Two months ago, I decided to do a raw food cleanse. I’d been feeling very slugglish, and had fallen into that cycle of eating too way much sugar. You know the one where you eat tons of sugar and then you crave more sugar, repeat? I’ve always had an insane sweet tooth, and I’m a big snacker, so when quarantine started, so did snack time. One of my favorite local vegan restaurants, Seed to Sprout, runs these 5 day raw food diet cleanses that I’ve always been interested in but never tried. A few of my girlfriends had tried it before and they loved it, so I gave it a shot.
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Seed to Sprout’s 5 day raw food cleanse
(BTW, this is not a sponsored post and I paid for my cleanse. I was just really happy about the experience and wanted to share it with you.) Anyway, their cleanse runs five days and they prepare and deliver all the food for you so you don’t have to do anything (except throw smoothie mix into a blender, when there are smoothies for breakfast). I hate cooking, so this was huge for me. You receive breakfast, lunch, dinner, a cold pressed juice, and a dessert for each day. All the food is vegan, raw, and there is a ton of it so you are never hungry during the cleanse. (This is not one of those rid-yourself-of-toxins type cleanses.)
Prior to your start date, you receive your cleanse menu for the week and a short guide that explains the process. you let them know if you have any allergies or sensitivities. I do, so they gave me a call and they were able to work around it for me. The menu during my cleanse included vanilla chia berry parfaits and banana berry smoothies for breakfast, giant salads for lunch, green cold pressed juice for midday snack, raw pizzas and portobello burgers for dinner, and different flavors of coconut macaroons for dessert. I also received a variety of different herbal teas. You’re not supposed to drink coffee during the five days.
How the 5 days went…
Day 1: Started my day with a huge smoothie made with fruit, spirulina, and hemp seeds. Normally I drink at least one cup of coffee with half and half and skip breakfast. The smoothie was very filling, and when it was time for lunch, I really wasn’t hungry yet. Pushed it back an hour. Lunch was a giant salad full of veggies, kale, arugula, an avocado, the works. Their salads are absolutely delicious. I ate about half and put the rest in the fridge, where I would go and grab a couple forkfulls every so often till it was done.
I was not hungry at all until dinnertime, so I only drank half of the midday green juice. Dinner was a raw pizza made of sunflower seed crust, cashew cheese, and veggies. SO GOOD. Also came with a side salad so it was very filling. Dessert was a macaroon. I usually hate coconut and I loved the daily macaroons. By nighttime, my head was pounding, I assume from not drinking coffee all day. I drank a lot of water, but still ended up needing an Advil.
Day 2. Woke up with my head feeling normal again. Another smoothie for breakfast, but since I knew how filling the food would be, I didn’t push myself to drink the whole thing. I drank until I was satisfied, which was about half. Another big salad for lunch. They give you a different dressing every day so it has some variety. Had half of the green juice. Dinner was a portobello burger, side salad, and macaroon. Excellent. Happy and full, but really missing my coffee.
Day 3. Woke up and decided F this no coffee business. Had a smoothie for breakfast and then ran to the grocery store to find a good dairy free creamer for my coffee. I bought a few different ones to try out and ended up really liking the Oatly Full Fat Oat Milk. (I’ve tried a bunch since then and this one is still my favorite. It’s the first one I’ve found that’s thick like real half & half). Once I was able to have coffee back in my day, the remaining days were smooth sailing.
Day 4-5. Had a chia pudding parfait I really liked for breakfast. By this point I was a little tired of salads and veggies, but the food is tasty so I wasn’t THAT tired of it. I was happily in my routine and physically I felt great. More energy. Zero craving for sugar. It was the exact result I was looking for.
After the cleanse
After the cleanse ended, I decided to not go back to my old eating habits. I’ve been eating mostly meat, veggies, brown rice, and stayed dairy free because SURPRISE, my face cleared up and my angry eczema has vastly improved.
It’s been a very positive experience overall, especially for the improvement in my skin, which had gotten much worse over the course of quarantine. The one thing I would change is a little variety in the breakfast smoothies and the cold pressed juices. That’s it. Would definitely recommend.
What I learned
I’m writing this about 2 months after finishing the cleanse and the big thing I learned is that I have a sensitivity to dairy and wheat that causes the eczema on my face to flair up wildly and cutting that out has made a huge difference in my day to day. I’ve dealt with fairly severe eczema all my life so I am a regular at the dermatologist and the allergist. I’d been through all of the different food allergy testing prior to the cleanse, both blood and skin tests, and neither dairy nor wheat show up as an allergy, so this was an exciting discovery. My skin was so irritated before that it would wake me up at night and keep me awake, so my sleep has improved. My allergist had recommended I do an elimination diet, and I’d kept putting it off forever, so I guess I should have tried that a million years ago.
I also learned that I can live without SO MUCH sugar which seemed unbelievable a couple months ago. Now I am able to just eat a reasonable amount here and there and I’m no longer having the big sugar crashes. And I can live without dairy, which also seemed insane two months ago. I LOVE cheese, but I don’t love it more than my calm skin.
Have you ever done a raw food diet cleanse? What was your experience? Tell us in the comments!
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