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SUPER SMOOTHIES

POWERFUL PUSH-BUTTON NUTRITION

With a blender, the correct ingredients, and a few seconds, push a button and you’ve got a Super Smoothie that can add power to your metabolism.

I was introduced to Super Smoothies by Joe Cirulli, owner of Gainesville Health & Fitness, the largest and most used fitness center in the world. Some six thousand members train there on most days. Cirulli gets up early, goes to bed late, travels extensively, and does not miss a meal or a workout.

For Joe, integrating easy smoothies into his diet was the key to keeping on track. Whether you’re dead tired at the end of the day or too lazy to put something together for breakfast, smoothies supply a nutritious, easy-to-digest, non-bloating alternative to a meal.

Smoothie Tips

• Freeze your fruit. Cut the fruit into chunks (leave blueberries and raspberries whole), then lay them out on a tray and freeze until firm. Once frozen, transfer the fruit to zip-lock bags and freeze until ready to use. Frozen fruit helps keep smoothies thick and frosty.

• Use ice in smoothies to give it that thicker, cool, and refreshing texture. But remember, too many ice cubes will make it too thick.

• Make your smoothie thinner by adding coconut water, not fruit juices, which add sugar and calories. Coconut water is rich in potassium and electrolytes.

Purchasing a Blender

Consider these features if you are in the market for a blender.

Easy to store: Consider counter space or cabinet storage, especially if you do not plan to leave it on the countertop.

Power: Since you will be crushing ice and frozen fruit, get a motor with a minimum of 350 watts. Anything less will burn out quickly.

Speed settings: Three different speeds are a good number to help chop your fruit and then blend it smooth.

Jar size: A good blender jar size is at least 40 ounces (5 cups); you could also opt for a personal-size blender. These are great for making single-serving smoothies but frustrating when you want larger amounts.

Ease of cleaning: Look for a blender that does not have to be taken apart to be cleaned.

Durability and warranty: Look for a blender constructed of high-quality materials. Understand that not all warranties are created equal. Be sure to read any warranty as to what it covers and for how long. If the warranty is for the motor, it won’t cover a cracked pitcher.

Add Science to the Mix

One research investigation by Lisa M. Davis, published in Nutrition Journal in 2010, demonstrated that drinking weight loss shakes as meal replacements does produce positive results. The report found that subjects on a smoothie-shake diet lost an average of more than 12 percent of their body weight during a forty-week period, while subjects on a solid food–based diet lost less than 7 percent.

In another study, published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism in 2012, subjects who used one or two meal-replacement shakes daily lost about 2 percent more of their total body weight over a six-month period than subjects who followed diet book suggestions.

In a 2012 report in Current Nutrition & Food Science, Joy L. Frestedt and colleagues put a group of obese adults on a plan that replaced breakfast and dinner with nutritious smoothies. There was no exercise requirement and no limit on what else the study participants could eat. After twelve weeks, the subjects had lost up to 18.5 pounds and reported significant improvements in physical and mental health.

Okay, are you ready to make Super Smoothies work for you? Here are seven recipes. Each smoothie makes one serving. One last guideline: Cirulli and I are partial to using a smoothie as breakfast or an afternoon snack. Just make sure the calories are in line with your requirements.

Are You Ready for a Super Smoothie?

All the smoothies that follow make one serving with 300 calories or fewer. For each recipe, combine the ingredients in a high-speed blender, blend until smooth, sip, and enjoy.

GUILLERMO GONZALEZ, age 16, height 5′5″

AFTER 6 WEEKS

(on muscle-building program only)

2 inches added on chest, 1.5 inches on thighs

1.25 inches added on upper arms

8.25 pounds of muscle gain

STRAWBERRY-PISTACHIO PUNCH

½ cup frozen strawberries (24 calories)

¼ avocado (65 calories)

¼ cup pistachios (117 calories)

1 scoop vanilla plant-based protein powder (93 calories)

1 cup green tea, brewed and cold (0 calories)

TOTAL CALORIES 299

DARK CHOCOLATE DELIGHT

2 tablespoons Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate syrup (90 calories)

1 frozen banana (100 calories)

1 cup unsweetened almond milk (35 calories)

1 scoop chocolate plant-based protein powder (110 calories)

3 ice cubes

TOTAL CALORIES 335

PEANUT BUTTER–BERRY BLITZ

1 tablespoon peanut butter (94 calories)

10 frozen raspberries (10 calories)

6 frozen blueberries (85 calories)

6 frozen strawberries (24 calories)

½ cup unsweetened almond milk (17 calories)

1 scoop plant-based protein powder (93 calories)

TOTAL CALORIES 323

BANANARAMA

½ cup frozen blueberries (42 calories)

½ frozen banana (50 calories)

2 tablespoons quick-cooking rolled oats (35 calories)

2 teaspoons almonds (22 calories)

½ cup unsweetened almond milk (17 calories)

1 scoop plant-based protein powder (93 calories)

TOTAL CALORIES 259

APPLE A DAY

½ apple (any type), with peel, quartered and cored (49 calories)

¼ frozen banana (17 calories)

½ cup unsweetened almond milk (17 calories)

1 teaspoon flaxseed oil (40 calories)

3 or 4 dashes of ground cinnamon

2 or 3 dashes of ground nutmeg

2 or 3 dashes of ground ginger

1 scoop vanilla plant-based protein powder (93 calories)

TOTAL CALORIES 216

PURPLE HEAVEN

½ cup frozen blueberries (42 calories)

1½ teaspoons almond butter (51 calories)

½ cup unsweetened almond milk (17 calories)

1 scoop vanilla plant-based protein powder (93 calories)

3 ice cubes

TOTAL CALORIES 203

AVOCADO GO GO

¼ avocado (40 calories)

½ frozen banana (34 calories)

½ cup frozen blueberries (42 calories)

½ cup unsweetened almond milk (17 calories)

1 scoop chocolate plant-based protein powder (110 calories)

TOTAL CALORIES 243

Prepare and Adapt

Multiple studies show that adding a smoothie to your fat-loss eating plan can result in greater fat loss. Why? Because blender shakes are simple, fast, nutritious, and almost perfect meal replacements. Many of the most successful Killing Fat participants had a smoothie almost daily for breakfast or lunch.

Learn from Joe Cirulli’s advice: Prepare and adapt. You can easily add or subtract ingredients from each of the smoothie recipes. Just keep each one in the 300-calorie range and you’ll be well on your way to push-button fat-loss success.

Smoothies and Muscle Building for Teenagers

For many bodybuilders and young guys trying to gain muscle, smoothies and blender drinks are a regular part of their nutritional plan. Joe Cirulli and I have both applied them successfully throughout our careers. These types of smoothies, however, contain a lot more calories than the 300 calories suggested above.

I’ve encouraged many of my teenage trainees, such as Jordan Rapport and Chris Medary (see chapter 3), to consume smoothies as part of their meal plans to get bigger and stronger. Cirulli has done the same in working with teenagers in Gainesville.

Each summer at Gainesville Health & Fitness, Cirulli allows hundreds of teenagers to use the strength-training facilities during the midmornings at no charge. Most of the supervision is directed by the club’s floor instructors.

One such floor instructor, who worked with many teenagers successfully in 2012, was Guillermo Gonzalez, age eighteen. Gonzalez not only guided these young people, but took it upon himself to add muscle to his own physique. The before-and-after photographs on this page show that his work paid off. Gonzalez often used various smoothies, which are available at Gainesville Health & Fitness, and mastered the thermodynamic synergy concepts I’ve discussed in this book to achieve his muscle-building goals.

Another teenager, Will Wright (this page), a trainee of mine from Orlando, was also a fan of smoothies. He noted a more gradual muscle-building progression than Gonzalez did. Wright trained approximately once a week for fifty weeks and gained 24.5 pounds of muscle. That muscle helped him play championship football for Windermere Prep in Orlando during 2014 and 2015.

Wright has continued with his training and is now 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. He enrolled at Florida State University in the fall of 2018.

WILL WRIGHT, age 15, height 5′10″

AFTER 12 MONTHS

(on muscle-building program only)

4.5 inches added to chest

2.125 inches added to arms, 3 inches on thighs

24.5 pounds of muscle gain