Zero Belly Smoothies is a popular book sold on Amazon. The book claims you can lose 16 pounds in 14 days by drinking special types of smoothies. Here’s our Zero Belly Smoothies review.
What is Zero Belly Smoothies?
Zero Belly Smoothies is a diet book sold online primarily through Amazon.com. The book is a key part of the Zero Belly Diet, which consists of eating foods that minimize your belly fat.
The book itself consists of a variety of smoothies designed specifically to help you lose weight. The book claims that you can lose up to 16 pounds in 14 days and “sip your way to a lean and healthy you.”
The book is available for $13.12 USD (Kindle edition) or $10.14 for the paperback version (yes, the paperback version is mysteriously cheaper).
Who Wrote Zero Belly Smoothies?
Zero Belly Smoothies was created by David Zinczenko, best-known for writing the popular diet book Eat This, Not That! That book reached the number one position on the New York Times bestseller list. It has also sold more than 8 million copies across North America.
After the popularity of that book, David created the Zero Belly Diet, which he discussed in his book Zero Belly Diet. He later created the Zero Belly Diet Cookbook and Zero Belly Smoothies.
David is the founder of Galvanized Media, his global health and wellness company, and also works as the editorial director of Men’s Fitness. You can learn more about him at his Wikipedia page here.
In any case, let’s get to the exciting part of Zero Belly Smoothies: the actual smoothies.
Why Are Smoothies Effective for Weight Loss?
David claims that smoothies are some of the most effective weight loss foods because they’re easy to make, tasty, and can be consumed quickly. David cites a 2012 study where researchers placed a group of obese adults on a regimen where their breakfasts and dinners with a high-protein smoothie. That was the only change: participants were not told how much to exercise or given any restrictions on how much they could eat. After 12 weeks, these obese adults had lost 18.5 pounds on average and enjoyed significant improvements in physical functioning, general health, vitality, and mental health.
He also cites a study that analyzed the results of 20 separate studies. In one study, participants lost 16.4% of their body weight – up to 44 pounds – after 18 weeks of drinking at least 3 smoothies a day.
Clearly, the research behind smoothies is there. David lists plenty of other studies to reinforce the weight loss effects.
What Are Zero Belly Smoothies?
What makes Zero Belly Smoothies different from other smoothies? Why can’t you just keep drinking your normal protein shakes?
Well, David has crafted each smoothie with some unique qualities. All of the smoothies use vegetable protein powder, for example, along with nut or dairy-free milks.
David claims this is important because most Americans don’t get enough fruits and vegetables in a day. The author of Zero Belly Smoothies advocate adding healthy amounts of fruits and vegetables to smoothies without overloading any smoothies. He claims some people have gotten stupid with their smoothies, making 2,000 calorie concoctions packed with sugar that lead to little weight loss (or even weight gain). Smoothie King, for example, has a smoothie with 2,000 calories that many people think is healthy.
In any case, the first quarter of third of the book features a detailed explanation of how zero belly smoothies work and how to implement those smoothies into your lifestyle. It’s not just a collection of recipes (although most of the book does contain recipes).
Sample Zero Belly Smoothies Recipe
Zero Belly Smoothies claims their most popular smoothie is the Blueberry Dazzler. It’s one of the few free sample recipes you’ll get upfront. The recipe looks like this:
-1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
-1/2 tablespoon almond butter
-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
-1 scoop vanilla plant-based protein powder
-Water to blend
That smoothie has 254 calories, 7 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbs, 4 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 20 grams of protein.
Zero Belly Smoothies recommends using wild blueberries (found in the freezer section) because they have higher nutritional value than conventional blueberries.
Benefits of Zero Belly Smoothies
David claims these smoothies can change your life by providing excellent health benefits in as little as 72 hours. Some of the benefits include:
-Flatten your belly
-Heal your digestive system
-Strip away unwanted fat
-Trim inches from your waist
Zero Belly Smoothies actually has some studies and stats to back up these benefits. David cites one client who lost 21 pounds and 7 inches off her waist in less than 40 days, and another client who lost 21 pounds and 5 inches off his waist in six weeks.
An original Zero Belly diet test panel of 500 men and women lost as much as 3 inches off their waist in less than a week, and 16 pounds in the first 14 days.
Once again, you can enjoy these benefits without changing any other part of your life except for the smoothies. Just replace a meal or two a day with a smoothie. To enhance the effects of the Zero Belly Diet, you can certainly restrict your diet or exercise more.
What Do Customers Have to Say About Zero Belly Smoothies?
Zero Belly Smoothies has excellent reviews on Amazon, where it has an average rating of 4.4 stars out of 5 with a total of 107 customer reviews. 71% of the reviews are 5 stars.
Here are some of the pros and cons we’ve spotted in reviews:
Pros
-Easy to replace breakfast and dinner with smoothies and enjoy weight loss in weeks
-Informative section at the start of the book, including multiple chapters explaining the health benefits of Zero Belly Smoothies
-Delicious, filling smoothies
-All smoothies are vegan and gluten-free
-Good advice from a health specialist
-Variety of smoothies with different ingredients, including green smoothies
Cons
-Some people claim the nutritional information in the book is inaccurate. For example, one smoothie calls for 1/4 cup of pistachios (which contain 14 grams of fat on their own) but the smoothie claims to contain just 9 grams of fat. They also claim that one smoothie is listed as containing 210 grams of protein (which is a ridiculous number) when in reality it contains just 25 grams.
-Other misprints and typos can be found throughout the book
Overall, most reviews for the book are positive, with reviewers claiming they lost a significant amount of weight. Most of the reviews indicate that the smoothies were very tasty and filling. Aside from the one reviewer listing “erroneous information” in the book, most people had nothing but good things to say.
If you’re interested in losing weight by drinking healthy smoothies, then Zero Belly Smoothies is available for purchase from Amazon for between $10 and $15.