It’s so easy!
Drinking the Veggie Flush Smoothie has helped thousands of women feel their best and get slim. “This is designed to decrease your bloat, burn fat and shrink your stomach in just one month,” Mehmet Oz, M.D., told his TV audience. Indeed, sipping just one of these super-powered smoothies each day makes dropping pounds virtually effortless—even as you enjoy your favorite holiday foods!
Though one smoothie a day is all you need to experience the healing and slimming benefits (see the easy how-to at right), Dr. Oz encouraged his viewers to reach for the Veggie Flush Smoothie as a healthy snack as well. “I want you to feel free to have a veggie flush drink all day long,” he said on The Dr. Oz Show. “This is important—especially for the many women out there who say they’re hungry continually.”
To optimize the benefits, naturalhealth expert Michelle Schoffro Cook, Ph.D., recommends drinking the Veggie Flush on an empty stomach. “Enzyme-rich drinks like this are especially powerful on an empty stomach so they can go through our digestive system quickly and not be bogged down by other foods that are being digested,” she explains. And for your speediest slimdown ever, incorporate these simple success strategies:
Enjoy fats at breakfast. “A growing body of evidence suggests that a reduced-calorie diet rich in monounsaturated fatty acids can help control blood sugar, trim belly fat and even visceral fat,” Dr. Oz has said. That’s why he recommends eating avocados, olives, nuts and seeds at breakfast. It’s a smart strategy, says integrative health expert Tasneem Bhatia, M.D., author of Super Woman Rx: “Eating healthy fats in the morning helps regulate appetite all day.” To get the benefits, cook eggs in olive oil, spread half an avocado on a slice of toast or sprinkle 1⁄4 cup of almonds, walnuts or macadamia nuts on oatmeal or yogurt.
Combine fruit and fiber at lunch. Dr. Oz recommends combining soluble fiber-rich berries with insoluble fiber-rich sulfurous veggies, like Brussels sprouts and kale. “The beautiful part of this as a doctor is that you are actually tricking your digestive system, because when you combine those different kinds of fibers, it speeds up the transit time. That food moves through your body,” he told his audience. Additionally, both berries and sulfurous veggies contain plenty of digestion-healing enzymes, while the sulfur compounds also support toxin elimination. A delicious suggestion: Toss baby kale with fresh cranberries, walnuts and feta cheese.
Close the kitchen after dinner. “When you take your last bite of food at night, you’re not going to eat again until the next day, 12 hours later,” Dr. Oz instructed his audience. “This is what a lot of weight lifters and body builders and models and actresses use… It lets your body relax for half the day to process whatever you put in there.” Indeed, researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that overweight women who practiced this strategy daily lost 50% more fat than those on a traditional calorierestricted diet.
Go for real sugar. Many women reach for artificial sweeteners in an effort to cut sugar, but Duke University research shows that these faux sugars decrease the number of beneficial bugs in the gut by up to 67%, and separate research from the Weizmann Institute of Science revealed that having fewer beneficial bugs dampens the body’s production of digestive enzymes. “Be on the lookout for artificial sweeteners, and when possible, steer clear of them,” Dr. Oz has suggested. For a healthier alternative, consider switching to agave nectar or stevia, both of which deliver sweetness without side effects.