By Charlotte Hope, Lifestyle Editor @TLE_Lifestyle
I absolutely love caffeine. Don’t you? In particular, I seriously love coffee. Last night I actually fell asleep easier knowing I had set my alarm early enough to enjoy a leisurely coffee in the morning. I think this is complimented by the fact that I own one of those little Bialetti coffee percolators, something which, despite years of owning, still fills me with delight and joy when that sweet, hot, caffeinated nectar starts meandering out of the chimney in the middle. God almighty, I love coffee. Also something that I love is being healthy and feeding myself with nutrients. The two aren’t mutually exclusive; a coffee in the morning can accompany a healthy and balanced breakfast.
In a bid to embrace ‘Sober October’, I have attempted to ramp up the healthy eating, drink a little less alcohol (fully sober seems to be a concept I’m just not ready to try out yet), limit myself to one coffee a day and enjoy* green tea at all other times. To kick start my healthy month (which has gone averagely at best, so far) I tried out a Fruveju one-day juice cleanse. I was sent six juices the day before my cleanse started, with an informative pamphlet about each juice. They’re cold pressed, and whilst I’m not too clear on what that means, I’ve been assured by many different sources over the years that if you’re drinking a juice, this is the way you want it to have been made.
The idea is that you don’t eat anything all day but have the juices at roughly two hour intervals instead. This was fine in the morning as I was rushing to get out of the house anyway. I drank the green juice (very green – celery, kale, green apple etc) as I walked to the tube in the morning. It was quite tasty. The murky green colour had put me off a little, but I ended up enjoying the juice. The mid-morning juice was by far my favourite; watermelon and lime. So, so refreshing. Lime is something I insist on in my gin and tonics so despite the clock showing 10.30am I pretended I was enjoying a gin based cocktail on the beach.
The cleanse took me through a number of other juices, the evening juice being a creamy cashew milk with vanilla and coconut nectar. I’d be lying if I said I managed to go the whole day without succumbing to the sweet lure of mastication; I had several bites of my housemate’s curry in the evening. Oh, curry, you delicious temptress. I also had a headache that persisted until I had my next Americano, neatly answering the question ‘am I addicted to coffee?’. Otherwise I can report back that my skin looks a bit nicer and I, surprisingly, had quite a lot of energy. It’s definitely a great way to kickstart healthy eating or to look good for a party – the cleanses come in one, three and five day packages. I’d probably push myself to a three day cleanse next time – and give myself a caffeine cheat halfway through. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go and set my alarm to wake me in time to percolate myself out of any potential headaches.
*tolerate
For more information visit www.fruveju.com