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Protein from greens: the 600 pound gorilla thread

Mehm

Mehm

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Oct 13, 2005
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There is a great book called Green for Life that has lots of info on the many health benefits of eating significant amounts of leafy greens every day. Think kale, spinach, dandelion, chard etc. Not only are these plants full of micro-nutrients, chlorophyll and anti-oxidants, they also contain high amounts of amino-acids (protein) and fatty acids. Consider this, apes are enormous beasts that derive almost all of their protein from greens and fruit. Less than 5% of their diet comes from eating bugs. The trick? They spend several hours per day chewing. The cell walls of greens have to be ruptured in order for humans and apes to digest the nutrition contained inside.

Enter technology. High-speed blenders and juicers can be used to rupture cell walls, thus making protein and fat easily accessible to humans. Grass that cows eat can be juiced in a similar fashion, thus separating the undigestable fiber from the nutrient rich liquid. IMO leafy greens and grass are the easiest plants to grow. The whole plant can be eaten as opposed to a small seed or fruit body. I think this could be a (rediscovered) food source of the future.

Thoughts?
 
I hear alot about using slow extraction juicers to preserve the enzymes when juicing. If your only going for the protein though I assume a blender would be fine??
 
It seems like amino acids should be able to stand up to it. Maybe I'm wrong though.
 
I've read this book and enjoy smoothies. I don't think it's necessary to use technology in order to consume such a high of volume of greens that would be impossible to otherwise eat. It may have its benefits for some people, I just wouldn't consider it an optimal diet for everybody. And I don't say this as a personal attack at all, but it needs to be acknowledged that the author suggesting living on green smoothies is not a picture of perfect health at all.
 
^^wouldn't the alternatives be to either cook the greens or chew them for hours?
 
Those seem to be the alternatives :) If your intent is to get in as many greens as possible then for sure this seems like an optimal way of doing so. I just meant that if it's impossible or extremely impractical to eat that many raw greens without a Vitamix, that I don't think it is necessary for our bodies to consume that many greens. Nothing wrong with it :)
 
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