10+ Smoothie & Blended Soup Recipes For Weight Loss: Is Weight Loss Possible with Green Smoothies?

People ask me all the time whether they will lose weight by drinking green smoothies.

The definite answer to this question is “Maybe.”


It really depends on your specific circumstances: how much smoothies are you drinking, what are you eating in addition to smoothies, what is your physical activity level, how often do you exercise, how committed you are to your diet and exercise, etc.

Generally speaking, green smoothies should help most people lose weight because they help you super-charge your body with nutrient-rich foods, foods that are nutrient-dense, and yet low-in-calories.

They will also help break your food addictions, and, according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, the author of “The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life (Eat for Life),” “The End of Diabetes, and a bunch of other books–most people in America are serious food addicts.

He claims that diets don’t work, because people who are already nutritionally deficient, when they cut back on calories, they become even more nutritionally deficient. Then their body develops a series of cravings and sensations that drives them to overeat preventing them from successfully losing weight.

Until the addiction is addressed and removed, people cannot comfortably eat less calories. Since they desire MORE calories, not LESS, to tell them to eat less food is like telling a person to breathe less oxygen for five minutes – and they’ll soon be gasping for air (read the whole post here).

The problem is this: Making moderate changes does not lead to dramatic health achievements, weight loss, and reversal of diseases. If you want dramatic results, moderate changes simply don’t work.

So, how much weight can you lose by drinking green smoothies, and how quickly this will happen, it all depends on your overall health, your overall diet, and activity level – and to what extent you are willing to abandon your old habits and adopt new, healthy lifestyle.

How Green Smoothies Help People Lose Weight

One of the most riveting stories of weight reduction ever chronicled with regards to blending is the story of Clent Manich who dropped 240 pounds in one year simply by consuming green smoothies daily. He was also able to beat Type II Diabetes, and was completely off all of his medications and insulin within 3 weeks! His amazing story was captured in Victoria Boutenko’s book titled Green Smoothie Revolution.

Clent had made it a practice to start each day by making a gallon of blended fruits and vegetables, and he drank some of it every 2 to 3 hours. This helped eliminate his food cravings better than anything he had ever tried before. Most other diets always made him feel hungry and weak. Clent Manich lost 240 lbs in one year. He describes how he did it:

“I went full-bore into drinking Green Smoothie every day. I also cut out animal products, fat, and dairy, and the weight started flying right off. The rapid weight loss encouraged me to stay on the diet.

At the beginning of each day I would blend one gallon of green smoothie and drink some every two to three hours. Sometimes after drinking a green smoothie I ate a few veggies.

I found that green smoothies helped me to eliminate food cravings better than anything I had ever tried before. … Most other diets I’ve tried made me hungry and weak. … On the green smoothie experiment, I didn’t have to count calories.

I have lost 240 pounds and have attained my dream weight of 170 pounds. … To my surprise I don’t have any hanging skin. My skin has tightened without any need for surgery, which I attribute entirely to the green smoothies.”

One reason GREEN Smoothies are so good for weight loss is because they’re so high in nutrients.

They are high in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, carbohydrates and even protein. Yes, green smoothies have lots of protein. The cow gets her protein from grass, a leafy green. Wouldn’t it be simpler to get your protein from leafy greens too, rather than eat the cow or drink her milk? If it’s simple, you know it’s true.

Plant foods are generally less dense in calories, which means you can eat as much as you want of these foods and still be able to maintain a healthy weight.

For example, an entire head of lettuce or a bunch of kale or other leafy greens weighing over one pound contains less than 100 calories. That means that the caloric density of lettuce is less than 100 calories per pound. On the other hand, one single tablespoon of oil contains 120 calories. So you have more calories in 1 tablespoon of oil than in a pound of lettuce. But guess which one is going to fill you up more?

If you add that oil to your salad dressing and pour on that head of lettuce, you will not even notice it, but the number of calories consumed will have doubled.

Green Smoothie Recipes for Weight Loss

Let’s look at the calories of some of the ingredients in green smoothies:

1 cup spinach, raw (30g) = 7 calories (!); 1 bunch spinach (340g) = 78 calories

1 cup cabbage (89g) = 22 calories

1 cup kale (67g) = 33 calories

1 cup collards (36g) = 11 calories

1 cup parsley (60g) = 22 calories

1 large celery stalk (64g) = 10 calories

1 cup cucumber (102g) = 16 calories

1 cup zucchini (124g)= 20 calories

1 cup beets (136g)= 58 calories

1 cup carrots (128g) = 62 calories

1 cup squash (140g) = 63 calories

All these foods are high in nutrients, yet extremely low in calories, so if you stick to more savory smoothies and soups recipes, you can literally have a gallon of this per day, fill up your body with valuable nutrients, and still have a calorie deficit. (For the complete list of best foods to eat for weight loss and health, check out 100 Best Foods to Eat post and download the full list.)

Weight Loss Smoothie & Soup Recipes

If you really want to cut down on calories, check out some of these savory soups and smoothies:

soups-raw-cucumber02

Cucumber-Dill Soup
2 cucumbers
½ bunch dill
1 avocado
4 leaves kale
2 stalks celery
1 lime, juiced
3 cloves garlic

Mediterranean Green Soup
3 cups spinach
3 stalks celery
1 red bell pepper
1 large avocado
1 cucumber
1 jalapeno pepper
1 lime, juiced
1 spring oregano
1 spring thyme
2 cups water
Blend well all ingredients. Serve in a bowl, like a soup. Garnish with fresh herbs and/or a few pieces of avocado. Yields 3 quarts.

Celery Zing Soup
2 yellow bell peppers
1 lemon
½ cup basil leaves
1 cup celery, tops and greens
1 cup kale
1 cup water
Yields 1 quart

Celery Soup
4 stalks celery
1 cup fresh parsley
1 tomato
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon agave nectar
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 cups water

Spicy Thai Soup
2 cucumbers
5 leaves kale
1 large avocado
1 lime, juiced
2 cloves of garlic
½ inch fresh turmeric root or ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
½ inch fresh ginger root or ¼ teaspoon dried ginger powder
2 cups water
Yields 2 quarts

Savory Tomato Basil Soup
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 bell pepper
1 bunch fresh basil
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup water
Stir into the smoothie
2 cups Savoy cabbage, chopped
½ avocado, cubed
½ cup dulse

Fennel Soup
1 stalk fennel
2 cups kale
2 celery stalks
½ lemon
½ avocado
¼ inch turmeric root
2 cups water
Yields 2 quarts

Dandelion Cleansing Soup
2 cups dandelion greens
2 stalks of celery
1 green zucchini
2 pears
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon fresh ginger root
1 dash cayenne pepper

Bok Choy Soup
2 cups bok choy
1 celery stalk
1 apple
½ cup fresh cilantro
½ zucchini
¼ teaspoon fresh ginger root
¼ teaspoon fresh turmeric
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Arugula Orange Soup
2 cups arugula
½ orange bell pepper
2 oranges, peeled
1 clove garlic
1 jalapeno pepper
cayenne pepper to taste
Stir into the soup
½ avocado in chunks

Sweet Apple-Dill-Avocado
4 stalks celery
1 bunch dill
2 apples
1 avocado
1 lemon
2 cups water

Raw Family Green Soup Recipe
3 leaves chard
1 stalk celery
1 large avocado
½ bunch fresh parsley
1 lemon, juiced
2 cups water
Stir into soup
Grated veggies, such as carrot, cauliflower, zucchini, etc., and sprouts

Even considering that you add a large avocado to each soup, you will still end up well below 500 calories in 2 or 3 quarts of soup or smoothie.

1 large avocado, Florida, raw  (340g) = 365 calories

1 avocado, California, raw (136g) = 227 calories

So, you can literally eat these soups to your heart’s content and help yourself lose weight.

Green Fruit Smoothies & Meal Replacement Smoothies For Weight Loss

If your goal is to lose weight, the temptation may be to cut out the fruits and all sweeteners from the recipes completely to reduce the amount of calories in the smoothie.

While it’s OK to add more greens and veggies to your drinks and cut the amount of fruits a little, there are two risks associated with cutting down on fruits too much.

First of all, the smoothies will not be as tasty, and you may end up not liking them and not drinking them as often as you should.

Then there is also a second danger of not consuming enough calories.

For many people, a vegetable-based smoothie will not provide sufficient calories to be a meal replacement smoothie.

Even if you made a 32-ounce smoothie with just one apple, 1/2 cup blueberries and a ton of vegetables and greens,  your smoothie will be extremely low calories. You’d be lucky to get 200 calories.

The problem with this is that you might still feel full from the fiber, but you will not be consuming enough calories. This is fine, if you are getting enough calories in the rest of your diet from healthy whole plant foods.  If not, you will still be hungry after your smoothie, and risk overeating unhealthy foods. Getting too few calories will sabotage weight loss and may lead to nutrient deficiencies and health problems.

In short, fruit-based green smoothies can replace meals and are effective for weight loss.  Vegetable-based smoothies are often too low in calories to be considered meals, so they are better used to supplement a calorie-sufficient whole foods diet between meals or consumed with meals.

That is why the green smoothies and meal replacement smoothies can be great for weight loss, too.

For example, check out this Lime-Oats Green Smoothie: Refreshing & Filling Breakfast Smoothie

Lime-Oats Green Smoothie Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Lime-Oats Green Smoothie Recipe

This is a great breakfast smoothie recipe. Because it contains oats, it's more filling than just fruits-and-greens smoothie, so it will keep you full longer.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups non dairy milk (use whatever you like or have in your kitchen: oat, rice, soy, almond, hemp, coconut, etc. )
  • 2 bananas, fresh or frozen.
  • 2 cups leafy greens (spinach, Swiss chard, kale, etc.)
  • 1 handful of parsley
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds (or other seeds or nuts that you have). Pre-soaking your seeds and nuts is recommended, but not required.
  • ¼ cup of dates (or any other dried fruit)
  • 1 cup oats
  • Juice and zest of 4 limes

Instructions

  1. Blend all ingredients on high speed to the desired consistency.
  2. Add more liquid if the smoothie gets too thick.
  3. Substitute any of the ingredients for whatever you already have.
https://greenreset.com/smoothie-recipes-for-weight-loss/

Check out Katherine Natalia’s interview of GreenThickies.com where she talks about her weight loss experience with green thickies.

But Sometimes Even Green Smoothies May Not be Enough to Lose Weight

Sometimes, no matter what you eat, you just can’t start losing those pounds!

So, what do you do then?

What to do when even smoothies, blended soups, loads of fat and protein, or endless salads aren’t enough?

Or, perhaps, you JUST DON’T FEEL LIKE EATING THIS WAY ALL THE TIME! You just want to eat like a ‘normal person’ (whatever that means, LOL), not a person on a permanent diet.

I’ve struggled with this question recently, when during the pandemic (and well before that), my diet has been less than ideal. Yes, it’s been mostly whole-plant-based. Yes, I’ve been eating lots of veggies and drinking smoothies, but nowhere nearly as much as before.

And I started putting on weight.

And no matter what I tried, I couldn’t start to lose it.

Until I discovered a solution that made losing weight almost effortless.

Check out my Body Reset program in which I share how to CONTROL YOUR HUNGER, RESET YOUR APPETITE and finally LOSE THAT EXTRA WEIGHT.

Green Reset Formula Bundle


Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!

I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!


How a Young Mom Lost 56 lbs & Got Rid of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Allergies, Asthma, Eczema, Insomnia & IBS By Drinking Green Thickies

If you are struggling with weight loss and chronic health conditions, and you think that a healthier diet might help, but you are not sure how to implement that diet into your lifestyle, here is an inspiring story for you.

I have found Katherine’s website when browsing the web looking at other healthy eating/green smoothie websites.

I was intrigued by the name “Green Thickies” and wanted to know more about what they were and what’s so good about them.  When I read that Katherine lost 56 pounds without going on a diet, as well as healed herself of chronic fatigue syndrome in 6 months – I definitely wanted to know more.

Still, when I read that she uses oats in her smoothies, I was skeptical.  I prefer my smoothies to be just lots of greens and fruits, without any other ingredients. However, since lately I’ve been experimenting a lot with other ingredients in smoothies, such as root vegetables (beets, carrots), nuts, non-dairy milks, etc., I thought, “Why not? I’m going to try one of these “thickie” recipes!”

The first time I tried it I did not love it – I think I added too much oats, so the taste and texture were overpowering. But I tried again, adjusting the amount a bit, and adding some more liquid (non-dairy milk) – and I was sold.  Right now I make green smoothies with oats for my son almost every day in the morning before he goes to school. I want him to get more calories than just in a green-fruit smoothie.  He doesn’t like oatmeal or other healthy cereals that I try to offer to him, and he always asks for those highly processed ones, with lots of artificial colorings and sugar. He also doesn’t particularly like eating nuts, seeds or drinking non-dairy milks. So right now, he eats all of these without even knowing it. Problem solved.

So, I’m using the thickies to increase calories consumed in smoothies by my 8-year-old son (who is very tall for his age, and very thin), and my intention is for him to gain some weight in a healthy way; but the surprising aspect of Katherine’s story  that is that is completely counter-intuitive is that these thick smoothies can actually help you lose weight.

Read the full interview with Katherine Natalia, the founder of GreenThickies.com.

Q &A

(Joanna) Can you tell us a little bit of your story: how did you come up with the idea of green thickies. What lead you to creating your first recipe? 

(Katherine) While I was pregnant I had lots of time for making and eating healthy food.  I used to have a green smoothie every morning followed by a bowl of oatmeal to fill me up.  When my baby was born, not only did I not have the time for 2 breakfasts, but eating a bowl of hot porridge while looking after a baby just wasn’t practical.  So one day I thought ‘Why not just add the oats to my green smoothie’.  I had seen oats being added to fruit smoothies and being called ‘Thickies’ so this was my new invention, the Green Thickie. It worked perfectly, I could drink my healthy smoothie when I had time in the morning, not have to worry about it going cold and knowing that I was getting all the nutrients I needed for nursing my baby.

What diets did you tried before green smoothies? What were you eating?  and what were the results?

Before green smoothies I had tried so many different types of diets to lose weight ranging from Weight Watchers, to Atkins and I never felt good on any of them.  I had the wrong motivations as I was just trying to lose weight.  When I became a vegan and started drinking green smoothies, my motivation was to become healthier, and that led to a long lasting change of my diet that is now just a way of life for me.  A side benefit has been losing 56 pounds but if that had been my only motivation, I’m not sure I would have had the same success.

Before-After-Weight-Loss

Before-After-Weight-Loss with Green Thickies


How was your health back then?  You talk on your website how you healed yourself of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 6 months. Can you talk a bit about that… Did you have any other health issues?

Before I became a vegan my health had been getting slowly worse for a few years to the point where I could barely get out of bed.  I had chronic fatigue syndrome and a whole range of other symptoms that led to debilitating health problems.  I would collapse with stomach aches and be in pain every evening.  I also spent all day long scratching my face non stop due to chronic allergies. I wrote a list of all my health problems and had over 50 symptoms.  Whenever I went to the doctor they didn’t take me seriously as they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong with me.  I had to give up my job and felt utterly useless.

I realized I had a dairy intolerance so I became a vegan and straight away I did notice a massive improvement in my health, but I still didn’t feel 100% as I was in need of a serious detox to clean out my system completely.  So I went on a raw food diet where I ate nothing but fruit, veg, and some nuts and seeds for 6 months.  I drank green smoothies for my breakfast and lunch every day.  After a horrible detox period I started to feel amazing and within 6 months I had never felt healthier and stronger in my entire life.  I was over the moon that I’d finally found something that had turned my life around.

Did you (do you) count calories in your smoothies or calculate nutrients that you consumed during the day?

When I first started the raw food diet I would log all my food to make sure that I was getting all the nutrients that my body needed and that I was actually consuming enough calories.  My intention was never to lose weight, but just to get healthy so I ate enough calories to sustain my weight, however the weight still fell off and in 4 months I had lost 56 pounds.  That proved to me that you don’t need to restrict your calories if you are eating healthily, your body will reach it’s ideal weight easily.  After that I never counted calories again.  After my pregnancy I had gained some weight again and managed to lose it by cutting out processed food and drinking green thickies.

How are you feeling today? How is your health? How is your energy? How is your skin, etc? Are you able to maintain your ideal weight?

Today I am still feeling very healthy.  I still don’t have any of the problems that I used to have.  My allergies have never returned, my asthma and eczema are gone, so is my insomnia.  My IBS stays away as long as my diet stays healthy.   I have enough energy for all the jobs I need to do each day, my skin is clear.  I don’t have any more acne and have only had a couple of colds since I changed my diet.  I used to spend each winter ill with one bug after another and I feel so much better now.  I don’t feel quite as good as I did when I was on the raw food diet, but that might be because my baby has caused me a lot of sleepless nights.  But despite not getting a good night sleep, I cope just fine with very little sleep where as I used to feel extremely ill if I missed just one hour of my sleep.  I used to have an extreme reaction to the sun, feeling dizzy within 5 minutes of being outside but now I love being out in the hot sun.  I used to have extremely long and painful periods but now they are very light and I have no symptoms at all.  I used to have very low blood sugar and would feel sick and dizzy if I didn’t eat straight away in the morning.  Now I can go a lot longer without food when I’m hungry without feeling ill.

What does your typical day look like: How much smoothies smoothies/thickies do you drink on one sitting? How many times per day? Do you drink them all at once or do you prefer to sip them throughout the day?

During a typical day I would usually drink between 1-2 pints of green thickies for breakfast and 1-2 pints for lunch.  It depends how hungry I am and how filling the smoothie is but I generally just sip them for about an hour in the morning and about an hour at lunch time.  That way I can get on with other jobs and look after my baby while I’m drinking them.

Healthy nutrition is not just about the smoothies. What else do you eat during the day? (I know that you tried eating raw foods exclusively for a while, but that didn’t quite work for you.) How much of your food is raw food?  What cooked dishes do you enjoy making?

Sometimes at the weekend I enjoy sitting down at lunch to a big salad or a big bowl of soup if I have more time.  In the evening I make a healthy vegan cooked meal, but I have a small portion of it on top of a big green salad.  I love getting as many greens as I can in my diet as they give me so much energy.

Although I don’t follow a 100% raw food diet anymore I do believe that raw fruit and veg is extremely good for us so I try to consume as much as I can.  I have raw fruit and greens in my thickies and in my salad at night.  I’m not sure what percentage of raw food I eat but I do eat a lot more in summer.

The cooked dishes I enjoy making are quinoa, stews, chili, gluten free pasta, risotto, baked potatoes etc.

What are the foods that you never or rarely eat?

Food that I try and stay away from are meat, dairy, eggs, most processed foods especially with long ingredients lists, white flour/ most flours, refined sugar, vegetable oils, gluten, wheat, anything too stimulating such as cacao, or powdered super foods and chocolate.  I have a terrible chocolate addiction that I usually only indulge on special occasions but I do suffer for it so always end up regretting it.

I have a very weak body that can’t tolerate many ‘normal’ foods, but I’m just thankful that my body is letting me know so strongly which food is good for me so I can enjoy good health.

I noticed that you never use any animal products in your smoothies and you talk about being vegan on your website. While most weight-loss program recommend eating “lean animal protein” and low-fat cow’s milk is heavily promoted as “weight-loss food” – this is not a popular choice. What were the reasons for you to go vegan? How important being vegan is for you and your health?

I was pretty much a vegetarian when I realized that I was intolerant to dairy so I initially gave up dairy and continued eating eggs.  However I was reading lots of vegan books at the time that convinced me to become a vegan.  So my reasons are mainly health reasons for being a vegan, but after reading about the animal cruelty and sustainability, this has also become a strong motivator in my decision to stay a vegan.  I do believe people can still be healthy with limited animal products from healthy sources in their diet as long as they ate a mainly unprocessed diet, but I’ve never liked meat so I can’t see this ever changing in my life.

What is your daughter eating? Does she like green thickies and green smoothies?

My baby loves green thickies and always starts the day with a one.  She also eats a lot of fruit, and pretty much whatever I’m eating.  She doesn’t like salad however.  She is a vegan at the moment but as my husband isn’t a vegan, this may change in the future especially when she makes her own choices.  So far she’s been extremely healthy with no health problems.

How important is physical activity for losing weight? Do you exercise regularly? Can one lose weight by drinking smoothies without having to exercise?

I think diet has a lot more to do with losing weight than exercise does and I do believe you can lose weight easily without doing any exercise.  When I changed my diet I didn’t do any exercise to start with as I was going through a hard detox but as soon as I got my energy back I couldn’t help myself as I had so much energy to burn.  I would do an hour of P90X and go out for an hour long run each day.  Something I never thought would ever be a possibility for me.  I felt so fit and so healthy.  I think for ultimate health and state of mind, exercise is extremely important.

However since having my baby I’m afraid I don’t get to do as much exercise as I would like to.  I do get out for long walks with her and go through periods of doing workouts on DVDs but my baby doesn’t need any more sleep than I do, so she’s up all evening which doesn’t leave me any time on my own.  I’m accepting that at this point in my life I don’t get as much time for focusing on myself, but it won’t be this way forever and I’m just trying to enjoy playing with my baby which is a workout in itself.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with people who are struggling to lose weight and improve their health.

I would suggest just trying to change one thing at a time.  If you try and change everything all at once it can lead to failure.  So just start off replacing your breakfast with a smoothie, then try and eat one more piece of fruit a day.  Then replace all your snacks with fruit and then have a look at your meals.  If you make everything from scratch with healthy ingredients you know exactly what you are eating and will be more likely to lose weight.  If you are concerned you are eating too many calories you can always track them online using something like cronometer.com but if you try and fill at least half of your plate (or glass) with leafy greens they you will crowd out other foods and your body will start to naturally lead you to healthier choices.

If you want a quick detox and to kickstart your weight loss, a good place to start would be to take the 7 Day Green Thickies Challenge.  You can find the details here: http://www.greenthickies.com/7-day-green-smoothie-challenge.

Thank you!

green-thickies03

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!

I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!