Hic’ Juice: Allow Your Digestive System to Go for A Vacation Break

It was interesting enough that Hic’ Juice offers 3 levels of juice cleanse programme that varies in terms of its amount of green juices versus fruit juices. In other words, if you are new to the concept of juicing and has been a variety of food, from meat to vegetables,  you could try their Level 1, ‘The Reboot’ cleanse which has a high ratio of fruit juices as compared to green juice. Since fruit juices are more sweet,palatable and appetizing as compared to green vegetable juice, it’s perfect for beginners.

As it goes up the level, the juices gets more ‘green’ and thus, it gets a little more challenging because you will have to drink mainly green juices that might taste very bland, savoury and weird. However, green juices are contains lower calories and more nutrients like minerals than fruit juices. Since green juices are alkaline in nature, it aids in neutralizing the pH in our acidic bodies. (Do you know that most of the food like coffee,meat,dairy and sugar are acidic in nature and that consuming too much acidic food can take a toll on your bones as it causes your body to lose calcium?) On the other hand, fruit juices are more acidic and contains more sugar (or fructose). And that explains why after a day of The Reborn Juice Cleanse, I have already started to notice that my skin starts to glow. That is the power of greens.

Initially, I was contemplating between Level 2 and Level 3 cleanse programme because I’m not fully raw or vegan yet but I do drink green juices almost every other day. But it ain’t me if I don’t take up the challenge of going for the ultimate. Besides, I am juice junkie and that spurs me even further to take up the challenge to spread my love for juicing with you guys. Seriously, in my opinion, there’s no other better or more natural way to cleanse your body other than juicing. It practically flushes out the toxins from your body and feeds every single cell in your body with vitamins,minerals and antioxidants. That’s the power of juices.

Hic’ Juice

Hic’ Juice is a newly-launched juice cleanse company in Singapore which is founded by a group of juice enthusiasts.They worked with a certified nutritionist called Dr.Doreen Tan to design the various juice cleanse recipes to give you healthy raw, organic and cold-pressed juices that harbours a bountiful of phytonutrients, trace minerals,vitamins and living-enzymes.

Cold-pressed juices


Cold-pressed juices are extracted using a cold-press juicer that slowly extract the juice including the living enzymes out of the pulp. The cold-press juicer works very differently from the common juicers (centrifugal juicers) which uses an electric motor to squeeze the juice out of the fruits and vegetables. Such juices often contains some pulp and fibre that would make your body work harder to obtain nutrients from them. And that’s not what you really want when you are on a juice cleanse. During a juice detox, you would want your over-worked digestive organs to take a break and just simply allow the nutrients to be absorbed directly into the bloodstream. During this ‘vacation break’, the body will be able to channel more energy to the renewal and repair of the cells. We often give our mind a break but taking our mind off things like going for a holiday in Bali but do we often give our digestive system its much deserved break?


Raw 


When I started eating raw food, my friends were like, “How can you survive only on vegetables? I’m sorry but I’m a meat lover and I enjoy cooked food.” To put it simply, a food is considered raw when it is not cooked to a temperature beyond 46 degrees celsius. Do remember about what our science textbook says about enzyme denaturation? That’s precisely the reason. Raw foods contain healthy enzymes that are still alive. There’s actually an interesting on-going debate about raw food versus cooked food which I may touch on that in another post.

Organic


Have you gone organic yet? When it comes to juices, you might want to go organic because you wouldn’t want to juice an apple which has pesticides and other chemicals infiltrating its skin, right? It’s safer and best to juice organic vegetables and fruits especially if the fruit does not have a peel or a skin covering like pears,apples and strawberries.

Alright! With doubts all cleared, let’s move on to the actual juice cleanse programme I’ve chosen.

And the night before the cleanse, they delivered 3 packs of juices with each pack containing 6 x 500ml bottles of freshly pressed juices. Other than the juices, they also provide a cleanse journal with a checklist and suggested cleanse schedule. It comes really handy especially for those who are new to juice cleanse or those who just needed that extra bit of motivation to stay on track.

When I unzipped the Day 1 cooler bag, my heart skipped a beat. I thought, “Are these juices for Level 1? I don’t see much greens in here. Oh no! Have they made a mistake? ” Thank goodness, it wasn’t a mistake. When I unzipped the other cooler bags, I noticed that the daily juice menu is designed in such a way that it gets progressively ‘greener’ each day. Okay, that’s not too bad! At least I could go easy on Day 1 first to see how my body reacts.

Anyhow, I find that it’s always best to start a juice cleanse on weekends or days when you will spend most of your time at home. First, you don’t have to fret about carrying these heavy glass bottles and second, you don’t have to scurry around in public places for toilets. Because you are drinking so much juice a day, you will be peeing almost every other hour. And if you’re at work, your colleagues might think that you can’t really hold your pee! Okay, just kidding… but you get my point.

Some of you might ask the following questions: Was I on a starvation mode during juicing? Don’t you feel hungry at all? Any cravings for solid food? 

With 6 bottles of juices to drink per day ( except for Day 1 where the 6th bottle is nutmilk), I felt so full that I wouldn’t want to eat anything else. One of the reasons why people cheat during juice cleanse is because of temptations and cravings and not because that they are hungry. Let’s be honest here. If there’s a plate of sushi served right up to me during my juice cleanse, I might actually reach out for a roll and say, ” It doesn’t make a different right? It’s just a tiny nibble…” Thus, during the cleanse process, you will need to be very sure of the decisions you make. That’s when the Hic’ Juice cleanse journal comes in handy. Read and refer to the checklist. Stay strong!

So, is it alright to cheat during a cleanse?


Your body is your own temple and you know your body better than anyone else. In my opinion, it’s really best to decide what is ultimately good for your body.


What’s your favourite drink in the juice cleanse menu?


Nutmilk, 4 Carats, Lemon N’ Spice

and your least favourite?


Kaleidoscope and Oh my Greens! It’s because of the Broccoli …
But surprisingly, both green juices are the ones that really awakens my body and makes my skin glow.

After I had gulped all the juices for Day 1, I already start to notice that my skin starts to brighten up… Even I,myself, was surprised by how fast the benefits showed up because it took me about 3 days to experience the changes during the last juice cleanse.

Like what my yoga instructor has once said, ‘whether you are doing this for yourself or somebody, always honour your body and show gratitude to yourself and others.’ Remind yourself about the reason why you decide to go on juice cleanse – whether it is for weight loss or other health reasons, it doesn’t matter. Just stay positive and you will be surprise how these juices do wonders to your body.

 Eat and drink healthy and your body will thank you later.

For more information on Hic’ Juice, do visit the following links :

Website: http://www.hicjuice.com.sg

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/hicJuiceSG

Instagram: http://instagram.com/hicjuicesg

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/hicjuicesg/