Hopping on the Bandwagon: DIY Blue Print Cleanse

I’ve always been the first to oppose cleanses and fasts.   I’m generally critical of any dietary trend that isn’t maintainable long-term, and frankly I’ve always had concerns about the impact an extremely low calorie cleanse has on your metabolism.  Because guess what: you’re going to have to go back to eating at some point, and when you do, do you want your body in starvation mode?   In the past, I’ve also often questioned the appeal of juicing: unless it’s booze, I generally prefer to eat my calories.

So why did I go online last week and buy a juicer?   And why am I kicking off on a 3-day juice cleanse?  I would say it’s two parts curiosity and one part desire to push the ‘reset’ button on the decisions I’ve been making about what to put in my body.  I’ve read a lot about juice cleanses in my recent perusing of the Blogosphere, and let’s be honest: I’m damn curious!  Will I love it?  Will I hate it?  Will it make me energetic?  Lethargic?  Just plan hungry?  Only one way to find out.  And if the serious foodies over at Serious Eats can do it, so can I!

Plus, I need to reset the way I think about food.  To learn to recognize hunger, and remind myself that hunger is a cue to eat and that boredom, ‘because it’s there’, ‘because it’s free’ and ‘because I’ll start eating healthy tomorrow!’ are not.  I want to learn how my body feels with less gluten, meat, dairy, processed sugar, fake sugar and booze, and to start from scratch creating new healthy habits that are good for my body and well being.

So I had my motivations, next I had to pick my cleanse.  I decided to go with the BluePrintCleanse (BPC), which seems to be the leading juice cleanse on the market these days.  I like the variety of juices and the fact that it contains a reasonable number of calories, including a cashew juice as a source of fat and protein – it’s not a fast or a starvation cleanse, and that appealed to me.   What didn’t appeal to me?  The price.  BPC runs at about $75 per day, not including delivery.   That means I would have to hand over about $250 for a 3-day cleanse.   Yeah, no thank you.   Instead, I did a little research and decided I would invest in a juicer and do a much cheaper DIY version of BPC.

Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain: $100

Way more than three days of supplies from Costco: $70

Here are the basics:  It’s three days long.  During those three days, you drink six juices a day in the following order:  Green Juice, P.A.M. (Pineapple, Apple, Mint), Green Juice, Spicy Lemonade, C.A.B. (Carrot, Apple, Beet) and Cashew Juice.   There are a couple of things you may drink to supplement your juices: green tea and filtered water.  There are many things you cannot drink to supplement your juices: coffee, wine, gravy, dark chocolate syrup… the list goes on.  And on and on.

They also recommend that you do three days of preparation pre-cleanse, phasing out meat and grains and take five days to phase food back into your normal diet: first fruit, then veggies, then legumes, and finally meat and dairy.  But let’s be honest: who with taste buds and a social life can dedicate eleven days to a cleanse?!  Not this girl.  So instead I did one day of prep in which I eliminated coffee, meat, dairy and grain.  Yesterday I had a fruit smoothie with plant-based protein powder for breakfast, vegan Sloppy Joe (no bread) for lunch, an apple for an afternoon snack and vegan spaghetti squash pad thai (recipe to come!) for dinner.  That’s pretty clean, for me.

Today is day one.  Over the next three days, I will keep you updated on my experience with the DIY BPC, the good, the bad and the ugly.  And then, I promise I’ll make it up to you with some really delicious recipes.

Johanna