These calories add up quickly too. If you drink two eight-ounce cans of regular soda each day, you will consume an additional 1330-1610 calories in one week in just soda alone. One pound of fat is equal to about 3500 calories. That means that if your are a real couch potato, you could be gaining an extra pound every 2-3 days just from your soda habit.

And let’s not forget the sugar in soda. A 12-ounce can of Coca Cola can have as much as 39 grams of sugar!

It’s time to make a change. Giving up this bubbly beverage can be hard, but it’s not impossible. I recommend that you kick this weight-sabotaging habit to the curb immediately by quitting soda cold turkey. If caffeine withdrawal is a problem, then I’ll share some tips below for overcoming both soda and caffeine addiction in just two weeks.

Quitting Soda Cold Turkey

Ending a soda pop habit overnight has its advantages. For one, you will drastically reduce the amount of calories and excess sugar you consuming each day. If your health is poor, ditching the soda can be a big improvement.

However, you might experience headaches from caffeine withdrawal if you regularly drink caffeinated sodas. You might crave the sweetness or the sugar or the fizziness of pop, but if you can get through these cravings, this is the fastest and best way to give up soda.

If you’re like me, however, you’ll probably find it hard to cut something from your life that you really enjoy, no matter how unhealthy it is. Quitting soda cold turkey is easiest if you only drink one or two small cans per day, or a few times per week.

What do you do if you like the taste of soda or if you’re not sure what to drink with your lunch? I’ll get to that in a minute, but the answer is not “organic” or “natural” soda. Replacing an unhealthy food or beverage with another unhealthy beverage isn’t a viable solution to an excess calories and sugar problem.

Dealing With Caffeine Withdrawal

If you’ve got a caffeine addiction that comes with drinking a lot of caffeinated soda, then you might need to ween yourself off the caffeine. Go ahead and cut soda pop from your life, but step down from your daily caffeine load gradually over a two week period by using green or white tea.

While green and white teas contain small amounts of caffeine (green tea has about 1/3 the caffeine of coffee), they do not contain sugar. Don’t go dumping sugar in your tea, though!

If you are not a tea drinker or you don’t like the taste of tea, I’ve got a solution for you. I call it “raw soda”.

The Real Healthy Alternative To Soda Pop

So just what are raw sodas? Raw sodas are blended SWEET fruit mixed with a little mineral water to make them bubbly. I stress the word “sweet” since soda is very sweet and you want to replicate the sweetness of soda without the excess, concentrated and refined sugar.

I use about one cup of sweet fruit for 8 ounces of mineral water. One of my favorite raw soda recipes is 1/2 cup watermelon, 1/2 mango and 8 ounces of mineral water. Make sure you blend the fruit on its own (don’t blend carbonated water unless you want to turn your kitchen into a foamy, sticky mess!

Pour the blended fruit into a glass and add the carbonated mineral water. Give it a gentle stir and enjoy.

To add a little caffeine, brew two bags of green or white tea (you can also use black tea) in about 3 ounces of water. Make sure it has caffeine in it. Let it cool and add it to the soda. You don’t have to add plain black or green tea, you can find all kinds of great flavors in the tea aisle of your local grocery store. Do that for about a week.

Adding a little concentrated tea to your raw soda helps provide a little bit of caffeine to reduce the severity of caffeine withdrawal.

After the first week of making your raw sodas with caffeinated tea, cut back to just one teabag for the next week. At the start of the third week, ditch the tea and enjoy the simple pleasure of fruit blended with mineral water.

Here is another great raw soda recipe:

Lemon-Lime Soda

• 1 cup green grapes
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 8 ounces mineral water

You can easily get a lemon tea to add if you are using this recipe to ween yourself off soda. These are also great soda replacements as they contain healthy fiber with helps to slow down the release of sugars to your blood stream. They are more filling then soda and are full of vitamins so you can consider them a snack or as part of your meal.

I have many other raw soda recipes in my Green Smoothie Health & Weight Loss program. This program contains everything you need to know to lose weight and feel great with green smoothies and whole foods. I lost 40 pounds and kicked many bad diet and lifestyle habits. All my tips, advice and experiences are outlined along with hundreds of recipes, answers to over 115 questions and so much more.

Are you ready to lose weight, beat cravings, feel satisfied and take your life (and health) back? Then take a look at my Green Smoothie Health & Weight Loss program today!

Read more articles and find recipes for green smoothie weight loss.

Chia seeds are a high source of protein and Omega-3 essential fatty acids, while sesame seeds are high in calcium. Together, they give this smoothie an extra boost of nutrients.

It’s very sweet, so you don’t need to add additional sweetener.

Chia Seed-Red Grape Smoothie Recipe

• 1 cup red grapes
• 2 teaspoons chia seeds, soaked for about 10 minutes
• 2 bananas
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 4 to 5 ounces of filtered water

Add everything except for the lettuce to your blender and pulse the ingredients until they are roughly blended. Now, add the lettuce and blend on high for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 518
Fat: 10g
Protein: 14g
Carbohydrates: 108g
Calcium: 18% RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance)
Iron: 8.5mg
Vitamin A: 1826% RDA
Vitamin C: 208% RDA

This smoothie is also a rich source of folate, vitamin B1 – B6, vitamin K, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.

Browse more green smoothie recipes.

Health Benefits and Nutrition

Pomegranates are a great source of vitamin C, B5, potassium, fiber and antioxidants. Studies suggest that regular consumption of pomegranates or its juice may reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce high blood pressure and inhibit viral infections.

How To Use Pomegranate In A Smoothie

The easiest way to use pomegranate in a smoothie recipe is to use the juice as the liquid portion in recipes, instead of water. I prefer to juice my own pomegranates rather than use pasteurized, bottled juice found in the store. Freshly squeezed juice has greater nutritional value and it is fresher.

Much of the nutrition, especially the healthy fat and fiber, are contained in the seeds so it is good to use the whole fruit if possible. Unfortunately, pomegranate seeds can be a challenge to puree even in a high-end blender. You might still get a little seed grit if you blend it slightly longer, but it’s not bad. To juice the pomegranate, simply empty the seeds in a strainer and smash them with a spoon. Make sure you place a metal bowl under the strainer. Pomegranate juice stains, so be careful!

If you juice your pomegranate, I do recommend that you use the juice from a few more as your smoothie liquid instead of water.

Smoothie Recipe Ideas

Pomegranate blends well with red grapes and other berries for flavor combination. Apple, pear and even banana make a great base for a pomegranate smoothie.

Here is a tasty smoothie recipe I tried this weekend:

– 1 cup pomegranate juice
– 1 Fuji apple, cored
– 1/2 carrot
– 2 large handfuls of raw baby spinach
– Add ice to chill if desired

Blend on high until thoroughly mixed.

Browse more pomegranate smoothie recipes!

Nutrition Information

A medium-sized pomegranate will have about 105 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of protein, 36 grams of carbohydrates and about 16% RDA of vitamin C.

Pomegranate juice will contain slightly more calories, a lot more vitamin C, no protein or fat and a much higher concentration of antioxidants.

Do You Have A Favorite Pomegranate Smoothie Recipe?

Whether you use the whole fruit, just the juice or a combination of the two, share your favorite pom smoothie recipes with us!