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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookHello – I was wondering if anyone has done a green smoothie cleanse lately? I remember the thread back in March where a few folks did it. I plan on starting a 7 or 10 day cleanse this Friday, June 6.
Anyone want to join me? I’ll try and post my results from day to day.
It’s been a couple weeks or so since I’ve been back from a holiday in Italy where I gained a few pounds eating pasta, cheese, gelati, etc.. (this was planned and worth it). I mentioned in another thread that my clothes didn’t feel snug from the extra weight. But I don’t feel back to full par even after eating a good healthy raw diet since I’ve been home. So now I want to jump start things and give my system a good cleansing….AND loose those extra pounds that seem to be sitting in my poor digestive system. The MC might be too extreme with my Bikram hot yoga so a green smoothie cleanse might be the best way to go.
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Hey there. Where did you go in Italy? I might go along with your cleanse, although not all meals.
Hi Carmentina – we were in Rome for a few days before heading up to Tuscany. We stayed in a villa outside of Siena in a town called Rosia. We hit the usual suspects: San Gimignano, Volterra, the Chianti wine road and region, Siena, Pienza, Montepulciano. The food and wine were wonderful. Waiting patiently for a wine & truffle oil shipment from Tenuta Torciana outside San Gimi. We loved Tuscany and plan to go back someday. There’s just so much to see. We barely scratched the surface. Amazing land and country. I look at my photos every day…sigh...
I hit the Chianti region too recently. It’s so lovely. 10 years living in Italy hasn’t been long enough to see it all! Back to the cleanse, today doesn’t really count, but I had a green smoothie for breakfast and dinner, so I’m already off to a good start!
i was thinking of it but not sure when i will start. maybe i will just try a day with you, ok? i have to go to the farmer’s market to get more greens on friday then i will be set.
I’ll join for the weekend!
i will join you. the MC has been really hard for me to do… i dont think im ready yet. i will start tomorrow. what kind of smoothies will be best for cleansing? what are you going to have?
Last night I was thumbing through Green for Life and Victoria suggests varying up the greens. So today I’m going to buy a variety of greens and fruits – whatever is available, fresh and organic. I’m also going to hit a farmers market over the weekend to see what else I can find for greens and fruit.
For me personally, the best cleansing will be by keeping my smoothies really simple w/o extras like flax, dates, sweetners, etc. Also having teas w/o soymilk should also help my cause.
Anyone know what greens and fruits might promote the best cleansing effects? This is my first green smoothie cleanse .
Back in Feb 08 I tried the MC but only lasted a couple days due to crazy caffeine withdrawl headaches. And it didn’t feel right for my body at that time.
Here’s a link from Frederic Patenaude about his green smoothie cleanse. It’s a PDF document and shows the greens and fruits he recommends. It also tells what to avoid while doing the cleanse. And he also gives guidelines for how much and how many smoothies to consume. There are even recipes.
Of couse we are all very different so I would do what you personally feel your body needs. I don’t know much about this Frederic guy. I only googled “green smoothie cleanse” after reading the posts from this website back in March.
www.fredericpatenaude.com/green/green-cleanse.pdf
http://www.goneraw.com/forums/3/topics/3835
how is everyone else doing? ive been nauseated most of the day… is that normal? i also felt kinda weird… kinda high..lol! but in a clear minded way ;)
although i am not doing the cleanse right now i typically have 2 green smoothies a day. as far as what greens to have, i like beet greens, kale (all varieties but the green curly leaf tends to blend best), chard, spinach, mint, parsley. it just depends on what you like. i know that kale is very good at absorbing bad stuff from your gut. and beet greens are really high in nutrition and are in season.
thanks for the link. i will do option B for now. :-)
We did ~50 days of green smoothies, but we also ate too. One thing we noticed is that green smoothies are very constipating because of all the fiber. So, drink plenty of water or water down those smoothies! Someone suggested to use a nut milk bag or sieve to remove fiber… this sounds good, but if you are using a high-speed blender, I’m not sure how effective the bags would be to remove such small fiber.
hey—i do green smoothies all the time. one or two per day for the last year….they are the best.
germin—ive seen you say a few times they can be constipating. i wonder where you’ve gleaned this info? in my experience, they have been anything but. all the fiber actually induces bowel movements and cleans you out inside. i actually dont juice just for this reason—i want all the fiber intact and to keep the food whole. of course, i agree with you about drinking enough water. every time i feel a little sluggish, i chug a glass of water and invariably i feel much better. gets everything moving again.
Hi, I’m with you! I can only do option B at the moment. Being relatively new to raw (2 months or so) I only started on green smoothies for breakfast just a few days ago. Without going into too much detail the green smoothies are having much more of an effect than just eating raw and I don’t want to rush things too much. I’ll let my body get used to one a day for now, but I WILL commit to sticking with them as I’m enjoying them and they just make me feel so energized.
Yesterday (day 4) I was doing fine until the afternoon when another wave of strong nausea hit me after having a smoothie of strawberries and romaine lettuce. I took an electrolyte supplement with trace minerals that I use for the hot yoga. I also had a handful of dulse right from the bag for the salt. That seemed to help a bit but not completely. After laying down I had 3 nice juicy dates and that seemed to really help!
This morning I took my electrolytes first thing and so far this afternoon I’m doing fine.
It’s hotter than heck today and we even have a tornado watch here in Vermont! Amazing and scary! I’m debating on going to my hot yoga class or running home if the watch is still in effect later this evening.
Hi Romany – I think it’s wise to start gradually with the green smoothies. I normally have 2 per day about 5 days a week and I still am trying to adjust to smoothies for all meals. When I have felt nauseous with this cleanse, I’ve had to eat dates, fruit, and seaweed here and there just to get through. But for the most part it’s been interesting so far.
RawK – It’s from my personal experience… and my husband, mother-in-law, and someone else posted about it too. You are totally correct… water! And plenty of it!
My husband was pretty much constipated when he drank them. I had great bowel movements until about day 50. Then, it was constipating. It is absolutely important to drink water. And, I was just reading my nutrition book (I’m taking a class) about fiber and how you should drink water if eating a high-fiber diet, otherwise it can result in hard stool and painful elimination. Sounds like constipation to me. (Contemporary Nutrition, Page 135). Drink up!
Wow, you do one or two a day – eh? You must really be drinking lots of water! Great.
Just an update for yesterday (day 5). I felt pretty good yesterday and it could have been due to 2 things: One, I took my electrolytes in the morning and around lunch time. Two, I was in an air conditioned office for most of the work day.
I have to say yesterday was my best day so far. Even my hot Bikram yoga went well. Luckily only thunderstorms (not tornadoes) cooled things down a bit for class and the evening. So far today is going fine except I do feel a bit tired today.
So far I’ve lost about 3 lbs. A couple more to go and I’ll be back to my pre-Italy weight. I’m not going to stress if it takes a couple more weeks to loose the last reminents of my debauchery. Heck it was totally worth it :-)
The most important thing for me is feeling good and healthy. Shedding any unwanted pounds is a bonus for this experiment.
I’m on day four of my green smoothie cleanse. I’ve been doing OK and lost a couple of those cheese and pasta pounds from Tuscany so far :-)
My first day (Friday) I felt a little nauseous so I had some organic irish breakfast tea and yerba matte with soy milk. By the end of the day I went running and felt better. I didn’t do my hot Bikram yoga since I feared I wouldn’t make it through. Saturday was a good day with 4 big green smoothies. I even went to the 8am Bikram class and did well. Later in the day, I did have an organic homeade chai tea latte with soy milk at our local bakery cafe with my husband. On Sunday things were going smoothly until I tried to do my Bikram yoga at home in the afternoon.(I just got the CDs and our upstairs was 88 F degrees which was fine for doing Bikram yoga at home) I felt ooozy through the 90 minute workout and then had to lay down for most of the evening. I felt nauseous and icky. Had a big handful of grapes and 3 dates and some dried apple rings. That helped a bit. Today I woke up a bit better but not 100%. Had a nice big green smoothie and I’m sitting here drinking some yerba matte with soy milk and maple syrup (for the electrolytes).
One thing I need to note is that this past Saturday it got steamy hot from a week of cool and rainy days. The average weekend temps here were in the high eighties and low nineties with lots of sun and humidity. Even though I do Bikram yoga, sometimes the humidity levels effect how I feel. It’s cooler this morning but the humidity is still ferocious.
I’m going to keep going until the weekend and take it from there. I still haven’t decided whether I’ll do 7 or 10 days. Depends on how I feel..
I do agree to drink a lot of water with this cleanse.
Hi Frostbitfairy – I was nauseous too on my first day. It could have been minor detox symptoms or withdrawls from my black teas and yerba mattes (I’ve come along ways from being a die hard daily coffee drinker). I was again nauseous after doing my hot yoga at home in very humid conditions yesterday. I think humidity sometimes effects me that way. There are so many variables I’m just not sure what was causing my nausea on friday. I did feel a bit high as well during certain times in the day while working…..
How did things go for you over the weekend?
things went rather well. i was nauseous most of the time and felt a little dizzy and tired. probably because it is so hot here! i was out playing with my boys and swimming and i ate some fruit to pep me up. but so far i feel really good!
Hi, just checking in. The green smoothie cleanse is going well (even though I’m still only on one a day). My system is still getting used to them and even though mentally I’m ready to up it to two a day, I know I won’t be able to cope with that yet, so will wait a while. That’s good in a way, because the “cleansing” is clearly taking effect!
Still enjoying it, and hubby is now also on a glass each morning and seems to enjoy it.
JoyceH & frostbitfairy – I too was extremely nauseous on the first day. It only lasted a day, though, and then I was fine. I wasn’t withdrawing from anything else, so put it down to the green smoothie. At first, I thought it was because I had added a small amount of lamb’s quarters and that is a new food for me, but from what you’ve said it sounds as though it might be a normal reaction to GS.
On ‘one-a-day’ I haven’t noticed any change in energy levels, nor have I lost any weight yet.