by Joanna | Featured, Green Smoothies, Weight Loss
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 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:
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
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
- Blend all ingredients on high speed to the desired consistency.
- Add more liquid if the smoothie gets too thick.
- Substitute any of the ingredients for whatever you already have.
3.1
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.
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!
by Joanna | Food Addiction, Weight Loss
I can’t stop daydreaming about finally traveling to some exotic destination (I think I’ve watched all the episodes of Caribbean Living and the Mediterranean Living TRICE by now), taking a walk on a tropical beach (or even sun-bathing on a bench in a park near to the place where I live, but without a mask on my face), wearing my favorite pre-pandemic shorts.
Only will they still fit?
Let’s face it, I started putting on weight even before the Covid-19 lockdowns began, but with all gyms and closed for over a year, tennis courts under lockdown, and a few months of gloomy winter weather behind me that are not conducive to long walks and bike-rides—those extra pounds keep piling around my waist and tights.
YIKES!
Now I have a serious spare tire around my waist. (It’s more like a bike tire, fortunately, not a car or van tire, but still). It’s SUPER ANNOYING. As I was going through my closet, pulling out clothes for the warmer weather, and trying them on—I found that most of them have SHRUNK! LOL. Especially around my waist and hips. Muffin top, belly fat, spare tire, visceral fat—whatever you call it—I DON’T WANT IT!
So, what do I do? Do I go to the mall (as soon as they re-open) or shop online (I’m so not into buying clothes online without trying them on, if I must do clothes shopping, I much prefer to do it in physical stores)? Or do I try to lose the flab?
Only, I’ve tried some different strategies—exercising (a little), eating less, skipping meals, limiting carbs, eating more fats and protein (all vegan, of course), but without any noticeable results.
Can you relate?
You’ve tried everything, including the latest fad diets: low-carb, high-carb, low-fat, high-fat, keto, paleo, gluten-free, Mediterranean, exercising, calorie counting, fasting, intuitive eating, and whatnot. But whatever weight you managed to lose in the process, you gained it right back, and you’re back to where you started (or worse).
What the heck?
What to do when nothing seems to be working?!
And why am I even in this situation?
I’m vegan. I am eating lots of whole or minimally processed plant foods.
Aren’t these supposed to be the healthiest and best for ideal weight?
Turns out—not exactly.
I had to do some digging and soul searching and have a couple of REALLY HONEST conversations with myself (which wasn’t easy).
But, after all that—I have my answers, and I’m on my way to regaining my old self, already losing pounds and inches—BOOHOO!
The good news, despite not being great for my waistline, I haven’t gotten sick, so I believe my current eating habits kept my immune defenses are strong.
But, just as my weight needs some resetting, so does my health, probably.
So, here I am.
Starting again the old-and-tested Green Smoothie Reset. (With some juices and blended soups/salads thrown into the mix J)
My goal—to fit in my old clothes again, get my energy back, and feel great, which means I need to lose about 15-20 pounds and keep them off FOREVER.
You may not think of it as a very ambitious goal. But for me it is.
And super frustrating.
You see, I was always one of those skinny people who never thought of how much I had to eat, because whatever weight I put on, I was always able to lose it quickly without effort. By eating less, moving more, and just doing whatever was necessary.
It was literally enough for me to think—okay, I need to lose 10 pounds or whatever—and before I knew it, the weight was gone and I could fit in my old clothes again. No wonder I never understood what the big deal about weight loss is about—if you want to lose your belly fat, just eat more raw veggies, cut your portions in half and get active. I literally thought it was literally that simple.
(Please, don’t hate me.)
Now I know how hard it can be.
It may be a result of my getting older, being less active due to pandemic and constant lockdowns (where I am right now, it’s really bad), binging on local news, HBO and Netflix with the refrigerator and my kitchen being a few steps away from the couch.
And—it gets worse. Recently, a new and awesome bakery opened downstairs, with a selection of artisan breads and cakes that’s just insane and oh-so-tempting.
I swear, if you’d ever tried them, you’d understand that they’re IRRESISTIBLE. And PURE DEVIL.
Caloric BOMBS full of pure sugar. And I’ve been eating them daily—as a consolation to the misery of being stuck in my apartment, while my husband and I both work from home and our teenage son is stuck in his room doing online-learning.
Trying to write and create is doable; I can’t complain. I can’t imagine what people working in medical professions are going though. I admire them every day.
I haven’t been vaccinated yet, but it’s getting close. What matters to me more is that my mom (who is 78) is already safe from the virus.
But let’s not kid ourselves. This virus—is not the only thing that we should be concerned about. Even if we vaccinate everyone, there’s no guarantee that another one just as deadly (or more) is around the corner. It’s not even the deadliest pandemic that we have right now.
What about all the people who die from chronic diseases? Diabetes, for example, is a killer. My dad passed away seven years ago due to heart disease caused by diabetes (which is quite common). What about all the people who die each year due to heart disease? Cancers? Diseases caused by poor air quality? Diseases caused by poor food quality and obesity? And the list goes on.
Expecting pills and vaccines always to cure us is naïve.
Hoping doctors will save us is unrealistic.
Doctors and modern medicine definitely have some major super-powers and can do pretty amazing stuff that’s almost god-like, but they can’t save us unless we want to be saved. We must do our part. Take responsibility for our health and well-being of our loved ones.
Do you want to join me?
If yes, sign up HERE for the Appetite Reset Challenge and the Body Reset Formula.
What will be there:
- Intuitive eating—what you need to do before you even think of trying it. (Or you risk binging on your favorite junk foods and gaining more weight!)
- Calorie counting—does it still work? (Spoiler alert: It does! But with this ESSENTIAL modification.)
- Intermittent fasting—does it work? And if not, how to make it work for you?
- The truth about breakfast no one talks about.
- The problems with keto—and more.
And stay tuned for the next episodes of my Body Reset Journey.
Questionnaire:
Which of the following topics you’d be most interested to learn about—check all that apply:
- Weight loss—resetting your metabolism and appetite and finally losing body fat—including that belly flab (and keeping it off forever)
- Also, how to lose weight on a plant-based/vegan diet? (You thought it was supposed to be easy. Weren’t you supposed to lose weight just by going plant-based? Yes, usually, but it’s not a given. It may happen that you’ll gain weight while being vegan, and then have trouble getting rid of the excess fat (and it sucks!).
- Eating for health to prevent diseases—strengthening our immune defenses in case another round of viral epidemic comes around.
- Eating for health to cure diseases—getting rid of lifestyle-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and other.
- Transitioning to a vegan diet—how to do it right so you’re able to stick to it for the rest of your life.
- Green smoothie and juicing recipes.
- Plant-based/vegan recipes.
- Other: ________________________________________________________
Sign up to get the updates and be notified when this thing launches!
by Joanna | Green Smoothies, Weight Loss
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 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!
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!
by Joanna | Weight Loss
According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, diets don’t work, because people who are already nutritionally deficient, when they cut back on calories, they become even more nutritionally deficient. As a result, their body develops a series of cravings and sensations that drives them to overeat preventing them from successfully losing weight.
Until the food 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 – they’ll soon be gasping for air.
Today you can listen to Dr. Fuhrman speaking on the Food Revolution Summit here.
Dr. Fuhrman TODAY on the Food Revolution Summit
Participation in the summit is FREE. You can sign up and listen here
Why Diets Don’t Work: Nutritional Quality, Food Addictions & Weight Loss
Without attention to nutritional quality, nutritional density, and nutritional completeness, you build up toxins in your body and as the level of toxins increases in the cells, it’s as if you were smoking cigarettes or snorting cocaine – you become addicted to those toxins that come from improper nourishment to the body.
Here is how it works: When you try to eat less or stop eating, you feel shaky and weak, because your body goes into a stage of detoxification or cleansing. The more toxic you are, them more shaky and weak you will feel. You may get headaches, stomach cramps, etc. Eating food relieves these sensations, because eating stops the detox. So you have to keep eating just to feel okay. It becomes a vicious circle.
Until you understand the powerful addictive nature of conventional food – of processed foods, junk foods, and concentrated animal products – and the consequences of not eating enough of the plant foods: fruits, vegetables, beans, mushrooms, nuts and seeds – and not getting the phyto-chemicals and antioxidants that the body needs – you are setting yourself up for failure.
Not knowing these simple facts sets people for weight gain and makes it impossible to lose weight or have a long and healthy life.
The point is nutritional quality does matter, it’s not just about the amount you eat, it’s not just about calories.
Certain foods have powerful effects that make you lose weight irrespective of the calories consumed.
2000 calories for some person can cause a person to become heavy, and 2000 different calories in different person can cause them to become thin, based on the factors in the foods, especially the factors in foods such as greens, mushrooms and onions, that make it difficult for the body to store fat.
Basically it’s a whole biological system that gives us the instinctual connectivity between the amount of calories we need and how much we enjoy eating that works. It works and it makes people desire and enjoy the food they require and no more. We shouldn’t desire to be 180 pounds, or 220 pounds. We shouldn’t desire to eat until we are 200 pounds or 300 pounds. And we don’t when we eat the proper nutrients. When we don’t eat the proper nutrients, we get unrelenting food cravings and we are not just uncomfortable – we become food addicts. An average American person is a significant food addict.
We need to shift our perspective about nutrition and change the way we think about what we eat. It’s not about the volume amount of food, weight amount of food, or even a caloric amount of food, it’s about the nutritional amount that’s important.
Your hunger diminishes as you meet your nutritional needs better. And the perception of hunger changes.
People find that hunger is a pleasurable sensation not a painful sensation. And when they felt hunger, it made food taste so much better, because of the enhancement of the taste sensation. So people actually prefer to wait to eat till they are hungry, and they prefer not to overeat at lunch, because they want to be hungry for dinner, because eating when they are hungry is such a pleasurable sensation/so intensely pleasurable, that the body becomes an automatic computer, directing people to the precise amount of calories to maintain the perfect weight, and people don’t become overweight.
Listen to the Interview with Dr. Fuhrman on Responsible Eating and Living
Download and listen to an interview with Dr. Joel Fuhrman on Responsible Eating and Living and here, where he talks at length about diet and health.
Joel Fuhrman M.D. is a board–certified family physician, best-selling author and nutritional researcher who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods. As one of the country’s leading experts on nutrition and natural healing, Dr. Fuhrman has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows including: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, Today, Good Morning America, the Discovery Channel, TV Food Network, CNBC, the Dr. Oz Show. His own PBS television show, “3 Steps to Incredible Health,” aired nationwide in June 2011. His book, Eat to Live, published in 2003 (Little Brown) has gone through over 20 printings and been published in multiple foreign language editions. The revised version was released by Little Brown in January 2011 and is still on the NY Times best-sellers list. His recent works include Disease-Proof Your Child and has had published a total of 7 books on human nutrition to date. Dr. Fuhrman is actively involved in scientific research in human nutrition. His discoveries on food addiction and human hunger were published in the scientific journal, Nutrition Journal, in November 2011 entitled, The Changing Perception of Hunger on a High Nutrient Density Diet. His research activities include working with researchers at the National Institute of Health on dietary interventions for specific autoimmune diseases. Visit his website here.
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!
