Three Day Blend Cleanse

I know what you are thinking? A 3-day blend cleanse, shouldn’t it be a 3-day juice cleanse? Yes, is the answer to that question, but since a juice cleanse requires a juicer and I have no interest in getting another appliance for the kitchen just for three days, I’ve decided to turn it into a blended juice cleanse instead.

I am not one for fad diets, in fact my general philosophy on the subject is eat somewhat healthy and exercise and leave it at that. So, why Am I doing this? Well, my stomach has been bothering me a bit lately and I’m simply curious of the impact a three-day cleanse will have on me. For those who don’t know, this usually involves drinking only juices and water for three days straight. From what I’ve been told or read this restarts or resets the digestive system and gives it a bit of a clean to get out any toxins. It should also help with weight control and energy. I’m in pretty decent weight so that’s not an issue for me, but I could always use a bit more energy.

Will this work with a blended juice cleans as well since it requires my stomach to do some work from the blends? I don’t know. One way to find out. The cleanse I went with came from the guy who did the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead called Reboot.

Since I am blending instead of juicing, I cut the ingredients in half or made other adjustments to decrease the amount for each of the recipes.

Day 1

Breakfast - Carrot-Apple-Lemon
Original Recipe:

• 4 Apples
• 4 Carrots
• 2 lemons, peeled in desired

My Recipe:

• 2 Apples
• 1 carrot
• 1 lemon - peeled
• 4 ice cubes
• Approximately 1 cup water

This turned out about a pint and a half for me to drink which still seemed like a lot since my breakfast normally involves a yogurt. Taste wise it wasn’t too bad though. The lemon was a bit strong for my me. It also took a while to drink so much but I was able to get it all down. I might have to reduce the portions a bit more going forward.

Lunch  - Tomato Soup

What? That’s not on the list. Yes, I know but my justification for breaking the recommended list of items is that soup is a liquid, it is more or less like taking tomatoes blending them together and drinking them. This way I get to heat it. And add a couple crackers, but don’t tell anyone about the crackers.

Dinner - Garden Variety

Original Recipe:

• 4 apples
• 4 cucumbers
• 16 kale leaves
• 2 handfuls of parsley

My Recipe:

• 2 green apples
• 1 cucumber
• Handful of Kale
• Spoonful of dried parsley. I didn’t get any fresh stuff on my visit to the store
• Served in a glass with ice 

It tasted better than it looks.

Late Evening Snack:

A small glass of Peach or Pie Delight that was left over from preparing tomorrows breakfast and lunch in advance.

End of Day 1 Summary

I did eat a couple of crackers at one point throughout the day not being able to stand the craving for solid food. By hey, I’m going cold turkey on this thing so I’m going to allow it. I’ve found so far that the drinks haven’t tasted as bad as I thought they would. I’ve also found that even though I might be done with drinking a meal and my stomach feels full that I’m still hungry and craving food. It’s an odd combination of feelings.

Day 2

Breakfast - Peach or Pie Delight

Original Recipe:

• 1 sweet Potato
• 2 Ripe peaches (pitted) or pears of peaches are not in season
• 1 red apple
• 1 1/3 cups blueberries
• Dash of cinnamon

With this one I didn’t change the recipe, other than adding some water to make it easier to blend. I also went with butternut squash instead of sweet potato. The store I went to didn’t have a sweet potato. So far this is the best blend.

Lunch - Green Lemonade

Original Recipe:

• 2 Apples
• 4 handfuls of spinach
• 16 kale leaves
• 1 cucumber
• 4 celery stalks
• 2 lemons, peeled in desired

My Recipe:

• 1 green Apple
• 11 spinach leaves
• 6 kale leaves
• 1 inch of a cucumber peeled
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 half of a lemon

I would like to preface this one with saying, I HATE SPINACH. I hate it to the point that when we went to the store and bought all this stuff, my girlfriend was shocked that I was getting this nasty leafy metal tasting substance and was going to willingly consume it.  The drink itself smelled and tasted as terrible. So far of all the recipes for this juice fest this is the worst one.

Afternoon snack involved a granola bar. I was hungry and didn’t bring a blended option to work and had to go with what was available. It was delicious. But I think it was a bad idea as it only made me more hungry rather than quenching it.

Dinner - Purple Passion

Original Recipe:

• 30 grapes
• 2 cups blueberries
• Handful of mint

My Recipe:

• 30 grapes
• 1.5 cups blueberries. I ran out, so that’s as many as I had
• Less than a hand full of mint

I went with this for dinner instead of one of the subscribed items because I had the granola bar earlier and I didn’t get to dinner until 8 at night and wasn’t super hungry by that point.

A late-night snack of my Pink Tangerine mix in a small glass with some ice. See tomorrow's breakfast for recipe.

Day 3

Breakfast - Pink Tangerine
This is my own recipe

• 1 large orange
• 2 tangerines
• 1/2 pineapple
• All peeled

Lunch - Green Lemonade
reduced it to 1/4 lemon instead of the previous recipe that had a half lemon.

Afternoon Snack
Chai latte and a small glass of Purple Passion

Dinner - Green lemonade
Changed the lemon to a lime and added twice as much cucumber to use it all up.

Evening Snack
Small glass of pink tangerine

Day 4

Breakfast - unnamed

• 1/4 pineapple
• 1 peach
• 1/2 cup butternut squash
• 3 tangerines

Yesterday was the last day, but I started the day off with a juice since I still had all the stuff.

Lunch - Chicken fried rice and a 7UP

I really wanted a burrito but was worried it might send my system into shock, and that’s not something to have happen while at work.

The chicken friend rice was delicious. I really noticed the salt in it, it’s interesting with only 3 days of no salt how the taste buds become so much more aware of it along with the sugars in the 7UP. I had to eat slow the first few bites and drink made me a bit light-headed. In the end I could only eat about half of the meal.

Observations:

I noticed I felt a bit healthier and had more energy.  The first two days were rough with hunger desires, and it seemed I could smell food from miles away like a polar bear. By the 3rd day my stomach was adjusting, and the hunger wasn’t as much of an issue. I plan to continue with the juices in the morning for breakfast. They are easy enough to make the night before and store overnight. Then I can just grab and go in the morning.

Overall, it was an interesting experiment but I wouldn’t want to do it regularly. People often think I’m a foodie but I’m really not. I believe, however, in enjoying life and if you are going to eat, you might as well eat something yummy. And if my stomach doesn’t like it, my stomach can fuck off. But if I could get all my nutrition from a cube that I could eat a few times a day, I probably would.