JUICE CLEANSE 2015: DAY ONE


My babes! I got some news! Jack (my lover) and I are doing a juice cleanse for around 3 days, or whenever we feel like stopping. We started yesterday. Neither of us are too strict so we're also consuming raw fresh fruit if we feel like it, veggie broth with seaweed, chia seeds and banana ice cream. The point of this cleanse is to refresh our digestive systems. More on this below. I will be posting all the recipes we consume so you can join in! I'd love it if you did because it's more fun to share experiences like this than doing it alone, and I know a lot of you are into juice cleansing. So if you do wanna join, I encourage you to post your comments below, or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to let the rest of us know how you're doing. 


I want to reiterate: this isn't a very strict cleanse, I want you to transform it into whatever YOU need. Whether that be simply adding these recipes into your daily diet, trying one or two, or doing the whole thing with me and Jack. I'm not into calorie counting, restriction, or focusing on numbers. I AM into feeling good and having an optimally functioning bod. Which brings me to the question: WHY AM I DOING THIS?

Firstly, Jack is doing it with me because he's the best, and also because before we starting sharing our lives together he did not have the healthiest lifestyle. He wants to clear out the junk that is probably still sitting in his gut. Now for me: lately for the past few months I have not been digesting food as well as I first did when I went vegan. I also have developed this weird red, itchy rash type thing around my nose. It gets flaky too. Ugh. I didn't understand for a long time why it was appearing because I eat about as healthy as I can imagine a person can and simply by being vegan I don't eat any of the foods that can cause skin problems. It's not THAT noticeable when I use apple cider vinegar as a toner and coconut oil as a moisturizer, but it's still there and it has been buggin' me like CRAZY. I've self-diagnosed that it's perioral dermatitis with the help of the internet, which is a bacterial overgrowth that shows itself on the skin, usually around the nose and mouth. Virtually all the info on the web says you should just go to the doctor and put this nasty cream on it. The holistic crowd says use ACV and coco oil. But both these answers are not adequate for me; they don't  recognize that this bacterial overgrowth is a SYMPTOM of something that's wrong inside the body. But hey, that's western medicine for you. 

I've decided that my gut is not is ideal shape. My poops should be better, my skin should be FINE, and I shouldn't feel as bloated as I often do. Plus, I've been getting headaches all week. I wanna reset my digestive system by giving it a break from the enormous amounts of solid food I usually eat. So I'm doing this cleanse. I wanna give my body a ton of easy-to-absorb nutrition in mostly veggie juices, along with herbal antibiotics (to kill the bad bacteria) like garlic and ACV, and probiotics (to feed the good guys) like sauerkraut, miso and almond yogurt. If this doesn't work, I'm gonna go see my doc. I need to get my blood checked anyways, just to make sure all is well in my veins. We should ALL be doing be doing this on the reg, in my opinion. 

So there you have it. We will see if this cleanse gives me what I am looking for. If not, I'll probably feel great by the end of it anyways. Here's some things to remember if you're joining us:

- CONSUME ENOUGH CALORIES! 
- Focus on juices based around vegetables and greens. 
- Supplement with other stuff if you like. Examples: veggie broth, chia pudding and whole fruit, probiotics like unpasteurized miso, sauerkraut and non-dairy yogurt. 
- Drink butt-loads of water to keep everything moving.
- Do what ya feel; if this cleanse makes you hate the world, you should probably just stop it and make a big salad. Or if you feel like you need to make more or less of the recipes to feel satisfied, do it! 

Done. Menu and recipes for yesterday are below! x

Menu: 
- GREEN JUICE with GARLIC + GINGER
- MANGOES
- BEET JUICE with CELERY + ORANGES
- VEGGE BROTH with SEAWEED 
- BANANA ICE CREAM with CHIA SEEDS

And throughout the day: 
- 1 gallon of water, usually mixed in with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice


GREEN JUICE with GARLIC + GINGER
Serves one

1 big bunch kale
3 peeled garlic cloves
1 tablespoon chunk peeled ginger
8 small apples
1 cucumber 

Juice it all up and drink it all down.

///

We went on a bike ride and then ate chopped mangoes in the sun.

MANGOES
Serves one

5 small mangoes, sliced

Eat!


BEET JUICE with CELERY + ORANGES
Serves one

4 beets
8 small oranges
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 bunch celery 

Juice it. Drank it.

///

For dinner we had vegetable broth with nori sheets. It hit the spot.

VEGGIE BROTH with SEAWEED
Serves one

1 litre vegetable broth, low in salt and made with organic ingredients
5 sheets nori, ripped up
1 peeled garlic clove, minced

Simmer the vegetable broth on low heat and add the seaweed. Add the garlic when you take the broth off the heat. Enjoy.


BANANA ICE CREAM with CHIA SEEDS
Serves one

4 frozen bananas
Water, if needed
1 tablespoon almond butter (optional)
1 tablespoons chia seeds

Blend the bananas into soft serve ice cream in a blender or food processor, adding some water if you need to. Sprinkle on chia seeds and almond butter. Mmm.

Did you like this post? Then *subscribe to my blog* and get all my posts by email!