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.
Sgoutas (who is not a registered dietitian), created the 21-Day Smoothie Diet to help his 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 e-book also offers a "detox" plan with recipes and instructions for replacing three meals a day with smoothies for a total of 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. Sgoutas suggests 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.