In Crazy Sexy Juice, wellness advocate and New York Times best-selling author Kris Carr teaches you everything you need to know about creating fresh, nutritious juices and smoothies, and creamy, indulgent nut and seed milks. With enough recipes to keep your juicer and blender humming through every season, she shows you how to fit them into your life, helping you make health deposits—instead of withdrawals! Cha-ching!
Crazy Sexy Juice by Kris Carr Review
A Salad In A Glass? Don’t Mind If I Do!
When I think of Smoothies and Juices I think holidays on tropical sands, maybe Thailand or Bali, with chill out music playing in a ramshackle bar and maybe a hot surfer or two in the distance. Okay, I’m getting carried away. What I don’t think of is cold January nights curled up in front of the fire reading a recipe book about drinking healthy stuff. Yet I can’t tell you just how happy I was when the fabulously entitled book Crazy Sexy Juice by Kris Carr landed in my lap… because from the moment I turned the first page and read ‘Welcome, gorgeous’ I just knew that this book was going to make me feel divine and give me the kick up the arse I needed to get out of my winter slump and ready for those summer Thai beaches.
If you are looking for a simple dieting or quick fix, faddy, ‘New You’ book then don’t buy Crazy Sexy Juice… this is not your usual supercilious rant or Lose A Stone In Two Minutes recipe book. It’s a life changer. It’s the perfect mix of chatty friendly tips on living a healthier life, lots of educational information about how certain foods can help us medically and psychologically, lots of bright sumptuous photography (you can’t top Food Porn) and of course the recipes.
Oh my God the recipes!
From the moment I started reading I was hooked. No longer was I sitting in my cozy armchair feeling like a post-Christmas heffalump, but I was instantly transported to forests of fruit and fields of wonder. With every page I turned I could feel my positivity bubbling up and my energy gathering… and I hadn’t even got my dusty juicer out of the cupboard yet. That is how Kris Carr, the effortlessly pretty author, makes you feel. Like you are already wonderful and beautiful and that with the right combination of fruit and veg your brilliantness will soon be radiating out of every pore.
How glad was I that I read this book in the gloomy winter light huddled beneath a blanket instead of waiting for the sun to come out, because I now have six glorious months of food discovery ahead of me. Plenty of time to adopt this fun Juicing lifestyle and get myself in tip top condition inside and out in time for the months of shorts and crop tops.
Crazy Sexy Juice is helpfully split up into categories: Benefits and Philosophy (full of ‘wow, who knew that?!’ facts), Juicing Demystified (a relief to read it’s not just Dippy Hippies and Sanctomummies that can partake), Prepping Your Kitchen (useful), Ingredients (vital), FAQs (helpful), Juice and Smoothie recipes (yum), Make Your Own Nut and Seed Milk (honestly, I haven’t looked back since) and finished off with an amazing Three Day Cleanse teeming with healthy foodie recipes to kick-start your new adventure.
Now don’t get me wrong, this book isn’t for everyone. If you are a fussy eater then you aren’t going to fancy whizzing up broccoli, beet, parsley and ginger together at 7am. And it’s not great if you have a problem drinking green stuff… a lot of it is green.
It also doesn’t help if you live in a backward town like I do that doesn’t know it’s Swiss Chard from its Romaine – you should have seen the cashier’s face when I asked whether she stocked Medjool dates, Nama Shoyu and Hemp seeds. She explained that they had some bags of iceberg lettuce out the back and some tinned fruit cocktail if that helped. It didn’t.
The book also involves clever planning when it comes to shopping. I had a wild old time buying a hessian sack worth of fresh crunchy organic brightly coloured fruit and veg at my local farmer’s market – only for it to turn into wilted, stinking pulp in a few days because I didn’t use it all up quick enough. But luckily there are plenty of recipes using frozen fruits too, which is great because mango in January is even harder for me to find than Tamari.
But with a bit of organisation you soon get into the juicing, whizzing and blending swing of things!
When it comes to books on food and health I am not a ‘read from front to back’ kinda girl. I’m a full on ‘Dipper Inner’. So what I enjoyed the most about Crazy Sexy Juice was that depending on what ailment I needed fixing – there was my answer in black and white (and kale green, banana yellow, berry red… you get the picture). There are juicy solutions for belly bloat, fatigue, bad digestion, dull skin, hangovers (yes, they work) and good old fashioned ‘I have a cold coming, quick… save me!’
The recipes were easy and delicious. Juicing pears, cucumber and swiss chard into a Mellow Green juice is a damn sight quicker in the mornings than waiting for your toast to burn… and tastier. The bright orange Immune Booster (carrots, oranges, turmeric root and cayenne pepper) was a weekend favourite with the whole family and Lemon Quinoa has replaced my boring weekly stir fry. I did have a go at making almond milk, but to be honest it was a lot quicker grabbing it with my weekly shop – in fact I hadn’t even realised my supermarket also sold milk made from rice, oats and cashew. Goodbye crappy soya milk and your beany base!
So did the book work?
Well if by that do I now look like a young Elle McPherson living a carefree life in a camper van, wearing cut off tie die shorts and converting people to an organic vegan way of life? No. Last night I had a fat juicy steak, a glass of Rioja and drove home in an Audi… plus I’m still a short curvy woman nearing 40.
But… I feel fantastic!
My skin glows, my stomach is slightly flatter and I don’t get a 3pm energy slump or evening headaches any more. And more importantly, the start to my days are infinitely more exciting. Instead of choosing between Rice Crispies, Corn Flakes and Coco Pops I now have the joy of choosing between strawberries, raspeberries and blueberries. I start my day full of energy and raring to go, and (combined with my own Cut The Crap diet) I have lost 8lbs in three weeks. Hurray!
Crazy Sexy Juice lives up to its name. Drinking green goo at the crack of dawn is pretty crazy and having the energy and (nearly) glowing skin of a 21 year old is pretty sexy… but more than anything it’s about the making Juice part of your life. There aren’t many of us that get excited about ploughing through heaps of salad and fruit every day, but whizz it up and stick a fancy umbrella in it? Drinks that make me feel great and look even better? Getting my five a day in one fell swoop and giving me the energy of a Duracell Bunny?
Oh yeah baby, take me to that beach pronto and let me show those surfers what they are missing out on!
Crazy Sexy Juice if Published by Hay House
ISBN: 978-140194-1-529
