Juice cleanse - soulmate food perfect cleanse

I have attempted two juice cleanses before. The first was a DIY attempt with my juicer - that didn't last long. The second attempt, a three day cleanse, I went and collected from a health store and lugged home 18 bottles of juice. I ended up hating this one - too many flavours, too much beetroot (my juicing nemesis), too much juice! By the end I was hungry and miserable.

But Soulmatefood was different. Maybe it's a case of third time lucky; perhaps after two unsatisfactory attempts my body has got used to the juicing idea. Either way, despite being super sweet and fruity (so probably not as alkaline as a juice cleanse could or should be), this worked for me. I decided to give it a go after seeing a great value voucher for a three day cleanse on Groupon. Annoyingly the juices were delivered at 5pm on the day I had planned to start, so I ended up beginning the next day. I drank my juices every 2.5 hours starting at 8am. I drank green tea throughout which meant I didn't get the usual pounding caffeine withdrawal headache which probably helped. I took psyllium husks each night because while the cleanse doesn't give you anything or even advice on this front, I feel better using them in a cleanse, and drank hot water with lemon in the mornings.

The juices were the same each day and there were only 5 a day which was great as any more than 5 and it becomes a bit overwhelming and unbearable - in my experience of forcing green sludge between my lips while feeling nauseous. Carrot, ginger and apple was the first zingy morning juice, followed by the mid-morning snack green juice. Luckily the apple juice base made it palatable, and the lunchtime spicy lemon juice (again with a strong apple base - very sweet) was yummy. Then came the afternoon snack juice, which I tended to drink on my commute home, beetroot and berries. I hate beetroot, but I forced my way through and focussed on the berry flavours. Here the repetetiveness of the cleanse helped s having conquered the beetroot on Day 1, I was happy to try again on day 2 and 3. The final juice of the day was a simiar green to the 2nd, this time with a strong mint flavour and overall less sweet taste - it was fine.

I didn't feel hungry, sick, dizzy, headachey at all on this cleanse - none of the usual symptoms. I actually felt light and great. I lost 5-6 lb, but have probably put lots on as my first day of freedom after the cleanse I went to Ascot for the kind of corporate hospitality day where afternoon tea is being laid out within half an hour of finishing your four course lunch, and champagne is flowing throughout. I literally had to sit on the floor of the train on the way back. But I have managed to correct some bad habits I had slipped into before the cleanse.

Next time I'll try a 5 day...

Clean and Lean tummy transformer - Conclusion and Review

The six day tummy transformer was for me the five day - I had a huge work event the next day which I knew would involve lots of drinking, canapes etc - and cakes and biscuits I had specially designed and ordered.

Back at work on Day 5 I found it easy to get back into my regular routine. I had my egg white omelette and spinach for breakfast, my two quorn and cucumber snacks during the day, and tofu frankfurters and broccoli for my other meals.

In the five days I lost 5lb, which is good but not amazing; I would expect to lose that on any short-term diet where I was often getting under 1000 calories per day. However in the two days since then I have been thinking that my tummy is looking better. I think the weight did come off my waist a little; today I was wearing a belted dress that I was comfortably wearing a notch tighter than before. My results probably could have been more fabulous if I:

- stuck to the exercise programme. I admit I was a bit lazy with it.

- (this is the diet plan's fault, not mine, but) due to the lack of veggie protein options in the plan, I was using tofu and quorn meat substitutes. Although I selected healthfood brands, they still contained fat and additives and were 'processed.'


I did pick up some great habits from the plan:

- The large but low-carb, low-fat, protein filled snacks really kept me full and prevented me being tempted by other treats.

- I realised that the simplest meal of a healthy protein plus steamed green vegetables, which sounds so boring, is actually a very satisfying and often yummy lunch or dinner which can be put together in under 10 minutes. Forget grabbing Pret on the way home, ordering takeaway, or thinking only pasta would fill me up!

- I loved my calming evening drink. It helped me chill out and get ready to sleep, and with the slight sweetness of the almond milk and the cacao flavour, it satisfied my late night sweet tooth that sometimes has me scouring the cupboards for unhealthy snacks.

- Avoiding coffee and soft drinks, I got really into flavoured green teas and now drink at least one large cup a day.


My main criticism, aside from my comment as a vegetarian, is James plugging his super expensive supplements. It would cost £250 to buy what is needed on the 6 days. James' book would be improved if he eplained what the key ingredients were so people could use what is available to them and affordable (as Dr Nicholas Perricone does very well in his plan)

Overall I enjoyed trying this plan, and now my big boozy party is out the way, I'm going to try and live the Clean and Lean way.

Day 4: Clean and Lean 6 Day Tummy Transformer

OK, this is starting to become a chore. I'm kind of bored of how repetitive the diet is. I'm definitely finding it's easier to do diets during the week, when the structure/activities of work make it easier to remember when to eat - and when to stop - and you are generally not in social situations where you feel obliged to eat or drink. That's kind of a revelation, because I had always blamed work for making me unhealthy with birthday treats being brought in, and muffins and cakes on sale in our canteen.

One thing that I love is my own version of the evening drink which I've been making with almond milk. The maca powder definitely seems to have a soothing effect and the cacao gives it a chocolate taste (the almond milk is slightly sweet). I will definitely keep making this instead of giving in to late evening chocolate cravings.

Today it's that time of the month and I feel a bit lethargic and blah. I decided to go to bed at 7pm, skip dinner and watch a film, during which I had 2 mugs of my bedtime drink. I added hemp protein and chlorella to make up for the meal I was missing!

So my food diary looks like this:

9.30am: hot water + lemon; psyllium husks; 3 egg white omelette
11am: peppermint tea and a small cupcake - made and given to me by a child, I couldn't say no!
11.30am: soy filter coffee from Starbucks
3pm: Taifun tofu fillet and a large portion of steamed green beans
7pm: psyllium husks; 2 x mugs of almond milk, maca, cacao, hemp protein and chlorella; omega 3 supplement and l-glutamine

Looking back on this I really haven't eaten enough green veg today, I'll make sure I get extra tomorrow. I'm desperate to weigh myself but think period-bloat might make the result unreliable!

Day 3: Clean and Lean 6 Day Tummy Transformer

It's technically day 4 because it's 2.17am. I've just got back from a friend's birthday night out and...I CHEATED. I couldn't note drink on her birthday. I had 4 drinks, 3 of which were vodka, sparkling water and fresh lime (very good as far as alcoholic beverages go), the last was bought for me and it was a mojito - sugar!! I feel ashamed! Luckily I think I danced it off...

Even with the drinks added, my calories only came to 1,103. Like the weekend on the Perricone programme, I found the lack of structure in my schedule meant I didn't have time to eat all the foods! I skipped a snack. So my day went something like this...

9.30am: hot water + lemon, psyllium husks
10am: 2 egg white/1 whole egg (I broke the yolk...) omelette and spinach
1pm: filter coffee with a drop of soy milk (it's naughty but James allows one coffee a day in his book)
3pm: 1 Taifun frankfurter and steamed tenderstem broccoli (and omega 3 supplement)
5pm: half pack of 'roast chicken' Quorn slices + 1/4 cucumber
8pm: 1 Taifun tofu fillet and steamed green beans
9-1am: naughty drinks :/
2am: psyllium husks & large glass of water; warm almond milk + maca powder + cacao powder + l-glutamine

I'm finding the meal plan of protein + steamed greens really satisfying which is a surprise. In future I will try to eat more of these simple, low fat and low carb meals. They take under 10 minutes to make so they're super easy.

I feel like today was a bit of a fail as drinking coffee and alcohol isn't very clean, but overall I stuck to the guidelines /principles of the Clean and Lean plan (ok, except the mojito) and my calories are still lower than my RDA!

Day 2: Clean and Lean 6 Day Tummy Transformer

Day 2 is done! Calories come to 1,033. Today my eating schedule looked like this...and again, there was no temptation for treats.

7.15 egg white + spinach (sadly I only had one egg; I should have used two)
10.15 1/2 pack of Quorn 'chicken' slices and 1/4 of a cucumber
1.30 viana vegetarian schnitzel and steamed spinach and asparagus
4.30 1/2 pack of Quorn 'chicken' slices and 1/4 of a cucumber
6.45 2 Taifun tofu frankfurters, stir fried (with a teaspoon of vegetable stock - no oil) broccoli, spinach, red cabbage and bean sprouts
9.30 almond milk + cooled camomile tea + cacao + maca powder

I also took psyllium husks, l-glutamine and omega 3 supplements in the evening.

Day 1: James Duigan Clean and Lean 6 Day Tummy Transformer

First day over! I feel great considering my calorie intake was super-low (971 - I use myfitnesspal to track).

I ate the following... (note my veggie substitutions for chicken/baked white fish)

7am: hot water and lemon
7.15: 2 egg white omelette with spinach.
10.30: half pack of Quorn roast chicken style slices and 1/4 cucumber; green tea
1.15pm: lentil salad (no oil)
4.15: rest of the Quorn roast chicken style slices and 1/4 cucumber; green tea
7.15: a vegetarian bratwurst, baked, with steamed spinach and asparagus

I then went for a 25 minute cardio intervals session (brisk walk 3 mins, jog for 2 mins, sprint for one - repeat x 4) and when I got back went through my circuit.

at 10pm I made my own version of the Clean and Lean Serenity powder with:
heaped teaspoon of maca
heaped teaspoon of cacao
heaped teaspoon of psyllium husks
small cup of cooled camomile tea
small cup of almond milk

I took an L-glutamine pill at the same time.

I didn't feel hungry at all today, I feel great. I am sure I will get really bored of this plan as it's very repetitive and it's easy to feel enthused on the first day. The plan is clever because having, for example, a very large portion of cucumber twice a day keeps you full with hardly any calories. I like the prescriptiveness of the plan in that regard because I would never just take a huge hunk of cucumber to work otherwise! I also particularly liked the relaxing drink at the end of the day (my own recipe - ha!), the combination of cacao and maca, as well as the camomile tea, is very calming - which is much needed in my life at the moment - and I am now struggling to keep my eyes open. Good night :)

James Duigan Clean and Lean: 6 Day Tummy Transformer - introduction

Always in search of quick results, I've decided to try out the most extreme of James's plans. He says he gives this diet plans to models before a shoot. He admits that it's boring and repetitive but highly effective.

James gives specific options for each meal in the programme but they all look interchangeable as they are various forms of lean protein (white meat) and green vegetables.

Two key criticisms for the Clean and Lean programme emerge here:

• Not (really) suitable for vegetarians: Nearly every meal on this plan includes chicken or turkey. I have bought tofu and Quorn products to substitute, but these aren't technically 'clean.' Quorn is a mycoprotein (cultured fungus) that is high protein, low fat and has a chickeny texture. I have chosen the simplest Quorn products and the tofu is from health store brands so they are the closest to clean foods. This complaint applies to James's 2 intensive plans; there are a few nice vegetarian recipes in his books for his long-term programme.

• Plugging own products: On this plan I am told I need Bodyism (James's brand) fibre supplements in the morning, his brand of fish oil supplements during the day, and his Bofy Serenity shake at night. His products are outrageously expensive IMO - the Serenity powder alone is £50 for 240g! In contrast with my most recent example, the Perricone plan, where while Dr Perricone's products are recommended he explains the key ingredients or other brands that work, James offers no details on the ingredients that work or alternatives. Luckily I have some supplements on hand to substitute them with: psyllium husks as the fibre supplement, my own preferred brand of omega 3 supplements, and maca (or similar calming supplement - thats what I have to hand) and cacao powder to replace the serenity shake. It may not be quite the same but I'm not paying £50 for a small bag of powder!

Without further ado let's see the plan! The version given in the book is more specific; this is my summary and this formula is followed every day.

• Boiled water with fresh lemon or lime + fibre supplement
• 2 egg white omelette with steamed greens eg spinach/broccoli/kale
• 100g lean white meat + quarter of a cucumber
• Portion of white meat (chicken or baked white fish) with steamed greens
• 100g lean white meat + quarter of a cucumber
• Portion of white fish or chicken with steamed greens
• Serenity shake with fibre supplement

So much protein! So much bland greens! Argh! We are banned from oil which I find weird. James says this is the healthy way to lose a lot of weight but I've always believed healthy fat from olive oil, nuts and avocados help you lose weight. I won't knock this till I've tried it, though.

Then we have the exercise plan...

Days 1, 3 and 5: 

Morning cardio - 25 minutes of running intervals. I'm going to do this in the evening because I can't handle morning exercise

Circuits - 3 circuits of 8 standard exercises: push-ups, lunges, squats, tricep dips etc

Day 2 and 4:

Resistance training with dumbbells - 5 circuits of 8 exercises

I had better lose a few pounds by the end of this!!! In fact I'm hoping to look something like this...

James Duigan's client Elle Macpherson

Rosie's rule: Hydration

One of Rosie Huntington-Whitely's secrets for staying slim and having clear radiant skin is drinking lots of water. Rosie says she drinks 3-4 litres of water each day. This is a lot of water, but I find it's easy to drink 3 litres a day if you include herbal and green teas.

In the last couple of days I've been trying this. I order water multipacks to be delivered to my office, so every day I have a 1.5l bottle of Evian. I supplement this with 3 large green teas during the day, I have bought them in lots of different flavours (Twinings Mango & Lychee, Ginger green teas are lovely, and I'm also really enjoying the strangest one yet, Salted Caramel) as I'm not keen on the flavour of ordinary green tea. I always find a good selection in my local Waitrose! Then I drink a couple of glasses of water at home with dinner. I always try to make that the last thing I do before I go to sleep, and first thing I do when I wake up, is drink a large glass of water.

This is because sleep is very dehydrating for the body. According to James Duigan, in the Clean and Lean flat tummy book, when the body is dehydrated it is in a stressful state. This stressful state encourages production of the hormone cortisol whch makes our body hang onto fat.

It's also now widely known that what feels like hunger is often just thirst and drinking plenty of water can help reduce snacking. In addition, when you are drinking water this often, your tummy tends to feel full all the time. Drinking a hot drink like a herbal tea is particularly filling.

Rosie Huntington-Whitely

One of the most stylish, beautiful models around - with, of course, a killer body - is Rosie Huntington-Whitely. You don't need to search hard to find a lot of information on Rosie's diet and fitness regime - it's not a surprise that loads of fashion magazines follow what she does, because it's clearly working.

Rosie's slim figure and glowing skin come courtesy of Vinyasa Flow yoga, green smoothies and James Duigan's Clean and Lean diet rules.

For the next month I'm going to try all of these. Let's see if I end up looking like this:

Celebrity diet and fitness tip of the day: Michelle Keegan - abs workout

Michelle Keegan is a UK celeb - one of those people who seem to appear from nowhere and pop up all over all the trashy women's magazines, lad's magazines and Femail. Her fame is definitely helped by the fact that she has a great body - particularly her super-toned midsection.

So I'm glad that my Michelle Keegan fitness tip is all about the abs! Alongside her regular gym routine of moderate impact cardio, Michelle uses this 8 Minute Abs video on Youtube. By the looks of it, it's a real 90s classic!

I will definitely be using this video in future!

This fitness tip comes from an interview in this week's Now Magazine, which also reveals Michelle's  typical daily diet:

Breakfast: omelette made with two eggs

Mid-morning: toast with cream cheese

Lunch: salmon and green salad

Dinner: chicken salad

Day 3: Perricone 3 day programme

It's over! I'm relieved as today was a struggle with my work schedule. I didn't get myself up in time to make the breakfast - which with the egg-white-separating, omelette & porridge making and the fruit cutting takes me about half an hour, not including eating time!- so I switched the schedule around. I had the afternoon snack of quorn, hazelnuts, apple, which I could grab and go, for breakfast. I got a salmon sashimi box from Itsu for lunch, snacked on blueberries at the office, and had my egg-white omelette with veg/romaine for dinner. I'm finding the food bland and cannot stomach any more salmon. However as with yesterday evening, my skin is looking fab and radiant. I do have 2 new small blemishes but they are probably not related to the diet.

The verdict on this diet

Pros
- Relatively easy to stick to - the food is extremely filling so you don't get 'diet-hunger' despite eating healthily; I didn't manage to eat the full programme on any day
- Convenience - ingredients are easy to find, and if you get the Perricone book the shopping list makes it very convenient
- Results - I am thrilled with how smooth and glowy my skin looks. I could see the benefits after one day on the programme!

Cons
- Time consuming - because the meal plan is so prescriptive and specific, you need to take the time to prepare every meal which took me a while
- Bland - the food wasn't very tasty
- Salmon - there is tons on this diet. If you like fish, this programme will be fine for you. I don't, so I really struggled :(

I am going to leave Perricone here. The book also contains a 28 Day Wrinkle-Free Plan. Like this diet, there's plenty of fish and as I can't even look at a piece of salmon for the time being, I'm not up for it! I'm 26 and don't need to worry too much about ageing yet, so I'll revisit the plan in a few years! Based on the success of the 3 Day Programme for my skin, if you are worried about your skin I would really recommend you give Dr Perricone's advice a whirl. It really did work rapidly to improve my skin.

I will definitely use what I learnt from the book about skincare and nutrition going forward! It was a really interesting read and I highly recommend it.

Buy it here

Day 2: Dr Perricone 3 day programme

I woke up without my caffeine withdrawal headache feeling refreshed after 10 hours' sleep. I went and looked in the mirror and was surprised and thrilled to see that my skin already looked significantly better - after one day! It looked smooth and glowing. I put on some sunscreen and strolled off to get a Starbucks spearmint green tea before returning home to cook my epic 3 course breakfast (the meal plan is identical for all three days, so see yesterday's post for details).  Throughout the day I drank the essential still spring water, with extra sparkling water and fresh mint tea.

As I had struggled with the salmon yesterday, I decided to make salmon tartare today. I used the ingredients of Dr P's salad dressing: a tbsp of olive oil and fresh lemon juice, to marinate it plus the usual diced shallot/pickled cucumber/capers. As olives are allowed on the plan (as an alternative to almonds in the evening snack) I figured these salty/preserved items aren't too far off the programme.

Again I merged lunch and dinner due to the fact that I'm a bum on weekends and had breakfast at 11.30, but I made sure I ate an extra large portion of salmon and incorporated the green vegetables from dinner. I treated myself to an antoxidant-rich glass of red wine. It's the Sicilian red Nero d'Avola which is a full-bodied red bursting with antioxidants! I appreciated it to wash down my bland veggies and oily salmon.

I've skipped the afternoon snack and will shortly be munching on my green apple + 4 almonds + 50g of quorn before bed! Back to work tomorrow so will be interesting to see how this plan fits into my work routine.

Here's a no-makeup pic of my noticeably smoother and radiant skin at the end of day 2:

I took it on my Camera+ app and it looks like I've used a filter, but I haven't! My skin actually looks this nice :)

Day 1: Dr Perricone 3 day programme

I have very mixed feelings as to how this diet is going. It's easy in that I have found the food very filling and haven't been tempted to eat anything else, and hard in that I haven't been able to eat all the meals on the plan - aaand I have a banging detox headache right now, I often get it when I give up caffeine. I allowed myself some green tea (antioxidants!) but it's still really painful. Of the three meals and two snacks, I've only managed two meals and one snack - partly because I overslept till 11am, and partly because my hunger is totally gone.

Breakfast

Breakfast was an omelette made with one whole egg plus two whites, oatmeal (which I made with water and a splash of almond milk), cantaloupe melon and blueberries. It was kind of bland but yummy. It definitely kept me full and satisfied.

Lunch

I ended up eating lunch at 4pm due to my late breakfast. The romaine lettuce is dressed with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice. I added a little bit of soy for dipping the salmon, it isn't in the prescribed plan probably because of the salt content, so I used it very minimally. I found the meal with the salad dressing and the fatty salmon very oily; my mouth felt oily towards the end of the meal. Again I felt very full after this meal. I usually like regular snacks but I didn't want anything for hours after this.

Dinner

I wasn't hungry for dinner but it SHOULD have been the same as lunch with the addition of steamed green veg. I've probably committed the ultimate Perricone sin by skipping a serving of salmon, I just can't face it tonight!

Evening Snack

As I couldn't face dinner I merged the two snacks in the diet plan. I had a green apple, 4 hazelnuts, 4 almonds and 100g of quorn (my preferred substitute for chicken). I felt a little nuts (hehe) counting out the tiny servings of nuts, 4 is quite specific. I enjoyed this meal a lot more than the lunch and felt extremely full after. Also pictured is the spearmint green tea I grabbed from Starbucks to combat my splitting headache when I was on the way home.

Exercise

In addition to the diet plan I did about 45 minutes of brisk walking.

If I have any readers yet, or if anyone reading about the Perricone diet finds this page, please say hi! Let me know if you have any questions or anything you'd like to know about the plan, and let me know how it went for you!

FIRST DIET: Dr Nicolas Perricone's Programme

This isn’t a diet primarily for weightloss. This diet is about the skin and as it claims there will be visible results in 3 days. I thought this would be a nice starter for my blog (and me), because it offers the instant gratification without simply losing a few pounds - the downside  of that is if you lose weight in such a short time period, it’s likely to reappear very rapidly. There’s also an option in the book for a 28 day wrinkle-free diet.

Dr Perricone wants us to eat a lot of fish. A LOT of fish, salmon in particular. Salmon contains DMAE, a wonder ingredient that improves skintone and firmness. Dr P recommends his clients eat at least four servings of salmon a week, and on the three day diet there are two servings a day.

Reading this book made me feel like I was reading a biology textbook, which is actually kind of cool. I would really recommend it: he explained a lot of things that I’d heard about, from free radicals and antioxidants, to skincare ingredients like alpha lipoic acid and vitamin C serums, and now I actually understand what they do and why.

There are a few case studies in the book which highlight how bad the modern diet in particular high GI foods are for our health and specifically our skin. All sugars and processed foods are out; some fruit and vegetables are better than others - carrots, for example, are persona non grata due to their high GI. Extra virgin olive oil gets a lot of love, (and ‘good fats’/fatty acids generally, as they help metabolise fat and encourage our bodies to burn it off), as does (thank God!) wine. We’ve all heard about the antioxidants in red wine, and luckily, Dr Perricone is all about antioxidants. Sadly coffee doesn’t fare as well, as apparently it stresses the body, making us produce cortisol and cling onto fat.

There is a comprehensive chapter on supplements which helpfully outlines important vitamins and minerals, where they are found and how much you should take. Less helpfully for those of us who don’t live in chemists, he lists the supplements he recommends be taken together every day - there are about thirty on the list. He also has a chapter on topical treatment of aging, which was really fascinating. It seems like just a few wonder ingredients - DMAE, vitamin C ester, and PPC - actually make a huge difference. I’ll definitely be looking out for them when buying skincare in future. 

There’s also a chapter on exercise, which looks pleasingly calm and easy. Dr P doesn’t recommend highly intensive exercise - a brisk 30 minute walk three times a week is a good starting point. I will try some of the exercises out in the next 3 days.

There’s a handy shopping list for the 3 day plan, which I took along to Waitrose.

(I was more conservative than the amounts he recommended, because it’s better to buy more than end up wasting groceries, which I find happens quite often). I will also buy the salmon daily from my top-quality local fishmonger as I prefer to eat it raw. The total for this lot, excluding salmon, came to £32. Note the Spanish olive oil - the polyphenols, the good antioxidants in  olive oil, are strongest in spanish olives. (I also bought Quorn instead of chicken as I'm a vegetarian - and part-time pescatarian, which means all the salmon will be interesting for me)

I just broke the sensible diet rules and ate minstrels and m&ms with a can of diet coke as my 'last supper', because the next 3 days are going to be a whole lot of fish and greens. We start at dawn.