As I blogged about in February, I did the three day BluePrint cleanse in March through NYC’s online supermarket, FreshDirect. Previously, this popular cleanse was only available through BluePrint, but they’ve since rolled out BluePrintJuice at select locations. Juice cleanses are controversial. I think weight loss shouldn’t be the motivation behind it. I’d been eating poorly, not working out, and working too many hours in a cubicle, so I thought of it as a nice kickstart to a healthier lifestyle.
Did I like BluePrintJuice? If I did another one, I would buy juices from Liquiteria, which is a popular local juice shop. They have fresh juices and bottled juices. The green juice is the basis of all levels of the cleanse and the BPC version was definitely hard to down.
During the three days, I felt less distracted by the heaviness of carbs. I’m not a heavy coffee drinker, but I missed that little kick in the morning. It was also nice not to have to think about what to eat every day. I even went to dinner with a friend the first night at a local Italian eatery — she ate pasta and I drank juice!
Your daily juice plan for the level 1 renovation cleanse is 6 juices in the order of the green, gold, green, yellow, red, and white. I brought a wrong juice to work the first day and asked BPC through their Facebook if it was ok if I slightly tweaked the order. They said it was fine. I drank all 6 the first day but gave up finishing all 6 on day 2 and 3 and went to bed early.
From a cost perspective, FreshDirect was very convenient and cheaper. Although, if you live or work near a Whole Foods or a market that carries the juice, that could be equally convenient. FreshDirect has discounts that vary from 20% to 30% off. I believe the daily cost through BluePrint is $65. FreshDirect costs $45.50/day for three days. If you do more than three days, it is about $42 based on the level 1 renovation cleanse. As you get higher on the levels, the more green replaces the other colors. Another word of caution, FreshDirect omitted one red juice and gave me an extra green. I ended up drinking the extra green on the fourth day, for fun. Maybe it was just an honest mistake, but they’re pretty bad at owning up to their mistakes and responding to emails.
I read a quote from a doctor once — if everyone woke up and drank lemon water every morning, he would be out of business. In a similar vein, whenever I felt sick, my mom would make me drink freshly squeezed lemonade. Be sure not to let hot water touch the lemons — heat kills nutrients! Upon further research, I found that lemon water is alkalizing to the body. When you drink it first thing in the morning in room temperature water, it cleanses your system from the overnight buildup and stimulates your metabolism and digestive system to get your body moving for the day. I drink it in the morning, but don’t always have it first thing due to the morning hustle and bustle to get to work.
Eventually, I will add raw honey to the morning mix, which is also supposed to be great.
I got some bottled juices from Liquiteria. Liquiteria‘s juices are much yummier than BluePrint Cleanse’s! Aside from that, I’ve been trying to drink a ton of water. I typically drink at least 2 liters a day and lately I’ve been adding fresh lemon and strawberries to my pretty double-walled Bodum glass at work. (Hint: Amazon typically has good deals on Bodum.)
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Healthy and stylish Bodum!
i started making my own veggie/fruit smoothies. (kind of like your juices). i drink them every now and then each week. when you put them into liquid form, you can eat so much more!! i think these juice things are helpful. but not all the time.