The Past Weekend

How was your weekend? Mine was fun and productive! I started off Saturday morning accompanying my parents to the supermarket where I got my hands on many fresh vegetables and bananas. The bananas were chopped up and put in the freezer for my favourite Smoothies. I foresee a week of delicious Smoothies to kickstart my mornings. For the vegetables, I made my own JUICE!

As you may know, I am a bit of a juice cleanse fanatic. I go on it once a week. However for this month, I am saving on the cold-pressed juice expenses because of this:

Facial products from the dematologist. I dropped some serious dough on them to treat the persistent light rosacea on my face. A costly invesment which should also hopefully restrain me from piling on the foundation. While at it, this also meant I blew my juice cleanse budget. Not wanting to forego my juices, I had to get creative and low budget. I got a list of recipes from the Suja Juice Classic range and blended the ingredients accordingly. Without a cold-pressed juicer, I HAND SQUEEZED them using a strainer bag. It was a tedious process and my arms were so SORE after. But I yielded a ton of juice! Very close to 1 litre per recipe. More importantly, I had full control of the sweetness level. As you may know, one of the downside of cold-pressed juices is the sugar from the fruits. This might result in diabetes and diabetics are also STRONGLY discouraged from going on juice cleanses. Me cutting back on the fruits meant the juices were not as appetizing with the flavour being very “green”. It took a while for me to get used to but it is all better in the grand scheme of things. I am definitely going to dedicate a whole post to the process. I promise.

On Saturday evening, I attended a Durian Party which I blogged about here. On Sunday afternoon, an uber delicious half-Family lunch at Pizzeria Mozza which I blogged about it here. Thereafter we headed to the BMW Motor Show 2014 where we came across this creative napkin in the pop-up cafe in the exhibition.

My parents and I did some shopping and my Mum and I walked away with two pairs of shoes from the Kurt Gieger store in MBS. Mine was a Miss KG pair of heels and my Mum got a Carvela pair. Hurray to sales!

Now it is Monday. Five-day working week, we can do it, guys!

Around the Internet: Midweek Recap

Hello my friends, I have been reading so many wonderful articles around the internet in the past few days that I simply can not wait until the end of the week to share them with you.

A review on Blogshop at Home by one of my favourite London Bloggers, UrbanPixxels. An online class on working with Photoshop to create the chic-est blog templates and pictures. Each class cost close to US$300 and I am soo tempted to sign up for the August 23/24 class. Should I?

The Pressery: a cold pressed juice company in London dedicated to just cold pressed Almond Milk. It sounds delicious and the packaging of the bottle is so chic!

Need a baking inspiration? How about a Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Glaze?

Not into baking, how about homemade white cardamom & lavender milk jam?

Cold off the Press: The Spicy Gazpacho sounds scrumptious!

Summer Hostess Gifts – I’m hosting a brunch this Monday, is it greedy to secretly wish my guests will get something off this list for me?

Stunning.Swimming.Pools.

Today is Cleanse Day!

Posting this on the way to work. Stay tune as I update further on today’s cleanse and more importantly, drinking thawed cold pressed juices that I bought last week. Does it taste the same? Does it still taste fresh? Update in a bit!

And I’m seriously the most forgetful person on earth! Yesterday something was weighing on my mind the entire day and I couldn’t put my finger onto it. Until late last night when I realised I completely forgot to update a table for registration of a society!!! Gosh YY!! So I’m rushing into work to update it as quick as possible. And also this morning, a long meeting on a book I’m co-writing. I’m gonna need all the green juice energy as possible! Have a good day everyone!

[Update at 10am]

Drinking my second juice as I type this and it is a new flavour for me, Salaryman (Celery, Cucumber, and Green Apple). During my first cleanse, I had the same drinks for all three days and I was very bored to be honest. So last week, I emailed Roger for a change for the three days and they were super sweet. They delivered every single flavour available in the shop. Yayy to efficient businesses! Salaryman is a pretty light green drink that reminds me of lime juice but far from it taste-wise. I am not a big fan of celery so this drink definitely takes some getting used to.

As mentioned earlier, I am drinking defrosted juice. I bought a 3-day cleanse last week but after a day, I felt properly cleansed so I froze the remaining bottles for future post-indulgent days. And as can be seen from my earlier entries, it is actually a weekly affair. I just can’t resist letting go and indulgent once a week! After my heavy durian weekend, I really needed a cleanse so on Sunday, I pulled out some bottles from the freezer and defrosted it safely in the fridge. When I had my first bottle, Krypto, it tasted surprisingly fresh! I have drank expired juices before and there was a strong rancid taste that was not present here. However the solids within did not dissolve as well and there little visible ones floating around. Not exactly the most inviting and I hope it is fine because it definitely taste alright.

[Update at 9.05pm]

Hello hello!! Done with today’s juices and it was surprisingly a breeze! The previous headaches did not make an appearance today and when hunger struck, I quickly drank a juice, to which my belly was satiated. Energy-wise, I was surprised to find myself full of it. I attended two meetings, accompanied my colleagues to lunch where I watched them inhale in fried chicken but was not tempted then accompanied them to the Daily Juice shop where one of them put down an order for a 3 days cleanse beginning tomorrow! (“I just want to get it over and done with”: she said). At the same time, I purchased a small bottle of Nut Mylk as I finished my big bottle in a moment of greediness last week. The tiny Nut Mylk is sooo cute! I shall post the picture in a bit. Ooo and Daily Juice has a new juice called The Dark Knight. It is essentially Nut Mylk with raw cacao and cinnamon added in. I personally preferred Nut Mylk as it had a stronger almond flavour but when I told my friends, they could not help but swoon over the cacao. And more importantly today, I could even joke with my colleagues who dropped by my desk for a quick chat. I am so pleased to have sailed through the day, maybe my body is finally getting used to these juices now. 🙂

Heaven in a bottle

This very early morning, I am talking at 4am during the Argentina vs Netherlands match, a breakfast idea struck me: throw a scoop of my newly-arrived Sunwarrior Classic Protein Vanilla Powder into my favouritest bottle of Nut Mylk. Boy was it a wise decision because the ensuing result was simply heavenly.

Here is a little snap shot of my half drank bottle for you. It was so good, I only remembered to take a picture halfway through my indulgence.

After pouring in my vegan protein powder and giving it a very very good shake, don’t be afraid to go violent as those vegan protein powder don’t desolve as well as it’s whey isolate cousins, the mylk texture turned expectedly thicker but unexpectedly creamier to the point of almost buttery. And the added vanilla flavour from the powder only increased the richness of the almonds and I swear the taste was even subtly sweeter. Basically this indulgent version of the nut mylk got even dreamier. So there, a very random update of joyful discovery this morning probably of my life.  

My Second Juice Cleanse Experience

I’m back on the juice cleanse with Daily Juice Singapore! After my first experience, I felt light and clean inside out for a good week but after many social outings and the sheer lack of willpower meant innumberable indulgence which have been chronicled extensively here. As such I have felt my body getting “clogged up”, stuffed with toxins from the junk I put in. Almost instinctively, I started craving for a juice cleanse to clean out the junk accumulating in me. I hunted around the Juice Cleanse companies but every single one out there was still so much more expensive than Daily Juice. Plus they were so friendly and prompt with my email enquiries, I knew I had to go back to them.

Over the course of the next two days, I will be posting here extensively on my experience this round. The funny thing was, I was still incredibly nervous the past few days despite being my second experience and still researched on pre-cleanse preparations. Based on my first experience, it is all about taking it easy.

9.30am. First things first, the bottles have changed! I prefer the old fatter and more stunted bottle. Taste-wise, Barnie is more gingery and stronger in Beet flavour. But more importantly I sip this drink as slowly as I can (the secret, apparently, to ensure our body absorbs as much of the nutrients as possible)

11:06am. Less than 20 minutes after Barnie, my body needs to detox. That was quick! I hydrate thereafter with hot green tea (thank goodness the coffee machine in my office has a green tea option) and guzzle warm water like no tomorrow. Juice cleanses will make one body’s temperature dip so low you will feel like an amphibian. I am tempted to go onto my second bottle, Krypto, but I am waiting for my client and that shall be my “reward” after the possibly-tough meeting.

12pm. During my meeting, I can feel hunger stirring up in my belly. I am hungry and the moment my meeting ends, I race to grab Krypto for a sip. That single sip was enough for me to churn out my meeting notes. Then hunger struck again and I promptly finished the bottle. Krypto was a little grassy in taste with a slight bitterness thanks to the high vegetables content. Still it only means lower sugar content.

1.10pm. I am so cold, I bring my third bottle, B. Smoothie, to sit under the sun and thaw myself. It is a pink and deliciously thick smoothie that is heavy on the banana flavour. A cold filling drink made even more comforting under the blazing sun. I feel satisfied after this bottle and energetic enough to stand and chat with my colleagues while they have their lunch (wanton mee; smelt heavenly but on a non-clease day I wouldn’t touch the calorie-loaded noodles). Big mistake about the standing though.

2.10pm. I am exhausted from that short standing! I sit on my desk chair feeling weak and craving for food. I think about my fourth bottle, Sup Doc, I am so tempted to reach for it but instead I guzzle down three glasses of water.

2.59pm. I race towards the fridge for Sup Doc and I instantly drink up half the bottle. I am feeling good.

3.30pm. Oops said too soon. I am so hungry and stupidly google food blogs. I think about Pepplemint… I may have not have a pressing headache but I have strong urge to bite into someone’s shoulders.

5.00pm. HELL YEH GIVE ME PEPPLEMINT! I quickly finish the bottle and I am feeling satisfied again. I feel strong enough to crack jokes with my colleagues although I am still sitting down at this point.

6.10pm. I am hungry and I have my last, and favourite, bottle left: Nut Mylk. I resist the temptation to drink it before leaving for home but on the bus home, I take two sips – freaking satisfying. Then I race home and promptly finish up the bottle leaving me in a wonderful state of happiness.

7.30pm. I am feeling drowsy from the Nut Mylk. Why does it give me such an effect? I have no idea.

That night, I slept early (8.30pm) and like a baby although there was a 12.45am unleashing of my bladder. I wake up at 3am for the Brazil vs Germany (how epic was that match?!) and I was all energetic and hungry but not starving. I eat a small piece of toast and two oat biscuits which gives me the strength to drive down and watch the game. The strange thing was, I could still resist the hot tapas my friend ordered despite being “deprived” of solids.

The next day. I have decided to freeze my remaining two days of juices instead. Yesterday I could feel there was no much in my body to detox and I read the juices could be frozen and kept for up to 6 months. I know there will be many indulgent days ahead so I shall “save” it for those days. 🙂

Daily Juice Singapore 3-day Juice Cleanse: Day Three and Thereafter

Day Three was hard, I am not going to lie.

The morning started off well. My energy level was still high. When the juices were dropped off at my office, I did not race to get my juices in desperation. However in the afternoon, I was getting tired of the flavours; the monotony and predictability made me moody. I craved for excitement.

The worst point, however, hit me at around 4 to 5pm. That was when my brain hit the wall and caved in. It was a strangest feeling. I wasn’t low on energy… My brain was just fogged up. I was walking around work in a haze. It was funny because at no point during the three days or 18 bottles, did I ever feel any gastric pains or other extreme forms of hunger. I highly believe my brain was craving for fat.

When my brain was all muddled up, even the usually delightful fifth bottle, Pepplemint, could not relieve the intense headache I was feeling. It felt like someone was pressing down on my head. The compressed and tight feeling up in my head was simply unbearable.

My final 18th bottle: Nut Mylk, relieved the feeling somewhat but it was inadequate. I was in a really bad place. When I knocked off from work, I ran straight home and flopped onto the bed like a fish. I was still determined to hang on and not cave into solids.

That evening, I had the worst sleep ever! It took me forever to fall asleep and when I did, I woke up at 2am with a splitting headache. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest banana I could find. Hey! It was past 12am! I can still say I survived three days without solids. After the sweet banana, my sleep improved a little but I still got up at 7am craving to bite into food.

The next day was free-for-all. For breakfast, I inhaled a slice of bread, more juice, Black Carrot Cake – everything. Then I officially declared Saturday as CHEAT DAY! I bit into whatever yummy food I could get my hands on. I threw a BBQ Party at my place that same evening and ate like there was no tomorrow! It felt fantastic. At times it made me think about how stupid I was to go without solids for three days. I swore I would never do it again! On the scales, I was down by 2kg but I thought, not worth it! So much headache and no energy just to be 2kg lighter, “forget it!” I yelled many times with my mouth stuffed with fattening food.

But the very next day I bit my tongue. I woke up bloated from the day before’s binging and actually missed the juices! I missed the clean feeling everytime I drank a bottle and the lightness of my body thereafter. I also missed the natural high energy that was not aided by caffeine. (For the record, I have not craved for coffee since going cold turkey and have not had a glass too.) When I looked back at the pictures taken during the BBQ Party, I saw my very SLIM self. My arms were looking lithe, my hair was glossy and shiny, my face was so angular and chin so DEFINED! It was as if I had botox and fillers but wasn’t $800 short.

So I did the craziest. I was so motivated with the green jucies that I went out to the supermarket and bought a lot of vegetables and fruits. I came home, cut them into pieces, and portioned them into little ziplock bags in preparation for Green Smoothies the week ahead. I made my own Nut Mylk too. I blended store-bought almond milk with some dates (which were on a sale!). It was not as tasty as Daily Juice’s but on the hot Sunday afternoon, it felt so blissful to lie in bed and watched TV while sipping a cold cup of my homemade mylk.

Will I go on another 3-day juice cleanse? You bet!

Why wouldn’t I? I looked great in pictures and during the cleanse, I was feeling better than ever.

I googled prices of cleanse programs from other companies in Singapore but boy were they expensive! Let me present to you a detailed list of companies providing Juice Cleanses in Singapore. Please note Daily Juice SG is not on the list. It happens to be the cheapest provider so far ($199 for 5 days). Their customer service is also sublime – quick to reply with emails and extremely accomodating.

Daily Juice Singapore 3-day Juice Cleanse: Day Two

I survived day two!! It was easier during the day, I learnt to enjoy the drinks and the sweetness. I found myself eagerly awaiting each of them. The Nut Mylk at the end was the most comforting and caused me to go all dreamy – like I was floating on some fluffy sweet date clouds. The slight headache remained, the hoarse scratchy throat creeped around but other than that, I was blissfully filled with liquid although the coldness of the drinks caused me to get a slight fever which quickly subsided when I went out to the humid weather. However during the night, I took a short walk to the supermarket and came back feeling hungryyyyy… I so nearly caved into an apple but I read my book (a food book, mind you) and strangely felt more relaxed which caused the cravings to subside. My body was also becoming accustomed to the calories intake and I could feel myself getting more energetic and craving to return to my standing desk. And at night, I slept like a baby. It has been a while but I slept from 8.30pm all the way to 7am. It was so blissful.

During the past two days, I enjoyed the convenience of the juices. Pressed, bottled and delivered straight to my office on time; who wouldn’t want that?! If not for the long term bad effects of the juices, I would probably have gone on it longer. Then I thought about the two successful days could have been possible. A) I was deeply unpopular – or tend to be socially dormant during the weekdays.  No peer pressure in sight, just drinking liquid was a breeze. Then I thought about willpower which led me to point B) I practise it regularly. I don’t snack. I eat dinner once a week (usually because I can’t avoid dining out with my friends).

Daily Juice Singapore 3-day Juice Cleanse: Day One

[Editor’s note: Hi all, if you are reading this entry again, you may notice a heavily edited version. Yep, that’s right. I have amended the entry below because the writing in my previous one was CRAP. Still the same experience except I hope it is now more coherent with better sentence structure. Thanks for stopping by!]

I am on a 3-day juice cleanse and believe me when I say, I DID NOT plan for it. This is how it happened, and let me tell you, it happened in the most hilarious way. On Monday I came into work and found five of my colleagues had signed up for a 5-day juice cleanse with Daily Juice Singapore. Before lunchtime, the no-solid-food regime wore down three of them. And right after lunch, one of them offered me his last three days of juice. I have always wanted to go on one so I promptly accepted. So that was my Monday! I went home that day and told my Mum. She burst out laughing but was supportive. I really needed that.

To be honest, I have no idea what hit me to buy out my colleague’s pain. There were warning signs all around me. Out of five, three of them failed promptly. One within the first day, the second held on until 12am then promptly inhaled Claypot Chicken Rice, and the third had two eggs on the second day. None made it past two days. What chance did I have of surviving? They were also cranky and tired. Their spirits only lifted the moment they gave up the cleanse and could plan their lunches. These lunches, of course, consisted of nothing but SOLIDS.

Then I recalled the past. The troublesome process of blending my own juice and the thought of prepared juices sent straight to my office every morning was just too tempting. That thought alone filled me with a renewed sense of hope. I gamely took on the challenge: three days, 18 bottles, no solid food. This meant no my-favourite-breakfast: toasted bread, peanut butter and jam. Just tons and tons of liquid, and from my colleague’s experience, strong legs to carry me to the toilet because god only knows how well-acquainted with the toilet bowl I must be on this cleanse.

Before the cleanse started, I prepared as best. I only had two days notice while others on the internet seem to plan weeks in advance. First things first, the day before the cleanse began, I quit coffee. This caused me serious withdrawal symptoms and I am sure I experienced COLD TURKEY. I stocked up (binged) on fruits too just to get used to the “coldness” of my subsequent “meals”. T

To get mentally prepared, I read all over the internet about the terrifying experiences from a juice cleanse just to prepare for the worst. Experiences such as hunger pangs and deep bad cravings. At the same time, I read a few good advice from the brave bloggers like sipping the drink slowly so one does not feel deprived and absolutely NO looking at food blogs. This only will stir up one’s cravings for solid foods even more. This was going to be hard. I live for food blogs and food trends. To be the first at a new eatery is so my life’s goal. But I could do this! I could survive three days of no solids! (Seriously, celebrity gossip sites are your best friends during juice cleanse days.)

On the morning of the cleanse, I pulled out some fancy paper straws to make myself feel better. The hard part was waiting for the juice to be delivered. I was used to waking up at 6 to 7am then promptly inhale my breakfast. Instead yesterday morning, I mopped around the dining room, stared at the bread container, and downed two big glasses of water before I could reach for it. My head hurt so badly after a while so I downed another glass of water. That did not help and I was in a lot of pain. I kept dreaming of juices. I entered the office in a zombie state. From 9 to 9.30am, I stared at the digital clock praying, counting down; all the while suffering. When the juices had not arrived by 9.30am, I went to pester my unimpressed colleague. At 9.40am when she finally announced the arrival, I raced to the fridge, excitedly pulled out the first bottle, and stuck my straw into it.

The next hard part was the two hour per bottle regime. Daily Juice advises each bottle to be drank every two hours. I did not like scheduled eating. My preferred method of eating was to eat a lot at once then spend the next 6 to 8 hours go about my life stuffed. This regime took A LOT of getting used to.

My body went through different reactions throughout the first day. After drinking the first two bottles, I felt full at first. I was even feeling smug about it. But just twenty minutes later, hunger would slowly creep back in. Drinking each bottle as slowly as possible was probably the best way forward. Further after the first two bottles, I felt a slight headache creeping into me. I felt it strange and drank more water but throughout but the headache remained. I felt terribly hungry after the first three bottles but after the fourth and fifth, I was finally satiated. When it was time for the last bottle, I felt well-fed and clean.

Another observation made was the sweetness of the juices. The drinks were sweeter than I expected. I was told this was due to the heavier fruit-based drinks. After the first two bottles, I could feel my throat turning hoarse and scratchy.

However the most surprising and immediate effect of the cleanse took hold of me from the start. I felt REALLY energetic! Like energy from deep within that I never knew I had, was just spilling out of me. I could not stop cracking jokes throughout the day. Even in the evening and the next morning (this morning). Even my Mum remarked I looked less tired and my “sian-ness” (lack of zest for life) was noticeably absent. In short, I felt good! Today, I actually woke up looking forward to my juices.

As for my solid food cravings, it was still there especially when The Great British Bake Off (a wonderful British baking competition) came on. Before the cravings took control of my body and sent me to the kitchen, I switched off the TV before the show ended and headed straight for bed. Last night, I slept very very well. Deep sleep for most of the time. Although there was a 3am disruption which saw me sit on my toilet bowl for a good few minutes peeing out a day’s worth of liquid. As for exercising, don’t even think about it! I had no energy just to stand at my desk (I created my own standing desk). I really missed my exercising and push-up regime yesterday.

Anyway, here is a rundown of the cleanse juices from Daily Juice Singapore: