As I’m typing this, visions of all sorts of snacks are floating through my mind. It’s amazing how responsive our minds are to the foods we typically eat from day to day. Right now, it’s telling me that I’m supposed to have an Elevate Me bar, because that’s what I always have.
I’m on a three day Reboot with Joe cleanse, recommended by my friend Shauna who has done one (or two?) of these cleanses before. It was on her recommendation that I buy a Juicer and while I’ve made a few juices in the past, this baby is going to get a work out over the next few days. I’ve seen all sorts of products you can purchase, if you don’t have a juicer, you can purchase juice cleanses on line, like this one from Moon Juice:
If you live in Calgary, A Ladybug and Cafe offers the Delicate & Raw line of Juicing products and more.
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If you’re short on time, these products would be the way to go, but with a little planning you can shop in advance and know exactly what is going into your juice and your body. If you can find organic produce, that would be the best way to go.
You’ll be amazed at the volume of vegetables and fruits you consume in just three days. I didn’t look at calories, I looked at how my body would be consuming 100% vegetables and fruits for three days and couldn’t wait to see how my body and mind would respond.
Reboot with Joe has a color coded plan that let’s you select the smoothie recipes that appeal to you. You print out their shopping list and tally up the groceries you need for the next three days. I let Katie select her favs and make our list, then I did the shopping for us. I had to get our juicer manual out, it doesn’t matter how often I juice, I forget how to assemble the parts. We also printed out the food prep list. Most are just wash, chop and push through, but some, like lemons, require more detailed preparation that I usually forget.
And.. I had my coffee every morning, there are just some things I refuse to give up.
Day One
Breakfast
Bet you thought this was orange juice!
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- 6 carrots
- 4 apples
- 2 in (5 cm) piece of fresh root ginger
- Rinse carrots and quarter. Cut apples into quarters, remove core. Peel ginger.
- Add to juicer, alternating vegetables.
This breakfast juice was lovely, bright, cheerful and the ginger added quite a bit of zing. I might add a little less next time. You’re supposed to exercise less, so I skipped the gym and walked Bella. Once we got back, we prepped for lunch:
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Ok, we discovered we only needed half as many kale leaves as you see here, 8 instead of 16 because our leaves were massive!
Mid-Morning
90kCal per serving
Drink 16 oz (500 ml) coconut water
I forgot to drink my mid-morning coconut water, big mistake!
Lunch
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- 2 apples
- 4 handfuls of spinach
- 16 kale leaves (Tuscan cabbage)
- 1 cucumber
- 4 celery sticks
- 2 lemons
- Core and quarter apples. Rinse and dry spinach and kale leaves, cut cucumber in half lengthwise and then quarter into wedges. Rinse and cut celery into quarters. Rinse, dry the celery and quarter. Scrape the thin yellow skin off the lemons, leaving the pith. Quarter then remove seeds.
- Add to your juicer, alternating ingredients.
There was a ton of foam when we made this one.. I mean a ton and I have no idea where that came from but I suspect the kale. We scraped some off and kept going. Lunch tasted like a mouthful of liquid salad, I’m not gonna lie, for a minute I wanted to add salt and pepper to it. But I stirred it up better, the lemon kicked in and it was more palatable. Not as “yummy” as breakfast, but it was full of flavor.
BUT, right now I’d give anything for just a wee bite of a Cliff Bar. And I’m thinking about how I could sneak some chocolate into the house. Seriously!! Half way through day one and I’m planning my deception! My tummy is rumbling.. and it was so full not too long ago! I’m off to the grocery store for blueberries and a lime that I forgot to buy yesterday, how on earth am I going to get past all that food on display!! Aaargh!! How many days did I say I would do this??
Well, this snack was so fantastic, I didn’t care about the Cliff Bar any more! The sweet pineapple was balanced with the tart of green apple and the surprise of heat from the jalapeno made it my favorite juice so far.
Mid-Afternoon Snack
This was an awesome favorite of ours, to get the recipe, click the link below:
Mexi Cali Juice, Reboot with Joe
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And.. we went back to choosing a nutritious green juice for supper, I actually preferred this Garden Variety recipe more than the Green Lemonade we’d had for lunch. I think I might like my greens without the added lemon. Recipes with only 4 ingredients are also so much easier to whip up, this one is going to be made on Day Two for sure.
Supper
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- 4 apples
- 4 cucumbers
- 16 kale leaves (Tuscan cabbage)
- 2 handfuls of parsley
- Core and quarter the apples. Rinse and cut cucumbers in half lengthwise then quarter into wedges. Rinse and pat dry kale leaves. Rinse and pat dry parsley.
- Add to your juicer, alternating ingredients.
I’m not sure when my headache began, but it was sometime mid afternoon. If you’re going to do a cleanse, you should give up refined carbohydrates and sugars in the days leading up to it. I had also missed drinking my mid-morning coconut water, which would have had electrolytes my body needed! I did keep up water intake, but maybe not enough. Bottom line, I made the Dessert juice and just put it in jars with lids in the fridge for the next day and went to bed.
Dessert
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- watermelon (about 4 cups (400 g/6 oz) chopped)
- 4 cups (550 g/20 oz) blueberries
- 16 chard leaves (silverbeet)
- Remove watermelon rind and white portion, cut into chunks. Rinse and pat dry blueberries. Rinse and pat dry chard leaves.
- Add to juicer, alternating ingredients.
Everything you need to do this cleanse, recipes for a 3 Day Quick Start, 5 Day Jump into Juicing, 10 Day Reboot Lite and 15 Day Juicing Plus are available for free on the Reboot with Joe website. They do offer a 15 or 30 Day Guided Reboot with coaching, but I think this is for a more serious weight loss and nutritional reboot, something we don’t need around here, we’re just trying to be healthier. I did watch Joe’s movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and was impressed by his stamina and desire for change and dramatic results. If you have the time, I highly recommend watching this first. I think anyone with serious lifestyle and nutritional changes needed, he is such an inspiration.
There are a number of Juicers available to purchase, but on Shauna’s recommendation I bought an Omega VRT 350W (w means white). If I could find it, I would have bought stainless steel as I can see the white is becoming a bit stained with green on the inside chute. This was more expensive than other models but I wanted an appliance that was sturdy and wouldn’t be thrown out after a few years. I have to say, we love it, it’s a very powerful juicer!
I’ll be back with Day Two!
If you are looking for a cleanse or just looking for recipes all of these recipes and more can be found at http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/.
I was not hired by or compensated by Reboot with Joe for these posts, the opinions and results expressed here are entirely my own.
Good luck with it! I’m looking forward to hearing how you feel after the cleanse. That sure is a lot of fruit and vegetables. The dessert juice looks and sounds really appealing. Coffee is very hard to give up! xx
Coffee is undeniably something I’m so dependent on.. it’s here for a lifetime, lol!
Good grief! Can I just be with you in spirit? 🙂
Your cleanse is going to be a brilliant my friend, good luck with it!
And I am loving these recipes 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Like Charlie, I too am looking forward to reading about the results of your cleanse. I could give up chocolate but not coffee.
These juices sound wonderful!
You can do this! You just have to get past the first day and they you have the motivation for the 2nd. And I had to do it earlier in the year before the social calendar started picking up. Like a mini home/work retreat. I tried it again a few weeks ago and it just wasn’t the right time and only made it to dinner time when something more important than cleansing came up and it involved food.
I felt great at the end of it- didn’t follow Joe’s exact juices but loved juicing. Can I suggest throwing a little turmeric root in with one of the carrot or orange blends- it’s fantastic. Happy cleansing! xx
Hi Smidge, depending on how much coffee you drank this coffee withdrawal can be quite significant. I had a migraine for almost 2 weeks but now no longer drink coffee but only herbal teas. Good luck with your cleanse! Take care, BAM
I’ve always wanted to do a juice cleanse (maybe a day or two, but not much more than that) but I don’t have a juicer. I actually have a hard time getting rid of any food waste, and love the fiber from the skins of the fruits and leaves!! These juices sound so wonderful though!
This fascinates me, Barb. I’ve never read a personal account like this about going on a fast. I don’t think I could do it. I’d have to avoid going to the grocery or be be found on Day 3 sobbing uncontrollably in a meat department. I just finished a chia pudding, now part of my morning ritual. I think that’s enough for now — but I will cheer you from afar. Go Barb!!!!
🙂
So did you keep it going? Good for you. I am not sure I could do three days. Maybe one…and maybe not without coffee. LOL! Obviously I lack commitment! 🙂
Barbara, thanks for sharing your journey!