Dr. Junger, author of Clean apparently had his own health issues, which inspired him to start a journey and resolve them.  I see that on his current website, he has created some products for various multi-week cleanses consisting of shakes.  I have not tried those, nor am I interested.  Thus, I will speak to what I did try – the seven-day detox from GOOP.

This seven-day detox requires one to eliminate alcohol, caffeine, gluten, sugar, and red meat.  It provides a schedule for each day of what is recommended with guidance on what you can do if you need to be flexible with your schedule.  Additionally, recipes exist for each meal which provide suggestions for alternatives should you not care for some of the combinations.

How did it go?  I started the detox slowly over the Christmas holiday where I started to cut out a few things, the first being caffeine.  (I am now 8 weeks caffeine free and feeling better than ever!)  I thought it good to slowly test the recipes, too, so I made the Detox Teriyaki Chicken, Miso Soup, and Smoothies, all of which I loved.  Now I was ready to do it for seven days.

The hardest part was shopping and getting on a cooking schedule.  With a full-time job, I can’t exactly spend all day shopping and cooking.  Luckily, many of the items can be pre-made, comprise of multiple servings, and last for the week.  Also, while some of the items seem expensive, when you calculate the per serving figure, they actually work out to be reasonably priced, especially when considering the health benefits.

What were the results?  I lost 4 pounds that week and have kept it off.  However, it wasn’t about the weight – it was about feeling healthy and clean, which I did feel.  I also learned how little one needs to eat to fulfill their dietary needs.  In other words, that huge chicken breast I kept eating could have been cut in half and eaten for two (or maybe three) meals instead of one!!!  As I stated above, I have cut out caffeine completely and have no intentions of going back.  My new warm drink is caffeine free herbal tea and sometimes decaf coffee.

What did I think of the recipes?  Below are a few thoughts:

• Smoothies – The Pro Greens scared the heck out of me but when mixed with the almond milk, protein powder and fruit, I found the combination to be quite yummy, and I felt healthy drinking the smoothie.  I still make them!
• Soup – I loved the pea and basil soup.  Even my husband likes it, so we have added it to our recipe list.  I did not care for the broccoli/arugula soup.
• Detox Teriyaki Chicken – Make sure you use fresh ginger.  I made one recipe with ginger powder and it was not as good.  This is also something I continue to eat.
• Carrot-Ginger Dressing – Holy onions!  I put half the shallots in the recipe.  Otherwise, my eyes teared as I ate the salad.
• Miso Soup – Yum!  If I did not have watercress on hand, I added frozen mixed veggies.
• Juices – I have juiced before and had a really bad experience so I was leery.  However, the recommendations Dr. Junger provides for juicing were helpful.  For example, remove the pith of fruit before juicing.  Also, if you pre-wash your fruit and veggies, put them back in the fridge. Juicing warm fruit and veggies makes for a nasty drink!  I loved some of the juices and liked others, but in the end, found all to be just fine.  I have been inspired to try other juice combinations!