Smoothies, you 5 a day and nutri ninjas.

It does matter how much fruit and veg you put in a smoothie. each certain quantity is considered a serving. If one cup spinach = 1 serving, then if you use 2 cups spinach, that would = 2 servings. so for 2 cups spinach you have gotten in 2 of your 5 servings. Also you should use low sugar fruits in your smoothies like berries. you can google which fruits have the lowest sugar. I have a nutribullet and I LOVE it. it cost about 99 bucks. if you are using smoothies for weight loss the recommendation is 80% vegetable and 20% fruit. I hope that answers your question.

7 smells like purple because potatoes dance at night.

I have a Nutri Ninja and I love it. I have the one with the 3 cups, and the larger blender. I use it all the time. Not only for smoothies but for soups, chopping veggies for omelets, salsa, all sorts of things!!!

I had a Ninja as well and loved it. If you make a lot of smoothies then yes, totally worth it. Every "serving" of a fruit or veggie that goes into the smoothie would go towards your 5 a day.
Make sure to enter every ingredient into MFP tho, smoothies can become very high in calories very quickly. Consider putting some protein powder into the smoothie for added protein. My fav recipe is:
serving of frozen strawberries
scoop of strawberry protein powder
handful of fresh spinach
1 cup almond milk
any other berries youd like

mallory_2014 wrote: »

I don't get your comment about regardless of how much you put in it is only equal to 2/5 servings a day. If you put 2 cups of spinach in a smoothie, that is two vegetable servings. If you add 1 cup of berries, that is another 2 servings. If you put 10 servings of fruit and vegetables in a smoothie, and consumed it all, it would count as 10 servings of fruits and vegetables in the day.

Use whatever blender you have/want. I use a blendtec but have used a normal $20 blender.

Keep in mind, a smoothie won't cause weight loss. You can easily pack hundreds of calories into a smoothie.

^^First of all: that is important to understand. I have smoothies every day. My smoothies range from 200 calories for a snack or dessert smoothie up to 600 calories for my breakfast shakes. You can pack a lot of calories into a smoothie. So weigh and measure everything!

Second, I have a NutriBullet. It's great. Before that I used a blender. It was also great. I don't think you should invest in something fancy until you know for sure that this is something you want to do all the time forever.

Third, a serving is a serving. It doesn't matter what you do to it. If you put 2 servings in, you will get 2 servings in the smoothie. It all counts. The blender does not magically reduce the number of servings by pulverizing it. You might be thinking of something you heard about juicing. Juicing is different because it eliminates a portion of the fruit/veg during the process. But juicing is whole other discussion entirely.

You don't lose fiber content in a smoothie because it uses the entire fruit / vegetable. You would lose fiber in a juicer, so it would be true for that, but not blender.

And agree with others, drinking smoothies will not make you lose weight. If you give in to this kinda new 'whole food' craze, besides adding vegetables and fruit, you'll add whole milk or soy milk, chia seed (a small amount is 100 calories), hemp seed (about the same), almonds and other nuts (about the same), prunes (5 tiny prunes will get you 100 calories), figs (1 tiny fig is 60-70 calories), etc, you can drink 700 calories and think it's only 200

dr0707 wrote: »

WOW Marianna your before and after is amazing!! I cant wait to get to my after!!

Thank you! So far that's only after 9 lbs of loss.

jhall260 wrote: »

I have a Nutri Ninja and I love it. I have the one with the 3 cups, and the larger blender. I use it all the time. Not only for smoothies but for soups, chopping veggies for omelets, salsa, all sorts of things!!!

This! Plus my current fave smoothie recipe (~220cal):

1/2 banana
113g nonfat greek yogurt
140g frozen pineapple chunks (less if you're watching sugar intake)
20g kale
1 cup coconut water