The 5:2 Juice Diet will help you drop two dress sizes by Christmas and get party-ready fast

With just four weeks until the festive party season kicks off, you may be panicking you won't fit into your favourite frock.

But help is at hand with our exclusive extract from 'The Juice Master' Jason Vale's new 5:2 Juice Diet book.

It combines two of the biggest current diet crazes to ensure ­brilliant results and help you squeeze into that slinky outfit in time for Christmas .

Over the last few years, author and lifestyle coach Jason Vale has become the king of juicing, extolling its amazing benefits, including weight loss, improved digestion, better absorption of nutrients, greater energy and clearer, younger skin.

Jason, 46, discovered the benefits of juicing 15 years ago as an overweight chain smoker who ate nothing but junk food and suffered from severe asthma and eczema.

Thanks to juicing, he shed his excess weight and ­transformed his health – and now he wants to help you do the same.

Juice master: Jason Vale

How it works

"With everything – juicing included – I believe moderation is the key and adopting a 5:2 mantra is a manageable way to live," explains Jason. "And that's especially over the festive period with all its temptations.

"On my plan, you stick to four juices a day for two days a week, eat 'clean' for three, then spend a more relaxed two days at the weekend – when socialising and family life means you want more food flexibility and time to enjoy little treats in moderation.

"I live my life by this concept and have never looked back!

"My plan is also carefully designed to ensure you won't feel hungry because you'll still get all the nutrients, vitamins and enzymes your body needs for optimum health."

Getting started

This plan will help you get results fast – but it also gives your body a much-needed cleanse and rest. You'll need a juicer, a blender and ideally a flask to carry your juices around with you.

Making the plan work for you

Make your juices for the day in advance. In an ideal world, they'd all be fresh, but most of us are too busy so make life easier by doing them all together and putting in flasks in the fridge. You can also freeze batches.

Use water and herbal tea to help curb hunger pangs.

If you're really hungry, grab a piece of fruit – a banana works well or half an avocado – both are full of health-boosting nutrients.

3 great value juicers

Liquid diet: The Braun Multiquick 5 J500

George Home juicer GFJ101B (£39, Asda). Makes great fruit juice, struggles a little with some veg, but this is a great starting price.

Philips Viva HR1832/01 (£44.99, Amazon ) – a compact easy-to-clean juicer that produces impressive results.

Braun Multiquick 5 J500 (£69, Tesco Direct) makes super-smooth fruit and veg juice every time.

Juice and meal recipes

Raw power: The Power Plant

Power Plant

½ pineapple (peeled), ¼ cucumber, ½ lime (peeled), 1.5 celery stalks, handful spinach leaves, 2.5cm stem of broccoli.

Caribbean Blend

60g mango, 60g papaya, 60g pineapple, 350ml coconut water, 1 lime (peeled).

Viva La Veggie

2 apples, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, handful spinach leaves, handful kale, ¼ cucumber, 2.5cm stem broccoli, 1 raw beetroot, ½ courgette.

Fennel Fury

1 apple, 1 fennel bulb, handful spinach leaves, handful kale, 1 lime (peeled), 2.5cm fresh ginger.

Pear-fection

1 apple, 2 pears, 1 parsnip, ¼ cucumber, ½ lime (peeled), small handful fresh mint.

Ginger Ninja

2 apples, 2 carrots, 1 celery stick, 2.5cm slice lemon, 1cm ginger.

You'll find many more delicious juice recipes from Jason at juicemaster.com

Bowled over: Pear and parsnip soup

Pear and parsnip soup

2 parsnips

1 small red onion

2 firm pears

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tablespoon olive oil

Peel and chop up the parsnips, onion and pears into small chunks.

Dissolve the stock cube in 700ml of boiling water.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and add the onion and parsnips and sweat over a medium heat for 15 mins. Add the pear, stock and bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins.

Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.

Warming: Butternut squash and carrot soup Butternut squash and carrot soup

½ butternut squash

2 medium carrots

½ small red onion

1 tbsp vegetable oil

550ml water

1 vegetable stock cube

1 pinch black pepper

1 pinch salt

Peel and chop all veg into small chunks. In a pan, heat the oil and add all the vegetables and seasoning, gently sweat for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the water and dissolve the stock cube into it. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins.

Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.

Jasey's fish 'n' chips with mint pea puree

2 tsp olive oil

Rock salt – 2 small pinches

Ground black pepper – 3 generous pinches

1 large sweet potato

1 cod fillet

½ lemon

Handful fresh thyme

Large handful frozen peas

Small handful fresh mint leaves

Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas Mark 6, drizzle half the olive oil into a baking tray, add a pinch of salt and pepper and heat in the oven for two minutes.

Cut the sweet potato lengthways into chips, leave skin on. Add potatoes to oil, toss and cook for 15 minutes.

Prepare the cod by drizzling the remaining olive oil on both sides, season with a pinch of pepper and place skin-side down on a plate. Squeeze some lemon over the cod and place the thyme on top.

When the potatoes have cooked for 15 minutes, add the fish to the baking tray skin-side down and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the peas for four minutes. Then drain and blend the peas, mint leaves and a 1/3 of the lemon juice until smooth. Serve with a final squeeze of lemon.

Your 5:2 Juice Diet daily planner

Monday

On waking: Tea (herbal, green or normal) or coffee or hot water and lemon

9am: Power plant juice (see juice recipes)

1pm: Caribbean blend

4pm: Pear-fection

7pm: Viva La veggie

Tuesday

On Waking: Tea (herbal, green or normal) or coffee or hot water and lemon

9am: Power Plant

1pm: Ginger Ninja

4pm: Fennel Fury

7pm: Pear-fection

Wednesday

On Waking: Tea (herbal, green or normal) or coffee or hot water and lemon

Breakfast: Any juice

Lunch: Pear and parsnip Soup (see recipe below)

Dinner: Warm chicken and avocado salad, made using grilled chicken, rocket, one sliced avocado, lemon juice and 50g shaved Parmesan.

Thursday

On Waking: Tea (herbal, green or normal) or coffee or hot water and lemon

Breakfast: Any juice

Lunch: Butternut squash and carrot soup (see recipe below)

Dinner: Grilled halloumi and veg stack (made by roasting slices of beef tomato, peppers, courgette, sweet potato and halloumi with a little olive oil for 35 minutes and serving with pesto and lemon juice).

Friday

On Waking: Tea (herbal, green or normal) or coffee or hot water and lemon

Breakfast: Any juice

Lunch: Avocado salad or leftover soup from previous two days

Dinner: Jasey's fish 'n' chips (see recipe below)

Saturday

Anything you like all day!

Sunday

Anything you like all day!

Case study: 'Juicing means this year's party frock is five sizes smaller!' Before: Claire was 18st

Claire Lincoln, 35, is a deputy head teacher at a primary school. She lives in Cottam, near Preston, Lancashire, with her husband Christopher and their daughter Jessica, five, and, son Oscar, two.

Last Christmas, I didn't go to any parties – I didn't feel like it at a size 20 and weighing 18 stone – my biggest ever. I hated clothes shopping, just buying whatever fit. But after spending New Year's Eve out for dinner wearing a frumpy black woolly jumper and trousers, I decided enough was enough.

I was tired, miserable and my legs had terrible varicose veins that the doctors said could only be solved with surgery. Besides, I wanted to set a better example for my kids and not be a fat mum.

I'd tried every diet going in the past but never kept the weight off. But a friend introduced me to Jason Vale's juicing plan so I decided to make it my New Year's resolution to really give it a shot. I could never stand vegetables, so the idea of hiding them in a juice seemed a good idea!

My former diet meant skipping breakfast then filling up on three slices of toast mid-morning, sausage rolls with chips and biscuits for lunch and a stodgy dinner such as pasta or chilli then crisps and chocolate before and after.

The new plan meant having nothing but four juices a day on 'juice days' and the rest of the time having a healthy breakfast such as chia seed porridge with almond milk, honey and banana, a juice for lunch and an avocado salad for dinner, snacking on nuts and seeds in between. To my surprise I was never hungry.

On the 5:2, you even have the weekends off and eat what you like – I prefer not to though.

After just one week on the plan I felt amazing – so full of energy – and I'd lost 16lb. Juicing and healthy eating have now become a way of life for me and one year on, I've lost more than 7st. My varicose veins have all but gone, my skin looks great and I feel years younger.

I didn't used to think about what food was doing to my health, but I'm now so interested I've taken a nutrition course. I've also transformed my family's eating habits and health – my kids even enjoy juice now, despite my daughter being very picky before.

This year, I'm very excited about Christmas party season. I now love dress shopping and getting glammed up – it's great being able to go to shops such as Topshop and Superdry that I would never have gone in before and pick up a size 10.

My advice to anyone thinking of making this change is, just do it – juicing is not just a diet – it changes your life. This year, we'll be following Christmas lunch with a hilly family walk rather than slouching on the couch like last year."

Source: The 5:2 Juice Diet will help you drop two dress sizes by Christmas and get party-ready fast