I love my job. I am one of the lucky few who has followed their passion and gets to do what they love every day. Helping people to improve their health and feel better than ever using great nutrition is just so rewarding. And believe me, I do not do it for the money! 

But every now and then, a little perk turns up that makes my job just that little bit more rewarding. After writing and blogging about smoothies and green smoothies for what feels like a lifetime, it's wonderful to finally have this recognised.

When the lovely people at Russell Hobbs sent me their brand new 3-in-1 Ultimate Juicer to try out and create my very own smoothie with, I did do a little whoop. I do love a kitchen appliance, and to be sent one by the manufacturers is just a teeny bit exciting!

The 3-in-1 Ultimate Juicer is a juicer, press and blender all in one machine. So you get to make smoothies using a freshly made juice for a delicious flavour, maximum nutrient content and minimal...

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Check out my latest recipe for this delicious and cleansing green smoothie. It's packed full of alkalising vegetables, low-GI fruit and healthy fats which are great for your skin and won't send you on sugar rollercoaster. 

You know I love a smoothie! They're easy on the digestion, portable and a great way of packing lots of nutrient-rich colourful vegetables in one meal. 

If you need a kickstart to get you back on the health wagon this is a great place to start. It's super simple to prepare and you can enjoy it straight away. I even made a little video!! My first attempt at editing, so be kind!

The full recipe for the smoothie can be found below this clip:

Cleansing Green Smoothie:

1 pear
1 stick of celery
2-3" chunk of cucumber
1/2 an avocado
1 dsp coconut oil
1 dsp chia seeds
1 slice lemon, unpeeled
1 chunk ginger
200ml unsweetened almond milk

Blend in a high speed blender and enjoy straight away. 

If you love this recipe check...

If you want to quit sugar for good, then you need to read this post! I am sharing with you my 7 top tips for kicking your sugar habit. 

Are you sick of getting uncontrollable cravings for the sweet stuff? Are you on a rollercoaster of energy, fuelling up on sugary treats and caffeine? Are you convincing yourself that your diet is healthy because you eat lots of fruit, drink fresh juices and only sweeten your food with honey and maple syrup? (it's all still sugar by the way!) Read on. 

1. Don't drink your sugar

It's quite simple. In order to reduce the sheer volume of sugar you consume in a day, ditch the sugary drinks. I'm talking fizzy drinks, squashes, cordial, juice (yep, juice!), energy drinks. Anything with 'sugar' in its list of ingredients. Yes, water might be boring but you can jazz it up by infusing it with slices of lemon, lime or orange, and flavours such as ginger and mint leaves. Herbal teas are also fine.

2. Stop adding sugar to foods and drinks

If you're...

January – I realise that green smoothies are not technically one food, but several foods blended together, however I’m completely in love with them at the moment and I want you to be too.

I was obviously a very good girl last year because Santa bought me a Nutribullet for Christmas. I did already have a blender, and a juicer, but the Nutribullet claims to be neither a blender nor or a juicer but an ‘extractor’ which is clearly completely different! Don’t juice it! Don’t blend it! Extract it! 

Ok! 

You can of course make green smoothies in a normal blender so don’t be put off if you don’t have a Nutribullet (although you are allowed to be extremely envious).

Since I have been drinking a green smoothie on a daily basis, I’ve noticed that I have more energy, my belt is back to its pre-Christmas notch, and my skin feels a lot clearer. I haven’t really changed anything else, just added in a green smoothie every...

So it's detox season - that's come around again hasn't it? And what better way to celebrate (?) than with this hearty warming Cleansing Detox Soup. I'm just not very good at being hungry so whilst I agree that January is a good time to take stock of your dietary goals, I'm not prepared to starve myself doing it!

There are lots and lots of detox plans doing the rounds at the moment, from full-on juices cleanses, to quitting sugar, to dry January and more. However you choose to take a break from the foods and drinks that contribute to symptoms of sluggishness, fatigue, headaches, bloating etc, do make sure you include plenty of cleansing foods to help your body feel the best it possibly can.

This simple soup packs a real punch in both the flavour and the detoxifying departments, combining a powerful blend of vegetables and herbs which give the liver a little nudge in the right direction. It's also wonderfully hydrating and balancing for the kidneys which could well be...

I’ve been dreaming up this green smoothie all day. As I am now on a one-handed countdown (4 days!) until my holiday, I’m doing a last-minute, slightly panicked pre-bikini detox. Nothing but juices and smoothies all day, and then fish and vegetables in the evening (this really is only for a few days, I wouldn’t recommend this long term!)

As you can imagine, by 3pm today, I was pretty starving. I don’t do well on juice detoxes, as you know. I had been concocting my afternoon smoothie since breakfast. It had to have to have all the components of the perfect smoothie:

1. It had to be filling – this was to see me through until suppertime
2. It had to be sweet – but not too sweet, as I didn’t want a sugar rush, and then a sugar crash and find myself picking my way through the kids’ tea
3. It had to contain some vegetables – for fibre, antoxidants and detoxification
4. It had to be high in protein – an absolute must! This...

Tune in all week for practical ways for ditching the sugar for good.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed that sugar is getting a bit of a bad rap. And not a minute too soon in my opinion. For years, it’s all been about the fat. Poor old fat has been taking the blame for every major modern health epidemic – obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol – and sugar has been getting away scot free. Hmm, I wonder why… But not anymore. The game is up. Sugar, put down your weapons, you’ve been busted. The Guardian names sugar as ‘enemy number one in the western diet’ and calls are now being made for manufacturers to face regulation.

For years, sugar has slipped under the radar, being added to foods where fat has been taken out, and consequently compounding the state of health in the western world. But FINALLY, studies are now showing that it’s sugar that is contributing to the...

So, as everyone’s still in detox mode, I wanted to create a beautiful and delicious detox salad, packed full of ingredients which encourage detoxification but which won’t leave you hankering for something else when you’ve finished eating it. The key to this is to include plenty of good fats and protein, and this dish provides these in abundance. But hey, guess what? It’s not fattening! The ingredients that I used for the salad, and their health properties, are as follows:

Watercress – classed as a ‘bitter’ vegetable, it stimulates the production of digestive secretions in the stomach, and also supports the liver. It is also packed full of Vitamin C and beta-carotene, which are important anti-oxidants.

Grated carrot – another great source of the anti-oxidant beta-carotene, of course, as well being cleansing for the liver.

Grated beetroot – just the deep colour of this vegetable raw tells you it’s packed full of goodness!...

New year, new you. January detox. Dryathlon. Juice cleanses. Everyone’s at it. You cannot open the papers or scroll through your Facebook feed without seeing something related to dieting, cleansing or detoxing. It is January after all and, let’s face it, we all dug a little deeper into the bumper tin of Celebrations than we intended to this festive season.

I do firmly agree that giving your body a break from the constant onslaught of sugar, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods and refined carbohydrates and replacing these with altogether much more healthful alternatives is highly beneficial for your liver and digestive system. But I also appreciate that not everybody wants to go the whole hog and undergo a full detox for a month. Especially if you’re a busy mum.

So I’m sharing some achievable tips that will help to encourage your body to detox more efficiently, but which won’t leave you feeling starved or deprived in anyway.

1. Start the day with a slice of...

Apologies for the missing post yesterday which would have been entitled ‘3 Day Juice Detox – Day 2. Flailing’. Our broadband has packed up at home. Which is probably a good thing because I was not in a great place yesterday. The hunger was all a bit too much to tolerate and I will admit here and now that I cheated. I didn’t eat any actual food but I did add an avocado to the Dreamy Detox juice and I had to make an extra Super Detox Smoothie before seeing a client. I don’t think it would have looked too professional if the nutritionist passed out in the middle of a consultation. Doesn’t send out the best message. ‘Emaciated, starving nutritionist collapses at work’!

Anyway, that was yesterday and today is today. I had a really early night and today I feel great! I’m not quite as hungry, the headaches have gone, and I’m feeling quite springy, the sun is shining and the world is good! I am back on track and, because I know the...