I am probably the last person ever to want to do a cleanse. I love my carbs, my breakfast tacos, cheese, and Chick-Fil-A. I've tried juicing before at home and it was a complete fail. My best friend and roommate at the time busted out the new juicer I had gotten for Christmas and made every Pinterest juice recipe we could get our hands on. The drinks were gross, we wasted food, and I discovered I was allergic to beetroot. So that was a major fail.
So take two, the Daily Greens Cleanse includes all the juices you need for your four day cleanse. Each drink is packed with 4.5 pounds of produce, including tons of vitamins. All you have to do is stick to the raw fruit and veggie diet for four days. The hardest part is self-control.
What It Is
A juice cleanse is a type of diet intended to detox your body. Cleanses can last from days to weeks. The Daily Greens Cleanse is four days long. The green drinks provide your body with nutrients so that you can sustain from eating full meals. People do cleanses for many reasons: weight loss, detoxing the body, self satisfaction, or helping yourself get away from habits like coffee and snacking. You should not expect any long-term weight loss from doing a cleanse. You should expect to see yourself cutting back on caffeine, sodas, animal products, and sugar and taking in more water, fruits, and veggies.
How It Works
Three Juices. Four days. For four days you will replace two meals and a snack with a green juice and eat an all raw veggie dinner. The juices are as follows:
Renew-
Hydrate with a blend of sweet watermelon and rich, juicy greens seasons with spearmint and a dash of Himalayan pink salt. This one was not bad. It's refreshing. As for taste, it's sort of like drinking sweet celery? That sounds terrible but it's the best way I can describe it.
Elevate-
Get smooth greens- from cucumber to spinach and watercress -with a splash of lime, sweet pear, and a lovely vanilla finish. Because of the vanilla this one is very sweet. Again not too bad.
Purity- Get simple and pure green juice goodness from cold-pressed cucumber, celery, kale, and broccoli with parsley, basil, and a touch of lemon. I am going to be 100% honest with ya'll throughout this entire process, so I have to tell you I hated this one. Lol! It tastes like lemon and lawn clippings. But I just tell myself that means it's healthy and chug it.
What To Eat
The cleanse kit will include instructions, but here are the basics. Breakfast- begin your day with warm lemon water or substitute with Daily Green's Green Lemonade. Wait 30 minutes and then drink your Renew juice. Lunch- Elevate juice and a small raw fruit or veggie snack if needed. Snack- Purity juice. Dinner- A raw veggie dinner with plenty of fiber to help your body expel the toxins. You can have raw fruit or veggies any time you are hungry throughout the day. This is not designed to starve you, but to feed your body pure, clean, raw veggies and juices as your body works to clean out all the toxins from the beer, queso, and Whataburger you had last weekend. So things like leafy, green veggies, carrots, broccoli, avocado, tomato, onion, cucumber, etc are great. Be sure to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated.
What To Avoid
Here is the fun part! No coffee, nope not even black coffee! No soda, no other fruit juices. no tea. No processed foods, no sugar, no meat or animal products, no dairy, no grains, no legumes. Cheese was definitely the hardest for me to cut out! And my morning caramel macchiato, AKA coffee flavored sugar, has been dearly missed as well.
Day One
Breakfast- Renew juice and a bottle of water. I missed the step about warm lemon juice so I did not have that Monday.
Lunch- Elevate juice, a banana, and water.
Snack- Purity juice.
Dinner- Salad and zoodles with homemade veggie "sauce" and POM pomegranate seeds. (Kylie made me do it)
Overall, day one was not that bad. I was fine throughout the day, but pretty hungry by the time I got home. I stocked up on fruits and veggies at HEB and was so excited to find pre-cut zucchini noodles or "zoodles". For my dinner I made a salad with romaine hearts, red onion, cucumber, tomato, salt and pepper, and a light dousing of Balsamic Vinaigrette. Then I made a "pasta" with my zoodles and a raw veggie sauce. The zoodles really aren't bad raw. They are still crunchy so my brain was not totally fooled into thinking this was real pasta. Eating only raw foods definitely made me increase my creativity in the kitchen. I'm no chef but I thought it was pretty yummy. I almost was bascilly eating guacamole now that I think about it! Here is the recipe for my zoodle sauce:
Zoodle Avocado Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 avocado
1/2 lemon
1 tomato, diced
red onion, amount to your liking, diced
2-3 chopped basil leaves
2-3 chopped parsley leaves
salt and pepper
Mash 1/2 of avocado in a small bowl, mix in diced tomato, onion, basil, and parsley. Squeeze lemon juice over mixture and add salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together. Mix in zoodles. Enjoy!
Day Two
Breakfast-Warm lemon water, Renew juice
Lunch- Elevate juice, grapes, black berries, raspberries
Snack- Purity juice
Dinner- Salad with romaine hearts, red onion, cucumber, and tomato. Zoodles with homemade pesto. You can buy pesto mix in the seasoning aisle at grocery stores. All you mix it with is Olive Oil. This may have been cheating just a little bit!
Day two my cravings started kicking in. Where I work we have food trucks onsite every Tuesday and Friday. Everyone walking by my desk with pizzas, parmesan fries, and burgers WAS. TORTURE. To make matters worse, Whataburger posted a Snapchat that they are bringing back their Buffalo Ranch Chicken Strip Sandwich. Lot's of fat thoughts happening on this Tuesday. Lot's, folks.
Day Three
Breakfast- Lemon water, Renew Juice, fresh fruit
Lunch- Elevate juice, grapes
Snack- Purity juice
Dinner- Same salad as previous nights but added avocado!
Day three I was questioning my sanity of starting this cleanse. According to the scale at our gym I had lost three pounds since Monday, probably mostly water weight. However, my reasons for starting this were less about weight loss and more about will power. While on that note, I don't recommend working out while doing this cleanse. A lot of people will say you should since it helps to sweat out toxins your body is working to expel, but I definitely was lacking energy during it. Remember to continuously drink water.
Day Four
Breakfast- Water, Renew juice, fresh fruit
Lunch- Elevate juice, blackberries, raspberries
Snack- Purity Juice
Dinner- Avocado, cucumber, tomato, feta, balsamic salad and zoodles with homemade marinara.
Day four was by miles the hardest day for me. I really hadn't seen many side effects on the other days besides normal cravings. On day four I woke up with a huge headache and my body felt so heavy and weak. I also noticed that my brain was foggy all day. I was forgetting things and just totally out of it. I'm not sure if this was caused a lack of carbs and nutrients or if this is similar to the so called "die off" like in the Candida and Whole 30 diets. The die off is when all of the sugars, fats, and yeasts in your body start to die because you aren't eating those things anymore. You feel really sick until they are completely cleared out and then you feel great again. I noticed I was much hungrier on day four as well. Instead of waiting for my juice to settle and assessing how I felt, I had some fruit right away because I was feeling so bad. My energy levels perked after lunch time but that didn't last long. In my head I was thinking could it really hurt if I had a normal dinner?? It's technically the end? But I knew I had to finish completely! I included my sad marinara recipe, but remember everything has to be raw. P. S. That is one whole zoodle I'm holding in the photo below!!
Homemade Marinara Ingredients:
2 chopped tomatoes
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large fresh basil sprig, minced
Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried oregano to taste
Finishing The Cleanse
After completing the cleanse, your first instinct will probably be to run to the nearest DQ for an M&M blizzard or down a large pizza, but be careful when choosing your next meals. Remember that your body has had four days of near complete rest from digesting with an almost all liquid diet. Additionally, your body has had four days without caffeine or high sugars. Slowly incorporate your usual foods back into your diet so that you have a smooth transition.
Final Thoughts
Do I feel good about doing this cleanse? Absolutely. I am so proud of myself for sticking to it for four days and not breaking down and making a mad run to the cheese drawer. Without going into detail, I do feel like this cleanse successfully got all of the junk out of my system and I did lose a little weight. I also feel less bloated, and overall just better about cutting out all the junk this week. Would I do it again? Maybe, and if not I am taking away a lot of great information. Always, research before trying any diet or cleanse to make sure it's right for your body. If you're hungry, eat! This is not meant to starve you. You can have raw fruit or veggies at any time that you need. I think the most important things I learned from this cleanse were
1. It's possible, and easy, to eat clean for every meal.
I thought it was going to be impossible to eat an all raw vegetable diet. I pictured myself eating celery for a week. In truth it was not hard at all and I found myself thinking I could always eat this way and it would be even better once I'm allowed to incorporate other food groups in a healthy way. For example, adding proteins, good carbs, and good fats. I think this is a really great way to experiment with food and you can definitely get more creative than my salads and zoodles. I won't be binging on junkfood now that it is over, because that would defeat the whole purpose!
2. I've been overeating.
Going without meals and then eating only fruit and veggies made me realize (maybe miss) just how much I'm normally eating. A breakfast taco, a fast food lunch, and a heavy dinner, plus snacks, coffee, and soda? I did not consider myself a horrible eater, but this was a wake up call. Now I am rethinking all of my meals in a healthier mindset.
You can get the Daily Greens Cleanse or any of their beverages at:
-------->
https://www.drinkdailygreens.com/shop
Normally the kit is $60, but right now you can get it for $49. Shipping is a little high, but that's because the product has to stay refrigerated, as you can see in my photos.
If
you have any questions, please feel free to email me! Don't forget to
subscribe so that you never miss a post! Thanks for reading!
XXXX
Lindsey
Links:
https://drinkdailygreens.com/
https://drinkdailygreens.com/blog/category/cleanse/
https://www.facebook.com/drinkdailygreens/
http://www.projectjuice.com/how-to-cleanse
