Start a Smoothie Cleanse In 3 Easy Steps: Smoothie Recipe Included!

My body's been needing a smoothie cleanse for quite some time now. I've had one too many encounters with the drive-thru, office celebrations (where there's cake), family get together's (where there's cake and pie), and restaurant outings with colleagues (you guessed it, more cake). My body is tired and worn out. I can tell by my energy levels (snooze button anyone?) and my skin (my skin hates sugar and is extremely dry). I haven't worn workout gear in weeks (does wearing workout clothes as lounging clothes count?) much less worked out.

Thankfully a good friend of mine and I have decided to reboot together and ease our way back into good health this fall! I'm so excited I've even worked out twice this week (don't judge me!). In the past when I've done a smoothie or juice cleanse, people have asked me how to get started. The three most important steps for me have been to plan, prepare, and then execute.

Plan

They say if you "fail to prepare, you prepare to fail." I like that quote and it's also helpful in every aspect of our lives. During the planning stage of a smoothie cleanse, I'm usually on Pinterest searching for recipes and checking out the benefits of each ingredient. JJ Smith is a great resource for smoothie recipes as well as the health benefits.

I also take a look at my schedule for the week and see how many days are realistic. For example, if you know this upcoming weekend is your family get-together, then you may want to focus on just Monday through Friday. I like drinking smoothies for breakfast and lunch. Those are the meals that are easiest for me, but sometimes (depending on my schedule) I will drink one for breakfast and dinner or lunch and dinner. The variations are dependent on your lifestyle; do what works for you.

Having the correct materials to do a smoothie cleanse are very important. Do you have enough room in your fridge? Jars or cups for the smoothie? A blender? You need to make sure you have the proper tools to create your smoothie. I make space at the bottom of the fridge to store my smoothie ingredients. Recently, I bought Mason jar mugs from the Dollar Tree (as seen in the picture above) to sip on my smoothies. They are cute and cheap! Dollar Tree for the win! I use a KitchenAid Diamond 5-Speed Blender from Macy's. You do not, I repeat, do not have to spend a fortune on a blender. You just need a blender that will blend all of your ingredients consistently.

Prepare

So you've bought the blender, made space in your refrigerator, decided on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for your smoothie days, and found three smoothie recipes you would like to try out. Great! Now for the fun part: the grocery store and smoothie prep. Prices will vary depending on which grocery store you choose. My favorites are Sprouts and Aldi (I prefer natural and organic items for my smoothies and juices) as well as local farmers markets. I use Ziploc bags for prep; they will keep you organized and it's less cleanup involved. The night before or usually on a Sunday evening, I will organize my recipes and put them in Ziploc bags. This allows me to get up the next morning and dump everything in the blender and go. Make sure you're only blending one recipe per day so you can maintain freshness in your smoothies. Word of caution: if you're using a banana or flax seed in your recipe, you will want to add those ingredients the day you blend your smoothie. If you add them to the Ziploc bag, then you may end up with a soggy mess on your hands the next morning.

Execute

Yay! You've made it to the morning of and it's time to blend. Make sure you have your containers that you're putting your smoothie in. I recommend a container that's air tight to keep the freshness in. Also, make sure you have more than one container depending on how many times per day you will drink your smoothie mix (i.e. breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Below is a quick and easy smoothie recipe that I made up this morning. I'm actually supposed to be juicing (more on that in another post), but I had so many ingredients I need to use up, so I started with a smoothie. I hope you like it! Please feel free to share your recipes, questions, or ideas.

Pear With Me:

2 pears

1 cup of fruit (I use frozen fruit...in this pic I used raspberries)

2 handfuls of spinach

1 tbsp. of flax seed

16.9 oz bottle of water

Optional: 1 tsp. of chlorophyll

1- Make sure your fruit (if you're using fresh fruit) and spinach has been washed

2- Add all the ingredients in the blender

3- Use the chop feature and then liquify feature for a smooth, consistent look

4- Enjoy!

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