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:
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
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.
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!