Jumpstart 2015 – Juices, Smoothies & Soups

Jumpstart the New Year for a healthier you!

I’ve never been one for making New Year’s resolutions. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever made a single one in my lifetime. I can be a bit obsessive when it comes to seeing a project through, and if I don’t make it to the end I feel the disappointment a bit too strongly than I probably should. I’m my own worst critic!

However, over the last few months I’ve been increasing the number of juices, soups and smoothies in our family diet because of the addition of two fantastic machines to my kitchen arsenal: the Froothie Optimum 9400 blender and the Froothie Optimum 600 slow juicer (affiliate links). They have a permanent prime location on my kitchen counter top, right next to the chopping board.

Please do watch the awesome video my husband and I made as part of my blender review, below. We are really rather proud of it! 🙂

Food and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship going on right now. Like I said, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions so my serious attempts at losing the excess weight piled on in 2014 began in mid-December after a failed start in mid-November. I didn’t want to risk putting on even more weight over the holidays so I started early. Subsequently, I haven’t been making any delicious recipes to photograph and share with you all – trust me, what I’ve been eating has not been even remotely inspiring. I’ve been relearning how to cook lower calorie meals, and eating simply to stay alive, build muscle and lose fat rather for any pleasure.

A group of us food bloggers, organized by the lovely Scottish vegetarian blogger Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes, got chatting about how we could put our juicers and blenders to the best use to help us shift the post-festive-food-indulgence feeling and maybe lose a few pounds as well. After much discussion we came up with Jumpstart 2015, a plan to include more fresh vegetable loaded juices, soups and smoothies in our diets and share the recipes and results on our food blogs through the month of January, and maybe even beyond.

I detest calorie counting. It can work, true – I’ve done it, but I’ve filled so many notebooks and scraps of paper with scribbles trying to work out the calorie content in the home cooked dish I’ve made, and left my dinner get cold while weighing everything trying to work it out – I don’t want to go down that road again; I get too obsessive.

This new challenge isn’t about calorie counting or deprivation, it’s all about increasing the amount of lovely vegetables in our diet, satisfying our appetites with them instead of what we might normally reach for; to form new healthy eating habits and reap the benefits.

To help me with this challenge I have three fantastic books at hand: new release Greens 24/7 by Canadian food blogger Cupcakes & Kale (Jessica Madel) contains a whole chapter on green breakfast smoothies, which I will be trying out (and reviewing the book as its official launch date is on the 6th of January!); 1000 Juices, Green Drinks & Smoothies by Deborah Gray which is a treasure trove of fantastic blender and juicer recipes; and Jason Vale’s The Juice Master: Keeping it Simple, a book which has been on my shelf since I was gifted it many years ago by Bestemor (Norwegian for Grandmother). I’ve tried nearly all the recipes in this book and every single one of them is a vitamin and mineral loaded delight.

JUMPSTART 2015: THE RULES

1. Enjoy a freshly made smoothie or juice (made of mostly vegetables) for breakfast and lunch
2. Drink more water (I’m terribly guilty of not drinking enough water, unless coffee counts?)
3. No alcohol (optional, but I think the majority of my weight gain last year came from wine calories so it’s teetotal 2015 for me!)
4. Eat more soups – chunky or smooth as long as they are loaded with vegetables!
5. Normal meal in the evening (In my case, on days where I manage to complete a P90X exercise workout this meal will be rich in protein with a generous serving of vegetables and small serving of carbohydrates)

WHO IS TAKING PART?

Tinned Tomatoes – Slim Down with Jumpstart January
Smarter Fitter – An Easy 3-Day Juice Feast to Jumpstart 2015
Utterly Scrummy Food For Families – Jumpstart January for Smoothies and Soups
Kellies Food To Glow – Eat Smart Feel Great
Fuss Free Flavours
Ren Behan
Veggie Desserts – Squashing Vegetables & Feeling Healthier
Franglais Kitchen
London Unattached (mainly soups)
Maison Cupcake
YOU! – If you would like to join in too, tweet me @TangoRaindrop your photos and recipe tips using the hashtag #Jumpstart15 and I will retweet all that I see. I’d love to try out your tried and tested recipes, and, if you like, I could even feature them on my blog (duly credited, of course!).

Bookmark or use Bloglovin to track what my Jumpstart 2015 blogging friends are up to – their recipes, tips and progress! Here are a few of our recipes to get you started…

JUICES

Pomegranate, Berry & Pear Juice by Food to Glow
Happy Tummy Tonic by Kellie’s Food to Glow (recipe to follow soon!)
Beetroot, Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary (recipe to follow soon!)

SMOOTHIES

Ultimate Evergreen Spirulina Smoothie by SmarterFitter
Vegan Mango Smoothie by Utterly Scrummy
Chocolate & Hazelnut “Spread” Green Smoothie by Fuss Free Flavours

SOUPS

Winter Vegetable Soup by Ren Behan
Carrot & Cumin Soup by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Creamy Butternut Squash & Tomato Soup by Tinned Tomatoes

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Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. All thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. This is not a paid post.