I was sent some products from the folks at CherryActive to review:
BeetActive (concentrated beetroot juice).
BlueberryActive (concentrated blueberry juice).
And some CherryActive (concentrated cherry juice) to help with muscle recovery– I was most excited about this! They also sent me some glasses which had 30ml marked, as that is the suggested serving size- so handy!
The BlueberryActive was lovely just diluted with water- very refreshing.
I also had it as an iced tea- I made up some black tea with cherry, and then once it had cooled topped it off with the juice and some ice.
I also added it to a breakfast acai bowl (frozen banana, cherries, blueberries, acai powder, soya milk and a little BlueberryActive all whizzed up)- this was really good as it just added to the fruity flavour.
The CherryActive was not as sweet as I thought it would be. I really liked it, and apparently cherry juice can help with muscle recovery so I have been having some after my long runs.
It did go very frothy though! The little bottle contains the juice from over 650 cherries! Very impressive.
I was not too keen on drinking the BeetActive (I tried it once for scientific purposes) but I loved mixing it with some balsamic for an earthy salad dressing. Today I had this lovely warm salad- I cooked some beetroot, tomatoes and figs, served with some salad, Cheshire cheese, some salad topper seeds, and this dressing. Delicious and a meal I am sure to repeat.
On their website they have some information about how they can help with recovery from exercise. I was saying to Andy the other day that I feel like I am starting to recover more quickly from long runs at the moment. There is a 10 mile race that I wanted to do, but it is the week after my half marathon, and I was not sure how I would feel a week after. But although I have been tired on the day of my long runs, the next day I have been feeling pretty good, so I signed up for it the other day. Of course this is not a scientific trial, but I am feeling good and perhaps the drinks are helping. At least they are totally natural products so they can’t be doing any harm.
The lovely folks at CherryActive have also set up a discount code for you. If you enter the code MARIA10 at the checkout you can get 10% off, and this is valid until the end of October.
Do you do anything in particular to help recovery after exercise? I am recent convert to Epsom bath salts, although running a bath takes a while so I don’t really bother that often!
I tried some of the Cherry Active as a sample before the London Marathon (at the expo) in 2012 – I wasn’t crazy about the taste myself, but it’s great to hear that it might be working for you 🙂 I found some vegan glutamine and BCAAs via bodybuilding.com, and I do think they help with having less muscle soreness (and promoting muscle development).
Ugh, beet juice. Beets make me feel really sick anyway – the only way I could ever eat them was to smother them in ketchup or blend them in a smoothie with 20 tonnes of other ingredients to mask the taste. Even then they did funny things to my stomach!
xxx
Glad you have found something to work for you too.
I do agree I think beetroot is an acquired taste (the marmite of the vegetable world?) but I do like it in salads, especially with some caramelised nuts, yum!
I tried these too – love all your inventive ways of using them Maria! I’m definitely going to try them in salad dressing 🙂
I love the idea of a salad dressing. I have the blueberry one and I think that would work quite well. I really like beetroot juice though so I might have to try the other version!
I’ve heard great things about Cherry Active though I’ve never tried it. Beetroot juice is amazing for endurance, I love juicing fresh beets. I take Sunwarrior or Vega proteins and l-glutamine for recovery and the difference if I don’t take them is unbelievable!
I’m such a fan of anything recovery hehe. I’m all about stretching, then foam rolling and having an ice bath if I feel particularly achey. In terms of food and drink though I don’t really have much other than my standard meals. If I run in the morning I eat breakfast afterwards, if I run in the evening I have dinner. I have heard good things about beetroot though. I use loads in my salads because I love the taste – though not sure how I’d like to drink it and I’m not a big smoothie fan. But putting it as a dressing sounds good.