My First Juice !

My boyfriend and I woke up unusually early this morning, both of us were extremely excited to try out our new toy! We devoured our 'last supper' last night and mentally prepared ourselves for the absence of solid food in our next 6 days. 

We looked at online recipes to gather some ideas, a great recipe blog I discovered was written by:
+Elizabeth Rider 

To be honest, we were both feeling enthusiastic about operating the machine, but less about the actual drinking of the juice! Here I'll show you the recipe I used, how I prepared the ingredients and what I thought of the finished product!

So here it goes, my first juice!

I read somewhere that pineapple is great in a juice to sweeten/disguise flavours you are not keen on. Being a rather fussy eater and having never eaten beetroot before (shameful!) I was keen to mask the flavour of the beet as much as possible. 

I then chopped and prepared the fruits and vegetables ready to put into the machine...

Citrus fruits have a bitter skin and pith so I sliced away the lemon and orange skin, I peeled the carrots and removed the ends and prepared half of the pineapple. 

We turned the machine on to a medium setting, then added the carrots first. I was surprised at how much juice they made! Having put all of the ingredients into the machine I allowed a few seconds for the juice to drain through the filter and tilted the machine to drain as much into the collection jug as possible. 

The ingredients put in resulted in .75litres of juice. 

Now the tasting! 

I was pleasantly surprised! The juice was predominantly fruity; lots of citrus flavour and a beautiful hot pink in colour. 

The beetroot flavour came through only slightly. Juicing is definitely the way to get the ingredients in that are good for you, that you would otherwise perhaps not eat! 

I'm very happy with my first try.

The clean up did not take too long. I rinsed the components in warm water and used the little brush that came with the juicer to rub the fruit pulp out of the filter. Juicing produces a lot of waste pulp. I hope to use this to create compost in the future... my next project perhaps!

Nutritional Value:

Here is a little bit of info on the juice above and it's health benefits!

Beetroot

Has been known to cleanse the blood, liver and colon. It regenerates red blood cells due to it's high iron content, it also supplies fresh oxygen to the body. 

Lemon

Lemons have a high vitamin C content which acts as an antioxidant, this protects cells from free radical damage. Lemon juice also cures problems with digestion and constipation.Lemon is a natural antiseptic medicine, it nourishes the skin and helps to prevent dryness and psoriasis. 

Carrots

Carrots are fantastic for the immune system. They increase the production and effectiveness of white blood cells. Carrots are full of vitamin A, if someone is deficient in this vitamin it can often lead to difficulty seeing in dim light. Carrots are also full of Beta-Carotene; increasing your intake of carrots has been linked to a reduced risk of many cancers. Especially lung cancer; research has shown that increasing beta-carotene consumption from 1.7 to 2.7 milligrams a day reduced lung cancer risk more than 40 percent.

Pineapple

Pineapples are a natural anti-inflammatory and also contain high levels of vitamin C which when consumed regularly can lower cholesterol. 

Orange

Orange tastes acidic but is actually alkaline, it therefore is great for helping healthy digestion and stimulates digestive juices which prevents constipation. It also has benefits for the skin, it's high content of vitamin C and antioxidants is anti-aging for the complexion. 

Juice flasks and storage

Final Preparation...

Taking juices to work and storing them in the fridge.

In order to take juices to work with us and store the left over juice we make, we realised we'd need to buy some containers. 

We bought a thermal flask to contain the juice, if we are unable to keep it in the fridge before drinking it then it should remain at a fairly cold temperature until we are ready! What is also fantastic is that they are dishwasher safe. 

We also bought some glass bottles with a sealable top so that the juice keeps fresh in the fridge. I also think the juice will look appealing (hopefully!) in these bottles. 

Important: Don't forget the fruit and veg!!!

Empty fridge and re-stock with fruits and veggies...

I went to a lovely market-style shop today in Lindenplatz, Zürich. I also went to +MIGROS supermarket which was just over the road to pick up anything the market didn't have! 

Having looked at a few basic recipes I compiled a list of things I would need. My boyfriend +Alex Grooters is joining me for the cleanse! We decided therefore to buy as much as we could carry. We made sure we had lots of apples and carrots (there are actually 3 bags stacked on top of each other here!) Most recipes contain carrots or apples, or both! Another common ingredient in many recipes seems to be lemon and ginger, which naturally I would not expect, but I have bought them so that I can begin my juicing journey by following popular recipes, and then hopefully in time devise my own. 

In total this entire truck load of fruit came to 73CHF ($82/€59) !! Not bad really! It was definitely worth going to the market shop, I imagine the same amount of fruit would have cost significantly more in a supermarket. 

Stay tuned for my first juice!! 

The Big Purchase...

In preparation for my first 6-day Juice Cleanse, I bought a few essentials today!!

Starting with the Juicer itself...

I bought this at Media Markt in Switzerland where the brand is called 'Solis', it is also available from +Media Markt Deutschland (Link to Website) here it is called a 'Gastroback' Juicer and seems significantly more expensive! Here in Switzerland it cost me 139CHF with a 2 year guarantee, this could have been extended to 5 years for an additional 49CHF which I think is very reasonable. 

Here it is removed from the packaging. It is fairly large in size, and is around 5kg in weight. The blades and filter are made from stainless steel and the motor is 800W.

I think it is sleek and very modern looking. I like the chrome and black colours and think it would look stylish in most kitchens. Many of the other juicers available were white and much cheaper looking, this I feel looks a lot more expensive than it is.

Here I have dismantled the main components, you can see the stainless steel blades and filter. The 'plunger' used for pushing the fruit and vegetables into the blade and both of the collection containers (one for waste pulp and the other for the juice.) 

The juicer is digital and has a screen on the front of the machine that informs you which of the 5 settings you are operating (which can be varied depending on how hard or soft the fruits and vegetables are.) It also tells you how hot the motor is during use.

It comes with an instruction manual in a variety of languages including German and English. 

So far I think the juicer appears sturdy and fit for use. After inspecting many machines in the shop before selecting this one, I think the quality is of a high standard. I just hope it doesn't take 3 hours to clean after each use... I shall update you with this tomorrow! 

Fat, Sick & Almost Dead: My thoughts

Having watched the full movie I now feel motivated for a change. 
I enjoyed watching Joe Cross change his life, size and health and felt good for him! He was clearly empowered by the dramatic results and his passion to preach about his success led to many others converting to juicing. 

I appreciated the realistic opinions of those involved; one woman agreed to try out a 10 day juice cleanse and following her first sip of juice said 'Oh God, that's nasty!' 

The film left me with many questions that I hope to be able to answer myself... 

• Will I feel exhausted and faint?
• Will I be able to continue exercising as normal? (5k average 3x a week)
• Will I poo?! 
• How quickly will I notice a difference... (if any) in the way I feel?

I believe many drastic diets for example the maple syrup diet would leave me with not only questions, but concerns. I trust the film and the concept, the message is clear; pump your body with micro nutrients (found in fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds) rather than macro nutrients (processed foods like bread and sugars) and your body will feel healthier. 

The following picture shown in the film was interesting to me, it makes sense and just simplifies how little nutrition there is in fatty fast food and processed foods, and how much more you can eat when the food is purer and closest to it's raw state. 

I hope to remain realistic about how difficult this will be for me! I aim to begin my 'Juicing Journey' on Sunday. The duration of my first juice cleanse will be 6 days. I feel for me this is sufficiently challenging and realistic. I hope to build up to a longer cleanse in the future, and believe a short cleanse will allow me to collect tried and tested recipes in preparation for this. 

My inspiration and starting point

Welcome!

So this is my new adventure... blogging and juicing!
For now I'll introduce myself and give you the opportunity to become as inspired as I now am with the world of juicing.

Where it all began...
I'm Jess, a 25 year old Teacher. 
2013 was a huge year for me, I moved out of my parent's house in the Midlands (scary in itself!) I then moved to Switzerland alone where I now work in Zurich as an English Teacher. I made this change for many reasons, but perhaps the reason I talked about the least, (which was actually the one driving me to do it the most) was that I wanted change. I wanted a blank canvas, I wanted to feel challenged and I wanted to start again. I guess this is exactly how I now feel about my health and lifestyle.

I would not consider my current state to be in desperate need of change. I watch every TV show made about diet/obesity/health and scare myself on a regular basis that I will drop down dead tomorrow. I eat a balanced diet without a doubt. I enjoy vegetables and fruit but I enjoy cake and pizza more. Who doesn't?! Be honest! I am moderately active; I love to run, it makes me feel free and happy. I don't run every day, I don't run until I feel sick and I don't compete in every race within a 100 mile radius of my home. I just enjoy running in the fresh air and cannot get my head around the gym. Running/rowing/cross-training in front of a wall does not fill me with any feeling of accomplishment. I like to move to somewhere!!

The initiative to change the way I eat (and live) has always been a 'next step' for me. I am very relaxed when it comes to food, I eat what I fancy! Which of course is healthy in terms of 'the happy factor' but not healthy for my body. I was watching some videos on Youtube recently and was directed (through related videos) to the following film…

   

Or click here if the previous video will not play in your country

I started to watch this with the expectation that I would have heard it all before, that it was unlikely I would learn anything new. I was wrong! I urge you to set aside some time to watch it.

Let me know what your thoughts are, I will write mine in my next post.

Jess.