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Juice fast…day three
I made it! Three days. My last meal was Friday evening.
Today has been the hardest day, I have been craving food for a lot of it- healthy food and nothing else, but proper food!
So therefore I’m not going to carry on any longer- I’m pretty pleased with myself for not caving in earlier and for the most part, it’s been pretty easy. Could I go longer? I could, but not eating actual food when you love it so much is tough.
Tomorrow I can choose any of the wonderful things I could eat! And if anything, this has curbed my cravings for sweet things a little. Vegetables are what I’ve really missed. And I intend to eat a lot of them tomorrow! Phew! I did it! ❤️
Juice fast…day two
So, I’ve made it past the half way point! Last night I met friends at the pub and drank water with fresh lime and even went to the chip shop afterwards without resorting to eating food when I got home. I only had three juices yesterday and felt really thirsty, so drank a lot of water.
This morning I started off with some water and then my first juice at around 9.30. I made a large batch and headed out with a couple of friends for a five mile round walk from Godshill, to the Isle of Wight donkey sanctuary, who were having an open day.
It was a fantastically sunny, Springtime walk, with so many wild flowers to see. The Bluebells were particularly stunning.
Below, the picture of me is supposed to look like I’m holding up the fallen tree (if you turn the picture). An idea of my friend Ian. Looks a bit more
like a side plank, but anyway, I’m clearly not lacking in energy!
When we arrived at the donkey sanctuary, there was a great band playing and my friends ordered lunch at the café there. I think not being able to eat what most people eat when they go out is a real help on this fast!
I got out my juice to comments of how gross it looked (like muddy river water) and carried on- to be fair, said commenter did taste it and said ‘it wasn’t too bad actually’…and is, in fact very supportive of my life changes (thank you Louise ❤️).
Then we petted a very lovely old donkey (in his 40’s!) and headed back along a slightly different route. The fields are full of lambs and the trees were glowing in the sunlight. I loved the Bluebell bank.
I’m feeling very lucky to live in such a beautiful place.
So- past the halfway point. One more day to go on this little challenge I’ve set myself. I’m wondering if I could carry this on for longer. On one hand I think I could, and I’d like to; on the other I’m imagining what food I’d like to eat first. Yesterday it was olives. Today it’s a big pile of steamed veggies, spinach and cauliflower in particular. In the woods today, I picked some wild garlic leaves, so they are high on the list too.
It turns out this is as much of a mental challenge as anything, as every time I’m hungry, I fill my belly with water or juice. I think a longer meditation this evening will help. Also I’ve been listening to some interviews from the raw food summit, (an area I’ve become a lot more fascinated with and have signed up for a course) there’s a clinic in the States where people are treated for illnesses such as cancer, by completing long, water only fasts and then having a diet without sugar, oil or salt, with excellent results. We have already become a vegan, plant based, wholefood household but I think the next step is to aim for a much larger percentage raw food diet. Onwards! ❤️ until tomorrow…
Juice fast
I’ve been reading about juice fasts and the amazing health benefits of cleansing your body by eliminating all other foods for a period of time.
I decided to give it a go. On bank holiday weekend. Have I gone completely loopy? Perhaps. Yes…but then again, Bo and Bel are away this weekend, so I have no one to cook for AND three days off work. A three day fast. Surely I can manage that. And if I fail, well, it’s not like my diet is so bad anyway…and if I succeed, maybe I’ll feel great and do it again- or carry on for 10 days- hmmm, maybe that’s ambitious.
So, today is day one. My fridge is stocked with three HUGE bags of kale, apples, celery, cucumbers, carrots, ginger and lemons.
Here goes. I made a large batch of juice this morning- I drank my usual water with lemon first thing this morning, then had a juice at about 10.30- a large glassful.
I went out, (drinking a few more glasses of water first) taking the other half of the juice with me, anticipating I’d be starving by lunchtime.
I have to say, I didn’t feel particularly hungry and ended up having the second half of my juice at about 3pm, whilst watching a couple of friends come through the 52km point on the Isle of Wight challenge event. http://www.isleofwightchallenge.com/
It’s now just gone 6pm and I’ve been guzzling water since I got back- just now I feel ready for my next juice.
I have an evening out planned with friends- mine will be fresh lime and soda- and will report back tomorrow on how day two goes…
Not too many adverse affects today- thought I might get a headache at one point-it didn’t materialise, other than that, just a couple of speedy visits to the ladies room!
Have any of you tried a juice fast? I’d love to hear your stories ❤️
Rock samphire and sea purslane gnocchi
This morning I went with my (chef) friend Jamie for a kayak along one of the beautiful river estuaries on the Isle of Wight. After a paddle we searched the river bank for sea vegetables to forage and found an abundance of fresh rock samphire and sea purslane- too good an opportunity to pass up on. He suggested I try to make some gnocchi with our free food…here’s what happened…
So to start with, I boiled 750g of potatoes, skin on, until soft.
Whilst these were cooking, I added the sea vegetables (a large handful of samphire and a small handful of purslane) to my nutribullet, with a good handful of cashew nuts, a clove of garlic, juice of a lemon, a dessert spoon sized piece of parsley, a shake a Himalyan pink salt and 2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast, and blended.
I had to add a splash of water to keep it moving and blend smoothly.
When the potatoes were soft, I peeled them and added to my blender with 200g plain flour (I used gluten free), a tsp of pink salt and the sea vegetable ‘melange’
When the mixture was smooth, I bought a pan of water to the boil and used two teaspoons to (albeit, messily) ‘quenelle’ the gnocchi into manageable sizes and dropped them into the boiling water; a few at a time, for 2-3 minutes, before removing them onto a dry tea-towel.
While I was doing this, I put most of a bulb of garlic in the oven to roast- no oil, just in the oven at 180, for about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the cloves. When they are roasted, push them out of their skins and ‘smush’ them up with the back of a spoon, add some salt and extra virgin olive oil, and you’ll have a really delicious roasted garlic oil to drizzle over the gnocchi.
When all the gnocchi are prepared (this would feed 4 adults easily)
and the garlic oil was ready; I cooked the gnocchi in a heated, non-stick pan, until warm and starting to crisp a little (turn during cooking) I then added some baby spinach to the pan until wilted, and plated, before drizzling over the roasted garlic oil.
Delicious! If you are lucky enough to live in a coastal area, please do try making these, the flavour is incredible! And of course- don’t pick and eat anything unless you are certain it is what you think it is! Enjoy ❤️
Papaya and lime
How on earth have I been missing out on this treat?!
Last weekend I visited my brother and his wife and family and he introduced me to this fruity delight, a favourite of my youngest nephew.
He was shocked I’d never tried simple papaya with a squeeze of fresh lime. It’s now set to become a firm favourite- simply delicious; and when you look at the nutritional benefits amazingly good for you- have you tried it? ❤️
Messy chocolate cake
It had to be done. Chocolate cake. The ‘choclatiest’ of chocolate fixes. But to fit my diet? Challenge on.
This recipe is (almost- I added some homemade jam) sugar free, dairy free, gluten free, vegan.
Ingredients:
For the icing:
200g cashew nuts, covered with hemp milk
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
50g raw cacoa
20g stevia granules
To decorate:
Strawberries
Jam (if desired)
For the cake:
230g grated courgette (about 2)
250g gluten free self raising flour (I used Dove’s farm)
1tsp gluten free baking powder
1/2tsp xanthum gum
70g stevia granules
50ml maple syrup
65g raw cacoa powder
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
200ml extra virgin olive oil
Method:
- Preheat oven to 170C
- Put all cake ingredients into a big bowl, sifting the dry, adding the wet and fold together until combined.
3. I put all of mine in one tin, but having found the cake crumbly, I would divide the mixture between two cake tins next time I make it. This will make putting the cake together at the end much easier.
Place in the preheated oven and cook until a knife comes out (almost) clean- this is a moist cake but you can judge when it’s ready using this method. The cake will also spring back up when gently pushed on top when it is cooked.
Mine took an hour and 10 minutes to cook, but if the mixture is divided between two tins, it will take about 30-40 minutes.
Once cooked, leave to cool in the tins whilst you make the icing.
Icing:
- Blend the stevia with the grinding blade of the nutribullet (this is what I use, but a high speed blender) to make ‘icing sugar’, remove and set aside
- Blend the cashews and hemp milk until smooth and place in a bowl
- Add the vanilla seeds and stevia powder to the cashew cream
- Sieve the raw cacoa powder into the rest of the ingredients and whip to combine
- Place the icing in the freezer whilst waiting for the cake to cool. Check every 15-20 mins and re-whip to ensure an even consistently. If it gets too thick, remove and refrigerate until you’re ready to use it
When the cakes are cool, spread the top side of the bottom cake with jam, a layer of icing and strawberries. Put the second cake on the top and add the rest of the icing and decorate with the strawberries
Seriously yummy and actually pretty good for you…winner! ❤️
