Category: Food

Have you guys been hearing about juice cleanses? Supposedly they reprogram your body so that you don’t crave bad things, you lose weight, your skin looks luminous and movie stars are suddenly knocking at your door for dates.

At least, that’s what I hear.

When I started looking into different pre-packaged cleanses out there I was SHOCKED at the prices. I mean, there is NO way I’m paying $200 to NOT eat for three days. Just saying.

Also, I know you can buy a juicer and a ton of veggies and make your own juices, but the start-up costs for that option are pretty high as well. Especially if you’re not sure if you’re going to like it.

I really wanted to try a juice cleanse though. My veggie intake has been kind of low lately and I really wanted some kind of 3-day quickie program to kick my butt back into eating healthier again. Also, I was curious whether I’d be able to stick with a juice program for three whole days.

I ended up picking up the Suja Essentials 3 day Fresh Start cleanse because it’s a Costco Exclusive that runs about $30. That’s more in my price range! Suja includes a meal plan with recipes and quicker grab-and-go meals to go with the program. Here’s their promise: At the end of the Suja Essentials 3 Day Fresh Start you will feel recharged, restored and renewed in your healthy habits. SOLD.

So, how did it go?
First, let’s talk about the three juices and how I thought they tasted:

Spicy Lemon: water, maple syrup, lemon and cayenne.
The Spicy Lemon is the first juice you drink as your ‘breakfast’ juice, which will be followed by your light meal about 30 minutes later. For some reason I expected the Spicy Lemon to taste like lemonade. I have no idea why, because lemonade is pretty much all sugar and this has NO sugar in it. It actually doesn’t taste like lemonade at all, more like a glass of water with some fresh squeezed lemons and a kick of cayenne pepper at the end. It sounds weird to mix lemon with cayenne, but I really liked this one and it totally grew on me over the three days. If I saw this in the store, I’d probably grab it up to drink again.

Green Greatness: apple, celery, cucumber, kale, collard greens, lemon juice, peppermint tea, spearmint tea, spinach, ginger, spirulina, chlorella, barley grass & alfalfa grass.
The Green Greatness is the ‘lunch’ juice, which will be followed by the light lunch meal about 30 minutes later. I was most scared of this juice because it’s GREEN… but I was cautiously optimistic because I like vegetables.

Upon opening my first bottle, I leaned in to smell the juice and it smelled like grass. ACTUAL grass that someone has cut in your yard. I took a sip and immediately thought, “oh it’s not too bad… kinda lemony?” Then the aftertaste set in. OH HOLY HELL, what IS this?! It tastes like… um, is YUCK a taste? It tastes like YUCK! The first day I choked it down straight and couldn’t even FATHEM doing that the second day. The only way I got through the next two servings of Green Greatness is by gulping it down quickly and as soon as I stopped drinking I’d bite into a cheese stick. Would I buy this again? HELL to the NO.

Vanilla Nutz: water, banana, coconut, almonds, honey, cinnamon, vanilla and allspice.
The Vanilla Nutz is the last of the juices and you drink it about 30 minutes before you have your dinner. After the disgusting mess that was Green Greatness, I was expecting this to taste like a freaking milkshake. I mean, it’s white and creamy like a watery milkshake… but it doesn’t taste like one. It was pretty good though and to my taste buds it’s like a nutty banana milk. Maybe a little gritty afterwards because of the crushed almonds. I enjoyed the taste and thought it was nice and filling. I really liked having it at the end of each workday when I was starting to get hungry. With lunch around noon and dinner around 7:00, there’s quite a long time between meals, so having this around 5:00 worked out great. I would absolutely drink this again and may grab a few to keep on hand for that end-of-day slump.

Did I stick with the plan?
Kind of.

If you’re interested in checking out the provided meal plan, you can see it here. I followed it kind of loosely…

Day 1
What I drank/ate: Spicy Lemon juice, instant oatmeal, Green Greatness juice, banana and 1 ½ tablespoons of peanut butter, Vanilla Nutz juice, random Let’s Dish samples, chicken breast, green beans, water.

I wasn’t hungry at all the first day because the juices and the mini meals were spread out throughout the day. I ended up having the Vanilla Nutz drink around 4:30pm and then had to run up the road to do a session at Let’s Dish with a girlfriend. I ate some random samples there and then came home to have my dinner around 7:30pm. So, I didn’t stick with the exact schedule and diet, but I was pretty close.

How I felt: I felt okay through the day, besides having to pee about a dozen times. Other than that, there was no crazy bathroom stuff happening (Katie says people are wondering whether my stomach exploded and I can tell you that it did not). After my healthy dinner of chicken, green beans and water, I had a TERRIBLE headache. I don’t know if I can attribute it to the juicing though, because I ate a relatively normal dinner. I’m guessing it had to do with my lack of caffeine all day long, since I skipped my morning coffee, any sodas, and any chocolate.

Day 2
What I drank/ate: Homemade coffee with milk and sugar, Spicy Lemon juice, greek yogurt, Green Greatness juice, cheese stick, salad with lots of healthy stuff, 3 mini dark chocolate Hershey bars, Vanilla Nutz juice, chicken breast, green beans, water, a handful of candy corn.

I decided not to skip my coffee for the second day because I had to wake up at 5:45am for work AND didn’t want to have to fight a headache or tiredness. It was a bit harder sticking with the diet because I was at our office that has lots of temptations (mainly chocolate). I also treated myself with candy corn at the end of the day, which I’m guessing is not part of a normal person’s cleanse.

How I felt: No headaches today, so that was a total improvement. I did feel a bit bloated in the afternoon and evening though. Bathroom stuff was still totally fine and normal, nothing to see here.

Day 3
What I drank/ate: Homemade coffee with milk and sugar, Spicy Lemon juice, Green Greatness juice, cheese stick, salad with lots of healthy stuff, greek yogurt, Vanilla Nutz juice, salmon, mushrooms, homemade mac & cheese, water, handful of candy corn.

I accidentally skipped my yogurt breakfast on the third day because I was super busy and by time I noticed I forgot to have it, it was time for lunch. Of course, my lunch salad totally sucked… so I had my yogurt in the afternoon to hold me over until Vanilla Nutz time. While I was a bit sad that it was the last day of my cleanse, I was NOT sad that it was the last time I’d EVER have to drink a Green Greatness juice. You would think I’d get used to the flavor, but every gulp was a testament to the willpower to GET ‘ER DONE.

How I felt: No headaches today either, so I’m guessing it was just a caffeine withdrawal thing. Besides having to go back and forth to the bathroom to pee all the livelong day (does that count as cardio?), I felt totally normal. No bloating, even though I was wearing a slim-ish pencil skirt.

So, what did I think?
Returning back to the Suja promise, do I feel “recharged, restored and renewed” in my healthy habits? Um… kinda. I mean, I was eating like total crap before the cleanse and then ate REALLY well during the cleanse (just ignore the candy corn consumption…), it was like my system went from one extreme to another. I’m hoping that now I can recalibrate back to ‘normal’ and eat mostly healthy with a little crap thrown in there for funsies.

To be honest, I NEVER want to be the kind of person who ONLY eats healthy stuff, or who has to choke down her vegetables (juiced or otherwise). Eating is a fun and pleasurable thing for me, which I feel is the way it should be.

As I’m sure you’re curious – because I totally am when I read other peoples cleanse reviews – I did lose 2 pounds. However, I typically fluctuate a couple pounds throughout the week and I’m pretty sure that ANYONE would lose a little bit of weight when you do a low calorie diet for a few days.

I actually rather enjoyed this cleanse. Two of the three drinks were pretty darn tasty and it certainly tested my willpower to see if I could stick with it for three days. Three days was also a nice, short doable period of time to stick with light meals and salads. You know, as long as there is candy corn. I honestly don’t know if I could have done a full juice cleanse for three days (with no solid food) and I guess I never will because I’m too cheap to spend the money to do it!

I really liked having a low calorie, yet nutritious drink to have at the end of the day to keep me from overeating at dinnertime. The Vanilla Nutz was really good, but I’d like to try a few other flavors to switch it up a bit. Apparently Suja just came out with a seasonal flavor called “Call me Pumpkin” that sounds super yummy. I’d also like to try a few different veggie-based juices to see if I can find something similar to Green Greatness that tastes better.

Have you ever done a juice cleanse? If so, what did you think? Did I answer all of your juicing questions? If not, what do you want to know?

 

(This post is not sponsored. I paid for the Suja juices with my own money and all thoughts and opinions are my own).

{Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post. I just wanted to put this out there in case anything thinks I’m getting rich by trying out yogurt spread. I did receive the yogurt spreads for free to taste test, but all opinions are my own. I can’t be bought with yogurt spread. Marshmallows, maybe. But not yogurt spread.}

When I was at BlogHer, I had the good fortune to plop myself down beside a super sweet PR lady at one of the lunches. While we were doing the chatty ‘what do you do’ thing, in between the ‘I love your top’ thing and the ‘tell me how you met your boyfriend’ thing, she mentioned that she works with some different food brands.

Um… I like food.
And boom, a friendship was born.

In one of our random email chats, my friend mentioned that a new product was coming out that I might like by Karoun Dairies, Inc called Blue Isle Mediterranean Yogurt Spreads. Basically, they are a healthier alternative to cream cheese – the spreads have nearly 40% fewer calories and total fat. Blue Isle’s spreads are made from yogurt, including live cultures, probiotics and calcium, but with no added sugar.

I’ve been trying to make healthier food choices, so I decided to try them out. My friend was nice enough to send me all 5 flavors: original, honey, blueberry, french onion and spicy vegetable.

It was like I won the yogurt spread lottery!
YOGURT FOR EVERYONE!

I may have run around the house yelling, “YOU get a YOGURT!” and “YOU GET a YOGURT!” like a spread-happy Oprah. Just for a minute though, because I was hungry and it was lunchtime.

The packaging had some suggestions on how to eat the spreads (because apparently ‘on a spoon’ is not a typical option), such as using it for a veggie or chip dip, on bagels, on baked potatoes and in any recipe that would call for cream cheese.

Well, I hadn’t been to the grocery store in a while, so the pickings were slim at the Joules house. I DID have a big ol’ bag of chips though, so I cracked open the french onion spread and dug in.

And dug in.
And dug in some more.
Okay, I pretty much ate almost the entire container in one sitting.

It was good. Like, really good. I doubt my snack was that healthy, since I ingested a ton of potato chips… but it WAS really tasty. And at least I wasn’t downing a bunch more fat and calories from the spread. Right?!

I picked up some bagels the next morning so that we could test out the spreads as more of a ‘cream cheese replacement’ as suggested. Travis went for a plain bagel with blueberry spread and LOVED it. In fact, he loved it so much that he went back for another half of a bagel when he was through to ‘taste test’ some more.

I tried the honey spread on a cinnamon crunch bagel. At first, I was a little turned off by the lack of density because it was bit thinner than my typical cream cheese topping. After a few more bites, I decided I really liked it – the flavor was like a cross between a honey cream cheese and a plain Greek yogurt.

Although I really want to try the spreads over a hot baked potato, because the picture in their marketing material looks so delicious I want to lick the page, I still haven’t had a chance to go to the store. Having a sick kid really messes up your schedule. I’m holding on to the original flavor Blue Isle Spread until I buy some potatoes though!

As for the spicy vegetable spread, I’m not a fan. It’s just too spicy for me. However, Travis really likes it and already ate half the container as a spoon to get chips into his mouth. So see, it isn’t just me.

So, would I recommend Blue Isle Mediterranean Yogurt Spread?
Absolutely!
When my spread stash is gone, would I buy more with my own real money?
You betcha!

It’s an easy way to cut out a few extra calories without sacrificing taste. Because, to be honest if something tastes gross I’m not going to eat it. Which I guess would be a way of saving calories, except then I just get really hungry and eat ANYTHING that I see in front of me. Which usually tends to be pizza, or a hamburger.

If you’re interested in having your own Blue Isle taste testing party, or just having it as a topping on your bagel, it will soon be available in lots of natural food stores and supermarkets nationwide. You can find more information on their Facebook page, Twitter page and Google+ page.

Now if you excuse me, I have a potato to buy and bake.

If you had been shipped a box of Blue Isle spreads, what would you have tried it on? Are you a veggie dipping fool, or more of a chip dipper like me?

 

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this post. I did receive the yogurt spreads for free to taste test, but all opinions are my own.