The Skinny on Greens

Review

The main purpose behind learning to pace our meal timing & reducing added sugar was to:

1. Begin to reset your internal biochemistry. We want to make sure all your internal signaling is working properly so that your body can tell you when it is full. This will continue over the next few weeks, so it is important to keep an eye on your added sugars.
2. Keeping hydrated will eliminate false hunger signals being sent and helps start the elimination of toxins.
3. Starting your day with a strong breakfast is important. It sets your metabolism up properly for the entire day.

The green smoothie will take all of this to the next level.

Awesome Sauce

While there is no pill, potion, lotion or magic bullet to weight loss, fitness, health and extra energy. There here may be a secret sauce. We call it “Awesome Sauce”.  EVERY client that has embraced the concept of “green smoothies” has reported (without exception) more energy and less cravings in a very short amount of time.

This is our personal secret sauce. We have 2 per day as our snacks. (10am & 2pm). But, there is NO wrong time to eat/drink vegetables.

Why Green Smoothies?

It is not necessarily the green smoothie, it is what is in it – fresh, raw vegetables. Green smoothies are just an easy way to get high doses of fresh raw vegetables into your system.

This does two things:

1. Provides your body with all the nutrients it needs to function properly.
2. It is high in natural fiber (which most of us are not getting enough of).

Why is this important.

Giving your body all the things it needs to function properly, in the form it recognizes and can utilize just makes sense. Once your body has what it needs, all the systems will start working better. This will start supporting the changes you have been implementing in recent weeks.

Secondly, and just as important, Green Smoothies are loaded with fiber and help your body detoxify naturally every day.

When you start improving your nutrition & health, your fat cells will stop storing up. As you shed fat cells, toxins are released into your body and it is important that you get those out of your body as fast as possible. Bottom line: there is really only 1 (or 2) ways to eliminate the excess body fat byproducts – that is… #1 and #2

The Movement

Your poop says a lot about your nutrition. Lots of clues can be found there – so start noticing. 😉

Ideally, you should be having 1-2 bowel movements per day. (When our clients are losing significant weight, they have reported 3+ per day when previously they had only been having a couple per week).

Frequency is important and also consistency. Here is a stool chart that you can use to self-diagnose whether you are the right track. Ideally, you would want your stools to be a #4, the second best is #3.  If you are well hydrated and getting plenty of natural fiber from lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, you should be in good shape here. If you are off, no worries. Just look at what you’re eating and see where you can incorporate more of these whole foods into your diet.

What about juicing?

Juicing is good because it has high doses of nutrients. The downside of juicing, however, is you lose the fiber, it is more work, and more expensive because you are using way more produce.

If you do like to juice and weight loss is your goal, make sure your juice does not contain too much sugar. Even too much natural sugar can cause challenges in reaching your weight loss goals.

We prefer green smoothies to juicing for our daily routine. More fiber. Whole foods. Easy.

Summary

The bottom line is that green smoothies put all the good into your body and carry all the bad out. There really is not a better single thing you can do for your body than to enjoy a couple green smoothies every day.

Again, it does not have to be in the form of a smoothie. If you like just eating a bunch of raw fresh vegetables and fruits, then that is awesome (probably even a better). But, we have found the green smoothies a quick and easy way for our clients to easily get a bunch of good stuff in (and bad stuff out). The best part is they love the taste of them.

QUICK TIPS:

1. 1. When starting with green smoothies, you will want to ease into it.  They key is that you enjoy them.  Here are some beginner and advanced recipes.
   2. Again, if you do not like smoothies, you can just eat the ingredients.  The point of the green smoothie is to get those things in your body. How you do that is up to you.
   3. The key to adding salads to your dinner routine is, it has to be easy. We just buy a 1 lb container of mixed greens. At dinner time, grab a handful, put it on the plate, sprinkle with raw pumpkin seeds (or seeds of your choice), and top with a balsamic vinegar.  Later, you can get fancy and add shredded carrots or other things you like.
   4. Find a healthy dressing you enjoy.  Balsamics are a great option. We rarely use dressing at our house these days because we just prefer veggies plain. However, when we were first starting out, one that we liked was a Baker & Olive Balsamic and it only has 2 g of sugar per Tbsp (and you don’t need to use a full Tbsp).