Gene’s Blog

Sesame Street character, Kermit the Frog, dearly loved by adults and children alike, sang his famous line, ‘It’s not easy being green!’

Hey, Kermit, I am going to disagree with you. I have ‘been green’ for five days now and I find that being green is getting easier and easier. Maybe we could change the words to your song: ‘It’s getting easier and easier being green!’

I am translating ‘being green’ to mean ‘being a 100% Raw Fooder.’ Maybe you noticed that I have been a ‘Raw Food Enthusiast’ since around March 1st of this year. If you are interested in my story, please read my blog from the beginning by scrolling down to earlier entries.

100% Raw Defined

To eat ‘100% Raw’ means to consume only uncooked Fruits, Vegetables, Greens, Nuts, Seeds, Grains, etc. No foods from animal sources: no flesh of any animal, no dairy products or eggs.

Even though I use a dehydrator to make Raw crackers and other tasty and nutritious treats, I keep the temperature below 107 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve the healthful benefits of the living food.

Raw food enthusiasts believe that cooking foods at higher temperatures destroys living enzymes, vitamins and minerals, and robs the food of any value to our bodies. Our bodies do not recognize cooked food as food at all.

Purely Raw means eating 100% Raw and Living foods. It’s that simple!

I’ll Never Be 100%

At first I refused to declare that I was 100% ‘raw’ for fear that I would just set myself up for failure. And I figured that I was from 60-70% raw and I felt great.  I was growing and juicing my own wheat grass and enjoying better health that I have experienced in many years.

I joined a community garden and began growing my own greens and plenty of fresh tomatoes and other vegetables. I was having the time of my life! A side benefit was the sheer joy of gardening which I had forgotten since I hadn’t had a garden in several years.

After the gardening wound down in late September, I was challenged to find fresh organic greens. Gradually, during October and early November, I began to undermine my healthy, mostly raw food lifestyle. I began consuming more processed food, eating out more frequently, and definitely consuming more white sugar.

I even returned to ‘fast food’. And I felt it! My energy level began to drop and some of the old aches and pains started to come back. (I also lost about five pounds of the ‘lightness’ that I had gained this summer!). My story was that I needed more ‘comfort food.’ I was using food for comfort as the weather turned cold and I had to stay inside more.

When I ate mostly live raw food, anytime I ate cooked food I noticed that I didn’t feel so good afterward. And I was hooked: addicted to cooked food just like Victoria Botenko says in her book, 12 Steps to Raw Food. Victoria also says that it takes about two months to get free of the addiction.

The 60 day 100% Raw Challenge

This past week I decided that I will take her advice and go 100% raw for two months. Beginning on ‘Green Friday’ (the day after Thanksgiving) until around February 1st, 2009, I am committed to staying 100% raw as best I can.

In honor of my commitment, I ate a big Thanksgiving meal with my family and refused leftovers to take home. This marked the beginning of my ‘going raw.’ By the way, traveling home afterwards, I felt awful, bloated and almost sick to my stomach. I wonder why?

Today, December 5, 2008, is my sixth day being 100% Raw. I have plenty of fresh home grown wheat grass and all the makings for tasty and nutritious green smoothies. This past Sunday afternoon I went to a Raw Food Preparation class followed by a Raw Food Supper and fellowship with fellow travelers on this pathway to health and vitality. My biggest challenge right now is learning how to prepare raw food for one person.

Join Me on the 60-Day 100% Raw Challenge

Maybe you have had the same experience. Maybe you have tried to go 50 or 60 or 80% raw but keep backsliding and returning to familiar cooked food. I challenge you to join me and we will support each other in staying raw. Maybe we can share stories, tips and recipes as we go along.

I would love to hear back from you.

Grow Wheat Grass Indoors

Next blog entry, I will show you how to grow your own wheat grass indoors, which is just as easy as growing wheat grass outdoors with very little adjustment.

Share the Clarity of Nutrition and Eyesight

Please think of two or three people you know who would benefit from learning about nutrition and eyesight. Copy and forward this link to them now:

Thank you and may God richly bless you and your family as you continue your journey toward clarity and a healthy lifestyle.

Until then, I send you my love,

Gene Younger and the Clear Vision Naturally Family

I am sipping on a tall glass of a freshly juiced wheatgrass smoothie while writing this blog. And it issoooo… good, it makes me feel like a million dollars!

Wheat grass is so filling! When I drink a wheatgrass smoothie for breakfast I am not hungry again until mid-afternoon. Thanks to Victoria Boutenko and other pioneers of the raw foods lifestyle, I found the secrets to making wheatgrass juice not only palatable, but delicious! (Click on the link & watch my video, ‘How to Juice Wheatgrass with a Vita-Mix Blender’ after reading this blog!)

Why Wheatgrass?

Someone asked me, “Why are you so jazzed about wheatgrass? I thought wheatgrass was mostly used to help people recover from serious problems, like cancer!”

And the answer is not some textbook answer! My response is based on my personal experience of growing and juicing wheatgrass for the past six months.

Wheat grass is so easy to grow yourself in your house or apartment! Economical too! The organic wheat berries that I buy at a local food coop cost only .99 per pound.The other ingredients– good clean organic potting soil and filtered water– are not expensive either. One pound of berries will provide you with plenty of wheatgrass, enough to make juice for one person for a week to ten days.

I read in Randall Fitzgerald’s book, ‘The Hundred-Year Lie’ that two ounces of wheatgrass juice is nutritionally equivalent to consuming nearly three pounds of fresh vegetables and 103 different vitamins and minerals. Wheat grass contains nature’s richest source of chlorophyll and acts as a potent immune system booster, body-organ cleanser and toxins neutralizer.

I am so inspired by the results I get from wheatgrass I just want to share the good news with everyone around the world, sick people and well people! Add wheatgrass to your diet and feel the difference in days!

See my You Tube video on ‘How to grow Wheatgrass’

Juicing Wheatgrass

Juicing & consuming wheatgrass so easy, especially with the Vita Mix blender. When I first began, I was buying wheatgrass at a local market and juicing with a new Green Star juicer. Buying in small quantities at the market was expensive and the process of juicing with the Green Star took me a minimum of 45 minutes from start to cleanup.

Then I discovered the Vita Mix Blender and everything changed.

I watched Victoria Botenko demonstrate how to make wheatgrass juice using the Vita Mix and I was immediately sold.

The process is so quick and easy that I can harvest the wheatgrass, juice it, blend it, enjoy it and clean up in just 12 to 15 minutes.

See my You Tube video on ‘How To Juice Wheatgrass With a Vita-Mix Blender’

More Benefits of Wheatgrass

Others have said, “Wheat grass improves the digestive system; prevents cancer, diabetes and heart disease; cures constipation; detoxifies heavy metals from the bloodstream; cleanses the liver; prevents hair loss; helps make menopause more manageable and promotes general well-being . . .”

But can wheatgrass really meet all of these claims? I hear some of you saying, ‘Enough already!’

So I will stop right here and ask you to please give me some feedback about your own experiences with wheatgrass. Add a comment to this forum or just click Contact us and tell me how wheatgrass has benefited you in your health and nutrition program.
I have found that the most important contribution to my own health and nutrition has been the addition of a Vita-Mix blender to my kitchen appliances. The Vita-Mix replaces several appliances, including the Green Star juicer!

Save Money

My grocery bill has actually decreased now that I am growing and juicing wheatgrass and using the Vita-Mix to make green smoothies and other delicious raw food treats.

For example, this weekend I picked a bushel of organic apples at a local farm– a ‘U-Pick’ farm costs much less than store-bought, plus I got the added benefit of being outdoors– and used my Vita-Mix and a dehydrator to process the apples into ‘apple leathers.’ These tasty treats will satisfy my ’sweet tooth’ for several months and I have plenty to share with friends.

Do You Have a Vita-Mix Blender?

When you are ready to get your very own Vita-Mix, please make the purchase through our website. Click here or call the 800# and give the special code number.

Purchase A Vita-Mix 5200

Order Here & Get $25 Off!

By purchasing a Vita-Mix blender here, you will receive free shipping (Vita-Mix normally charges $25 shipping fees).

Also, your purchase helps support Clear Vision Naturally!

We receive a small commission from every Vita-Mix purchased either through our website link or when you call the toll-free 800# and give the special code.

75% of the commission goes to Vision Educator Teacher Training, and 25% goes to the educational fund of our 12-year-old web-master.

To place an order by phone, just call: 1-800-848-2649 and mention Code Number ***06-003352***.

Share the Clarity of Nutrition and Eyesight

Please think of two or three people you know who would benefit from learning about nutrition and eyesight. Copy and forward this link to them now:

Thank you and may God richly bless you and your family as you continue your journey toward clarity and a healthy lifestyle.

Until then, I send you my love.

Gene Younger and the Clear Vision Naturally Family

I believe that we are here to express life to our highest potential.

Just in case you ‘accidentally’ landed on my blog, that’s no accident! In fact, I believe that there are no accidents! Stick around and see what comes up for you here.

You’re probably reading this because you are interested in your own clear vision and eyesight. This blog is dedicated to sharing with you– from the heart– my experience, strength and hope about clear vision, eyesight and nutrition.

Even though my eyesight has been excellent for over 23 years, I intend to do everything within my power now to preserve and maintain it into my later years.

Preserve Vision and Eyesight

What can you do to preserve your eyesight? This day and age is fraught with stress and strain in the midst of a very toxic environment. We are bombarded with toxins in everything from the water we drink to the air we breathe, from the food we eat to the media we attend, to the advertising blitz,
24/7/365.

How can we escape this toxic burden to mind, body and spirit?

We filter our water and in some cases even filter our air. Some of you may filter your mental and emotional intake by censoring the news you receive on radio and TV. The constant barrage of ‘bad news’ (sin, sex and shooting) tends to keep the mind enslaved to the ‘machine’.

Have you ever thought about filtering your food? What would it be like to begin to get in touch with what we eat and drink? Could we see how much life force is left after all the processing and before it gets to our tables and our mouths?

Stop, Look and Listen

Stop! Take a moment and stop what you are doing. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Go within and get in touch with your inner self . . . your Higher Self.

Ask this question: Is what I eat and drink on a daily basis giving me the best possible supply for a
healthy and enjoyable life? Is what I eat and drink the best I could do for my vision and eyesight?

Ask yourself: ‘Am I being supported spiritually by my intake of food and drink?’

Did you get a ‘no’ answer to one or more of these questions?

Then Act

A great Teacher once said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And when the truth sets you free you will be free indeed.” In other words you will be free, free, free. Free to live, free to express and above all free to love. He also said. “Seek and you shall find.”

Please join me on my journey as I seek to learn more about the benefits of ‘raw food’ and how to shift to a cleaner lifestyle. Clean from the standpoint of putting or allowing the least amount of toxics into my body, mind and spirit.

Review

So much has happened since I made a conscious decision to ‘clean up my life’ that it would take a book to tell it all. So I will just summarize for you here. In the past few months, I . . .

1. Withdrew from caffeine
2. Got inspired by Victoria Botenko’s DVD to try raw food
3. Dramatically reduced the consumption of white or processed sugars
4. Joined and began attending raw food potlucks
5. Learned how to make green smoothies
6. Planted a garden in a community garden spot
7. Began riding my bicycle as much as possible (also saves gas)
8. Bought a Vita-mix blender
9. Gained almost 20 pounds in lightness (you could say I lost 20 pounds of unwanted weight)
10. Demonstrated raw food at a local wellness fair
11. Began harvesting large quantities of greens for making green smoothies
12. Joined a new ‘raw food potluck’ closer to home

The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating

The best part is how I feel with these changes in diet and lifestyle.

In my very first blog I mentioned, “With the old standard ‘all American diet’, I did not have enough energy and suffered from general aches and pains most of the time. I always seemed to get fatigued in the late afternoon and did not feel like going out at night much. My immune system was not up to par and resisting or getting over colds and minor illnesses was difficult.”

Wow, how this has all changed!

I have more energy now than I remember having at half my age! Since going ‘mostly raw’ in early March of 2008, I have added about two to two-and-a-half hours in my day. I am actually getting more quality living out of my life each and every day!

Before, I usually got fatigued around four or five o’clock and wasn’t worth a plug nickel for any enjoyable evening activity after six p.m. You would find me going to bed early or just ‘vegging out’ before the TV or computer.

Now, I am full of life and vitality so that I am enjoying attending evening activities several nights a week. Sometimes I don’t get to bed until eleven p.m. and am still awake, alert and I get my day
started at six or seven in the morning.

Clearer Mind

As my energy level has dramatically risen, my mind seems sharper and my memory is quicker and clearer. I confess that I still have to search for a word or someone’s name now and then but it is getting much better. The time lapse between when I look for a word and when it comes to me is getting shorter and shorter.

Victoria Botenko Came to Town

Last Saturday the lady who inspired me to actually try ‘raw food’, Victoria Botenko, came to Portland, OR and made a presentation at our Portland Raw Food Meetup. Victoria in a veritable encyclopedia of information about health, lifestyle and raw food.

Victoria shared information about edible wild plants, including weeds, that are readily available everywhere this time of year. Her son, Sergie, leads special hikes in southern Oregon teaching people how to identify wild edible plants.

Since Victoria’s presentation, with the help of my friend, Liliana, I have been able to identify at least four (4) edible plants growing in and around my garden plot. Victoria says that wild plants have more vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients including chlorophyll than plants we grow for food in our gardens.

Better Eyesight

Victoria travels extensively and shares her expertise with ‘live food’ enthusiasts all over this country and Canada. She testifies that she has met many folks who, after going raw, got rid of their glasses. She did not say what else they did to heal and improve their eyesight and vision, but I do know that having a qualified vision coach is a huge advantage.

Conclusion

As my gran’pa used to say at the close of his sermons in a little country church in the hills of Alabama, “Well it’s about time I brung my scattering remarks to a close.”

There is much more to share so I commit to you that I will begin blogging more often.

Acknowledgements: Amy Morita for reminding me, Ami Goldberg for editing, and Arden Goldberg for his formatting and publishing the blogs.

Just when I thought I would die from the lack of caffeine in my system, I got new strength from somewhere and stood my ground. I did not back down from my commitment and am feeling great after six weeks without regular coffee with full strength caffeine. I don’t get those jitters from coming down off the drug- induced high and I am sleeping much better.

Now when I wake up, my first desire is for a tall drink of pure water followed by some fruit juice or a ‘green smoothie.’

I remember that my teachers at the Vision Education Teacher’s Training Institute– CJ Wilson, Elizabeth Abraham and Martha Rigney– all emphasized how important it was for me to recommend ‘zero caffeine’ to my clients. And I just couldn’t do it while still being a dedicated coffee drinker. Caffeine was my favorite drug for many years!

My teachers never knew that my first taste of coffee came at my father’s knee when I was only 5 years old. My Dad used to pour some hot coffee with cream and sugar into a saucer and let me taste it every morning while he had his two or three cups to get his days started. So you see, I have been drinking coffee for 65 years solid. And during the last ten or so years, drinking about 36 oz. per day, everyday. That’s three tall cups with cream and sugar. That much straight coffee contains anywhere from 255 to over 300 mgs of caffeine (plus the calories from cream and sugar, or worse yet: artificial sweetener, which is a form of poison, plus the acidity that coffee added to my ph imbalance).

I have now cut back to one 12 oz. cup of decaffeinated which contains from 5 to 7 mgs per day. This has made a huge difference in how I feel. Believe me, it was not easy at first as I kept having these humongous headaches in the afternoon when I didn’t drink coffee. Garry Renschler, Nutrition Counselor at the YMCA, told me to switch to decaf and expect some side effects for approximately four to six weeks. Now two months later, the side effects are gone and sometimes I even forget to have any decaf at all. Wow, what a difference not drinking coffee makes in my clarity and how I feel!

I am not recommending regular consumption of decaf coffee, either, unless you are using it to withdraw from full strength coffee, as I have.

Decaf coffee is not healthy due to the high acid nature of the substance! It is a well known fact that high acid content in our bodies encourages many dis-eases to grow and thrive. An acidic body is a sickness magnet, while being more alkaline leads to health. Eating more alkaline foods helps shift your body’s pH and oxygenate your system.

And I did the math and I am now getting anywhere from 250 to 297 less mgs of caffeine. And that’s a whopping difference!

My next step has been to add a quart of green smoothies to my diet every day. This has helped me gain about 10 lb. of pure lightness. You could say I lost 10 lb. but that would be negative thinking, and I would likely find those ‘lost’ pounds and add them to some other unseemly part of my body.

I am not trying to lose weight. I am aiming at a healthier lifestyle that gives me more energy to think and see clearly and fulfill my true spiritual purpose.

Now with over two months of being off the coffee, I can– in all honesty– recommend to my new clear vision clients that they abstain from all caffeine drinks including tea and colas.

Green Smoothies

This week, Victoria Botenko sent me her list of ‘Ten Benefits of Green Smoothies,’ along with five very easy recipes. You can begin immediately to make them in your regular kitchen blender. Then when you are ready The Universe will supply you with a Vita-Mix Blender which really helps make the veggies digestible.

I truly appreciate the positive influence Victoria and her family has had on my health and well-being. Please read Victoria’s article below before deciding for or against trying green smoothies.

TEN BENEFITS OF GREEN SMOOTHIES

By Victoria Boutenko

www.rawfamily.com

1. Green smoothies are very nutritious. The ratio in them is optimal for human consumption; about 60% ripe organic fruit mixed with about 40% organic greens.
2. Green smoothies are easy to digest. When blended well, most of the cells in the greens and fruits are ruptured, making the valuable nutrients easy for the body to assimilate. Green smoothies literally start to get absorbed in your mouth.
3. Green smoothies, as opposed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber. Consuming fiber is important for our elimination system.
4. Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for all humans of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the greens balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding a nice zest to it. People who eat a standard American diet enjoy the taste of green smoothies. They are usually quite surprised that something so green could taste so nice.
5. A molecule of chlorophyll closely resembles a molecule of human blood.
   
   According to teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore, consuming chlorophyll is like receiving a healthy blood transfusion. Many people do not consume enough greens, even those who stay on a raw food diet. By drinking two or three cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough greens for the day to nourish your body, and all of the beneficial nutrients will be well assimilated.
6. Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after. In contrast, juicing greens is time consuming, messy, and expensive. Many people abandon drinking green juices on a regular basis for those reasons. To prepare a pitcher of green smoothie takes less than 5 minutes, including cleaning.
7. Green smoothies have proven to be loved by children of all ages, including babies of six or more months old. Of course you have to be carefuI and slowly increase the amount of smoothies to avoid food allergies.
8. When consuming your greens in the form of green smoothies, you are greatly reducing the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.
9. Regular consumption of green smoothies forms a good habit of eating greens. After a few weeks of drinking green smoothies, most people start to crave and enjoy eating more greens. Eating enough greens is often a problem with many people, especially children.
10. While fresh is always best, green smoothies will keep in cool temperatures for up to three days, which can be handy at work and while traveling.

Start playing with green smoothies, and discover the many joys and benefits of this wonderful, delicious, and nutritious addition to your menu. You may find many more amazing facts about green smoothies in Victoria Boutenko’s book, Green for Life, available at www.rawfamily.com.
Below are five green smoothie recipes. They are merely basic ideas for your green creations. Feel free to substitute these ingredients with your own choice of greens and fruits. Enjoy!

Apple-Kale-Lemon

4 apples
Juice of 2 lemons
5 leaves of kale
2 cups water

Peach-Spinach

6 peaches
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
2 cups water

Mango-Weeds

2 mangos
1 handful of edible weeds, such as: lambsquarters, stinging nettles, purslane, etc.
2 cups water

Strawberry-Banana-Romaine

l cup strawberries
2 bananas
2 bunch romaine
2 cups water

Pear-Kale-Mint

4 ripe pears
5 leaves of kale
2 bunch of mint
2 cups water

Health Quote by Rita

“I work so hard to stay in shape. Whenever I read anything, it says, “Consult your doctor before doing any exercise.” It always says that. Does anybody do that? I kind of think my doctor has people coming in with serious problems. I don’t think I should be calling him and saying, “Hi, this is Rita, I’m thinking of bending at the waist.” –Rita Rudner

Thanks for visiting my blog. Please send along a comment and know that you are loved and cared for by all the Clear Vision Naturally Family.

Thank you for checking out my blog. My intention is to share from the heart about what’s going on in my life. Since the major focus in my personal life now is on nutrition I will continue along this thread.

What a relief for me to ‘come clean’ and confess that I did not teach about nutrition and eyesight because I was not ‘walking the walk.’ My diet was very poor and I had struggled for several years to change my eating behavior.

A lot has happened since March 17th when I wrote my last blog. I would have never admitted that I was a drug abuser. Some of my favorite drugs were caffeine and sucrose. I got most of my caffeine from coffee and most of my sucrose from eating white sugar.

I was advised to take one thing at a time and make a positive change. So I choose caffeine. And I am happy to report that I had my last cup of coffee on March 5th, 2008. Tomorrow will be the one month anniversary of my victory over caffeine and I will celebrate by having a green smoothie with some freshly cut wheat grass.

Speaking of wheatgrass, I went back to a Raw Food Potluck hosted by Gabrielle and Thomas Chavez, and Thomas recommended Randall Fitzgerald’s book, ‘The Hundred-Year Lie’ (the subtitle is: ‘How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals That are Destroying Your Health’).

I got the book and read that two ounces of wheatgrass juice is said to be nutritionally equivalent to consuming nearly three pounds of fresh vegetables and 103 vitamins and minerals. Wheatgrass contains nature’s richest source of chlorophyll and acts as a potent immune system booster, body-organ cleanser and toxins neutralizer. I am lucky that my clear vision alumni student, Leeta Dover, helped me get a ‘Green Star’ juicer which will easily juice wheatgrass.

I would say that with fresh (mostly organic) green smoothies coupled with salads and raw food snacks, I now have about a 60% Raw Food diet. And I am gradually adding more and more fruits, nuts and seeds everyday.

A friend loaned me several of the Botenko’s DVDs and CDs and I am taking a crash course in Going Raw. In her book, ‘The Raw Food Gourmet,’ Gabrielle Chavez suggests that a vital ingredient to successfully changing one’s diet is to find the support of other like-minded folks who are also willing to ‘go against the mainstream’ and think outside the box.

So I began looking for a Raw Food Potluck closer to home where I may be more consistent in attendance and get the support and encouragement which will make this trek much easier. I also realize that we can share information and recipes that will insure interest and help make this radical change fun and enjoyable. Garry Renschler, a nutritionist at the Clark County Family YMCA has agreed to co-sponsor a ‘Raw Food Potluck’ at the ‘Y,’ and I have posted a notice on the Portland Raw Fooder’s Blog: rawportland@yahoogroups.com

If you live in the Orchards area, or in nearby Portland, please consider joining our group. Let me know by clicking Contact Us.

There is a lot more going on with me and my nutrition behavior changes but I am about blogged out for now.
More soon.

–Gene Younger