{Green Smoothie Cleanse} Three days of smoothie loving

I love smoothies. Can’t you tell? In fact, even though I spent three days drinking nothing but smoothies, I still woke up craving one! That’s love, right there. A lot of you were wondering just exactly how a Green Smoothie Cleanse goes, so I figured I would give you the full rundown of my three days of green goodness.

 I decided to do this cleanse as a healthy Spring cleanup, so to speak. Cleaning out my system of all the yucky toxins I may have been holding on during the winter and getting ready for a fresh, healthy spring. I have done cleanses in the past and received some flak for doing them, but I truly believe doing a short cleanse a couple times a year is a great way to revitalize the body, detoxify and as long as are done in the proper way, are incredibly healthful. Of course the cleanse I did was not only nutritionist recommended, but written by one- so I would suggest you consult with your own nutritionist (or get Meghan’s program!) before doing your own.

{Green Smoothie Cleanse}

Day 1

[Breakfast]

The first day of my cleanse  was probably the easiest, because I didn’t really know what to expect (this was my first time doing a smoothie-only cleanse!). I woke up much the same way I do every day; started with some lemon water spiked with cayenne and a green juice while reading some blogs and then downed a Thin Mint Smoothie before heading to the coffee shop to do some work.

[Lunch]

I sipped on an XL peppermint tea while at the shop; I was sad I didn’t have my usual chai but the tea was good and I didn’t miss it too much. Nick and I had planned on going to the market afterwards, so we stopped at Cruda Cafe for a lunchtime treat. My smoothie had kale, sprouts, banana, coconut oil and E3 Live.

{Side note- if any of Nick’s family is reading this- YES, he drank green vegetables in a smoothie. Crazy, right? I promise I haven’t turned him into a hippie.}

[Snack]

After our market adventures, I made my way to the library for a few hours. This was the ONLY time in three days I had a hard time with the cleanse. You see, I’m a HUGE book nerd and proceeded to spend three hours with nothing but water at the library. Not a great idea! I was famished by the time I got home, but once I quickly devoured a Creamsicle smoothie I was good.

Creamsicle Smoothie snack
-1/4 avocado
-1 orange
-1 cup nut milk
-handful spinach
-pinch stevia
-vanilla extract

[Dinner]

Not long after, dinnertime rolled around. I whipped up what I like to call a “Soupie”- a smoothie that eats like a soup! My first night soupie was of the curried variety, inspired by one from the Green Smoothie Cleanse e-book. Mine contained:
-1/4 cup cashews
-4 stalks celery
-4 carrots
-2 large handfuls kale
-handful parsley
-1″ piece of ginger
-small clove garlic
-curry powder and sea salt, to taste
-hot water to thin
(Serves 2)

Easy peasy! Day one, done and done.

Day 2 

[Breakfast]

Day two proved to be slightly harder, but not too bad. For breakfast I made Nick and I an Apple Pie Smoothie. Our contained:
-2 apples
-2 frozen bananas
-2 stalks celery
-1 date
-1/4 cup almonds
-2 scoops sun warrior vanilla
-3 big handfuls spinach
-3/4 cup almond milk, 3/4 cup water
-cinnamon and nutmeg, to taste

[Lunch]

Think it’s not possible to eat out while on a cleanse? Think again! For my “mother’s day present” (fur-mommy, that is) Nick took me out for brunch smoothies at Fresh! I got the Fruity green, which contained a bunch of fruit- pineapple, banana and mango with spinach, sprouts and green powder. I got the whopping 32-ouncer, which held me over throughout the afternoon.

[Snack]

Sunday afternoon was a little funny, because I was helping out at the Love in the Kitchen Academy for a workshop, and resisting the delicious (healthy!) muffins and cookies that are always around was super hard! But luckily I have the best boss ever, and Meghan made sure to throw some kale in the hot cacao just for me, so I had a brown-green smoothie snack. 

[Dinner]

Nick wanted another “soupie” for dinner, because he felt like they ate more like a meal than a drink, so I made a raw creamy lemon basil “soup”.
-1 head of broccoli, chopped
-1/2 a ripe avocado
-2 carrots
- 2 stalks celery
-3 big handfuls kale
-2 big handfuls spinach
-big handful sprouts
-juice of one lemon
-2 tbsp raw tahini
-1 small clove garlic
-1 tsp dried basil
-pinch oregano
-salt to taste
-hot water to thin

That one was definitely a winner! Super delicious and felt like a “real” meal.

Day 3

By day three I was really, really aching to chew something. Meghan suggested I make a cacao treat with ice instead of water for a snack- which I did, and made all the difference! But I still couldn’t wait to get my chew on

[Breakfast]

Breakfast was a simple berry cacao drink for the husband and myself.
-Frozen banana
-Fresh strawberries
-Frozen blueberries
-1/4 cup cacao
-1 scoop protein powder of choice
-2 tbsp hemp seeds
-almond milk and water
-spinach and kale

[Lunch]

Since I worked all morning, I was happy to have lunch ready in a flash. This one turned out to be one of the best smoothies all weekend! I made a Cucumber Mango Cilantro smoothie that was so good, you’re just going to have to wait a few days for it

[Snack]

Even though my cacao “ice cream” was a delicious treat, I was pretty antsy all afternoon and really wanted something to chew on! I was never hungry, just craving something to sink my teeth into. I resisted and sipped on lots of tea instead, planning out what I was going to eat the next day instead. I also had a green juice before yoga.

[Dinner]

The plus side of making smoothies for dinner? Takes no time at all when you’re tired after yoga! I made sure to have extra fuel before my vinyasa class because even though my body felt full and energized, I knew this type of cleanse was a new experience for it and I didn’t want to run out of energy! I felt perfectly fine through the class and a little hungry after, so I whipped up my last savory smoothie of the cleanse.
-4 stalks celery
-3 carrots
-2 tomatoes
-2 big leaves kale
-2 large handfuls spinach
-1 handful parsley
-2 tbsp raw tahini
-garlic powder, to taste
-cayenne, to taste
-hot water

This one almost tasted like a V-8! However I we did have a bit of a funny experience with it- it was too thin so I added some psyllium husk to thicken and it made it almost like Jell-o! So funny! We both enjoyed it nonetheless, and decided our next mission is to make vegan jello with psyillium. Ha!

So there you have it! Three days of smoothie loving. An interesting experience, no doubt- but a great one at that! I feel energized and re-charged. So glad I did it!

A few tips from my own green smoothie cleanse experience: 

• Keep fueled! Smoothie are filling, but being a more usable source of energy, you’ll burn through them quicker than solid food that takes longer to digest. Don’t be afraid you’re eating “too much”. Your body needs fuel! I ate 3-4 smoothies plus green juices and fresh almond milk (I didn’t post everything I had here!) all day long.
• Go easy on the exercise, but get it in! Exercise is super important for sweating out toxins, but I felt strenuous exercise felt a little too hard on only smoothies.  We are all different, so it may work for you, but in my experience doing lots of yoga and light walking worked the best!
• Water, water, water! You are taking in a LOT of fiber. Drink up that water!
• Temptations will pass. It’s only three days, you can do it! Have some tea, go for a walk, drink some water. Temptations will pass. And when in doubt, make some pudding or cacao “ice cream”.

If you did the cleanse- How did it go for you? Have any good smoothie recipes to share? 

xo

Tagged as: breakfast, cleanse, dinner, lunch, raw, smoothie, vegan, vegetarian