Why Should You Try A Smoothie Diet? Top 15 Diet Smoothies

Mix up these foods for a boost of nutrients

If you had the power to make your life better in just 30 seconds, would you use it? Well, that power is yours. With the simple push of a button, you can blend up weight loss smoothies that turn your body into a hyper-efficient fat-burning machine. Weight loss smoothies rev up your metabolism, tone and define your muscles, and turn off the genes that contribute to fat storage and myriad chronic health issues.

You may have heard that the healthy smoothie diet is a great weight to begin a health kick, that replacing some of your meals with smoothies will lead to quick and easy weight loss. As with so many weight-loss plans, including restrictive diets like this one, the details are important.

Before trying a new weight loss plan, it’s important to remember that healthy, sustainable weight loss is a combination of a consistently nutritious diet and regular exercise. What’s more, sipping on blended-up goodness should never be adopted as a long-term way to fuel yourself, and what you add to your shake is key to ensuring your body gets exactly what it needs.

As part of a balanced diet, smoothies can help you lose weight. But ingredients, portion size, and your overall eating plan will make all the difference. 

Are you ready? Now, all you need is a blender and the perfect weight loss smoothie.

What is a smoothie diet?

The smoothie diet is a one-day plan. It is intended to provide your body with all the nutrients it needs over a 24-hour window—so that you remain properly fuelled and don’t lose any muscle—before solid foods are then reintroduced. 

It is claimed that this can help you lose 1-2lbs per week as part of a nourishing diet and regular fitness across the other six days. Indeed, if healthy, sustainable weight loss is your goal, then it is also important to factor in an exercise like strength training, which increases muscle mass, boosting your metabolism and therefore increasing calorie burn.

However, it is important to note that replacing solid meals with smoothies should only ever be done for a very short period of time. While it is recommended that a third of your diet should consist of fruit and vegetables,it is highly suggested that you should limit yourself to a 150ml smoothie a day, to cap your intake of “free sugars” which are released during the blending process. 

But when it comes to the smoothie diet, most people tend to confuse it with the liquid diet. These are actually two different concepts. To begin with, the smoothie diet contains smoothies that are prepared using healthy ingredients like veggies and fruits. In this diet plan, you do not stop consuming your meals. Instead of this, you only replace one or two meals a day with your smoothies.

However, in a liquid diet, you only consume liquid calories. Most liquid diets may replace all your meals and snacks, where only the consumption of vegetable or fruit juices and shakes is accepted. Understanding this difference is imperative as it helps you avoid mixing the two concepts while you start the smoothie diet plan.

What ingredients are in the best weight loss smoothies?

Healthy smoothies for weight loss are made with the right blend of weight loss foods that are scientifically proven to decrease body fat. 

Some of the common ingredients we include in these smoothies for weight loss are:

Protein powder for weight loss

These powders are low in sugar or other sweeteners, low in calories, and rich in high-quality protein that, in combination with strength exercises, will help build metabolism-boosting muscle mass

Healthy fats

Healthy fats like nut butter, avocado, and MCT oil will help to slow digestion to keep you fuller longer to prevent overeating

Fibre

Consuming fibre-rich ingredients like chia seeds, flaxseeds, hemp seeds, leafy greens, and oats can help prevent spikes in blood sugar that can lead to the storage of carbs as fat

Low sugar

Fruit is the base of all smoothies, and because fruit naturally contains sugar, there’s no need to add extra sweeteners like honey, orange juice, or frozen yoghourt that only serve to add empty calories

The best weight loss smoothie diet recipes for every flavour preference

Here’s just a selection of the amazing weight-loss smoothies you’ll find! Choose three shakes from the below options for the day, add all the ingredients into a blender and blitz for 30 seconds until smooth.

Raspberry chocolate smoothie

– ½ banana, 1 handful spinach, ½ cup raspberries, 1 tbsp almond or cashew nut butter, 2 tbsp raw cocoa powder, 10 oz unsweetened almond, hemp or coconut milk, 1 scoop or serving plant-based protein powder

Green smoothie extreme

200g low-fat Greek yoghourt, a handful of ice cubes, ½ cucumber, 1 carrot, sliced 1 kiwi peeled and 2 handfuls of washed baby spinach

Kale recharge smoothie

1 frozen, very ripe banana, 1 tbsp fresh parsley (or cilantro), ¾ cup spinach, loosely packed, 1 tsp ginger, grated, ¾ cup curly kale, stems removed, loosely packed, ½ cup carrots, chopped, 1 tsp lime juice, 8 ounces water, 4 ice cubes

Breakfast booster

30g protein powder, 1 banana, a handful of sultanas, a handful of almonds, a handful of porridge oats and 200ml skimmed milk

Wake me up smoothie

½ cup frozen mixed berries, a handful of spinach, 8 oz unsweetened Silk almond milk, 1 scoop plant-based vanilla protein powder

Pumpkin pie smoothie

1 cup canned pumpkin, ½ banana, 1 cup coconut or almond milk, 2 tablespoons of chopped pecans, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, ¾ scoop Vega Vanilla protein powder, Handful of ice cubes

Pink Lady a¼ frozen banana

½ Pink Lady apple with peel, seeded and quartered, ½ cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 teaspoon flaxseed oil, 3.14 dashes of ground cinnamon, 1 scoop vanilla plant-based protein powder, Water to blend

Banana split

1 frozen banana, 4 fresh cherries, pitted, 2 dark chocolate squares, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop vanilla plant-based protein powder, 2 ice cubes

Mediterranean magic

30g protein powder, ½ avocado, 2 large tomatoes, 1 red pepper, plus a handful of fresh basil and a handful of ice cubes

Cherry tabasco savoury smoothie

½ cup cherries, ½ frozen banana, 1 tsp Tabasco sauce, ¼ lime, ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop plant-based plain protein powder, 3 ice cubes, Water to blend (optional)

Blue velvet

200g low-fat Greek yogurt, 2 handfuls of blueberries, 2 stoned plums, 1 banana, a handful of spinach and a handful of ice cubes

Summer cooler

½ cucumber, 1 stick of celery, ½ avocado, 30g protein powder, handful of fresh parsley and a handful of ice cubes

Coconut cashew protein smoothie

½ banana, 1 tbspn of cashew butter, ¼ cup full-fat coconut milk, 2 scoops dairy-free protein powder, 1 scoop of natural espresso, 2-3 ice cubes

Berry bliss

1 kiwi peeled, 200g low-fat Greek yogurt, 2 handfuls of strawberries hulled, 2 handfuls of raspberries, handful of porridge oats and ice cubes

Sweet potato smoothie

½ cooked sweet potato, cooled, with skin off, ½ frozen banana, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop plain plant-based protein powder

Why follow a Smoothie diet plan?

There are numerous diet plans. Of course, most of them have been determined to work, depending on your goals. The question that bugs many people is why you should take on the smoothie diet plan over another meal plan? What are their health benefits? Here are some solid reasons why:

It increases your nutrient intake

Detox Smoothies are prepared using healthy ingredients from all food groups. These include whole fruits, starchy vegetables, leafy greens, non-starchy veggies, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. All these healthy foods individually contain different nutrients. Fortunately, by combining all these food groups in one drink, your nutrients are amped up.

It leads to weight loss

Weight loss is mainly dependent on the reduction of calorie intake. This is because your body burns more calories than you are consuming. Healthy weight-loss smoothies, especially protein shakes, promote weight loss by reducing the number of calories you consume in a day.

The detox weight loss smoothie diet aims at replacing one or two of your meals to help restrict your daily calorie consumption. This is the reason why each of your smoothie recipes restricts you to various servings. The reason for this is that each serving contains a certain number of calories. If you take more than the recommended servings, you risk having a calorie surplus, leading to weight gain.

It may kick start your healthy eating patterns

Healthy living calls for healthy dietary and lifestyle changes. Most people struggle with implementing healthy dietary practices as they try to incorporate them all at once.

This can be overwhelming, and as such most people tend to encounter so many challenges when it comes to healthy dietary practices.

The thing is, you only need to take baby steps and walk your way up the ladder. Start with simple changes such as the smoothie detox diet. It can help you increase your intake of nutritious foods that contain vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats. With time, you can embrace other healthy eating patterns like cutting down on sugar or refined carbs.