Juicetou - Three-Day Detox

Having taken some inspiration from my own Green Smoothie recipe, and the fact it's January (aka: faddy-diet galore) I decided to finally kick off some product testing with a juice detox. Now, let me just get a little rant out of the way. Coming from a nutrition background, I hate the way the word "detox" is bandied around. You do not need to spend money on consumer products in order to put your body through a detox. What do you think your liver and kidneys are for? Their primary function is to filter and process all the good stuff and nasty stuff that we put in our  bodies on a daily basis. Yes, OK, sometimes we overload them but, generally speaking, they are not suddenly going to refuse to work if you don't feed them a smoothie! What's really happening when you drink nothing but smoothies for a few days is you are simply not given your body much to process. It doesn't magically reverse two weeks of Christmas excess. 

Anyway, I decided to see what all the fuss was about by doing a 3-day juice detox. I won't lie, I was totally dubious towards it all but I wanted to give it a fair shot. I chose Juicetou's detox plan, purely because it's the cheapest one on the market. Don't get too excited... "cheap" in juice world is still £70. Due to the day they do their production, they only deliver on Tuesdays for a very reasonable £12(!). This means that you have to start the plan on a Wednesday and go right through until Friday evening. Seeing as you are allowed NO food whatsoever, and can only drink water, fruit teas, and lemon water, you need to plan this around a time when you have no plans and are willing to forgo any exercise, which they advise. If you do the 5-day plan, prepare for even less of a social life. 

Tuesday arrived and a man came a-knocking with my box of 12 juices (four per day), plus two complimentary lemons (I'm being deadly serious). After comparing different company claims, they all really amount to same promised benefits, including:

-weight loss
-increased energy levels
-greater vitality
-clearer skin
-boost metabolism

What's not to love about all that, right? The juices themselves didn't look too bad, if a little on the small side. My dreams of four 500ml bottles had well and truly been shattered. However, the cute little 250ml bottles come with a time stamp so you know exactly when to have them.

9am - Clean Green
Not dissimilar to most green smoothies on the market, this contains spinach, celery, cucumber, apple and lime. This bottle claims to give you "more nutrients than most people receive in a week". Considering there is no nutritional info available, this is hard to dispute! Quite a bland flavour so I added some ground ginger for an extra kick (don't worry, I read the rule book. This is allowed). 

12pm - Let's Glow
Made from oranges, apples, kiwi, grapes and strawberries. This claims to cleanse the digestive system and radiate your skin. Nicest in terms of taste. Not overly sweet (which I like) but pleasant to drink.






                                                                    

3pm - Clean Green
This guy again.

6pm - Berry Good
Contains pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, apple and raspberries. The claim here is that it is "bursting with antioxidants which play a massive part in keeping your cardiovascular system in tip top shape". Strong claim. They forgot to mention it's also bursting with sugar! Not a fan of this one...it had an almost fizzy element to it, as if the apple had oxidised.



In order to track any potential progress, I weighed myself on Wednesday morning before having any juice. I would then weigh myself again on Saturday morning to see if there was any difference. Here's my round-up of my 3-day ordeal:

Day One
Woke up feeling the same as usual and weirdly excited to start the juice diet. I never eat a lot in the mornings anyway so I wasn't hungry when 9am came round but drank the first green juice anyway. It was actually quite nice... not quite a thick smoothie consistency but definitely more substantial than a liquid juice. I started to feel my first hunger pangs around 2.30pm but only had to wait half an hour for my 3pm green juice. It was when it got to 5.30pm that I really started to notice the lack of food. I suddenly became ravenous and had a mind-blowing headache which no amount of water was shifting. I drank the 6pm juice pretty quickly but was still hungry so drank my bodyweight in peppermint tea and decided to get an early night.

Day Two
Woke up feeling tired and had no energy. To make things worse, I was still hungry from the night before and found myself staring at the clock for 9am to hurry up. To cut a long story short, the day didn't progress. I was head-achy, exhausted, felt weirdly nauseous and was already sick of juices. It sounds weird, but I just wanted to be able to masticate (I said MASTICATE). As nice as some of the juices taste, they don't replace the actual feel of proper food! I ended up coming home in a daze and going to bed at 8pm. I was pretty much sound asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. So much for increased energy...

Day Three
Woke up. Blacked out. Slight exaggeration there but, upon standing, I had to steady myself for a good 10 seconds before the black spots dissolved. Good start! Weirdly though, I didn't feel overly hungry. Maybe by this point my body had just accepted the fact it wasn't going to be getting fed for a while. Although hunger wasn't an issue until the evening, I had a serious lack of concentration. Sending a simple email for work took far longer than it should have and then the recipient was kind enough to point out the fact I'd made no sense whatsoever! 
The evening bought along hunger again. I caved and ate a plain rice cake (I didn't even care by this point). Went to bed at a more normal time and waited for sleep to take over and for my life to begin again on Saturday...

So as you can probably tell, I didn't have the greatest time for three days. Don't get me wrong, it is doable, but it comes with A LOT of compromises. Hunger and lack of concentration is one thing but, for me, the biggest downfall was having no energy. I'm a firm believer in combining exercise with healthy diet in order to achieve any weight loss or a general feeling of well-being. The fact that I had ZERO energy, really bothered me. I could deal with not doing exercise on Wednesday and Thursday, but I was practically climbing the walls by the time Friday came around. To make matters worse, I was still so zonked of energy on Saturday that my first gym session was a bit of a joke (3 minutes on the treadmill...I think I've hit a new low). 

Although all juice detox companies will say weight loss is just one possible benefit, it is probably the one that draws people to these things the most. According to the scales, I'd lost 8lbs. Now, I'd love to be naive enough to believe this to be true. However, contrary to my hair colour, I'm not a total idiot. Of course you're going to lose mass on the scales when you have had NO FOOD FOR THREE DAYS! There was literally NOTHING in me. This weight loss was not fat loss, my clothes didn't feel different and I personally don't think I looked different. Considering I'm writing this post a few days later, I can also confirm that, as predicted, that "weight loss" appears to have magically gone back on due to the fact I'm eating like a normal person. IF the weight-loss had been genuine, is that really a surprise? You're depriving your body of its primary, secondary and tertiary sources of energy (carbs, fat and protein). Your body therefore has nothing to feed off but it's reserves. 

As for the other benefits? My colleague did comment on my skin "glowing" on Monday but that was pretty much it! My energy levels weren't back to normal until that day either. I felt less bloated than I perhaps normally would but that isn't rocket science...that's what happens when you don't eat.

Don't get me wrong, I said I'd give this a fair shot, and I believe I did. I can see how this would perhaps be a good way for someone with a significant amount of weight to lose and a more sedentary lifestyle to boost a new healthy regime or to kick start some weight loss. But I can safely say this is not for me. I have a job where I am pretty much on my feet all day, travelling around London. I also have a lifestyle which enjoys doing exercise. The fact I was exhausted in my day job and had absolutely no chance of doing any exercise really irritated me. I would've felt a greater sense of their supposed "increased vitality" had I been able to go for a run and get some endorphins flowing!

Having battled a serious eating disorder myself, I would be a fool to start waving the flag for something which involves restricting your body of food. That may sound extreme, and I'm not saying that by doing a juice diet you will end up with an eating disorder, but as someone who has had one, I would never actively encourage it. 

I'm all for the concept of these smoothies in general. Having a green smoothie is a great way to get a significant amount of nutrients into your body in one quick swoop. In fact, that is something I will take away from this as part of a healthy diet. I just don't agree with existing solely on these bottles, even for a restricted period of time. It would be interesting to see the actual nutritional content and RDAs for each juice.

This is just my opinion. By all means, give it a go if you really want to! However, a word of advice: if you really want to do this regularly, buy your own blender and make the smoothies yourself. You'll save an absolute fortune.

Nic
 X 

Randall and Aubin

As a lover of anything seafood or fish orientated, I love discovering new places where that's what they do best. So a big high five to the friend who introduced me to this little beauty, Randall and Aubin. Situated along Brewer Street in Soho, this small establishment gets busy quickly so I suggest you book! Walk-ins are welcome but be prepared for a nice chilly queue outside the door... space inside is limited so don't expect to hang around at the bar. 

Originally London's first French Butchers shop, the French theme continues to run throughout  with a rustic Parisian decor and with a menu to match. This place really is famed for it's fruits de mer (check me out) although they do have a small range of grill options such as rib eye, lamb and pork belly. The prices are slightly above average (who charges four quid for bread?!) but, to give credit where credits due, the food we had was worth it.






To start, we both had the grilled queen scallops with pancetta drizzled in caper, lemon and garlic butter. I'm not going to lie; I was expecting fat, juicy scallops as opposed to these small offerings but they were nice all the same.

















I was trying not to over-indulge (for once) so for a main, I went for the 1/2 pint of pink prawns with aioli, with a rocket, mushroom and parmesan cheese salad. Fair enough, this doesn't look much but, right then, that was right up my street. The prawns come with the shell on so, as long as you're prepared to put a bit of effort in, you can't go too wrong. 

I was pretty satisfied with my choice, until I saw my companions meal served up to her. Cue MAJOR food envy. She had the grilled sea bass (my absolute favourite...see where I went wrong?), served with a spring onion and rosemary salsa, and curry dusted potatoes. The fish was cooked so absolute perfection and the flavours of the potatoes and salsa worked so well together. It was a great twist on a classic fish dish.





Next up: cheese. Lots of it. And, thanks to a few cheeky connections, we had cheese in both savoury and sweet form (courtesy of the chef)! Now, I have to say that I usually avoid paying ridiculous amounts for a cheeseboard with very little on it. The only place where I am willing to part with my hard-earned cash for a decent cheeseboard is at Gordon's Wine Bar because it is SO DAMN GOOD. However, for £9.50, the one Randall and Aubin had on offer wasn't too bad. They have a really decent variety of cheese to choose from and you get more crackers than you can shake a stick at. 

When you're getting a free cheesecake, I suppose you can't complain too much about paying for a cheeseboard. This is cheesecake at it's best in my opinion. A plain, baked vanilla classic with the added bonus of salted caramel ice-cream. 

It's pretty safe to say we were both well and truly satiated after all that. If you love fish or seafood, I would strongly recommend giving this place a go. The menu overall is unique in what they have to offer and I genuinely can't wait to go back and give some other dishes a try.

Nic

 X

Green and Clean Smoothie

Well it's a new year and with that, inevitably, comes a whole load of resolutions that, if you're anything like me, have already been broken. Overhauling your fitness and diet regime is probably the most common resolution that people make, yet very few people stick it out. Frankly, healthy diets and exercise shouldn't just be for January; they should be a lifestyle choice that becomes second nature as opposed to making you feel like you've signed your life away. 

The whole Christmas and New Year period often ends up being centered around food and booze which, during times when I used to be way too hard on myself, I found terrifying but I've learnt to just let go and enjoy the time where it is socially acceptable to overindulge! The way I see it now, the more gin and prosecco I can chuck down my neck, the better (although I have to admit, I still feel a bit ropey after new years eve... I'm definitely the wrong side of 25). 
Anyway, if you can't beat them, join them. I have stumbled across a smoothie recipe which I think is great for helping you feel a bit more revitalised. You can almost feel your body thanking you! As green smoothies go, I have to say this one is pretty nice. I've certainly had a lot worse. The avocado gives it a creamy consistency whilst the ginger is amazing for aiding you digestion. You should think of all the ingredients acting to counteract all the crap you've put in your poor little bodies for the past few weeks. 

As I said, a healthy diet should be part of an everyday lifestyle but, if you're stuck with where to start, then why don't you give this green machine a try.




You Will Need:
-1/4 cucumber
-1/2 handful spinach leaves
-1/2 avocado
-1 celery stalk
-1cm piece fresh ginger
-1 kiwi fruit
-300ml water
-1/2 apple
-squeeze of lemon juice






All you need to do is blend the ingredients together in the blender. Easy! For added nutritional value, you can leave the skin on the cucumber. A 1cm piece of ginger should suit most people but, if you like more of a kick, I would definitely recommend adding more.

If this one isn't to your liking, the internet is in total abundance of recipes like this so it won't be hard to find one you prefer. The advantage of smoothies like this is that they are incredibly nutrient dense and so easy to make. Give it a go!

Nic
 X

Almond Angel Cupcakes

Keeping in the spirit of Christmas, here's the second instalment of Seasonal baking from me! These almond angel cupcakes are so sweet to look at, you almost don't want to eat them. But then, what would  be the point of all that hard work?! Be warned though. As lovely as they are, the butter icing is incredibly rich. There's no way of making these without using LOTS of butter icing as you need to build up the angel. If you have children, definitely keep these on a ration! In fact, scrap that. Ration them anyway. I felt like I needed to sit down and breathe slowly for a while after eating one of these. But hey, it's Christmas, so crack on...


You Will Need:
-150g butter, softened
-150g caster sugar
-1 orange, grated zest only
-3 eggs, beaten
-100g self-raising flour, sifted
-50g ground almond powder
-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the angels:
-300g marzipan
-24 silver balls
-12 jelly sugared sweets 
-1 tbsp. icing sugar

For the frosting:
-200g butter, at room temp.
-250g icing sugar
-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
-1 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Cream together the butter and sugar with the orange zest until light, fluffy and pale. Gradually mix in the beaten egg, alternating with the flour and ground almonds to avoid the mixture from curdling. Stir through the vanilla extract.










Place 12 paper cupcake cases in a muffin tin and divide the mixture equally between them. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch at which point you can remove them from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Whilst the cakes cool, begin to prep the angels. Shape a third of the marzipan into 12 balls and press two silver balls into each one as eyes. Shape the remaining marzipan into 24 wings. I find this easier to do by using a sharp knife to trace an outline of a heart into the marzipan and then dividing in the middle so that you get two equal wing shapes. For the hands and halo, I used diamond shaped jelly sweets. To make the hands, cut the diamonds in half (these will stick into the side of the icing eventually). The halo can simply be made by using a small amount of icing sugar and water to act as a glue to stick a jelly diamond to the top of the marzipan ball. 

To make the butter icing, beat the butter with a spoon in a mixing bowl until smooth before sifting in the icing sugar, stirring regularly. Add the vanilla extract and orange juice. Once the cupcakes are completely cool, use a piping bag to pipe the the icing on them, starting from the outside of the cake and working into the centre to create tall peaks. The icing is easier to do this with if you leave it to solidify a bit in the fridge beforehand for about 10 minutes. Place a head on the top of each, push the hands into the sides and the wings into the backs. You have now created your own perfect little angels! These can be stored in airtight containers for 24 hours but, if you can't wait, they are best eaten straight away anyway!

Nic
 X

Fruity Christmas Biscotti

Right, before you read any further, if you're anti-Christmas or think mid-November is too soon to talk about it then bugger off. I LOVE Christmas. Don't get me wrong, Summer days, BBQs, al fresco daytime drinking are also great but it doesn't beat the atmosphere of the lead up to December 25th. To get in the festive spirit, I decided to do some Christmas baking last weekend. Usually for this blog, I try to do recipes which are suited to certain dietary requirements or that are a little unusual, but it's Christmas and I decided to make whatever the hell I wanted with gay abandon. The fact that it also meant two hungover and/or hungry men in the house had something yummy to munch on definitely means I deserve pride of place on top of the Christmas tree. 

FYI: no real reason for the picture above, apart from the fact it is just TOO DAMN CUTE! Anyway, first up, Fruity Christmas Biscotti. This is such a good all rounder. Easy to make, it can be eaten for your own personal pleasure with a nice hot beverage, or you could choose to give it to family and friends as a stocking filler. As long as you don't burn the stuff, the fact you've made a gift for someone should definitely earn you some present-points for next year. 





You Will Need:
-350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
-2 tsp. baking powder
-2 tsp. mixed spice
-250g golden caster sugar
-3 eggs beaten
-coarsely grated zest of 1 orange
-85g raisins
-85g dried cherries
-50g blanched almonds
-50g shelled pistachios





Before you begin, heat the oven to 180C/160 fan/gas mark 4 and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Put the flour, baking powder, spice and sugar in a large bowl and mix together. Stir in the beaten eggs and zest until the mixture starts to form clumps. At this point, use your hands to bring the rest of the dough together to the point where you can pretty much wipe the bowl clean. Add the fruit and nuts and continue using your hands to mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.





Use some flour to spread lightly across a clean surface and turn the dough out onto it. Divide into 4 equal sections and use your hands to roll each section into roughly a 30cm long sausage shape . 










Place two sausages on each tray, spread far apart and bake for 25-30mins until the dough has risen and is firm to touch. There should be no colour to the dough at this point. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack until cool enough to handle. Prepare the oven for phase two of the baking by turning it down to 140C/120 fan/gas mark 1.







When cool enough, use a bread knife to cut into diagonal slices which are 1-2cm thick. Lay the slices flat on the baking trays and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake for another 15 minutes or until dry and golden. Turn onto a wire rack to cool. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month! However, if the smell of the baking biscotti is too hard to resist, then prepare to dig in.

Nic

 X

Kettner's

If you're looking for something with a touch of class and romanticism, but still affordable, then look no further than Kettner's. I'm due to make my fourth visit here next week and I have no doubt that it'll be as amazing as the previous three; both in style, delicious food and just for it's overall atmosphere.

Kettner's prides itself on its history. Originally opened in 1867, it has survived two world wars and has had such historical figures as Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie and Bing Crosby walk through the doors, as well a fair few royal faces! What I love so much about Kettner's is you can make it what you want. You could dress up to your hearts content for a super swanky evening, or simply put on your comfy hangover clothes and no one would bat an eyelid. It's impossible to get bored here too as they cover all areas. They have a range of afternoon teas on offer (including a free-flowing prosecco one...eeeer HELLO!), brunches, pre/post-theatre and, best of all, a Gin, Fizz & Jazz night every Tuesday featuring live blues singers and £6 gin cocktails. If I can't have free gin then £6 gin cocktails is surely the next best thing?! 

Anyway, this particular visit was on a Wednesday so I'll focus more on the food than the gin (booo). But even so, it's not disappointing! When you're having a midweek dinner accompanied by a man on a grand piano, there's not too much to complain about really is there...

So onto the food. With a regularly changing menu, it's always easy to try something different. Knowing that this was going to be a 3-course affair, I went for the lighter option of fresh buffalo mozzarella with red peppers and an black olive tapenade. The tapenade is what sold this to me, and it didn't disappoint. Mozzarella can quite often be bland in flavour but the saltiness from the olive emphasised everything else.










Also on offer was chicken liver parfait with homemade piccalilli and crispy sourdough. The presentation of this made the, lets face it, "pate and toast" really stand out. 
               













Next up, the mains. As you probably have guessed by now, I'm an absolute lover of all things from the sea. So I was more than happy with this pan-fried pollock with Jerusalem artichoke puree and sauteed wild mushroom. Although it was a nice dish overall, the pollock was slightly overcooked due to how big the fillet was. I'd preferred to have had a smaller amount that didn't need to be cooked for as long.









My regular partner in crime also went for a fish based dish: pan-fried fillet of stone bass with squid ink tagliolini, prawns and mussels. I have to admit, I had major food envy over this. I definitely lost out!







Finally, dessert. As per, it was a pointless case of overindulgence here but these things have to be done! I was having a bit of a rough week at this point (get the violins out) and there was only one think that could make it better....sticky toffee pudding. Simple! The addition of peanut ice cream gave a slight twist to a British classic. Absolute blood perfection.

So overall, another successful visit to Kettner's! This is such an easy place to enjoy, no matter what the occasion. I'll be back... (booking already in for next Tuesday. Keen).

Nic

 X