Tales from the Cleanse

Ingredients for the cleanse.

Cleanses have scared me in the past. The thought of living off of liquids and being hungry for a week, not to mention grumpy as a result, didn't appeal to me. It wasn't until I was recommended the 48-hr weekend cleanse by Dr. Oz that I decided to give it a try. I wanted to reboot my system and thought this was mild enough for me. It wasn't all smoothies and seemed pretty easy to follow. I must say it takes a lot of ingredients and prep, especially for the soup, I suggest doing it with friends or family. Below is a breakdown of my experience. If you want to test your willpower, this will do it. Kidding. Sort of.

Day One: Breakfast consisted of quinoa, rice milk, flax seed, prunes, nutmeg and ginger. I love quinoa but I usually don't have it first thing in the morning...or with prunes. It was hard to swallow but eventually I got it down, well as much as I could. The snacks were better and you are given different alternatives to suit your taste buds. Lunch was delicious. I could drink the smoothie of blueberries, banana and almond milk all day long. Dinner was the hardest for me. The soup took me longer to prepare than I thought and after I was done I had to wait an hour to enjoy it. I was so hungry I couldn't wait to shove my face in a bowl full of it. It was pretty good and hearty but I've never eaten so much cabbage in my life. I was pretty satisfied after eating it and had an apple for dessert.

Day Two: This day went a lot smoother as I knew what to expect. Breakfast tasted better, snacks and lunch were also good. Dinner was great, as I only had to reheat it. I still worked out with my trainer but we didn't train too hard as my system was delicate, for lack of a better word. I was still hungry after dinner this time but managed to not cheat myself.

Verdict: A lot of people might wonder if this will make you run to bathroom a lot, in my case it didn't. I did feel less bloated and lighter. It also cleansed my palate, enhancing everything I ate the following morning when I returned to my normal diet.I think it's a good cleanse if you want to jump start into cleaner eating. Make sure to drink A LOT of water (you should be any way). Even though you're already drinking a lot of liquid, water will help flush your system. I probably didn't drink enough. Also, it's called a weekend cleanse for a reason, it really is the best time to do it when you're not caught up with the busyness of the workweek. For the ingredients and recipes click here. Let us know if you try it!

Inspire. Motive. Move.

~Andrea