I’m a detox enthusiast because it’s an amazing way to re-boot my system and to test/get in touch with my body. There is a clarity and sharpness of senses that surfaces after the initial two or three cranky hunger days which makes it even more worth it. I’ve read that it’s a good idea to do a few days’ worth of detoxing every season, which is something I’d like to attempt, but haven’t had a chance to yet. In fact, I haven’t detoxed since The Master Cleanse last year, around this exact time. The lemon+cayenne+maple syrup concoction the MC relies on was too acidic, not at all nutritious, and definitely not something I would want to ingest for more than a few days, so I decided to try something more sustainable.
On Sunday morning, I mentioned that I was going to be embarking on another detox, this time with soups and juices, and I’ve gotten a lot of questions about whether I was using any specific plan, what I’d be consuming, etc. I wasn’t necessarily planning to document this process because I’m kind of winging it this time around, but hey – what’s the internet for! You asked, so I’m going to tell you all about it.
Since we’re busy people and don’t have a juicer yet, Ales and I are going to be drinking Trader Joe’s soup and juice this time around. Fortunately, these are affordable – so far we’ve only spent about $50 on a ton of stuff. On the menu:
- Grapefruit Juice
- Cranberry juice
- Mango nectar
- Garden patch vegetable juice blend
- Lemon Ginger Echinacea juice
- Green Plant food beverage
- Tropical carrot juice blend
- Tomato soup
- Butternut squash soup
- Black bean soup
- Carrot ginger soup
Starting tomorrow, I’m planning on [very] roughly using this 3-week model, possibly in combination with that delightful salt water flush from The Master Cleanse and gallons of water with fresh lemon. The plan consists of a liquid diet followed by eating raw and then mostly-raw. Ideally, I would like to do at least eight soup & juice days and think this is an attainable goal. I’m also looking forward to eating 75% raw in the final days of this process. We just got an adorable Ninja food processor at a gift exchange party and LA’s been fairly warm over the past few days, so making fresh guacamole, a variety of salsas and raw soup is definitely in the cards.
I’m excited to see whether this will alter my household’s eating habits long-term, and to tell you about our liquid detox experience as it progresses. We start tomorrow!
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I could never do the salt water flush. I TRIED. I wanted to sooo bad and I just kept wanting to throw up. Props to you and your journey, the most I lasted on the master cleanse was three days before the man and I ran off for sushi
it is a good idea to take Betonite Clay and Calcium D Glucarate to bind toxins to remove them from your system,and to take liquid minerals to replace what will be lost during the cleanse.
also it is very importnant to make sure you are upping your antioxidants at this point.
milk thistle tea is very beneficial to help strengthen your liver with the bombardment that cleansing is.
good luck ~_~
Good to hear that you are not going for the MC cleanse this time.
With regard to soups, you will most likely feel the effect of them making you feel more full for longer. A recent BBC program highlighted soups for this and so their benefit for weight loss.
I honestly think that many of the perceived benefits from your last cleanse were really just side effects from hunger, my wife noting that it seemed awfully similar to comments made by those suffering from eating disorders.
As for detoxing in general, I know that there is no evidence for many of the commercially available methods, or those home made methods, but it is clear that diet changes can be great.
For instance I have noted in your food based blogs a trend for more very oriental/med inspired food. I also tend towards that (lots of olive oil, ginger, garlic, fresh veg, and a mostly eating chicken) as it keeps out a lot of the worst offenders, such as trans fats, and well cooking from scratch is always nicer as you have more control on things like sugars and salts.
With regard to raw foods, I would say it may be better evenly distributed through the 3 weeks. Again there have been studies into raw food vs cooked, and it seems that in we have evolved such that we physically, chemically, cannot digest the amount of raw food in a day to get our RDA of everything. In fact it may even be the case that the very ability to process and cook our foods led to humans developing bigger brains, as we did not need to devote as much energy to power our guts.
But hey I am no diet specialist, but then most so called dietitians are phoney anyway.
Zoe,that’s a Wonderful Decision!
The Higher Frequencies will Welcome You.
I love Trader Joes.
I cant wait to hear how this goes!
Ivonne – yeah, it’s far from delicious, but I managed last time. Mmm, salteh!
Msfracture – thank you for the suggestions, I’ll definitely look into those supplements! And actually, we’ve recently upped our tea supply, and milk thistle is among the arsenal.
Dr Ether – yes, I remember you had some strong opinions in regards to the Master Cleanse. Thank you for your insights, you gave me lots of great reading material last time! Also, I’d like to reiterate that I’m proudly in no danger of any sort of ED, rather about as far as one could be from it. The positive effects of the MC are actually quite similar to what I experience after intense meditation, and though they may appear similar to ED sufferers, it’s just not that simple. To me, cleansing/detoxing, like meditation, is about reconnecting with myself, and the sharpened senses of smell and hearing are results of the small-scale sensory deprivation that cleansing/detoxing is. As far as eating raw goes, I can only speak for myself, but [excluding really heavy items like nut cheeses] it’s always optimized my overall life experience in every way. Love it!
Vekzar – thank you, I agree completely.
Ghostmeat – there will be updates!
maybe that would be a nice way for me to try to detox as well.can’t wait for your input!
i’m a diabetic, so that cayenne,lemon whatever concoction was out of the question for me anyway.
i need nutrition with the detox, so soups and juices might work quite well.
You should definitely try eating some sprouts during your raw time. Sprouting seeds is about the easiest thing there is, just a cup with some muslin over it secured with an elastic band (or get a fancy sprouter if you like, they aren’t very expensive) throw some seeds in, rinse with lukewarm water twice a day for about a week.
You then have your very own sprouted raw salad. Best part yet, you can get all kinds of sprouts, ones with nutty flavors, ones with spicy flavors or just ones that taste salad like, or you can mix em all up.
They are really some of my favorite things to eat, its so sad that besides alfalfa, cress and mung bean sprouts you don’t see all the other varieties at supermarkets either.
Thanks so much for posting this! I was very curious about what you would be “eating” for this cleanse…sounds very doable. I myself am not a fan of MC (Andy and I tried it once and it was hellish), though I know some people swear by it. I have done raw food cleanses for 12-14 days and felt really great. Can’t wait to hear how this works for you!
BTW, one of my favorite salads is baby arugula with tons of fresh lemon juice, a tiny drizzle of olive oil, and sea salt and fresh pepper (also delicious with a few shavings of parmesan cheese when/if you decide to phase dairy back into your diet). I eat huge bowls of this salad throughout the week and it fills me up and I somehow never tire of the lemony, peppery flavor.
Good luck!
I like the sound of this a whole lot more than i do the master cleanse, yay! I’ve always wanted to try a juice-cleanse, but they tend to always have a lot of pineapple juice in the ones I’ve looked up and my allergy to them keeps me far away.
As for me, I’ve personally gone into eating just more “base” foods as I call them. Mostly fruits and things I can count the ingredients in. Rice cakes and oatmeal and grapefruit and the like. I’ve been feeling a lot better about my eating habits with that as well.
I hope you’ll continue to post about this cleanse! I’m quite intereted :D
This plan looks much better than the MC, which always struck me as a little undernourished.
I may try this for me next purge rather than fasting followed by carb loading and exercise. Especially since I’m a sucker for black bean anything.
Although, when reading that helpful juicing site, I have to admit that the only thing going through my head was, “Will it blend!?”
I just did a 2 day fruit detox, slack i know, and put on weight….how does that happen?? Certainly didnt over eat, drank a lot of water :/ Going to try just vegetables this time :)
I find that detoxing in the cold seasons as silly. I did the MC before and it majorly dropped my body’s ability to deal with cold, which made Winter a bad time for the cleanse.
Did you get the same effect?
haha nevermind …I finally scrolled down and my questions were answered with this blog..next time I’ll start from the very beginning of your detox before I ask lame questions that are already answered lol …sorry about that.