Showing posts with label Victoria Boutenko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria Boutenko. Show all posts

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Learning About Green Smoothies in East Africa

Amazingly awesome; Valya and Victoria Boutenko of the Raw Family have been in Kenya teaching locals ways to consume the organic greens they have been growing with the help of non-profit Organics 4 Orphans.
Vitamix even donated blenders for the cause. 
Maybe I will carry the torch when we move to Senegal.  This inspires me so much.

I've posted the full article below from their newsletter, because I wasn't able to link to it their site.

From Kenya


Dear Friends.
I am sending you this newsletter from Kenya Africa.
Victoria Boutenko in Kenya
Valya and I are witnessing a great health revolution here. Thousands of African adults and children are learning to grow organic greens and to eat them daily. Several churches are serving green smoothies on Sundays because most people don't have electricity at home.
It all started several years ago, when a Canadian couple, Dale and Linda Bolton, learned that 30 million orphans were starving in Africa. Dale and Linda realized that it was impossible to feed all these children. That is why they co-founded a non profit organization called, "Organics 4 Orphans." (www.organics4orphans.org) Five years ago, they started training African people to grow vegetables organically. They trained several experts in organic biodynamic gardening who continue to constantly train others. In four years, they have created over 120 huge gardens one of which is pictured below.
Victoria Boutenko in Kenya


Every one of these gardens received organic seeds, tools, and training from Organic4Orphans. When it was necessary, this organization helped to drill a well and to repair houses. Each garden is cared for by 6-12 women.

Victoria Boutenko in Kenya



Each of these groups of women takes care of up to 100 orphans ages 2-10. Together they grow predominantly green vegetables.

Victoria Boutenko in Kenya
Last year Dale contacted me asking for help. "How can we inspire the growers to eat their own greens?" he asked. Their organization had taught Africans to grow delicious greens, but they had a hard time teaching them to actually consume those crops. Valya and I decided to fly to Africa. I wrote a letter to the president of Vitamix Corporation and told him about this project. In response, Vitamix generously donated six blenders for this project. Three weeks ago, Valya and I arrived in Kenya and began teaching. Every day we visited numerous farms, schools, and churches.


Victoria Boutenko in Kenya
We met with several African people who reversed many illnesses by simply adding lots of fresh greens to their meals. We asked these people to come and share their stories in front of large audiences. The six blenders became handy. Each time we brought enough smoothies for hundreds of people to taste.

Victoria Boutenko in Kenya
In addition we washed greens and passed them out to our audience. I have never seen anyone munching greens with such positive enthusiasm. When Valya and I teach, our listeners are very attentive and ask lots of questions. Several students from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Congo, and other countries came to study with us.
We are greatly inspired by what we see in Kenya. We hope that this great African healing with greens will bring health to many other countries including North America.

Valya is videotaping our activities. Just wait until we return back home, and she will put together several short videos for you to watch on youtube. Greens are ending poverty and hunger in Africa, and Africa is inspiring the rest of the world to become healthy the natural way.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Green For Life Second Edition

Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko



The book that helped me to start eating more greens as well as realize the tremendous importance of them has just released it's second edition.  Highly recommended.
Green smoothies have certainly been a revolution for me, so much so that I even convinced my parents to put leafy greens in their smoothies now and then - no small feat!
Buy the book here

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Is it Better to Sleep on the Hard Ground?

The other day I listened to the interview with Victoria Boutenko on the first night of the Raw Mom Summitt and she spoke about her whole family sleeping on either the floor or another hard surface. She explained for the first couple of nights or so your body would be detoxifying and you would probably feel discomfort, but after about seven nights, you would feel aches and pains sleeping on your soft bed! I talked to my partner, Laye about it and he said that back in Senegal growing up they used to sleep on the ground as well and often children would just fall asleep wherever they were on any surface. It reminds me of watching my own son just fall asleep so deeply after playing with trains for hours on the living room floor and simply letting a train drop from his hand and rolling over on his side.
In one of Victoria's first books "12 Steps to Raw" she writes "our bodies need to stretch out at night. All the bones and joints can only stretch out when we lie on a hard surface...the spine is improperly positioned while driving, in front of the computer, watching tv, such that some joints don’t get adequate spinal fluid and blood enriching oxygen."

This great article on zafu.net (the website of a company that sells yoga props and meditation pillows) gives a more in depth exploration of "Sleep Ergonomics" and the habit of traditional peoples to sleep on hard surfaces. You can find it here



Thursday, June 11, 2009

Vital Information for Parents to be Shared at the Raw Mom Summitt

The Raw Mom Summit is coming soon! If you are a parent or soon to be a parent, please join me and register for these free live interviews with some my favorite experts in the raw food, attachment parenting and natural living world.
The series hosts interviews with Jean Liedloff, (author of the Continum Concept), herbalist Susan Weed, raw foodist Victoria Boutenko and Shazzie and many more.

Here are some quotes from some of the speakers that are lined up;

"It's not even possible to discuss conscious parenting without talking about diet." Karen Ranzi

"What have we misunderstood about our Human Nature? We use the word 'normal' as if it is a synonym for 'natural', which it is not." Jean Liedloff


"What have I learned? (about good parenting) To listen, listen, listen. What do I teach my children? To question everything!" Victoria Boutenko

"The birth process affects our ability to love, experience happiness and intimacy, as well as whether living in a body is experienced as safe and joyful and or as painful and lonesome." Elena Tonetti

Looks amazing. Please join me and listen to these interviews while you are cleaning the house or playing with your child.
"The Evolution of Motherhood Has Arrived" - rawmomsummit.org

Monday, May 18, 2009

An Answer to the Blending Vs. Juicing Question


I often get into the discussion of of whether juicing or blending is better for you. I usually say that with blending you retain the fiber, but that's just one of the benefits.

In a chapter from her upcoming book Victoria Boutenko of RawFamily.com consulted a professor of chemistry at Southern Oregon University who explains that blending causes reduced oxidation and the idea that blending a fruit or vegetable actually releases more antioxidants from the cells.

Read the whole article in Raw Family's latest e-newsletter here.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Free Power of Greens Mini-Course


Victoria Boutenko, the author of one of my favorite books from 2008 "Green for Life" is offering a free power of greens mini-course in conjunction with health renegade Frederic Patenaude. If you haven't heard of the famous "Green Smoothie", you have to check this out. After finding out about Victoria and rawfamily.com, I bought Green for Life and haven't stopped making green smoothies ever since.

If you click on the link below, just scroll down a ways to find the sign-up form for the free mini-course.

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/greenforlife2.html