Above: blend up a green drink for a healthy way to start off your day.
Bike Diva Likes Green Drinks
Last Monday I posted a review of The Healthy Green Drink Diet book to my Cuisine Diva blog: Healthy Green Drink Diet Book. I mentioned in the review that I would be trying to add at least one green drink to my diet, each day, for the first part of the week. I have been wanting to drop a few pounds, and starting my day off with a health infused green drink seemed the perfect way to jump start my weight loss plan.
I find that the key to loosing weight is to keep my metabolism fired up all day long. So instead of eating just a few, large meals each day, I eat many smaller meals throughout the day. I call this kind of eating grazing, because you are eating every couple of hours. This helps to maintain a normal blood sugar level too, as you shouldn't experience any highs or lows with your blood sugar level while eating small amounts of food throughout the day.
Above: The Healthy Green Drink Diet book by Jason Manheim.
Bike Diva's Daily Journal Entries
Here are my daily journal entries of my results from following the Healthy Green Drink Diet.
Monday, April 2nd; Weight - 148.5 Pounds
I started my day by making a Just Peachy smoothie, which is featured on page 67 of The Healthy Green Drink Diet book. I tried to follow the Paleo diet for most of the rest of the day while I was working out of my apartment. I knew I would probably eat regular food that night for dinner, as I was planning on going to my boyfriends house and he isn't currently following any specific eating plan.
- Pre Breakfast - Just Peachy smoothie
- Breakfast - 3 egg omelet with diced Canadian bacon, mushrooms, thyme and garlic
- Cup of coffee after breakfast
- Snack - handful of dried fruit and nuts
- Lunch - green bean salad with red onion, black olives, cherry tomatoes, celery and tuna
- Snack - 2 slices smoked honey turkey breast with a handful of green grapes and sunflower seeds
- Cup of coffee after getting to my boyfriends house
- Snack - handful of dried fruit and nuts
- Dinner - whole wheat pasta, tomato sauce, ground turkey
- Snack - soy milk chocolate pudding
Summary - it was pretty easy to stick to the Paleo diet while at my apartment. I had a refrigerator and pantry full of healthy food choices. My boyfriend lives with his adult son, so the bachelor's rarely have any food in the house that isn't in a can or a box. I made the pasta, which we ate for dinner, on Sunday night. I would like to drink less coffee, as I put way too much creamer/sweetener in my coffee, which adds too many empty calories to my diet. But I suffer from migraine headaches on occasion and my favorite headache pill contains caffeine, so I'm afraid if I cut out the coffee completely I will have MASSIVE headaches.
Tuesday, April 3rd; Weight - 147.5 Pounds
The smoothie I choose for today was a modified version of the Tropical Sun smoothie which is featured on page 81 of The Healthy Green Drink Diet book. I blended together 1 cup coconut milk, 1 bunch flat leaved parsley, 1 handful spinach, 1 peeled orange, 1 peeled banana and 1 cup of pineapple chunks. This recipe made 2 cups of a pretty sweet tasting green drink. I drank 1 cup before breakfast, and was going to drink the 2nd cup before lunch, but it tasted kind of funky to me when I tried the 2nd cup, so I ended up putting it down the garbage disposal.
- Pre Breakfast - Tropical Sun smoothie
- Breakfast - 2 egg omelet with diced Canadian bacon, mushrooms, thyme and garlic
- Cup of coffee after breakfast
- Snack - sliced carrots, green grapes, 2 slices smoked honey turkey breast
- Lunch - green bean salad with red onion, black olives, cherry tomatoes, celery and tuna
- Snack - 2 chocolate peanut butter candies, 4 chocolate mint cookies
- Dinner - fish sandwich, french fries, iced tea
Wednesday, April 4th; Weight - 147 Pounds
After eating junk yesterday afternoon and evening, I thought for sure my weight would be right back where I started. But I still managed to lose another half a pound. Going to try REALLY hard today to stick to eating healthy. Late afternoon I made Swedish meatballs and noodles at my apartment. I'll be taking that over to my boyfriends house for dinner tonight.
- Pre Breakfast - grape pear smoothie
- Breakfast - 2 egg omelet with diced Canadian bacon and thyme, leftover scalloped potatoes
- Cup of coffee after breakfast
- Snack - apple cinnamon fruit & grain bar
- Pre Lunch - grape pear smoothie
- Lunch - Swedish meatballs, egg noodles, oven roasted asparagus
- Snack - handful of dried fruit and nuts
- Dinner - Swedish meatballs, egg noodles, oven roasted asparagus
- Snack - peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Thursday, April 5th; Weight - 146.5 Pounds
Last night I felt really bloated and gassy. I think having two smoothies, instead of the usual two, was more than my stomach could handle. So today, I chose to skip the pre-breakfast smoothie, and have a slightly larger breakfast than normal.
I made a smoothie at around 10 AM, to have as a pre-lunch healthy green drink. I made up my own recipe to make a peach yogurt smoothie. I posted the recipe up to my Cuisine Diva blog.
- Breakfast - 2 egg omelet with diced Canadian bacon and sauteed mushrooms, English muffin
- Cup of coffee after breakfast
- Pre Lunch - peach yogurt smoothie
- Snack - apple cinnamon fruit & grain bar
- Lunch - peach yogurt smoothie
- Snack - handfull of dried fruit and nuts
- Dinner - Swedish meatballs, egg noodles, oven roasted asparagus
Above: add some spinach to a blender full of water, frozen peaches, carrots, and a container of peach yogurt for a delicious green drink yogurt smoothie.
Bike Diva's Opinion
I weighed myself first thing Friday morning, the scale said I was down to 146 poudns, so I managed to lose 2.5 pounds over 4 days, while consuming a heatlhy green drink first thing in the morning. I spent the 3 day Easter weekend at my boyfriends house and decided not to continue with the daily Green Diet Drink over the weekend. It's kind of hard cooking/making food at the bachelor pad, and we had a few social events planned over the weekend and didn't want to be bothered with trying to fit the green drink diet into our plans.
The added benefit of incorporating smoothies and/or homemade juices into your diet is that they are made from raw, unprocessed, uncooked food. You should also try and purchase organic ingredients for your green drinks, as many fruits and vegetables have high levels of pesticides and other chemicals.
Consuming a green drink, into your daily nutrition plan, is a great way to add healthy fruits and vegetables to your diet. It also makes a great start to a stricter diet plan for anyone looking to drop a few pounds of unwatned weight.
Take care,
Lynn Smythe, AKA the Bike Diva
