What Is the Smoothie Diet?

 21-Day Smoothie Diet

The 21-Day Smoothie Diet, created by health coach Drew Sgoutas, claims that replacing some of your meals with smoothies will lead to quick and easy weight loss. As with so many weight-loss plans, including restrictive diets like this one, the details are important.

As part of a balanced diet, smoothies can help you lose weight. But ingredients, portion size, and your overall eating plan will make all the difference. A diet consisting of mostly smoothies, however, may not work for everyone as a solution for long-term weight loss success.

Scouts (who is not a registered dietitian), created the 21-Day Smoothie Diet to help clients lose weight. His e-book, The Smoothie Diet, contains 36 smoothie recipes, shopping lists, and a three-week schedule that details which smoothies to prepare each day. The book also offers a "detox" plan with recipes and instructions for replacing three meals a day with smoothies for three days.

The 21-Day Smoothie Diet advises eating normally (but still healthy) one day per week and includes a recommended food list for that day. Scouts suggest repeating the 21-day cycle any time you would like to lose weight, but there is limited research to suggest that a smoothie diet is an effective method for weight loss.

In the short term, many followers of this diet may lose weight. But to keep it off, they might have to stay on the diet past the 21-day period, which is not a healthy long-term solution since it means that important food groups containing vital nutrients are continuing to be restricted.

For most people, two homemade meal-replacement shakes per day, plus a "regular" meal, may not provide the right balance of calories, protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats the body needs. Any meal-replacement diet is tough to stick with for the long haul since these replacements often aren't as satisfying as solid food.

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What Can You Eat?

On the 21-Day Smoothie Diet, you will prepare and drink two smoothies a day as meal replacements. The smoothie ingredients vary, focusing on lots of fruits and vegetables with some protein and healthy fats.

There is also some guidance in the e-book for the one solid-food meal you will consume each day (recommendations for what to eat, and some "whole food" recipes), as well as suggestions for low-sugar, high-fiber snacks. To reiterate the above, you are also allowed to eat normally one day per week, so long as the meals adhere to the recommendations in the e-book.

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Pros and Cons

Pros

• Emphasis on fruits and vegetables
• Less calorie-counting and food tracking
• Shopping lists included

Cons

• Restrictive
• High in sugar
• Preparation could be time-consuming
• Not sustainable
• Lacks scientific support

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A Word From Verywell

While you can get recipe ideas from The Smoothie Diet e-book, consider making your own healthy smoothies and using them as one part of a sensible, balanced eating plan. For best results, measure each ingredient and tally the complete calorie count for your drink. This could save you from making a common weight loss mistake—underestimating the impact of liquid calories.

Use fresh or frozen fruit, such as blueberries, strawberries, mango, peaches, or apples. But also, branch out and use ingredients such as watermelon, spinach, or kale to get additional vitamins and minerals.​ Try this ​sweet green smoothie to get vitamin-packed green veggies with your morning meal.

If weight loss is your goal, avoid using high-fat ingredients to get a creamy texture. A smoothie made with ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, or a large amount of peanut butter is delicious, but it may be too high in calories, fat, and sugar to help you lose weight. Bananas, either frozen or at room temperature, provide a thick, smooth texture without the added fat and calories.

If you love the taste of peanut butter, opt for an all-natural brand and keep your portion about one tablespoon. If you are looking to reduce the calories you can consider powdered peanut butter keep in mind that it may not be as filling. Experiment to find smoothies that work for you, and other healthy recipes that provide lots of nutrition without a lot of calories.

Remember, following a long-term or short-term diet may not be necessary for you and many diets out there simply don’t work, especially long-term. While we do not endorse fad diet trends or unsustainable weight loss methods, we present the facts so you can make an informed decision that works best for your nutritional needs, genetic blueprint, and budget, and goals.

If your goal is weight loss, remember that losing weight isn’t necessarily the same as being your healthiest self, and there are many other ways to pursue health. Exercise, sleep, and other lifestyle factors also play a major role in your overall health. The best diet is always the one that is balanced and fits your lifestyle.

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