Vegetarian smoothies can be heavenly…and they can also be evil for the belly.

And I’ve learned a lot about smoothies – or what I prefer to call, “Blender Drinks” – in the last 8 weeks as part of my Veggie Lifestyle.

Here’s some truths about blender drink smoothies…

1) YES, you can add spinach to your blender smoothies and you won’t notice a difference in taste but you will get more nutrients!

You can even add Kale as well.

(And if you have blueberries and strawberries in your smoothie, you won’t even notice a difference in how it looks.)

2) Store-bought pre-made smoothies and the smoothies you buy at “Juice”-places in the mall are PACKED with sugar that will fatten your waistline.

Avoid those at all times!

3) Murphy’s Law applies every time I use a blender.

Just check this video of me making a blender drink:

4) You really need a good blender if you are going to be a blender drink maniac like I am.

I’m hooked! Two a day!

5) You don’t need to add protein powder.

Most people could save a lot of money and never buy a jug of protein ever again.

You don’t need 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, especially if you have some fat to lose.

6) Its really not that hard to clean a blender…

…and remember, this is coming from one of the laziest guys in the world!

7) You don’t need to add juice to your smoothies.

My mom does this, but I don’t see the point. If you have fruit, like bananas, mango, raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries in your smoothie that’s sweet enough.

(Pineapple also makes for an amazing blender drink addition.)

So add more fruits and vegetables to your diet the smooth way,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, The Lazy Man’s Guide to Vegetarian Eating

PS – Did you get your copy of the 8 raw food smoothies bonus?

We are giving this away as a Veggie Meal Plans Bonus at:

=> http://www.EasyVeggieMealPlans.com

It’s a fast action bonus along with the GREATEST product I’ve ever created.

Seriously.

I truly believe the “Defend Your Diet” audio program I did with Kardena Pauza and her husband Mark is easily the greatest interview I’ve ever done with someone…

…if not the most valuable “program” I’ve ever put together for anyone on anything.

And NO ONE has ever done something like this before.

Get yours here:

=> http://www.EasyVeggieMealPlans.com

PPS – You’ll get my “Lazy Man’s Guide to Vegetarian Eating” in the Deluxe Package.

It’s a complete 55 day diary of EVERYTHING that I ate while on the veggie meal plan experiment.

PPPS – Yes, I’m still doing the veggie lifestyle.

Enjoying it, especially since I started grilling portobella mushrooms for burgers.

You gotta try Kardena’s mushroom burger recipe from the meal plans!

Monday, July 20th, would be my Dad’s 70th birthday, but a little over 2 years ago he got sick, was diagnosed with cancer, and he passed away last September.

Surprisingly, our family doctor said my dad had colon cancer for about 10 years or ever 12 years, but he just didn’t know it.

It’s a long, long story with a lot of lessons.

Click here to listen to the story on this week’s TT Podcast

You see, my Dad made 3 big mistakes.

But I don’t want you to make the same ones.

1) My Dad drank too much.

This was by far the biggest factor in him getting sick. And I don’t mean 1 drink per day. He unfortunately drank himself to an early death. This never had to happen.

2) My Dad didn’t go to the doctor once in the last 25 years of his life.

Obviously, this is NOT a good idea. For anyone from my father’s generation who is listening, stop being “too proud” to go to the doctor and get your butt in there every year. Take the tests they want you to take.

3) My Dad didn’t eat enough fruits and vegetables.

His diet was not so good. Believe it or not, my Dad lived on coffee, toast, an egg, maybe a ham sandwich for lunch, too many beers, a glass of milk, and a lot of candy for the last 20-30 years of his life.

But he did a lot of things right, too.

• He was always busy with projects and stayed mentally active.
• He was physically active everyday, often doing hard manual labor.
• He was never overweight.
• He had good social support.

Those four things helped him survive as long as he did.

So my dad taught us all a lot of powerful lessons, indirectly, on what to do and what NOT to do.

1) If you drink, do a mirror check. Are you drinking too much? Is it affecting your life? Your work? Your family? Look at your kids. Don’t you want to see them grow up and have kids of their own?

2) Are you active? Are you busy with projects and constantly learning or do you just watch TV?

3) Have you been to the doctor this year? Why not? Have you noticed something that just doesn’t feel right and should be checked out? Don’t be scared! Just go. Despite all the hard times that people give the medical industry, technology and medicine is catching cancer early and treating many of them well.

So…

Don’t be a stubborn old fool!

Go to the doctor!

Better you lose a little pride and gain a lot of years.

So there you go…now let’s get you transforming…

Monday – July 20th

Transformation Tip: Do not stop!

A Turbulence Training member emailed me this morning and apologized for falling off the wagon…I told him not to worry, sometimes it takes a couple of cracks at this to get it right.

So don’t quit just because you stumbled once.   This goes for anything in life including giving up booze and cigarettes too.

Over on my facebook page, we recently had a chat about how to give up cigarettes. Almost every single person said they quit cold turkey, but most of them said it required a few tries.

But they didn’t give up trying.

So no matter what you want to do, never give up. Fight fight fight. And get social support from friends and family. And that’s what we are here at TT, friends who become like family to you.

Join me on facebook at www.facebookcraig.com or join us in the members forum at www.ttmembers.com.

We’ll be looking out for you, I promise.

Now let’s train hard!

6-Month Bodyweight Manual – Phase 5: Advanced Upper Body Strength & Lower Body Circuit Conditioning

Workout A

1A) T-Squat (15 reps)
1B) Feet on Ball Pushup (12 reps)
2A) Chin-up (Max-1)
2B) Hands on Bench, Feet on Ball Pushup (15 reps)
3A) Pushups with Hands on Ball  (15 reps)
3B) 1-Leg Deadlift (12 reps)
4A) Inverted Row – Feet on Ball (12 reps)
4B) Spiderman Pushup (8 reps)
5A) Side Plank Leg Lift (10 reps)
5B) Split Squat with Front Foot Elevated (12 reps)
5C) Spiderman Climb (12 reps)
5D) Stability Ball Rollout (10 reps)
5E) Plank with Arms on Ball (30 seconds)
Interval Workout A

Tuesday
Time for your 30 minutes of fun activity…

Well its been a heavy update so far, hasn’t it…so let’s lighten things up.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for your 30 minutes of off-day activity?

My old man used to wrestle my friends in his underwear. Man, you think your dad was embarrassing…so beat that.

But if you aren’t going to wrestle people in your underwear, what else can you do that’s fun and different?

Bedroom activities don’t count.

Do people still skinny dip anymore?

We should all be doing more of that…man its been years…I bet over 10 years since my last skinny dip with some girls. Man, I gotta do something about that…

If you got a pool why don’t you make skinny dipping your 30 minutes of activity of fun activity this week.

Or if your neighbor has a pool, see if you can’t sneak in during off hours! Might be too intense if you get caught and have to sprint out!

Wednesday

Workout B
1A) Prisoner Squat (10 reps)
1B) Prisoner Lunge (8 reps)
1C) Inverted Row (10 reps)
2A) Pull-up (Max-1)
2B) Elbow-to-Instep Lunge (8 reps)
3A) Hands on Ball, Feet on Bench Pushup (15 reps)
3B) 1-Leg RDL (10 reps)
4A) Shoulder Press Pushup (15 reps)
4B) Stability Ball 1-Leg Curl (10 reps)
5A) Jumping Jacks (60 reps)
5B) Chop (15 reps)
5C) Stability Ball Rollout (10 reps)
5D) Chin-up (6 reps)
Interval Workout B

Thursday

30 minutes of fun activity…

And so I bought this blender and now I’m hooked on blender drinks.

It’s crazy. Two a day! Here are some tips to increase the nutritional value.

• Add spinach
• Add 4-5 pieces of fruit (one frozen)
• Add cacao nibs, nuts, seeds, goji berries

Good times!

Friday

Workout C

1A) Y-Squat (10 reps)
1B) Elevated Pushup (12 reps)
2A) Diagonal Lunge (10 reps)
2B) Step-out (8 reps)
3A) 1-Leg Bench Squat (10 reps)
3B) Chin-up (Max-1)
4A) Waiters Bow (12 reps)  video
4B) Spiderman Pushup (10 reps) ==>
5A) Siff Squat (20 reps)
5B) Stability Ball 1-Leg Curl (8 reps)
5C) Stability Ball Jacknife (12 reps)
5D) Pushup (Max-1)
5E) Side Plank (30 seconds)
High-Intensity Cardio

Social Support Saturday!
Have fun with 30 minutes of activity.

And remember, you can never have enough good friends…

• So check in with a few today.
• Hit up some on facebook – and me too
• Go back to your hometown and see an old high school friend

Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare
Another 30 minutes of activity.

Plan, shop, & prepare and when you shop, check your labels.

Watch out for added sodium. After all, we only should be getting 1500mg of sodium per day. The worst offenders are:

• Pizza
• Hot dogs and hamburgers
• Processed foods
• Dairy
• Canned soups, beans, and chili

Be careful with those!

Whew, that’s it for this week. Heck of an update, wasn’t it?

Next week!

• Phase 6 of 6 month BW manual – can you believe its over!
• Veggie Meal Plans – July 27th premiere -You can’t miss this…big news. You’ll love these, including my “Lazy Man’s Guide to Vegetarian Eating”

Have a great week,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS