Once upon a time, my sophomore year of high school, my dad talked me into trying this cleanse with him. It was piloted by Dr. Alejandro Junger and is called the Clean Program. Here's a simple breakdown of the cleanse's stipulations:
- 3 weeks.
- Liquid breakfasts (smoothies or soup) for breakfast and dinner. One solid meal per day (lunch).
- 12 hours in between dinner and breakfast the next day.
- No sugar, coffee, alcohol, gluten, dairy, corn, beef, pork, bananas, strawberries, white rice, honey, soy, nightshades etc.
After three weeks of this, your gut/body is supposed to be reset. Your skin is supposed to glow, you're supposed to have more energy, feel lighter, and then reintroduce foods back into your diet to see if your reborn stomach can handle them or not.
Now, if you go to the Clean Program website, you can buy a Clean Program kit that comes with protein powder for shakes and supplements, but I'm not into dieting as a capitalistic industry?? If that even makes sense?? I do feel like Dr. Junger's no-no list includes juuuust enough foods that it almost forces you to be dependent on buying their products for support. But I'm a stubborn lady and knew I could do this on my own for less than their $500 package.
When my dad and I tried this cleanse back when I was a sophomore, we only did it for a week and I felt great afterwards! I've always thought about trying it again, and due to pandemic-induced circumstances, I thought now would be a good time to give it another go.
Going into the cleanse I was a little scared because on several occasions I've tried to go two weeks without sugar and have never been able to make it past a week. I'm already gluten free so I wasn't worried about that, but the cravings for other foods!! Wasn't too worried about coffee or alcohol though. For religious/personal reasons I don't do that stuff. But the other stuff. I was so nervous. But also excited. I know I should avoid sugar and have been suspecting I'm sensitive to night shades... so I said a lot of prayers going into this week. Now, a week has elapsed. I've stuck to the cleanse more or less... full disclosure: I've ingested a couple items of food on the no-no list, but just as ingredients in other food (e.g. canola oil in my Trader Joe's vegan ranch, red pepper and pork casing in a CHOMP turkey jerky stick, banana in my Jamba Juice smoothie). Some of these slip ups were accidental. Some were on purpose because food options at the time were limited (sometimes I don't have time to pack a lunch before work and then am left with what's at Trader Joe's. Cause that's where I work.) I haven't beat myself up too much about said slip ups and hopped right back on the bandwagon afterwards!
ANYWAY. Here's what's gone down the first week of my Clean Program trial:
Days 1-4 (Friday-Monday) - Honestly not much to report. I started getting momentum making recipes I'd gathered beforehand and getting myself a good stock of leftovers:) (I LOVE LEFTOVERS) I did notice that I was bloated consistently, and tired more often than not even though I was getting an extra hour or two of sleep each night. I usually get 8 and I was getting between 9 and 10. Sunday, we did have family over for dinner and I easily modified the menu to fit my dietary needs! Success!!!
Day 5 (Tuesday) - I was tired and fatigued and all that jazz in the morning, but that didn't stop me from going on a hike in 95+ degree weather *exasperated emoji*. I ended the day with a massive dehydration headache. I chugged 1.5 bottles of water before bed and ended up having to go to the bathroom at 2:00am. That was fun. I still woke up with a headache. The good news is, I went out for ice cream with my hiking buddies after the hike and I abstained from ice cream!! Ice cream + friends is usually recipe for a slip-up for me, but when we were at the ice cream place I could already feel my headache coming on and I figured adding sugar to the mix would only make me feel worse. And my friends didn't even give me any grief about it (that's how you know they're real friends *winking emoji*). Another side note; my I consumed, perdón, I mean drank my dinner suuuuper late. Because we got back from hiking so late (it was a 2 hour drive there and back) I wasn't able to drink it until after 10:00pm . I wanted to make a smoothie at home, but my family goes to bed pretty early. My dad said smoothie making hours end at 9:00pm unless my littlest brother was okay with me making a smoothie later. My littlest brother gave me the ixnay over text on making a smoothie at 10:30pm, so I made an emergency stop on my way home from hiking at a local grocery store. After perusing their juice section, the only kosher smoothie for me was a C-boost smoothie made by Bolthouse Farms. IT WAS SO SWEET. It was made from ingredients on the good list, but they were all fruit juices from concentrate and MAN. Who knew taste buds could change over just a 5 day period?
Day 6 (Wednesday) - I woke up with the same ol' dehydration headache from the day before. I drank 5 bottles of water probably before 11:00am. My headache was still there! I wanted to avoid taking ibuprofen, but ended up taking some right before work, because I knew work would be miserable if my head was pounding the whole shift. At work I started eyeing our display of mixed nut butter in a way I never had before and knew that my body was craving P R O T E I N. So I satiated those cravings with some Chomp sticks and cashews at dinner at work. I had been planning to eat a liquid dinner, but felt sooooo much better after getting some protein in me. Even if some of that protein was tainted with a pork casing and red pepper *eek emoji*.
Day 7 (Thursday) - Felt more bloated than usual and a tad gassy. Planning on investing in vitamin supplements tomorrow. B12, D3 and Milk Thistle *thumbs up emoji*
Overall - I haven't craved sugar or other no-no foods as much as I thought I would. Making my own meals is easier than I thought it would be (not in a financial way, but in a physical way.) I still have bloating, which is a bummer because that's the number one thing I was hoping to lose during this cleanse. I think my skin is clearing up? It was very much the same for the first 5 days, but day 7 I started noticing maybe some improvements. More than anything, I feel like I've learned to listen to my body more. I can tell better when I actually need a snack or when I just want to eat when I'm bored. I can tell when my body needs protein or water etc. etc. etc. ALSO. I have this condition. Eosinophilic esophagitis is what it's called. Long story short: my throat constricts when I eat my trigger foods: gluten or sugar. And it usually makes a sound when it happens. My throat has made no such noises, I've had no acid reflux, and it's been so easy to swallow everything I've eaten! WIN!
Helpful Resources -
- Blogs written by bloggers who have blogged about their experience on the Clean Program. I just google "Clean Program blog" or "Clean Program review" and a whole slew of results come up.
- Articles like this providing the voice of dissent.
- Pinterest (for Clean Program approved recipes. Here's my Clean Program board.)
- My cousin Emily's blog. Her chocolate brownie hummus recipe HIT THE SPOT today. I just subbed the maple syrup for date syrup and was good to go *thumbs up emoji*
- My two years worth of Trader Joe's product knowledge from working there. They have made eating Clean without cooking toooo much way easy. My favorite products from them thus far: brown rice tortillas, brown rice pasta, vegan pesto, vegan ranch, green goddess dressing, all the produce, sparkling coconut yuzu drink, nut butters, veggie root chips, freeze dried mango, dried just mangos, hummus, mango fruit leather buttons, frozen cauliflower rice, protein powder and much more!! I'M IN LOVE WITH TRADER JOE'S AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT *heart emoji*
Wish me luck on week two *peace sign emoji*
