My "3 Day" Suja Essentials Juice Cleanse

Awhile back, I came across a delicious looking juice cleanse program over at Suja Essentials- I searched reviews and saw great feedback!  Although a little pricey, Suja Essentials takes all of the hassle out of juicing with their cold-pressed, organic juices.  They're packed full of healthy foods and natural nutrients.  I may love food, but this program looked like the perfect thing I would need to successfully do a juice cleanse.

The way it works is you have 6 juices that contain all of the vital nutrients you'll need throughout your day.  You drink 1 juice every 2 hours, ending the night with a yummy, creamy "dessert" juice.  This schedule worked perfectly for me, as I would be stuck at work the next few days and could always just have a juice on my desk and sip at my leisure.

I headed over to Whole Foods to pick up everything I'd need for a 3 day cleanse - plus, I also picked up their Master Cleanse juices, because it sounded delicious and I figured - if there was a chance I didn't like one of the juices, I could just sip on a Master Cleanse, instead!

Now, these juices aren't cheap.  At $9 a bottle, 7 bottles a day, that's almost $200 just to drink liquids for 3 days. Thankfully Whole Foods offers by-the-case pricing, so I did get a tad bit of a discount.  I went home and stocked my fridge and anxiously awaited the next morning!

My entire fridge shelf full of juices - so pretty!

Before starting the juices each day, Suja recommends sipping a glass of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.  This helps alkalize your body and kick starts it into the cleansing process.  Once you start to feel hunger, it's onto Juice #1!  I read negative comments about this part, but I am accustomed to drinking apple cider vinegar in my water, so this isn't a problem at all for me.  Some other cleansers suggested just taking the tablespoon of apple cider vinegar as a "shot" to get it over with, but I preferred to sip as I got ready for work.  So far, so good.

Day #1, 10:30 am.  Juice #1: Glow

 

After the apple cider vinegar water, I don't start to feel hunger until around 10:30 am.  I break open my first juice, Glow.  It is made from 2 apples, 6 celery stalks, 1/2 cucumber, a handful of spinach, 3 collard leaves, 3 kale leaves, and a sprig of mint.  According to Suja, it is "perfect to start your day with."  Blegh.  It tastes like liquid celery.  I hate celery.  I decide that maybe I can substitute in another juice of my liking instead this one, and put this one back into the fridge.  Onto Juice #2...

Day #1, 11:00 am.  Juice #2: Fuel

This is what I am talking about!  Fuel is delicious.  Suja claims this is a "light, refreshing orange and pineapple blend" - I'd have to disagree and call it an overpowering carrot blend, but not undrinkable in the least.  It has 9 carrots, 1 orange, 1 apple, 1 slice of pineapple, 1/2 of a lemon, and an inch of turmeric.  If all of the juices taste like this, I could cleanse for weeks!  After the initial disappointment, I am back on track and re-excited for this cleanse!  Bring on Juice #3!

Day #1, 1:00 pm.  Juice #3: Purify

Purify is remarkably similar to Fuel, and a glance at the ingredients explains why - 7 carrots, 1 apple, 2 celery stalks, 1/4 of a cucumber, 1/2 of a beet, 1/2 of a lemon.  Lots of shared ingredients, but wow does that 1/2 of a beet really change the overall flavor.  Less fruits so it wasn't as sweet, but thankfully, I love beets and didn't mind drinking this drink, either.  At this point, I am feeling quite full of liquid and just take occasional sips.  Before I know it, it's already time for my next drink and I haven't even finished this one!  I decide to stretch it out a little, in case there's another juice in my future that doesn't appeal to me, and continue sipping on Purify for another hour.

Day #1, 4:00 pm.  Juice #4: Fiji

Oh, gross.  I am so glad I waited to open up this juice.  It's another blended celery drink.  They claim it contains 2 apples, 6 celery stalks, ½ of a cucumber, a handful of spinach, 3 collard greens, 3 kale leaves, a squeeze of lemon and a hint of ginger, but I am pretty sure it's just pure celery blended together.  Since I got a late start on my day, I decide to put this one back, as well, and go straight into the next...

Day #1, 4:30 pm.  Juice #5: Green Supreme

I was SO excited for this drink.  5 apples, a bunch of kale and 1/2 a lemon.  Basically apple juice with some yummy greens added in!  .... not sure what went wrong but this was just as bad as the celery drinks.  I took a big gulp and had to quickly choke it down before I almost gagged it back up.  You're supposed to finish your last drink at least 3 hours before bedtime to ensure proper digestion, which means I have to finish one more juice within the next 2 1/2 hours.  I might not be getting my proper daily nutrition for the day, but I decide to just drink the final juice of the night and plan on going back to Whole Foods the next day to get replacement drinks for the green ones - plus I still have the Master Cleanses waiting for me at home!  Onto my "dessert"!

Day #1, 4:30 pm.  Juice #6: Vanilla Cloud

From my prior research and reviews that I read, this was the drink I was waiting for all day.  The yummy, sweet dessert drink - the reward for a full day of cleansing.  1/2 a coconut’s meat, a spoonful of honey, 12 almonds, a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of vanilla and a pinch nutmeg.  All delicious ingredients, nothing could go wrong with this drink, right?  Wrong.. oh, so wrong.  It's chunky.  You can't drink it, or you will choke on the bits of coconut and almond floating around.  You have to kind of chew it, which is difficult because it's a liquid.  And, for all of the sweet ingredients they use, it's not really that sweet.  I'm not a fan of coconut water, and that's really what this reminded me of.  Chewy, coconut water.  At this point, I am devastated.  Out of the 6 juices, I am only able to keep down 2.  There's no way I can find replacements for the other 4 drinks and continue on for another 2 days worth of a cleanse.

Day #1, 5:30 pm.  Bonus Juice: Master Cleanse

When I get home, I am starving.  I didn't even drink half of the juices that I was supposed to and my stomach needs nourishment.  I decide to give the Master Cleanse a try.  Lemon, Cayenne, and Maple Syrup.  Like a sweet, yet spicy lemonade.  I don't mind a little spice in my meals, and I hope the flavor will satisfy my hunger for the rest of the night.  I hold the first sip in my mouth, and it's sickly sweet.  Way, way too sweet.  As I swallow, I am met with a fierce, burning fire going all of the way down my throat.  I want to vomit it's so intense.  I run and grab a bottle of water and wash it all down, in defeat.

I decide to call up my friend and see if she wants to give it a try - she has a much different palate than I do, and I can definitely see her enjoying some of these drinks.  She LOVES anything spicy and doesn't mind the taste of celery.  Thankfully, I saved the open bottles so I bring them over to her house and let her have a try. 

   ... and she has the same disgust that I did for almost every drink.  She did enjoy the Glow, but hated Fuel.  She had the same reaction to Master Cleanse as I did, and we agreed it is completely undrinkable.  Suja claims this Fresh Start cleanse is perfect for first time juicers, but I have to disagree.  If you haven't juiced in the past, you'll probably have a lot of the same issues that I had during the cleanse.  However, everyone is different and we all have our own preferences!  I highly recommend, if you are going to try this cleanse, to only purchase 1 day to start with - and not get stuck with 2 more days of juice that no one will drink, like me!  And, if you're like me and can't stand celery, this is probably not the cleanse for you.

So, let me know - have you tried the Suja Fresh Start Juice Cleanse before?  What was your opinions of the juices?  Any other juice cleanse program that you'd recommend?  I'd love to find one that works for me!