and be happy and calm when eating
Chew well or if drinking, swill it in your mouth
Improve stomach acid by eating more greens and drinking green smoothies, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice in water prior to a meal can help too
Eat at least 50% of every meal as raw, uncooked plant based foods which still contain enzymes (heat over 48 degrees C or 115 degrees F and they are destroyed, food enzymes are apparently robust enough to handle the gut environment)
Supplement probiotics like certified organic InLiven Probiotic Fermented Superfood
Avoid saturated animal fats, overheating fats - especially over 100 degrees C, hydrogenated fats (margarine) and trans fats
Don't over eat. The size of your two fists together is supposed to be the size of your stomach and the maximum amount you should eat in one go, three times a day.

I must add to this discussion that food allergies and intolerance are a different story. Back when I didn't realise I had to cut of gluten and dairy, following food combining principles were great. However, now that I don't eat gluten and dairy, minimal sugar and no coffee, (my food intolerances), I can combine anything and be fine. I can eat protein and carbohydrate and fruit after or with meals. If you are consuming an allergenic or highly intolerant food for your body it will be upset no matter what you do till you remove the offending food.

Now the question of fats in your smoothie....it was a long winded answer wasn't it!! Go for it! Fats (good fats of course) actually aid the absorption of our fat soluble Vitamins like K and E, both super important and also the absorption of minerals. These are rich in greens so put a little fat in your smoothie and a little fat on your greens when eating a salad. In a smoothie try coconut flesh, coconut oil/butter, ground chia or flax seeds, a few ground nuts, hemp seeds, tahini, avocado, nut milk, flax oil. You don't need much, no more than a tbs of concentrated fat per person.

I know this maybe a controversial topic so I welcome opinion and comment

InLiven is a certified organic probiotic superfood containing all 13 Lactobaccillus strains, predigested greens and more. More info and links below.

Berry Radical is a certified organic antioxidant superfood with a higher ORAC score than Goji berries/juice. More info and links below.

Chia seeds For insoluble fibre and omega 3 add a tbsp full to your smoothie. You can blend them dry into a powder before adding wet ingredients or add them whole while blending, they go soft unlike flax seeds so are easy drink and munch. Don't leave your smoothie too long before drinking though cos it will thicken it as Chia soaks up liquid big time.

Chia contains
8 times more omega 3 oils than salmon
The highest plant source of omega 3 oils
Highly stable due to high antioxidant capacity (unlike unstable sources like flax and fish and hemp)
It's a complete protein and has 18 amino acids
5 x more calcium than milk
3 x more iron than spinach
15 x more magnesium than broccoli
ORAC score 4 x higher than blueberries (antioxidant measurement)
source: www.powersuperfoods.com

Bee Pollen
Though not vegan, bee pollen is an amazing source of nutrients and cannot be synthesised in a laboratory.Bee-gathered pollens are rich in proteins, free amino acids, vitamins, including B-complex, and folic acid. Bee pollen is a complete food and contains many elements that products of animal origin do not possess. Bee pollen is more rich in proteins than any animal source. It contains more amino acids than beef, eggs, or cheese of equal weight. Bee pollen is particularly concentrated in all elements necessary for life.
source http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/bee.htm

Bee pollen can have allergenic reactions in people so must be used with caution. We started using in in our smoothies to assist with my husbands hay fever. We started with a 1/4 tsp and built up slowly to 1 tsp each. I know others take bigger doses but we have stopped at this amount out of some respect to the bees!

Hemp seeds
According to Lynn Osborne in her article in the Hemp Line Journal, 'Seeds of the plant cannabis sativa, hemp seed, contain all the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human life. No other single plant source has the essential amino acids in such an easily digestible form, nor has the essential fatty acids in as perfect a ratio to meet human nutritional needs"

Foodstuffs made from hemp seed and oil are illegal in Australia and New Zealand. This is despite the recommendation, a few years back, by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) that the prohibition be removed. But state ministers and government heads rejected the proposal, determining in their wisdom, that "there were law enforcement issues, particularly from a policing perspective, where it was perceived that there would be difficulties in distinguishing between high THC and low THC products. The Ministers of FSC also believed that the use of industrial hemp in food may send a confused message to consumers about the acceptability and safety of cannabis sativa. (See http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/11/hemp_food_in_au.php for details). Sounds a bit silly to me and a bit backwards and I am saying this about my own country!

I did get some hemp seeds when I was recently in the UK and they are just fantastic!! I was putting them in my green smoothies while traveling and they make your smoothie beautiful and creamy. They are soft and simply YUMMY. I was sprinkling them on salads, putting them in my smoothies and just eating them by the spoonful.

If you are lucky not to live in Australia or New Zealand then please enjoy hemp seeds in your smoothies!