5 day Juice Cleanse with Soulmatefood
I'm a curious sort of person- by that I mean inquisitive not weird, although that's probably true as well- when I hear a lot of hype and buzz around something I'm always keen to find out more. Like Crossfit for example- I'd read so much about it, some good, some bad and wanted to give it a try to make up my own mind. Generally this applies to most things, within reason, I like to read/research a subject, and then experience it for myself, be that skydiving, smoothies or yoga.
Hang-gliding in New Zealand |
I've heard a lot about Juice Cleanses over the years, and had mostly dismissed them as an expensive celebrity fad. But juices and smoothies had started to play more of a role in my everyday diet, and after reading Lucy on The Lookouts blog posts about her experience with Crude Juice recently, I became more intrigued. Lauren from Powered by PB also has some great posts on exercising whilst on a juice feast if you're interested too.
The idea of a juice cleanse is a nutritional reset- loading your body with fresh wholesome juices, packed full of fruit and vegetables, high in antioxidants and health boosting vitamins to kickstart your metabolism.
For me it's also about regaining some control on my eating habits. I'm hoping that after the cleanse I will continue being more conscious of what I'm eating to maintain that healthy feeling. Things have spiralled a little since my personal life fell apart nearly 8months ago- I don't talk about these things much on my blog, but suffice to say the situation is still "it's complicated", which definitely hasn't helped with feelings of insecurity and confusion. I've turned to emotional eating to a certain extent, allowing myself a lot more treats and snacks than I did before, "because I deserve it", "because I should be being nice to myself after everything that's happened", and "what does it matter if I eat a few extra biscuits anyway - it won't change anything". I feel it's time to stop wallowing and start feeling awesome and happy about myself again, and this is just a little "fresh start"...
So... to get back to the juices!
Not sure if this is still valid, but it's worth a try if you're considering a juice cleanse. |
I opted to go with the Soulmatefood Perfect Cleanse, if I'm honest, totally because of the offer that they had! Juice feasts are expensive, and this offer meant I paid ยฃ80 for a 5 day cleanse (ยฃ5 delivery), instead of ยฃ250! Here's a quick summary of what the cleanse offers:
The Soulmatefood Perfect Cleanse, the worldโs first hypostatic cleanse has intense alkalising and anti-oxidising properties, giving your skin a healthy glow and your body packed full of vitamins. Our nutritionist has given us some great, insightful facts for each of our 6 steps!
No. 1 Carrot, Apple & Ginger
- 24% Vitamin B6 โ essential for healthy red blood cell production
- Great source of beta-carotene, essential for healthy skin and immune function
No 2. Cucumber, Kale, Broccoli, Celery, Lime, Lemon, Apple/Pear, Spinach and Avocado
- High in folate โ essential for cell division and new cell production
- 59% of the RDA in Vitamin C
No. 3 Lemon, Cinnamon, Chilli and Ginger
- Chillies are a great source of antioxidants
- Ginger also has antibacterial properties which can aid immunity
No 4. Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Beetroot, lemon, Red Currant, Kiwi and Orange
- 68% RDA Manganese
- Full of powerful antioxidants known as anthrocyanins
No 5. Cucumber, Kale, Broccoli, Celery, Lime, Lemon, Pear, Spinach and Mint
- High in potassium โ an essential electrolyte that helps regulate cell fluid and blood pressure
- 50% of the RDA in Vitamin C
No 6. Soothing night time detox tea
- help aid digestion
- relaxing, soothing and comforting
PERFECT CLEANSE INSTRUCTIONS
DO refrigerate the juices immediately.
DO sip the five parts of your cleanse in order throughout the day alongside 5 glasses of water.
DO exercise lightly whilst on the cleanse.
DON'T drink coffee or alcohol whilst on the cleanse.
Enjoy your juices every two and a half hours and make sure you shake them well!
Problems with my delivery yesterday meant a poor start to my juice feast- they didn't arrive within their supposed time slot- and because I had to go to work, were then dumped outside the door to the Sales Office of my block of flats (when we have a concierge who takes parcels)! Fortunately the lovely sales people in the office kept the box for me, and it was well insulated with ice packs inside so my juices survived. I also didn't recieve the Night Time Detox Tea along with my juices, or any kind of paperwork such as a "welcome pack" or guidance on what to do. I found the above information on the Soulmatefood website, but so far I'm not that impressed. I'm still waiting for a callback from Soulmatefood as well, to explain what happened with their courier...
I also have a plentiful supply of Teapigs, peppermint tea and my Clipper Sleep Easy tea (love this!) to get me through the days as well.
Good luck Beki! That's annoying about the shaky start but glad you are well stocked up with teas ๐ I'm still feeling great after my cleanse - I went away on the weekend & definitely indulged & err, 're-toxed' with delicious food (& booze!) but the great thing was that I do feel as I've reset as when I got back I went back to eating healthily (whereas previously I would have just continued on my tangent of junk food!).
A small note though I'm obviously only a newbie to can't really advise/comment - I looked at the Soulmatefood perfect cleanse & the calorie intake is rather low for my liking (less than a third of what I was intaking on my cleanse) so be gentle with your body and see how it goes? If the juices aren't sustaining you then making nut milk may be an option (I had a nut milk everyday with mine) - as always, pop me an e-mail or text if you need any help, but I wish you the best of luck and that it goes well ๐ xx PS sorry to hear things are still confusing - let's have another yoga comfort date soon!
Thanks for the comment Lucy! I'm glad you're still feeling great ๐
I did notice that the volume of juices on the Soulmatefood cleanse was a lot lower than yours- each bottle is only 250ml compared to 500ml, so am going to see how it goes. Nut milk sounds like a nice addition! Do you think just drinking a glass of coconut/almond milk would be ok? Any recipes please let me know! ๐
And we definitely need to have another yoga date soon ๐ xx
You've got your head on straight so go on how you feel - I know that personally I don't think I could cope with such a low calorie content but each person is different - yes, could drink a glass of coconut/almond milk - mine was blended with a few dates to sweeten & chia for added protein so something to consider. I prefer making my nut milk with a blender so that it keeps the fibre - I use Laura's recipe here (which is in fact inspired by a Crude Juice recipe!):
http://wholeheartedlyhealthy.com/2014/06/something-weekend-home-made-nut-milk.html
If you do end up feeling not good (& not just from the 'cleanse') I would consider adding in some raw veggies or nuts to keep you going.
I look forward to hearing how you get along ๐ x
Good luck. That does not sound like a good start to it, with the courier. Pretty poor when you consider how pricey these things are. I've done a few in the past and juiced everything myself, although cleaning the juicer several times a day is a nightmare ha! It also means I can control what goes in them, so particularly when I was exercising a lot, I added loads of avocado and banana to the juices to make them more calorie dense. Like Lucy said they look a little light on the calorie side, so see how you go, but I would consider adding a homemade juice/smoothie with some denser ingredients if you need to.
Thanks for the tips Lauren- I added a banana to one of the juices yesterday to bulk it out a bit, and had some Miso soup in the evening because I was craving something savoury!
I think making the juices yourself is a better option, but the washing up and preparation must require a lot more willpower- I suppose the delivery service is the lazy way to do it!