Mystic Worlds: Green Monster Smoothie - Getting Your Gamer Body Back into a Swimsuit

SUMMER'S ALL UP IN YOUR FACE

If you’re like me, you didn’t start thinking about swimsuit season until it was staring you in the face. If you’re like me, you’re a geek by day whose job entails mostly sitting behind a desk or sitting in a chair for way too many meetings. If you’re like me, many of your hobbies also involve long periods of sitting – reading, writing and creating handcrafted accessories. And then there’s the gaming.

I’m not into fad diets or putting myself through excruciating machinations. Life throws enough of that my way without me fueling the curve balls. What I wanted was a sustainable holistic approach to losing winter weight that also promoted a healthier lifestyle overall.

DETOX ME

My first inclination was that I wanted to detox my body of the negative foods, thoughts and emotions I’d been consuming the past several months. I wanted to cleanse myself and then start down a healthier path. That idea led me to a 15-day raw foods diet by Ani Phyo. Raw foods for 15 days, why not? I’d use that as my body detox then shift into sustainable low-carb eating that included reducing processed foods and eliminating caffeine and carbonated sweet drinks. Unfortunately, reading through the recipes gave me pause. I knew that if I couldn’t stomach the basic premise of her smoothie vegetable drinks, I was sunk.

Ever the problem solver, I backed up and decided to research the “Green Monster Smoothie” in hopes of finding versions that I could stomach and combine with the knowledge from Ani’s book into a personalized 15-day regime. That decision was a complete game changer.

GREEN MONSTER SMOOTHIE

A Green Monster Smoothie (GMS) is a blended drink (as in chopped in your kitchen blender) that combines FRESH leafy green vegetables and FRESH fruits into a smoothie (thick drink). These drinks are full of vitamins, contain protein and are filling enough to be used as a meal replacement that CAN BE low in calories.

Trust me, the first picture I saw of a GMS was almost enough to scare the bejezus out of me. And when I looked down into the first glass of one I’d made, I was prepared to gag it back up. However, the opposite happened. I was pleasantly surprised. THERE’S NO TASTE OF VEGETABLES at all. The drink tastes exactly like whatever combination of fruits you used. That said, the thick grainy texture may take some getting used to for some people. I was over it by the second day and have not looked back.

I’ve been drinking GMS as a replacement for breakfast and lunch for 3 weeks. They are filling. They are satisfying. In the past I’ve tried to eat a lot of salads but I can only stomach so many of them a week. Drinking GMSs, I’ve consumed more vegetables in a couple of days than I previously did in a week despite my best efforts.

I’m not kidding you when I claim that this is HUGE and such a simple way of incorporating healthier eating into your daily routine. I’ve never had banner ads on this blog. I have absolutely nothing to gain by promoting GMS other than sharing something I’ve found that is making a huge difference for me.

PROS

Eating larger amounts of fresh calorie free vegetables just got easy

Stops me from skipping breakfast because I don’t have time and am not that fond of breakfast foods

Stops me from eating BS for lunch because of the convenience

Preparing breakfast and lunch is effortless and done in less than 5 minutes

No hunger pangs – drink as many as you want per day. If calorie intake is a concern, slowly reduce the amount of fruits. I started with the recommended 2:1 fruit to vegetable ratio. A few days in, I reduced the fruit by 50% to lower the caloric intake. The recipes below are based on my reduced fruit versions and are roughly 300 calories each. Feel free to increase the fruits to your liking.

Carbohydrate cravings stopped after a few days. I still have some carbs per day but it’s judicial, included in my dinner meal mostly and under my control – not a craving.

I no longer crave sweets. In fact, my zero calorie favorite water flavoring now tastes disgustingly sweet. If flavored water is too sweet tasting to me now, I know soda is out of the question! Within a week I banished a huge weakness that produced sluggishness after the sugar high was gone and that bloated feeling. UGH

Of course, I’m losing weight which was the first goal. More importantly, I feel better. I FEEL IN CONTROL of what I’m consuming and not the reverse – food cravings and whatever else makes me reach for food as a consolation prize, controlling me.

CONS

I’m not a thirsty person – I don’t drink that often. Getting me to drink 48 ounces of water a day was work simply because I don’t want to drink that much of anything, let alone water. My daughter bought me this gadget you can put on top of a 12 ounce can after it’s been opened to seal it because I couldn’t finish a 12 ounce drink in a single sitting. GMSs are a drink. I’m drinking two meals where in the past I would have eaten two meals, albeit of garbage but I would have had something to drink along with it, flavored water. Now I don’t. I can’t drink a smoothie and then consume another liquid. I’m full. So my chief concern is making sure that I don’t lose the ground I gained on water consumption.

To this end, I did some research and found that leafy vegetables are 90% to 95% water and fleshy fruits can be 75% or greater. Perhaps I don’t have to worry about it as much as I have been. Time will tell.

Must find combinations you really enjoy. I’ve found banana capable of masking the taste of most any vegetable I’ve tried and I’ve delved into some heavy hitters I thought would be impossible to enjoy but they were good.

Must be careful about the fruit to vegetable ratio if caloric intake is a concern

Probably not a healthy option for diabetics so be careful and consult your doctor first

Can’t be done in conjunction with some diets. Atkins is the first one that comes to mind.

May be problematic for people with GERD (acid reflux disease). I have GERD. I’ve been waiting for that monster to rear its head because of the amount of acid in some fruits. I’ve been prescription free for several years. The first evening that I was on the treadmill, shortly after having a GMS, I thought I was going to have a heart attack – that’s what extreme GERD feels like when it’s happening. I’m more careful now with the timing between drinking a GMS and running. If I’m not sure it’s been enough time, I take a Pepcid and that’s kept things under control.

According to some, it’s not healthy to each too much of the same vegetables consecutively. There’s an acid produced to prevent too much of one type being overly consumed in the wild – some evolutionary thing. Anywho, I’m rotating my selection out every 3 to 5 days. So you’ll need to find a variety, at least 3 that you enjoy in smoothie form. And I’m here to tell ya, they are not all equal. Some combinations were just gross!!!

NOT A MAGIC BULLET

Like many working professionals, my life is loud, hectic and oftentimes, extremely stressful. With no “kids” in the nest and being single, it became easier to eat whatever was most convenient. This translated into lots of pre-packaged and heavily processed foods. Home cooked meals became the exception during the week, even though I’m a great cook and excellent baker.

Making my own baked goods is something I’m going to take up again. This weekend was a return to baking my own bread. However, cooking more frequently is not on my agenda. I simply have other things I prefer to do with my time. Work is a must. My handmade accessories adventure is a gratifying and rewarding and is doing well on Etsy but does amount to having a second job. And my other pleasures and pursuits are equally important to me and my happiness.

GMS isn’t a magic bullet for all of that. However, it’s helped me to find a simple method of controlling caloric intake while improving what I’m consuming for 2 meals plus snacking, in a way that is QUICK, EASY AND TASTES GOOD. Added bonus is that I feel more energetic, I’m back to doing 2 miles a day on the treadmill, which in turn helps me sleep better and that makes me more refreshed when I wake up. Win-Win!

MY FAVORITE RECIPES SO FAR

The measurements and process are the same for each recipe. I’ll only describe the steps once and you should be good to go.

Prep

Freeze half of your primary fruit component the night before. Make sure you clean it and peel it before freezing. I tend to do enough for the week, wrapping them in separate wax paper bundles. Freezing at least one of the fruits gives you that cold smoothie taste. Some people add ice but I don’t because I make a day’s worth in the morning and don’t want the taste watered down by melted ice.

Clean and cut all of your fruit components (not very small – sizes easy to chuck into your blender)
Add frozen fruit first – so it’s closest to the blades
Add remaining fruit
Add vegetable
Add ½ cup of liquid – I use filtered water or home brewed green tea (boosts metabolism). Some recipes use yogurt or milk but since I’m also experimenting with limiting dairy intake, I stick with the water.
Optionally add a natural sweetener – I suggest doing this in the beginning to ensure you don’t get a veggie taste that might ruin the whole experience for you. You can cut back as time goes on or leave it in. I use 1 teaspoon of dried coconut, honey, molasses, etc. Or you could add a couple drops of a favorite extract such as vanilla, almond, anise, etc., depending on the fruit combination you’re using.
BLEND UNTIL SMOOTH
Enjoy immediately or store in air tight drinking container. I make enough to see me through the day, first thing in the morning – breakfast, lunch and one to drink half of as a snack 2x a day.

Recipes

These recipes are blended in a 1.5 liter blender and produce 1 liter of GMS. They are my reduced fruit ratio versions and are ~300 calories. If you are using as a meal replacement, it’s fair game to get up to 400 calories so feel free to increase the fruit in the beginning.

Banana and Strawberries with Baby Spinach, Mixed Greens or Kale

½ large very ripe frozen banana
½ fresh banana
2 large strawberries
Teaspoon of coconut or drop of vanilla extract
½ to 1 cup ICE COLD filtered water
1 to 1 ½ cups of fresh baby spinach, mixed greens or kale

Mango, Peach and Orange with Baby Spinach, Mixed Greens or Kale

½ large very ripe mango
½ fresh peach (peeled and pitted)
½ FROZEN orange
Teaspoon of coconut
½ to 1 cup ICE COLD filtered water
1 to 1 ½ cups of fresh baby spinach, mixed greens or kale

Apple (Green), Grape (Green) and Pineapple with Baby Spinach, Mixed Greens or Kale

½ large very ripe apple
6 FROZEN green seedless grapes
½ slice of FRESH pineapple
Teaspoon of coconut
½ to 1 cup ICE COLD filtered water
1 to 1 ½ cups of fresh baby spinach, mixed greens or kale

Pineapple and Berries with Baby Spinach, Mixed Greens or Kale

1 slice of FRESH pineapple
2 large strawberries
¼ cup of FROZEN mixed berries of your choice
Teaspoon of coconut
½ to 1 cup ICE COLD filtered water
1 to 1 ½ cups of fresh baby spinach, mixed greens or kale

Be brave and experiment. You receive the most nutritional benefit from dark green leafy vegetables. I never thought I’d be telling anyone that you can drink raw blended kale with a straight face but it tastes just fine. I’ve yet to try collard greens. I’m intimidated by the thick stalk that runs through them after having tried celery and finding that to be a total bust for my tastes. I was also surprised to find that my favorite salad greens, romaine, were equally unappealing to me in a GMS. They retain too much of their savory component. It’s not that it tasted bad it just tasted weird to be drinking out of a glass.

Try it. You will like it if you don't have a real oversion to texture. Some people add more liquid. I prefer mine thick and filling. My oldest daughter has been doing it for two weeks and hooked. She's turned a few co-workers on to them too. Give it a go. You've got nothing to lose but some bad habits and calories. *Smile*

Comments

Love this - will give it a shot as I totally need to lose weight by 7/23 and have a bunch of great farmers markets nearby for the fresh greens/fruit. Thanks for the recipes and very concise post - makes it easy to give this a shot.

Posted by: coppertopper | June 18, 2012 at 06:13 PM

You're welcome and let me know how it goes. I'm also chasing a late July event. :-)

Don't know about it being concise. Was a bit-o-wall-of-text but that seems to be me.

Posted by: Saylah | June 18, 2012 at 07:32 PM

Well I like that you included recipes. I've been curious about sub'ing a fruit/veggie shake for meals and this gives me a great starting point. Also didnt think about freezing fruit so will defintely try that.

Posted by: coppertopper | June 18, 2012 at 10:17 PM