Morning Shakes for Health & Weight Loss

A. Weight Loss Benefits

I have shared with many of you that I lost 50 pounds by simply having flax-seed-spinach-combined-with fruit shakes for breakfast and lunch. It took about 90 days. It prevents those impulse lunch binges at work. You are so 'stuffed' by consuming 18 ounces of flax-seed-spinach-fruit thickened-water each meal, etc., that you cannot get hungry until the next major meal-time. As a result, there is no incessant snacking on sugary treats. It actually takes a lot of time to consume these morning and lunch meals too, which keeps hunger away.

Dr. Greger explains that eating more grams of energy dense foods like fruits and vegetables gives you about half the calories than a diet that includes high fat and sugary foods. See 1/4/2016 video. 

Dr. Greger, author of How Not to Die (click photo), also collected a lot of medical studies that prove the longer it takes to eat your foods, including shakes with high thickening agents like spinach, 1 tablespoon of flax-seed, etc., the more satisfied you feel - i.e., the less hunger you feel. See his 9/12/2015 video at this link.

So by eating a vegetable-fruit shake thickened by actual greens / fruit and flax-seed, you unavoidably lose weight without trying. You are always full and not hungry.

B. The Ingredients

The key is to have two delicious shakes prepared each morning.  I recommend you use the Magic Bullett (link) to blend. Then make two shakes - one each for breakfast and lunch. Each go in a glass bottle.  I use LifeFactory 22 ounce glass bottles. These have an accesible spout to drink from. I drink one in the car on the way to work. I take the other in a lunch pale. (Or put in the fridge when you prepare for your day if you are working from home.)

I found out quick the following key ingredients including those I need to make the spinach / kale / parsley taste good: 

1. Juice Plus Complete-Vanilla or Chocolate -- 13 grams of protein (all plant-based / no whey), 8 gms fiber.  You can purchase at this link.

2. 1 teaspoon of peanut butter / almond butter.

3. 1 ounce (handful) of either peanuts, cashews or walnuts. (A handful of nuts = 1 oz.)

4. Flaxseed (1 tsp.) - ok, not for taste so much but for nutrients and it is high in fiber. 

5. 1 Banana (naturally sweet).

6. Frozen Mixed berries or Blueberries - half a handfull.

7. Mint leaves.

8. Spinach or Kale or Parsley  -- about one large leaf of kale or 10 leafs of spinach or half container of parsley.

9. 1 teaspoon of cinammon.  I recommend only Ceylon Cinnamon, which a Chicago couple market on Amazon prime. Click the photo which takes you direct to Amazon.

10. Either iodine drops in my water (1 drop per 8 oz) or less palatably, Nori seaweed to get iodine (if you are not getting iodine some other way).

11. Berberries - 6-7 of them. 

12. Sugar either in the form of ethyriol or date sugar. 

13. Fennugreek -- a small amount of about 1/4 teaspoon

14. Amla fruit powder - a 1/8 teaspoon

15. JuicePlus capsules broken open to intake a whole-food fruit-vegetable powder in them -- 3 capsules each drink. You can purchase at this link. (Studies examining the health-benefits of Juice Plus's fruit-vegetable powder blends are at this link. A variety offers different phytonutrients of which many have specific receptors in our bodies, protecting against organ specific diseases.)

16. Fennell Seeds which I grind. (I use Starwest Botanicals available through Amazon -- click photo to go direct to Amazon.) I then grind them with a Krup Fast Touch Coffe and Spice Grounder.) Fennell counteracts gas which all the fiber in this drink would otherwise produce.

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I also use filtered water that I have added lithium droplets.  Water used to often have lithium which helped optimize positive healthy moods.

I put out a YouTube where I demonstrate each step to my routine as of October 3, 2015.

C. Health Elements of the Shake

So where does the health come from among the ingredients above? And the ability to lose weight while always feeling full...?

First, I used Juice Plus Complete (Vanilla or Chocolate). It is exclusively plant protein. Dr. Mitray Ray explains in theYou Tube Transform 30 the reason to switch to Juice Plus Complete at least for 30 days to see its benefits. This is a gluten free, dairy free product. (Dr. Ray also explains how a breakfast / lunch shake helps dieting.)

Second, I add a handful of spinach or other greens -- raw. 

Third, I add a second fruit besides banana. Many choices work: grapes (which I freeze), peaches (which I purchase frozen), or strawberries.

Fourth, I add a smidgeon of niacin. (This is in the Amazon store too.) This is an interesting ingredient. It boosts mental acuity. Niacin is a natural cure for alcoholism, AIDS, depression, etc. It is an overlooked nutrient -- known as Vitamin B3 -- because again, there is no money in spreading the news about healthy inexpensive alternatives to drugs created by the pharmaceutical industry.

Fifth, I add Juice Plus fruit-and-vegetable powders from capsules. I split open the powder capsules and put 1 of each of the 3 varieties in each shake. Why do so? I studied the nutritional studies on Juice Plus, and it was convincing that after 28 days it has a very protective effect against 'oxidative' stress. This means it has a protective effect against illness, cancer, and cardiac issues. The 120 capsules last me 3 months, and thus the $70 split over 3 months works out to just $23 a month, or about 76 cents per day. See my research of the medical studies on Juice Plus at this link.

So that is how I did it, and keep doing it. You need it to taste good, or you will get tired of eating bland foods, and then you will go back to bad eating habits.

For dinner, I eat lentils, beans, or polenta, with avocado. Very filling too.

For fun, I make home-made 'ice cream' by freezing bananas, adding vanilla powder, and then using either almond milk or adding cocoa and healthy sugar.

Healthiest Snack?

The healthiest snack is from Chocoperfection - it is a dark chocolate bar. It has 14 grams of fiber per bar. It is great tasting chocolate and great sweetness -- but diabetic approved because it uses oligofructose -- natural fiber-rich sugar -- that digests in the lower intestine. This is why it does not spike sugar levels too much. You can purchase at www.chocoperfection.com.