31 Days of Weight Loss Tips: Day 11 Green Smoothies

Photo by Arnold Gatilao on Flickr

Remember how I said that if you want to lose weight, eat more fresh fruit and vegetables? Well, here's one easy way: Drink green smoothies.

Making a smoothie filled with fruits and vegetables like apple, banana, pear, lettuce, spinach, kale, parsley sounds delicious, right? OK, maybe not. But once you start drinking them, not only will you want them all of the time but your body will feel so much better.

In her book "The Beauty Detox Solution," Kimberly Snyder strongly encourages drinking green smoothies as a part of one's lifestyle for all its beautifying, health and weight loss benefits.

These smoothies are very detoxifying because they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytonutrients, enzymes, chlorophyll and water. All of these different elements help to cleanse and flush toxins from cells. As toxins from poor eating habits and the environment build up in our bodies, these toxins can interfere with the functionality of our cells and body systems. Having a body that runs efficiently with all systems working at their peak will help with weight loss.

If you'd rather juice your greens, that's great too. The documentary "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" focused on one man's journey of juicing for health and weight loss. On his juicing fast, he lost a considerable amount of weight and also improved his health.

Let's think of our bodies like our cars. Our cars, don't only need fuel to run, they need the right type of fuel to run properly. If your car operated best using a higher grade of gasoline, you wouldn't dream of using a lower grade. Same analogy applies to our bodies. Our bodies function better when we eat a higher grade of food.

I personally like smoothies more than juicing because smoothies yield more and the fiber stays intact. But whichever you choose, you'll benefit greatly from having it.

I would recommend having a smoothie every day. Most days I like to have a smoothie for breakfast. At first you may find that you're still hungry, especially if you're accustomed to having a large breakfast. In that case, wait about 20 minutes or so after having the smoothie and have a bowl of oatmeal. You can have a smoothie at any point during the day. Maybe swap out a midday snack for a smoothie.

I use the Glowing Green Smoothie by nutritionist Snyder. Here is a link to the recipe.

Directions: Wash and chop all ingredients into small pieces. First add water into blender, some greens and pulse. Then slowly add remaining greens, celery, apple, pear, lemon juice and add banana last. Blend until smooth. Makes about 4 servings of 12-16 ounces.

Note: If you're like me and don't have a super high powered blender, I find that splitting the ingredients into two batches helps since all the ingredients won't fit into the blender. Also, if you're up for it, make all the ingredients organic. I haven't quite gone all organic, but I do buy some organic fruit here and there. Store in fridge for up to 2.5 days or freeze for later use. I like using mason jars because I can separate the batch into servings, then put in the fridge. Using mason jars also makes it easy to travel with the smoothie. So if you were wondering how you were going to take it to work with you, use a mason jar.

Enjoy!

Resources:
The Beauty Detox Solution by Kimberly Snyder
Documentary: Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead