Completing a little body detox was one of the things I had been wanting to cross off my
Spring Refresh list. After a lovely day spent with the ladies from
The Fix & Co, I was ready for the challenge. And, since I chose the Monday after Daylight Saving Time to begin my program, a challenge it was (in the best way)!
Meet Adrianna and Tamara. Two powerhouse chicks who own, operate and run The Fix & Co, an adorable shop in the Long Branch area of Toronto. Since I am a huge advocate of fuelling your body with whole, nourishing foods I was so excited to get a chance to sit down with the ladies and have them answer a few questions about juicing and the world they have built for themselves at The Fix & Co. Today I'm sharing part one of the answers and a recap of my cleanse. I can't wait to share part two of the interview because I'll be sharing an exclusive, and insanely delicious recipe (stay tuned!). Before I recap how the day went, let's cover the basics of cold-pressed juice, shall we?
Q: What is the difference between cold pressed juice and regular juice? Why drink cold pressed?
A: Cold pressed juice describes a method of extraction. Regular juicing usually means you have used a centrifuge juicer that uses fast spinning blades to extract the juice. Often times, using a centrifuge juicer exposes the fruit and vegetables to high heat killing the live vitamins, enzymes, and minerals in the juice. Although this is still a valuable form of juicing, especially for a beginner, we prefer the cold pressed method because it produces a far more superior juice. The cold pressed method uses more of a crushing and pressing method that doesn't expose the fruits and vegetables to high temperatures. This means the juice is more live! This method also produces a higher yield, produces less waste, and produces a juice that is smoother, tastier and more nutrient dense than you would find with a centrifuge juicer.
Q: So how did you become involved in the cold pressed juice world? What propelled you to take the leap into opening a storefront?
After both of Tamara's parents got sick, it became our passion to get involved in the health and wellness industry somehow. Cooking was always something we loved to do, so it was natural for us to start a business that had food involved. We started by juicing for ourselves, experimenting with different fruits and vegetables, creating different recipes. From there, we would get our friends to taste test everything and the consensus was they loved what we produced. Eventually, a friend of ours asked us to set up a pop-up juice bar at a weekend event she was hosting. That weekend we made a few hundred dollars and got great reviews. So we just kept rolling from that. We kept doing events, started doing juice delivery for friends and family, did a lot of taste testing events and finally grew a following. We grew so much that we outgrew our kitchen and had to start looking for a commercial space. Also, juicing started to take up much of our time, like it was a full time job, so we decided why not make it into something more? Our business grew naturally, it was never forced.
Q: Juice is great for boosting immunity. What are your go-to foods/remedies, for when you don't want to take medication?
First, I think it's important to state that there are instances where you just can't avoid taking medication or replace it with food/juicing if you have a certain health condition. But there are MANY foods that can heal, just like there are many foods that can make us sick. Right now, we have a couple of favourite remedies to help combat inflammation or illness. One is our "Cold Buster" juice, which has served useful during the cold and flu season. It's our blend of grapefruit, orange, lemon, ginger, cayenne and echinacea. This blend is super high in vitamin C, which helps to boost your immune system, but it also highly anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral thanks to the high potency of ginger and cayenne. Echinacea has been used to help reduce the symptoms of colds and flus.
Another remedy we have been selling a lot of is our Golden Turmeric Milk. Turmeric is our favourite superfood right now. For this concoction we use the whole root and juice it. Turmeric root has been commonly used in ancient Ayurvedic medicine and is used to combat inflammation, to relive aches and pains, and to help soothe and heal. Turmeric has also been found to decrease the risk of heart disease, to be extremely high in antioxidants, and to increase brain function. We also use turmeric in other products, such as our Fixer Elixir juice, and will continue to use this amazing food in other products to come!
Q: Many people struggle with over indulging and overcoming annoying slip ups. Any tips for how to bounce back? How do you stop yourself from feeling guilty for it?
A: Because we are usually at the shop (7 days a week, at least 8 hours a day) we are always around good, whole foods. We eat and drink our products everyday, which makes it easier for us to make wiser choices when it comes to food. So I guess the easiest way to eat well, is to surround yourself with good food as often as possible. But, if we do indulge (which happens because we are normal like everyone else), we often take our eating back a notch. We keep it simple and light by drinking juices, eating salads and soups, and increasing our water intake. This also helps to keep our energy levels up during busy days.
To stop yourself from feeling guilty, you have to change your train of thought. Guilt is an emotion like any other, and like other emotions you can often control them or overcome them especially when negative. I think the key to overcoming guilt is to choose to make your health a priority, which means majority of the time you promise yourself to eat as well as possible and fuel yourself right. On the other hand, there will definitely be times where you may indulge, but that is okay. It is part of life. We all want to go out and enjoy time with family and friends, and that often includes indulging. So the first step is to acknowledge that indulging happens, but this isn't how you eat majority of the time. The second step to overcoming guilt is to set boundaries, by either planning times you are going to indulge, by controlling your portions, or allowing yourself to eat or drink certain things. A little planning can really help with our over eating and eating habits we aren't too proud of.
Q: I love those tips! Accepting and moving forward is so important. Finally, what's your healthy eating mantra?
A: Our healthy eating mantra is "eat whole, eat fresh, eat simply" as much as possible. We find that the best tasting foods come from nature and are fresh, which means the less ingredients found in a product the better! Also, eating simply means to take it back to basics, to not over-complicating our eating or our diets. Eating simply can also mean that we try to keep our recipes pretty simple too, because food tastes best in its natural form. You don't need to tamper with it too much (by adding sugar, salt, etc) to make it taste good.
The Fix & Co had just launched their new Body Reset Program which includes 4 juices, 1 nut milk, a salad and soup. Knowing that I would be consuming some food definitely made the whole cleanse process less intimidating. So, let's get to it!
WAKE UP CALL: I woke up to a rainy, and extremely dark morning. My gym bag was already packed, so I begrudgingly dragged myself out of bed and headed out for the day. Loosing an hour of sleep was not in the slightest helpful to this cause. I arrived at work feeling exhausted, foggy and just ravenous. I pulled out the first subject-- The Fixer Elixir- a tart blend of grapefruit, cucumber, turmeric and maple syrup. Delicious. I loved the balance of grapefruit with the cucumber. Killed my hunger and left me feeling refreshed.
10:30 AM: A slow morning at work, and I wasn't feeling overly hungry. I reached for the second contender, Daily Dose. It's a mix of greens (swiss chard, romaine, kale), a granny smith apple, pineapple and lemon. It tasted seriously nourishing, but a tad sweet for me. I added some water to the bottle and got juicing! My head felt totally clear, and energy levels were high.
12:12 PM: Usually by this time of day my stomach is screaming for food. I wasn't overly hungry, but definitely felt a manageable pang of hunger. I just love to eat so I was excited for lunch time. Salads are my daily go-to lunch so this gourmet mix of greens, roasted sweet potatoes, red cabbage, pomegranate seeds, roasted eggplant, and pumpkin seeds was right up my alley. Loved the lemon dressing, too! Polished off the salad feeling good and energized for the afternoon.
2:00 PM: There's the familiar feeling... FOOD, I NEED YOU. Thank goodness for the almond milk! On the Body Reset Program you can drink the almond milk in sips throughout the day, or whenever you feel you need a little extra boost. I had to break into the bottle of cinnamon, vanilla goodness by 2:00 PM and stopped myself half way to save some for the evening.
3:20 PM: Still hungry. Reached for The Antidote-- a blend of kale, celery, cucumber, dandelion greens, granny smith apple, parsley and lemon. Definitely the most "green" tasting juice as the parsley really brings out the earthy hints. The lemon gives the juice a nice favor and made this juice more appetizing for me. Also, this juice is ultimate for alkalizing your body, which I've noticed at this point because my pee is literally white! TMI? Sorry, this is healthy body talk, peeps!
4:00 PM: Finished work and distracting myself from hunger with errands for Fashion Week. The Almond Milk has become my BFF again at this point. Sip, sip, sip...
7:00 PM: I arrived home a bit later today, and immediately warmed up the Moroccan Stew on the stove. To say I was hungry would be an understatement. I don't even think I let the stew fully heat up, that's how fast I devoured it. I would have liked more vegetables and less chick peas in the stew, but it was delish and satisfying! Definitely needed that meal.
8:30 PM: By this time I totally forgot there was another juice to consume! I could barely get through half, as I just wasn't hungry. The girls gave me another green juice for my final and it was tasty but I didn't need it all. I went to bed feeling so energized --like I actually couldn't fall asleep right away!
ALL IN ALL: It wasn't challenging to stick to the plan. Since I try to eat as fresh and as whole as possible in my daily routine I didn't find the diet restricting at all. The juices tasted delicious and I looked forward to trying each one out. Obviously I was hungry, but knowing that it would only be a one day program allowed me to push through it. My energy levels soared and the next day I felt clear headed and energized to the max!
Doing a cleanse with the addition of light meals made the whole process so much less intimidating. I totally get why juice cleanses are so popular these days! If you're looking for a way to jump start a healthier lifestyle, and inject more nutrients into your body by increasing fruit and veggie intake I would definitely recommend starting with this unique program, especially if doing a juice only cleanse sounds too hardcore. You can read more about all the benefits
here, but you'll find yourself craving less sugar and it will give your digestion system a total flush (again, TMI? Nah!). I loved doing this cleanse, and can definitely see myself doing it again after the holidays, or to get back on track after a stressful time.
What is your take on juicing? Will you try it?
Thank you to the lovely ladies at
The Fix & Co for breaking down the basics and sharing this program with me. Stay tuned for part two! An exciting recipe is coming your way!
