Drink Green Smoothies All Day and Lose Weight

Robyn Openshaw - Aug 27, 2010 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links

You could literally drink green smoothies till you’re full, all day long, and still lose weight.

If you drank TWO GALLONS a day (that’s 8 quarts), you would get only 1500 calories. That 100 fewer calories than someone my height and weight needs, even if I don’t exercise, daily!

I’ve been accidentally saying the wrong thing in my classes. A quart of green smoothie doesn’t have 400 calories–it has 200! (Hot Pink smoothie from Ch. 10 of 12 Steps has 400 calories, perfect for breakfast.)

A quart of GS will fill up your stomach. I often get emails saying, “I can’t drink a quart in one sitting! How do you do it?”

Well, first, I’m just used to it. I burn 400-600 calories working out every morning so I’m really hungry at lunch time. Sometimes I save some of my quart for late in the afternoon, but often I drink it all at once–and I always have something else, too.) And sometimes when I have an extra pint in the fridge, I have another GS for dinner!

I also get this a lot: “I am hungry an hour or two after drinking my quart of GS. What’s up with that?” Well, what’s up with that is that it’s less than 200 calories.

I was filing stuff and found this DietPower breakdown of a quart of green smoothie:

¼ lb. spinach

¼ lb. chard

½ banana

¾ cup mixed berries

1 peach

Here’s what you get (with 1 ½ cups water and a pinch of stevia):

188 calories

84% carbs, protein 12%, fat 4% (That is a BEAUTIFUL macronutrient breakdown, by the way! If someone told you 20% protein is necessary, it ISN’T.)

Because this is the highest-nutrition, lowest-calorie thing you can eat, I outline a Detox plan (3 days) and a weight loss plan (30 days) in my book, The Green Smoothies Diet.

You also get, from this recipe:

More than 50% of your daily requirements of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, magnesium, copper, manganese.

Very significant amounts of fiber (31% of daily allowance), as well as niacin, Vita E, iron, calcium, potassium, and sodium.

p.s. I do recommend adding 60-100 cals. of flaxseed to your diet, and a GS is one easy way to do that. I buy sprouted flax on Amazon. It’s live and it absorbs less water in the smoothie since it’s already been soaked (and dried).

Posted in: Green Smoothies, Healthy Weight, Tools & Products