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Jason Vale’s January Juice Detox

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Jason ValeI’ve mentioned Jason Vale in the past. This coming January as in previous year’s he’s organising a January detox. However it’s slightly later in the month than in previous years. He’s also giving away over £10000 in prizes, so if you’re looking for some extra motivation he’s got you covered.

This is partially due to the publication of his new book “5LBs in 5 Days: The Juice Detox Diet” which comes out on January 2nd, but it’s also down to something quite logical. Human behaviour.

If you’ve been over-eating during Christmas it’ll probably take a few days for your body to adjust to normal quantities of food. So switching from eating huge quantities down to eating tiny quantities probably wouldn’t work too well. So by delaying the detox by a few days you’d hopefully be in a better position..

 

Full details on the site, where you can also signup if you want to take part.

While I’d love to do it I won’t be able to, as I’ll be travelling that week which means I’ll be lucky if I can keep my food consumption under control!

Post-Christmas Detox Courtesy of Food Matters

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food-matters-detox-promoAfter Christmas a lot of people try to change their lifestyles and adopt a healthier approach.

Of course companies operating in the dieting / health sector know this so in the run up to January 1st there’s a LOT of promotions and incentives to get people “hooked”.

Food Matters are running a 3 day detox in the New Year which might be of interest to some people.

You can grab the recipes and shopping list directly from their site and Facebook page.

More details here

Fresh Irish Made Pasta

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I love trying out locally produced food, so I picked up a packet of Pasta Milano’s Fresh Ravioli with Tomato & Mozzarella:

Fresh Ravioli with Tomato & Mozzarella

Fresh Ravioli with Tomato & Mozzarella

I like pasta and buying fresh pasta is something I like to do assuming that I’m planning on cooking it within a couple of days.

The Fresh Ravioli with Tomato & Mozzarella comes in a fairly simple package and is made from Irish ingredients – at least in part: ricotta cheese, Irish mozzarella, tomato concentrate, potato flakes, parmesan, cheddar, pecorino cheese, whey powder, milk powder, oat flakes, salt, garlic.

I cooked it this afternoon and while it was tasty – served with a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan – I’m not sure if it was worth paying the premium price.

While I like being able to support local business there is a line – paying almost double for the “pleasure” is a bit much.

Keeping Your Kitchen Work Area Clean

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I love cooking. Chopping, slicing and dicing vegetables is a very calming process.

However the cleanup is a pain. You peel an onion, or top and tail a carrot and you have debris left over.

What to do?

I *was* either letting it sit there until I’d finished the prep and then scooping it all up and putting it in the bin.

Or using the empty packaging from mushrooms or meat to hold all the peelings

But neither option is particularly satisfactory

So I finally succumbed and got a counter top bin:

Simple Human counter bin

It might seem silly, but having a bin on the counter that I can dump peels into directly makes things a LOT easier and has also meant that I’ve been able to keep the kitchen work area a lot tidier.

I paid around €14 for the bin in my local Argos. You might find cheaper, but I wanted a good quality bin so opted for the Simple Human one

 

Godiva Hazelnut Crème Coffee

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godiva-hazelnut-coffeeI love coffee. Nothing new there.

Last week I was in Brussels for a meeting, so I stopped off in the duty free shops on my way home to get a few bits and pieces. Of course “duty free” isn’t true these days, as you only really get those kind of prices when you’re flying outside the EU. Brussels airport may not be my favourite airport, but it’s got a fantastic selection of chocolate and other gourmet products to tempt you. One of them is Godiva Hazelnut Crème Coffee.

It’s not cheap – if you buy it online directly from Godiva it’s about 15 Euro for a packet – but it is a wonderfully tasty way to spend a few Euro 🙂

Jokes aside, if you like coffee it’s worth it to treat yourself from time to time.

Hazelnut coffee and other flavours may not be acceptable to “purists”, but nobody is forcing them to drink the coffee!

At work I’ve been buying a variety of different flavoured coffees to try out.

Some of them have been very good, while others, like the Christmas pudding flavoured one, were “odd”

Fitbit Force Now Available To Order

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fitbit-force-product-imagesThe Fitbit Force, which is the latest Fitbit device, is now available to order in the US.

It’s not available in other markets as far as I can tell and the US orders are currently showing a 4 to 6 week waiting time on deliveries.

The Force brings back the ability to measure how many stairs you climb per day, as well as adding a watch / clock function that other trackers incorporate. If these features don’t matter to you, then you might be happy sticking with the slightly cheaper Fitbit Flex. Personally I was quite disappointed that the Flex didn’t include tracking of stairs climbed, so I’m very tempted to get a Force.

What else does the new device offer?

They’ve  released a pretty slick video to show off the device’s features:

http://youtu.be/1Eig_xyVMxY

If you already have one of the other Fitbit devices it might be quite hard to justify getting the newest one.

However, if you don’t have the Flex then maybe moving to a wristband device can help, as the One and Ultra are quite easy to either forget or lose (based on my own experiences and that of various friends)

Here’s a simple comparison chart to show the differences between the different devices, including the now defunct Ultra:

Fitbit tracking devices compared

Fitbit tracking devices compared

Fitbit Working On More Powerful Version of Flex

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According to a report on The Verge, Fitbit is working on a new version of their tracker.

The new model will be an upgrade to the current “flex” and will add back the ability to track stairs climbed.

It will also, apparently, have a watch function.

Personally I miss the altimeter function that the Fitbit models, other than the Flex, have. Being able to track stairs climbed encouraged me to take the stairs more!

According to The Verge the new device will be called “the Force” and will retail for around $129.