Health Seeker: "Green Leafys: Powerful Nutrition from the Sun"

HEALTHY FOOD
As a Health Seeker I am interested in foods that contain lots of
nourishment. Raw green leafys, such as chard, kale, romaine, dark green
lettuces of all kinds, parsley, broccoli, collards, nori seaweed (be sure
it is raw!), cilantro, wheatgrass and, of course, spinach, are the most
nutrient dense foods on the planet. When I was a kid I watched the
cartoon "Popeye" and I have to laugh. Ha! Popeye was right! Green leafys
are power packed with nutrients that are essential for radiant health.

BOTANY
Botanically there are four parts to a plant that make up the raw vegan
diet. The FRUIT is one part. (Many of the vegetables are actually fruits,
such as the bell pepper, tomato, cucumber, zucchini and others.) Then
there is the ROOT, such as carrots and beets. The SEEDS, of course, are
the nuts and seeds we eat. Then there is the LEAF. The four food groups!
Ha! These are a little different than the four food groups of the
Standard American Diet (S.A.D.).

GOD'S WORD
God has given us the gift of green leafys for our health and well being.
As George Malkmus writes: "If we want to know how to maintain wellness,
we must first understand how we are made, how our body is designed to
heal itself, and what foods God created for our bodies to function
properly." I keep going back to God's Word about the food He created for
us to eat. Genesis 1:29 "And God said, "Behold, I have given you every
herb [botanically speaking the herb is the edible green leaf] that yields
seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit
yields seed; to you it shall be for food." Sounds like green leafys and
fruit to me!

RAW PROTEIN
I was interested to learn that about 50% of green leafys is protein, and
sometimes more than that. This is actually more than sirloin steak! This
is where the big beefy animals that feed on vegetation, such as the
elephant, the giraffe, the cow and the horse, get their protein. The
protein from raw vegetation is superior to animal protein, because it is
easily absorbed, digested, assimilated and utilized. Because this protein
is the highest possible quality we only need half as much as a daily
requirement. So if I have decided I need 50 grams of protein a day, for
example, I actually only need 25 grams of protein when I am eating an all
raw vegan diet.

CANCER PREVENTION
Dr. Joel Fuhrman in the "Eat to Live" program (which is about 80% raw)
calls green leafys the king of all foods and recommends his patients put
a big sign on their refrigerator that says "THE SALAD IS THE MAIN DISH"
and have salad for lunch and dinner every day. The reason is because
these greens, commonly referred to as salad, are the most nutrient-dense
of all foods and yet they are low in calories. He goes on to note: "In a
review of 206 human-population studies, raw vegetable consumption showed
the strongest protective effect against cancer of any beneficial food.
However, less than one in a hundred Americans consumes enough calories
from vegetation to ensure this defense." Fuhrman goes on to say that
cancer is a fruit and vegetable deficiency disease and that raw
vegetables have the most powerful anti-cancer properties of all foods.

MINERALS
To encourage me to get more into raw vegetables, an e-mail pen pal wrote:
"Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling declared: 'You can trace every
sickness, every disease, and every ailment, ultimately to a MINERAL
DEFICIENCY.' Autopsies were done on young men, (who died in war) in the
1940-50's, and ALL were mineral deficient. I read in the book "Raw
Secrets" that fruits are mostly vitamins whereas vegetables are mostly
minerals. Aaaaahaw....the light bulb goes on! WE NEED MORE GREEN VEGGIES
IN OUR DIET!!!"

A POUND A DAY RULE
The more I study how to nourish myself, the more I am convinced that
green leafys are essential and supremely important. I have tried to make
a goal to eat a pound of green leafys of at least a half a dozen
different kinds each day. I eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I
juice a pint of fresh green leafys, such as chard and parsley and big
handfuls of spinach, for breakfast and for lunch. For supper I have a
huge green leafy salad with several kinds of lettuces, usually romaine,
dark green and red lettuce and spinach. I use more green leafys in my
salad dressing, such as either fresh parsley, cilantro, dill, rosemary or
basil. Did you know there are multitudes of different kinds of salad
greens? I am planning a green leafy vegetable garden bed. They grow so
well here in our cool northwest climate. I am excited about growing my
own green leafys and not be limited to what is available at the grocery
store. Genesis 2:15 "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the
Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it..."

BENEFITS
Green leafys strengthen the heart and loosen the constriction of body
tissues (thus helping back and muscle pain). Green leafys have powerful
anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, deodorizing and germicidal properties.
Green leafys ensure excellent digestion and elimination and are the true
rebuilders of the body. Because green leafys are wonderfully alkaline
forming, they neutralize toxins and cleanse and rebuild formerly toxic
acidic tissues throughout the body. They provide an abundance of calcium
and multiple B vitamins as well.

WHEAT GRASS
Some day I hope to get a juicer that juices wheat grass. While traveling
in California I had a couple of ounces of wheat grass juice each day,
that was sold at the health food store lunch counter, and I felt
literally high on health. AMAZING! If grown in rich organic soil, wheat
grass absorbs 92 of the known 102 minerals from the soil and makes these
minerals usable to our system. Wheatgrass is awesome because it has been
found to have over 100 elements needed by the human body and the juice is
70% chlorophyll.

CHLOROPHYLL
Dark green leafys provide an abundance of life-giving chlorophyll.
Chlorophyll is defined as "The green coloring matter of leaves and plants
by the process of photosynthesis." In other words, the sun is the energy
source for plant life and by the process of photosynthesis plants capture
the rays of the sun and transform them into green vegetation. As a result
green leafys contain a full spectrum of powerful nutrition from the sun.
In our body, the sunlight energy stored in the plant is slowly released.
This energy powers the molecular motor of our life. All life depends on
the ability of plants to trap, harness and store sunlight. Chlorophyll is
called the blood of plants. It is interesting to note its extraordinary
similarity with human blood, the only difference being that chlorophyll
contains magnesium in the position where hemoglobin contains iron.

HORMONES AND DEPRESSION
The magnesium content is vitally important for building the enzymes that
balance the sex hormones and support fertility for reproduction. Green
leafys balance and support our hormone levels in another way too.
Prostaglandin researchers received the 1982 Nobel Prize in medicine. They
wrote about how prostaglandins are heavily dependent upon what one eats
and they are produced from only one source: essential fatty acids. Green
leafys are rich in essential fatty acids. Depressed people (as well as
those who suffer with bipolar manic depression disorder, or anxiety and
panic attacks) have been found to be deficient in these prostaglandins.
Therefore one of the keys to conquer depression, balance mood swings,
help create a consistent "high" and maintain a sense of well being and
emotional calmness, is to make sure and include an abundance of green
leafys in the daily diet.

RAW FAT
Cooked fat, especially animal fat, is extremely harmful to our health. In
contrast, raw fat from plants is the good fat that our bodies are
starving for. Dark green leafys are a good source of this healthy raw
fat. It enables the minerals to strengthen and protect our bones,
provides moisture for our skin, helps the brain function and helps make
rich nutritious breastmilk for the lactating mother to just name a few
benefits. A deficiency wreaks havoc upon our health. Just a few signs of
deficiency are miscarriage, heart problems and skin problems such as
eczema, psoriasis, dry skin and acne. These wonderful essential fatty
acids, that are especially in green leafys, also help facilitate weight
loss in overweight persons. Essential fatty acids help dissolve body fat
and increase metabolism and energy production.

ENZYMES
Raw green leafys are packed with live enzymes. Thousands of enzymes are
needed by the body to perform zillions of different functions every
breathing minute. Certain enzymes from green leafys are found in large
amounts in our red and white blood cells. Another enzyme from green
leafys, which is called SOD for short, has been credited for preventing
cancer and also is believed to retard the aging of cells and promote
youthfulness. All vitamins and minerals work in conjunction with enzymes,
so the enzymes supplied by green leafys also affect the absorption and
utilization of nutrients.

FIBER
We must eat a variety of soluable and insoluable plant fibers to achieve
optimal health and it has to be RAW fiber. Cooked fiber is practically
worthless. The fiber in green leafys is especially beneficial as an
intestinal broom to sweep things along in the colon and keep it clean.
This is vital because this is where the nutrients from our food are
absorbed into the bloodstream. If the colon is coated, constipated or has
collected layers and pockets of toxic and putrid feces the bloodstream is
poisoned with toxins and every cell and organ in the body becomes toxic
as well. This is how disease develops. Do your body a favor and chow down
on that big supper salad with lots of green leafys! By the way, if you
need some creative salad ideas I recommend Serene Allison's recipe book
"Rejuvenate Your Life." www.rejuvethenation.com

RAW BEGINNINGS
Fresh, green leafy vegetable juice on an empty stomach immediately bathes
the cells in living nourishment and encourages an appetite for healthy,
raw foods. Juicing green leafys is a perfect way to transition into
eating more and more raw living foods. The nourishment from this awesome
green juice so satisfies nutritional requirements of our system that food
cravings fade away and addictions to cooked food can be broken. Eating
dark green leafys, in juice and in salads, before every cooked meal you
consume, will not only aid in the digestion of the cooked food, it will
help you transition into eating more and more raw living food.

Health Seeker, if you want to bump up your health to a higher level GO
FOR THE GREENS!

God bless you,
~Jenny <>< jennysilliman@juno.com
Cliff & Jenny Silliman, 931 S 7th Avenue, Sequim, WA
Daniel 21, Valerie 19, David 17, Mike 14,
Josh 11, Stephen 7, Luke 4 and Peter 1
(I "transitioned" with Hallelujah Diet 80% raw Jan. 2000.
July 10, 2003 began 100% raw vegan and daily exercise.
In 10 months I have LOST 66 excess pounds,
gone from a size 20 to a size 10,
and I have GAINED radiant health!)
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