The Juicemasters ‘5 in 5’

After hearing rave reviews from other members of my family, I decided to try Jason Vale (aka the Juicemaster)’s 5 in 5. The plan promises to lose 5lbs in 5 days.

Here’s what you need for five days worth of juices, juicing four times a day.

The whole lot cost me £28.89 in Morrisons, which is about £5.78 a day. I’m sure if I went to Aldi or Lidl I could have got it even cheaper, but I don’t have a car so Morrisons is the best I can do at the moment!

I’m planning on doing a daily recap on how I’m feeling and my thoughts on it as the five days progress.

Have you ever done a juice diet/detox?

Review | Jenny Craig meals

Back in June my friend I was offered the opportunity to try out some Jenny Craig meal plans for a couple of months. For those of you who don’t know, Jenny Craig is very similar to the plans you see advertised on the TV such as Diet Chef. The reason I was offered the opportunity is because they’re stopping making Jenny Craig in the UK, but I thought it would make an interesting review nonetheless because of similar plans and because I have become a bit obsessed with Jenny.

I decided to start Jenny when I moved house and needed to save the pennies and have easy meals to eat.

Breakfasts range from porridge, cereal and muesli. I like all of them, although I find it best to bulk up the breakfasts with some extra fruit, particularly the cereal.

Lunches are mainly of the soup variety, but there’s also mash potato, instant noodles and my favourite, tuna salads. I enjoyed some of the flavours of soup more than others, but I really struggled with just eating a pot of instant mash at lunchtimes. The soups I could quite happily eat on their own, maybe with a bread roll, but it didn’t really feel like a proper lunch just to have instant mash. The Jenny meal plans do say you should eat with a portion of salad etc, which I have tried to do for the most part.

Dinners were the most varied, including curries, lasagne, pasta dishes, casseroles, dahls, and my favourite, stroganoff. I have become really reliant on the dinners because they are so easy to prepare, just two minutes in the microwave and done. I always try to bulk up the dinners with a portion of veggies, to keep me healthy.

There were plenty of snacks available on the Jenny  plan too, including biscuits, crisps, cereal bars and my least favourite, chocolate yogurts. They were disgusting!! I loved the crisps though, they really reminded me of popchips, yum.

Overall I’ve become really reliant on Jenny Craig, it’s just so easy to do, saved me loads of money and saved me from having to think about and plan my meals. My friend and I joke that when our Jenny stores are over we are going to start grieving, and learn how to cook again! There have been times when I’ve been really sick of Jenny, and I have to admit some of the meals are a bit funky tasting. I also think it’s really weird how you don’t have to put anything in the fridge, especially when they contain meat etc, and they have super long use by dates. But looking at the ingredient lists there’s no scary sounding names, so I figure it must be ok.

Jenny Craig is designed to be a weight loss meal plan, and I have to say, I didn’t lose any weight for my first month doing it, but I wasn’t really following it properly. The second month I followed the plan I did it a bit more strictly, with less extra snacks, and I have lost some weight, which I’ve been pleased about.

I don’t think that I would ever buy a meal plan full price, because I can cook healthy cheap meals for myself easily, but in terms of convenience for two months whilst I moved house and needed to save some money, it’s been perfect.

Have you ever been tempted to do something like this? Do you try to eat healthy?

Sugar Detox – Day 1 (again)

Today has been pretty good in terms of my detoxing I think!

I woke up and had a lemon and ginger tea and got ready, as always! For breakfast I had half cup of oats with a cup of rice milk, 10 frozen raspberries and then 4 fresh strawberries on top. This was yum! The fresh sweet strawberries really balanced out the tanginess of the raspberries.

Around 11am I had a small Graze box of dried cranberries and raisins with almonds. Yum yum! I love dried cranberries so much, they’re so delicious!

At 12.30 I had my lunch which was very filling. 2.5 tbsp of couscous with lots of leaves, half a red pepper, half a tin of tuna, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes and some munchy seeds. This lunch kept me very full! I’m making a conscious effort to try and have more protein at  lunchtimes, hence the tuna, as I think that will help keep me fuller for longer and reduce my cravings! For after I had 10 fresh strawberries as something sweet.

Mid afternoon I had a pink lady apple, yum yum! It’s normally in the afternoons that my willpower starts to crumble, and I have to admit I was very close to getting some chocolate but I fought the temptation. 1-0 to Emma!

When I got home from work I had a couple of Jacobs High Fibre Crackers with lactofree cheese as a snack before starting my work outs. It did the trick and held me over until 8.30pm. Workouts were hard and sweaty,including Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred, 40 min spinning class, 1.6 mile walk and a crunchless core workout courtesy of Sparkpeople.

Dinner was a 2 Happy Hen omlette with lots of fresh spinach, some frozen veg and half a tin of baked beans. Very filling and so quick to make. Sometimes I think there’s no excuse for pingping meals when you can make an omlette in 3 mins!

After dinner I was really craving something sweet, perhaps out of habit more than anything else? I went and had a shower, did the washing up etc and this seemed to curb the craving. The saying is true of waiting out a craving for 20 minutes to see if you really want it! I made myself a Sleepy tea just before bed and called it a night!

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how day 1 went. I learnt from last time I need to wait out my cravings and I know I just need to learn to have a bit of willpower!

 

Total calories today – 1443

Minutes of exercise – 110

Calories burnt – 669

All taken from my Sparkpeople log

Sugar Detox Update

Hello!!! Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Just wanted to drop by and give you a quick update on my attempt at a sugar detox. Well, I’m going to be honest – after day 5 things just went down hill. This weekend has been a total binge fest! Pizza, chocolate, ice cream, chocolate, coke, fajitas, chocolate…..Need I go on!!

However, I KNOW I can do this and it’s exactly what my body needs. So it’s time for round two. Starting now. I’m going to up the veggies and out the crap. My first experience gave me a lot to go with, to make me stronger and better for next time.

I’ll get there and I appreciate all the support so far. xxx

Sugar Detox – Day 5

Woke up and had my usual hot lemon drink. Same old, same old!

For breakfast I had my usual porridge. Forgot to add in the frozen raspberries until it was too late. So I ended up having a small amount of PB&Co Chocolate Dreams. Not the best start to the day!

All morning I was craving sugar and had a small amount of dried fruit which kept me going. By 1pm I was starving and got myself a ham, cheese and chutney sandwich from M+S. Yum yum! A real treat for payday hehe!

After lunch I was feeling very stressed and my will power just crumbled! I accepted 3 Cadburys Eclairs over the course of the afternoon along with a finger of Galaxy. I was a but disappointed after doing so well for four days!!

I think in hindsight I should have maybe had a herbal tea as something sweet instead but as I said, stress in work crumbled my resolve.

After work I met Ryan and his friends for a drink. A lovely way to start the evening!

For dinner we had spicy Italian sausage pasta. A new recipe from the BBC Good Food website, yum yum! Will definitely be making it again.

Afterwards I had some more dairy milk. Yes, yet more sugar! Doh!!

All in all, a pretty terrible day in the sugar steaks. But tomorrow’s a new day! I’m still proud I did 4 days well, and my sugar and snacking had definitely gone down a whole lot!

Onwards and upwards to day 6!

Sugar Detox – Day 4

Day 4 started like any normal day with a hot lemon drink. Yum!!

For breakfast I made 1/2 cup of oats with water and 10 frozen raspberries with a lemongrass and ginger tea. I only drank half the tea though because I was running out of time!!

At work all was going well until around 11.30 when my tummy started grumbling!! I think maybe making the porridge with water instead of milk may have been the reason why?

My lunch wasn’t until 1pm today, so I opened a small bag of cashews to tide me over. I ended up eating 2/3 of the bag – doh!!! Probably more calories than a small chocolately snack would have been.

At lunch I had a small portion of my leftover bean and barley stoup (recipe to come) but it didn’t leave me feeling satisfied. I decided to try the trick of waiting 20 mins and seeing how I feel. So far its probably the worst I’ve felt since I started and I think I could easily crumble!!

I’ve also noticed two small sores on either side of my lower mouth. Could they be connected to my lack of sugar??

Managed to stay strong all afternoon and went to the gym after work. 1KM on the rower followed by 30 mins spinning and then a 5 min cooldown on the cross trainer.

For dinner I made Ryan and I sausage with leek and potato mash with beans. Got reduced sugar and salt beans. Meal was absolutely delicious, especially the mash!! For pudding I told Ryan I was trying to avoid sugar so he got a selection of cheeses with crackers and some chutney. It wasn’t until I had some of the chutney I thought how sweet it was and looked to see sugar was the first ingredient. D’oh!!

All in all not a bad day effort wise, managed not to have any slips until some accidental sugar in the chutney!

Sugar Detox – Day 3

Went to bed last night thinking I was going to be really strong this week despite my couple of slips at the weekend.

Had my usual hot water and lemon when I woke up, so refreshing!

For breakfast around 8.10am I had 1/2 cup of porridge with a cup of rice dream and 8 frozen raspberries. Came in to a tidy 275 calories.

Around 11 am I found myself getting the usual elevensies. Instead of reaching the biscuit tin I went and got myself a blackcurrent and vanilla tea. Nice and warm and stopped my hand going in the biscuit tin. It kept me going until lunch anyway!

For lunch I went to M+S and got the delicious ‘Nutty Grain and Vegetable salad with soy and ginger dressing’. This is only 300 calories and so delicious!! It has pistachios in, yum yum! For something sweet I had a pink lady apple which was juice and refreshing!

Mid afternoon I went and got another fruit tea but it didn’t quite cut it and I was feeling genuinely hungry, so I rooted around in my stash of treats and found a 100% natural fruit bar, much like the Nakd bars only 80cals too!! It definitely perked me up and stopped my tummy rumbling.

Despite the treat at 5.30pm when I got home from work I started to develop a headache. I know I drink enough throughout the day so it wasn’t dehydration. Either a storm is brewing or my body is getting some symptoms of a lack of sugar?? Maybe I’m reading too much into it…anyway, I got myself a few popchips and hoped that would remedy it.

The popchips definitely worked, and I headed to the gym. I completed 10 mins on the x-trainer, 2 laps of the weights room (20 reps each) and then a 40 mins spin class. Plus the walk to the gym was 1.6 mile round trip! Phew!!

Got home and had a small sweet potato with half a tin of reduced sugar baked beans and some lacto free cheese. Again my cravings for something sweet kicked in straight away! I read a tweet earlier today that said it takes 20 mins for your body to register feeling full so I headed for the shower to see if that would help.

The shower worked, and 20 minutes later my craving passed! It just took some willpower! To prevent any further slips I painted my nails. No snacking incase I smudged them!!

A great day and I feel so proud for going sugar free! Onwards and upwards!

Sugar Detox – Day 2

Day two started with some pineapple and a croissant. Not the best of breakfasts but we had to pick up some stuff from Tesco because we didn’t get breakfast with our hotel.

At my Aunts house I passed on any biscuits that were offered around and stuck to orange juice.

For Sunday lunch I decided to have pate as my starter, which after a couple of mouthfuls I instantly regretted. Far too rich for me and no good with dairy sensitive error!! My main was poached salmon with veg and potatoes. I only had 2 of the potatoes and the veg was tossed with butter which meant I didn’t have all of it either.

After lunch we went back to the house and got out a chocolate cake for my brothers 21st birthday. As it was my brothers birthday I decided just to have a fingers width of cake. I know this doesn’t exactly go with the sugar detox, but its way way less than I would have had normally. Plus its not everyday you get to have a bit of birthday cake! Again, I passed on any biscuits that were offered around.

Back on the train to Surrey I was really craving a snack, but I think it was out of boredom more than anything. Ended up getting a peppermint tea about half way through and that definitely helped curve the cravings!

I ate my dinner of left over veggie barley risotto around 7.30pm when I was feeling hungry. Drank with water instead of my usual sweet sugary squash.

Around 9pm I started to seriously crave something sweet. I wasn’t hungry, just wanted something sweet. Normally I’d give in to these cravings but I’ve stuck it out and instead got myself a sleepy time tea.

I know I’ve already caved twice since yesterday morning so I am determined not to do that again!! So I’m proud so far.

I think being in work tomorrow will be tough as there is so many opportunities for snacking. We have sweets, biscuits and chocolates we can help ourselves too. I think its out of boredom too. Instead when I feel the craving hit I’m going to go and get myself a lemon and ginger or herbal tea which should stop the craving in its tracks!

I’m already beginning to realise that all the little snacks I’ve passed up on so far have so many unnecessary calories etc. Its the little things that make a difference and I’m hoping by making these small changes that they’ll start adding up to a big overall change!

Sugar Detox – Day 1

Woke up around 8.30am and spent a few minutes deciding when to get out of bed and if I should brave the outside and go exercise. Decided that if I was going to be true to myself and my post this morning I should get out of bed!

Got out of bed and fannied around for half an hour. Finally got out of the door around 9 am and set off on a run. I didn’t have an idea of distance, just wanted to see how I feel. Some weeks I find 3 fast miles easy, other times I can barely stand doing a mile, and sometimes 6 miles feels strong and powerful.

I felt fine up to around 2 miles, mainly downhill and flat. But without music I started to get a but bored and my legs started to get heavy. I stopped to walk a couple of times and eventually ended up doing 2.6 miles in 28 minutes and walked another 0.9 mile home in 15 minutes. It burnt around 400 calories according to Garmin and whilst its not exactly going to win any medals, at least I did it!

Got home, showered and ate a whole mango for breakfast. Not sure if this counts as sugar free or not or what the GI rating of this is. But I figured I’m not adding sugar too it, which I would have been tempted to do with porridge! Ryan had sugary cereal and I caught myself going to have a couple out of his bowl but I stopped myself! Had a couple of slices of olive bread with pure soya spread.

Got ready for the day, packed my overnight bag and watched some tv. So far so good on my sugar cravings. Not sure if having the mango helped?

Around 12.30 I reheated some bean and tomato stoup I made in the week (recipe to follow). I had it in a smaller bowl than I’d normally do and served with some olive bread and pure soya spread. I would normally have had this with squash but since I’m not sure of the sugar in squash I decided to play it safe and just have water, which I actually turned out to enjoy.

It was after lunch I started to really crave something sugary, and Ryans got a bag of sugary snacks I’m trying hard to resist whilst were on the train together.

Managed to resist all the snacks on the train and when I got hungry around 4pm I got myself some salted cashews.

All was going well, went and did a bit of shopping. No sugar so far.

Got hungry again later and dinner wasn’t booked until 8pm so Ryan and I shared some chicken nuggets. Not exactly healthy but better than chocolate!!

At dinner we went to an Indian. I was restrained and only had 1 poppadom. I realise mango chutney probably had sugar in…I had a vegetable dhansak for my main with pilau rice and a peshwari naan. Again quite a sweet thing, but I was still pleased with my choices!

However, after 2 pints I forgot myself and had 2 after eight chocolatey sugary minty things. Not massive, and honestly I don’t think they even tasted that nice. A bit disappointing after a whole day of resisting, but still, much better than I’d normally have done!

So day 1 – didn’t completely manage to resist chocolate but I am proud I did so well at everything else!

Wish me luck with day 2!!!

The Craze for TV Fitness and Diet Shows

Hello and happy Thursday! I had a great time reading all the WIAW blogs, so many great ideas! Last night Ryan made me a fantastic gnocchi and veggie dinner with fresh pesto. So, so good, and ready in 15 minutes.

Today I want to talk about the craze for TV Fitness and Diet Shows. With January being a time for people trying a fresh start, or attempting to get fit or lose weight, I’ve notice that the TV channels in the UK are dominated by shows about fitness, losing weight, or extreme diets. There’s also been an increase in cooking shows, not that I’m complaining, I could watch the Food Channels all day!

I think the TV shows have good and bad points to them. On the one hand, it shows we are a nation truly obsessed by appearance and weight. Whilst it could be argued that doing a blog like I am, posting about my own fitness and eats, that I am adding fuel to the fire of this obsession; it could also be argued that as someone who is interested in this area and who reads health and fitness blogs etc that I have more of a reason to argue. Tomato, tomato.

Some TV shows this January that have caught my attention are;

  Fat Fighters

Fat Fighters follows four gym intructors in their mission to get people fit in a London gym. The gym has lots of interesting and varied classes and the instructors seem highly motivated and passionate about fitness and their jobs. I love this show! I think it’s great at showcasing to people how hard you have to work to get the body you want, and that it doesn’t happen over night. I also love that it shows people how varied exercise can be, because each of the four instructors have a different strength with their personal training.

 

The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser follows the weight loss journey of contestants in the Biggest Loser house who live, sleep and sweat weight loss. Each week the contestants face different challenges along with 4 daily work outs in order to try and stay in the house for another week. I really enjoy this show, but part of the enjoyment is seeing the life stories behind each contestant. There is no denying how hard the contestants work, but I think it almost sets an unrealistic precedent for people who don’t have these facilities and are trying to lose weight. Some weeks the contestants can lose 11lbs and still be disappointed by their weight loss, whereas in the real world people can be lucky to get a 2lb weight loss.

 

 Supersize Vs Superskinny

Supersize Vs Superskinny   sees two people with poor diets, one over eating and one under eating, swapping their diets for 1 week in an attempt to make them learn about their own eating habits. I don’t like this show because whilst it shows the extremes of peoples diets and how they’re bad for you, along with the health affects of said diets, it doesn’t show you about how to plan and eat better, and it doesn’t really focus on the benefits of exercise.

What are your thoughts on TV fitness and diet shows? Anything I must watch or avoid?