It’s hard to believe that it had been almost 6 months since my last cleanse.
Time flies when you’re eating plenty of sugary snacks and decadent treats.
As a desserts blogger and cookbook author, I am around sweets, desserts, treats, carbs, dough, chocolate, and everything fatty, rich, indulgent and decadent every single day.
I have at least 10 different kinds of unbaked frozen cookie dough, just waiting to be baked at a moment’s notice. My refrigerator is a holding tank for overnight dough that’s rising, and I have blondies, bars, brownies on the counter. I have a half dozen different flavors of peanut butter in cupboard. It goes on and on.
Do I eat everything I make? Yes, I do. Not in entirety, of course. Who could sit down to a pan of bars, a dozen cookies and a jar of peanut butter, daily.
I have a bite or two, or a piece or two, and what my family doesn’t want or need, off it goes to another home. Friends, neighbors, people at my daughter’s school, and even homeless people in my urban neighborhood are all recipients of my recipe testing.
But even using my bite-or-two approach, I still go through phases where I eat more sugar, junk, and overall crap than I need to or want to. I start feeling very blah overall. Moody, not sleeping well, my body doesn’t feel as clean, pure, and well-oiled as it should.
Enter the Purify Cleanse from Urban Remedy. I did this juice cleanse as a way to press the reset button, remind myself that I don’t need to have cookies every day, and be more mindful about taking those extra few bites of brownies that I really didn’t want, but were just there.
Although the Purify Cleanse is considered to be the next step up from the first cleanse I did, the Signature Cleanse, I found this cleanse to be easier and I enjoyed it more.
Reasons it seemed easier include simply liking the juices more. While I do like lemon to a point, lots of cleanses are really heavy-handed with it because it’s a great natural detoxer, but I get lemoned out, easily. The juices in the Purify cleanse seemed less lemon-centric, a big win.
The taste of juices prepared in this way are much, much different than the OJ you’d buy in a plastic gallon-sized container from the grocery store. They’re an acquired taste, and I knew what to expect, overall.
Juice 5, Beam, was the only one that threw me for a loop, and not in a bad way; just a wow, so unique way. Normally carrot-based juices are sweeter, but this one was almost savory. It also includes yams, burduck, and dandelion. It was almost like a cold soup. I wanted to put it in a bowl and crush some crackers over the top.
My favorite juice was a tie between Support, made with apple, fennel, cucumber, mint, ginger, and lemon. The apple-cucumber flavor was most pronounced, with a punch of ginger. I love these flavors, loved this juice, and could have lived off it alone.
The other favorite was the last juice of the day, Nourish. Anyone I’ve ever talked to who’s juiced on any kind of program, tends to love the last juice of the day. It’s the fattiest, creamiest, richest, sweetest, and with any luck, will fill you up and help you sleep like a baby.
Cashews, cinnamon, cardamom, plenty of vanilla, and nutmeg. Creamy, blissful, perfection.
I think this cleanse was also easier because the weather was warm, I naturally eat lighter anyway, and chugging cold juice for 3 days in the summer isn’t as jarring compared to the winter. I felt cold for most of the 3 days when I juiced in the winter (I feel cold most of the winter, regardless), but when it’s 90F out, it’s hard to stay cold. Juicing is easier for me when the weather is on my side.
Plus, I knew what to expect more and that I’d feel a gamut of emotions while doing it. Everything from I can do this, I am a rock star and I feel amazing, to 20 minutes later thinking I am nuts and am absolutely going to have to eat, and may gnaw off my arm shortly.
I went in giving myself permission to eat if I needed to, but I didn’t eat anything for the 3 days. I really wasn’t that hungry. I mean to a point yes, but it was manageable.
I drank about 4 ounces of coffee each day. Since my first first cleanse., I have largely weaned myself off coffee and can go for days without it, but when I am stressed or going through a challenging time, I just love a cup of coffee. The warmth, the boost, the caffeine, it’s my thing. So, I had a tiny amount each day. It helped me stay on track.
My husband did this cleanse with me and he had a harder time with this one than with the first during front half, but by the second half, he was doing well. He was more hungry and weak the first half than he was on the first cleanse.
We both felt a little tired, headachey, dizzy, light-headed during parts, but it’s temporary and short-lived and 5 minutes later can be doing great.
I went on a couple power walks during the cleanse and had plenty of energy to do so.
Neither of us lost any weight; we didn’t plan to. Mathematically, it would seem hard. You’re still ingesting calories and it’s only 3 days. My opinion is that you’d have to juice for many, many days to lose real weight and not just water weight. To create a caloric deficit large enough to shed real weight would only happen over time.
The most important things I gained were a resetting of the bad habits that can creep up, and a reminder to eat more fruits, vegetables, and real food, and less sweets. It gave my body a chance to rest and detox from sugar, sweets, and treats while giving me increased mental and emotional clarity.
I cannot say enough great things about cleansing in general, and Urban Remedy is great, highly recommended, and truly a top-shelf company.
Every day we got motivational emails telling us what to expect that day and to basically stay strong, you’re doing great, and in the moment, that’s so appreciated. The juices taste great, and the people that work there if you have questions are helpful and supportive.
I loved this cleanse, and how I felt afterward, and my husband did, too. To the point that he said he wants to do it 4 times a year, once a quarter. I agree and am totally on board and ready for the next one.
Have you ever done a juice cleanse or juice fast? Any interest?
What do you do when you feel like you need to press the reset button? What helps you get back or stay on track?
This post was written to share our experiences on the cleanse. In no way am I am expert on juicing, and this is not intended as medical advice. I am not telling you to juice or not to juice and am unable to answer detailed medical questions about if I think juicing would be a good idea for you. Do your own homework and research.
Thanks for posting about this! I have always been nervous about juice cleanses, and am always happy to read more info!
Just so you know girl, your cleanse inspired me to do a mini cleanse of my own this week. The family and I are taking the week off from eating any meat and I tried to take the week off from coffee, but I gave up after 2 days as I was so tired! It was the wrong week to take a break from coffee as I had to work hot lunch at both the kids schools Monday and Tuesday and it just wiped me out. Talk about back to school chaos! :) I have limited myself to one cup in the morning, so that’s a start.
Anyway, I will work up to a cleanse one of these days. I think I will need to do it on a Monday thru Wednesday. My kids are in activities those nights, so I could just do sandwiches and take out! I hope you’re loving your new casa! xoxo, Jackie
Funny you should say this. Glad I inspired you. A reader/friend of mine who’s doing a water fast inspired me to fast for 24 hours. I didnt try and didnt set out to. But at 6pm when I realized I hadnt had anything to eat or drink other than water, I fasted with her and wrote to tell her. It was super easy for me b/c it was just one of those ‘not hungry’ days. As opposed to when I did my 1st cleanse, I was having those random ‘eat your arm off’ kind of ebbs and flows that happen every so often.
Going off coffee cold turkey is hard. And I find that if I go 2-4 days without a drop, by that 3rd/4th day, I am tired. Like a deep fatigue. I guess it’s all the caffeine getting out of my system :) Back to school week is NOT an easy week to do a cleanse. But when you do it, it’s not really going to matter days of week if you explain to your family what’s going on and that dinners will be low key – or let John take them for pizza, etc. one night, dinner at a friend’s the next, and you cook for one. Done :)
Bravo Jackie. So proud of you!!!!
I’ve never done a juice cleanse but I’ve always been tempted. I wouldn’t do it for more than a few days (the three day ones seem just right) just because I wouldn’t want to do any metabolic damage. But currently, when I need to reset, I go back to basics for a few days to reset my palate and my body: no salt, no sweetener, basic whole foods like oatmeal and a piece of fruit or some baked chicken and blanched veggies for meals. It gets me off of the nibbling and makes me focus on flavors when I’m going back to eating “normally” afterwards.
Your approach is a solid one, no sugar, no salt, whole foods, basic stuff and then when you do go back to more normal eating, it’s easier to appreciate everything :)
Yeah, I think it’s about time for a nice cleansing. As soon as I start craving sorbet, and raspberries – anything that’s light and refreshing, I know my body is trying to tell me something.
Thanks for the review!
You’ll have to let me know what cleanse you do and how you like it! Didn’t know you were into it!
When I saw the subject of the e-mail, I was excited as I thought you’d be sharing a juicing recipe. I’ve been thinking of doing a 3 day juice cleanse, but buying juices outside can get quite pricey. I recently started juicing at home, but I’m looking for more recipes.
There are soooooo many cookbooks/books dedicated to juice recipes and/or online. Google! or Amazon for a cheap book! Tons of choices!
The thing that surprised me about Urban Remedy was how “thin” some of the drinks were. I erroneously went into the cleanse (somehow) with a smoothie mentality. Because of that, I was actually disappointed with my cleanse experience. Mostly my fault, I know.
Juicing and smoothies are two totally separate things and as juices go, Urban Remedy’s are pretty darn thick some of them, which is nice to feel fuller. But no juice will ever be a smoothie. Yes, big difference!
I have done the ultimate reset by beachbody in April. I think I will give this one a try next! Thanks for the info!
I’m still nursing so I haven’t done a juice cleanse in a few years. But my hubby recently did one and I’d have some along with my regular meals. They sure were delicious, but we make our own juice and although I really love our juicer, it would be so much easier to try a pre-made one at some point.
what juicer do you have? I wish I loved mine!
Hurom is the brand and it’s not ‘too’ expensive, and not the biggest pain in the butt to clean. Seems to do a good job on extracting the juice as well!
I have always wondered if a Hurom would serve me well. Good to know you know really like yours. I have a Breville and the cleanup is atrocious – to the point I dont even juice!
This looks really good. I have done a juice cleanse once before, but I really like the look of this one! Thanks :-)
That’s great you’ve done one!
Those look like great juices, Averie! So great that you did it for three days and that you have weaned yourself to just 4 oz of coffee per day, if you have it at all. Good for you! Do you feel like you truly detoxed a lot of the sugar out of your system? How about edema? Do you notice that you shed some water weight? I like the look of the last juice, the cashew one! YUMMY! So filling and creamy looking. It is so great that Scott did that with you as well. I love how you two are such a team. Bravo!
Well it’s NOTHING like what you do – which is beyond words :)
Water weight – hard to say, overall I would say probably not.
Truly detoxed lots of sugar – no. Because there’s always another cake to bake :)
But I feel like there was and is great benefit – it’s a major reset button for me and so even if the effects/changes are not massively ‘deep’ at a super deep level and maybe not super long term like what you’re doing, it still matters and is still really helpful for me if that makes sense! Basically I look at them as can’t possibly hurt, and could possibly help a ton!
Absolutely! You are doing your body a great benefit. As you say, sometimes just moving away from the sugary treats for a couple of days helps to reset your palate for craving better foods. :-)
I wish I could do cleanses like this, but I have yet to find a green juice that I can stomach! These do sound yummy!
The thing is that the juices, while some are pretty ‘green’, others are not at all. They’re lemony, gingery, and have a really different flavor profile than just green. But it’s all very natural and earthy tasting. You have to be ready for that :)