A couple of weeks ago I got a strong longing to cleanse. 

 

Sometimes I cleanse because I want to give my digestion a break, other times I want to shake off some holiday weight, but all the time I cleanse because only this sudden influx of nutrients (and simultaneous avoidance of indulgences) is what gives my immune system a strengthening boost, clears up my skin and makes me feel light and energised.

 

Detoxing is something I do periodically anyway, but each time it can look somewhat different depending on the time of year, my work load and my mood. 

 

These are the cleanse plans I normally alternate between:

 

1. 24 hours on 100% raw food once per week for a month
2. Seven days of 100% raw food cleansing
3. 24 hour juice cleanse to give my digestion a mini break
4. Three day alkaline cleanse, where I literally follow the cleanse protocol we used to offer at Tanya’s Cafe
5. 21 days of 500-750ml celery juice for breakfast
6. 28 days being 100% sugar free, including alcohol free
7. Intermittent fasting for as long as my system enjoys it

 

This time I was so fed up of my protruding belly and weird lockdown weight, that I was prepared to do a juice cleanse for as long as needed to feel like me again. 

 

What I wasn’t prepared to do however was not to join my family for dinner and let my children see their mama 'on a diet'.

 

So, with the limited supply of ingredients in our small beach town of Pauanui, our planned trip to Auckland and all the socialising that was to be had there, equipped with my Big Why on doing the cleanse plus knowing what I wasn’t willing to compromise, here is what I decided on:

 

• 9 days
• Warm water (no lemon, no tea) first thing in the morning
• A brisk beach walk and lunges, daily
• 500ml-750ml pure celery juice for breakfast (around 10 or 11am)
• 500ml-750ml celery/beet/apple/carrot/ginger juice for lunch (around 2pm)
• A small dinner with the rest of the family (between 5 and 6pm)
• Lots of herbal teas throughout
• Definitely no snacking, no sugar, no wine, no overwhelming workload in the diary
• A wellness book while I cleansed to keep me inspired. This time is was The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer

 

And inspired I remained! Just look at this amazing quote from the book:

 

“The entire time you’re eating, your insulin levels are elevated and your body is stuck in fat storing mode. Only after a few hours of fasting is your body able to turn off the fat storing and turn on the fat burning mechanisms. So if you are continually nibbling, your body will just continue storing fat, resulting in obesity and liver damage.”

 

 

What did each day look like?

 

This was my morning. Every morning. To get a 500ml (1 pint or 2 cups) glass of celery juice in the UK, I'd have to juice 1.5 bunches of celery from Waitrose or Ocado. There was just such a demand for organic celery (all thanks to the Medical Medium!:)) that it couldn't grow fast enough and was far too thin. Here in NZ, one bunch yields 1 litre (2 pints or 4 cups) of juice!

 

 

These are literally the exact ingredients and amounts I used for my lunch-time juice. It's always best to drink the juice immediately after making it, so that the nutrients aren't oxidised away, but the opportunity cost of time spent juicing and cleaning up for me won over the small percentage of nutrients lost, so I prepared my lunch time juice right after the morning one and left it waiting for me in an airtight bottle.

 

 

Dinner is the only thing that varied from day to day, but usually looked something like these Mexican burritos from the 'Family Meals' section of the Nurtured eBooks series. It wasn't always gluten-free either, but I did stick to dairy-free, because dairy showed up as a sensitivity in my food intolerance test I've done at LMS Wellness.

 

 

So how did it go, you ask?

• I lost 2kg (4.5lbs)
• I lost the weight in the first two days and no more. One week after cleanse ended, I kept it off
• Lost a whole inch (2.5cm) from my waistline 
• Got a rare sighting of some long lost abs
• Day 5 was the hardest and at lunch I gave in to a large helping of vegan sushi which I was making for kids’ pre-school Matariki Night (Māori New Year) and had some chocolate at the event with everyone
• Staying off wine wasn’t a problem
• The hardest time of day was getting past breakfast while I made warm cinnamon porridge for the kids
• The second hardest time of day was around 3pm when I usually have tea with  something sweet
• What kept me going was the promise of a warm dinner each day
• What I wish I could’ve done instead was to juice in the mornings and evening but have solids at lunch (it’s always better to go light at dinner and have your main meal in the middle of day for optimal digestion, but that wasn’t an option - for me anyway - with a young family)  

 

 

You’re keen to cleanse too, but not 100% on the difference between juice and smoothie…

 

Differences Juicer and Blender (Source:examinedexistence.com)

 

Juices vs Smoothies. Juicer vs Blender. What is the difference? This question is so popular, I wrote a separate post here:  tanyasliving.com/blogs/tanyas-blog/smoothies-vs-juices-what-is-the-difference?

 

 

You want to juice too, but what juicer to buy?

 

Choosing a juicer with all the choices out there can feel like a minefield, especially if you've never juiced before!

Do you go for the cheaper centrifugal juicer and is the more expensive cold-press juicer really better?

But better how? - better to use or better for the juice quality and therefore nutrient density?

And once you settle on a cold-press variety, where to here?.. do you go for the masticating, triturating or a hydraulic press?

Not to worry, I have you covered...

Download my Juicer Buying Guide now>>

 

 

 

If you've followed me for some time or done my Acid Alkaline Breakthrough program, you may remember just how many juicers I've tested and experimented with in the past (I'm up to 14 and counting). 

You may also recall that every single time, I kept coming back to the Green Star Elite. It was always the quietest, it was always very straight forward to assemble and to clean, the pulp came out super dry and there was very little of it (in other words - there was A LOT of juice!), and maybe it's just me but I always felt that my green juice or celery juice always tasted much more pure and refreshing made in a Green Star. This was the only machine I decided to feature in my book, The Uncook Book.

If you too decide to go for my beloved Green Star Elite, the good people at Inspired Health are offering my subscribers a MASSIVE 25% saving on their machines! Use this code at check out:

BETTERRAW

 

Take a look at the Green Star Elite range now>>