So I’m going to be upfront an honest with you right now – I hate
celery. I have hated it since the
beginning of time, even having the uncanny ability of being able to detect
celery salt in recipes (thanks for passing along this trait to me
Gramps!). So why did I decide to do a
juice cleanse where ½ of the juices contain copious amounts of celery? 1) Because I know celery is good for me and
wanted to experience the cleanse in all it’s glory 2) Because I honestly didn’t
realize just how much celery I would be consuming until after I agreed to
review this cleanse. Do I still hate
celery after completing this cleanse?
You bet I do. Now, onto the
review:
I’m
the type of person that really likes new beginnings. New Year’s day is the ultimate new beginning, being the day that most people
start eating healthier (myself included) and break old habits. I have been wanting to eating healthier for awhile now, and I knew that if I didn’t start before the holidays, I would overindulge,
knowing I was about to start a healthier eating regime as soon as the holidays
were over. For me this cleanse is the
start of a new, healthier chapter. When Suja offered to send me an entire 3 day
supply of their juices, I knew this would be just the kick start I needed.
So what did I think of the
flavours?
Glow – This one tasted A LOT like celery. I was hoping the fruit juices would mask the
taste, but all I could taste was my vegetable nemesis. I didn't mind it so much on the second day (it's a nice light, refreshing juice) but on day 1 it was a bit of a shock to my usually celery free taste buds.
Fuel – This one was absolutely delicious.
I really looked forward to this juice on the second and third day! I stopped by my office for a bit and one of my co-worker’s tried a taste - she thought it was delicious as well. It was by far my favourite of the veggie
juices, and I would definitely buy this one again.
Purify – This juice was definitely the earthiest
tasting of them all. Having only recently discovered that I don't actually hate beets as much as I though I did, I wasn't sure how I would feel about this juice. I didn't mind it though, and I even found myself craving it after I finished the cleanse. This is also the drink that you get to have around lunchtime, and since it kind of reminded me of soup (borscht), it almost felt like I was having a real meal.
Fuji – I was really looking forward to this one because I love fuji apples. Once again though, the 6 stalks of celery in it completely took over my tastebuds. I let a friend of mine try all of the juices and she said that this one was her favourite. If you don't hate all things celery like I do, then you will probably think that this one is delightful.
Green Supreme – I was incredibly relived to see that this green
drink didn’t in fact have any celery in it (whew!). It reminded me of the
wheatgrass shots I get at Boosterjuice (I don't really like the taste of them, but I
know they are good for me so I power through).
I love kale when it’s steamed, or made into a chip (although in all
fairness pretty much anything tastes great when it's made into a chip), but I'm not a huge fan of it in smoothies or juices. This drink did make me feel really great though, so I would probably drink it just for the health benefits alone.
Vanilla Cloud – This one was a pure cloud of deliciousness at the end of
each night. It’s extremely dessert like,
and I love how thick the coconut made it. The second I opened it I got a huge blast of cinnamon and nutmeg goodness. It also contains areola cherry and camu camu putting it entirely in a league of it's own. I would seriously drink this one every single day.
A few people expressed concern that I wasn't eating anything for the duration of this cleanse, and they were worried I wouldn't be getting enough nutrients. On the contrary, I consumed more fruit and veggies each day than you could possibly imagine! Here’s all the fruit and veggies an entire days worth of juices contained:
9 apples, 14 stalks of celery, 3/4 of a cucumber, 2 handfuls spinach, 3 collard greens, 3 bunches kale, 3 lemons, 16 carrots, an orange, 1/2 pineapple, 1/2 beet, 1/2 coconut, 12 almonds, 1 tsp areola cherry, 1 tsp honey, a spring of mint, a pinch each of cinnamon, vanilla,
nutmeg, camu camu, and turmeric.
As you can see, I still consumed a ton of goodness totalling just under 1,200 calories.
The pureness of the ingredients in the juice were also really great - nothing but pure fruit, vegetable goodness.
Now, onto the cleanse itself!
Day 1
Cravings: Coffee, carbs, something warm… chewing in
general
Cheats: a handful of almonds (around dinnertime I started feeling sick and headachy - I had to teach a 2 hour class this evening so I had about 12 almonds or so just to be safe).
Water: 6 - 8 oz servings
Comments: I felt pretty hungry around mid afternoon - I think better preparation for the cleanse would have made the transition much easier - next time I will be preparing 2-3 days in advance (which Suja recommends) rather than having pizza for supper the night before starting a juice cleanse (ya, I did that).
Day 2
Down 1.3 lbs
Cravings: peanut butter,
protein
Cheats: a tbsp of peanut butter around 11:30pm. I couldn't sleep and felt like I really needed protein.
Water: 6 - 8 oz servings
Comments: I felt incredibly energized and
not all too hungry. I missed eating
though. The juices were a bit harder to swallow and a few of them even made me gag (I'm looking at you Glow and Fuji). I was behind a juice pretty much all day (had my breakfast juice at around 10:00 am instead of first thing in the morning. I ended up drinking Fuji and Green Supreme pretty close together just so I would fit all the juices in. It was cold and snowy out and I was craving something warm so I drank hot water all day instead of coffee - I think this really helped with the hunger. This wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and after awhile I didn't even miss coffee.
Day 3
Down 4.7 lbs
Cravings: Cauliflower, quinoa
Cheats: N/A
Water: 4 - 8 oz servings
Comments: I had a good amount of energy and was incredibly productive this day. I ended up finishing a bunch of projects I had been putting off - my mind felt clearer. Even though I watched Marc eat all day since it was Saturday and we were both home, I didn't feel hungry until dinnertime. After savouring my last Vanilla Cloud, I felt satisfied.
On day 3 I had the brilliant idea of combining my two favourite juices (Vanilla Cloud and Fuel) I was going for a "creamsicle" kind of flavour, but what it ended up tasting like was pure deliciousness - it was like carrot cake in a glass! I wish I would have thought of this on Day 1 but better late than never, right?
A few observations along the way...
It was nice not having to make
breakfast or worrying about packing a lunch.
I had a lot of energy, especially on the 2nd and 3rd
days. I felt healthy. I had that “clean” full feeling like when you
eat sushi for dinner instead of pizza.
I’ve always struggled with acne,
even in my twenties. This cleanse made
my skin look a lot better – and it gave my normally pigment challenged face a
nice healthy glow.
I lost 5 pounds in 3 days. Great
motivation to continue eating healthy after the cleanse.
Overall conclusion
Would I do the cleanse again? Absolutely. I would try and be better prepared for it first though, and I would definitely try swapping out the celery juice next time (watermelon strawberry looks delightful!). I think I’ll try doing another cleanse after
the holidays – it will also be great for summertime when all I’m craving are cool
drinks! I would absolutely recommend this cleanse to
my friends, the health benefits alone made it worth it!
Disclaimer: Suja sent me this cleanse to try, though all opinions are completely my own.
Giveaway
Suja Juice has graciously offered to send one lucky reader an entire 3 day cleanse ($162 value!) shipped straight to their door! Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.
Find out more info about Suja Juice
here.
Follow Suja Juice on Facebook
here.
