Good food, great wine, and lots of dessert. That was basically my diet from November to January thanks to holidays, parties, two weeks of my mom’s home-cooking over Christmas, then a week in Paris. I was puffy, dehydrated, constantly bloated, and my system was all out of whack. I needed some serious help.
Thankfully, my friend Kristin recommended a juice cleanse from Project Juice, her go-to when she lived in San Francisco. So I figured why not and decided to try the Project Juice ‘Classic Reset’ 3-Day Juice Cleanse and here is my review!
Now I know juice cleanses get a bad rap as some quick weight loss scheme and people are always saying “but you’re only losing water weight!” But I didn’t (and still don’t) see this cleanse as like a weight loss gimmick. I saw it as a way to “reset” my system after the over indulgences of holidays and travel. For a minimum of three days, there’d be no alcohol, no sweets, no snacks, no animal or animal by-products. Just straight up liquid fruits and veggies.
Mentally, I was up for the challenge, but physically, my body was craving this.
Hello, Project Juice Classic Reset Cleanse!
The tagline: “A nutrient-rich, organic juice cleanse designed to reset eating habits, eliminate cravings and kickstart a healthy diet, free from processed foods.” –Project Juice
So what’s the big deal: “The Classic Reset Juice Cleanse is designed to be consumed independently from food. The bottles are numbered in the order of consumption for added convenience. Cleansing is achieved through eliminating your body’s burden of breaking down the additives, chemicals, stimulants, hormones and pesticides consumed in the standard American diet. In addition to flushing toxins, the antioxidant and enzyme-rich juices fuel your body with nature’s best organic fruits and vegetables, acting as catalysts for better health.” – Project Juice
So how does it work?
+ Drink 6 juices per day, numbered from 1-6 so you can drink them in order (details on each below!)
+ Enjoy one juice every 2 hours with a big glass of water between each juice.
+ Recommend having first juice at 8am and last at 6pm; though I usually started a bit later because I stay up late and didn’t want go 5 hours with nothing to drink.
Other recommendations include:
+ Cutting back on alcohol and animal products in the few days leading up to the cleanse.
+ Avoiding alcohol during the cleanse
+ For more tips, check out “How to do a Juice Cleanse”
How much does it cost:
The different cleanses are each around $75/day (but there’s often a promo code, currently SUMMER2020). This does seem pricey, but it’s very comparable to other popular cleanses. Also, Project Juice provides free overnight shipping so your juices arrive as fresh as possible.
My ‘Classic Reset’ Recap
Day 1:
Since I’d never done a juice cleanse, yes I was excited, but mainly just curious. I followed all the instructions to a T, first juice at 8am, had tons of water. And spenta lot of time in the bathroom. Like A LOT. All those greens and liquids were definitely a shock to the system after two months of holiday and travel eating.
The good news is that I was so busy trying to follow all the rules, I didn’t have a chance to be hungry. Oh, and I also hit up an Orangetheory Fitness class in the afternoon. Was I worried I might pass out? Yes. But I didn’t, so it was all good!
Day 2:
Now that I knew what to expect, I started my first juice at 9am instead of the suggested 8am. On Day 1, I finished my last juice by like 6:30pm so it was tempting to get snacks as the evening wore on. I wanted to avoid that moving forward.
I was still in the bathroom probably once every 1-2 hours. I’ll spare you the details, but lets just say Day 2 was WAY scarier than Day 1 😮
Even so, the juices were pretty filling and I wasn’t like starving or anything. Even when my husband prepared a steak dinner for himself that night, I mean it smelled amazing, but I wasn’t like “omg I need to eat!”
Day 3:
So far so good! I had my morning routine all set: wake-up, warm water with lemon (as recommended), then my first juice of the day. Things cruised along pretty easily actually.
I hit up another Orangetheory class that afternoon and wouldn’t you know, I hit a PR on our timed mile run! Really glad that the juices were clearly giving me enough nutrients and energy to get in a good workout.
And in more good news, my trips to the bathroom had become less frequent.
However … by 5pm on Day 3, I was STARVING! I really struggled with my last two juices of the cleanse. By then I was just so hungry and wanted to eat something. But I didn’t break and was so proud of myself for making it all the way through!
So about those Classic Reset juices:
First off, the juices are fresh, cold-pressed, and 100% vegan. Four of the juices are also made with all organic ingredients. And they arrived ice cold, so that was very encouraging. Really glad I didn’t have to worry about spoilage.
1. Daily Celery Detox – Made of just celery juice and lemon, it will kick off the cleanse somewhat aggressively, if you know what I mean.
2. Green Ginger – The most traditional “green juice” of the batch. With kale, romaine, spinach, apple, ginger, and celery, it tasted like a garden but in a good way!
3. D-Tox – The best tasting green juice of the bunch thanks to the pineapple. I love adding pineapple to smoothies and juices 🙂
4. Black Magic – By your fourth juice of the day, your stomach is probably going bonkers. The activated charcoal in this juice is crucial because by it’ll definitely help calm things down. It also tastes quite refreshing.
5. Radiance – Another more traditional recipe here with cucumber, spinach, apple, and lemon. I’m not sure why (maybe the rosewater), but this was my least favorite juice.
6.Cashew Mylk – While this “mylk” might have the highest calorie and sugar content, it absolutely taste like heaven. The dates, vanilla, cinnamon, and cashews make this basically my favorite smoothie ever.
Final thoughts:
I loved doing the Project Juice ‘Classic Reset’ Cleanse! Sure, at the end of Day 3 I felt pretty good, but I woke up on Day 4 feeling freaking amazing! I could just tell that my body, my system was much happier – I wasn’t bloated anymore and that sluggish feeling was totally gone. In fact, I enjoyed my first cleanse so much that I’ve already completed two additional 2-day Reset Cleanses. I really can’t recommend this enough!
However, I do want be be completely honest about this and there are two things I don’t like about this cleanse. First, by nature of the ingredients, some of these are pretty high in sugar. If that’s something you’re worried about, then explore building your own Project Juice cleanse to steer clear of the highest-sugar options. Second, six juices per day adds up to A TON of plastic bottles. I feel really bad every time I finish a cleanse because it completely fills our recycling bin, so I just wish there was a more sustainable way to package the juices.
Regardless, I definitely plan to continue ordering the Reset Cleanse from Project Juice on a regular basis, probably every other month or perhaps after a long vacation. And honestly, if it wasn’t so expensive (~$75/day), I’d probably do them more frequently. That said, for my health and well-being, it’s certainly a worthwhile investment.
Have you ever done a juice cleanse? If so, please share your recs and tips in the comments below. And don’t forget to check out some of my other wellness content here on the blog, as well!
*This is not a sponsored post. I received no compensation and I paid for all my own juices. I’m just a fan and wanted to share!*
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