Happy new year, detoxers! If you're following Zest's 7-Day Juice Detox with me, well done just for starting!
I accidentally completed a thorough, if unofficial 'pre-tox' last week - lots of rich food and chocolate washed down with too much alcohol. It was the closing chapter in a very lazy, indulgent month. I did a lot of running last year but it's all gone rapidly downhill since my second marathon back in November. I'm hoping this juice detox will be the kick start I need to establish good diet and exercise habits for the year ahead.
At the moment, I'm 5'4" and 10 stone with a rapidly expanding waist/spare tyre zone. I've always eaten what I like, whenever I like - which is probably why I'm a stone heavier than I'd like to be. I've never been on a diet before so I was terrified before embarking on the detox, but I've been pleasantly surprised to see how tasty the meals look and the fact that there's plenty of 'real' solid food on offer.
All of my friends and family have been fascinated by my detox - in fact, I've sent the recipes to my mum and she's planning to follow it with me!
I think (hope?!) that today might be the hardest day on the plan - not only do you have to adjust to the strictures of the diet, it's January 1! I woke up with a houseful of party guests and a stinking hangover. This morning I would have sold my own mother to have a proper full English fry up.
But I didn't. It would have been pretty embarrassing to fail before the end of Day 1, so I dutifully stocked up on fruit and veg and got juicing.
I was worried that I'd be constantly hungry, so I was amazed to find that I had trouble eating everything on today's plan! This probably wasn't helped by the fact that I didn't even wake up until noon - I felt like I was competing against the clock in an eating competition at some points.
The breakfast was more filling than my usual toast and juice, and I nibbled on the brazil nuts snack before heading straight for lunch - gazpacho and salad. The raw gazpacho took moments to make, and the garlic and red onion made it really tasty. The side salad was huge and I was amazed to find myself struggling to plough through it.
By mid-afternoon I was really full, and rapidly tiring of stuffing my face with raw vegetables. The fruity Ruby Crush smoothie was gorgeous and made a lovely change.
My housemates very sweetly joined me for dinner and we ate steamed salmon and stir fry veg together - it was great to have some hot food and it killed off my growing cravings for salt and stodge.
A friend commented that this would be a great diet for people whose downfall is snacking, and she's absolutely right. I could barely keep up with the huge volume of food on offer today and I'm certainly not going to bed hungry tonight. All my friends would agree that I'm a greedy person, so I'm frankly amazed to have leftover gazpacho, salad and juice in the fridge.
It was a good first day - I didn't feel any temptation despite all the post-Christmas cake and chocolate lying around. I had plenty of energy (as much energy as anyone with a hangover can have!) and the food was surprisingly tasty. Tomorrow's plan - head to a health food store and stock up on food for the week!
