New Year, New Cleanse

Who can wait 'til spring to clean out your internal system? This year with all the amazing desserts and butter-flavored food I indulged in between Thanksgiving and New Year, my body was screaming to get back on track. So, I figured, why not try a new cleanse to kick off 2012. While there are a plethora of options out there these days, I opted for Joulebody, an NYC upstart that now delivers nationwide. Choosing the Active 3-day option, I knew I was going to get a sampling of meals and juices, which would leave me energized and able to work out.

 

Day 1 -

• 9 am - Joule Raw
• 12 pm - Edamame Hummus
• 3 pm - Joule Green
• 5 pm - Joule Citrus
• 7 pm - Spaghetti Squash
• 8 pm - Detox Brownie

While the late delivery and less then stellar customer service had me wondering about the company, once the goods were stocked in my fridge I was looking forward to my morning start. After an early round of BariMACRO, I popped the top on my first 18oz raw juice of the day. While I have no idea what was in the yellow tinged drink, I detected a bit of anise and turmeric, both of which are great for digestion. At noon, not exactly hungry, but sticking to the planned schedule, I broke open the Edamame hummus. Delicious! This is a great twist on a staple in my house. I can't wait to make it for my next dinner party. The green juice of the day was mild compared to others I've tried, but was heavily spiced with fennel among other things. The 5pm citrus juice had me flashing back to my horrific master cleanse experience due the cayenne/lemon combo, but since it was only one juice a day, I didn't mind it. My dinner for the evening was pesto spaghetti squash. Again, another common dish is my house, but the pesto gave it nice flavoring. At this point there was no need for me to try the detox brownie, but being an admitted chocoholic, I couldn't leave it behind. While the bar contained cacao, buckwheat flour and maple syrup it didn't taste like chocolate or a brownie. My normal diet does not contain caffeine and I had about 2 weeks to cut out the sugar that had been shocking my system, so there were no negative side affects from my first day of cleansing. We'll see what day two brings.        

Day's winner: Edamame Hummus    Weight Loss: 0.7lbs

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Day 2 - Hummm.. I seem to have woken up with a winter cold! It seems to be going around right now so we'll see how my cleanse can figure in and hopefully kick it quick!

• 9 am - Joule Raw
• 12 pm - No Nightshade Curry Stew
• 3 pm - Joule Green
• 5 pm - Joule Citrus
• 7 pm - Beet & Brown Rice Salad
• 8 pm - Detox Brownie

I slept in a bit this morning and woke up with a very dry throat. I'm not sure if this is due to my cold or the fact that I have yet to set up my humidifier. Either way, I was only able to drink 3/4 of my morning Raw juice and chose to hydrate with about 20oz of water to complete breakfast. I don't feel much like exercising today, so I'm going to take it easy, rest and conserve my energy. My noon lunch was eaten about 1:30pm due to my late start, but I was thankful that the yam & carrot dish could be heated up. It's important in the wintertime and when battling a cold to help your body in it's healing process by eating warm food (warm in temperature and spice). I was only interested in about 1/2 of the afternoon's green juice and settled under a blanket on the couch with a huge mug of hot herbal tea, which is a pre approved add-in item. I will have to save my 5pm Citrus for another day as adding any more water to my system would cause me to float away! The beet salad was like nothing I've tasted before. It wasn't as 'beety' as you would assume and the consistency can be best compared to the wasabi you get with your sushi. While I probably wouldn't try and make this for myself, it wasn't bad at all. I have been peeing red for the last day though.          

Day's winner: No Nightshade Curry Stew     Weight Loss: 0.8lbs

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Day 3 -

• 9 am - Joule Raw
• 12 pm - Root Ginger Soup
• 3 pm - Joule Green
• 5 pm - Joule Citrus
• 7 pm - North African Kale Soup
• 8 pm - Detox Brownie

I awoke feeling much better this morning. I don't know if it was the cleanse, rest, herbal tea of cloves of garlic I swallowed mid-day, but it seems to be working! So, I decided to start strong and head to my favorite rebounding class, BariBOUNCE, to see if I could sweat the rest of the illness out. Hydrating with the raw juice afterwards was great, even though I'm partial to a green juice in the morning. Looking forward to my afternoon of hot soup, I was sad to see the last of the root ginger go. It had the thickness of a butternut squash soup, but the ginger was an amazing fresh touch. Again my 3pm juice turned into hot herbal tea and the cayenne in the 5pm citrus had me smelling again! While the broth in my evening's North African Kale Soup was a bit thin, the pieces of kale, carrot, onion, and chickpeas did make for a tasty alternative to the typical vegetarian bean soup I usually eat. Overall I'm very fond of the food that Joulebody has provided and do not feel hungry in the least. Unfortunately due to my cold I have 2 'left over' juices. But that's fine; I'll happily drink them tomorrow as I start to introduce other foods back into my system.     

Day's winner: Root Ginger Soup   Weight Loss: 1.2lbs

L.O.V.E it yearly

My 5 day vegan cleanse from Organic Avenue has come to an end (read my daily recap below) and I feel great. Not once during the cleanse was I hungry, although I did dream about food, I was not prone to mood swings, I lost weight and I succeed in purging toxins from my body. Most importantly, this break from grocery shopping and eating out has given me the opportunity to think about what I put into my body everyday and how I want to change that going forward.

While I have spoken about clean eating before, this cleanse has made me realize how much of a difference unprocessed food can have on your body. It has also made me excited to learn to cook this way. The first day off the cleanse I did not go wild and I was able to stay satisfied and interested in my food. Here was the menu:

Breakfast: 0% Fage Greek yogurt with agave and granola and a cup of coffee with soymilk

Lunch:  Organic Avenue's Portobello wrap Snack: a mandarin orange

Dinner: a treat at my favorite sushi restaurant consisting of: unsweetened green tea, grilled eggplant with miso sauce and 2 sushi rolls (toro and oyster) with brown rice.

Overall, if I can carry on with the routine of eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a-day, exercising, drinking lots of water and commit to cooking at least 2 vegetarian meals a week then this cleanse will be a continued success. Luckily I have a husband who is willing to alter his meal plan as he sees the value in changing our diet. This support will make sticking to the plan all that much easier. I enjoyed the experience of this spring-cleaning so much that I am going to commit to doing it yearly. Next year, whether I do the next step cleanse from OA or opt for a more economical route,  I hope to continue my food and health education and find new and interesting ways to take care of my body.

photo courtesy of Simon Howden