Dr Juice

Last week I embarked on something I had never, in all my 32 years, tried. Not eating. For six days. Yes, that is six full days. Instead I drank juice. Juice for breakfast, juice for lunch, juice for dinner and even a ‘treat’ juice as a snack.
Honestly, I was unsure if I’d be able to get through a day, never mind a full six, but I gave it a bash.
Lo and behold, it was easier than I thought. Perhaps because I was so full to the brim after Christmas of stodge and booze, that going the opposite direction towards fresh fruit and veg, was actually a pleasure. There is so much goodness packed into each bottle, I felt a little like I could feel the vitamins and minerals absorb in my body, like a superhero that had been on downtime for a while, getting fueled up again for the next watch. Granted, there may be a bit of a placebo affect taking place here, but you can be sure that those very vitamins and minerals are all counted and present too.
The theory of a juice cleanse is after you replace all meals and snacks with juices made from (preferably organic) fruits and vegetables, our bodies are free from toxins (or freer than they were before). We are able to ingest a lot more fruits and veg by juicing rather than eating (if you’ve ever seen the amount that goes into one glass of juice, you’ll understand this), so this enables a lot more nutrients to go into your body. Finally that it sets you on the path of eating more healthily after the stringent period is over.
Having never done any of this before in my life, I decided to go the easy route and have some professionals do my juicing for me (just to get me started ye see!) My first three days were with Juices by Ginger (review to follow), and the next three days were with Dr Juice. I would recommend going down this route if you’re new to juicing — these guys have brilliant machines and know the right ratio of ingredients to make the juices palatable (unlike my attempts since)
So, Dr Juice. You get a full three days worth for € 60 — that’s 12 juices in total. You can either pick them up in their Temple Bar quarters (Staple Foods), or they’ll deliver for a tenner. There’s a full 500ml of juice in each bottle, which is labeled to show what exactly is inside and how long it’s good for. They also come with a little leaflet giving you some tips on the cleanse, and how to ease yourself off it at the end.
Here’s how the juices go:
Morning: The Green Goliath. Containing spinach, kale, cucumber (though I asked for it without this most evil of all vegetables), celery, apple, lemon, ginger and spirulina. If you haven’t had spirulina before, it’s got quite a pungant taste, so get ready. It’s got a myriad of benefits though, so it’s great that these guys include it — most of the other juices I’ve seen literally only include fruit and veg.
Lunch: Beet Boxer. Containing beetroot, carrots, apple, pear and lime. This was really delicious and a pleasure to drink
Snack: Orange Juice. I found it hilarious that this is called a ‘treat’ juice. Mainly because it’s made of more fruit than veg. It contains carrots, apples and ginger. Again, delish.
Dinner: Back to ye old Green Goliath. Really filling with the good old spirulina ‘kick’
And how the whole cleanse went? Besides some difficult moments when «friends» were taunting me with burgers and various forms of cheese, I was surprised that it wasn’t overly difficult. The juices actually fill you up considerably — much more so than any crash diet. The most important thing for me though was to feel healthy afterwards, which I do. As many others before me have reported, I slept better, my energy levels went way higher, and my skin looked great. Now to keep it up!
All in all, a really great service and product from Staple Foods. If you haven’t tried it, give it a go! Be sure to give them some notice though, as they are busy enough with January detoxers.