Doing a juice cleanse is never something I’d considered in the past. I thought they were basically a quick-fix diet and as losing weight isn’t something I need to do I’d dismissed them. However, recently faced with some health issues which seem to stem from digestive difficulties, I was forced to go back on my judgement. 

In my research on how to heal my gut I found juice cleanses recommended again and again. The principle of juicing is that fruit and vegetable juices are a concentrated source of nutrients which are easy for the body to absorb. Not having to digest food saves energy and so the body can get to work releasing toxins, repairing damaged tissues and cells and resetting your gut bacteria.

It sounded good to me and I decided I was prepared to give it a go! 

Raw & Juicy, who I went with, are a home juice cleanse delivery company, the first of their kind in the UK and set up nearly 10 years ago, so I felt in very safe hands. You’re also assigned a programme coordinator for the duration of your cleanse who you can contact any time should you have any questions or worries. 

There are various packages to choose from- from 1-day to 14-day cleanses or you can have a bespoke package put together  if none of those on offer suit you. I went for a 3-day alkaline cleanse which is more veg than fruit-heavy and designed to neutralize acidity and bring the body back to balance. I figured 3 days without solid food didn’t sound too intimidating!

It was pretty exciting when my “goodie bag” arrived on the evening before my first day! 6 colourful bottles and several other “treats” too:

Any package you order consists of five 500ml/18oz bottles of fresh juice (never frozen and made with 90% organic ingredients) and a bottle of almond milk (with optional vegan protein powder to mix in). I needn’t have worried about getting hungry, as, although it’s all liquid, this is actually a lot to consume. In fact I didn’t end up needing all the juice every day. It’s definitely not about starving your body but more about flooding it with high quality nutrients!

Along with the juice and nut milk, you get: Mega Green Mix, A serving of Vegetable Bouillon, Kelp Supplements,  Aloe Vera Shots,  Lemon Juice Shots, Psyllium Husk, Herbal / Alkaline Teas, Bicarbonate of Soda, Activated Charcoal, Dead Sea Salts, an Exfoliating Soap Bag, and an Enema Kit. All of these aid in the cleansing process (Full instructions for how to take/use them come with the programme).

So how did I get on?

Really well! I haven’t been a big juice drinker in the past as I don’t have my own juicer and  I can’t always get fresh pressed vegetable juices wherever I am so I was a little apprehensive about how I’d like the taste. But they were really delicious. You can specify ingredients you don’t want to include from the outset so I ruled out fennel as I’ve had bad experiences of it in juice before. It did also turn out that I wasn’t keen on tomato juice either… Excluding that, I enjoyed almost all of them- personal favourites were “Beetroot, Carrot & Lemon”, “Carrot, Celery, Ginger, Kale, Lime, Parsnip & Sweet Potato” and “Carrot, Grapefruit & Cayenne”, oh and the almond milk was divine.

As I said, I didn’t have problems with feeling hungry though I did miss being in my kitchen! My energy levels were pretty good too and I got on with day-to-day life as normal, though I deliberately didn’t plan anything too strenuous. The one thing which was a bit tricky was socializing. I went out for a “meal” with a friend everyday during the cleanse, and, though I didn’t mind the not eating part so much, it did feel slightly awkward just sipping on herbal tea whilst my dining companion tucked into a plateful. 

I won’t go into details (!) but the home enema wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought either and I actually found it really beneficial. 

I ended my 3 days feeling like I could easily carry on if it weren’t for missing cooking and the social limitations, but the short experience really did work wonders for me. Again, not wanting to go into too much detail, my digestive system is working so much more efficiently! It feels quite a miracle! My skin also cleared up considerably too. 

I would definitely recommend the experience to anyone feeling in need of a boost. Even if you’re eating a super healthy diet, the toxins that modern life bombards us with daily are unavoidable so you may may well benefit from giving your body the chance to recover by doing a short juice cleanse. 

Raw & Juicy deliver free to all London postcodes but will deliver outside London and the UK for an additional fee. 

Disclaimer: I was provided with a complimentary juice cleanse for review purposes, but, as always, all opinions are my own.

I’d love to hear your experiences with juicing! Have you ever done a juice cleanse? Or do you juice regularly? 

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