We are now just 5 sleeps away from my first Christmas without beer in more years than I care to remember. As we enter this festive period many people will be planning a week or so of serious indulgence with rich food and serious booze consumption. Come January however, many will be making New Year’s resolutions and starting 2013 attempting to kick bad habits and in many cases improve their health through changes to diet or lifestyle.
With news reports highlighting that nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year – over 130,000 in total – are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, it is no surprise that more and more people are looking to take control of their own health.
One great way to kickstart a 2013 campaign for a new you is with a short juice detox.
The World’s Biggest Juice Detox
The world’s biggest juice detox was launched by Jason “Juice Master” Vale in January 2012. Over 14,000 people from 33 different countries took part (including me) and we all collectively lost over 70,000lb in weight. This year Jason wants to go one stage further and get over 20,000 people taking part with an aim to make the world over 100,000lb lighter.
The idea is to get as many people around the world to see and feel the results of living on freshly extracted juice for a week. I started my year without beer by doing Jason Vale’s 7lbs in 7 days – Juice Detox Programme. Did I lose 7lbs in 7days? No, I lost 12lbs!! My wife also did the detox with me and she has lost 9lbs too.
So is it just about weight loss?
Well, no actually – at least not for me. With all the excesses of Christmas and New Year I was feeling bloated, uncomfortable and tired at the start of the year, but after just a week I felt lighter, leaner and ready to take on the challenges of 2012. My clothes felt looser and I found I had loads more energy, enough to be exercising at least once on every day of the programme.
There’s an app for that!
One of the tools I found really useful during the 7 day detox was the 7lbs in 7 days iPhone app and now there is a new app based on a shorter 3 day detox. Both of the apps have some great features including the ability to build shopping lists of the ingredients you will need, videos of how to make the juice recipes and coaching from Jason Vale.
Mens Fitness Magazine says: ”Want an easy way to shed fat? Simply chuck some stuff in in a blender, wizz them up and drink these super smoothies from Juice Master Jason Vale”
I’ve lost over 5 stone in the last 3 years, have loads more energy than I used to and I have absolutely no doubt that juicing has been key to my health improvements.
You can read more about the 3 day detox app at the Juicemaster website and or can download it from the Apple app store.
If my story hasn’t inspired you, maybe my pictures will:
Year Without Beer
Firstly, I would like to say a BIG thank you to all who have supported me on my year without beer.
The Olympics may be over, but my Year Without Beer isn’t! I am spending all 366 days of this leap year alcohol free in an attempt to raise money for 2 charities that are both very close to my heart.
As part of my running challenge I have completed a quarter marathon, a 10 mile road race (Great South Run) and an 8 mile off road challenge (The Grim Original).
In 2012 I was raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Cancer Research UK.
