So what’s this juice-cleanse-detox-yoga-weekend thing that I’ve been talking about?
I’ll start with the juice. Yoga Circle has partnered with our local favorites Noosa Cleanse to run one of their 3 day cold pressed juice cleanses. The difference between choosing cold pressed juice and other forms of juicing is that there are no fibres or ‘bits’ as we like to call them which means that you are able to give your digestive system a complete break for the full time that you decide to juice. This break is well deserved, and something that is talked about regularly in Auyervedic medicines (which have been around 1000’s of years). It’s not about starving yourself, but cleansing and clearing and relaxing some of your organs which are worked extremely hard every single day processing even the most simplest of foods.
The second benefit of using a cold pressed juicer is that the ingredients are truly kept raw. The machine is often much, much slower and quieter than your normal juicer. Normal juicers often process the fruit/ veg/ ingredients so quickly that the friction of the machine will heat some of the enzymes and nutrients, to prove my point think about the juices you’ve bought or made before and how it doesn’t matter how cold the fruit or veg is when you put it in, it always needs ice or chilling before you can drink it (if you prefer it cold and refreshing).
In addition to this Noosa Cleanse only uses certified organic products so it’s completely raw, completely organic and will give my digestive system a well-deserved break whilst flushing my system with nutrients and much needed enzymes to make my skin glow and my energy levels rocket! I’m very impressed… so here I am.
Day 1:
My first thoughts on only drinking juices, it’s not so tough… I started the day with warm lemon water, drank my Aloe Vera Elixir and finished my breakfast off with a Green A juice containing lettuce, celery, cucumber, apple, kale, spinach, lemon, supergreens. I also combined this with a little yoga photo shoot and practice amongst the sand dunes overlooking the vast ocean and realised that I could quite easily get used to that way of life.
After attempting and failing dismally to do a juice cleanse in the UK, I realised my first problem, I need to actually like the flavour of the juice. The one that I attempted required me to start by drinking 2L of predominantly beetroot flavoured juice, and in general I’m not a huge fan of beetroot (unless mixed with other ingredients). But the one I’m doing at the moment provides me with 500 ml jars of juice in 6 different flavours to drink throughout the day. This is much more achievable and the flavours are amazing – the green is simple, not too strong but a neutral flavour, and the spicy lemonade was probably my favourite.
On day one I took the opportunity to relax and by midday I was torn… Lately I’ve been go-go-go with everything, long days, passionate conversations, moving, learning, working, and yesterday I was staying still, being present, and relaxing. Often on those relaxation days I am also snacking, or baking but yesterday was different, I could no longer turn to food in boredom or simply bake because I enjoy it, it was a real eye opener for me especially because it made me realise how much I may actually put in my mouth because it’s there, and I can. I wasn’t hungry, I did not have one grumble from my belly and I was in fact full of liquid but the temptation to snack on some nuts or just have something next to me as I chilled out in my lounge chair was strong. I resisted, but it was there.
So overall, I made it, not without plenty of temptation or thoughts about my next food adventures, I slept well and am now ready for Day 2 and 108 Sun Salutations. BRING IT ON!