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This juice is pure perfection. I dare you not to love it.

All that I really want to say about day 2 (which was yesterday) is WATERMELON LIME juice. Oh my yum. It was yesterday’s juice number two, taking the place of day number 1′s Pineapple Ginger. It was wonderful. The other swap was that the final juice was Brazil Nut Milk instead of the Almond Milk. I am surprised to say I think I actually preferred the Brazil Nut Milk. It was rich and creamy and I’ve been craving it ever since.

I unfortunately have to report that I’m coming down with a cold (typically I would think this is a detox symptom, but I spent 40 hours in a hospital last week so I’m 98% sure it’s a little bug) so today I added some homemade vegetable and miso soup to my cleanse. My throat is bothering me and I really felt the need for something beyond tea to warm me up and help clear me out. I’ll share that recipe soon because I invented it on the fly, and it turned out really well! As far as the numbers game goes, today the scale showed another 1.5 pound loss bringing me to 8 pounds lighter after 2 days of Cooler Cleanse juices and nothing else. I’ll be curious to see how my soup affects the numbers tomorrow. I’m ok with whatever it says. The Cooler Cleanse people do not recommend adding solid food mind you, and usually I am a super rules follower about such matters, but I’m working on being less rigid and more intuitive. Now I’m going to get some extra sleep and let my nutrient-filled and juiced-up body do a little healing!

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Here's a pic from the Cooler Cleanse website. You get one bag just like this for each day of juice cleansing. They are little and cute and have an ice pack to keep everything fresh.

At the beginning of this year I shared that I was preparing for my own pregnancy and birth by creating and committing to some specific health, fitness, and overall life goals to make sure I am happy, healthy, and glowey when the time comes. I called this effort Project Glow 2010, and just decided to add a 5-day juice cleanse to the mix. I am somewhat of a juice cleanse veteran, and last year I even did a 19 day “juice feast” during which I had nothing but highly-nutritious and mostly green juices.  It was a great experience, but to be honest, since that time I’ve been a bit leery of cleansing, and any other dramatic eating program. I realized that in the past few years I got in the habit of using extreme diet changes (including juicing and  cleanses) as a weight management Hail Mary. I was either fasting or feasting, and what could have been healthy practices became part of a yo-yo dieting debacle. I totally know better, and it completely snuck up on me. As did a whole bunch of pounds. I’ve really spent the last year plan-less, somewhat afraid of anything resembling this kooky dynamic I had created.

That said, I have had amazing health benefits from various cleansing and detox programs, benefits I could really use now. When I did the 19 day juice feast my period that had been wacky for years became like clockwork, as well as PMS-free and headache-free, within 4 days. A cough I’d had for months disappeared, as did some reflux that had been troubling me and a whole slew of other physical annoyances that told me I was not in optimal health. I think I’m finally back in the right frame of mind to use cleansing as a short term medicine to cure what ails me, while committing to a healthy balanced lifestyle the rest of the time (free from the pre-fast feast). So sensing that the time is right for a little healing, I reached out the the folks at the Cooler Cleanse to help me with a 5-day juice cleanse.

The Cooler Cleanse was co-founded by Salma Hayak, a holistic mama in her own right. I got excited about it because I had read a number of reviews that said that of all the cleanse companies, Cooler Cleanse had the best green juice. Well, that good press plus the fact that the Cooler Cleanse is a little less expensive than other juice cleanses (Blue Print Cleanse, Organic Avenue) inspired me to give it a go. I started the cleanse yesterday, and here’s what I think so far:

I picked up my juice at the West Village location at 171 West 4th Street, between Cornelia & Jones streets.

The Pick Up

You can have the cleanse delivered (Cooler Cleanse delivers nationwide via FedEx Priority Overnight Shipping), which if you have the extra money, or aren’t in NYC is totally worth it. I decided to pick it up (which is free) at one of 3 Juice Generation locations in Manhattan where you can grab your cleanse anytime from 10 am – 8 pm, any day of the week. I received my first 3 days worth of organic, unpasturized, raw juice yesterday, and will pick up the last 2 days on Monday. The big drawback to picking it up, which did not occur to me until I was in Juice Generation, is that Juice Generation sells super delicious muffins, sandwiches, and soups. I used to live around the block from a Juice Generation and their pumpkin muffin and vegetarian soup were frequently in my lunch rotation. So if you’re like me, get in and get out, and try not to peep the product lest you’re foiled before you even begin. Another important note, 3 days of juice weighs 22 pounds, which is serious business. I brought a backpack and put 2 of the 3 coolers in there and it helped immensely.

Three days of cooler cleanse juices all lined up in my fridge. What you see is the first two for each day side by side (juices 3 - 6 are behind).

The Juices

The juices are numbered in the order you are to drink them, which is handy and keeps you from drinking the very best first and then kicking yourself for the rest of the day. I love a tasty juice, and consider myself somewhat of an aficionado, that said I have also consumed tons of non-delicious items in the name of health. Here’s what I found: PURE DELICIOUSNESS. I honestly cannot believe how pleasant all of the juices were. Not a clunker in the bunch, nothing I had to just get down knowing it is good for me. Here’s the breakdown of what was in my day 1 cooler:

Juice 1: Essential Green

This juice was light, mild, and for lack of a better word, nice. Yes it was green, but it didn’t taste oh-so-green, which I appreciated. I also love that it includes dandelion greens, which are great for cleansing the kidneys and liver. This was the easiest drinking green juice I’ve ever had.

Juice 2: Pineapple and Ginger

This juice was lovely. It definitely had some heat from the ginger, which is wonderful at this time of the year. Sometimes pineapple can be syrupy sweet, but this wasn’t. It was perfectly balanced.

Ingredients: cucumber, celery, parsley, spinach, kale, dandelion greens, watercress, pear, lemon, ginger.

Juice 3: Essential Green

Same as before–a minimum of 2 green drinks on any juice cleanse is super important.

Juice 4: Young Coconut Water

I am a huge promoter of coconut water (just ask my clients) and this one did not disappoint. It was a bit better than the kind you can buy at the grocery, I’m sure it is because it is fresher.

Juice 5: Essential Red

This is the juice I was most worried about. I have never liked any of my juice concoctions that have included beet, so I thought this might be “the one.” The one I had to just get down, and get on with it. Nope! It was so good. It was at this point that I was like, come on Cooler Cleanse…where have you been all my life?

Juice 6: Almond Milk

Well, you just can’t go wrong here. I love almond milk, and use it as my milk of choice already for cereal, smoothies, baking, etc… Ending the day with something a little richer, and that has some good fat in it, is really a wonderful treat.

I couldn't help myself and took a big sip before I clicked the pic on this one!

Overall Impression

I am starving, but I am in love. My body has not yet adjusted to the liquid only, and no, I did not bound out of bed this morning full of energy. My cravings are still really distracting (I have never wanted a bowl of brown rice, broccoli, scallions, carrots, and almonds, with lemon-garlic-tahini dressing so badly in my entire life). That said, did you hear how healthy that craving is? In terms of weight I am down a shocking 6.5 pounds today. What that tells me is that I had been eating something that had me retaining water. The key at the end will be to figure out what that was, and to keep avoiding it. I knew something was going on because at about 8 pm I started diuresing (a nursey word for peeing) like crazy, and aside from the juice I had not done a great job of having additional water or tea all day. So I have to say that day one, though full of cravings and temptations, was a big success. I have 4 more to go, and will keep you posted!

*NOTE FOR PREGNANT MAMAS: I want to be clear that I do not recommend juice cleansing/fasting for pregnant mamas. I think it can be great for mamas-to-be like me who are endeavoring on their own project glow. What I do recommend if it appeals to you, is that pregnant mamas add juices, in particular green juices, to an otherwise healthy balanced diet. They are also great healthy-diet additions post delivery, especially for mamas who delivered via caesarean. In that case, green juices are more important than ever as they help with tissue repair.

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