The Juice for Life Programme

by Christine Bailey

Choosing your juices
The Juice for Life programme means including a freshly made juice or smoothie every day.
Try to make sure that over the course of every week, you drink juices in a rainbow of colours. You might enjoy the red or orange juices best, but make sure you get in a good few green juices, too, as these support your liver’s cleansing work (which helps fight cellulite and fat). If you have specific health goals, feel free to include juices from the Beauty, Power and Immunity chapters, too.

Getting started
Here you can find three recipes to get started. Don’t forget to incorporate a cleansing treatment every other week (or more often if you can manage it), to give a boost to your efforts, and incorporate a regular exercise routine, too. Twice a week, do 30 minutes’ resistance or weight training; and three or four times a week, do 30 minutes’ cardiovascular exercise that makes you slightly breathless.

Creamy Cacao Nut Shake
This indulgent-tasting smoothie bursts with nutrients to keep you energized throughout the day and makes a perfect replacement for breakfast. The nuts give the shake a high protein content, which balances your blood-sugar levels, keeping your mind alert and in focus.

Ingredients: 200ml/7fl oz/scant 1 cup almond milk • 1 tbsp raw cacao nibs or powder • ½ small banana, peeled • ½ tsp vanilla extract • 1 tsp agave nectar • a pinch cinnamon, to serve
Process all the ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy. Serve sprinkled with the cinnamon.

Health Benefits
Raw cacao is unprocessed and unheated, and so contains far more antioxidants than processed cocoa, and more than even most fruits and vegetables. It is particularly rich in magnesium (which you need for muscle function and relaxation) and arginine, an amino acid that helps maintain muscle mass. It is also packed with the amino acids tryptophan and phenylethylamine, which can boost mood.

Nutritional analysis per serving: Calories 181kcal • Protein 3.8g • Carbohydrates 28g [of which sugars 11.6g] • Fat 9.2g

Goji Burst
This juice is the perfect combination of quick energy fix and long-lasting power drink. A creamy, dairy-free smoothie, it is packed with antioxidants, B-vitamins and plenty of protein to combat fatigue. Serve it as a quick breakfast shake or a mid-morning snack.
Ingredients: 15g/½oz dried goji berries • 1 orange, peeled • ½ sharon fruit • ½ tbsp almonds • 40g/1½oz raspberries • ½ small banana

Soak the goji berries in 170ml/5½fl oz/²/3 cup water for 15 minutes. Juice the orange. Put the juice and the remaining ingredients, including the soaking liquid, into a blender and process until smooth.

Health Benefits
Goji berries contain all the essential amino acids (those we have to derive from food), as well as numerous trace minerals, including zinc, iron, calcium and selenium for immune health and energy production. Weight for weight, they have more beta-carotene than carrots.

Nutritional analysis per serving: Calories 210kcal • Protein 6.3g • Carbohydrates 41.6g [of which sugars 25.2g] • Fat 4.6g

Green Tea Cocktail
Powerfully cleansing and protective, this juice will fire up your body for the day and speed up its elimination of toxins. Drinking green tea has been shown to stimulate metabolism and your body’s ability to burn fat – this means that less fat is stored around your midriff. It is delicious drunk warm or cold.
Ingredients: 3 apples • 1 lemon, peeled • 1cm/½in ginger root, peeled • 150ml/5fl oz/scant ²⁄³ cup green tea, warm or cooled
Juice the apples, lemon and ginger. Stir the juice into the green tea.

Health Benefits
Green tea contains health-boosting antioxidants, including flavonoids and catechins, which can help support heart health and may protect against cancer. Its tannin content is good for digestive complaints, while the theanine in green tea can help alleviate stress and improve mental alertness. The ginger in this juice aids circulation and digestive health.

Nutritional analysis per serving: Calories 101kcal • Protein 1.3g • Carbohydrates 24.7g [of which sugars 23.5g] • Fat 0.3g

Christine Bailey
The Juice Diet
£10.99

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