Juice ahoy!

Time for a spot of juicing I think.  I've done juice detoxes for about 3 years now since a friend introduced me, or more importantly to me at that point, my sister to the joys of juicing.  She followed the Jason Vale 7lb in 7 days plan and looked so fabulous I decided that I wanted some of that for myself!  My sister followed the program much more to the letter than I did, doing the recommended excercise and looked, well, simply glowing.  I followed the juicing recipes, ran around after a 3 year old and felt fantastic.  Following us later my mum took part in it, got rid of headaches (along with using Homeopathy also) and lost an amazing 22lb (not all in a week I'd like to add) and felt brilliant.

The 7lb in 7 days a great one to start off with, whether you're looking for weight loss like my mum or detox like I was. It's especially important I feel to read the book first, to make yourself aware of the benefits, what you're gaining by cutting out certain foods (sometimes I think we can identify with the 'diet' mindset and focus on the lack instead of the gain involved). 

One of the big up-sides of Jason's work I feel is the education element.  There were many things I probably hadn't questioned or given much thought to before reading his books, and having been involved in healthcare for the past 9 years I would guess I'm not the only one in the country.  Take milk for example (and please bear with me - I'm a relative newbie to the argument), but really - why are we all drinking gallons of the stuff?  Surely cows milk was only intended for baby cows just as much as human milk was made for our babies.  Fair play to the restaurant in Covent Garden who produced the breastmilk icecream

and really - why was it banned (later unbanned) when we're as a nation downing gallons of stuff made for another species - and one with four stomachs at that?   And, if we need all that calcium to get by then how on earth do the biggest mammals on this earth cope with merely a plant based diet?  Don't get me wrong - I've not (yet) given up dairy but have significantly reduced it as a result of reading Jason's books. 

Scott Jurek may be the one responsible for that bigger change to come, after reading his brilliant Eat and Run, the first autobiographical recipe book I've ever read, I've been inspired to move towards a vegan based diet....

So here goes for Autumn - and in keeping with the just gone summer theme, the day after a wonderful full moon pool party I've chosen the Ibiza Detox  for initially 6 days of juicing.  It's the first time I've followed this plan and so far so good - the juices are easy to make, require slightly less variety of ingredients but are tasty and seem well planned.  Similarly to Mr Vale's programs there's a follow on so a total of a 3 week plan for you to follow should you desire.

Here's to a happy, healthy Autumn for everyone... juice ahoy!