There have been plenty of glowy insta-babe types extolling the benefits of juice fasts in recent years, but, as someone who likes to, quite literally, get my teeth into things, I’ve maintained a sceptical distance from such advice. After all, surely mastication and the release it provides – of FLAVOURS, people, of FLAVOURS – are some of life’s greatest pleasures?
So the fact that Roots Juicery don’t offer juice-only cleanses is enormously appealing to me: their approach to wellness is rooted (!?) in the fact that food, glorious food, in all of its healthy, wholesome variations – good carbs, good fats, lots of fresh ingredients – is a vital component in your body’s ability to absorb the goodness and nutrients of their range of juices.
I start my day of juicing with March to the Beet, which lists ‘liver support’ as one of its functions: I’ve been horrible at alcoholic moderation lately, so it seems a wise choice to kick off with. I’m slightly surprised by its tartness – its description sets me up to expect sweetness – until I’m reminded that tastebuds accustomed to processed sugars need time to accustom themselves to ‘natural’ sweetness – I’ve experimented with this in the past and it’s astonishing how sweet a lemon tastes when you’ve reset your tastebuds away from processed carbohydrates and artificial sweeteners.
Despite the fact that I didn’t eschew my usual industrial strength morning coffee, I find myself hitting my usual slump around mid-morning, so I reach for a zingy Turmeric shot instead of a caffeine one. It carries me through until lunch time, where good food choices (salmon, avocado and mixed greens) are the order of the day – all washed down with the Big Cleanse, which is packed with kale and romaine, attenuated by the sharp sweetness of pineapple. Sweetness is my weakness though and after a taste of it I’m thinking “more please” – so I quickly down a Sweet & Slim juice, which contains apple, pineapple and lime. Unsurprisingly, I seem to be peeing more than usual (but there’s actually something quite satisfying about that!) and I feel pleasantly clean from the inside out.
Mid-afternoon and the slump is real: give me all the chocolate. But there are no vending machine visits for a highly-processed fix; instead, I stave off my sweet-craving with a raw chocolate brownie, made from walnuts, almonds, dates, coconut oil, pistachios, maple syrup, raw cacao powder and Himalayan salt. A sprinkling of chill flakes on top give it all the extra oomph that I need in the absence of caffeine, which I replace with a Nut Milk from the Juicery’s range of almond or cashew-based ones: its hint of creaminess just about compensates for the lack of cappuccino froth on my lip.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and, by the same token, you’d need to incorporate juices into your routine for longer than 24 hours to really benefit from their effects – but the mind is a powerful thing and by the end of the day, the sense of virtuousness I’ve, quite literally, imbibed, doesn’t want to be compromised by wine and my usual ‘snacking as I go’ approach to cooking. Instead, I down the second of my shots: it’s a jaw-tinglingly pleasant combination of ginger, lemon and lime. The last of my juices accompanies my meal: named reVITAliZING, it claims to ease digestion, which, as someone who often goes to bed feeling uncomfortably full, even when I’ve avoided all of those carby-triggers, I find enormously appealing.
The next morning, I feel less sluggish that I usually do on waking – or am I just imagining that?! – and my tummy actually looks flatter. It’s more psychological than physical, obviously – but this is surely what makes many reboots effective – you feel better, so you keep going – and ultimately, the ‘real’ effects are discernible – not only to you, but to friends and acquaintances, too.
Chantal Ward, founder of Roots Juicery, agrees. “To have a real effect on sparkling eyes and glowing skin, you’d need to drink 1-2 organic cold-pressed juices for at least one month. The seemingly immediate effects that you feel from drinking juices come from the digestive system being given a rest – but really, the body itself dos not regenerate so quickly.” Nevertheless, as a kickstart for a healthier eating plan, or as a reboot after a period of over-indulgence, these juices are a painlessly delicious and virtuous way of getting on track.
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