Joe and The Juice Review

This week saw the opening of Joe and The Juice Newcastle, which first opened up in Denmark and their Juice revolution quickly took over other Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Norway. These countries are a little ahead of Britain in terms of they look after their health and wellbeing far more then us Brits! We are catching up.....slowly.

Me and my friend are really into health and fitness, we both work in the industry so this was the perfect place for us to have a catch up. The staff were helpful, but the only menu to look at was the huge one behind the till, which I found a bit daunting and I felt a little under pressure by 3 members of staff staring at me to make a decision. I said to one of the staff "ah I bet you get this all the time with people not being able to make decisions" He said "No not really"...Just me then...awkward. Because the menu is so big, and there's so much choice I was a bit overwhelmed and it was hard to make a decision, so I would of preferred it if there were a few menus dotted around on the tables. If you are going, have in mind what you would like.  The decor is dark, Brooklyn NYC type,  really stylish but you can hardly see the colour of your drink which doesn't help, but it is a very relaxed chilled out vibe and is perfect for getting away from the busy bodies.  I apologise for the lack of picture quality but it is dark...think Hollister dark.

I love a green juice and went for the Bodyguard - Cucumber, Kale, Broccoli, Spinach and Apple. My friend had the Joe's Roots - Beetroot, Carrot and Ginger. Both were really lovely! They do Salads, Sandwiches, and Coffees too. All freshly prepared there and then, no pre packaged, artificial ingredients that I could see. My only criticism on their products was that they didn't have many protein choices, so a lot of their juices are high in sugar and carbohydrates, and when I asked if they had any vegetable protein powders to add to my drink, the only option was a chocolate one, I can't imagine that would taste very nice in a green juice. All they need to do is add some more vegetable protein powder options and it would be perfect. 

This place is suitable for all dietary requirements, they cater for intolerances and allergies, vegans and  vegetarians. A little odd on the location (placed in the women's section of John Lewis), I can imagine this place really taking off on a student campus or on the high street, I hope they advertise a lot so people find out about it. Saying all of that I would definitely go back and I'll be recommending people to try it out.

Stace x

Love NE Magazine - Article by me on Healthy Living in Newcastle

Here's my article for www.lovene.co.uk all about Healthy living in Newcastle....I loved writing it and hope you enjoy it.

An Alternative & Healthy Weekend in Newcastle

June 11, 2015Shaun

Today’s article is from another new guest poster, Stacey Smith who blogs over at Stacey’s Say. As you can see from Stacey’s website her posts are all to do with health and nutrition so it should come as no surprise that the topic of today’s article is healthy living. If you are on Twitter you call follow Stacey @stacey1smith

Stacey takes a look at and offers healthy alternatives to the typical weekend activities in Newcastle so if you fancy doing something this weekend but don’t fancy a hangover or a calorie overload then give this fantastic article a read and let us know what you think. 

Friday

Its that Friday feeling! And yes you probably want to head to the nearest beer garden for that much needed pint… or 3.

But just wait, there is another option you know! Why not try a bit of exercise before you head home to fill up on good feeling endorphins, plus exercising make you less likely to choose unhealthy food options later on. Alcohol is a toxin, not an essential food group for the human body. Excess toxins cause weight gain and because alcohol is a mixture of carbohydrates, sugars and artificial ingredients its like a triple toxic whammy on the body! So heading to the gym it is.

Northern Pole Dance

Storm Fitness are brilliant they listen to what you really want, whether that be fat loss or muscle gain, they cater for your goals and you will be trained by the best professionals in the business with your very own personalised training programme. If you fancy a bit of fun, you can try Northern Pole Dance for a mixed abilities class 6-7pm. Before you smirk at pole dancing and think you will get caught re-enacting a scene from Coyote Ugly, its really hard, takes incredible core strength and you will feel like you’ve had a great workout by the time you’re done. You can also head to The Barre Studio, a mixture of ballet, pilates, resistance and core training, they work on strength training whilst elongating the muscles for a lean strong physique, its tough to say the least! 

Alvinos

If you’re not tempted at all by exercise and you really do need a drink then head to Alvinos; they have 2 cocktails for £8.95 until the end of June. But be careful, cocktails are filled with sugar and unhealthy carbonated drinks, so ask for a Martini 75kcals, Vodka Soda Lime or Gin Soda Lime which comes in around 100kcal, a Mojito (ask for no sugar) with about 130kcals or a Manhattan 130kcal. Alternatively head to NE4 Cafe Bar for their roof top terrace and a half pint of beer which is around 85kcals.

If you find yourself celebrating a special occasion (like finishing work) head to the Silk Room Restaurant and Champagne Bar. 1 glass of champagne is around 85kcal, good enough reason to have a glass then! Also they do some really healthy dishes try their Asparagus, Roasted Garlic and Broad Bean Risotto or Steamed Fillet of Seabass, with Mussels, Prawns, Squid and Pesto Gnocchi.

If you’re making dinner yourself, try and aim for some white fish oven baked with lemon, dill and black pepper, serve with steamed green beans and broccoli with brown rice. Or for the vegetarians and vegans out there, try rice pasta or courgette pasta with sundried tomato, olive, basil sauce.

Saturday

If you fancy a challenge and something a bit different, why not try a Park Run, a FREE 5km race every Saturday at 9am. Park Runs are a fantastic well supported event and all UK based ones set off at 9am every Saturday, there are 17 locations in the North East so you’re not limited on choice, there is even one on the Town Moore and they always get a brilliant turn out. All you have to do is register online, and off you go, results will be posted later that day on the website. Don’t be put off and think you’re going to be lapped by Mo Farah wannabes, attendees range from Club runners at the front to Mammies with pushchairs at the back. Set yourself a time and see if you can beat it each week.

Yogalillies

If that sounds a bit too much for a Saturday morning, head to Yogalillies, for a more relaxing Yoga & Pilates class, the instructors are lovely and make you feel really comfortable so there is no embarrassment here when you fail to do a ‘dog head down.’ After all this hard work its time to refuel! It’s really important to refuel quickly after exercise. The quicker you get fuel in, the better the body responds and recovers. Head to Naked Deli in Heaton for a spot of brunch, they cater for gluten & dairy allergies, clean & paleo diets, vegans and vegetarians. Choose things such as their wonderful juices, protein drinks, salads, vegan raw desserts and they even have a brunch menu.

If your feeling like you can’t stomach a meal right now with all this exercise try Clean and Press juice bar in Jesmond. The G1 juice is one of their most popular, add vegetable protein powder into it for a added boost to recover after exercise.

Parklands Mini Golf Course

For Saturday afternoon if you don’t fancy shopping (2 hours of shopping burns about 300 calories) or a walk on the beach (hold off on the Mr Whippy). Head to Parklands 18 hole Mini Golf Course at Newcastle Race Course £4.00 for adults and £2.75 for children under 13.

For some afternoon tea head to Tea Sutra Teahouse, where you can unwind and relax, no WiFi here so you can escape from the chaos. They serve tea leaves from all around the world, and also serve vegetarian and vegan food. A little haven in the bustling streets of Newcastle.

For dinner there’s some great choices in Newcastle for healthy meals. Choose from Gusto or Babucho’s who both have separate healthy eating menus. Its fantastic to see Newcastle really jumping on board with people looking after themselves. 

Sachins Restaurant

Indian food is one the easiest cuisines to choose when eating healthy and looking after yourself, head to Sachins, and order their goan chingni, murgh kashmiri or kabli channa. All beautifully made and they cater for all allergies, vegetarians and vegans. With any Indian food if you’re watching your weight stay away from the deep fat fried appetisers and dishes filled with creams such as the English take on Tikka Masala and aim for more authentic Indian cuisine. Sachins is an authentic Indian restaurant so you won’t find a Tikka Masala in sight!

If you’re a hardcore vegetarian or vegan, try the Painted Elephant, a quirky little place. Go for the Marrakesh Market dish which is gluten free, they pride themselves on being Newcastle’s first plant based restaurant, these dishes are packed full of flavour, and you wont feel deprived from meat at all. As a vegan myself, starting out was a little tricky, but now I like to think I know all the tricks of the trade. Eating out should be no dilemma for vegans, especially in Newcastle!

For a spot of vino, head to the Vineyard on Grey Street. Red wine contains lots of antioxidants and some studies show benefits for heart health, even Paula Radcliffe would have a glass every night when in training but that doesn’t mean you can consume 2 bottles though, one glass of wine is around 180kcals.

Sunday

I always associate Sundays with family time and fry ups. But think twice before you inhale a ‘big daddy sausage, bacon, hash brown sarnie’ coming in at around 800kcal, most of this from fats. Can I suggest other healthier options which wont leave you reaching for the heartburn tablets.

1. Poached egg, spinach, roasted tomatoes and mushrooms with wholegrain toast.
2. Porridge filled with nuts, seeds and berries.
3. Avocado on toasted Rye bread. 
4. Smoked salmon, scrambled egg and wholegrain toast.
5. Banana smoothie, with almond butter and almond milk.

Peddling Squares Cafe

So a family bike ride is in order! Head to the River Tyne, where there is a cycle path stretching from Prudhoe all the way through Newcastle to the coast. Make sure you pop into Peddling Squares in Swawell, its a cycling enthusiasts cafe/bar. Such a great find, decorated in all things Tour De France, Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Bradley Wiggins. They sell lots of cycling gear, plus lots of great food (some dishes are not the healthiest and yes you can have a full blown fry up here if you really want to) try their more healthier Ciabattas, the roasted red pepper and hummus is lovely!

If you want some alone time, then head to the beach…..no not for fish and chips! For David Fairlamb’s Fitness Beach Bootcamp, you’ll be whipped into shape by this man. Burpees, sand dune runs, and press ups come to mind. All fun though…in a strange way. If that sounds too much like Sargent Major to you, head to Clubbercise, a new aerobics class with a twist, in a darkened room, bring out the glow sticks, UV paint and DJ Scooter, you’ll sweat buckets without realising, burn tonnes of calories and its so fun!

Clubbercise

Dance moves will rival those on the Big Market, but you wont have to consume Jagerbombs and deal with the horrific hangover the next day. These classes have just burst on to the scene up and down the country and are set to become the next new fitness craze, there’s one on a Sunday at 4pm at Springfield Community Centre. 

A Sunday Roast is obviously a must to most people. I don’t particularly like them anymore, but I know its tradition for most people. Be a little wary of Sunday Lunches, I hate to spoil the fun but most dinners are quite unhealthy and pack around 1000kcal.

Meats such as Beef, Lamb and Pork have a high fat content and because they are normally roasted over a long time in their own fat, it means that there’s nowhere else for the fat to go other than your belly. Cooking methods such as grilling or poaching are far healthier, and chose leaner meats such as Turkey or Chicken. Roasted Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots are all roasted in heaps of fat, whether that be vegetable, butter, goose fat, olive or lard, this is also the case for Yorkshire Puddings. All those usually healthy vegetables full of nutrients have now absorbed large amounts of fat, and a lot of restaurants also put butter,fat and oils all over the peas,green beans and broccoli so be weary of that too. Then the mashed potato normally is packed full of cream and butter. So you thought you had a healthy dinner, when in actually fact its quite the opposite. The best option is to make it at home from scratch, where you know what you have put in your meal. Refrain from soaking everything in fat, steam all your vegetables, hold on the Yorkshires, bake sweet potatoes in a little olive oil, and roast a chicken. 

So there you have it, a weekend of being healthy in Newcastle is easy! Come Monday morning you’ll be feeling a lot better about yourself, no hangovers or bloated bellies in sight.

http://www.lovene.co.uk/an-alternative-healthy-weekend-in-newcastle/

Restaurant Review - El Coto, Newcastle

Spanish food has got to be one of my favourite cuisines.  I've given this much thought over the years and had conversations with everyone in my family, so they all know if I was on my death bed, my main meal would definitely be Paella. The Starter and Dessert have already been picked out too.
With such a mix of variety and flavours, depth and simplicity, health and indulgence its like having a mini buffet. Having been to the Canaries over Christmas the selection and variety of really excellent fresh wonderful healthy food they have out there still has me day dreaming about the place now. So when my friend picked out El CoTo for her birthday, I was over the moon. Any chance of replicating authentic Spanish food and I'm on board.

I've been to many Spanish restaurants before and I know how unhealthy they can be, tapas choices tend to all be deep fat fried or smothered in cheese and fatty meats. I wanted to see if I could actually eat healthy here, adopting my new Vegan lifestyle as I did in the Canaries. My friends are not vegan or vegetarian so they tried different choices to me but all gave me their feedback.

Now my friends and I love our food and we can really eat. We chose 3 tapas choices each, which the waiter scoffed at and looked perplexed that we would choose so many (12 in total), but we thought this was completely reasonable and to be honest we were holding back a bit for pudding. Because of the waiters reaction we were expecting overwhelming giagantic portions and worried that we would waste food.

I have to start on a bad note and say the service was shocking, we felt hassled for our order when we first arrived and then they seemed to forget about us later on, there were 2 or 3 different waiters bringing us food and most of it was wrong. The first 2 dishes got sent to our table instead of someone else's and then most of our food were sent elsewhere, Im hoping that the staff were new, and that they simply didn't know the floor plan. With much confusion we eventually received our food with one or two dishes missing.

I went for the Arroz de Verduras (rice with vegetables), Tomato Alinado (tomato salad) and Garbanzo (chickpea casserole). The Garbanzo was delicious I wish I had a big bowl of it and nothing else, while the rice was just ok and the tomato salad was beautiful.
The girls went for a wide selection including Arroz de Matanza (rice with chicken, pork, chorizo), Ternera a la Mesonera (beef stew), Pata con Salsa de Mostaza (potato with creamy mustard and honey dressing), Gambas al Ajillo (king prawns will chilli and garlic), Pollo al Ajillo (chicken with white wine, olive oil, parsley, garlic) and MORE! They all said the food was absolutely lovely, really rich, large potions and could tell it had been made fresh. Although I finished my dishes they left a little of theirs and we ended up not having pudding! Partly because we were full and partly because we probably wouldn't receive it anyway.

On a health focus I would say most of the dishes are quite indulgent, like I said a lot of tapas dishes in England are deep fat fried, so if you're watching the waistline at the moment you may have to treat this place as a 'cheat day'. They do plenty of vegetarian dishes and only a couple catered for vegan. They also have a gluten and dairy free menu too, which is great. I did enjoy the food and the prices are good too, its just a shame about the service, maybe we will give it a while before going back and hopefully the waiters will know the floor plan by then.

Rating (Out of 5)

Quality of Food ****

Food Variety ****

Cater for intolerance's/allergies *****

Health rating *

Restaurant & Staff *

Cost ****

Restaurant review- The Herb Garden & The Sausage Emporium

Monday is a dreaded word to most people with 9-5 jobs, in Newcastle it mostly consists of grey skies, traffic and roadworks. Me and the partner decided to take a lovely lunch out in Newcastle, to break the monotony up, and boy did it brighten our day. Unfortunately it started off with a bit of a disaster, we had booked in to the restaurant next door called The Sausage Emporium...... which we ended up walking out of.

We were greeted in Sausage Emporium with four members of staff standing around chatting, one of them reluctantly came over and showed us to a table upstairs. Safe to say they definitely had a relaxed attitude and weren't in a rush for anyone, unlike most of the customers who were trying to cram in a working lunch in the middle of their hectic rat race lives. 

Upstairs was okay, a bit bland, with half the tables taken, but as we sat there staring at the dull menus we couldn't help but realise that everyone had either only a drink on their table or nothing at all. Staff didn't come to serve us at all in 25mins, and we eventually realised that everyone else were waiting too, or waiting for the food they had ordered. For 25mins not one member of staff came to take our order, or anyone else's for that matter, not even for a drink and not one meal was served in the restaurant. So disappointing, I'll never attempt to go back in there again, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. On another point after analysing the menus over and over again, I can confirm that anyone who leads a healthy nutritious diet and for anyone who is on a health kick, do not attempt to eat at The Sausage Emporium. If the name didn't give it away, the menu is loaded with processed meats, white bread and greasy sides. 

 

So we walked out of there, leaving everyone else behind looking miserable and fed up. Not us...not when I'm hungry!

We took a chance and went next door to the Herb Garden, I've always wanted to eat in there, just because there a massive wooden horse outside.  

The smell was divine as we walked in, chefs to the right of you cooking the stone baked pizzas and watching them make true master pieces (or pizza's)! The waitress was just lovely, really bubbly, kind and gave us loads of attention. Explaining the menu thoroughly and even giving me options when I told her I was trying to be healthy. I went for the Super Sexy, Super Healthy, Superfood Salad and added chicken to it, the partner had a Spicy Pepperoni, Garlic, Mozzarella, Basil Pizza. My salad was humongous! And filled me right up until 7pm that night, when normally salads have me snacking all day. The salad was stuffed with super delicious ingredients including alfalfa sprouts, seeds, spinach, a pic-a-mix of pure health, even with edible flowers on the top! It was a beautiful dish, and certainly didn't look better then it tasted (which normally happens with healthy food). My partners pizza, looked lovely, freshly made and not heavy like American style pizzas, this was light, but filling and not greasy.....just how pizza's should be! The stone baked style gives it such a wonderful taste to it, and he said he wants to go back to try the rest!

On a health rating, because of their great selection of salads, the staff are so welcoming, they don't mind when they are asked to add or take ingredients away from their dishes and cater for various intolerance's/allergies id give it a well deserved 5/5. Yes they do pizzas, but they are not greasy, double stuffed crust, deep pan gut abusing pizzas,  they also do a vegan pizza which I can't wait to try, and because they don't use much cheese on their dishes (you can always ask them to not add it, don't knock it i think pizzas taste even better without it), also they don't deep fat fry things, this is a perfect place to have a healthy satisfying meal. Tasting exotic ingredients but also watching the waistline is very easily possible here! 

Rating (Out of 5)

Quality of Food *****

Food Variety ****

Cater for intolerance's/allergies *****

Health rating ****

Restaurant & Staff *****

Cost ****

www.theherbgardenuk.com

Here's a pic of my beautiful salad.....but it doesn't do it justice! And didn't quite get a picture of the pizza, as the partner gobbled it too quickly.