My "Juice Yourself Slim" week

Haven't posted for a while, mainly because I've been gearing myself up to juicing. This week (18th to 24th) I'm doing a juice "diet". I hate the word diet by the way, I like to think of it more as a fast or programme, while the author of the books I follow wants it to be a lifestyle change. The author is Jason Vale (AKA Juice Master), I've previously completed his "7lbs. in 7 days" book (where I lost about a stone I think, can't find my notes). Due to all the crap going on in my life at that time it didn’t become a lifestyle change, and my juicer soon started gathering dust again. Since then my boyfriend has moved in with me and I've put the weight back on that I originally shifted with juice. *sigh*

Soooooo I've talked him into doing it with me (no tempting smells in the house that way!) and I'm using a slightly different plan this time from "Juice yourself slim". This one is juices and smoothies in the day and a soup or salad in the evening. I just didn't fancy nothing but cold raw juice alone in January.

The basic ideas behind juicing:

• Your body gets more nutrients than usual from foods you wouldn't necessarily usually eat. (I'm a fussy eater so I don't eat celery, spinach, etc, but I've got no problems drinking them)
•  The smoothies are made with things like whole avocados, bananas, and live yoghurts, so you are still having "whole" foods as well. (The first time I juiced I was having driving lessons and my instructor was reluctant to let me behind the wheel till I explained I wasn't about to pass out from not eating! In the end she borrowed the book and did 7 days herself too!)
• Giving your body all these vitamins and minerals in liquid form means it's easy to digest, your body is getting more fuel than usual and not having to work as hard to use it, so you have more energy not less.

It doesn't upset your stomach either. Each day is mapped out with a list of recommended juices/smoothies/soups and it's all been planned to give the best nutrition and balance. This plan recommends 4 juices/smoothies in the day and then a soup or salad at night, I've only been managing 2 or 3 juices and the soup. I'm genuinely not that hungry. It shows how much food I usually eat that my body just doesn't need.

Here's some pics:

This is some of the stuff I had to buy, was still missing the apples and a couple of other things at this point:


Some juices and smoothies:


The 2 soups we've had so far:
Carrot and butternut squash:


"Souper green stuff" (leek, courgette, spinach, brocolli, celery):


I wasn't very keen on the green soup but I think if the recipie was modified a little and we ate it with bread then it wouldn't have been so bad. The carrot and squash soup was lovely though, will definately be doing that one again post-juice.

I did have a major headache on day 1 as I was detoxing from my normal food (No tea or chocolate this week!). If the results are good enough I may post the before and after pics of me on here too. Final weigh-in and pics of myself and boyfriend to compare will be the 25th.

If you want more info on Jason Vale's juice programmes here's his site: JuiceMaster.com