Fruit Smoothie Recipes

Resisting Temptation-Part 2 -Secrets of weight loss

2007-10-14T09:51:00.000-04:00

Hey again, sorry for the delay, but im back with some more tips.

3)Keep a reminder of why your dieting-Take a picture or by some clothes you want to be able to fit into one day. If you feel week just think about them or anything else you can for motivation.

4)Have a cheat meal scheduled once a week, dont make it spontaneous or you'll probably end up having them more than once a week. Notice this is a cheat meal-not a cheat DAY!! You dont want to do damage that undo's all the work you did in the past week.

5)Keep a food journal-If you write down what you eat you'll eat healthier and feel pride from being able to write down good clean, healthy foods.

Of course there are many more ways to help deal with tempation during a weight loss diet, these are just a few good ways I know that work and maybe some can help you too. If there are any of your own that you really like please post them in the comments so others can see them too. Have a great day as always, John.

Resisting Temptation-Part 1

2007-10-05T16:37:00.000-04:00

One of the hardest things a lot of people find while on diets and just in normal everyday life is resisting those small little temptations like junk foods. Its common from what ive observed for people to know they shouldnt be eating what they are but they do it anyways. Can you think of a time where in the back of your head your thinking "i know i shouldnt have this", but then you see your hand reaching in the cookie jar? You most likely can think of one of these situations and its nothing to feel guilty about as it happens to everyone often-some just more than others. However There are a few ways that can make sticking to a diet way easier.

1)Join a team. It is a lot easier to just say no if you have support. If you feel weak at times you can talk to them to get strength.

2)Dont have junk food lying around. Its easier to say no when theres nothing there. Dont go to the supermarket hungry or you'll end up buying junk.

Im hoping to post again soon with more tips, Im just really busy right now. Hope this tides you over for now TTYL.

Weight loss- DONT get Complicated

2007-09-24T15:07:00.000-04:00

When dealing with weight loss and attempting to 'slim down', some people go to the extremes of dieting because they feel desparate. Im currently in a lot of forums and its always the new people to weight loss that ask really similar questions and take similar courses of actions. They want to get rid of the weight FAST!!! So they do these crazy diets that just hurt their bodies with no results.

Just the other day I was reading about someone who planned to go through a 0 carbohydrate diet!!! I politely told him that its impossible to go more than a few days without experience horrible sideeffects. Your body runs on carbs for the most part. The scary part is that people are trying all sorts of these crazy diets trying to get results.

Well, I got good news and bad news. Bad first you say? Ok, even though it might hurt to hear it, if you want to serioiusly lose weight your going to have to do it slowly and consistently with some hard work and commitment. Heres the fun part though, it doesnt have to be hard or boring. As youve probably heard, the only way to lose weight is through diet and excercise, well thats spot on, BUT the common misconception is that you have to just jog or walk around a track for hours, NOT TRUE. There are so many ways to get the same benefits and even more. Ever heard of a game called soccer? basketball? football? Not only do you burn more calories, but you BUILD more muscle and get into better shape. Oh yea...you have LOADS of fun too and it doesnt even feel like work!!! In these sports there is constant movement and stress on the body, this is what causes the body to adapt and build muscle. Since these games are rather intense there are sprints also which is also known as High Intensity Training(HIT) which burns incredible amounts of fat after the excercise is done. I was reading about a study a day or two ago(Ill try and find a copy to post) about a group in England who compared joggers and soccer players with similar diets of overweight people. The Results? Soccer players lost twice the fat and built substantial muscle while the joggers built none.

You can play with some friends, join a local league, and if for some reason those arent available just put up some ads around your town of a field location and a date and time for anyone who wants to play. It doesnt have to be proffessional and really competitive, just have fun and help each other out.

The thing Im trying to stress here is that people are always looking for the easy way. Well, here it is, where else can you have fun while losing as much fat as during sports? NOWHERE. Obviously this is just a portion of what it takes to lose weight but it can take one of the hardest parts out.

Beef Vegetable Stir-Fry

2007-09-24T15:04:00.000-04:00

Heres a quick low fat main dish that you could try if you are interested in changing you diet. It has a lot of fresh veggetables, tastes great and is easy to make.

Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Number of Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes

You Will Need
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided
1 pound beef sirloin steak, cut into 2-inch strips
2 medium green peppers, cut into strips
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms

What to Do
1. In a large bowl, combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons soy sauce until smooth. Add beef; stir to coat.

2. In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the green peppers and onions in oil for 3 minutes; add beef. Cook and stir for 3 minutes.

3. Add mushrooms. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are tender and meat is no longer pink.

4. Stir in remaining soy sauce.

Per serving: Calories 254, fat 9 g, saturated fat 3 g, cholesterol 63 mg, sodium 658 mg, carbohydrate 17 g, fiber 3 g, protein 26 g

If you want more weight loss recipes you can head over to http://www.rd.com/channel/weight-loss-recipes/ I love their recipes, theyre easy cheap and really good.

Diet Sodas- A recipe for disaster?

2007-09-13T18:42:00.000-04:00

Something that Ive been reading a lot about the past few weeks is linked to a healthy diet and a common misconception. For example, about a year or two ago I went to a family get together with a bunch of my relatives. One of my relatives is quite overweight and was drinking diet soda at the time, I asked him why and he said "I'm trying to lose some weight". When I asked whether or not he liked the taste he promptlly replied with a "heck no i dont, but you gotta do what you gotta do". At the time I was proud of him because he was really making an effort to change his life. After that event I did a little research on the topic, but at that time I had limited resources and just went around in circles. Fast forward a few years, and guess what, he hasnt lost a single pound, in fact he may have gained a few. I talked to him about his diet and he said hes cleaned it up even more for the last year and has continued to drink the diet soda that he detests. Well I put 2 and 2 together and came to the conclusion that this wasnt right. Now Id like to share my findings of my research like I did with him.

I'll start off at a serious problem. Here is a blurb from a recent study involving over 6,000 people who drink diet soda.

"consumption of one or more soft drinks a day was associated with a 44 percent higher risk of developing new-onset metabolic syndrome during a follow-up period of four years."

The onset metabolic syndrome mentioned above is very serious. Normally, this is a disease found in aging people 50 years or older. With this syndrome the person usually develops abdominal obesity(aka beer belly), insulin resistance(which is important for glycogen production which stops the breakdown of muscle), and maybe the scariest of all they develop a high heart rate putting them at risk for all sorts of heart problems. Now dont get me wrong here, normal soda has these effects too(remember that this was usually only found where people drank more than one can a day, and probably 4 or 5).

Here was the big thing that I found out about recently. Now most of us know that soda is considered so bad mainly because of the sugar. Diet Sodas on the other hand use sweeteners instead to give taste without the calories BUT!!!! there is still a HUGE problem with these. When your body is given sweetener it expects the calories to come with it to satisfy its cravings. But what your giving it with diet soda is EMPTY calories. This hurts you in 2 ways. First of, you crave more calories, and your body has associated that sweetness with sugar, so guess what? your bodys gonna crave for sugar, and if you deny it, it will only get stronger. Second, because your body thinks you tricked it it wants to make sure it can survive if you do it again. So the amount of sugar absortion goes through the roof. So even if you eat something with less sugar after you may get the equivalent of more calories.

These are the things you need to know about diet soda. If you have any questions leave a comment and Ill get back to you asap. The bottom line here is, dont try to take a short cut with a diet because there arent any. If you can limit your sodas to one a day it wouldnt be horrible but if you could do one a week or less thatd be amazing

Im Back!!Better Than Ever!!-Dog smoothies

2007-09-08T15:06:00.000-04:00

Just got all the stuff loaded onto my new cpu, absolutely luv it!!! Way faster, shuld help me be able to post more stuff for u guys.

Tomorow i hope to bring u guys a lot of stuff ive been thinking about but first I wanna tell you about something I personally found interesting.

Recently I was looking online for some new fruit smoothie recipes when I came across a site directed at puppies.

Luckily for my puppy that I came across this website as it alerted me to something I was unaware of. Of course I love my smoothies but I always thought dogs weren't supposed to have treats such as ice cream and other frozen treats. Apparently pet stores now sell all natural fruit smoothies especially for dogs.

After checking out these products I went to a pet store to check them out and Lucky loved em. Not only does my dog love them but they are decently priced and even better they are good for him. They are easy to make as you can use them right out of the package and give them to your dog. They contain good nutrients, vitamins and a lot of other great stuff for your pet. He/She will love them and the many varieties that they come in.

Heres a quote from a pet store manager about the treats:

"There are even all-natural fruit smoothies for your dog: freeze-it-yourself Mr. Barksmith's Cool Treats are available in independent pet stores around the country."

If your local pet store does not carry them for some reason it is easy to find places to shop online for them by looking in common search engines.

Hope you found that useful if you have a dog. I'll post back soon!!

Slight Delay..

2007-09-06T10:37:00.000-04:00

Well my hard drives totally crapped out whatever that means so I had to buy a new CPU. Im in the process of reloading everything but its taking quite a while. As soon as I get everything back to normal Ill be able to post again. Sorry for the delay.

How to eat heart healthy

2007-09-04T14:30:00.000-04:00

My second post concerning healthy eating with more to come..I have a few ideas on some topics i think will be interesting in the future

The biggest thing to consider is cholesterol. Of course a small amount is fine and just remember that bad cholesterol or a bad diet is something we all experience at some point in time so you can always change. It's impossible to eat healthy our whole lives, even though we may try hard to do it. Eating healthy for your heart
is something everyone should try to do, especially when it comes to restoring health and reducing heart attacks.

Your heart and food We know these things for sure - a diet high in
saturated fats will help raise your cholesterol,which is a risk factor for heart disease. People that are obese are more prone to heart disease. A diet high in sodium may elevate your blood pressure,leading to inflammation and even heart disease.

Heres a few ideas to improve your diet for your heart,
put the tips below to good use.

Eat plenty of fish
Herring, sardines, and salmon are all excellent sources of Omega 3 essential fatty acids. Other fish are great to, although Omega 3 may help to get your cholesterol
down to a healthier level. Certain fish contain higher mercury levels so if your going to eat alot stay to the smaller fish like tuna.

Choosing healthy fats and oils
Saturated fat will increase the risk of heart disease. It's found in meat, butter, and even coconut oil. You should avoid them until your cholesterol levels are
down and you are at a healthy weight. Even those that love red meats can enjoy seafood and nuts for their main sources of protein.

Monounsaturated fats such as olive oils will help you to protect your heart. Olive oil is an ideal choice for cooking, dressing, or even as a dipping
sauce.

Plenty of fiber
Fiber can help you control your cholesterol. You can find fiber in whole grain products to help control sugar absorption as well, which will help
you keep your digestive system healthy.

Choosing carbohydrates
Eating for your heart involves staying away from sugary foods such as candy, cookies, cakes, and pastries. Eating a lot of sugar isn't good for your heart at all. Healthy carbohydrates involve whole grain breads, whole grain pasta, brown
rice, and a lot of vegetables. You should make fruits and vegetables the main aspect of your diet.

Healthy cooking methods
Stir frying and sauteing with olive oil or canola oil are both great methods, as you shouldn't dip your food in batter and fry it anymore. If you cook chicken, remove the skin and bake it in the oven in foil.

Instead of frying your fish you should always bake it. Steaming your vegetables can help maintain the most nutrients. You should use cream sauces or lots of butter anymore either. When you eat vegetables,try squeezing lemon juice on them or using your favorite seasonings.

As you make the proper changes to your diet, keep in mind that it takes time for them to become habits. Eating healthy is always great for your body and your lifestyle, especially when it comes to your heart and the prevention of heart disease.

Fruit Smoothie Recipe-Banana Double Apple Smoothie

2007-09-03T15:15:00.000-04:00

This is one of over 200 great recipes in the ebook I just put up for you guys to download. I just wanted to give you an example incase you were skeptical for some reason. I just put this fruit smoothie recipe to use and I love it, Im planning on trying any that I havent already in the near future.

Banana Double Apple Smoothie
2 bananas
1 green apple
1 red apple
10-12 frozen strawberries
1-2 cups apple juice
Put them all in blender in that order and mix on high until fully blended.

I also want to thank the man who made this book available to me, Ryan Lee. If you are into sports whether its serious or just a hobby check out his site sportspecific.com if you have the time. Have a great day Everyone :)

Free Fruit Smoothie Recipes Ebook

2007-09-03T11:10:00.000-04:00

Ive managed to get my hands on a great smoothie Ebook and I want to give it to you guys FREE. I hope this could be a starting point to start eating healthy and I wanted to make it just a little bit easier. It has a ton of great recipes and is really all you need to get started.

Everythings step by step so just click here to download and enjoy. :)

Healthy Eating Tips

2007-09-02T17:56:00.000-04:00

Healthy eating is necessary to keep your body in great health, both mentally and physically. With healthy eating, you wont get fatigued during the day doing normal things, and you eliminate any vitamin or minerals that your currently missing. Healthy eatings allows your body to stay strong, and have energy so you can do anything you want. Of course there are SOOOOOOOOO many other benefits, but I'll tackle them a few at a time. :)

Heres a list of a few tips that you should include to eat healthy.

1. Don't skip any meals
Breakfast is skipped by over 20% of North Americans. It is also the most important meal as it will set your mood and energy levels for the hole day. If you do anything it should be to not skip meals. When you dont eat your metabolism slows down so even though people think skipping meals helps them lose weight it really doesnt. Ideally you should eat every 3 hours. It takes 3 hours to digest your meal, if you can manage this you will get 5-6 meals a day and your metabolism will go through the roof. Remember to not eat as much during these meals(your looking at 300-400 calories for someone who isnt very active, 500-600 for someone really active)You will also find that your cravings will lessen and your appetite will decrease because you are actually eating more.

2. Learn about how to prepare foods
Instead of deep frying, try grilling, stir frying,microwaving, baking, and even boiling. You should also try fresh or even dried herbs and spices to
add flavor to your food. Before you eat any type of meat, be sure to trim the fat and skin off of it.

3. Avoid a lot of sugar
This is one of the most important things about healthy eating. Drinks that contain sugar are a major source of empty energy. What this means, is that the drinks contain a lot of energy that your body may not need, and it doesn't contain any vitamins or minerals. This is the soda pop and juice-not all juice, make sure to read the label. When I made the decision to replace all pop and juice with water I lost 10 pounds within 3 weeks, and I wasnt even really overweight!!! And that was almost pure fat-you see, glucose(sugar) is stored in fat cells and when there is a decrease in glucose there is a decrease in fat. PLUS the water made me feel a lot better and more hydrated. If you want to stop drinking pop you should probably ease off it, I had a hard time the first week, but when you get over the 7 day hump its easy to stay off it.

Stay tuned for more tips to come.

Blog Expansion

2007-09-02T17:44:00.000-04:00

From now on Im gonna be covering a broader spectrum of topics. There isnt too much more that I can write about specifically involving fruit smoothies. Im still gonna post a few recipes a week and an article or two directly about fruit smoothies.

I suppose I should mention what I am going to be attempting to write about. I plan to expand into healthy cooking and healthy activities. I havent heard from many people in my other posts, I made this blog to help people and if you need help in any of these types of things PLZ post in the comments. Same thing goes if you want me to specifically write about a certain topic/ or if you have critism.

I want to thank all the people who have read what I have to write and will be posting a new post about healthy eating soon. :)

Awesome Secret Fruit Smoothie Recipes

2007-08-28T15:35:00.000-04:00

Ive come across the best book about smoothies I have ever read. Its got loads of recipes on every freaking subject you could ever imagine. This is like a one step diet planner lol(not joking), you get a free diet plan.

If you want to get all the best you have to check out this site. Just click on the yellow banner in the middle of the page after you scroll down a bit or go right to the bottom of the page. You will love this book...also u get a four bonus books worth over $50 all for under $10!!!. Click Here and enjoy!!!:)

Fruit Smoothies- more on weight loss

2007-08-27T14:02:00.000-04:00

I was just looking over my previous posts and I think I kind of displayed a 'not so gratifying' picture on using fruit smoothies for weight loss. I think I need to shed some light on why they are great to use in a weight loss diet.

First of all, any people miss breakfast and slow down their metabolism right away. Well a normal breakfast is an improvement and if you add a fruit smoothie to the mix you get a great metabolism boost on top.

The fibre also plays a role in keeping your appetite down for the upcoming hours plus it steadys your blood sugar and keeps you in a better mood w/less stress. Most of you probably know that its hard to lose weight when stressed.

Also the natural sugars and balance in the nutrients provide extra help with appetite because they are absorbed slower and steadier than processed foods.

Anyways those are the most important things to highlight and I still strongly encourage you to use fruit smoothies in your future weight loss plans. :)

How a book saved my life

2007-08-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

A few years back when I was 18 I told my family that I wanted to start eating healthier and lose some weight. I wasnt sure how I was going to do it but I was determined. I read everything I could on the topic and tried some fad diets. After 2 1/2 months of failure I gave up with no permanent results.

Fast Forward a few years >>>>>>>>I hadnt changed a hole lot physically and looked pretty much the same when my parents brought me a book of smoothie recipes as a gift on the holidays. I decided to give it a shot by replacing all my soda with fruit smoothies. I quickly lost ten pounds and felt a lot better. This one book had really saved my life. I was in danger of heart disease and diabetes and I was 22...The boost in energy gave me what I needed to start excersising and shedding my weight. Now I feel great and look great as well.

If any of you ever need help losing weight healthily or just making improvements to your diets just let me know Id be glad to help. This book was the reason I started this blog recently and Ill never forget it.

Fruit Smoothie Recipe- Banana Protein shake

2007-08-24T11:49:00.000-04:00

Recipe of the day from my favourite health site. Check this page out with tons of other recipes as well!!

Banana Protein Shake

Ingredients:

* 30g Protein Powder (plain or vanilla)
* banana1 medium to large banana
* 8 oz. light Soy Milk
* 1 TBSP Linseed, Soy and Almond Mixture
* 1 tsp Golden Syrup
* Few drops vanilla essence/extract
* 3-4 cubes ice
* 1 TBSP low fat natural yoghurt (optional depending on diet)

Throw into blender for several minutes. Solid filling shake with zero fat and PLENTY of energy. Great as a meal replacement or after workout snack.!

Meal Replacement Smoothies-Weight Gain Smoothies

2007-08-24T11:48:00.000-04:00

So today Im going to finish off on meal replacement smoothies. Sorry for my 'rant' yesterday Ill try to keep it more brief and informative today when covering weight gain smoothies.

There are actually products on the market that you can buy for weight gain smoothies. I really dont think Id ever use them consistantly because I like to be sure of what goes into them and I like to be able to alter them. Now mostly as you would guess these smoothies are used along with weight lifting in order to gain muscle mass, much like the use of protein shakes. However, a lot of those products claim to be great mass gainning smoothies and guess what? They are. But it sure aint muscle mass. Most of the calories come from fat so if you do use one of those be really careful.

These smoothies are made a lot like 'shakes except that the fruit adds extra vitamins(crucial for muscle building) and some more carbs. The beauty of these shakes are that they are so versatile. You can easily custom make them to fit any diet plan. You can find out the calorie split of the base ingredients you use and then add whatever you need. If you have too many carbs and you need a bit more protein and fat, just add some milk. If you just need protein there are a lot of inexpensive protein powders that are easy to use. If you need more carbs well....thats just easy , any fruit will do. Its probably important to say that bananas probably are the best source of carbs. Apples and pineapples and most other fruit contain natural simple carbs which is important to have but it burns rather fast.

Theres not a whole lot else to say, but if you ever have any questions or suggestions Id love to hear them in the blog comments.

Have a great day all!! :)

Meal Replacement Smoothies-Weight loss Smoothies

2007-08-23T11:02:00.000-04:00

Meal Replacement Smoothies

As you might have conclude from the title, the topic of the day are meal replacement smoothies. Im going to be going over the types of these smoothies and how to alter them to meet your needs.

Lets just start with the types. Generally 2 kinds of meal replacement smoothies are discussed. There are weight loss and weight gain smoothies.
Just before I go over the topics I want to make clear to everyone that you should NEVER replace more than one meal a day with smoothies. It is most healthy to diversify your foods so you can get all of the nutrients your body needs.

Ok enough talk lets get into it.
Weight loss smoothies- These smoothies are designed to have less calories than a regular meal and to help suppress appetite until the following meal. The problem a lot of people have with these initially is that they are hungry a few hours after. There are a few ways to help with this. First of all you should drink a glass/bottle of water after the smoothie and every hour after that. If you try that it should help but it may not completely work on its' own which is only possible by adding calories. I know youre probably thinking, 'well if i add more calories whats the difference from a regular meal?' just hold on a sec and ill get too that. First of all your not adding that many calories. Originally when you make smoothies you are given a recipe to follow...fricken fantastic right? not so much. How do these people expect every person to need to cut the same amount of calories in one meal. Its absolutely ludacris...but this is exactly what you see from all these so called 'gurus' saying youll lose 50 pounds a month if you just drink their secret smoothies. The basic guidelines for losing weight are that you should only lose 1-2 pounds a week if you are 200 pounds or less, 3-4 per week at 250 a week and no more than 4-5 for anything above if you want to lose it and keep it off by staying healthy. Now the more individual meals you eat the faster your metabolism is (think of your body as a furnace if you constantly shovel in coal/wood or w/e you will burn more than if you just pile in 3 giant heaps in a day) idealy you want to eat every 2.5-3 hours because thats how long it takes for a previous meal to digest. Let me give you an example of a weight loss 'guru' situation. This guru gets together 20 different people of different weights and asks them to try his diet. He says replace your meals with my special smoothies, now these smoothies are 300 calories each. Say these people have 6 meals(ideal) a day for one month. Now this would be 2400 calories in a day, about what a healthy 160 pound man or 140 pound woman would need to maintain weight. Now im going to go over specific groups of people in this 20 person group.

200-250 pounds(woman are the 200, men are closer to 250 in this case)
These people need about 2800-3400 calories a day(about 500 per meal) to maintain weight. Since 3500 calories=1 pound of fat and there are 42 meals in the weak(6 per day x7 days)we will be cutting 200 calories per meal with this smoothie, or 8400 calories in the week. These people all lose about 2.4 pounds a week and 10 by the end of the month.
Result-not horrible, they lose weight at a healthy rate and get some nice results. Not that impressive though, at least not for you to see, of course the guru will take their money for his smoothies but he wont be inviting them on tv.

250-300
Now these people need between 3400-4000 calories a day(about 600 per meal). They will be cutting 300 calories a meal. They lose about 3.6 pounds a week or 14 pounds a month.
Result-Again not horrible, and again they lose weight at a healthy rate and get some nice results. Not that impressive though, at least not for you to see, of course the guru will take their money for his smoothies but he wont be inviting them on tv.

300+
Now these are the money people for your guru. 4000-8000 to maintain weight (1000 per meal) On average they are cutting 600 calories a meal. They lose a monstrous 25,200 calories or 7.5 pounds a week and 30 pounds in the month.
Result-massive results so they keep going another month and record their progress and they lost another 25 pounds!! WoW!! These are your spokespeople on tv that are o so happy and energetic. What they dont show you is what happens after. These people only had a high energy level because they were so happy with the results, but after a while that doesnt do it anymore for them. They find that they are actually exhausted because they dont have enough calories for energy. Guess what, they start to binge and gain 90 pounds the next month and a half...worse off than before. Not to mention that because he was cutting so much, he was losing almost all muscle and has a way higher body fat %.

You might be asking whats wrong with the first 2? They both look healthy. Well Ill tell you what happens to them. They continue the only smoothie diet and lose a few more pounds and then it stops. Guess what, they gain it all right back just like the big guy. But why did it stop? Because youre starving your body!!! It recognizes this and shuts off any unnecessary systems and starts using muscle for fuel instead of fat. Now thank the lord that the immune system is still running thanks to the vitamins or youd be f***ed over right now, and i mean royaly screwed. Anyways, you start to crave more food as the body is trying to recover and you end up with the same weight you started with but with more fat and less muscle. O yeah, by the way, this guru will be off tv in a month or will be back on with a new patch of test subjects.

Now its not just these diets that fail but any diet, to lose weight consistantly you have to feed your muscles and burn off calories by excercise to permanently get results. If you are just overeating and need to maintain weight by lowering your calorie count, or you just want to lose 2-5 pounds and want to do it by changing your diet go ahead. It wont do any harm and it might benefit you. I wanted to make you aware though that these crazy promises people offer of magic smoothies are just another weight loss fad. It should only be used as a meal replacement to a carefully planned diet along with exercise!!!

Anyways, Im sorry that it was so long or if it disappointed you but those are the facts. Im going to cover the rest of meal replacement smoothies another day since this was so long. Have a great day

IMPORTANT-If you are looking to lose weight healthy I applaud your effort to get started. Start by getting rid of junk in your already existing diet and maybe see a personal trainer at a gym. A great resource on absolutely anything to do with health is www.bodybuilding.com (its not actually all about bodybuilding).

Fruit Smoothie Recipe- Berry Banana

2007-08-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

Recipe of the day today is a weight loss smoothie. A typical low calorie supplement you can use Once in a While(**be sure to read my blog about solely using smoothies to lose weight**)

Recipe Name: Berry Banana Smoothie
Recipe Instructions::
4 ice cubes
4 fresh or frozen strawberries
1 medium banana
1/2c. fat free yogurt
1/2c. low fat milk.

Mix in blender and serve cold.

Fruit Smoothie Recipes- A Video Example

2007-08-22T13:41:00.000-04:00

Just incase your a bit fuzzy on the making of a Fruit Smoothie Ive included a link at the bottom of this page of a great video. For me at least it took a lot of trial and error and recently I have discovered this video that would have been a good base. This is a great recipe to follow that will turn out a great summer fruit smoothie.

It shows every step and all the ingredients you need and is really a great resource for the beginning 'smoothie creator'. The link is at the bottom and if your interested in a classic recipe to try please check it out.

I think you'll be glad if you do. Just to let you know incase you have allergies or certain dislikes, the video is of a primarily banana-raspberry smoothie. I used to make very similar ones and there great.

As I promised here is your link...

Good luck as always

Fruit Smoothie Recipe- Kiwi Strawberry Selecter Smoothie

2007-08-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

Heres the recipe of the day from this site. I love this one and had to share it.

Kiwi Strawberry Selecter Smoothie
(serves 2)
Ingredients
12 strawberries
2 kiwi's
1 banana
1 tablespoon of organic honey
4 large ice cubes
Method
Slice bananas into four. Cut tops off strawberries, peel and dice kiwi's, add all to blender. Add 1 tablespoon of organic honey then 4 ice cubes and blend for approx. 20 seconds. Enjoy

What Fruits to use in Smoothies

2007-08-21T11:51:00.000-04:00

I came across an interesting article recently about fruit smoothie making and why certain combinations of fruits work best. Needless to say, I wish I had these guidlines and general tidbits when I started making fruit smoothies.

It basically allows you to experiment with a better idea of what your going to end up with. For example when you want a really healthy smoothie just pop in some blueberries. If you want a sweet taste you better toss in an orange. Maybe your smoothies lacking in taste? Just add some cherries at the end(take the pits out, I made the mistake before of leaving them in lol).

Here are the major fruits listed in the article and what they usually do:

* Strawberries - probably the most favorite fruit for smoothies
* Banana - some would argue no smoothie is a real smoothie without this fruit
* Blueberries - for healthy fruit smoothies, this fruit gives tons of antioxidants
* Oranges - for a sweet and even tangy taste, add oranges to any smoothie recipe
* Cherries - cherries make a really great tasting smoothie

If you want over 200 great recipes and an absolute ton of awesome tips using all of these fruits and more, check out a great book that is one of my personal favourite by clicking here!!!

Good luck with your Fruit smoothie concoctions

Fruit Smoothie Recipe- Very Berry Good Smoothie

2007-08-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

Heres the recipe of the day, i know you will enjoy. It is from a health site. Enjoy:)

Very Berry Good Smoothie
(serves 2)
Ingredients
1/4 cup of blueberries
1/4 cup of raspberries
1 large banana
100ml of low fat berry yogurt, orange juice and ice
Method
Place all ingredients in mixer. Blend for approximately 30 seconds.

Benefits of Fruit Smoothies

2007-08-20T00:02:00.000-04:00

It just occured to me this morning that I've been telling you guys how great fruit smoothies are and have been giving you tips, but I havent even told you the benefits of fruit smoothies. There are so many positives that go without saying and then there are even more!!!

First of all, how many times have you been told to get your '5 a day' by your doctor, friends or family? If youre anything like me though you dont always have time to have 5 specific servings of fruits a day. Lets face it, its a busy world and sometimes there is a time crunch. With smoothies though its a sinch. I have recently been getting not only 5 but sometimes even 10 per day. These great little drinks are easy to make-thank goodness cuz i have no cooking skills. You can take them to work or anywhere else you go in a thermos. And each drink contains 2-3 servings depending on how you make them.

Not only do you get your 5 a day from fruit smoothies, but you get a ton of vitamins and fiber! and im not just talking about a few vitamins here, they are absolutely packed. I'll probably post another day about this as it can be quite detailed and I dont really have the time right now, but each fruit has its own advantage and you can experiment to get the healthiest and tastiest smoothie you can by using their properties.

Along with vitamins you get some antioxidants which is heavily dependent on the fruits you use(blueberries are amazing for these!!). Antioxidants are crucial to staying healthy because they are the main reason for preventing diseases and sicknesses.

So is that it? Heck no it aint!! Its easy to overlook the milk/dairy product you use. You get protein, some healthy fats and above all else calcium. This stuff is so important to keeping your bones and joints strong. About a year ago I started to really up my calcium intake from various sources, and guess what? All those nagging injuries and sores that you figure are just part of everyday life went away within a month. Im now a huge fan of calcium and I love you can get it in these smoothies.

Two last things to mention here: energy and convenience. Having all these extra fruits provide you with really high quality carbohydrates which gives the average person a dramatic increase in energy. Also you dont have to worry about havign to eat fruits when they are fresh because you can freeze them. This makes them last longer and taste even better!!!

So the next time your thinking about getting your five a day, i think you know what you should drink!! :)

Strawberry Dreamer Smoothie Recipes

2007-08-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hi all, here again for a quick post of a great recipe I found at this site. Its a good site with a bunch of solid recipes. Its a great introduction to smoothie making. Im going to try and post one recipe a day from now on and it may be from a site or a personal secret recipe. My hope is that they will build on each other and will give you the base to start experimenting and creating on your own.

Without further ado here is your recipe of the day...

Strawberry Dreamer Smoothie
(serves 2)
Ingredients
10 large fresh strawberries
250ml strawberry yoghurt
1 banana, chopped
splash of orange juice
Method
Firstly chop fruit then add to blender, followed by the strawberry yogurt and orange juice. Blend for about 45-60 seconds and chill in fridge for around an hour.

Fruit Smoothie Recipes- Choosing the right equipment

2007-08-19T10:03:00.000-04:00

Recently Ive been surfing the net checking out different types of blenders to make fruit smoothies with. It was during this search that I came across a great review of blenders.

According to the extensive tests they conducted they yielded a great and specific result in my opinion. Although the absolute best blender was $400, they also found that a $50 Braun PowerMax blender was almost as good at a fraction of the price.

I'm going to purchase one soon and if you would like to know how well it works just let me know. :)

Anyway here is a blurb from the article

"In addition to performance, Consumer Reports tests how well a blender will hold up over a period of time. To evaluate durability, testers crushed seven ice cubes for one minute--no water added--at the blender’s highest speed. They then repeated this test 45 times. All but five blenders passed the test. The top-rated blender was the Vita-Mix 5000. While a bit noisy, it rated excellent overall. But it’s pricey at $400. And it’s not dishwasher safe!

For several hundreds less, testers recommend the $50 Braun PowerMax. It’s a very good blender and comes with a dishwasher-safe glass jar. It can easily handle your summer iced drink needs while going easy on your wallet."

If you wanna read the rest of the results click here...

Hope you liked

Fruit Smoothie Recipe - Tips for a Better Creation(Part Two)

2007-08-19T09:44:00.000-04:00

Im back with some more tips on fruit smoothie recipes today. I hope you found yesterday's somewhat helpful and maybe even tried a few things out. Anyways I guess I should get right to it. :)

A lot of people say the fruit should be freshly bought to ensure the best taste. Although you can get great smoothies with fresh fruit; this is sometimes be and inconvenience and really isn't necessary. Next time you go shopping at your local superstore/market look for frozen fruit. Most of this fruit is frozen when its' flavour is at its peak so it doesnt lose any taste. Also you can buy in bulk and it stores easily for lengthy periods of time. Also, it can be cheaper than buying all the fruit fresh and it adds more thickness to your smoothie, as an added bonus you dont need as much ice and you get even more flavour. If your looking for healthy smoothies though watch out for sugars added to some of the fruit. It should be easy to spot somewhere on the package in the ingredients.

This one may seem obvious but Im going to mention it just the same. When you put your ingrediants in the blender make sure you start with some liquid to make the mixing easier.

One last thing to mention for today is that if you happen to have a larger blender you could prepare more than one smoothie at a time. If you cover and refridgerate they keep their full flavour for 24 hours.

Just a reminder if you havent had time to check it out; This site has a book for $9.95 at 60% off and it contains over 200!! unique and awesome recipes.

I hope this helped you, good luck with your smoothies. :)

Fruit Smoothie Recipe - Tips for a Better Creation(Part One)

2007-08-18T18:16:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you but some ingredients that most Fruit Smoothie sites recommend I just plain cant handle or dont lie. For example, Ive always had a problem with milk and the lactose in it. I know its not always pleasant to have it churning in your stomach. But thankfully there are alternatives and now I NEVER have to go back to the uncomfort again!!!

There are many things you can try and by all means you should go ahead and experiment. So far the best alternitive I know is soy milk in place of regular 1% and not only does it taste great as a part of my fruit smoothies but I can finally fully enjoy the drink and feel great after.

Another thing you can try instead of dairy(includes ice cream if you use-more for milkshakes tho) is tofu, coconut milk or buttermilk.

Im out of time for today, but I have some more tips to give you tomorow and i'll have more time to cover more topics. Hope this helped you out a bit, good luck with your 'creations. :)

P.S Always try to use ripe fruit. This will have a big effect on how good your smoothie tastes

Fruit Smoothie Recipes

2007-08-18T18:10:00.000-04:00

Fruit Smoothies are great snacks, meal replacements or supplements that can be enjoyed by anybody. Whether you drink them for health or you drink them for enjoyment you are sure to love them. There are many websites that review fruit smoothie recipes and I encourage you to read them if you have the time.

I will be 'attempting' to guide you through various topics about fruit smoothies so check back frequently for news and comments on the wonderful world of fruit smoothies.

If you are looking for simple, easy to use recipes to learn how to make fruit smoothies, check out this awesome book full of fruit smoothie recipes for $9.95 with 200 recipes and join over 15,000 satisfied customers!!