QUARTER MAGAZINE: YOUR LOCAL CHRISTIAN QUARTERLY January 2015: ORIGINS | Page 8

THE SEASON AFTER

Don't let the post-festive blues keep you down! Here are some great detox recipes to help you in the chilling January and February months.

Christmas and New Year have ended. The confetti has settled in the furore of drunken festvity and now you have to pick up the pieces of your life from the ground. It's not just old wrapping paper and turkey bones, but all the things you had hoped to do in September to November but decided to put "on hold" until after Crimbo: diets, new hobbies, holiday plans; that book you started to write ages ago. This article might not be the answer to your dreams and desires, but it should help your mind get in the right place! A healthy body is a healthy mind, and with all these delicious raw breakfast treats, your journey to work should be a little lighter and brighter, unlike the year before, when you had to navigate sleet-dusted roads through the curtain of tears in your eyes and the tattered memories of long winter sleep, warm Christmas dinner and Only Fools and Horses for days.

Why Detox?

The human body is probably the most amazing and impressive machine ever created. A person can smoke and drink for decades, and the ol' girl will chug on, healing and repairing itself where damage has taken place. Watching programmes like One Born Every Minute and 24 Hours in A & E really shows us just how intricately our bodies are wired, and how each cell works with the other to do the most mundane activities. Look how many things take place when you breathe?

Every machine needs maintenance. With all the junk we input, oils and fats clog to arteries; skin becomes sallow; fatigue ensues and our immune system becomes vulnerable to outside attack. Detoxing and healthy living can not only clear out the junk, but maintain our vitamin levels, giving is a body strengthened and full f vigour. Because we Quarter lot love our readers so much, we won't just give you smoothie recipes, but some delicious dinner party ideas, too!

Health: Too Much Hassle?

Living a healthy lifestyle can seem like a daunting and time-consuming activity: convenience foods (like ready meals and takeaways) are ridiculously expensive, meaning you have to cook most of your meals from scratch if you want to eat. Raw and vegan diets are particularly fiddly, but substituting one unhealthy meal for a healthy one can make so much difference.

The breakfast smoothies on the following page are easy and convenient: prep and make time are all half an hour or less, with the main equipment needed is an average blender. The treats on the other pages are a bit more time consuming, but definitely less than what you'd expect.

Happy Eating!

Now that we've (over)eaten our fill over Christmas and spent the New Years festivities poured over the setee, the rug, the bar, the carpet, or snuggled in bed, it's time to get back to work and normal life. These recipes should help ease the dread of this post-festive season.