Sponsored post with Philips
I’ve always wanted to try juicing, usually after a holiday with all the multicoloured cold pressed jugs sat there ready to be tasted. But I’ve never really had the inclination to actually buy a juicer and figure it all out. I’ve just about got breakfast smoothies down, a few berries here, some coconut water there, add a chunk of frozen mango and you’re done, but vegetables? Sounds complicated, messy and quite frankly not very appealing at all. Another one of those ‘stuff we do because they’re good for us but actually we hate them’ type things.
Last month Philips got in touch and asked if I wanted to join their Healthy Habit Swap campaign. They asked me to swap out one of my more unhealthy habits for a clean fresh juice every day for three weeks and document how it made me feel.
They packaged up my kit – The Avance Collection Juicer – and sent me off down to Sainsburys with some vouchers to stock up my fridge with actual real life fruit and vegetables…as opposed to the usual pasta, wine and chocolate that frequent my basket each week. Don’t judge, I know you’ve only got limes in yours to go with those weekend G&Ts!
So there I stood in my kitchen surrounded by vegetables, a brand new juicer (which was surprisingly easy to assemble by the way) and no clue on where to start.
CUE THE PHILIPS JUICING APP! Yep, right there in one handy app is a boat load of juice recipes that can be filtered by the ingredients you have, what you want them to do or even just the colour! I started looking through for some immune boosting juices to help me fight off the plague of infections I’ve had recently and I loaded up my shiny new juicing machine.
The first thing I tried making was a ginger shot. Simply pop two thumbs of fresh ginger (as it comes) into the top of your juicer with half a peeled lemon and switch it on!
Out came this perfect shot of fiery goodness and I was so impressed. Add a little bit of manuka honey and you’ve got a little shot of health that I’ve had every single day without fail, they actually get a bit addictive!
I just couldn’t believe how easy it all was and just how powerful that contraption is, it puts my smoothie blender to shame!
Since then I’ve been adding a juice into my diet every day for the past three weeks and trying all the different recipes I can. Beetroots and berries, carrots and oranges, kale and cucumber, you name it I’ve juiced it! I noticed I was getting pretty snacky around 3pm every day so I swapped my usual bag of crisps or biscuit for a juice and I can’t tell you how incredible I feel.
I’ll admit, I thought I would give it a go for a few days and then get a little slack on the old juice routine – another healthy fad. But I’ve honestly become a little obsessed with trying out new juices and keeping my vitamins and minerals topped up with these multi coloured glasses of joy…and I haven’t made a bad one yet, they actually taste really good even though when you’re feeding it all in it looks like it should make a soup not a tangy refreshing juice!
The Avance Collection Juicer I have is pretty neat. With a super wide feeding tube which means you don’t have to chop anything up, just stick it in and watch it work it’s magic!
I like to peel citrus fruits to reduce the bitterness in my drink but this bad boy whizzes up whole apples like they’re marshmallows and doesn’t even bat an eyelid at my carrots!
It’s got a none-drip nozzle to keep your work surface clean between juices which is really handy as I tend to do my ginger shot first and then move onto my main juice, and with Philips FibreBoost technology you can change to a thicker juice which adds up to 50% more fibre into each drink with a flick of a switch.
You can pour water in there to give it a quick rinse between your juices – see handy video below to watch it work it’s magic – and best of all it’s so darn easy to clean. I was worried about this part because I HATE washing up, but it all comes apart and with a quick rinse you’re good to go! I like to lay all my bits out on a tea towel to dry and piece it all back together later.
Another top tip is to get a compost bin for your pulp or put it straight in your brown bin outside because after a couple of days your bin will get a little on the pongy side…just a little tip from me to you there speaking from experience, you know, now that I’m a juicing professional and all!
Adorable pineapple mason jar from Primark – grab one off Amazon for £12!
I cannot tell you how much of a juicing convert I am. My skin is glowing, I feel full for ages so less snacking and smaller portions have helped me drop a few lbs and I’ve got so much more energy. I feel really positive and touch wood my illnesses seem to have gone away, hooray!
Philips asked me to take part in this Healthy Habit Swap for three weeks but hand on heart I’ll be carrying this one on for many more weeks to come. I feel incredible and if you’re wondering I haven’t had any bloating or uncomfortable side effects to my diet change which is great! Ginger is fab for bloating as is dandelion tea so if you find yourself feeling a bit uncomfortable introducing so many veggies at once then try making yourself one of my ginger shots, they’ll sort you right out!
I can’t rave enough about how much this challenge has helped me – if you’re thinking about giving juicing a go don’t hesitate. The app makes it so easy to find new and exciting recipes, it’s super quick to do before work or before heading to the gym and I’ve felt the benefits of my new healthy habit from week one. The only downside? Your shopping gets really heavy with all those vegetables in there, talk about a workout!
Need some more inspo to make healthy choices? Check out these five easy food swaps.
WATCH: Juicing With The Philips Avance Collection Juicer
You can also take a look at the full Philips Juicing Range on their website – start your healthy habit swap today!
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