Bye bye solid foods; easing into a juice cleanse

Fresh Produce

If you flip through a magazine or turn on the television at times you might see some celebrity talking about cleanses.

One that seems to be extremely popular is the Master Cleanse also called the Lemonade Diet. The ingredients consist of lemons, pure maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and purified water. That’s it!

I’ve heard about this cleanse for years, and although some claim that it’s healthy, I have a hard time believing that based on the ingredients used.

How can that be healthy following that routine for several days? I think one of the main reasons it has become popular is because of the amount of weight some have lost. I can see how that’s possible, but it’s not a healthy way to lose weight.

I do enjoy juice cleanses the difference between the liquid cleanses I use, and something like the Master Cleanse is I’m not depriving my body of nutrients, I receive my nutrients from freshly juiced vegetables and fruit – whole foods in liquid form.

I make sure I’m receiving adequate nutrients to match my active lifestyle.

Yesterday I decided to ease into the juice cleanse with an extremely delicious “green soup” that I created.

Mustard greens are plentiful in my garden, so I picked about six cups of them. Ginger, garlic, onion, garden tomatoes and corn, were quickly added to my food processor, and I blended everything. Although I could have eaten this soup raw, I decided to heat the soup.

My daughter loves the soups I make, but some of the ingredients added to this soup (garlic and ginger) would have been overpowering (for her) in its raw forum. “Mom, that’s too spicy!” would have been the comment I received, accompanied by an accusing stare. I added the puree into a stock pot, and added three cups of water, balsamic vinegar, and sea salt to taste.

I let the soup cook down for an hour. The soup turned out  delicious. It was nutritious and filling. In my daughter’s soup, I added about 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast. I stirred and served. The results? My daughter said, “Mommy this is unusual but very yummy!” My main course was a bowl of the delicious of green soup, however it was my daughters appetizer. Her main course was a homemade vegan pizza.

Lessons learned from my first cleanse

In my early twenties, I did my first juice cleanse. Even before I became Vegan I did choose healthy foods. It’s how I was raised, and when I lived on my own, I incorporated many of the principles into my eating lifestyle.

However, fasting from solids made me realize that sometimes I ate out of habit. I wasn’t really hungry since my body was used to eating at a certain times, it gave me “cues” to eat even if I wasn’t hungry.

After that first experience, I only eat when I’m hungry. I’ve been on several cleanses since my twenties, and really enjoy taking a break from solid foods.

 Cravings

The one thing I crave when I’m drinking liquids, is a vegetable pot pie. Homemade pot pies were one of my favorite meals, and I associate them with cooler days, snuggling by the fire, sipping a cup of herbal tea, book in hand as I savor my delicious pot pie. I’ll be preparing a Vegetable pot pie a few days after I start eating solid foods.

Question: Have you ever tried a juice cleanse?

Photo: Suat Eman

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Patricia

Hi Opal
Firstly thanks for the visit to my blog and your helpful additions to the conversation. You always take it up a notch and I’m sure my readers are pleased when you drop by 🙂
I am moving house next week and when I get settled I will find this post helpful as I want to do a detox and it will soon be summer so the motivation is getting higher. Thanks for such an informative post.
Patricia Perth Australia
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Evelyn

Hey Opal,
I have done a juice cleanse. I did the Master Cleanse back in 2005 and again in 2007. I agree with you about the MC. When I do another liquid cleanse, it will be with juice. I don’t believe the MC is healthy at all.

I wish you the best in your juice cleanse. Keep us posted!

Take care,

Evelyn
Evelyn recently posted..Become a Healthier You Series- Taking Care of Yourself

[…] Life asks if we’ve ever tried a juice cleanse: Bye Bye solid foods: Easing into a juice cleanse. I know many people who take detoxing seriously, but none as seriously as Celebrate Life.  Her […]

Megan is a secret Santa

Hi opal – YUM. I must admit I cringed at the name, Green Soup but your description of what went into it changed my mind. I have included this post in the most recent Carnival over at Reuse and Recycle.
Megan is a secret Santa recently posted..Money bags from upcycled food packaging

Felicia @ No Deposit Poker

I may be a little skeptic on this juice cleanse. I agree, they sound healthy, but if you’re going to do only this for weeks, is it going to backfire healthwise? Having a juice cleanse and at the same time eating healthy food is the best way to a healthy body and mind, in my opinion.
Felicia @ No Deposit Poker recently posted..Poker Pro could face death penalty

Felicia @ No Deposit Poker

Hi Opal,
Thank you for explaining and I agree you’re right in many points. However, do you put sugar in the juices you make? I have read somewhere before that you are deceiving yourself if you think regularly consuming fruits or vegetables in juice form is healthy – especially when you put sugar in every juice you drink (which increases your sugar level and thus you consume more calories). What do you think? Thanks again 🙂
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Stephen

fruit juices contains high in fiber and a lot of vitamins and minerals which help cleanse our body and boots our immune system.

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Brenda

I do an annual cleanse but not a juice cleanse and I love the results of my cleanse. Usually small amount of weight loss and improved energy and it appears that I have cured my fatty liver as well with the cleanses and ongoing good diet. I am not quite brave enough to try a juice cleanse though – yet:)

Char (PSI Tutor:Mentor)

I have started included juice in my morning routine~ though have not as yet done a cleanse~ timing!

I add spirulina to mine for protein and added nutrients, and try to buy organic veggies and raid my garden for the greens.

Am keen to try the soup too ~:-)

Jasmine

This sounds absolutely delicious! I love liquid cleanses, especially when my garden produces those big juicy fresh sweet tomatoes mmm! And I always like to add cabbage and peppers to taste. Yellow bell peppers give it a hint of sweetness. THanks so much for sharing your recipe, and the vegan pizza looks delicious as well!
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Kate Brown Wilson

Thanks for sharing this Opal , to be honest nowadays many family are use to blending their food into juices which is perfect, to be honest, it is better to blend to the whole veggies for our sons and daughter not to notice, not like cooking it , because sometimes our child keeps on wasting it. specially that they don’t like veggies.
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Kammi

Maybe it would help you if you didn’t look at things as diet foods . When you want to eat snitehmog (which you should do often, like every 2-3 hours), think to yourself what benefit am I getting from this? So instead of thinking of things you CAN’T eat b/c you’re trying to firm up, try thinking of what you CAN eat to help you. What you do eat is much more important that what you don’t eat. And the little things do add up. For example try a small handful of nuts, but remember to get them without salt. No need for that extra sodium. And drink TONS of water. I know it sounds very cliche, but once you get into a habit of really staying hydrated, you realize how much better you feel. Oh, and fresh, raw veggies are great. Just remember, the more natural a food is, and the less processed, the better it is for you. Good luck friend!