For an entire week, I tried this cleanse. The idea was to cut out all processed foods for a week, and consume only smoothies and salads. I was only allowed a full meal on the first and last day. To keep myself on track, I followed this chart:

The detox smoothies were described as “a powerful weight loss tool that you can and should use every day.” To make them, I blended a mixture of fruit, kale, and almond milk. These were supposed to cleanse my system of all processed foods. The point of the “big bowl” salads was to make them so overpoweringly large that they were difficult to finish. The dinners were the same as the other meals; they just had to be made from exclusively unprocessed items. As a vegetarian, this cleanse seemed fairly simple to accomplish, as the meals generally didn’t call for meat. However, meat could be substituted in if needed.

This was my menu for the week:

Day One

Breakfast: Smoothie; 1 banana, 10 strawberries, 1 cup of blueberries, 2 handfuls of kale, 1 cup almond milk.

Lunch: Salad; pinch of sprouts, 1/2 cup mushrooms, pinch of pumpkin seeds, and a sesame ginger dressing.

Dinner: I cheated and had fried rice and a dessert, as I wasn’t at my own house.

Day Two

I had the same breakfast and lunch, but for dinner I may or may not have cheated again with rice and two pieces of candy. It’s a hard adjustment to go straight from regular food to just smoothies and salads.

Day Three

I had the same smoothie for breakfast and lunch, but for dinner, it changed a bit. I had been getting migraines for the previous two days, and this day was no different. On top of that, I was exhausted and dizzy and just downright cranky. Due to this, I decided to give up on the cleanse and eat a real meal.

Overall, I did not have a great experience with this cleanse. I did feel healthier in a way, but the negative side effects were too much for me to handle. I was unable to function for school, and I was afraid that if I were to continue, it would affect the work I was completing.

I would not recommend that anyone try this because there are many healthier ways to lose weight and be healthy. It seems easy at first to give up food for a week, but I would rather eat healthy real food and lose weight over a longer period of time than starve myself to do it quickly.

One thing this did do for me, however, was open my eyes to how much junk food I generally consume. I may not be overweight, but I am far from healthy. As a result of this, I am going to make an attempt to cut out most of the bad foods from my diet.

This cleanse works like a charm for some people, but unfortunately, it was just not for me. If you want to lose weight, steer clear of cleanses, and just work on real dieting and exercise. When you diet, put safety first over weight loss and you will find that you feel much more healthy and happy.