Year Without Beer

4 days at Jason Vale’s Juice Academy in Wellingborough, learning about juicing, health and addiction, and how it left me inspired enough to sign up for the Great South Run.

After breaking my blender’s jug making frozen banana ice cream, I went blender shopping, inspired by Blendtec’s Will It Blend videos to find one tough enough.

I kicked off my own Mondays Without Meat, inspired by Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Monday campaign, with a green juice breakfast, Mexican tostadas and a tahini choco smoothie.

On a campervan trip to Suffolk, I visited Wyken Vineyards without touching a drop of their wine, settling for sparkling apple juice while my wife drank red wine from a half pint glass.

At 40% through my alcohol free 2012, I admit to craving a drink on Friday nights but staying committed, with the blog now past 5,000 unique visitors.

My family and I held a London 2012 Olympic torch at the weekend, then watched the relay come through our village, where I may have been the only man without a pint.

On what would have been a friend’s 28th birthday, I remembered him losing his battle with Cystic Fibrosis at just 18, never once complaining despite years in hospital.

At day 74 of my alcohol free year, with 20% of 2012 done, I slept better on the flight to Brazil without a drink and shared 20 surprising facts about beer and booze.

Heading back to Brazil in 2012, I skipped the caipirinhas made with cachaça, lime and sugar, and faced my first ever sober long haul flight.

I remembered a friend who died from Cystic Fibrosis aged just 18, never once complaining despite years in hospital, as I carried on my alcohol free year in 2012.

I swapped my evening pint for juicing in 2012, starting most mornings with a green smoothie of apples, pineapple, celery, cucumber, spinach, wheatgrass and avocado.

Jason Vale’s 17 a Day juice packs in way more than the UK’s five a day guideline, matching Japan’s recommended portions. I tried the recipe after feeling under the weather.