3 Day Juice Detox - The Verdict

For the last 3 days I have followed the detox plan laid down in the JuiceMaster book Keeping It Simple! Over 100 Juice & Smoothie Recipes. Here is what the plan looked like:

As you can see it is a rotation of five juices and smoothies, as well as hot water with lemon/lime and I also incorporated herbal teas.

Beetroot featured heavily and though I generally detest beetroot (along with olives and coffee...I know, I know, sorry coffee lovers) I don't mind it at all in juices and sweetened with other fruits and veggies.

Beetroot stained fingers!

The one above is actually the H2O detox - about half as much juice as the 'meals' topped up with water to be a more refreshing drink that you can sip on in between meals. It has beetroot (surprise), pineapple, apple and lemon in!

I kept up my program during an overnight stay in London by preparing my drinks in advance and bottling them in any flasks/shakers I could get my hands on. The one above is a very filling beetroot, apple, spinach, parsley and cucumber juice blended with avocado (the Beyond Detox). It is seriously creamy, with plenty of powerful ingredients and just enough sweetness from the apples.

This one is the Detox Special. Probably my least favourite because the vegetable content (more beetroot, celery, cucumber, yellow pepper and broccoli) was a bit higher than the others, so less sweet. But even though it was the first one, it wasn't too much to put me off.

This one tasted far to good to be on a detox and unfortunately the Super Detox Smoothie only featured once. Freshly extracted pineapple juice blended with blackberries, blueberries and natural yoghurt...I'll leave it to your imagination!

Here's another demonstration of my preparedness ;-) When I returned from London on Saturday morning (I made my breakfast the day before to have on the journey) I decided that it would definitely be easier to make the rest of the days juices in one go and store them in flasks again. Tip: as long as you put a squeeze of lemon in, a juice it can keep well for much longer. This Dreamy Detox isn't quite what you'd expect from the name. Instead of a velvety smooth, creamy gentle flavour, there is a real punch of lemon and ginger, which is juiced along with apple cucumber and celery.
All together then!

 So how has it gone?

• On day one I was aware of my energy levels dipping around midday and some mild headaches which are apparently normal and indicate withdrawal from stimulants like sugar and caffeine.
• Since then, no problems at all in terms of energy or headaches, and a notable improvement in
• bloating
• my skin
• stomach cramps (they are better than they were since limiting sugar but not gone all together)
• generally feeling lighter
• feeling more in control of my eating habits and better able to recognise hunger

Oh, and I said, I was overnighting in London, so as to collect Emma early from the airport as she returned home from her incredible stay in the US. In fact, you must check out her blog about her travels here. She told me she'd bring me back some American goodies and I am hugely grateful for what she brought me :-D

Hopefully these will be familiar to any of my American readers? So excited to start trying these once I'm back on the food tomorrow!


Bye for now,

Hannah xx