It’s just too bad Ayurveda isn’t more popular here in America. If it were, we wouldn’t have to spend years stumbling over our mistakes in our efforts to learn what constitutes a healthy diet. The ancient doctors figured that out thousands of years ago for us.
Case in point: here in the States and some other countries, making green smoothies is the latest fad. Since people view kale and spinach as “health foods,” many people who don’t have the time or inclination to cook feel that they can just toss some raw kale and spinach in a blender with some other liquid ingredients and make a smoothie. This way they’ll be sure to get their daily dose of vegetables without having to spend the time and energy cooking it. Plus people (incorrectly) feel that cooking the vegetable somehow “kills” the nutrients in it, leaving the cooked product less nourishing.
Let’s see why these raw green smoothies are not so great for your health.
First of all, as usual, the ancient rishis of India who cognized Ayurveda stated that many raw vegetables might have some negative issues, but those issues would go away if they were cooked. To me that is amazing, since they didn’t have microscopes to figure this out and instead cognized this truth in a state of deep meditation.
Well, it turns out they were right. Kale contains a compound called “progoitrin” or goitrogens, which can interfere with your thyroid’s capability of making its hormones. It also contains thiocyanate ions, which can crowd out the iodine your thyroid also needs to make its hormones.
And both spinach and Swiss chard contain oxalates which can leach calcium causing it to form kidney stones. Oxalates are a naturally occurring compound in plants and bind to calcium as they exit the body, increasing the risk of kidney stones in some people.
Kidney stone formation isn’t the only problem associated with the oxalates in spinach, Swiss chard and beet greens, These high oxalate foods may affect bone health since the oxalates can bind to calcium in the gut which is then excreted by your body, preventing calcium absorption into the bones.
But here’s the good news: cooking the spinach and Swiss chard (and other greens) decreases the oxalate content by 30-87 percent. Boiling reduces more than steaming.
And cooking the kale reduces the goitrogens by 60%.
Just like the ancient doctors said…
And if you think the cooking of the vegetable kills some of the nutrients, the real fact is that the cooking process softens the fibers of the vegetables, for best absorption into the cells. And if you cook the vegetables with a fat, such as olive oil or ghee, or both, these fats grab the nutrients and deliver them across the cell walls into the cells. Keep in mind that all the cell walls in our bodies are made of cholesterol, so the ancient doctors knew it was best to use fats in all of our cooking to ensure maximum absorption of nutrients. So, while cooking may destroy some nutrients or flush them out in the cooking water, the net result is even more absorption into the cells than if the vegetables were raw.
My teacher, Vaidya Rama Kant Mishra developed this recipe, which he called “Green Protein” when he had a vegetarian patient who was anemic and was told to eat beef to bring up her iron count. She of course was averse to doing so, therefore he developed this recipe for her. Her iron came up in a matter of 3-4 months and this recipe became one of his most famous recipes which we recommend when we hear a patient needs more iron or is having a hard time digesting in general.
Iron comes in two forms: heme and nonheme iron. The heme iron is found only in animal flesh like meat, poultry and seafood. Heme iron is better absorbed by the body.
Non-heme iron is found in plant foods like whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and leafy greens, and is harder to absorb. Which is why many vegetarians eventually become deficient in iron. Cooking the greens with some panir along with ghee and olive oil enhances the absorption of the iron into the cells.
We also think this is a much better alternative to having the raw kale/spinach smoothies which being raw, are also very difficult to digest, and can create ama from the coldness they contain. By cooking the food you are giving your digestive tract a break since all the food you eat you have to cook on the inside with your pitta digestive organs — so you might as well cook the food before it comes in and nourish your body’s cellular system at a much deeper level than with the raw green drinks which also might include channel-clogging whey or pea protein, cold and undigestible coconut milk, bananas, avocados and frozen fruits. These cold and heavy foods will not only put out your digestive fire for the rest of the day but they will definitely clog the body’s system of delicate channels which carry toxins, blood, sweat, lymphatic fluids and all the bodily fluids.
Here’s the Green Protein Recipe:
Add 1 1/2 tsp ghee, 1/2 tsp of a masala blend (a spice mixture blend) or some ground cumin, turmeric, fennel, and coriander, or whatever spices you like. Then add some pieces of panir (about 1/2 cup), and cook it into the ghee and spices for a couple of minutes. Add some greens, about 4 cups, such as Lacinato kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, or spinach — chop the greens quickly and roughly (they will be blended later). Add a few sprigs of fresh parsley. Add 1/4 cup water and 1 Tbs olive oil and then put the lid on — cook it until the greens become bright green. Don’t let them turn dark green. Let the greens cook in the ghee, olive oil, spices and panir for 2-3 minutes. Stir a couple of times as you cook it. Swiss chard and baby spinach will take a short time to cook. Kale and collard greens will take a few extra minutes.
Pour the whole mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. You can add a little bit of boiled water if the mixture is too thick to blend.
You can use chicken for the protein if you are not vegetarian, but it’s best to use freshly made panir in this recipe as opposed to cottage cheese, mozzarella or ricotta cheese. Squeeze some fresh lime on top and sip on it as a side or main dish for lunch or dinner, depending on how hungry you are. The vitamin C in the lime juice further enhances the absorption of iron. And in general cooking the food with spices ignites our digestive fire which will in turn enhance the absorption of any food into the cells.
So for all the reasons listed above, Ayurveda is not a fan of cold raw vegetable smoothies in general, but especially if those vegetables are green leafy vegetables loaded with oxalates and thyroid-depressing goitrogens and thiocyanates. Not to mention the channel-clogging effects of the cold foods which also put out your digestive fire.
I hope you decide to forego your cold green smoothies. Besides your bones, your hair and nails will thank you. The hair and nails show you the strength of the bones and drinking raw green smoothies will definitely weaken your bones, since the oxalates are taking out the calcium which the bones desperately need combined with the fact that the raw kale decreases thyroid function. When the thyroid is low the bones suffer since they can’t absorb calcium. So these green smoothies are bad for your health on many fronts.
I hope you found this information useful as you strive to learn how to eat for optimum health and well-being.
Thank you,