Juicy break at Champneys

I was lucky enough to attend the very first Juicy break at Champneys earlier this week, as you well know I bang on about Jason Vale the juicemaster and go to his retreats in Turkey at least once a year, so its fair to say I'm well and truly juiced but the idea of a 3 day detox in the Uk is very inspiring not least because of the carbon footprint and the hassle of getting away for a full 7 days. I like Champneys, you may have read my review on my site and in Lifescape magazine but I like the fact that its not only for the pampered rich, I find it very holistic in its approach, they don't get everything right (who does ? asks the queen of being imperfect) their skincare products still contain some nonsense (unsure why these days) but they offer Reiki, Bowen, indian head massage, hypnotherapy, crystal healing and all kinds of wonderful treatments alongside the usual facials and body wraps. The juicy break package includes a couple of thalassotherapy sessions which felt amazingly therapeutic.

Theres also an array of great classes, me and my mate Mary had a huge laugh trying Salsa dancing and Nordic Walking - you do wonder how hard it can be - walking with a couple of long sticks but its suprisingly difficult to co-ordinate ! and of course I did yoga, power walking,tai chi and various 'abs and backs' classes. All this exercise was fuelled on juice alone and in some ways this break is more extreme than Turkey where you have 4 juices or smoothies a day usually containing banana, advocado etc, this is slightly more harsh cos Jason wants you to feel benefits in only 3 days so the juices are smaller and mostly based around beetroot for detoxification (no probs for me I LOVE beetroot) but you were feeling a bit woozy there was also pieces of fruit to be munched and of course Jasons award winning 'Juice in a bar' juicy bar.

I lost a pound or two in weight though that wasn't my motivation for going, mostly I wanted another dose of juicy inspiration and momentum and Jason always does that for me, God love him.

On a very exciting note the idea was mooted that I may indeed have my own 'imperfectly natural' break so watch this space, we've been talking of finding the perfect venue for a meeting of like minds where we can share our natural tips etc but pop off and do some yoga too so this could be the perfect answer. Champneys juicy breaks are currently only offered at Forest Mere, if you book tell them I recommended you and enjoy !

sproutman, juicemaster, so many natural peeps..

The natural and organic products show was fab ! I opened the show with my talk on sunday morning and it was a fantastic two days of meeting people. All my fave men were there which is all important, see Jason Vale's plug for my book on the front page (bless him) and his new Juice bars won best new food product so he told me many times hes now flogging an award winning bar !

I did a fab little interview with The Sproutman, what Jason is to Juicing Steve Meyerwitz is to wheatgrass and sprouts, actually I think it was his wheatgrass shots that kept me going for two days !

Amazing how the industry has developed in just three years since I wrote the first book, so many great new companies and new products. I'm reinspired to increase my raw food again after a few tips from Live Native and a few other enlightened souls. Quite a few people stoppd me and asked why I hadn't dragged Steve Wright along but he was on the air after all !

I now have a huge goody bag of new stuff to trial so sign up to what really works and I'll forward on some freebies, all you gotta do is promise to send me a quick review

Pet shop boys and a swanky new gym

Fab to meet the Pet Shop Boys again on Steve Wrights show, we've interviewed them a few times and in the eighties I'm sure we must have been on the same bill at various european gigs (when I was touring with Nik Kershaw I think) but back in those days they were oh so sulky, didn't Wrighty used to have a slot on Radio 1 called the Pet Shop Boys at home where Neil was very efusive and OTT and Chris just grunted occasionally ! Now they're both lovely and great fun, such a distinctive sound and such a mix, they've written a ballet now too which should be excellent. Popped in briefly to the opening of a new Gym called Lifesmart near Regents Park, swanky to the enth degree ! Its Carole Caplins new venture and trust me we're not just talking a few treadmills and a treatment room, this is luxurious, (hope she knows theres a credit crunch) but wonderful to see the holistic approach filtering right through even to the products in the changing areas (which were opulent by the way) Lovely to see Cheryl from Viridian, Marie from Solgar, Charlotte from Green People and Alex from Kinetic4health who told that the Jason products are 50 this year ! How scary - natural skincare products as old as Madonna and yet still the majority of people don't use them, but thats why we have imperfectlynatural.com - right !

New comps popping up by the way and if you bought the new book the money off vouchers are valid to end of this month (I guess while designated stock lasts)

Friday 16th Jan….drying tomatoes

Yep I'm geting there, thanks to the many responses to my plea for raw food recipes, can't say I've tried many yet but I intend to do tahine kale crisps tomorrow. I've had all sorts of replies and have been pointed to raw food chefs et al In true home educating stye I'm getting the kids experimenting, so far we've had some rather brown crispy banana pieces but the dried mango was to die for.

Its been a good week at the beeb, well on our happy ship anyways, we interviewed that gorgeous Michael Sheen you know the actor in who played the Pm in The Queen and of course the lovely juicemaster Jason Vale was promoting Slim for Life on thursday.

Appropo to nowt on Wednesday night there was the most amazing twinkly star I have ever seen, I don't know if this was simply a clear sky in Herts phonomenon but it was incredible, I htought I wa see-ing things...well seeing stars...but don't worry I got it confirmed by waking up the kids (honestly it was that unusual)...perhaps its cos I've upped my quota of raw foods, I'm being rewarded from above...

Sun Jan 4th…St Ives..sunshine and sprouts

I'm in sunny St Ives, yippee, the weather couldn't be more perfect, sunny and crispy cold and if you read my lat blog when I was in Cornwall you'll remember this is the only time I feel really alive. I MUST have lived here in a former life and however often I come back the feeling is just as intense. I'm holed up at The Garrack hotel (check out the beat a retreat feature for details) writing ....can't tell you what, its a speculative very exciting project, will reveal all soon.

I popped into Living Sprouts of st ives (see directory for their details) and stokced up on sprotus, hemp salad dressing and the best ever raw chocolate pie - can't even begin to describe that, you have to taste it and later I'm meeting up with Jason Vale, yes the juicemaster himself ...for a coffee...well he'll order juice but I'm imperfect.

The boys are staying locally with Liz (of Team Lollipop fame - see directory if you're still at the nappy stage, her selection is awesome) and yesterday we all did the muddy walk , yes even I purchaased birght pink wellies for the squelchy occasion to the Gurnards head, its a highly commended hotel and gastro pub, I even gave them a mention on Steve Wrights show cos we did a factoid about gurnards.

I'm off for a long walk around the Island to lift my spirits further, in truth if I get much higher I'll flota off like Mary Poppins, one day I'll live here....she says hopefully...