detox | Stephanie Carrington

From detoxing, cleansing or just to get that extra vitamin boost-juicing is all the rage these days! Almost everyone has some kind of juicing gadget at home or has heard of or tried some sort of juice detox. As I mentioned in my previous post….I tried two! :p

After my awesome cleanse experiences I decided to start juicing at home regularly…..until the day my juicer decided to clonk out on me. So my search in getting the best juicer in the market began! Apparently slow juicers are then best kind to get as it’s said that they provide you with more of the fruits and veggies that are juiced, providing you more flavour and most importantly, more vitamins and nutrients. But this comes with quite a hefty price tag! So I made sure I did ALL my research and trials, which took about a month, before heading out and finally settling on the one I got. I love my new juicer and I now juice almost everyday! 🙂

There’s so many different tasty combinations we can experiment with to ensure we get our daily recommended dose of fruits and veggies. The options are endless! Now, I don’t know about you but after juicing I feel if I had to throw the pulp away. Feels so wasteful! So I did some experimenting, as I do, and found a couple useful options when it comes to the pulp left over from juicing! Below are a couple recipes using leftover juice pulp. You can also freeze whatever pulp you don’t use for another time. Yay! No more wasting!!! 🙂

Vegetarian Lentil Chilli Soup

1 cup of juice pulp (mine was beetroot, celery, carrot, apple)
1 cup dried red lentil (thoroughly cleaned)
2.5-3 cups vegetable stock
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 chopped green chilli pepper
2 tablespoons chilli powder
1 chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic-minced
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
pepper & salt to taste

Heat oil in a sauce pan and sauté onion until translucent
Add remainder of ingredients except salt and pepper and simmer for around 15 min or until lentils have softened
Add salt and pepper to taste
Dish up and serve with a dollop of greek yogurt

Lentil and Veggie Patties

1 cup of juice pulp
1 cup of cooked lentils
2 eggs
1 Tbs flaxseed meal
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs sesame oil
pepper to taste
chopped fresh coriander (optional)
1 Tbs of coconut oil

Mix all ingredients except coconut oil together in a large bowl and set aside for a few minutes
Heat coconut oil in pan and place a large spoonful of the patty mix onto the pan
Heat thoroughly on both sides (about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown)
Repeat this with remainder of patty mix (makes around 5-6 patties depending on how big you make them)
Dish up and serve with a nice green salad or with a slice of cheese and have it as a burger! Yummy!!

You can even use the juice pulp as a treat for your fur kids. Cobey loves his with a bit of chlorella and a drizzle of flax oil! Yummy! 🙂

I was always into making smoothies as a quick on-the-go meal and felt they were more filling compared to juices. I would juice occasionally and really only on weekends or on days I wasn’t working as my previous juicer was such a pain to clean. So you can say I wasn’t soooo into it as everyone else was and I didn’t see fit to only consume pure liquids for consecutive days. I’m well aware that a glass of freshly squeezed juice is packed with loads of vitamins and nutrients and I’ll have one in between meals or with my meal…..it’s just that I felt there were other ways you can keep the body healthy, without having to deprive it from solids. Well, I was wrong!

I got offered to try out a couple of different juice cleanses earlier this year and I thought why not give them a try to see what the whole rage was about. Both of the cleanses were for three days with six bottles of juice for each day (so thats 18 in total!!). Three days worth of fresh, organic juices were delivered to my doorstep the night before I was to start my cleanse with thorough instructions to ensure the process went smoothly. As I have quite a healthy eating habit, during the cleanse I didn’t have much of a problem with cravings and to my surprise I didn’t suffer too badly with hunger either. It was the act of chewing and the different textures of solid foods that I missed the most. Believe it or not, the three days went by quite smoothly, although I have to admit I did slip in a salad or two. Shh….dont tell! :p However, at the end of each cleanse I felt great! Refreshed, rejuvenated with an extra bit of energy!

The two different juice cleanses I tried were equally great and each had their perks! The first one I tried was Hic’ Juice. The juices came in 6 large glass bottles, each numbered from 1-6 so you just had to follow the order of the juices as they were numbered each day. You are encouraged to drink plenty of water and herbal tea in between and ‘chew’ your juice which I thought was a bit weird but apparently this helps in digesting the juices. The bottles were HUGE so there wasn’t an issue of getting hungry…..actually sometimes I felt so filled with liquid I would have to wait awhile to finish the juice. Overall the juices were quite tasty. My favourites were the popeye smoothie and nut milk.

The second one I tried was from Beauty Cleanse. The 6 juices for each day came in plastic bottles that were slightly smaller than those from Hic but the juices were still quite filling and I especially loved the creamy nut milk! These juices weren’t numbered and you are to pick and choose which you wanted to have. Again, you are encouraged to drink plenty of H2O and herbal teas. My 3 day program came with a couple of organic herbal tea sachets and supplements to aid in the cleansing process. They offer a ‘cheat sheet’ in case you suffer from a major case of the munchies which suggest nibbling on celery sticks.

Juice cleansing isn’t just for the unfit or for those trying to lose weight…..even if you live a healthy lifestyle and have healthy eating habits, we sometimes just need to give our digestive systems a time out from having to constantly break down the food we eat. Whether it be juicing at home or signing up for a program, just like how we need a vacation to get away from our busy work schedule…..our bellies need some chill time once in awhile as well. It could be for five days, three days or even just for a day….give it a try-your insides will thank you and you will be able to see that from the outside! 😉