L.O.V.E. it or leave it?

This year for my spring cleaning, I've decided to clean my body, in addition to my apartment. I was turned onto Organic Avenue by some friends who routinely use their products.  The purpose of a cleanse is to rid one's body of toxins, clear out your digestive system and feel more energetic. The Live Organic Vegan Experience, or L.O.V.E., cleanse that I decided to try is called LOVEeasy, This is the basic cleanse meant for someone who is not currently a vegetarian and ease the body into digesting nutrient dense foods.

Day 1 - I picked up my cleansing case at the beautiful new store on the L.E.S. and this is my menu for the day:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Pear Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Burrito Crudo
• Edamame Salad
• Vanilla Chia
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

Drinking liquid of any kind has never been my strong suit. It fills me up quickly and I always have to pee, so I knew drinking all these juices as well as the recommended daily amount of water was going to be my biggest challenge. Luckily, an email I received the night before I was to start simply stated: You do not have to finish every item. The above items were to be consumed in order about ever 2 hours. Immediately I decided that waking up to a shot of Chlorophyll is not the way I want to start my day, but hey, it's only for 5 days. There is light at the end of that tunnel. Throughout the day I ate or drank on schedule and by 7pm the thought anything crossing my lips turned my stomach. I decided to power through and even if I didn't finish the Vanilla Chia or Green Mylk if I could consume 1/2 of the servings, I would hopefully benefit from the nutrients offered. The one things that did surprise me about today: no caffeine headache. I cut down on coffee to 1/2 a cup a day in the week leading up to the cleanse, maybe that was the trick.

Day's winner: Burrito Crudo    Day's looser: Chlorophyll Elixir

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Day 2 - I woke up feeling great. I had a wonderful night sleep and the sun was shining into my bedroom. I checked my email and found today's menu:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh pressed Grapefruit Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Sunflower Falafel
• Sunflower Sprout Salad
• Chocolate Mousse (really? YAY!)
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

I decided to alter my plan of attack and took the shot of Chlorophyll on the bus on my way home from picking up my daily cleanse. Being surrounded by people, I figured this would ensure that I wouldn't throw up. What do you know, the shot wasn't too painful this time around. Next to down: the Grapefruit juice, not a fruit I'd choose to eat, was actually pleasant. The tangy sourness didn't bother me as expected it would. I was looking forward to my lunch of sunflower falafel and it did not disappoint. Honestly, it tasted just like regular falafel, but healthier because there wasn't oil dripping from it. Sprout Salad lacked total taste and the thing I was looking forward to most: the chocolate mousse tasted more like coconut with a hint of chocolate, but was delicious non the less. Again it was too much food for me to consume in total and I only drank 1/2 the green mylk. Best of all, my husband thanked me today for not being cranky. Haha, it seems if you set your expectations low, everyone's a winner in the end.

Day's winner: Sunflower Falafel  Day's looser: Sunflower Sprout Salad  

Weight Loss: 1.8lbs

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Day 3 - Today I woke up with thoughts of food. I didn't feel hungry and I wasn't thinking about any specific food, but the idea of food was lingering. I drank a glass of water and set off to pick up my menu.

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Apple Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Portobello Wrap
• Sesame Seaweed Salad
• Key Lime Pie
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

Everyday I mind the Chlorophyll less and less. I'm not saying I'm going to continue this every day, but it's over in 2 seconds and I move on. The fresh apple juice was a pleasant surprise today as the package told me it was going to be grapefruit. Taking a break mid-day to attend my favorite yoga class at Sankalpah, forced me to wait a bit for my favorite meal of the day: lunch. The Portobello sandwich was wrapped in something, but I can't figure out what (see photo). Inside the juicy Portobello was wrapped in spinach leaves with parsley and the other ingredients including: carrots, cucumber, beets, ginger and nuts were pureed and used as a spread. AMAZING! Unfortunately the most disgusting thing followed this experience. I don't mind seaweed when it's wrapped around raw fish. While there was no fish in this salad, it still reeked as it had just been pulled from the ocean. I forced myself to eat a few bite and then gave up and ate out the peppers, shallots and sesame seeds. And then I cheated. I couldn't help it, my will power gave in and I ate a piece of gum to banish the awful seaweed taste. While it wasn't a big misstep, I suppose I could have brushed my teeth instead. Well, tomorrow is another day!

Day's winner: Portobello Wrap  Day's looser: Sesame Seaweed Salad 

Total Weight Loss: 4 lbs

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Day 4 - I was very excited when I picked up my daily servings today as the menu included a Wheatgrass shot instead of the Chlorophyll. Yes!! Today's feast:

• Wheatgrass Shot
• Fresh Orange Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Raw Lasagna
• Fennel Orange Salad
• Apple Nectarine Crisp
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

Today was the hardest day of the cleanse for me so far. I wasn't temped to cheat, but I felt a bit tired and kept thinking about food. Part of the instructions for this cleanse say to let your body do it's housekeeping. I took that to heart and after my early afternoon cucumber juice took a nap. Though I was tired, I had trouble falling asleep. I started in on my relaxation exercises which must have worked because the next thing I knew I was being awakened by dreams of Greek yogurt with granola. I'm actually surprised the dream wasn't about chocolate and, if you knew me, you'd be surprised too. I think I'll rack that up to progress! Once again lunch didn't disappoint. Slivers of zucchini separated the mixture of spinach, nuts, pureed peppers and sun dried tomatoes makes for great raw lasagna. Yummy! The fennel salad gave me hart burn temporarily and the apple nectarine crisp with slices of fresh apple and applesauce wasn't too bad. Maybe it was the nutmeg :) Well, tomorrow is the last day and I'm proud I made it this far.

Day's winner: Raw Lasagna  Day's looser: Fennel Orange Salad 

Total Weight Loss: 4.6 lbs

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Day 5 - My final day. I couldn't wait to begin because everything I drank or ate was going to be the last.

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Lemonade
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Pesto Zucchini Noodles
• Kale Dulse (salad)
• Lemon Cheesecake
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

I went to pick up my final day's food in the crummy weather and decided it was the perfect excuse to finish my cleanse by relaxing on the couch. Yay, last chlorophyll shot! The lemonade was delicious, but alas I did not finish it. Too tart to drink the entire 16 ounces. The cucumber/spinach juice did it's job of cleaning me out all week and today was no exception. Since I was staying house bound I got my butt on the elliptical and decided to rock my way through a few hundred calories with the help of some Young Folks. I had to dig deep to make it through the workout, but I suppose that's to be expected as for the previous 16 hours I had consumed nothing but liquid. Next up, my favorite meal. Thumbs down the zucchini noodles! I make spaghetti squash all the time it's amazing. These zucchini noodles lacked flavor and the pesto sauce was a runny mess. The kale salad did nothing to brighten my food mood; zombie-like I chewed my way through it because I had to. I almost forgot to eat my cheesecake as by 6pm I wasn't the least bit hungry. But, as I'm supposed to be savoring these dishes I decided to press on. What a wonderful surprise! The irish moss, vanilla, lemon juice, lecithin and agave were whipped together and put over ground almonds and cashews. Who said vegan desserts are bad? I thoroughly enjoyed all the ones that my plan had to offer this week. I am looking forward to working my way back to real food this weekend. I'll post a recap on Monday so check back.

Day's winner: Lemon Cheesecake  Day's looser: Pesto Zucchini Noodles

Total Weight Loss: 5.2 lbs