Lose Belly Fat with Green Smoothies

 

 

 

Here’s how it happened:   I had just read the short book Raw Family: a True Story of Awakening and was inspired by how a family of four was able to turn their health completely around by switching to a raw foods diet.

At this point, I was chubbier than I had been in my entire adult life.

Even pants in waist-size 36 were starting to feel too tight and uncomfortable.

I was already eating healthy and exercising three times a week, so I was a little disappointed that I had so much fat and width in my midsection (Around this time, I had to film a real estate video, and I tried to disguise how fat I was my untucking my shirt — see BEFORE PHOTO below)! I figured I would experiment with adding more raw foods into my daily diet.

Hey, it was worth a shot.

Weight Loss Before and After Photos

I decided I’d start with my morning protein shake. I went online to see if I could find a recipe, and I happened upon a blog Vegan Lunchbox in which she described adding some frozen organic spinach to her morning blended beverage.

Spinach!? In a protein shake?! I honestly hadn’t even considered that before.

So, even though I wasn’t a vegan and the website was for vegans, I tried adding just a little spinach to my next morning’s shake and, honestly, I couldn’t even taste it. I was surprised!

I also noticed that this new shake left me with less of that “acidic-warm” feeling after I drank it and that the energy I got from the shake was even and sustaining (no sugar-rush followed by a drop). Maybe I was onto something? So I decided to start trying to add a little cucumber to each shake, too. Again, I noticed a subtle, positive difference in how I felt after I drank it, as compared to my old shake recipe.

Now I was adding a bit of spinach and cucumber to each shake, each morning. I was kind of getting into it, so I upgraded my blender from a cheap $40 one, to a VitaMix (which will blend practically anything).

A short time later, a friend of mine mentioned that she was seeing a naturopath who had helped her family of four all become healthier — even their allergy symptoms were disappearing naturally. I was intrigued, so I went and saw their naturopathic doctor and I learned that he referred to his morning blended as a “freshly made green smoothie,” not a “protein shake.” He suggested I start experimenting with adding more vegetables of different types — including dark, leafy greens — and start gradually reducing the fruit. He taught me how to pre-soak raw nuts and seeds to infuse my smoothies with more clean fat and quality protein.

That’s when things really began changing. The funny thing is, I hadn’t truly noticed the extent to which the fat had been melting away, until a friend used his smartphone to take some video of me while I was exercising (SEE AFTER PHOTO, RIGHT).

I started having fun experimenting with different ingredients. I’d go to the farmer’s market every Saturday morning and buy produce, come home and wash it all, dry it (in a salad spinner) and bag it in these mesh vegetables bags I bought online. Then, throughout the week, I’d make fresh green smoothies. Always for breakfast (sometimes for lunch, too, and sometimes, for dessert — although, for dessert I’d make them super thick and serve them in a bowl with crunchy toppings, like it was softserve ice cream or frozen yogurt. On days when I also had a smoothie for lunch, I used different vegetables, fruits and nuts then I used in the morning smoothie, so that my second smoothie of the day was always completely different from my first).

Well, that changed everything. I continued dropping fat around my waistline and I started feeling stronger. I barely noticed I was losing weight because I was having such a good time seeing what my fancy new blender could do.

Because I started to feel better (my mind was more clear, my eyes were less puffy and red, and even my tongue looked brighter and less yeasty when I woke up each morning), I started adding an extra workout each week. This happened naturally as a result of having more physical energy. Also, to combat the sedentary effects of working in front of the computer all day (the downside to being a writer), I started to go for a short walk each evening right before dinner.

Slam cut to: today. I feel strong and lean and, at age 47, I feel healthier than I’ve ever felt before in my life.

How to Lose Belly Fat by Drinking Freshly Made Green Smoothies

A freshly made green smoothie each day will do wonders for your health. Green smoothies detoxify your body while infusing its cells with nutrients.

The most challenging part for me in describing the power of green smoothies is trying to explain what they actually are and how they actually taste — because for many people (when they picture green smoothies in their mind), they imagine a canister of protein powder that you buy at the grocery store.

Green smoothies — though they may contain a bit of powder as one of many ingredients — are freshly made, loaded with real ingredients, and a full meal unto themselves.

Once you get the hang of making green smoothies they taste amazingly good (and, as one surprised and delighted fellow recently put it, “not like drinking Shrek”). You can actually feel the sustained energy high after drinking one. Green smoothies are crafted from raw foods and, over time, you will discover that they help your body to lose belly fat.

When I started drinking green smoothies, I wasn’t trying to lose belly fat, or any weight at all. I just wanted to be healthier, stronger, and have more energy.

I was thinking longterm — to get as many nutrients and superfoods into my body as I needed to feel fantastic, extend my lifespan, age successfully, and prevent illness.

But then, a funny thing started to happen: my waist started to shrink…

If my story intrigues you and you would like to experiment with a bit of green smoothie-making to see if you can lose belly fat, too, then I encourage you to go for it. However, I recommend that your emphasis be on improving your overall health. Coming from a positive mindset of honoring your body will eventually help you more than just focusing on the cosmetic changes.

“…I wasn’t trying to lose belly fat, or any weight at all.
I just wanted to be healthier, stronger, and have more energy”

To help make your journey into the blender-lifestyle easier, here are some tips to save you time. I know that most of our site’s users keep very busy schedules, so hopefully these kitchen tips will prove helpful, not only to lose belly fat, but also to increase your strength and energy!

 
“…if you saw my driver’s license photo, you wouldn’t recognize me in it — I barely recognize myself! The photo was taken before I discovered freshly made green smoothies, back when I was, well, fatter. After making and drinking smoothies for a year, all of that weight came off, plus my face looks less puffy and more youthful. I eventually had to get new clothes, even my ‘skinny clothes’ were too chubby.

Of course, it wasn’t all smooth-sailing: in the beginning, I made some mistakes (pretty much the same mistakes everyone makes). For instance, when I first started, I put milk and banana into a blender and then added some powder I got from a can at the grocery store. Wrong! That is not a freshly made green smoothie! Also, at first, smoothies made me light-headed and wouldn’t sustain my energy, but Dane showed me on to use the right ingredients and the right ratios. It turns out, I needed to add more ‘clean fat,’ such as raw, sprouted seeds. Thanks to Dane, I feel better now than I ever have before. Freshly made green smoothies ROCK!”

                                              ~ David, Age 58, International Relocation Specialist
 

If you feel like you really want to try using green smoothies to lose fat, increase your energy, detoxify your body and improve your health, then I encourage you to get the new Longevity Lifestyle Kit.

The 5 Best Smoothie Recipes eBooklet is one of many life-enhancing items within the new Longevity Lifestyle Kit. This eBooklet will help you to eat better. You can purchase this eBook separately for $4.95, or save money purchasing the Full Longevity Kit.
 
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“…I’ve always been a no-breakfast person.
But what I didn’t realize was that
skipping breakfast only made me lethargic and lazy all day long.
And I’d eat a whole lot more at lunch than I would have otherwise!
So, when I came across Dane’s smoothie recipes,
I decided to give them a shot.
Only one week in and I already feel much more energetic
than I have in the last ten years.
And I also tend to eat less lunch
which is great to control increasing weight.
I plan to start smoothies for lunch too.
Slim waistline, here I come!”

                            ~ Rabab Kahn, Editor / Bertelsmann Foundation

I encourage you to pick up the Longevity Lifestyle Kit and experience the positive results it will have on your daily life. All five items in the kit are designed to work synchronistically.

Each items serve a specific purpose, and combined they become super powerful. Enjoy the value and savings of getting all 5 items together!

The kit includes a e-Book, an e-Guide, an e-Booklet, an e-List, and an e-Workbook. The anchor of the kit is The Numinous Journey, an eBook that utilizes principles of Success Psychology and is strategically crafted to facilitate an inner process, that will help make your exciting new lifestyle habits “stick!”

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• ➌ How to Get Seriously Organized Using Checklists: The Dane Technique
• ➍ Using Your Blender to Get Lean and Strong: 5 Best Smoothie Recipes
• ➎ Ingredients Guide for Freshly Made Green Smoothies: The Shopping List

 

How to Save Time Making Fresh Green Smoothies

Making green smoothies doesn’t have to be a labor-intensive task as long as you have the right preparation.

Green smoothies are not that hard to make, though sometimes I find that early in the morning — when I’m groggy and without my wits (exactly when I don’t want to make a smoothie) — is when I benefit from a smoothie most. It’s as if I need a green smoothie just to give me the energy and alertness I need to make a green smoothie!

Basically, with time and practice, the process of making fresh green smoothies becomes faster and more fun.

If you want to get an excellent blender (sorry, but the $40 blenders you get at the box stores are not going to cut it) to help you in creating your new, positive nutritional habits (and delicious, healthy smoothies!) you can use this coupon checkout code: 06-007861 and that will give you FREE standard shipping (a savings of $25 in the US or $35 in Canada)! To shop, click on the VitaMix image in this post or phone 1-800-848-2649.

How to Food Prep Your Smoothies

The best way to approach this is do some preparation for your green smoothie beforehand. It’s far easier to spend some time preparing your green ingredients once a week.

Every week I head to the farmers market to buy a week’s worth of produce. I pick up all my dark leafy greens: spinach, kale, arugula, swiss chard, parsley, sprouts and microgreens (along with celery, cucumbers, fruits, etc). I keep all the ingredients in washable produce bags.

Washing Your Veggies

Back in the kitchen I wash the greens and put them in the salad spinner. Once dry, the greens are evenly placed into separate bags.

A Week of Green Smoothies!

Now, in anticipation of when I wake up, I’ve just simplified my steps: I pour one of the bags of “green leafys” into the blender, then add the extra ingredients — such as fruit, seeds or nuts, plant-protein powder, spices and ice. No thinking, no fuss, and best off all: no washing. I can start drinking my smoothie first thing in the morning and have a great start to the day!