Raw Vision

Jason Vale was once an overweight smoker with a fondness for junk food. Now he's the 'Juice Master'. How did he turn himself around, asks Michael Kelly.

I start my conversation with "Juice Master" Jason Vale with a confession. Yes I own a juicer, I tell him, but it hasn't seen the light of day in years and I can't even tell you which cupboard it now languishes in. Vale is sympathetic and tells me that the appliance manufacturer bears at least some of the responsibility for this sorry situation. "Nothing will put a nail in the coffin of your juicing plans quicker than a crap juicer," says Vale. "You have to be able to put an apple in whole without chopping it up and there should be a maximum of four components that need cleaning."

I'm not alone in failing to convert good intentions into long-lasting healthy eating behaviour. As Vale points out, we have access to more information on what constitutes healthy food than ever, yet we are getting fatter instead of slimmer. We have celebrity chefs and recipe books coming out our ears but we are eating more, not less, junk food. For many of us, "eating" is all about forecourt stodge and takeaways. Vale paints a bleak picture of the impact these processed foods have on our bodies. "Our digestive systems are like the M50 on a bank holiday Friday."

Many of us give up on juicing because of the perceived hassle factor. Vale doesn't buy it. He calls it "CBA Syndrome" - "Can't Be Arsed". "People tell me they don't have time to juice but can tell you what's going on in EastEnders. It's all about priorities."

So how often does he juice? "I juice for breakfast and lunch about four days a week," he says, noting my raised eyebrow. "I know that scares people. People on my three-day juice plan ask 'How come I don't feel hungry?' Of course they don't feel hungry - they are getting all the nutrition they need from the juice."

He recommends drinking juice on an empty stomach. "When your stomach is free of food, your digestive system can process the vitamins and minerals quickly. Within 15 minutes the juice has left your stomach and is starting to be absorbed into the body."

The foundation for Vale's juicing empire (including a juice bar franchise, six books and celeb devotees) is his own experience. A heavy smoker, drinker and fast-food junkie, he was seriously over-weight and suffered from psoriasis, asthma and eczema. You would never believe it to look at the ridiculously healthy, lean-looking individual sitting across from me.

"I started juicing because I was already ill but my mission is to get people juicing so that they won't get ill in the first place."

He's here to launch the first Irish Juice Master bar at Ardkeen Quality Foodstore in Waterford. "The obvious choice for our first bar would have been a high street in Dublin, but we are trying to do something different. I just love the ethos of this store and I can't believe that an independent supermarket is thriving with Tesco just around the corner. It really is amazing. We are able to use locally grown fruit and veg here and Ardkeen have flexibility with the menu, unlike regular franchises where they would be tied in. If they have lots of fresh strawberries available locally they can put on strawberry smoothies."

There has been an explosion of juice bars in recent years, but Vale is quick to point out that they are not all the same. "Most juice bar chains infuriate me. At least when you go into Burger King they are honest about what they are selling you. If you go into a juice bar you expect everything to be 100 per cent healthy, but in most juice bars the base juice is nearly always from concentrate or pasteurised. They put a banana in and then call it fresh."

Shop-bought juices are another bugbear. "It's obviously better than buying a soda, but in order to make juice last, they have to pasteurise it to reduce the enzyme activity. That means the life force in the juice has been destroyed. Juice should always be consumed straight after it has been made as it immediately starts to lose enzymes, vitamins and minerals once exposed to light. If you want to keep it, put it in a flask to keep out light and try and use it within a day."

One thought I've always had about juicing - wouldn't you be better off eating the fruit whole? "Well, juicing allows us to get raw vegetables into our system that we just wouldn't eat normally and raw food is vitally important for us - it's the way nature intended us to eat our food. You are not going to say after a hard day's work, I really want some raw broccoli." Fair point.

The Juice Master Juice 'n' Smoothie Bar is now open in Ardkeen Quality Foodstore in Waterford. www.juicemaster.com