Weight Loss Smoothie Fast: A Guide for Beginners

A smoothie fast is both a convenient way to eat healthy and an efficient method to supply your body with essential vitamins, minerals and other much-needed nutrients. It also offers a variety of health benefits like weight loss, detox and energy boost - no wonder why thousands of people are crazy about green smoothies.

So think about this: if you already started with going raw for a weight loss diet consuming just fresh fruits and vegetables, just throw the produce into a good blender and you've got yourself a delicious, healthy glass of smoothie. Easy, right?
Here are a few beginner tips for going through your first smoothie fast:

Preparation

Whether you're going through a smoothie fast for weight loss or for detox, one important thing to remember is to ease into it. Your body needs to prepare and adjust to a new diet before it can respond to it. Start by drinking a glass or two of green smoothies per day along with your regular meals. Then lessen your intake of solid foods by replacing one meal a day with smoothies until you can replace all three meals with just smoothies.

Duration

There isn't actually a number of days set in stone for beginners, but most smoothie fast first-timers go for 3 days. The first 72 hours will help you get a grasp of the diet and find out how it affects your body so you can better prepare and adjust for your next one. According to online dietician and nutrition consultant Priya Kathpal, anyone who is trying to lose weight and has no serious medical conditions can follow the diet, provided they do it with caution.

Some people do a smoothie fast between 3 days to 1 week, 4 times a year (per season) for maintenance. Others do longer smoothie fasts. You can do longer than 3 days once you and your body have adjusted to the all-liquid diet to avoid heath problems. It is also highly important that you seek the advice of your doctor before going through a smoothie fast.

Fruits and Vegetables

As much as possible, use organic fruits and vegetables to get the most out of them. Produce that have been grown traditionally have more toxins in them because of pesticide use. Start with simple, basic recipes with produce that are easily available on the market.
So the next time you go the grocery store or market, head straight to the fruits and vegetable section and start making green smoothies for a healthier body.

Achieve a Flat Belly by Drinking Green Smoothies

If you want to target your belly fat by drinking fruit and vegetable smoothies, here are a few delicious smoothie recipes you can't miss:

Berry Breakfast Smoothie
Ingredients:

1 cup mixed berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)

1 cup pomegranate juice (unsweetened)

1 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. whey protein powder

5-6 ice cubes

Aside from being delicious, berries contain very powerful antioxidants which help protect the cells in your body from free-radical damage. They are also loaded with fiber, which will help keep your hunger at bay. Blueberries help reduce blood sugar and aid in bone development, blackberries have anti-cancer properties and improve memory retention and raspberries are low-glycemic and are known for helping control blood pressure. On the other hand, pomegranate is rich in antioxidants, Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and polyphenols, all of which contribute to fat-burning and healthy metabolism.

The Creamy Citrus Mix
Ingredients:

1 medium ripe banana

1 orange

1 cup mixed berries (frozen)

2 tbsp. flax seed

5-6 ice cubes

Bananas prove to be a popular ingredient in weight-loss smoothies because of the sweet taste and creamy texture they add. They are rich in dietary fiber, Vitamins B-6 and C, potassium and magnesium. Oranges contain zero fat, are low in calories and high in nutrients such as Vitamin C, calcium, niacin, magnesium, potassium, thiamine and fiber - all of which are essential to weight loss.

Strawberries and Cream Protein Smoothie
Ingredients:

1/2 cup strawberries (frozen)

1/2 banana

3/4 cup Greek yogurt

2 tbsp. whey protein

Strawberries are an absolute delight to add to weight loss fruit smoothies. They are nutrient-dense, containing high amounts of Vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and fiber. Their fiber content helps curb appetite while the other nutrients found in strawberries help slow down the digestion of starchy foods. On the other hand, research proves that yogurt not only helps in weight loss, but it targets the fat around the waist. According to a recent research from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, eating 18 ounces of low-fat/fat-free yogurt a day can help you achieve a flat belly. Their study found that those who regularly ate yogurt lost about 22% more fat and approximately 80% more belly fat compared to dieters who skipped the snack.

So if you're aiming to remove excess belly fat on top of losing weight the healthy way, regular consumption of fruit and vegetable smoothies is an efficient way to do so. Just remember to use a variety of fresh produce to add more nutrients to your smoothies!

Weight Loss Smoothies

Being on a weight loss program has its ups and downs. One of those downs is eating the same foods over and over again.

 Sure, you may see results, but if you get bored with what you're doing, then the chances are better than average that you will stop dieting and go back to eating whatever you want. Before you give up, though, you may want to try some smoothies for weight loss. These will add variety to your diet, taste delicious, and will help you as you try to lose weight.

Smoothies and shakes are an ideal diet treat in the summer months because fresh produce is so plentiful and so are the weight loss smoothie recipes. However, with all of the frozen fruit available, you can enjoy tasty shakes and smoothies throughout the entire year. Frozen fruit tastes just about as good as fresh; add in some low fat yogurt, and the shake will have an even better taste and be more enjoyable.

Make sure you only drink healthy smoothies for weight loss and pay attention to the sugar content in the drink. One of the diet shake recipes that I like uses mandarin oranges, mango and ice. Then I add a scoop of protein powder and low fat yogurt. This makes a refreshing beverage that not only tastes good, but it will also fill your belly and help you lose weight at the same time. And for those times I just want to mix up something fast and go, I use the Acai Berry Smoothie Mix.

From time to time, when I want to mix things up, I will replace the yogurt with banana (sometimes I use both). Adding fruit juices is another way to give fresh flavor to your smoothies and weight loss drinks. For example, cranberry juice has positive health benefits for your kidneys. Add some cranberry juice, apple juice, blueberries, strawberries and banana together, then blend it until smooth. This makes an excellent breakfast drink and is a great way to start your day.

If you love the taste of chocolate, but can't eat it because it's too high in fat, then there is good news! You can add cocoa powder to your diet shake recipes. One good one is to mix cocoa powder, banana, low fat yogurt, honey and ice together. Now you can satisfy your chocolate craving without having to feel guilty about it. Of course you shouldn't drink a smoothie like this every day, but it makes for a nice change of pace that will help you stick to whatever diet plan you may be on. And there are plenty of weight loss shakes recipes and juicing recipes for weight loss for you to check out online.
While diet shake recipes and smoothies can be good for you.

 They are not the full solution to losing weight. If you are serious about shedding those excess pounds, then you need to do so from several different angles. You need to decrease your overall caloric intake. There are several ways to do this, but how you do it is less important than the fact that you're doing it. You also have to work on burning more calories. Again, doing it is what counts. You don't have to spend countless hours at the gym doing boring exercises. Just get moving and you will not only lose weight, but reduce body fat and even hit that stubborn belly fat.

Finally, feel free to experiment with diet shake recipes of your own. If you stick with low calorie foods, then the resulting shakes and smoothies should taste great and help you lose weight.