Your Spring makeover bestie...

Supercharged Green 6-Packs:

Take your cleansing that bit further with our limited edition Supercharged Green 6-Packs. These bad boys are the ultimate cleanser – packed full of alkalising green veggies, immune-boosting parsley, revitalising ginger and tummy-flattening mint, they are the perfect ally to get your body in tip-top shape for Spring.

These 6-Packs of green goodness contain 6 x 450ml of our 'Supercharged Green Juice' – a recipe intricately designed by none other than wholefoods chef, foodie and health entrepreneur Lee Holmes. When it comes to changing your body and mind from the inside out, Lee is a shining example, and she absolutely swears by green juice. It goes without saying that we do too – in fact, green juice is our detox bestie; there really is no other juice or smoothie with quite the same potency.

How do these 6-Packs differ from our normal cleanse?

1. Put simply, they are more intense. We don't recommend doing more than 1 day of them on their own. If you do more than a day, the best way to enjoy them is with some super healthy snacks alongside the juices.

2. They are SUPER low-carb – perfect for those of you suffering from candida or diabetes, or if you are fructose-intolerant.

3. The 6-Packs are designed to be enjoyed in two ways:

• As a green cleanse: a 1-Day cleanse (yep, just the six green juices!) or 2 days+ accompanied with healthy snacks (think miso soup, avocado, raw nuts, veggie sticks, brown rice cakes, light salads, grilled/baked fish and veggies)

• Alongside a healthy diet: just grab a juice whenever you feel like it – up to 3 a day!

More info on the Supercharged Green Juice here. Or simply give us a call!

Let’s get green together.

Our Supercharged Greens 6-Packs are just what they say on the label: 6 x 450ml Supercharged Green Juice, designed by Lee Holmes, wholefoods chef, author and creator of Supercharged Food.

The recipe is fruit-free (yep, nothing but veggies and a dash of lemon in this bad boy!)... so if you're not used to drinking green juice, we suggest you try a fruitier option, or our Level 1 Beginners Cleanse.

You can order our Supercharged Greens 6-Packs to accompany a detox, to enjoy as an intensive green cleanse, or simply to complement a healthy diet.

What’s in the juice?
8 lovely ingredients are all it takes:
• Spinach
• Cucumber
• Cos lettuce
• Celery
• Parsley
• Mint
• Lemon
• Ginger

Why go green? 
Green juice is a master healer. Lee swears by it, and so do we. It looks how it makes you feel: vibrant and alive. Just one big glass (or bottle) a day can help bring your body back to an alkaline state (an acidic body is the perfect host for disease, so alkaline is where it’s at). Leafy greens support the detoxification process; they’re also great for your skin and help combat ageing (bye bye free radicals). Mint and ginger enhance digestion and help combat the dreaded bloat, whilst lemon provides a kick-start to your metabolism. Parsley contains anti-oxidising vitamin C and spinach gives you a lovely dose of iron.

A juice with some serious benefits
It’s quick, it's easy. But this juice is in for the long haul.

Our Supercharged Green Juice helps to:
• Enhance digestion
• Reduce inflammation
• Brighten your skin
• Improve energy levels
• Support detoxification
• Alkalise the body

Like all of our juices, these little green beauties are easily absorbed thanks to our cold-pressing method, which breaks down the cell walls of those lovely veggies, delivering them in a pre-digestible state, and helping those nutrients reach your system as quickly as possible.

Our 6-Packs of Supercharged Greens are the easiest way to get your nutrient hit of alkalising green veggies without any fuss (leave that to us). We know this one will leave you bright, bouncy and super clean from the inside out.

Our Supercharged Greens are available to order online now.

Mini Detox Menu (for between cleanses)

This week we’re dishing up a yummy ‘Mini Detox Menu’ to keep you healthy, clean and glowing between cleanses. Enjoy!

Breakkie

• Bircher muesli or raw muesli with sheep or goat’s yoghurt. Add fresh fruit and raw activated almonds if you’re feeling hungry! Sheep and goat’s dairy are better tolerated than cow’s dairy as their protein-fat structure is easier to digest.

• Dandelion tea or a dandelion latte (if you’re lucky enough to have a good coffee shop that does these!) instead of coffee. Green or white tea OK too. Dandelion helps cleanse the liver and purge toxins; green and white are packed full of antioxidants!

Lunch

• Mixed bean and/or lentil salad with spinach leaves, diced tomato, haloumi (or goat’s cheese) and avocado. Season with olive oil, squeezed lemon, fresh herbs (we like basil), rock salt and ground pepper.

• Peppermint or ginger tea (drink an hour after lunch to avoid diluting digestive enzymes) to soothe a bloated tummy and ease digestion.

Dinner

• Oily or white fish in a pine nut and herb crust or baked in foil with fresh herbs and organic butter. Serve with a bitter greens and beetroot salad. Bitter greens include chicory or endives, rocket, watercress, mustard greens etc.

• 2 squares of dark chocolate – we like Loving Earth as it is raw and sweetened with agave

• Fennel tea to combat bloating and fluid retention

Snacks

• Detox juice: choose either apple/pear + green veggies or beetroot/carrot/ginger 

• Celery and/or carrot sticks with hummus or fresh guacamole

• Raw activated cashews or almonds

• 1 or 2 pieces of fresh fruit

Stave off the blah this festive season

As we head out the door this afternoon for a wee holiday break, we thought we’d send you a quick email with a super easy one day refresh plan to give your system a bit of a reboot between Christmas and the New Year. To make it easier, you can prepare everything the day before.

Start the day with hot water and lemon. This one is a habit for life that we highly recommend.

Breakfast detox juice (make at home or from a juice bar)
2 apples
1 carrot
Handful of flat leaf parsley (or mint)
Handful of fresh spinach (or other leafy greens)
2 sticks of celery  

Mid-morning super green smoothie
Small handful baby spinach
2 cos lettuce leaves
1 kiwi fruit
1 banana
½ cup apple juice
Optional superfood like spirulina
Optional chia seeds or linseeds
Some ice cubes
Wash/peel ingredients, blend, serve.

Lunch – healthy lentil salad
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
2 tbsp walnuts, roughly chopped
½ cup tinned or cooked dry brown lentils.
Season with sea salt, lemon juice and olive oil.
Minted yoghurt dressing optional (1 tbsp of yoghurt mixed with fresh chopped mint).

Mid afternoon snack
Hummus with cucumber and capsicum sticks.

Dinner – detox salad (serves 2-3 as a main)
150g red cabbage, shredded
2 small or 1 large carrot, grated
1 apple, thinly sliced
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 celery stick, thinly sliced
1tbsp toasted pinenuts
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp linseeds

Dressing
1tspn grated ginger
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
Little honey to taste

Serve with grilled salmon or on its own.

Dessert
Handful of fresh or frozen raspberries

Having only a juice and smoothie up until lunchtime will give your digestive system a really nice break. The lunch and dinner salad recipes are super healthy and packed with fibre, protein and good fat.

We hope you have a very happy and safe holiday season.

See you next year!

Green is the new black

We’re loving our superfoods at the moment and supergreens are no exception. Just like berries, our greener friends are highly concentrated sources of energising vitamins and minerals, not to mention jam-packed full of antioxidants.

But why go green? You’re probably thinking you would rather stick to berries. We love berries, don’t get us wrong, but each superfood has its area of expertise. Master healers, the greener of our superfoods help nurture an alkaline environment for our body to achieve optimal health in (an acidic body is the ideal habitat for disease).

A glass of supercharged green juice is also the perfect detox partner, with the added bonus of being low in kilojoules – we like. From the almighty spirulina, to the popular wheat grass, there’s a greenie out there for everyone.

Here are some of our more unusual faves:

chlorophyll \ this green plant pigment has a structure similar to haemoglobin, with magnesium as its central atom. Packed full of alkalising vits and mins, chlorophyll even freshens your breath!

barley grass \ a forgotten wonder, barley grass is charged with vitamin C, beta-carotene, and minerals such as iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium. It contains 30x more vit B1 than milk!

aloe vera \ this supergreen is the queen of healing. Anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory, aloe vera soothes the stomach lining and skin, promoting healthy circulation, immunity and digestion.

celery root \ also known as celeriac, this green superfood is loaded with alkalising phosphorous and potassium, and rich in vitamins C and K. Like celery, this little root is great for weight loss!

olive leaf \ packed full of antioxidants and phytonutrients, this leafy superfood is particularly rich in oleuropein – an antioxidant 5x as powerful as vit C and almost 2x as mighty as green tea!

Unlike their berry counterparts, supergreens don’t win in the taste department – the secret is in the mix.

Check out our blog for some great green juice and smoothie ideas. Time for a glass of green apple…

Your bestie in a bottle - Chlorophyll

Here at Urban Remedy, we're big fans of liquid chlorophyll. Big fans. It tastes good, smells good and does good things to your insides. Good? Good.

It's like sunshine in a bottle. Chlorophyll is in fact the molecule that absorbs sunlight and uses its energy to synthesise CO2 and water, AKA photosynthesis, which is the basis for sustaining the life of all plants. Pretty important stuff. It also gives plants and plant foods their beautiful green colour.

Why is it so good for you?

It acts as a deodoriser, promoting a healthy digestive tract and minimising bad breath and perspiration. Chlorophyll is also a rich source of antioxidants and studies have shown that it helps to prevent liver cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. It's also jam-packed with essential vitamins and minerals; vitamin A, C, K, and E, folic acid, iron, calcium and protein.

Chlorophyll is naturally occuring in in green vegetables like asparagus, green capsicum, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green cabbage, celery, spinach, green beans, green peas, kale, leeks, green olives, parsley, cos lettuce and seaweed.

If you want to supplement your diet with a little extra green goodness, try liquid chlorophyll. Simply mix a teaspoon or two in your glass of water, juice or smoothie.

Brands we like:

Nature's Sunshine
One of the strongest concentrates and best brands available, Nature's Sunshine is a little more expensive, but comes highly recommended. Available from most heath food stores or online at Natural Health Direct for $22.27 per 475mls.

Grant's Liquid Chlorophyll 
This one is Emma's favourite. While not as potent as Nature's Sunshine, it has a really nice minty flavour. Available from most health food stores or online at Organic Beauty for $13.85 per 500mls.

A little tip from Emma: It tastes better if you drink it from a wine glass. (Note: this is not strictly true, but much more fun all the same.)

As the old saying goes, if you're green inside, you're clean inside.

Smoothie-licious – yummy juices & smoothie recipes for your DIY detox

Juicing is awesome. It is a brilliant way to get loads of nutrients into your body without consuming a massive mountain of fruit & veggies. In our kitchen on Tuesday, I took a pic of the amount of fruit & veg that goes into a 3 day cleanse. Holy nutrients Batman! That doesn’t even include the ingredients for our smoothies.

As well as bursting with nutrients, fresh juices also contain antioxidant vitamins, natural antibiotics, anti-inflammatory properties and enzymes to improve the quality of your digestion. Good stuff.

A couple of things to remember about juicing:

1.    Drink your juices straight away. If you are using a home juicer or buying your juices from a juice bar, make sure you drink them straight away. We use special slow, cold press juicers that retain nutrients for way longer, but if you’re using a commercial or home juicer, they tend to oxidate (you know how apple juice starts to turn brown after a few minutes) rather quickly, so you should drink them immediately after juicing.
2.    Use high quality ingredients. You want the freshest and most lovely ingredients to go into your juices.
3.    Experiment and innovate. I’m always making new juices and smoothies, depending on what’s in season (and what’s in my fridge) at the time. Throw whatever takes your fancy in.

As promised, here are some de-lovely smoothie & juice recipes.

Apple, mint & lime juice
3-4 Granny Smith apples
2 sprigs of mint
¼ lime

Wash all ingredients. Core and quarter the apples. Roughly chop the peel off the lime. Juice. Drink. Yum.

Carrot, apple and celery juice
3 carrots
2 Granny Smith apples
2 celery stalks

Wash all ingredients. Core and quarter the apples. Cut the bottom ends of the carrot and celery and chop into pieces that will fit through your juicer. Juice. Drink. Yum.

Blueberry, spinach and apple juice
1 cup blueberries
Small handful baby spinach
3 Granny Smith apples

Wash all ingredients. Core and quarter the apples. Juice. Drink. Yum.

A word about smoothies
Smoothies are pretty awesome too. That's why we've added some to our cleanses. They are very easy to digest - your digestive system is best able to absorb nutrients from 1mm size pieces of food. That's why juices and smoothies are so good - they make all the nutrients readily available and easy to absorb. Green smoothies are particularly good. The late Dr Ann Wigmore (a pioneer in the healthy eating and living movement) spoke of an instant surge of energy and brain focus with her first green smoothie. That's how I feel when I drink my morning smoothie - bursting with energy and enthusiasm.  

Strawberry mango smoothie
1 cup frozen mango cheeks
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup rice milk

Combine all ingredients and blend. So yum.

Blueberry kale smoothie
1 cup frozen blueberries
4 kale leaves (or small handful spinach)
½ cup of water
1 banana

Wash kale leaves. Peel banana (duh). Combine all ingredients and blend.

Green smoothie
Small handful baby spinach
1 celery stalk
1 banana
1 pear
1 apple
½ cup water

For extra protein and essential fatty acids, you can add a tablespoon of linseeds (also known as flax seeds) or chia seeds to any of the smoothies. If you use chia seeds, soak them in ¼ cup of water first until they form a gel like substance and then add them to the blender.

You can also add superfood powders or liquids to your smoothies. I love Vital Greens (it almost has a chocolatey taste), spirulina and acai berry powder. We use these in the Urban Remedy smoothies and they add an extra burst of goodness and nutrients.

Next week I’ll talk more about cravings and how to satisfy them with healthy options. I’ll also upload a DIY detox yoga sequence as well as some other ideas, hints and tips.

Happy DIY detoxing.

So...
What’s your plan to make the most of your DIY detox?
Do you have any juice or smoothie recipes you want to share?

Emma x