The Juice Cleanse: 3 Day Cleanse

A few weeks ago, M and I tried doing The Juice Cleanse. This came about because of a bet since neither of us have willpower against eating food. We placed our order online on their website and within the next day (I live in Burnaby), it was delivered to our house. We went with the 3 day cleanse for $195.

For beginners, the stressed-out or those who suffer from chronic inflammation or digestive upset. The Three-Day Cleanse is a gentle flush of your system. It normalizes digestion and helps regulate hormones, remove impurities from your colon and supports your liver. You will feel refreshed and revitalized.

The Juice Cleanse is  created by the guys behind The Juice Truck in Vancouver. The 3 day cleanse comes with 7 beverages a day, which totals to 21 bottles. It comes to a little under $9.29 a bottle. It seems expensive, but it’s about the same price you would pay for cold pressed juice in Vancouver for something similar. I would normally never pay this much for a short-term diet, but I wanted to try it.

M and I have never tried a cleanse before, but we do drink a lot of Jugo Juice. We didn’t really prep before we started the juice cleanse, which was a bad idea. We ate a lot of BBQ and drank a lot the night before.  On their website, it even had a guide on how to prep for the cleanse. You spend 2 days prior to the cleanse by eliminating certain foods from your diet like candy, greasy foods, meat, etc.

I didn’t really have a goal to lose weight, but I felt like I needed to clean up my system because I eat an obscenely gross amount of food outside rather than eating cleanly at home. What can I say, I really love food in Vancouver.

The first day was definitely tough. I was very low on energy, had a headache and spent most of the time laying on a couch flipping through Netflix.

• The Digestive: Cucumber, apple, spinach, celery, parsley and lemon. It tasted alright, not bad as a first drink. The cucumber is definitely the dominant flavour, but the apple and lemon help balance out the flavours.
• The Base: Kale, cucumber, celery, pear, lemon and ginger. Wow, did I hate this drink. The cucumber is very strong and the ginger is prominent in the aftertaste.
• The Energizer:  E3Live, coconut water, pineapple, mint, and ginger. You also add in a pouch of chia seeds to the drink. This was always my “treat” because it would be somewhat sweet from the pineapple. It still isn’t very sweet, but it will do.
• Refresh Tonic: Fennel, cabbage, cucumber, pear, aloe vera, and ginger. This was much better than The Base, but it still had the spicy ginger aftertaste.
• The Base: ICK! You have to have it twice a day, but you just need to chug it down.
• Protein Milk: Hemp seed, walnut, date, cinnamon, vanilla, and filtered water. This drink is thick and creamy. Definitely very filling. Every time I had this drink, I would feel very queasy afterwards. I’m not sure why, but I really wanted to throw up.
• Sleep Tonic: Pear, romaine, and mint. Tasted like liquified toothpaste. Clearly the mint is potent in this one.

By the night-time, I was developing a slight fever and was lethargic. Apparently it’s a normal symptom and its due to the toxins being released from the body.

The second day followed the same series of drinks, but you can feel the effects of the cleanse. I peed a lot! If you also would like to be grossed out, instead of pooping, I peed everything out like diarrhea.

The day was much better, but it was still a challenge. I had to avoid going out with friend and had no social life or else I would be lugging the juice bottles around.

Some people say they gain a lot of energy from the cleanse, but I just didn’t have any. It was probably due to the fact, I’m not a regular healthy eater nor do I go to the gym on a regular basis.

The third and last day arrived and they introduced one new drink to the mix. The days schedule was:

• The Digestive
• Skin Deep: Strawberry, kiwi, apple, and lemon. It is by far the best one, but very sour. It’s very sweet too.
• The Energizer
• Refresh Tonic
• The Base
• Protein Milk
• Sleep Tonic

By the end of the day, I was so happy that it was over.

There are definitely many different kinda of juices and cleanses on the market, but it does have a hefty price tag. What I liked about the cleanse is that all the drinks are prepared and you have a schedule to follow… too bad they weren’t very easy to drink. The only extra things that I snuck into the cleanse was a few fruits and veggies.

If your sole intention is to lose weight, you will definitely lose weight, but you’ll probably gain it all back if you keep on eating what you ate before the cleanse. The 3 day juice cleanse was a nice reset and I was down 6 pounds, but I soon found that I started gaining it all back. I blame it from all the sweets treats from the holidays and my inability to go the gym because it’s too cold outside. There’s no one to blame but myself.

Website: http://www.thejuicecleanse.ca/