5 recipes to try in 2017: A beginner’s guide to juicing!

It’s FRIDAY! Today I have a guest post for you guys regarding juicing. Hope you enjoy!

With only a month until the New Year, we’re looking ahead to 2017 and committing to a better and healthier lifestyle. Juicing has taken the health world by storm this year, with a lot of us blending pounds of fruit and vegetables by the glassful. Here are the ultimate juices, perfect for a better body, a better mind and a better you!

Recipe #1 – Vitamin C repairer

For the growth and repair of tissue in your body, Vitamin C is an essential vitamin needed for our body to function efficiently. However, a lot of us don’t get enough of it. Full of “super foods” this juice is the best for fighting viruses and giving your body a much-needed boost.

  • 1 apple
  • 2 peeled oranges
  • 1 unpeeled lemon
  • 1 chunk of ginger
  • 3 cups of spinach leaves
  • 1-inch piece of peeled ginger
  • 1 sprig of fresh mint leaves

                                                                                   Source

Recipe #2 – Sleep restorer

Having trouble sleeping? Sleep deprivation is a common struggle amongst today’s society and if continued, lack of sleep can affect not only your day to day routine but make you prone to more serious conditions such as heart disease and high blood pressure. This celery-based juice, rich in both Calcium and Magnesium, is designed to help calm the nervous system, and relax the body after a long and strenuous day, making it perfect for those insomniacs amongst us.

  • 2 peeled oranges
  • 1 peeled lemon
  • 3 cups of watercress
  • 8 stalks of celery
  • 3 cups of romaine lettuce

Recipe #3 – Skin Rejuvenator

Put the glow back into your skin with this cucumber and apple juice. These three ingredients work together to neutralise inflammation, boost hydration and alkalinity and promote healthy skin.

  • ½ cucumber
  • ½ apple
  • 3 slices of pineapple

Recipe #4 – Waist reducer

Losing weight isn’t a quick or easy process, but eating the right foods can help boost your metabolism and keep you on the straight and narrow in 2017. This juice, containing dark, leafy greens, rich in calcium, has been linked to weight loss. Combined with ginger, a key ingredient known to curb your cravings, this is an ideal juice to start your day.

  • 2 leaves of swiss chard
  • 1 handful of kale
  • 1 handful of spinach
  • ½ cucumber
  • 1 inch of peeled ginger
  • ½ peeled lemon

Recipe #5 – Energy riser

Whether you’re an early riser and need that initial burst of energy, or a pick me up through the day, full of fructose and glucose, this juice is perfect for a natural energy boost.

  • 4 leaves of red cabbage
  • ½ unpeeled lemon
  • 2 pears

Looking to get all of the above combined?

Remembering to stock up on all of the necessary fruits and vegetables can be challenging, which is why the Prestige Health, Fitness & Juice Retreat launched its juice detox programme.  You can enjoy healthy dining, delicious juices and as much exercise as you can manage. Combined with a week’s stay in the picturesque town of Lagos, this is the perfect fitness holiday to help you reach your goals in 2017.

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Do you juice a lot?

What’s your favourite fruit combo?

Weekend fun and Uzuma drinks

So my weekend recap is a little delayed, but hey these things happen. Weekend’s are precious. Sleeping, eating, running (god willing!), cake (separate category to eating because it’s cake and amazing), friends, family…all the best things really!

After getting over the boredom that was pool running on Saturday morning I got home and pottered about waiting for Ben. He was out doing a 30 mile cycle ride. I was tempted to go with them instead of the pool running but I wanted to do something a bit more running-specific and frankly wasn’t up for a long ride.

After eating lunch we headed to go shopping in the wonder that is West Quay in Southampton. It’s like another world. It’s HUGE (I’ve blogged about the amazingness before HERE last Christmas). One of the main reasons I wanted to go is that it’s like the only place that sells frozen yogurt outside of London in Southampton.

I went in a few shops but just felt a bit…old. The fashion right now is just not me – all crop tops and weird skirts. I’m not a fashionista (can you tell? Ha!) and just like normal clothes. So Fatface is where I found success!

After that I was kind of done. We headed straight to the fro-yo!

IMG_7919Notice that my fro-yo has the fruit in it!

The server asked what size we wanted and we both went for the biggest – obviously 😉 And both chose salted caramel.

Embarrassingly as we were paying the lady went “you do realise your top is on the wrong way?”. Erm…nope I hadn’t been aware of this. Epic fail for a basic human skill: dressing oneself. Hopefully it was just after trying stuff on, otherwise it was a bit of an embarrassing day and my husband doesn’t look at me anymore 😉

IMG_7920 

Genius right there

On Sunday I ran 11 miles which went well. And then for lunch we went to Nando’s with our friend, Nathan. Nando's luch

I just don’t get bored of that combo: whole chicken (medium spice), corn on the cob and salad. It rocks my world. I could go there every week (let’s pretend I don’t…).

The other week I was contact by the people at Uzuma to test out some of their newly released products. Uzuma are a Dutch company and have released a “green slow juice”. Basically they are vegetable (and fruit) juices that have been cold-pressed and processed under high pressure (HPP) in order to preserve the drinks and give them a shelf-life of 21 days without adding any preservatives.

Uzuma delivery

“We add nothing extra to our green juices, meaning there are no preservatives, fragrances, colourings or flavourings. Nothing. What you experience from Uzuma green juice is the 100% pure power of nature. Our green juice allows us to bring you closer to a healthier lifestyle in a simple and convenient way. We do not use destructive traditional spinning extraction to produce Uzuma. All our vegetables and fruit are slow juiced using the latest innovative methods, allowing you to benefit from maximum vitamin and mineral retention.” Source

Uzuma ZenZen flavour – broccoli, cucumber, kale, apple, lime, avocado etc. 

How is it different to other juice drinks? Basically it’s the method they use in order to extract the juice from the vegetables and fruit. It doesn’t involve heat and so has a better nutritional value than regular juice drinks (i.e. it’s raw). Read more about it HERE.

IMG_7927 Rise flavour – carrots, apple, pineapple, orange, lemon

What did I think? Well, I love vegetables so this is right up my street. Some of them tasted a bit better than others – mainly the ones with more fruit in them as this made them sweeter. But saying that, I quite enjoyed all of the flavours regardless of their sweetness.

I think the big test was how Ben found them. I made gave him one each day to take into work to drink. He is a vegetable dodger so these were more beneficial to him than me who loves veg and eats it regularly.

IMG_7890Shine – melon, mango, carrots and orange

He much preferred the sweeter ones and detested the one that had beetroot in it (Vibe) as he doesn’t like beetroot. But he said they were “alright” and that he could “endure taking them” to maximise his health.

Each one literally just contains vegetables and fruit. They’re dairy, gluten and soy free and they’re around 100 calories (some more, some less).

Personally I wouldn’t necessarily drink these everyday, only because I get enough veg already. Maybe I’d have some if I’d been on holiday and hadn’t eaten much veg and needed a bit of a health boost. I would definitely recommend them to people like my dad and Ben who don’t eat that much veg on a regular basis. It’s an easy way for them to get a lot of nutrition quick and easily.

Do you like juicing? What are your favourite ingredients?

What’s a restaurant you regularly keep going back to? We have many pubs we go back to, but Nando’s is the main chain we visit a lot.

Ever had an embarrassing shopping-related incident?

*** Full disclosure: I was sent the Uzuma products for free to review. But all opinions are my own***