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Tuesday 26 February 2013

Detoxing is not just for January

   Feeling a bit out of sorts? Fed up with the grey wintery days going on and on? Finding yourself slipping back into bad eating habits and all those goals you had in January are now a bit of a distant memory? 

   Well you are only human as am I. 

   There is an excuse we use, "but you put on weight as you get older" well it gets harder to keep it off but the only reason we put on weight as we get older is due to our lifestyle. Throughout the year we have all sorts of things going on and "you got to enjoy yourself" but add up the odd pound here from an indulgent weekend, those few pounds from easter, the holiday weight gain then birthday treats and we are back to Christmas and all those extra pounds! Thats why we put on weight, no excuses. I'm not saying don't indulge, I'm saying make sure you get rid of it as you go or a few years down the line you will have more than a couple of niggling pounds to get rid of!

   Every now and again we need to give ourselves a little boost and a kick up the ass. Although I eat very healthily and exercise, I am no saint and have a terrible weakness for a glass of wine or two and weekends can be a little naughty for me! So once in a while I like to reign myself in and do a little detoxing, get back on the straight and narrow. Because its easy to let things slip and get a little too comfortable and before you know it you are back where you started and its January again! 

   So here we go, time for my kick up the ass. The next 3 days are going to full of juicey goodness, I have done lots of detox's and I regularly have veggie juices but I have never done a full on juice detox. No solid food, just lots of fruit and veg juiced! Over the next 3 days I will be consuming, 15 lemons, 6 cucumbers, 15 sticks of celery, 300g of Broccoli, 1 fennel, 2 courgettes, 24 apples, 6 limes, parsley, 3 bags of spinach, mint, 2 pineapples, 1 bag of watercress, 6 pears and 225g cashews! This is gonna be harsh! But worth it, juices give you a rich hit of all those nutrients and you feel great actually when you have these juices regularly.

I have started my day with Detox lemonade:
  • juice of 2/3 lemons
  •  500ml water
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons of Agave Syrup
All blitzed together in a blender. A refreshing and Vitamin C packed juice that will kick start the body! It actually tastes really good!

Mid morning I shall be having a Green Veggie juice:
  • 1 cucumber
  • 5 celery stalks
  • 100g Broccoli
  • 1/4 fennel bulb
  • 1/2 courgette
  • 1 apple
  • 1 lime
  • 3 large handfuls of parsley
  • 3 large handfuls of spinach
These will need to be juiced whole, I have a cheap juicer that I picked up years ago, it does the job but is a right pain to clean!! This juice is packed with anti-oxidants and has an alkalzing eefect on the body.

Lunch will be Pineapple and Apple juice with Spinach:
  • 5 apples
  • 2 handfuls of spinach
  • 1 handful of fresh mint
  • 1/2 a large pineapple
  • juice of 1 lime.
Juiced

Mid afternoon will be Cucumber, Apple, Pear and Watercress.
  • 3 apples
  • 2 handfuls of watercress
  • 1 cucumber
  • 2 pears
  • juice of 1 lemon
Juiced

Dinner will be Cashew Milk:
  • 75g cashews (unsalted)
  • 400ml water
  • 1-2 tablespoons of agave syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil
  • a pinch of sea salt
All blended together.

In the evening I will have one more serving of detox lemonade! Then I will repeat all of this again for the next 3 days! Wish me luck!

This detox has been taken from the Raw Detox book by Anya Ladra.