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Tuesday 23 October 2012

Soulmate Food Juice Cleanse

I've found myself getting really wound up this past week about one particular subject - detox diets. I've been stressing myself out about 'tailor made' 'lifestyle meals' company Soulmate food. In case you're in the same cocoon I obviously was and have never heard of them, this is a company which sends you ready meals through the post for an exorbitant fee of 'less than £25 a day'.

The part of their service I'm most interested in is the 'Juice Cleanse' which is a short-term detox diet. They say:
"Jump start your metabolism for long term benefits.
Our amazing fruit based, all natural cleanse not only rids your body of harmful toxins, but will help to increase metabolic performance and energy output, leading you on your journey to optimum health.
This scientifically designed juice and smoothie cleanse helps to improve efficiency of body function and digestion, due to a cleaner colon, leading to improved absorption of nutrients.
Greater efficiency equals enhanced energy levels and mental clarity."
The juices, which contain 'all natural ingredients', come as a three day package (18 juices, £150) or five days (30 juices, £200). Your daily allowance of 6 bottles comes numbered and named, but with no other information on ingredients or nutritional information. At first I thought this must be against the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 but, take a look at page 24 and you'll see that Soulmate food are exempt because they sell the products from the premises on which they are made.

Still, I wanted to find out a bit more about what was in the juices, so I emailed them asking for ingredients and nutritional information. Their response was:

Each juice contains around 900 calories per day and the flavours are as follows:
- detox breakfast - carrot, orange, ginger and super foods
- vitality - pineapple, banana and coconut
- berry active - antioxidant blend, cherries and mixed berries
- earth - a blend of berries
- tropical - orange, mango and passion fruit
- nutrilicious - strawberry, banana, grape and orange
Unfortunately an estimated calorie content for all six juices combined isn't exactly the nutritional breakdown I was after, and the flavours still don't tell me exactly what's in the juices. I decided to focus on finding out about ingredients and asked what exactly was in the 'super foods' and 'antioxidant blend'.
"The antioxidant blend is a concentrated blend of berries, as berries are brilliant antioxidants. Also, the superfoods is a blend of fruit, vegetables and mushroom extracts to increase mineral and vitamin content."
I was starting to get frustrated at this point, I couldn't understand why Soulmate food was so against disclosing the contents of their juices. I pressed for more information and asked for a full list of ingredients saying I have allergies, including several species of mushroom. Not entirely true, but I thought perhaps an allergy risk might make them more forthcoming. I was wrong.
"I would have to find out from our chefs about the exact ingredients. But I do know that we do not send anything to people with severe allergies as we are not a free from kitchen and the juices will be made amongst other things. We would strongly advise you not to do our juice cleanse."
Oh right, of course, so people with allergies should not buy these products. When you go through the ordering process there is a note at the bottom saying the service is not available for people with severe allergies but I still think the site is misleading. On the website they say they cater for people with food intolerances, and when you look into the Juice Cleanse information provided it appears that the only ingredients are those listed, there is no clue to there being a mysterious mix of fungus and vegetables in there.

Don't get me wrong, I know that legally this company does not have to disclose the ingredients or nutritional breakdown of their products, but shouldn't we be taking more responsibility for what goes into our bodies? You wouldn't buy anything from a supermarket without knowing the ingredients and if you asked for a list of ingredients in a restaurant and were fobbed of like I was by Soulmate food, wouldn't you be a bit suspicious?

On their website they cite one of their aims as educating people about healthy eating. How can you educate when you're hiding so much?

7 comments:

  1. Wow what a frustrating experience! Well done for writing this post, it was very educational... even if the company wasn't!

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  2. £150 for a three day supply of fruit juice?! 'A fool and his(or her) money are soon parted'!

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  3. It really was frustrating, I just want to know what makes their juices so special above, say, Innocent or Naked who fully disclose their ingredients and sugar content.

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  4. I spoke to their PR folk on the phone about this. Firstly they don't have to disclose that stuff and secondly they don't because the detox isn't about normal nutrition. Apparently it's not necessary to know the micros/macros because it will look like you're getting too much sugar.

    I sort of understand that but I just want to know. Even more now. How are we to know each juice isn't laced with weird chemicals that help you to lose weight.

    One thing to say about it though, my metabolism has been working so well since my Juice Cleanse (which was free, by the way. Not sure I'd pay £150 for it).

    I've been eating 1800-2500 calories a day with little-no exercise (some walking and two gym sessions) and I've lost 2lbs in three weeks. Not sure if that's a direct result of the detox but it's good!

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  5. This sounds so frustrating! We would love you to trial our food and see what you think... Check out www.myfood.co.uk or call us on 01202 697100.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Fruits and vegetables juices are great anti-oxidants. Juice cleanse have so many health benefits. I have tried recently and amazed with the results. Initially it was very tough for me but slowly I manage all the things and completed my juice cleanse detox. I am thinking about another one. This post is very informative and I am agree with the thoughts of Missy. Thanks for sharing.

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