Day One Easy Love

In my efforts to focus on nutrition in 2012, I started a 5 day raw foods/juice cleanse yesterday - it's the Easy Love cleanse from Organic Avenue.  The way it works: each morning for the next five days Organic Avenue will deliver all the foods and juices I will need for the day.  At night I leave the empty juice bottles outside my apartment door and the delivery person from Organic Avenue will take them when he or she drops off my next delivery.

There are 7 "meals" for each day and the meals consist of juices, elixirs and raw foods.

I opened my apartment door and found this waiting for me at 8am:

Everything was well packaged and clearly labeled. 

Here is a group shot of all the goodies:

The night before my first delivery I received an email from Organic Avenue with instructions and nutritional information about each item.  My mantra for the day is to be "I am happy, I am joyous, I am free."

Throughout the day, I am to think about this: "The only thing you have to remember is how fortunate you are." Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

I like that there is a spiritual/emotional side to this cleanse. 

On to my review of each item!  Each item is to be consumed in order and the order is explained in Organic Avenue's email the night before.

#1  The chlorophyll elixir. 

I drank this like a shot and it tasted like grass. Not terribly unpleasant, but a little gag inducing for first thing in the morning.  It is very (very) dark green.  

Here is the empty bottle so you can compare the two.

Within a few minutes of drinking this, I felt very alert.  As though I had taken a shot of espresso instead. I was very worried that I would not be able to function in the morning without coffee and had considered that if need be, I would go ahead and have coffee during this cleanse.  I am happy to report, it was not necessary today.  According to Organic Avenue, "chlorophyll has the power to regenerate and cleanse your body at molecular and cellular levels. It's known to help fight infection, heal wounds, and promote the health of the circulatory, digestive, immune, and detoxification systems. Chlorophyll consumption also increases the number of red blood cells, thus improving how the body absorbs and uses oxygen." Who knew?

#2  Master Tonic: alkaline water, lemon agave syrup and cayenne.  I think this is similar to the lemonade/cayenne tonic that people drink on the master cleanse.  This was just ok.  I think on a really hot day, this would be delicious ice-cold. But since we are facing an arctic cold front right now, I did not want to drink anything that was ice cold, so I let it stand at room temperature for a while before finishing it.  

According to Organic Avenue, "purified alkaline water hydrates cells, lemon rinses organs, spicy cayenne burns out toxins." The tonic itself is spicy and tangy.  Don't let these little jars fool you - they hold a substantial amount of liquid (16 ounces to be exact).

#3 Carrot juice.  This was eye opening and absolutely delicious.  This juice was earthy and slightly sweet.  Within minutes of drinking this, I felt a slight buzz.  Maybe it's all the nutrients in carrot juice, but I felt really great.   I started getting hungry soon thereafter and it was a good thing that my first solid food was up next.

#4  Caesar Palm Salad: Olive Oil, Miso, Sea Palm, Scallion, Sesame Seed, Seaweed. This did not look very appetizing to me, but I was getting so hungry I did not care.  Boy was I wrong - this salad was delicious! The dressing was savory and the salad has these crunchy things (you can see them in that small container on the lower right side of the salad box) that are soooo good.  They add a nice touch of flavor and crunch to the salad.  Once I ate the salad, my hunger pangs went away.

#5 Lasagna: Tomato, Olive Oil, Zucchini, Basil, Pine Nuts, Sun Dried Tomato, Oregano, Walnut, Cabbage, Bell Pepper, yellow squash.  Very good!  Very flavorful and had some good texture to it - I let it stand at room temperature for about an hour before eating.

About an hour and a half after having the lasagna, I went to a Physique 57 class.  I had heard from others on similar cleanses that they did not notice much of a difference in energy levels when exercising and so I was expecting the same.  The first half of the class, I did not notice much of a difference.  And then during the second half of class I got a great wave of energy.  The class was still tough, but I was able to really power my way through the ab work and planks.

#6 Chia Seed Tapioca Vanilla: brazil nuts, Chia Seed.  I happen to love tapioca pudding, so I enjoyed this treat.  It wasn't too sweet and had a nutty taste to it. It was good, but not exceptional. 

#7 Cashew Hemp Mylk: Alkaline Water, Dates, Irish Moss, Cashew, Hemp Seeds, Himalayan Salt.  This was the most filling of all the juices I had today. It was creamy, slightly gritty and a bit sweet.  I really enjoyed it and it filled me up.  I did not got to bed hungry. 

End of day thoughts:  I feel good.  No prolonged hunger pangs.  No headaches.  I have good energy. I think I had about 2,000 calories today - which helped me work out as usual. I'm excited for day two!