With a short detox diet, you can get a quick boost to your overall health. Though the point of this detox is not really to lose weight, it is certainly possible to drop around 5 pounds while doing this.

A smoothie detox diet is a simple way for anyone to flush out toxins, and amp up their body’s health. This is perfect for those who have tried diet after diet after diet, all of which left them feeling flat or burned out quickly. Instead, this short detox will give them a boost that they can use to continue on to a health eating lifestyle.

How To Do The 5 Day Smoothie Detox Diet

This detox is absolutely simple to do. There is no counting or measuring your food, no mixing weird concoctions, and no eating weird foods. Simple stick to 5 basic rules each day for the five day period.

1. Drink green smoothies for each meal. Drink as much as you want to feel full and satisfied, but only green smoothies. You can find many recipes to try under the Smoothie Recipes category!
2. Snack on fresh fruits and vegetables between meals. No dips, dressings, or oils. Just pure, whole, fresh fruits and vegetables.
3. Drink water. Lots of water. No soda, coffee, tea, juice, nothing. Just big, tall glasses of the water your body needs.
4. Rest up. During a detox period, most people feel worse then they did before. This is because your body is both ridding itself of toxins and fighting against additions to negative foods (like sugars). Get plenty of rest to combat these cruddy feelings.
5. Take it one day at a time. Five days seems short now, but often by the second or third day of a detox people begin to feel it will never end. Instead of thinking about how much time you have left, focus on the right now. This will make it easier to get though.

Of course, for every detox there are going to be exceptions to the rules. Athletes and those with extremely active lifestyles may need to add protein powder, wheat germ or flax seeds to their smoothies to keep up with their higher caloric needs. Those with already weakened bodies sometimes add vitamins or supplements to the mix also. To be safe, it is probably best to talk with your doctor first before beginning any detox to make sure it can fit with your unique health needs.

A 5 day smoothie detox diet can be the perfect thing for flushing out toxins, for giving your health a boost, and sometimes for losing weight in a short period of time.

photo credit: leoncillo sabino

If you only listened to the commercials you would think that you need to buy special pills or drinks to help you lose weight. Prepackaged drinks, bars, and snacks are sold by the thousands each day to people desperate to lose weight.

The reality is that you can lose weight and gain health from the produce section of your local grocery store. When it comes to burning fat, gaining energy, and feeling great there is no replacement for getting a daily load of fresh fruits and vegetables. The easiest way to do this is with the vegan smoothies diet. Vegan smoothies are so easy to make!

Vegan simple means there is no animal products included. No milk, cheese, or honey. Everything you need was growing on a plant somewhere and is now waiting for you to enjoy. Every day there is a new diet plan being marketed, a new “secret” weight loss formula selling books, or another diet guru on TV. The fads come and go like the weather. Many people are drawn in by these fad diets, promising weight loss results if you just buy all the things they are selling.

The vegan smoothie diet requires no guru, no secret formula, and no expensive meal replacements bars. All you need is a fridge full of fruits and vegetables, a good blender, and a desire to be your best. Rather than some new fad diet, this is the way humans were eating for millions of years. Our ancestors ran on fresh fruits and vegetables in their natural form, and how many overweight, sluggish cavemen do you think survived the harsh conditions?

For some, these fad diets may work at first. Water weight loss or burning of excess fat is common. Unfortunately, it all comes back once you stop the fad dieting. And with it health problems from ingesting unhealthy chemicals and mixes. Instead, a vegan smoothie diet gives your body exactly what it needs. Raw fruits and vegetables. Simple fill up your blender with a few fresh berries, a banana, and a handful of leafy greens. Then mix.

The green smoothie you create may not look good, but it tastes wonderful. The natural sugars found in the fresh fruit is better than the artificial sweeteners found in most foods. And veggie-phobes and take care, you will not taste the greens at all. There are many different ways to create a delicious vegan smoothie, but they all end up the same way: a healthy alternative to fad diets and weight loss lies. When you feed your body what it needs it will easily drop pounds, gain energy, and feel better.

And because this is not a diet, there is no worry about gaining every thing back later. You can continue to enjoy a vegan smoothie once a day, or more, for the rest of your life to continue getting your daily needs without taking away from your life.

What an easy way to lose weight!

The vegan smoothie diet is a simple, fast, and easy solution to weight loss problems. Whether you drink one a day, or three, your body will start to feel better. Drink one each day for breakfast, or as an afternoon snack. Some people love it so much they have a smoothie several times a day.

The incredible nutritional value from one smoothie is far better than most people get in an entire day’s worth of meals. Leaving the fruits and vegetables raw means they do not lose precious nutrients from cooking. And blending them up makes it easier for your body to break down and absorb the nutrients there. Unlike with juicing, you are getting the entire thing. Anyone who wants to lose weight without giving up health should try the vegan smoothies diet.

photo credit: Calvert Cafe & Catering

Many people choose a vegan diet to help them lose weight. Choosing not to eat meat and other animals products can be a great way to lose excess weight. Vegans and vegetarians eat an average of 500 calories less each day than the typical meat eaters. However, there are still ways to gain weight on a vegan weight loss diet. A balanced, low-fat diet along side regular exercise is the best way to ensure that you will meet your weight loss goals.

People opting for a vegan diet to lose weight need to become adept at checking labels. Some food companies make up for a lack of meat flavor by adding extra fat or sugar to their foods. This can end up giving you the opposite effect, by causing weight gain and poor health. Sugars have also been known to be addictive to some, meaning foods with excess food can make you want to eat more and more.

Some people replace their meat habit with too many grains and soy based “fake meat” products. This unbalanced approach can make any vegan gain weight quickly. Instead, choose plenty of whole fruits and vegetables. Drinking daily vegan green smoothies is a great way to get the recommended amounts in your diet. Follow the vegan food pyramid to ensure that your diet is balanced and healthy for the best weight loss.

Changing to a vegan weight loss diet can take a lot of discipline, but it can be very worth it for anyone looking to lose weight and get healthy.

photo credit: YoLaGringo

If you want to lose weight in a healthy way, then it might be time to look at raw food diet weight loss plans.

Supporters of raw food diet weight loss programs say that it is virtually impossible to gain weight on raw food, especially if you are overweight to begin. For that reason there is no particular food plan to follow when you go raw. The only rule is that you do not eat anything that has been cooked or processed using heat over 115 degrees Fahrenheit. This automatically rules out almost anything that you would buy in a package or a jar.

Even people of normal weight who switch to a raw diet usually lose weight. The exception might be people who eat a very large amount of nuts. Even then, you will probably find that you lose weight in the beginning. If you hit a plateau where you stop losing for a while, you might want to consider your nut consumption and reduce it if it is very high. The raw food diet is sometimes criticized for having a high level of fat and the culprit is usually nuts.

Many nuts are anyway subject to heat processing to remove the shells when they are available commercially. It is best to buy nuts in their shells. Cashews, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts that you buy shelled and many other types of nuts are not really raw even if you buy them not roasted. The nuts in nut butters have also usually been heated in the processing.

When you do buy raw nuts such as filberts, it is best to soak them overnight before eating, to reactivate their growth enzymes. The same is true of seeds although seeds only need to be soaked for 2-4 hours. Pre-soaking your nuts and seeds will help you avoid eating too many.

You can eat sprouted grains as well as many beans and lentils. These should be soaked overnight before sprouting in a jar or purpose made sprouting trays.

Red kidney beans should not be eaten raw because they are toxic. There are many other foods that contain some toxins which may or may not affect people depending on the quantities consumed and your sensitivity. These include buckwheat greens, alfalfa sprouts, cassava, peas, eggs in large quantities, apricot kernels, brassica vegetables and parsnips. Raw milk and raw meat may carry microbial disease including tuberculosis.

However, any raw food including lettuce can carry microbes that can give you food poisoning. Nobody cooks lettuce. Therefore raw foodists say that there is no point in stressing out about the idea of microbes on raw food. They believe that the body is better equipped to deal with any disease, including food borne illnesses, when it is fed on a raw diet. Still, it is a good idea to always wash your food well.

If you do not plan to eat 100% raw food, then whatever cooked food you eat should be natural, whole, healthy foods. Avoid refined grains like white rice and anything made with white flour including white bread and pasta. It is best to avoid refined sugars and anything containing them.

The majority of your cooked food should be vegetables and perhaps some brown rice and low fat meat such as skinless chicken breast. For example in winter you might want to have vegetable soup with some chicken. Have salad as a first course before your cooked dish and finish with fresh raw fruit instead of any other type of dessert.

If you follow this plan then even on 75% raw you should have no trouble losing weight in a healthy way. Raw food diet weight loss plans do seem to work for anybody who is able to stick to them.