Juice cleansing with New York’s Organic Avenue

For weeks on end, I have been ambitiously stating that I’m going to try out a juice cleanse. My time spent abroad left me eating less healthy than I’d like. Okay okay, and exercising less too. Yuck.

So in order to jumpstart my forgotten healthy habits, I’ve signed myself up for a juice cleanse. Yes, seriously. After researching all the cleanses that deliver to the not so glamorous locations of the country, i.e. outside the bubble of Manhattan, I settled on Organic Avenue (plus they had a 30% offer on – can’t pass that up!)

Organic Avenue is of course, New York City based so anyone outside the city has to shell out the extra cash for overnight shipping. Fine. Done.

The company offers all sorts of combination cleanses and healthy eating options. I’m a little bit too ambitious and ordered a strict 5 day juice cleanse.

This means they ship you six 14oz bottles of juice to drink at certain times throughout the day, do this for five days. Seems simple enough. Plus as a bonus, for five days I don’t have to think about stopping at the grocery store or cooking.

Additional thoughts: If I’m paying this much for it, I’m going to stick to it.

Right?

Well let’s just see how it goes.

Day One: Waiting
I woke up at 8am, giddy and ready to start cleansing. Except I had to wait for it to be delivered. So I went and shoveled the walkway to the front door so the delivery man wouldn’t have to wade through nearly a foot of snow. Then I found a broom and got the snow off my car. Yes, a broom. And yes, I was killing time.

The clock was still ticking. Two hot lemon waters later (this is what you should drink in the AM while cleansing instead of your usual morning coffee or tea)… I was done waiting. At 10AM, I reached for a greek yogurt. Oops.

Minutes after, the doorbell rang delivering the Organic Ave products.

So I opened up the refrigerated box and dug in. They send you the juices in a very well packaged container, complete with high quality ice packs to keep the juices fresh and chilled.

Here’s a lineup of my Day 1 cleanse…

Okay, so shall we start?

10:15am – A Shot of E3 Live. It’s green. I tossed it back like tequila and move on.

10:30am – Grapefruit Juice. Literally the entire drink is (probably several) grapefruit(s). And it was amazing. Sweet and tart and a pretty pinky orange color. It’s like drinking Florida. I could get used to this.

11:30am – Sweet Greens. Another green drink. Despite the name, you are kind of surprised when you take a sip and its contents are sweet. It’s good and I can’t complain thus far about the juice quality.

But I’m starting to get actually hungry. Not for a juice, but for anything else. Being unable to eat has driven me to think only about one thing: eating.

12:30pm – Turmeric Tonic. This has a kick to it. Loaded with spices, it’s the most different to drink so far. But it’s not terrible. It tastes a bit like it should have vodka mixed in and served for brunch.

During the hour of 12:30pm-1:30pm I realize that the tonic is not quelling my hunger. According to the Frequently Asked Questions section on the Organic Avenue site, you are allowed to eat if you absolutely must. Okay, I absolutely must eat. So I’m allowed to go for some solid greens. I opt for noshing on half an avocado, spinach and a tiny bit of warm quinoa (I had to eat something warm, this is during polar vortex type temperatures). Anyways, I have five days left, allow my struggle. I feel better after this.

I take a slight break from the juice schedule before delving back to it.

4:00pm – Carrot Juice. This is actually an excellent juice. When I’ve used my juicer to create my own drinks, I usually include carrots in the recipe. Love this drink.

6:00pm – Green Coco. For someone who is an avid lover of spinach and all things green…this is the first drink of the day that I can’t finish. But I manage to drink most of it with the help of a small piece of pumpernickel bread in between sips. Blah.

At this point, I am sincerely looking forward to the sort of “dessert drink” of the day. People who have reviewed the cleanse rave about the Cashew Hemp Mylk and the Coconut Mylk. In my first day of the cleanse, the Cashew Hemp Mylk is on the schedule.

7:00pm – Cashew Hemp Mylk. I eagerly open the bottle and take a sip. Oh my god. This is in no way a dessert drink. It’s a bit thicker in texture than the other juices and the highest in calorie intake at a whopping 320cal for the bottle. Unfortunately, I can’t finish it. I drink about half before deciding I’m done juicing for the day.

Day One Positives
I feel a little bit lighter. But that’s probably because I cut out a proper lunch and dinner from my diet. Luckily, I know that nutritionally, the juices are carefully crafted to ensure that all your normal nutrients are included.

Day One Negatives 
Lack of caffeine is not fun. If you are a caffeine addict like myself, juicing kind of makes you feel like you are having the worst of hangovers. I had a constant headache from the lack of caffeine (or food). However, it is eye opening to know that caffeine can make you feel this way. So maybe there is something to be said for getting rid of it from my routine? But I love it, so it’s got to be back on my menu soon.

Another negative is the amount of calories consumed. At most on the juice cleanse you’ll total around 800, at the least 500. As a pretty active person, to maintain my weight, I’d want to be eating nearly 1500 a day. To lose weight, I’d want around 1200. So in all honesty, I’m very happy that I cheated a bit by eating because I think I’ve clocked in around 1000. Needless to say, I don’t think I could do this sort of thing all the time.

Day Two: Winter Storm Janus
Organic Avenue sent out an email the evening of Day 1 about how the East Coast storm could be affecting their delivery times. Great. When I had checked my email, it was too late to reschedule…my Day 2 product had been shipped.

So when I woke up on Day 2, I checked and tracked my package through FedEx. Status: Memphis, TN. Considering the distance between NY and TN, I think it was safe to assume that my box wouldn’t arrive on time.

Day 2 cancelled.

Day Two Positives
After waking up, I hit the scale to see if one day of juice (and a tiny bit of food) had made any progress. It did. A whole one and a half pounds lighter, I was delighted.

Day Two Negatives
The storm effectively ended my cleanse. Also, I’ve never woken up feeling so insanely hungover without having a sip of alcohol in nearly a week.

Final Conclusions 
Okay, with only one real day of juicing I didn’t get much of a feel for the process. But so far, I think the most difficult part was the lack of coffee.

Since I didn’t get to fully complete this round, I called the Organic Avenue customer service to see what they could do for me. After all, a cleanse broken up into a random series of days isn’t really a cleanse. Luckily, the company has really great customer service. I told them I wouldn’t have time to do another five day (I won’t) and could only do a three day. So they changed my order around, and refunded me some of my money. Plus, the Day 2 shipment should be arriving today and you pretty much get that as a free two days of juices (they ship you two days worth on your second day) I was really impressed with this. As a company that operates everything based on freshness, they’d have to have outstanding customer service if shipments don’t arrive on time.

So watch this space… in February I’ll be committing myself to a three day juice cleanse. Possibly with tiny doses of caffeine. Just saying.

xx Kelly

PS. Has anyone else out there done a juice cleanse? If so, how was your experience? Any recommendations or motivation for my next time around? Would love to hear thoughts on it! xo