Green Monster Smoothie
DRINK THE MONSTERRRRR!!!!! I’ve been on the green monster smoothie train since I discovered it on ohsheglows.com, but I just recently started using it as a weight lose/management tool.
Let me just say, as a life long smoothie-addict, I LOVE IT!!!!
A few months before Spring I always kick it into high gear to shed my winter muffin-top. I just can’t resist those cozy, comforting dishes of the fall and winter so I don’t even put up a fight. I’ll happily be the double stomach girl in the winter if it means I get to indulge in cookies, fresh bread, cakes, soups, mac n cheese, and the works!!!
Last year I did the Jullian Michaels 30 day shred and a light meal modification plan. I was happy with the results but I HATE working out that hard everyday. I’m so glad I stumbled upon the green monster smoothie because I swear this thing was made just for me!!
The saying “there is a diet for everyone” is so true. This is the one I’ll be using every year to lose weight.
I’m only using it to lose weight. Once I reach my desired goal I’ll maintain my weight by cutting out sugar and white flour as much as a I can and eating the right portions. It really is easy to follow once you look down at that flat stomach.
Here is my regimen for Sunday-Friday. It’s been working great for me but PLEASE NOTE you may need to add or take away more calories depending on your body and goals.
Wake up- Hello Beautiful Lemon Water ( 8 oz) & deep stretching for 10 minutes.
Exercise Bike- 30 minutes
Breakfast- Green Monster Smoothie
Lunch- Green Monster Smoothie
Dinner- Healthy, proportioned dinner
Dessert /Snack- If I haven’t had a snack during the day I eat dessert.
Make sure you drink 64 oz of water (or however much you need for your body weight or you’ll be sorry)
Even though my calories are kinda low on this diet, I’m so surprised I’m not hungry all the time. The smoothie is like 320 calories and it makes a lot! If I do get hungry mid-day I’ll eat a huge green salad with diced chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers and light ranch.
CAUTION:
1.)Please be sure to drink PLENTY of water with this smoothie! Spinach is FULL of fiber and fiber NEEDS water to move throughout your body. If you don’t drink enough water your poop will be little, hard green balls LOL sorry to be so descriptive but sh!t matters!! !!! Also your body will hold on to the water weight instead of letting it go. Water is like the miracle here. YOU HAVE TO HAVE ENOUGH OF IT IN ORDER FOR THIS DRINK TO DO ITS THANG!
2.) Choose organic spinach only and wash it thoroughly. It’s better for you and doesn’t have the pesticides. You’re gonna be taking in A LOT of this stuff so we want it to be as pure as possible.
3.) Ask your doctor if this is right for you. Some folks just don’t do well with spinach and they turn into fart city!
Benefits I’ve Noticed:
SKIN- Supple, glowing moisturized skin. Spinach has a crap load of Vitamin A. And since you consume 4-8 cups of raw spinach a day with this drink, I’ve definitely noticed that my skin doesn’t need much moisturizer. And the extra water I’ve been drinking is icing on the cake.
ENERGY- I’m not sure what’s in spinach that gives you energy but I have so much of it! Maybe it’s the other ingredients. Or maybe it’s because I’m putting less “crap” into my system.
LESS SWEET CRAVING- Cakes, cookies and pies are my weakness…well really anything sweet does it for me. Since I’ve been drinking this smoothie my cravings have diminished greatly, but when they hit….oooh lawd, they hit HARD!!! I feel like a crack head that just needs that one hit. It’s awful but I’ve been strong enough to fight through the cravings by drinking my green monster smoothie when they hit or reminding myself that Saturdays are my cheat days.
My Cheat Day- SATURDAY!!!!
On Saturday I’ve allowed myself to eat what I want in moderation. It’s funny because I look forward to this day all week and when it comes, here’s what usually happens:
A.) I don’t have a taste for what I was sooo looking forward to eating during the week
B.) I eat it and feel physically awful afterwards
C.) I eat it and get full super quick (I hate that!)
D.) I want it so bad, but I don’t want to screw up my hard work
So even though Saturdays are my cheat days, I actually haven’t went crazy yet and I crave the green monster smoothie all day. Weird.
VARIATIONS:
I haven’t done much experimenting with different green monster recipes since I love this one so much, but I’ve added in strawberries before and that was pretty good but I won’t do it again probably. I’ve also added in 1-2 Tablespoons of peanut butter but I wasn’t a huge fan of that either. This morning I blended in raw oats. I couldn’t taste them but it’s 3:55pm and I haven’t even had my lunch time green monster yet, so it’s really kept me full. The fun part is playing around with a green monster recipe until you find one that you adore!! This site has a ton of green monster smoothie recipes and a complete movement dedicated to the GREEN MONSTER!!
Watch me make this green monster smoothie recipe from start to finish!
Get the Recipe: Green Monster Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain or vanilla coconut milk, I use Silk Brand PureCoconut
- 6-8 oz vanilla greek yogurt
- 1 RIPE, frozen banana
- 2-4 cups raw, organic spinach ( I use 3 cups)
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a blender.
- Blend & liquify
- Serve
Notes
Peel your bananas before freezing or you'll be pissed trying to peel a frozen banana.
You can keep leftovers in the refrigerator. I drink it all at one time because I don't like the texture once it's sat in the fridge.
Using a frozen banana makes it super cold. Nothing worse than a barely cold smoothie.
Coconut milk is different than coconut cream and coconut water. I use Silks brand called PureCoconut. You can find it next to the milks, soy milks, almond milks in the grocery store.
do i put in the spinach raw or cooked? this may seem like a stupid question but i just discovered green monster smooties
You add it RAW. If your fortunate to own a fancy-shmansy $500-blender drop it all in and it’ll pulverize it wonderfully. If not, you’ll need to do smoothie in 2 steps vs, one and use your $20 blender as I do.
LIQUEFY your raw spinach/any raw green leaf veggie* with your chosen liquid first. Then add other ingredients. Add 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds (for fullness) and 1/3 cup frozen blueberries for extra multi- B vitamin-Boost of energy!
*Sometimes I’ll add in a bag of salad. Yup, SALAD! Most greens are mild in bitterness including salad greens (and you never taste “the green” in the smoothie. What you’re SEE-ing is the Chlorophyll and enzymes ready for ingesting). Lettuce is made of water, fiber and nutrients (except for iceburg lettuce. It contains MOSTLY water and VERY little nutrients, hence its pale-green color).
I love this!! I use almond coconut milk and lite and fit vanilla greek yogurt. I have also used the lite and fit banana creme and the toasted coconut vanilla greek yogurts and its really great those ways as well!
I LOVE this recipe. I also add blueberries and kale. Sometimes instead of the greek yogurt, I add silk tofu and it still tastes so yummy. And sometimes instead of coconut milk, I will use almond milk. 🙂
Omg so good. Did something different with the monster smoothie…added mint leaves. So good. Thank you so much. My mother also love it. Xox …….
IT was the BESTTTTTTTTT!! I LOVE IT. I MADE SOME this morning and it was DELICIOUS
This smoothie recipe looks yummy. I’ve just discovered smoothies during the past year, so I’m always looking for another good smoothie to try.
Have you ever tried this with almond milk instead of coconut milk? I buy almond milk regularly because most of my family will drink it, but coconut milk is another story. I have also bought almond-coconut milk but don’t use it as often. Is there a reason you chose coconut over almond milk? Just curious! Thanks!