I used to think people who did juice cleanses were a little crazy.
Well, last week I entered the world of crazies and did a three-day juice cleanse along with my husband. At least we’re crazy together.
I briefly mentioned that I was doing a cleanse and the biggest reason why is because I wanted to hit the reset button. I’m largely a desserts blogger and I make and eat sweets, desserts, treats, and sugar 365 days a year and I sample it all. Some recipes I sample more than others.
For 3 days, I wanted to give my body, mind, and spirit a break and chance to allow it to re-center, realign, and restore. Like pressing the reset button.
My husband, Scott, had been talking about wanting to do a juice cleanse for ages and we decided to try Urban Remedy’s Three Day Signature Cleanse together.
For a few days leading up to the cleanse, you’re supposed to eat as high raw and vegan as possible. No caffeine, alcohol, watch your sugar, processed foods, gluten intake, and common sense things that will make the transition to juice-only for three days as graceful as possible.
I estimate that 80% or better of my diet is very clean and is vegan, lots of raw foods, gluten-free, and so forth. The other 20% is worlds apart. I don’t deny myself sugar, chocolate, coffee, treats or what I’m craving. But going into the cleanse, both of us really cleaned up our acts, including that pesky 20% stuff. The one thing I couldn’t eliminate was my coffee intake. I’m hopelessly addicted to caffeine.
The juices arrived at 10am on our start day and every three hours or so, you’re supposed to drink one bottle. The bottles are 16-ounces each and there are 6 bottles per day. They’re labeled one through six, drink them in order.
The total daily caloric intake per day is about 1250 calories. However, as the Urban Remedy site indicates as well as other authorities and experts on juicing, 500 calories of juice is almost all usable calories; whereas 500 calories of a bagel and cream cheese is not. It’s like mainlining pure nutrients so you require less, in theory.
If you’re wondering, neither my husband or I lost any weight. We both thought we would, but mathematically after I stopped to think about it, it’s not likely to pencil out. For example, if on an average day I consume about 2000 calories (I don’t count but am just guessing here), and on the juice cleanse I consumed 1250, that’s a 750 calorie per day deficit. Over 3 days, that’s a 2250 calorie deficit. One pound of fat = 3500 calories. So, mathematically you’d have to juice for awhile to lose true fat.
And with all that liquid we were drinking, we didn’t find we were losing water weight either. Everyone’s experiences vary, and we didn’t go into this to lose weight, but neither of us did.
On Day 1, we both did well during the day. By dinnertime, I was going through gnarly caffeine withdrawals. I had a pounding headache and was also cold from drinking cold juice all day. Although you’re not ‘supposed to’, Scott told me he drank a small coffee when he was out and that it helped him tremendously. I had a cup of warm herbal tea, which is reluctantly ‘allowed’. It wasn’t coffee, but it was warm and it got me over the hump.
Drinking the last juice of the day, which is more like dessert-in-a-bottle, was enough fat and substance for me to hop into bed and sleep like a baby.
On Day 2 both Scott and I were up and down, hour by hour, as to how we felt. Some hours were good, full of energy, not hungry, really thriving. Other hours were hard and we’d text each other ‘So hungry I want to eat my arm off’. By evening, after going 48 hours without any solid food and my caffeine withdrawals as bad as ever, I had a small cup of coffee and a rice cake. It was the best tasting cup of coffee and the best tasting rice cake of my entire life. Those two very small things were enough to propel me into Day 3 with zest.
I woke up on Day 3 ready to tackle the world and did great the entire day. I had been going for runs each day because I am a lifelong runner and it centers me and helps me quiet my mind. When I don’t run, I am a mess. The last thing I wanted to do was give up my runs while trying to get through the cleanse. I didn’t have as much energy as usual and ran much slower and gentler than normal on the first two days, but on Day 3 I powered out a great run. By the time nightfall came, I was ready to go to bed, knowing that when I woke up on Day 4, I was going to eat!
Overall, I feel the cleanse gave my body a chance to reset and in the week since the cleanse I’ve been eating less sugar, less processed snacks, and more fruits and vegetables. I’ve drank far less coffee, probably 50% less than I had been drinking, and I am more mindful of what I’m putting in my body. The cleanse provided an opportunity to re-examine food choices and habits and make tweaks and adjustments accordingly.
My husband particularly loved it. He felt like it gave him mental clarity that he otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. In removing solid food, your senses really heighten and hone; smells, sights, experiences, and everything is intensified. He said it helped him realize that he doesn’t need to have a bagel with cream cheese, an apple, a banana, a glass of juice, and a cup of coffee all before 10am. He rationally knew this, but said actually doing the cleanse proved that he would be fine without it. Ironically, this week he went out of town for the week to a Transcendental Meditation retreat. This is not the man I married 13 years ago and watching his evolution into a juicing, meditation man has been a gift for me. And it all helps makes him the most patient Daddy ever.
If you’re interested at all in doing a juice cleanse, just do it. You have nothing to lose. If you get wickedly hungry after the first day and want to eat, do so. There are no absolutes. This is your body and you shouldn’t feel shame, guilt, or negative if you have to tweak the cleanse in order to get through it.
That said, three days was definitely my maximum. I wanted to chew, I missed solid food, and something about just juice and all the liquid left me feeling full, yet vacant and unsatisfied. However, it’s suggested that the more cleanses you do, the easier they get and that the first couple days are always the hardest.
We went with Urban Remedy rather than making our own juices and I cannot say enough good things about them. The juices are just so very good, and the more you drink them, the more you want to drink them. The juices are made without adding sugar, compared to many other companies who do, and they also don’t use much agave. Everything is organic, made fresh before shipping, and they make the whole process as easy and effortless as cracking open your next bottle. They have different levels of cleanses and we went with the signature and they have deeper and harder core cleanses and you can cleanse for as many days as you choose.
My favorites were Number 6 (cinnamon cashew milk with vanilla) – What’s not to love. It’s like dessert, complete with 310 calories and about 35 grams of fat in the bottle. Nuts are not low-fat. This is the juice I had have in order to make it through the day as it’s the only significant fat or protein source.
And Number 4, After Party (beet root, carrot, ginger, apple and lemon) was my other favorite. I chugged this juice every day in like 15 seconds. Loved it.
I also really liked Number 3, Flush (cucumber, mint, ginger, apple, and lemon). At first Scott said he hated this one but by Day 3, he liked it. I liked it on Day 1 and on Day 3, I loved it.
The only downside to Urban Remedy or other companies who provide juices to your doorstep is that it’s not cheap. It’s about $60 per day, per person. Each bottle of juice is $10.
However, each bottle of juice contains about 2 pounds of fresh, organic produce. That would have required me to purchase and then juice 24 pounds of organic produce per day, which not only would have cost a pretty penny, it would have taken lots of time. No thanks.
Not to mention, I am woefully under-researched in the how-to-put-a-successful-cleanse-together department and having the guesswork taken out was beautiful. I stocked the fridge and we drank them in order.
If you want to start juicing, I recommend checking Craigslist or Ebay for used juicers until you know it’s something you can see yourself sticking with. Cleanup is time-consuming and it’s not cheap to juice because you need so much produce in order to produce a significant volume of juice, very different than smoothie-making in a Vita-Mix or blender where you use everything, pulp and all in say a Tropical Green Smoothie
The juicer I’ve used is this Breville Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor
and although it’s fine as juicers go, cleanup is still tedious.
Will I do another cleanse? Yes, one day. And now that I know what it’s like, I can better prepare for it, including trying to eliminate coffee beforehand, which was the hardest thing about the cleanse for me. Not the lack of food, but the lack of caffeine.
Scott told me that he wants to try a Five-Day next time.
Have you ever done a juice cleanse or juice fast? Any interest?
What do you do when you feel like you need to press the reset button? What helps you get back or stay on track?
This post was written to share our experiences on the cleanse. In no way am I am expert on juicing, and this is not intended as medical advice. I am not telling you to juice or not to juice and am unable to answer detailed medical questions about if I think juicing would be a good idea for you. Do your own homework and research.
2 years ago, I started a juicing diet, consisting of juices, protein shakes, and a LOT of water. I went cold turkey, and lasted for 6 months. This lost me 50 pounds. Going back to food, I switched to a 5-small-meal-a-day diet, losing me another 57 pounds in the next 6 months. I have been able to keep it off for a year now. 277 -> 170 in a year!
Congrats on finding something that works for you and that’s held up to the test of time!
Yes I did a 35 day juice feast – but had more kcal, 4 litres of fresh juice every day, of which only one was sweet and fruits only. I also did it to reset, to clear my body of medication residue I might have had from fighting allergies, and to heal my body from allergies.
I wrote about it, the link is above.
35 DAYS obviously, not 35 juice feasts :)
35 days. WOW!
Wow, how did I miss this?! That’s awesome! It doesn’t surprise me that you didn’t lose any weight from it; you’re already very slim and in shape, so drinking lots of liquids wouldn’t give you the water weight loss most people get (and then get back!). I think juicing is a great break from the everyday and you’re right: The bioavailability of juice is far greater than many other foods, whole fruit included! I have a juicer, so I plan to make my own juices but these sound way tastier. :) Like you said, if I do IF it won’t be so bad. I was planning to do 7 days, but I’ll reevaluate after the first 3. Maybe Dustin will do it with me. Only problem is, I can see him losing weight he can’t afford to lose because he has a hyper metabolism, ha! Temps pushing 80 here, now’s the time to give it a go. Thanks for this review. It’s really helpful and inspirational!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate your efforts and
I will be waiting for your next post thank you once again.
Averie, I missed this post while I was in Utah. I wanted to let you know that I bought the Suja juice cleanse after reading reviews online – didn’t see this post til today about Urban Remedy! It’s my first day and I’ve only had 1 so far. It was so good! Like you and Scott, my body truly felt that it needed a break. After traveling, moving, recent stress, so many changes happening – I just needed to chill out and do something healthy for my peace of mind and my body. The past three days, I have been following the strict rules of getting my body prepared. No coffee! Pounding headaches, indeed. Curious about the next 3 days. I know it will go well, I already feel better – after only 1 drink! How on earth I will bake and read food blogs the next three days is beyond me. ;)
I just started I cleanse yesterday! Eek!! I’m doing it thru Beachbody and Shakeolegy. It’s 3 weeks long! I’m not on a liquid diet only though. I WOULD NEVER DO A 3wk LONG LIQUID DIET! I would do a 3 day one though. Thanks for sharing your experience, I’m inspired.
LOVE your food blog, it also inspires me to “keep on keeping on” with my small following of a blog!
It is so hard to read food blogs while cleansing. For 3 weeks no less. My hat is off and yes, you have some food, but still, it’s tough!
This was a fascinating post for me, Averie. Thank you for sharing your experience and for introducing me to Urban Remedy. I know that my diet is atrocious (case in point: I just inhaled 10 macadamia nut Hershey’s kisses while reading this) and I’ve been toying with the idea of juicing. Maybe not a full cleanse but I’ve been wanting to replace the pastries and coffee I have every morning with juice. I keep putting it off, thinking that I need to do research, find recipes, and plan ahead so that I can properly grocery shop. I hear ya on going the simpler route and just getting the juice premade from a reputable company. Hopefully I’ll actually get started on juicing.
I think if you’re even on the fence of doing it, to just go for it. You have nothing to lose! Even if you just did 1 day. Have 1 day delivered and see how you do and go from there :)
Thank you for this post, Averie. I have been wanting to do a juice cleanse for a while now, but have been unsure which one to do. I don’t own a juicer and resources for juicing (ie. fresh juice bars) are pretty much non-existent where I live. It’s really helpful to read about other people’s experiences with different juice companies.
PS. Caffeine withdrawal is one of my biggest fears about juicing!
There are tons of mail-order juice companies out there. In the end, most of them come down to about the same price when stretched over 3 days, including shipping, etc. They’re all within a similar price range so I’d say go with the company who’s juices look good to you! We loved Urban Remedy’s and their whole program but it’s SUCH an individual thing so do your research b/c it’s a big $$ of money and it’s also your time, body, energy, and such a big thing. Good luck!
Oooh i love the idea of resetting my body. After stuffing my face with carbs for breakfast every morning I feel ill and not ready for lunch until at least 3pm. This would get me on a more healthy meal schedule if i went back to just juice for breakfast. I suppose you could supplement your normal meals with this juice too, right?
You could of course supplement your normal meals with the juice. Really there are no rules; but in terms of a cleanse, obviously you’re not going to be doing that but just for day-to-day life, trying to cut back on big heavy meals and replace with juice is an option!
Last week I was reading another blogger’s experience with raw food & juice fasting and finally decided that YES I am going to do a raw food & juice cleanse next week and I even convinced my husband to do it with me. And then today I’m catching up on my blog reading and see this post. Clearly this is a sign! I’ve been researching different companies and still haven’t decided which one to go with, but Urban Remedy seems to have a little more variety than some of the others, which is nice. Because if I’m going to have juice all day, I need at least a LITTLE variety. :)
Well best of luck and yes, it was a sign! Can’t wait to hear more details about it and what co. you’re going with and your experiences!
congrats on finishing the cleanse and being a crazy juice cleanser person…lol…i’ve done the weird cayenne pepper lemon water cleanse now that makes me a definate crazy…hahaha…I have no idea how you made food for your blog and stayed true to the cleanse that would be so killer for me….torture…you are a strong women! loved the post.
Hi Averie girl! Happy Easter. Ok, I have to say that this is one of my favorite posts that you have written. It’s so informative and you’re so real in your analysis of the cleanse, that I can really get a feel for what it would be like to do a 3 day juice cleanse. I think I would feel the same way as you, up and down, full of energy at times and then sluggish at other times and I totally get the feeling cold part. I usually have a cup of chamomile tea with lunch each day or at least in the afternoon to warm up. I’m not a cold drink type of gal at all. I only drink water without ice and really prefer it room temp as well.
I was curious about the work out factor. I wasn’t sure if I would feel up to working out, but since you did, I’m sure I would be able to as well.
The hardest part for me would be feeding the kids. Zoe expects and wants a balanced dinner every night, so feeding her something simple and low-key isn’t really an option, where as Eli wouldn’t care if I fed him cereal at every meal. I would still have to prepare a normal dinner and that would be hard for me. Was it difficult preparing and feeding Skylar her meals?
Anyway, we’re heading to Disney land in a week and I may look into doing a cleanse upon our return. I know I’m not going to have too much control over what we eat on our trip, so it would feel good to just come back and do a cleanse.
Anyway, I’m babbling here. I’m in a food daze from our Easter Brunch and ready for a nap! I will let you know if and when I decide to cleanse though! Thanks for this post!
xoxo, Jackie
Making Skylar wasn’t hard…making some RIDICULOUSLY awesome food for my blog, photographing it, handling it for hours, and not even having a nibble…THAT was hard :)
I think you’d like the cleanse overall, knowing you, but it’s a mindset and you just have to know what you’re getting into, going into it. And glad you like the post and it’s one of your faves of mine!
I did a three day cleanse last month. I really enjoyed it. But I”m not sure I would want to do 5 days. That is a long time. I tried the cooler cleanse.
Oh wow, congrats on doing the cooler cleanse! Bravo! And yes, 5 days would have been wayyyyyy too much for me. Maybe in the future for something to work up to, but for this one, that wouldn’t have been do-able!
I really should try this. Juice cleanses scare me, but for three days I could handle it…with coffee. My husband would love this. He could do it while traveling, which is his main issue right now, too much traveling!
Your hubs sounds like Mr. Healthy from what you’ve described and he’s love this. And actually, traveling while doing a juice cleanse would be pretty easy! You just bring your juices and never have to think about food once on your trip! A reader/friend of mine did a 21 day while she and her hubs were in Maui for a trip for part of it and said she went to the WFs in Maui and got fresh juice every day and it was so easy!
I own the Jack Lalanne juicer from Costco. I’ve had it about a year now and I really do like it. It has OK reviews but I enjoy it. And I love the cookbook that came with it. You can put all the parts in the dishwasher so clean up is not terrible. Thanks for the review. Just this week I was looking at Urban Remedy. Too expensive for me but I’m going to do a little research and create my own. I’ve looked into Dr. Oz cleansing program also.
We are having the honey dinner rolls and carrot cake loaf (i made it into a bundt) today for Easter. Happy Easter!
honey dinner rolls and carrot cake loaf (i made it into a bundt) = YAY!!! Glad the Bundt worked; good job on that. Posts I write that involve Bundnts never go over too well but if it’s in a loaf pan, people love it…so when making it for just us and not taking pics, I like it in a Bundt too.
And the honey rolls are a fave of ours, too!
Happy Easter and good luck with creating your own cleanse. Sounds like a plan!
You inspire me to take the juice plunge:))I’ve been thinking of doing this for so many reasons. I now have to just do it, right?:)
Well if you’re at all even on the fence about it or have thought of it and have considered it, yes, by all means….go for it!
I never thought I would say this, but I think I want to try a cleanse! Not sure if I could do it though! You did a great job on this review!!
Well if my review nudges you in that direction, then I guess it was a job well done. I actually think you’d love the experience for so many reasons!
Girl, you have got some willpower! I feel like I would get soooo hungry, and the coffee thing would drive me bonkers too. I love the idea though. I’ve been trying to work through the same thing where you want to create recipes, you have to taste them, but at the same time, you want to be good to your body. Even with trying to make healthyish desserts, it’s still a tough balance. My favorite thing about this though is the fact that you were able to maintain your normal activity level. I really don’t believe in programs that tell you not to exercise while you’re doing them. That is not healthy. I love that these juices incorporated nuts and fat to keep you satisfied and energized!
I couldn’t have lived without working out. I wasn’t going at 100% full-steam but I still worked out. I need that on so many levels so stay sane and grounded :) And yes, programs that tell you not to work out, that wouldn’t be for me!
I always love reading reviews of all of these different juice companies. I have been thinking more and more about it. I just hate how pricey they are!
Wow, this one actually sounds like it’s worth the heavy price tag! I tried the cayenne-maple-lemon thing, but that only lasted about half a day. :P (In my defense, I have to be careful, lest I fall back into my ED way of thinking -when everything but air and water was considered evil.) This particular cleanse sounds like the healthy way to go about getting healthy. :)
Thanks for the review!
I’m glad you posted this! I was very curious to how it was going for you! I would love to try a juice cleanse, but the cost is to high for me. I wonder if I could stick to it? I did do a 3 day detox and felt great! But the hardest part is the same as you, coffee! That is one thing I can’t give up. On my 3 day detox, I had horrible headache by day two. I broke down and made myself a frappe. I kept some of what I learned from the detox which is my hot water and lemon first thing in the morning, before my coffee, and I love that. I also try to stay away from processed foods. I do love the idea of juice cleansing, and maybe one day I’ll look into it. Thanks for the update and letting us know how it went!
The horrible headache by day two is why I had to have a tiny coffee and a rice cake on Day 2. I was just miserable and that simple act changed my whole reality for the rest of Day 2 and all of Day 3. I think you could put together your own cleanse and save some money. Just do your research and you’ll be fine!
Congratulations to you and Scott, Averie! Doing a juice cleanse is a tough thing to do, even 3 days. I can see that the coffee would be the hardest part. I definitely hear you on that one. Your diet is usually pretty low in sodium and since your calorie deficit wasn’t over the 3500 calorie mark and you weren’t cutting out huge amounts of sodium, it makes sense to me that you didn’t lose weight. When I did my 21 day juice fast last year, I only lost about 8 pounds total. But when I did my water fast, I lost 20 pounds each time. The first water fast was 11 days and the second one was 12 days and that was 0 calories for the entire time. I definitely needed to add some calories back in and build up my tolerance for food after those. It took me a while to get back to my normal weight (which is not much in the first place!) :-D Glad to have done it though. The water fasting was the best I have ever felt in my entire life. I hope to do at least 2 per year.
After you told me you did water fasts, I read about it. I was pretty much in shock with each site I opened. I had no idea such a thing existed. I can’t even imagine it. I never pass judgment though and if you say you felt the best you’ve ever felt in your entire life after it, then that’s awesome and good for you! :)
I would love to do one of these, but there’s no way I can afford even one day. Or a juicer. I’ve done a couple of days where I only “eat” one meal and my other is a smoothie, and that’s hard enough, but I’d love to try someday.
I recently gave up caffeine when I couldn’t afford my one diet coke a day habit, and it was miserable. I had a headache for almost a full week, and boy was I cranky.
I saw your comment on Sue’s blog and then saw this post. I actually received a 2-day cleanse by fed ex today. Your comments and observations throughout your 3-day are very helpful….I ordered it without a lot of thought other than knowing that I needed to push the re-set button….that’s the perfect way to describe it.
Sue…View from the Great Island Sue? Well that’s awesome if you saw a comment there. I don’t even remember writing anything to her over there. Shows you what a week I’ve had and that I get too many emails…haha! Well good luck on your cleanse! Wow..that’s so cool you just BAM ordered it and are diving in. Wonderful!
I need to find that reset button, too! I think I could possibly do a 3 day cleanse…3 week, NO, but 3 days sounds doable! Happy Easter!
You’re like me, we live in the kitchen, ALWAYS making something. Taking just a tiny break from that can be nice. But yeah 3 days, not 3 weeks!
Oh man, I could never do it. The worst thing ever was after a gum surgery and I could only have mushy foods. I wanted NOTHING more than to crunch and chew on something. And the foods I was eating were much thicker than juice! I can’t even imagine doing it for one day, let alone three!
I remember your surgery! Hopefully you’re good as new now :)
I’ve never done a cleanse but would love to hit the reset button, especially right now! I wish they weren’t so expensive and I’d do it!
You live in metro Chicago…you could probably buy 5 or 6 bottles of juice from a local store like WFs if you don’t have a juicer and put together your own cleanse, so to speak, even just for a day or two!
Oh I LOVE trying new juices!
I hope they contact me soon!
If you like them, then I will definitely like them.
Great writeup Averie!
Happy Easter to you!
Happy Easter to you, too!
I’m about to start blueprint cleanse for three days on Tuesday! I’m so reluctant to give everything up far in advance (mostly sugar and dairy…I don’t eat a ton of meat or drink any caffeine), but feel like it will make it easiest to do the cleanse. How far in advance did you really start to ease in? Think 1.5 days will be enough, if I cut out everything but veggies?? Thanks for sharing this! And PS love your blog and can’t wait for the new design (Lindsay mentioned it today)!!
For 3 days beforehand I was hardcore clean eating. Everything other than coffee was gone and wasnt hard and wasnt THAT much of a deviation of where I am for the 80% of my diet. I just kept things raw/vegan/GF, etc for 3 days in advance. Get off anything and everything you can now; asap. The cleaner you are, the better/easier it will be for you. Good luck and enjoy it! And thanks for finding me via Lindsay. She’s awesome :)
Glad to hear you made it through the cleanse! That cinnamon-vanilla one looks delicious! I’m going to start experimenting with cashew cream :)
It’s literally on par fatty-dense-rich wise with an old-fashioned milkshake. Soooo good! It’s basiclaly like drinking 16 oz of sweetened cashew cream. Cannot.go.wrong.
Good job sticking with it, Averie! These juices look so delicious, but I don’t think I could do it! I do appreciate you giving so much insight into juice cleansing though… something to consider. Thanks!
So proud of you, Averie, for getting thru your juice cleanse! I’ve never done juice like this, but I have done some other tough cleanses. Always feels refreshing…something we bakers should do from time to time. I’m an 80/20 girl, too. By the way…nominated you for the Saveur Best Food Blog Awards 2013 for Best Baking Blog!! This is what I said, “Averie is one of the wickedest bakers out there! Her blog is a feast for the eyes…treats of all kinds! Photography is pretty wicked, too.” LOL! Hope you’ve gotten other nods! Your blog is “the bombe”. ;) Have a great holiday weekend, girl! xo
Ohmygosh you are so sweet! I didn’t even know polling was open for that. Will be googling here in a minute to check but to my knowledge, no one else has mentioned anything to me and that you did that…so awesome. You rock!! And I hope you have a fabulous weekend! :)
Thanks for sharing your story of your juice cleanse. My goal this spring break is to complete 5-day one, great inspiration.
5 days – you go girl! I wish you the best!!!
I’m impressed and not at all surprised by your results. The thing that keeps me from doing a cleanse, even now that I have a juicer, is the money. All that produce is $$$$. And the cleanup.
But those three jflavors you mention sound delicious. I may have to try them out on my own. Someday.
I didn’t know Scott was doing it with you – that’s great!
My gosh, your photos make those juices look like…I don’t know, jelly beans, or gumdrops, or something else candy-like and delicious! The colors are just amazing…they really POP.
Overall, excellent and thorough review! Glad to hear you liked Urban Remedy as much as I did. I really think they’re one of the best…and I would know, haha!
Yes, you WOULD know, after what…15 cleanses that you’ve blogged about and way more than that off the blog. I bow down to thee :)
And yes, they did look like bottles of jelly beans or gummy bears or something…so vibrant and they just POPPED off the table with light bouncing and glowing everywhere and I’m glad I was able to show that in the photos!
I know this is all about the smoothie and cleansing, but must say, I also really love the packaging of these little bottles. just so adorable! also, good thoughts about fasting. I really believe that there is no best way to eat because evrybody’s body is different, and even for one person, his or her body will need different sorts of food at different times based on your stresses in life etc. I say, listen to your body ,and do what feels right and love your food x
I have a smoothie every morning and I sometimes wonder if I could do for all three meals, multiple days in a row. I was nice hearing your honest opinion. I am still fascinated by the whole juicing notion. I am sure I would be with you on the whole being cold experience.
It sounds so hard to me! More than anything, I would miss coffee. But I think you’re right about letting our bodies rest. We are one of the few cultures that don’t do regular fasts. I need to do something soon!
I was never interested in cleanses, but have fasted (for religious reasons) on and off during my adult life. Usually this means juice and herbal tea for about 24 hours (and on a few occasions, longer). Between pregnancies and nursing, I really haven’t done much for about 2.5 years along those lines. I’m not sure I ever thought of it as “resetting” – I found it was easier to focus on quiet/meditation during what would normally be mealtimes, plus the lack of food has an oddly focusing effect.
“plus the lack of food has an oddly focusing effect.” — I agree! In the past when I’ve fasted for yoga or other reasons for a day, give or take, yes you are so right about that.
Loved this post, Averie! I like to do a juice cleanse about once a quarter for the same reason that you mentioned: I really feel that it helps me to reset my body and even my palate, too! When you’re tasting stuff for a living, I personally derive alot of value from sort of starting from a clean slate every once in a while. That said, I’ve never heard of Urban Remedy so I’ll look into them when I’m ready for my next cleanse. Great post!
Had no idea you were into cleanses…another reason I think you rock! :)
Great review! Juice cleanses have always intrigued me! I have managed a 2 day green smoothie cleanse, but that was as far as I got ;) I was just diagnosed with a peanut/egg/soy sensitivity. I would love to know how you are able to enjoy these foods again after avoiding them for so long. 3 weeks in and I am dying for peanut butter!!!
I don’t know how or why but it just works for me :)
DId you say caffeine withdrawals? Um. Not sure I could do a juice cleanse ~ but you do make me very curious! Great review :)
The caff withdrawals and lack of coffee was the HARDEST part, Marla. I thought I’d be fine but it was way harder than anticipated!
I’ve done a few juice cleanses when I felt my sugar cravings getting out of control. They are never easy. I have the same Breville juicer you have, and I also find the cleanup to be tedious. I think I would juice more often if it weren’t for the cleaning!
I think I would juice more often if it weren’t for the cleaning!= that’s what I’ve always said!
I have no interest in doing a juice cleanse but my hat is off to you and Scott for pulling it off. When I’m feeling like I need a reset I try to eat green salads for lunch and dinner for a week.
I am impressed you and your hubs did this! We’ve talked about it but haven’t yet done it. We got a juicer for our wedding and have really enjoyed making juices with it, so we figured that was a good place to start… Maybe someday we’ll commit to doing a cleanse like you did!! Also, that vanilla and cinnamon cashew one sounds DELISH.
Oh wow, that’s cool you guys got a juicer. You could try a one day 24-hour juice fast and see how it goes for you two if you’re ever curious! Basically a totally risk-free little experiment!
I’m not a juice cleanse type, but when I scrolled down to see your tropical green smoothie, I changed my mind. That looks so amazingly good to me!
Ok that smoothie and green variations on it is something I drink (well the whole family drinks actually) many times per week as breakfast or a snack. But that’s totally different than juicing.
Smoothie = drink the whole plant, put everything in Vita/blender and blend and drink
Juicing = drink just the juice, put everything in juicer and juice it and pulp comes out and is strained off from juice and you need 10x more raw materials since there is so much pulp and unusable plant product
Just reiterating that for anyone reading the comments that my green smoothie I showed is NOT part of a juicing plan/cleanse. Totally separate thing!
I’ve never been able to make it through one day of a juice cleanse… By lunch I’m so hungry I always eat. So I end up using the juices as additional supplements to a very cleaned up vegan diet for a few days, which makes a lot more sense to me – if I want to move things out of my body, fiber will help! I did have success with an Ayurvedic kitchari cleanse … Five days, only kitchari and some fruit. That was an awesome fall/winter appropriate cleanse, I guess… I just like eating. Maybe the juice hunger is a mind over matter situation.
Ok, done rambling, now I want juice!!
It is mind over matter in large part and the hunger cravings they say are the most intense on the first two days, which I believe. That said, it’s not for everyone and I am with you…that I’d rather clean up and already quite clean diet and supplement with juices, etc as it makes sense!
Such an interesting post! I still don’t think I could?would do it. I am also surprised you didn’t lose weight. When I need to detox – which is pretty much bound to happen when you blog about dessert, just try to eat really clean for a few days and it works quite well. I
I try to do the same; just eat super clean for a few days but this was a bucket list item of sorts, too, that we had both wanted to try. Mathematically the weight thing as I outlined isn’t logical consequence. You think you would but you can’t trick physics and this is largely a scientific matter about input/output and deficit and how great or small the deficit is over time. Basically not significant enough deficit in just 3 days to truly lose any weight; for us as least. I always temper these things…this is what happened for us but everyone is unique :)
You are brave. I’m not sure if I could do just juice for three days….unless I had the flu. Ahaha!
I do a 21 day “cleanse” that comes down to no gluten, alcohol, sugar, caffeine, meat or dairy. It’s amazing, I have so much to eat but at the same time I feel completely trasformed after about 4 days. I sleep better, I have an obnoxious amount of energy, my mood is lifted, and after the 21 days is up I’m usually about eight pounds lighter (12 pounds being the most).
I can eat so many things, rice, indian, beans, corn tortillas, rice milk with gluten free cereal, fruit, veggies, etc. At the end of the 21 days my palette is completely reset, and that’s what I love the most about it. Things I taste are brighter and I want less of it, especially things with sugar and salt. I usually continue it for much longer after the 21 days automatically, but I add cheese, eggs, and coffee. The three things I cannot live without.
Do you think you all will do that 3 day cleanse regularly?
Thanks for all the information and well done you two!
no gluten, alcohol, sugar, caffeine, meat or dairy = that is impressive! The caffeine would and is the hardest part for me. Dairy, meat, gluten, alcohol are all very easy for me to not have and meat I haven’t had in 20+ years. Sugar is harder but do-able. Caffeine…so hard.
Do you think you all will do that 3 day cleanse regularly? = To some extent, yes. But it will be on our own since the $$ to do these services is a luxury we couldn’t afford on a regular basis. And maybe just doing a one-day juice fast or anything is better than nothing type of thing!
Briana, What is the name of that 21 day cleanse that you do? That sounds like something I could really pull off!
Thanks so much for all the feedback on your cleanse! I start mine on Tuesday! We’re also doing 3 day. One friend who works for a local juicing company told me that the 3 day cleanses always leave him feeling “hungover” so he does the 5 day ones always. Doesn’t sound like that was your experience though! I think for my first time, 3 day is definitely the way to go. I’ll let you know how it goes!! :)
I looked into this recently, but was disappointed to see that they’re not nut free… not to mention the imo heft price for a cleanse. I may consider it for the future though. Love the in depth review!
There’s only that one juice, #6, that includes nuts. And I’m sure that you could talk to them about a suitable replacement. I know other services who have nuts in their juices when I was doing my research on the various companies, that many said if you need a nut-free juice, we can work with you. Also, as you move up into the deeper levels of cleanses (we were doing the signature/intro level, but there are two more harder core/advanced levels – I don’t believe from memory they use nuts. It’s all on their website).
I have done a “juice day” with my own concoctions a couple of times, but never longer than that. I think I would much rather go with a pre-made program if I were going to do a few days. The convenience of grabbing a bottle, no mess, and not having to do all the research and prep would be nice (and probably less stressful)! A cleanse is supposed to be a positive, healthful thing…so I could justify the cost with the mindset that I would be treating myself to some high quality products for a few days. Besides, the Urban Remedy juices look so good! Glad it went well for you (and Scott) and that you liked the products. Oh..the coffee thing..yikes..3 days?!?..ouch!
“so I could justify the cost with the mindset that I would be treating myself to some high quality products for a few days.” — and that is the best way to look at it. It’s like getting a massage or acupuncture or anything else that’s not truly a life’s necessity but does have so much benefit; that it’s an investment in your health and wellness, on many different levels.
And the coffee/caffeine situation, yes, ouch!
I did a three day (homemade) juice fast about 6 months ago. I like to cleanse every so often for a healthy ‘reset’ and to get cravings back in check but that was my first go at an all juice fast. It was a little brutal – I think I ended up having light raw salads for lunch a couple days because I missed the “chew factor” also. I definitely felt light and energized by the third day, but also ready for a ‘real’ meal. :)
The Urban Remedy juices look so colorful and yummy! Thanks for the review!
I think it’s awesome you did your own homemade juice fast. I felt too under-researched to pull that off but now that I’ve done this one, and with more reading and investigation and research, I could probably do a decent job of putting something together. Do you have a juicer you love-love-love?
No, I wish! I borrowed one from a friend – I believe it was a Jack LaLanne power juicer? I hope to invest in one some day. :)
Thanks for LMK!
Juice cleanse sounds very interesting. I am not sure how I could go through a day without a coffee… but surly it’s possible. I think I could use cleanse like this as well. Thank you for this informative post.
It was highly difficult for me to go without coffee!