The ultimate anti-cellulite drinks (II): vegetable juices and berry smoothies

Vegetable juices and smoothies: the ultimate anti-cellulite foods

• Foods that fight cellulite: why are vegetable juices and berry smoothies good for cellulite prevention and reduction?

• Do not mix with other fruit juices

• Vegetable juices vs vegetable smoothies for cellulite and anti-ageing

• Berry smoothies vs berry juices for cellulite and anti-ageing

• Juices/smoothies vs whole vegetables/fruits

• Off-the-shelf smoothies and juices

• Add herbs and spices to your juices and smoothies

• Not all raw vegetables are healthy

• Forget raw kale and stick to what makes sense traditionally. and if in doubt do your research first.

• Juicing for cellulite: list of vegetables, spices, herbs and berry fruits to use

• Vegetables for cellulite

• Herbs and spices for cellulite

• Berries for cellulite

• Soups = hot vegetable smoothies + added protein

• Add some omega-3 oil to a vegetable smoothie/juice and some protein to a berry smoothie

• Have a cellulite treatment in London with the cellulite experts

• Discover our professional training and consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency and ultrasound cavitation

Foods that fight cellulite: why are vegetable juices and berry smoothies good for cellulite prevention and reduction?

Vegetable juices/smoothies and berry smoothies contain highly concentrated collagen-protecting, blood vessel-supporting, fat-fighting polyphenols and carotenoids (plus vitamins, of course) and negligible calories.

Concentrated polyphenols and carotenoids, both found in vegetable juices and smoothies, are known for their…

1. Anti-inflammatory

2. Anti-glycation

3. Anti-fibrotic

4. Antioxidant

5. Circulation-enhancing

6. Lipolytic

7. Collagen and elastin preserving and boosting…

…action.

In summary, vegetable juices / smoothies act on ALL 7 aspects of cellulite.

Their high polyphenol / carotenoid content, together with very low calories, makes vegetable smoothies/juices and berry smoothies the best class of anti-cellulite foods you can possibly have.

(Omega-3 fatty acids and protein are the other two types of nutrients essential for cellulite prevention and reduction)

Do not mix with other fruit juices

Just make sure you avoid sweet juices in them (e.g. apple, pear, carrot, beetroot, banana, grape, mango, pineapple etc.) to avoid ingesting too many sugars, which are contributors to cellulite.

I know that you may want to add some sweeter juice in a veg juice/smoothie or berry smoothie, but that would just turn the juice/smoothie into a a normal drink, rather than a super-healthy anti-cellulite drink.

The more you compromise, the less the result. Adding even natural sugar from fruit juices is a compromise, as sugar is the number one cause of cellulite.

Vegetable juices vs vegetable smoothies for cellulite and anti-ageing

Vegetable smoothies may be a bit better sometimes than vegetable juices, due to the added fibre, which makes you full. This aids dieting / weight loss efforts.

On the other hand, for someone who does not need to diet, vegetable juices make more sense, as they provide your body with quickly absorbed, concentrated micronutrients and allows you to drink more, and therefore benefit from even more micronutrients.

Consider vegetable juices as strong, totally natural, better absorbed nutritional supplements, against cellulite and skin aging.

Obviously there is a limit to how much you can drink, as excessive consumption may lead to diarrhoea. So start conservatively, build up to it, know your body’s limits and strike a balance that suits your body best.

Berry smoothies vs berry juices for cellulite and anti-ageing

Berry smoothies contain even more polyphenols and carotenoids than vegetable juices, but with a few more calories in the mix. The higher amount of carotenoids, polyphenols and fibre in berry smoothies offset the (mild) negative effect of the few sugars contained in them.

Like vegetable juices, berry juices also contain concentrated, fast absorbing micronutrients plus they allow you to ingest more. But they have the drawback of concentrated sugar too. So drinking berry juices is not such a great idea.

Juices/smoothies vs whole vegetables/fruits

Aren’t whole veggies and fruits better than juices/smoothies?

Indeed, whole veg/fruits are more filling than smoothies, which in turn are more filling than juices. So if reduced calorie consumption is the goal, whole fruits and vegetables are better.

On the other hand, if maximum intake of polyphenols/vitamins is the goal then vegetable juices and berry smoothies are best.

Off-the-shelf smoothies and juices

Most off-the-shelf veg/berry smoothies/juices contain too much and very sweet fruit juice - usually apple, grape, banana or pear - and they are highly calorific.

Plus they are “dead” foods, with all their enzymes destroyed by the pasteurisation process, so they cannot even compare with freshly squeezed smoothies and juices.

Plus they represent an unnecessary plastic pollution burden.

So stick to fresh: better for your legs, better for the planet.

Add herbs and spices to your juices and smoothies

Herbs and spices are even more concentrated sources of polyphenols than vegetables - sometimes even more than berries - so they make excellent boosters for the juices/smoothies.

For example, you can add some turmeric or matcha/sencha tea powder to a veg juice or some mint or thai basil to a berry smoothie to add some extra anti-cellulite goodness and taste to them.

Not all raw vegetables are healthy

I am not going to go into too much detail on what to include in the juices or smoothies, as taste is quite individual for each person - and it’s also good to be creative.

I would just like to make one point: do not use raw vegetables that are traditionally not consumed raw, such as broccoli, kale, cauliflower or aubergines.

There is a reason traditional cultures around the world cook those vegetables and this reason doesn’t just have to do with taste (who would like to eat raw aubergine?).

The reason is anti-nutrients, such as phytates, goitrogenic chemicals and enzyme inhibitors, which have a detrimental effect to either digestion or overall health. Enzyme inhibitors is the reason you cannot eat raw pulses, for example.

Forget raw kale and stick to what makes sense traditionally. and if in doubt do your research first.

For example, kale was traditionally always eaten cooked. The last few years it became a fashion to eat raw kale. What should you do?

A quick research at a reputable website shows that increased intake of raw kale or other brassica vegetables can contain high amounts of goitrin, detrimental to the thyroid gland. Small amounts won’t really hurt, so including kale in your veg drinks from time to time is ok. But consuming it every day is definitely not a good idea.

Yet, following traditional knowledge, i.e. cooking kale, solves the problem, by inactivating goitrin.

As another example, berries have always been consumed raw, so there is no such dilemma about berry fruits.

Juicing for cellulite: list of vegetables, spices, herbs and berry fruits to use

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some vegetables, herbs, spices (and berries, at the end) to freely mix into your anti-cellulite juices/smoothies, according to taste and for variety:

Vegetables for cellulite

• Tomatoes

• Cucumbers

• Peppers

• Courgettes

• Spinach

• Rocket

• Kale (occasionally)

• Fennel (seeds or leaves)

• Lemons / limes

• Different lettuce leaves

• And many more…

Herbs and spices for cellulite

• Ginger

• Turmeric

• Parsley

• Coriander

• Cinnamon

• Basil / thai basil

• Mint / spearmint

• Dill

• Green tea matcha powder

• High flavanol cocoa powder (for berry smoothies)

• Vanilla extract (for berry smoothies)

• Gotu kola / centella asiatica leaves (difficult to source in Europe, but common in SE Asia, and probably the most important anti-cellulite herb)

• And many more…

Berries for cellulite

• Blueberries / bilberries

• Blackberries

• Pomegranates (not technically berries, but bursting with polyphenols)

• Blackcurrants / redcurrants

• Raspberries

• Maqui berries

• Acai berries

• Strawberries

• And many more…

Soups = hot vegetable smoothies + added protein

A smooth hot soup is basically a hot vegetable smoothie, without any of the raw veg dilemmas (i.e. you can use kale, broccoli, aubergines etc).

Heating may damage some ingredients but then again makes some other ones more available. So, in balance, soups are generally as good as vegetable smoothies.

Vegetable soups are warming for the winter and if you combine the vegetables with some low-fat protein (animal or vegan), you get added protein too.

If the protein happens to be wild salmon, then you also get a good helping of omega-3 HUFAs (highly unsaturated fatty acids), without too much in the way of other fatty acids. Even better for cellulite prevention and reduction.

Chunky or smooth, a veggie soup is a great way to add veg and protein goodness to your life, without the calories (just don’t add carbs or anything fatty - except perhaps a teaspoon of olive oil).

Cold soups, such as gazpacho, are also amazing.

Just don’t sauté fry anything for your soup, as that will add oxidised oils/fats and glycated proteins, which will undermine the whole anti-cellulite effort.

Add some omega-3 oil to a vegetable smoothie/juice and some protein to a berry smoothie

You can also add some flax seeds or chia seeds to your vegetable/berry drink (or soup), to benefit from some omega-3 PUFAs (poly-unsaturated fatty acids).

And of course you can add some whey / collagen / vegan collagen powder to your berry smoothie, for extra protein.

(Normally, protein powders are not very palatable with vegetable juices / drinks. However, if you like the mix them in nobody stops you from consuming them and benefiting from veg + protein that way.)

And, of course, there are dozens of functional food powders you can also add, such as prebiotics, probiotics, powdered supplements etc.

The sky’s the limit!

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