Juice Fast: Day One
Day One started with a certain level of excitement and feeling very up for the challenge. After a weekend of feeling revolting (see: dodgy shawarma) I was looking forward to rehydrating with all manner of special teas, plenty of water and pumping myself full of vitamins with all these fancy bespoke juices. And that's definitely how it started.
The first 'tonic' of the day is a lemon and ginger number designed to 'kick-start healthy digestion' and cleanse the body. I'm not really a believer of cleansing the body per se, but there's no doubt that starting the day with a lemon and ginger juice is a good thing. The problem is it's not scheduled (yes, there's a strict schedule for you to stick to!) until 8.30am, and with a one year old and a husband that leaves for work at 7.20am, I can't hang around until then; I'd normally be on my second cup of black coffee. So after checking with the powers that be, I sorted myself out with a couple of hot water and lemons until it was tonic time. The tonic itself was very nice, and something I'd look at continuing to have in future as I can't bear dairy first thing in the morning - I always want something 'clean' feeling if you know what I mean.
The herbal tea at 9am was a different matter. You're supposed to soak something called cascara bark in hot water for a few minutes and drink slowly to stimulate digestive secretions in the liver, gallbladder, stomach and pancreas. To be fair, it does say on the label that it is a bitter tonic, but my gosh, it is vile. I watered it down significantly and forced it down. Horrible.
I don't normally have breakfast in the week, so didn't miss this and was easily fine to wait until 11am for my first juice which was a 'Rehydrating' number involving flaxseed and plenty of tropical fruit. It was fine and tasted like any Innocent smoothie you'd pick up normally, plus kept any hunger pangs at bay.
Lunchtime was taxing as I made Leo a delicious looking curry (no chilli!) and begrudgingly fed it to him whilst sipping my 1pm 'Protein' smoothie. I think this was a yummy mango and passionfruit one, which I love. Again, I don't always have lunch in the week, so I was ok with missing it. It was hard staying in all day though (due to poorly child), as I normally find that getting out and about distracts me from eating - so avoiding the fridge was doubly hard.
2pm was horrible bark tea time again, but this time I was wise to it and only steeped the bark for under a minute before whipping it out and adding a slice of lemon. Much more palatable, but probably not very beneficial.
I stupidly watched some food programmes during the afternoon, which made me very hungry indeed! At one point I could not stop thinking about this Hawksmoor inspired cheese toastie I'd made during happier times. Mmmmmm. Someone very helpfully sent me a picture of some 'juicy' chicken too; thank you. I caved and hopefully prepared myself a shot of Nosh Raw Booster as a treat:
It was not a treat. The result is the shot in the title. I am very into weird health things, but I still cannot get on board with shots of spirulina and the like; they taste like a mixture of pondwater and the contents of a lawn mower to me. Sorry.
My 4.30pm smoothie, a 'Healer' also contained significant levels of spirulina but thankfully was undetectable through the kiwi flavour. By now I was feeling pretty down. I had a headache, zero energy and my throat was hurting. There was no way I could face the 5pm bark tea, so I swapped it for a nettle, peppermint and fennel one I had in the cupboard. I declined Nosh's suggestion of a walk knowing I had two separate meals to prepare now and neither of them would be eaten by me.
Leo's tuna pasta bake was upsetting. I drank hot water and lemon throughout.
Rich came home and I was monosyllabic, miserable and tetchy, so pretty sure he had an enjoyable evening. At least he got to eat. I had my final smoothie of the day at 8pm with him ('Rejuvenator' - it wasn't).
I took some paracetamol as the headache and sore throat had worsened. Not sure if this was allowed.
Finally, there is a 'Nut Mylk' to have before bedtime. This is actually really nice and was a kind of banana-nutty-creamy drink that you can have warm if you like. As someone who still sometimes enjoys a warm mug of blue milk, this definitely appealed. It was so tasty and comforting. I went to bed immediately after as I couldn't take any more of the day. I think this was at the grand time of 9.15pm and annoyingly I didn't even feel any thinner.
Stay tuned for day two...