Those that know me, know I was a HUGE smoothie fan before I started WW. I would make these disgusting looking smoothies that tasted so yummy and would fill them with everything under the sun to make them healthy and replace my meal. I THOUGHT I was making healthy choices, yet couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing as much weight. It wasn't until I went to my first WW meeting that I found out the answer.
I walked into that meeting thinking this is gonna be so easy, I am just gonna go back on my smoothie and juicing "kick" and life will be good. I had planned on going out that day to treat myself to a new juicer for my b-day as mine had broke awhile ago (thank goodness I decided to wait till AFTER the meeting as Nancy saved me $200 !!!). After the meeting new members stayed back for the welcome and question chat. During it we were chatting about Fruit and Veggies being FREE POINTS and my eyes lite up as I thought "oh my goodness I get ALL the fruit I want - HELLO SMOOTHIES!!!!" - well that "bubble was burst" before it even got to grow! When Nancy said "EXCEPT in Smoothies" - I thought to myself - this lady is CRAZY - how can they be FREE except in smoothies, an Apple is an Apple now matter how you eat it! I wasn't going to say anything, but it was stewing insdie me (cause there goes my smoothie and juicing plan!) so I spoke up and asked. At first I didn't "get it" (well maybe better terms would be my mind didn't want to get it), but than after several people explained it to me, it "CLICKED". When we make a smoothie, we fill it up with all kinds of goodness (oh boy another NO NO is a FULL avocado in it --- OOPS!!!! looks like 1/4 avocados are the RIGHT portion :O !!!!) and think it's HEALTHY and we go about our day thinking we just ate the best meal. Well, look at it this way:
Sample Smoothie:
1 Apple
1 Beet
1 Cup Parsley
1 Cup Kale
1 Avocado
1 Pear
1 Carrot
1 Celery
1 Cup Almond Milk
1 TBSP Flax Seeds
1TBSP Chia Seeds
1 Scoop Protein Powder
Ok, blend this all up and you have a smoothie cup of food which you swallow down faster than your tummy can likely handle
NOW take ALL those items in WHOLE FORM and place them on your dinner plate (likely wont fit) and sit and eat them all in one sitting - bet you can't do it or if you do, without feeling very full now that you are chewing each individual item! (same as juicing).
Don't get me wrong, they can be good in a pinch or when working out, but it's not something you want to always do and it's NOT FREE POINTS as your body doesn't need that all in one meal (they also mentioned something about the digestion process but I can't recall it as this was enough of an example for me to "get the point"). PLUS in an hour or two you are likely going to be hungry again and than fill up on more snacks (which I always did - albeit healthy ones but still more food than my body really needed).
Just because something is FREE, doesn't mean we need to "over consume" it - which is a lesson I am learning very quickly!
I walked into that meeting thinking this is gonna be so easy, I am just gonna go back on my smoothie and juicing "kick" and life will be good. I had planned on going out that day to treat myself to a new juicer for my b-day as mine had broke awhile ago (thank goodness I decided to wait till AFTER the meeting as Nancy saved me $200 !!!). After the meeting new members stayed back for the welcome and question chat. During it we were chatting about Fruit and Veggies being FREE POINTS and my eyes lite up as I thought "oh my goodness I get ALL the fruit I want - HELLO SMOOTHIES!!!!" - well that "bubble was burst" before it even got to grow! When Nancy said "EXCEPT in Smoothies" - I thought to myself - this lady is CRAZY - how can they be FREE except in smoothies, an Apple is an Apple now matter how you eat it! I wasn't going to say anything, but it was stewing insdie me (cause there goes my smoothie and juicing plan!) so I spoke up and asked. At first I didn't "get it" (well maybe better terms would be my mind didn't want to get it), but than after several people explained it to me, it "CLICKED". When we make a smoothie, we fill it up with all kinds of goodness (oh boy another NO NO is a FULL avocado in it --- OOPS!!!! looks like 1/4 avocados are the RIGHT portion :O !!!!) and think it's HEALTHY and we go about our day thinking we just ate the best meal. Well, look at it this way:
Sample Smoothie:
1 Apple
1 Beet
1 Cup Parsley
1 Cup Kale
1 Avocado
1 Pear
1 Carrot
1 Celery
1 Cup Almond Milk
1 TBSP Flax Seeds
1TBSP Chia Seeds
1 Scoop Protein Powder
Ok, blend this all up and you have a smoothie cup of food which you swallow down faster than your tummy can likely handle
NOW take ALL those items in WHOLE FORM and place them on your dinner plate (likely wont fit) and sit and eat them all in one sitting - bet you can't do it or if you do, without feeling very full now that you are chewing each individual item! (same as juicing).
Don't get me wrong, they can be good in a pinch or when working out, but it's not something you want to always do and it's NOT FREE POINTS as your body doesn't need that all in one meal (they also mentioned something about the digestion process but I can't recall it as this was enough of an example for me to "get the point"). PLUS in an hour or two you are likely going to be hungry again and than fill up on more snacks (which I always did - albeit healthy ones but still more food than my body really needed).
Just because something is FREE, doesn't mean we need to "over consume" it - which is a lesson I am learning very quickly!