The problem, of course, is that not only does adding refined sugar to food encourage us to eat processed and refined foods that are not naturally healthy for us, but the refined white sugar is itself harmful to our health. Instead of adding sweeteners to substances like meat, chocolate, and other processed foods, why not add sweetness to the taste of naturally healthy foods that most people don't eat enough of, like raw leafy green vegetables? And instead of using harmful processed white sugar, why not use the wholesome sugar that is contained naturally in fruit? Along with sugar, whole fresh fruit retains the vitamins and minerals that food processors strip out of food.

Blending together various combinations of green vegetables, nut milks, and fruit is an innovative and tasty way to improve your health by eating some of nature's perfect foods. The basic green smoothie is made by blending together several ripe bananas or other sweet fruit like pears, apples, peaches, mangos, berries, and seedless grapes, with leafy dark green vegetables, such as spinach, romaine, bok choy, Chinese broccoli, kale, or collard greens, along with just enough water to liquefy it. Leave out the stems of the coarse vegetables, and make sure the bananas and other fruit add enough sweetness to the smoothie. Do not gulp the smoothie down. Sip it slowly for better digestion. Bananas are ripe and sweetest when their skins begin to show small brown spots. Keep plenty of bananas on hand ripening ahead of time. The flesh of soft dates can be added to sweeten a smoothie. You can also use the water and meat from a young Thai coconut. 

In The Hygienic System, Volume II, Shelton mentioned the young coconut. He said, "In its unripe or custard-like state it forms an almost perfect food for those who live in the tropics." He also mentioned, "...its juice is a delicious and nutritious 'drink.'" Of the mature coconut, Shelton said, "Both its meat and its milk are fine foods and in some tropical places it makes up almost the whole bill-of-fare."  

Coconut milk is made by blending the flesh of the mature coconut with two or three parts water. The milk is often strained, but may be consumed unstrained. Other nut milks may be made from soaked and germinated pecans, macadamia nuts, almonds, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pistachios, and cashews. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture discovered that coconut protein has the highest biological value compared to meat, milk, eggs, and other foods, and that it produced supra-normal growth in rats when used as the sole protein source (Johns, Finks, & Paul, 1919). In addition, coconuts contain just the right quantity of protein for human needs. The medium chained triglycerides (MCTs) in the fat of the coconut elevate energy expenditure, increase satiety, and are less likely to be stored as body fat than the long chained triglycerides in animal fat and vegetable oils (St-Onge & Jones, 2002). Medium chained fatty acids in coconuts deliver the same quick energy as sugar...without the sugar! The water from fresh young coconuts has been used successfully for intravenous transfusions in emergency medicine (Campbell-Falck, et al., 2000). Coconuts are also rarely the cause of allergic reactions (Rosado et al., 2002).

Coconut nutrients are so perfectly matched to the nutrition requirements of humans that it is not far-fetched to imagine our species evolved on a diet containing plant fat from coconuts. In the plant kingdom, concentrated sources of plant fat are rare. Studies of non-human primates such as chimpanzees and apes show that they readily eat concentrated sources of plant fat when it is available, but that they have little access to it in the wild, relying mainly on nutrients provided in leafy vegetation and fruit (Conklin-Brittain, Wrangham, & Smith, 2007). 

Although human and non-human primates share 99% of genomes, some of the crucial genetic differences between humans and other primates involve those genes that affect fat metabolism (Erren, Cullen, & Erren, 2007). Because fat is calorie dense, it supports the higher metabolic cost of advanced brain function in humans. Human breast milk contains over 50% calories from fat, which provides human offspring with sufficient fat to ensure the highest level of brain and nervous system development among all primates. By comparison, milk of non-human primates, with lower levels of brain development, contains less than half the amount of fat, and contains higher levels of protein for more rapid body growth (Patiño & Borda, 1997). 

As global ecological systems shifted many years ago, due to continental drift and climate change, it is possible that certain populations of non-human primates began to have access to greater amounts of plant fat in foods like coconuts. Increased intake of fatty acids and formation of phospholipids, which make up 60% of the human brain, may explain how hominid species evolved with more brain development (Erren & Erren, 2004). Some hominids used their greater mental abilities to create hunting tools and supplement their diet with animal foods. However, the extinction of these meat-eating hominids suggests that the diet they selected and procured through their higher cognitive skills was not optimal for their health and survival. 

Likewise, in the past 10,000 years, humans have selected an omnivorous diet that includes cooked grains, tubers, legumes, and animal foods, and they have largely abandoned the raw vegan diet on which they may have evolved. As a result, evidence shows human brain size has shrunk by 10% in the past 5,000 years. (Choi, 2009). Unless the rate of this trend in diminished brain size in humans is halted or reversed, perhaps by a return to an optimal raw vegan diet, it is possible that apes and monkeys may remain someday as the only non-extinct primates on earth. Then, with more continental drift and climate change, the whole evolutionary process can start over again! The above "nutty theory of human evolution" could be tested by hypothesizing that several generations of non-human primates fed large amounts of plant fat from sources like coconuts will begin to show signs of changes in genomes and brain development.

Discussing the nutritive value that bananas contribute to the human diet, Shelton wrote, "Bananas plus nuts, plus green vegetables would make an adequate diet for child or adult and for a pregnant or a lactating mother." Vegetables in green smoothies increase the absorption of important minerals such as calcium. Calcium is absorbed twice as efficiently from most dark green leafy vegetables than from cow milk. One and a half cups of chopped raw kale has as much absorbable calcium as one cup of cow milk (Lanou et al., 2005). One large blender full of sweet green smoothie made from 6 cups of chopped raw kale is equal to a quart of cow milk in absorbable calcium!

But why base your nutrition needs on cow milk? (See How Dairy Products Cause Osteoporosis). Here is a raw vegan milk smoothie that is equivalent in nutrients to human breast milk. No wonder this Mother of all Smoothies tastes so good and satisfying!

Blend together:

• Water and jelly from 1 Young Thai coconut

• 2 medium size bananas

• 1 large bunch of kale

• 1.5 cups coconut milk (or blend 0.5 cup coconut meat with 1 cup water)

Human breast milk contains approximately 4 grams of fat per 100 milliliters (Wikipedia, 2009). So does this smoothie. Breast milk has about 1 gram of protein, 8 grams of carbohydrates, and 30 milligrams of calcium per 100 ml. So does this smoothie! It provides a complete diet from nature's perfect foods. For less fat, use less coconut milk. Add water and another banana as desired for taste.

Green smoothies are a great way to increase your intake of green vegetables that are important to protect the health of your eyes. Researchers found that people who ate spinach or collard greens five times a week had 88% less macular degeneration, the leading cause of permanent blindness in people over 65 years of age (Seddon et al., 1994). 

Blend a bunch of broccoli with some ripe bananas and water or almond milk to make delicious and outrageously healthy, raw banana-broccoli soup! Other tasty soups, served chilled or at body temperature, can be made with cauliflower, sweet corn, celery, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, sugar peas, bell peppers, and avocados, all sweetened by blending in several plump and pitted Medjool dates. Top green salads with sweet fresh fruit. Mash up a ripe banana with a bit of water or coconut milk, mix in a few chopped pecans or walnuts or raisins, and use as a creamy sweet salad dressing. Cucumber slices topped with bits of dates are sweet, juicy, and crunchy. Use a razor-sharp mandoline to make paper-thin slices of zucchini, turnip, beet, carrot, and sweet potato, and fill them with creamy blended nuts, fruit, and veggies. These are just some ideas on how to use the natural sweetness of fruit and nuts to flavor a healthy diet that is high in vegetables. Enjoy!

References: 

Campbell-Falck, D., Thomas, T., Falck, T. M., Tutuo, N., & Clem, K. (2000). The intravenous use of coconut water. American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 18, 108–111. 

Choi, C. Q. (2009). Humans still evolving as our brains shrink. Live Science. Retrieved December 4, 2009 from
http://www.livescience.com/history/091113-origins-evolving.html

Conklin-Brittain, N. L., Wrangham, R. W., & Smith, C. C. (2007). Relating chimpanzee diets to potential Australopithecus diets. Retrieved April 2, 2009 from http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/icaes/conferences/wburg/posters/
nconklin/conklin.html 

Erren, T. C, Cullen, P. & Erren, M. (2007). Neanderthal, chimp and human genomes: Hypotheses wanted for research into brain evolution. Medical Hypotheses, 70, 4–7.

Erren, T. C., & Erren, M. (2004). Can fat explain the human brain's big bang evolution?—Horrobin's leads for comparative and functional genomics. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, 70, 345–347.

Johns, C. O., Finks, A. J., & Paul, M. S. (1919). Studies in nutrition: I. The nutritive value of coconut globulin and coconut press cake. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 37, 497–502.

Lanou, A. J., Berkow, S. E., and Barnard, N. D. (2005). Calcium, dairy products, and bone health in children and young adults: A reevaluation of the evidence. Pediatrics, 115, 736–743.

Patiño, E. M., & Borda, J. T. (1997) The composition of primates' milk and its importance in selecting formulas for hand-rearing. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 36. Retrieved December 17, 2009 from http://www.brown.edu/Research/Primate/lpn36-2.html#milk

Rosado, A., Fernández-Rivas, M., González-Mancebo, E., León, F., Campos, C., & Tejedor, M. A. (2002). Anaphylaxis to coconut. Allergy, 57, 182–183.

Seddon, J. M., Ajani, U. A., Sperduto, R. D., et al. ( 1994). Dietary carotenoids, vitamins A, C, and E, and advanced age-related macular degeneration. Journal of the American Medical Association,  272, 1413–1420.

St-Onge, M. P., & Jones, P. J. H. (2002). Physiological effects of medium-chain triglycerides: Potential agents in the prevention of obesity. The Journal of Nutrition, 132, 329–332.

Wikipedia. (2009). Breast Milk. Retrieved October 28, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_milk

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