DAY 15

“Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt…” Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2. If only the moody prince had done a reboot. The history of world drama would have been completely different.

A few slight modifications to the full monty. I.E.: two cups of coffee per day for the first 5 days, then one cup per day ever since and no withdrawal headaches = big result. Started to transition back to solids two days early so as not to shock my system with Christmas revels. Had a sautéed zucchini, (in coconut oil), three days ago. Two days ago vegetable soup (the best in the world, see recipe below), and yesterday a macaroni cheese from Pret a Manger (can only give it 2 stars). I will have a meal this evening…

I’ve tried juicing independently before, but never got past the first hurdle. Doing the guided reboot, made all the difference. First off, a big thank you to Stacy Kennedy, nutritionist – we had three webinars with her and she was available to answer questions throughout – very helpful with information and techniques.

Click the picture left to get an image with higher resolution of the crazy Aussie who started it all!

They send you an info pack which includes a daily schedule and detailed recipes and a shopping list – extremely useful. Armed with this I was able to order in advance from FreshDirect – if by any chance, anybody reading this would like to use Fresh Direct and you haven’t already done so, email me directly and I can recommend you – we’ll both get $25!

The best feature was the first 5 day transition. Going slowly and keeping some solids in the diet made all the difference.

You need two things to do this successfully:

1. Organization: Have all the produce to hand before you start. Have a good quality juicer, arm yourself with glass bottles (some plastics can leech toxins).
2. Time to prepare it: To begin with it took fully two hours from start to finish to prepare a day’s juice, but now, 15 days later I can do it in half the time and I make two days worth at a time.
3. You don’t need willpower: well, I suppose it helps, but two things are on your side. First, the juices taste fantastic – ok, I made two mistakes, one juicing the skin of citrus fruits, two combining a banana with a beetroot (I know, it makes no sense), but if you follow the recipes you won’t go wrong. Secondly, once you get through the first 3/4 days you don’t feel hungry. Rather, if you feel a pang, just drink some juice, hunger subsides quickly. It gets easier all the time.

Special tip: clean the juicer before you drink the juice (thanks Ferol!).

No before and after pics at this point. This is only phase one. Saving that dramatic poster child image for later. Stats so far:

Skin clearer. Sleep improved. The inner man significantly closer to the outer man. 12 to 13 lbs gone on the juice reboot itself, but 25 lbs since Thanksgiving. Taking a sensible hiatus over the coming revels, but in 2019 looking for more becoming quite a bit less.

If you’re interested check out www.rebootwithjoe.com and his very entertaining and compelling film at www.fatsickandnearlydead.com

The Best Vegetable Soup Ever Made (Recipe)

Juicing produces a lot of pulp. To make stock, load a large pot with pulp, cover with water, roughly chop an onion and some garlic, bring to the boil, then simmer on a low heat for half an hour.

Strain the pulp twice for maximum yield, bottle the liquid, freeze the remaining pulp for future veggie burger base.

Repeat with three varieties of veggie juice, store in fridge.

When ready, sauté, an onion, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes 5 – 6 minutes in coconut or other oil, season with salt and pepper. Put into a large pot with: any veggies to hand, I used broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, and leafy greens including fresh parsley. Add the stock. Bring to boil. Mix up some miso, soy sauce, and worcestershire sauce, (or flavoring to your taste) add to the soup, taste, add salt and pepper as needed.

Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Blend in a blender being very careful not to splatter yourself with hot soup, add an optional avocado for thicker texture if desired.