Our Experience with the Love Grace Juice Cleanse

For the past year, Juice Cleanses have been a hot topic here at the Eat Up New York headquarters. Some have tried it, some think it’s a ridiculous concept, and the rest are curious. We decided as a “fun” office challenge we’d give one a try and see how we do! For our Juice Cleanse, we chose to go with a juice company with its roots based here in New York, Love Grace.

Love Grace’s mission is “to provide a higher level of vitality and life-force for all with optimal nutrition.” All of their products are certified organic, cold-pressed and “full of love.” They have an assortment of gourmet juices, smoothies, and elixirs. All juices and cleanses are made with a cold-press extraction for maximum nutrients, bio-availability and lifespan. The name Love Grace comes from a nickname Carissa, the Co-Founder, was given as a child by her friends. It spoke to her sweet carefree nature. And combined with the word “Love” was just a natural combination that Carissa and Co-Founder Jake found beautiful, and thus Love Grace was born.

I first met Carissa at The Seed Expo this summer, where I experienced first hand her glowing energy and passion that radiates when she speaks about her company. I was so excited to work with her and grateful she was happy to help us with our Juice Cleanse challenge. (Stay tuned for a follow up “Behind The Kitchen” with Carissa!)

Before I go into our experience, I think it’s first important to understand why many recommend short-term juice cleanses. Here is what Love Grace believes:

Due to an often toxic environment and less-than-healthy diet, juice cleansing is necessary from time to time to remain clear and energetic. For centuries people have been cleansing to gain mental clarity, lose weight, and improve their overall well-being. At Love Grace we have found a way to make it fun, easy, and delicious.

Our cleanse contains juices that have been gently extracted using cold-press technology. This ensures maximum nutrition, up to 5x more nutrients than the common home juicer, and optimal freshness.

Meredith and I participated in Love Grace’s 3 day Juice Cleanse, which includes 6 juices/smoothies per day: Purify, Ginger Bomb, Super Cider/Longevity Tonic, Green Sunshine, Protein Smoothie, and Restore. We each had unique experiences on the cleanse, and I’ve gone into full details below. Look out for Meredith’s experience as well in an upcoming post.

For the most part, I eat clean, whole foods, with clear and understandable ingredients, with a few indulgences here and there, because hey that’s life! Now if I had started the cleanse any other week, I probably would not have been too affected by the detox, but for some reason I decided starting a cleanse the day after a trip to Puerto Rico – which consisted of many fried plantains – would be a great idea. The first day I was actually excited to get back on track and in my usual routine and fuel my body with healthy nutrients. I didn’t crave processed foods, I really just wanted more greens. Some of the juices are quite ginger/cayenne heavy, which added a nice spice and apparently also serves as an appetite suppressor. I guess that’s why I didn’t even make it through all 6 juices on the first day. I didn’t notice anything strange during the day and I never found myself hungry, but as I was going to sleep I had some chills, which I’ve heard is just an indicator of your body cleansing. The next two days just flew by, and with a lot of work, it was nice to have my “meals” set for me. The chills never came back after that first night and by day three I was really enjoying the juices and continued to crave those nutrients.

On day four, after the cleanse was over, I was nervous about how my body would handle real food. I decided, which is recommended, to start back slowly with fresh fruit, which wasn’t too harsh on my stomach. The next few days I continued to eat mostly fruit and steamed veggies, giving my body what it needed and waiting until it signaled I was ready to eat other foods again.

Overall I felt terrific on and after the cleanse! My body felt clean and I even noticed my skin clearing up. It was definitely a great kick start back into my usual clean diet and I felt recharged and energized. I’ve also noticed my cravings for processed foods have gone away. I even tried eating some chips, and they didn’t even taste the same and I didn’t feel like scarfing down the entire bag, which I could’ve easily done pre cleanse. I’d definitely recommend Love Grace’s cleanse to anyone looking to detox and simply feel cleaner and get your body and cravings back on track.