Tag Archives: food

I decided to take a risk & try something I’ve always wanted to attempt … a  juice cleanse!

I opted for a 5-day cleanse from Peeled ~ a really cool raw juice & smoothie place in both Evanston and Chicago. They have a ton of juices, smoothies & sorbets and offer a variety of different cleanses.

Juice cleanses are really healthy and not as difficult as you think! They get rid of any toxins in your body & basically kick-start your system. All of the nutrition facts are listed out, so you know exactly how much juicy goodness you’re putting into your body.

There are four juices, 6 per day (pictured above)

Cashew Milk ~ water, cashews, dates, madagascar vanilla, raw organic agave & cinnamon

Green Lantern ~ kale, romaine, spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley, lemon & ginger

Haute Lemonade ~ water, lemon, cayenne pepper, raw organic agave, ginger & organic maple syrup

Maroon 5 ~ carrots, beets, apple, lemon & ginger

The order goes: Green, Lemonade, Maroon 5, Green, Maroon 5, and Cashew Milk at night. You are supposed to drink one every 2 hours, along with water throughout the day.

The people at Peeled told me that if you absolutely have to eat something, it’s best to eat a food that is one of the ingredients in one of the juices, but it’s best to rely on the cleanse and really get the full effect by sticking to the juice.

They are all pretty big, and honestly 6 per day was more than enough. I was never starving, never dying for food, and never miserable (like I thought I’d be) because these juices were so packed with fruits & vegetables. The Green Lantern tasted like a salad in a glass ~ it was refreshing & was filling enough to be a substitute for breakfast. The Haute Lemonade is pretty much the recipe for the Master Cleanse ~ as made famous by Beyonce & Yolanda of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills ~ & it was so good. Maroon 5 was the fruitier juice with a hint of beets & carrots, it was okay but I preferred the other ones to this. The Cashew Milk was delicious & the perfect juice to finish off my day. By the end of the cleanse it felt like it was my dessert.

After five days of this cleanse ~ plus yoga or cardio every day ~ I felt amazing! Not only did I feel healthier and energized, but I also felt like I lost weight. Winter’s almost over, bikini season’s coming up!

I would definitely recommend Peeled ~ and juice cleanses in general ~ as a great way to get healthy, reboot your immune system, get rid of toxins, get a little push towards those New Years Resolutions, or just to try something new!