Juicing, Cleansing & Detoxing

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share my experience doing the HSE 7 day juice cleanse with you guys since I finally got around to doing it! I had originally planned to do it the first week of the new year, but as these things work out, it didn't happen; that's the joy of living rurally, and not having east access to the shops! The first weekend of the new year, we were hurrying home to beat the rising creeks and I didn't have time to go grocery shopping! Then the following weekend we were stuck at home with water still over the road, and the next weekend after that I had my Hello Fresh box turn up, so I still didn't do the juice cleanse because I wanted to eat those yummies instead! I finally got to it the last week of January, which turned out to be perfect timing, since I finished detoxing the day before we kicked off our 6 Week Glow Up in the HSE! There are many benefits to detoxing, much in the same way as you would clean your house and give it a good spring clean every year; our body's also need cleaning! When you consider the years of life you have lived without giving it a good spring clean, it makes sense! There is massive healing benefits in giving your body easy to digest and cleansing food, as it puts less pressure on your digestive system and allows your body to add blood flow to other areas - helping in circulation and healing! Those of you who have been following my journey for the last little while will know that I have been intermittent fasting for a similar reason; the longer we can give our digestive system in between meals, especially over the fast period while we're sleeping, the better! Coming into the new year after the Christmas break and ALL the food, I really felt like I needed to give my body a break, and a good clean! You can detox at any time of the year but Spring has certain added benefits, since it's the time when mother nature is focusing on regeneration and growth, so syncing your body in with the changing seasons can be very powerful! There are many ways of adding in nutrient rich foods into your body without putting undue pressure on your digestive tract! The juice cleanse I did included many alkalising and toxin drawing ingredients in delicious juices, soups and smoothies. Juices are very beneficial because they retain all the nutrition from the fruits and vegetables but remove the fibre, making it super easy on your digestive system! Smoothies are also super nourishing but they retain a lot of the fibre so they're often made with low fibre foods such as banana and avocado since fibre is still important in the cleansing process as it helps carry waste and toxins out of the body! Soups are great because they are so healing especially with added heat from ingredients like ginger, cumin and cayenne pepper, and no ingredients are wasted. All the soups in the HSE juice cleanse are made on the most amazing detox chicken broth, which I got asked about so much I decided to pop the recipe at the bottom of this blog for all of you guys who have wanted to check it out!

When I went into the juice cleanse, I wasn't sure what to expect, except that I just knew I needed to give myself a break. I actually noticed a lot of benefits though, not least of all that I lost 2 kilos; not that I'm one to watch the scales, but I was feeling so much lighter, with no bloating all week since I wasn't consuming any inflammatory foods! I was sure I'd be hungry, since I was still working all that week, but I actually felt really well nourished, and not lacking at all! Its definitely not a deprovation diet, although by the end of it I was really ready to eat some real food again. It may be a bit too much information but the other thing I noticed was that I stayed regular with going to the bathroom right through. My hubby was concerned that i would get the runs on a liquid diet haha! I also had crystal clear pee throughout the whole week which i thought was incredible; no cloudiness, no yellow... maybe i'm finally hydrated!? I would have thought the opposite, considering it was almost hard to drink enough water throughout the day when all I was doing was drinking my meals as well! The only part I didnt do was the vitamin C tummy flush to start off with; I wasnt home until late Sunday arve, and for obvious reasons, its not something you want to do while you're out and about! I was also lucky enough to not experience a severe detox effect; I was just a little headachey the first day. So I dont know if not doing the tummy flush had any bearing on that or not! The detox effect is common in most people though, since some of the toxins are drawn from so deep inside, it invariably causes a reaction when they're dislodged! Well, that's my experience with the HSE 7 day juice cleanse! I'd highly reccommend it, especially if you're just starting in the program, or if you feel like you need a bit of a Spring clean! To find out more about the program and detox, please reach out so we can see if it is a fit for you! And enjoy the yummy detox broth recipe! You can use it as a soup base for just about anything, it's that good!

Yummy Detox Chicken Broth Ingredients: - 1 large onion, roughly chopped - 6 celery sticks, roughly chopped - 3 carrots, roughly chopped - 4 cloves garlic, crushed - 1 bay leaf - 1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs - 2 tbsp salt - 1 tsp pepper - 1 tsp turmeric powder - 1 tsp ginger powder - 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar - 1 large chicken or chicken carcass - 11 cups Method: 1. Add all ingredients into a large slow cooker. 2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. 3. Strain the liquid and allow to cool. 4. Divide the broth into 7x 1.5cup portions (12oz), freeze if not using straight away. 5. To make soup, blend one portion of broth with 1 cup of steamed vegetables of your choice in a blender. For creamy soup, add 1 cup of coconut milk. 6. Transfer soup to a saucepan, add herbs and spices, and simmer over low heat until fragrant. 7. Serve immediately and enjoy!