NEW YEAR CLEANSE

After weeks of gorging on copious amounts of cheese, chocolate, cake, burgers, pastry, Christmas dinner, roast potatoes, bacon wrapped dates, Eggs Royale and more cheese in the run up to and over Christmas…

…my body felt the need for some clean and healthy foods.  I hated feeling so sluggish and lethargic and I hate when my clothes feel too close for comfort!

Luckily, I got a NutriBullet for Christmas. If you haven’t heard of this, its a ‘nutrition extractor’. Basically, it completely breaks down your food with its 600 watt motor, pulverising and liquefying all the essential nutrition. I first heard about it earlier this year when my friends Jan and Mark got one and they loved it. Then I was flicking through the channels and came across a shopping channel that was demonstrating how it works. (You can see a very cheesy video here) In a slightly hypnotic fashion, I ended up watching as the demonstrator blitzed all sorts of ingredients together to create a ‘Nutri Blast’. I had to have one!

So on Boxing Day I headed to Whole Foods to stock up on vegetables, berries, seeds and powders for my NutriBullet. They recommend filling half the cup with a green leafy vegetable, then top up the rest with fruit and vegetables and then add water to the stated level. My first ‘Nutri Blast’ was a base of cavolo nero with raspberries, blueberries, white grapes and goji berries…

Granted, the colour is not at all appealing, and I did add a splash of orange juice in at the end as it wasn’t quite as sweet as I would have liked it.

I have tried many variants and at the moment I’m rather liking one that I make with a base of spinach with added strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, goji berries, a teaspoon of beetroot powder, all whizzed up with coconut water.

As soon as I returned to London after the Christmas break I did a big food shop, buying everything my body was craving.

So for the last week or so, as you can see from my Instagram, I have been making a variety of healthy dishes.

I am starting my days with hot water and lemon, then making a ‘Nutri Blast’ to have on my way to work (I am chopping up fruit and freezing it so as to reduce any waste). To be honest, those drinks really fill me up so I don’t find myself snacking on crisps, chocolate or biscuits at 11am like I did before.

At the weekend, instead of having my usual fry-up or Eggs Royale, I’m having avocado on toast topped with a poached egg.

For lunch, going clockwise: grilled salmon on couscous with pomegranate seeds, chopped pistachios, lambs lettuce, baby kale and asparagus. Then griddled halloumi (reduced fat) with quinoa, tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, palm hearts, spinach, rocket and thyme with a lemon, honey and olive oil dressing.  Then roasted butternut squash with spinach, lambs lettuce, feta, toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, cucumber, roasted tomatoes and peppers, and lastly whole wheat penne pasta with sliced brussel sprouts, red pepper, red onion, garlic and thyme, fried off with a little sherry and a milk and flour mix.

And again, these meals are keeping me going throughout the afternoon.  Maybe about 4pm I snack on some almonds or a have a couple of oatcakes spread with Light Philadelphia.

For dinner I have something simple and light, like dusted lemon sole (from most supermarkets, steamed vegetables and roasted tomatoes with garlic and basil. Or tonight I made a spinach, tomato and feta frittata which was surprisingly delicious.

If I fancy something a little sweet afterwards I am slightly obsessed with Rachel’s low-fat Raspberry yoghurt, although I’m not sure how low fat it is when you eat the whole carton in one sitting! I do try to stop myself doing this.  I also love just simple Greek yoghurt with a little runny honey drizzled over the top.

At the moment, I feel great. I feel lighter and cleaner and oddly I’m not craving chocolate or cakes or biscuits.  And I realised earlier today that I haven’t eaten meat for a week.  Not on purpose, I just didn’t feel like it. Yes, its only been a week and I’m sure I will get back into eating all of these things soon enough, but its nice to know I can stop and not struggle. I’m also curious to see how long I can keep it up, and if my clothes start to feel a little less tight, that would also be a nice bonus!