“This will make you feel awake, and healthy.” The promise made to me as I ordered a 3 day Blueprint Cleanse online recently. The healthy part I believed, but awake? How could 3 straight days of just juice and no solids make me feel anything that I aspire to feel in my waking hours, especially if I’m not even allowed coffee, or as it was gently explained to me, ‘you can have coffee, but you’ll feel better if you don’t have it.’ Marketing disguised as self-motivation proved extremely effective, and sure enough, on Day 3 of the ‘Cleanse,’ I felt extremely awake and alert (albeit short-winded) on a run up Runyon Canyon, (truthfully more of a slow jog behind my brother whose college fraternity has apparently turned him into a drill sergeant.)
But I wasn’t starving, and I wasn’t lethargic.
I am not somebody who can go without food for four hours, let alone three days. I have never been successful on a diet, if you don’t count when I was five years old and had to stop eating French Toast in order to lower my cholesterol. These days I have a genuine interest in being healthy, but not exactly a full-fledged allegiance. So the Blueprint Cleanse, a local New York company, seemed perfect for me. In the world of cleanses, it’s not an extremist sport, but more of an afternoon outing.
Their belief is that if you aren’t used to cleanses, shocking your system with an irregular intensity is neither healthy nor effective, so the Blueprint Cleanse is a subtle start to a summer of healthy eating. You drink six juices a day, which at around 1100 calories is more than a fair share of nutrients. The juices taste great, especially the Spicy Lemonade and Pineapple Mint.
I chose the All Green cleanse, so by the 3rd day I was extremely sick of drinking the same juice four times a day, broken up by one Spicy Lemonade and ending the night with a Cashew Milk. I definitely lost the bloated “feeling” that was starting to accumulate (I dropped a few pounds.) But the best result was my skin. For up to a week after the cleanse, my skin looked as if I never go out in the sun and never break out. I had a glow, and didn’t even wear makeup for the whole week. I will definitely be revisiting the Blueprint, and even reevaluating my regular diet to see what could contribute to better skin in the meantime.
For more info: BluePrintCleanse