Happy New Year people!

I mentioned before christmas that I’ve been a juicing fan  since completing a Jason Vale 3 day juice detox last year, and I was all geared up to do my next detox in the new year.

After feeling bloated, sluggish and generally tired and podgy after a heavy Christmas and New Year of  the usual over indulgence  I was extremely geared up and  ready to begin my detox on the 2nd January and I even managed to rope my poor boyfriend Tony into it this time around.

The Jason Vale books are simple and brilliant. The actual juice detox recipes that I followed came direct from Jason Vale’s book: Juice Master Keeping It Simple: Over 100 Juice and Smoothie Recipes. It’s a 3 day program that is all prepared for you, complete with a full shopping list of everything you need to buy at the supermarket, that includes fruits and veggies such as apples, carrots, cucumber, broccoli, beets, ginger, avocado, blackberries, blueberries, pineapple and spinach. As well as a shopping list it also gives you  your recipes and your daily menu plan including breakfast, lunch, ‘linner’ and dinner recipes.

Each  of the juices have a combination of detoxing, cleansing and nutritious ingredients which are of course all raw,and the juices themselves taste really good considering the amount of vegetables in each one and trust me when I say I am not a veggie fan!

My favourite recipe of the 3 day detox comes on day two breakfast meal, as its fruity and filling so I thought I’d share the recipe.

Juice Master super detox smoothie:

1/2 Juices Pineapple
3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
3/4 cup blackberries (fresh or frozen)
3/4 cup Bio Live Yoghurt
Ice!

‘Whats’ In it you might ask?

Vitamins: B1, B2, B6, C and D, fibre, potassium, iron, calcium, manganese, beta-carotene, phosphorus, folic acid, antioxidants, zinc and sodium.

How Does This Help the Detox?

Blueberries contain some of nature’s most powerful antioxidants and anti-aging phytonutrients, which help to destroy the free radicals that age the skin and cause premature wrinkles.  Blackberries are antibacterial, they promote healing and are also god for the treatment and prevention of diarrhoea. Live yoghurt helps to maintain a healthy gut.

Some people say that juicing is expensive, after all eating healthy has always been way more pricey than tucking into ‘Icelands’  finest frozen ready meals hasn’t it? But if you do  try the homemade method rather than choosing a pricey delivery service where its all done for you, It can set you back an eye watering £100 – £200 for a 3-5 days cleanse,so compared to that its not that expensive. I brought the shopping list Vale provided twice over as me and my partner Tony were both doing the cleanse and it didn’t cost more than £45.00 for enough ingredients for the both of us and although the actual juicer will set you back £100.00 if you use it as regularly as i do its worth every penny!

Now i’m not going to lie this detox does take will power! You will sleep excessively, you will miss chewing food, you will feel weak & lethargic at times and you will be a moody grumpy pants and want to quit on day two! So make sure your not run off your feet at work,super  busy or have nights out planned as this will need your full focus and you definitely will want to rest when ever possible so i personally would give exercise a miss too whilst doing it. But on the plus size,your tummy will flatten,your skin will glow and you will feel great at the end of it,but remember you must eat healthily post detox or your body will gain excess weight if you go and eat junk right after. Your body will have been in starvation mode for 3 days during this food free period and will store everything you eat after as fat just in case you stop eating again.So its important to use the detox to kick start a healthier diet and to maintain the results afterwards with a healthy balanced diet and exercise.

I hope this post as inspired all you fellow veggie haters to get juicing and drinking your veg instead of avoiding it entirely, and helped to motivate you to give it a go and make a healthy start to 2013.

Love Shanie xxx