It’s not just your muscles that need a good workout. Sometimes your digestive system needs a bit of TLC as well. Angela Beitz trials a three-day liquid program from UAE company Essentially. But is it any good?
Given the poor diet many of us endure thanks to long working hours, it’s very easy to get bogged down worrying about how to deal with how we look, our lack of energy and the general state of our body’s well-being.
However, new UAE company Essentially believes it has a solution and invited us to try their three-day juice cleanse.
The company suggests we give its ‘Revitalisation’ program a go – a three-day cleanse for beginners which is, supposedly, enough time to rid the body of toxins without stressing your system out too much. Basically, this is recommended for people who have very little or no experience with cleansing and detox.
A daily supply of six, 473ml beverages are delivered to you before your cleanse starts. Once you receive your juices, you will find each one is clearly labelled in order from one to six. You drink the first one in the morning and the last one at least two hours before you go to bed. It’s suggested you consume the juices approximately two hours apart. Each beverage is designed to replace solid foods and snacks and the juices include ingredients such as lemon, spinach, beetroot, apple, celery, ginger and more. So it’s goodbye to energy drinks, caffeine, and nicotine, although we are allowed herbal teas and some celery sticks or a very low sodium vegetable broth if we’re really struggling. Here goes.
Day 1 The first day starts off fine, even without our morning coffee. By noon we are feeling a little bit hungry but we power through it trying to get on with work and focus on other things apart from food. By 3pm we are starving. We are craving sweets and burgers. We are feeling light-headed and really want to eat something. We get through it by drinking the 4th juice. The rest of the afternoon into late evening continues to get worse. We are now feeling quite ill and cannot believe how fatigued we are and fall into bed at 9pm.
Day 2 We wake up feeling tired despite having had nearly 10 hours sleep but once we get going we feel a lot better. The green juices are still a bit strong and they seem to have a bit of an aftertaste. We are desperate for a coffee, but we forego it for a green tea. The morning passes smoothly.
We are making sure that we’re drinking loads of water as well to keep us hydrated and to flush out our system. We keep ourselves busy but by 3pm slump again. We fight this feeling by eating a few sticks of celery which are boring but actually being allowed to eat some food is pretty exciting. We have more energy than the night before and, again, we sleep really well.
Day 3 We wake up feeling tired and a bit sluggish but once we have our first juice we start to feel better. We don’t have a headache today which is the first time since we started the cleanse. Our eyes are brighter and we feel lighter. It’s still a struggle on the last day to drink the juices but they go down a lot quicker and we aren’t as obsessively thinking about food all day. We are really surprised that we had the will power to do this and the drive to just keep going with it and we do feel better for it.
The verdict This is quite tough. Drinking nothing but juice for three days certainly becomes boring really quickly but it’s definitely worth it. The green juices taste very grassy and can be a bit hard to get down and the beetroot juice is also a bit hard to drink. But you know they are full of goodness and you get used to it. This is best tried when you aren’t at work and don’t have a really busy schedule as it’s hard to concentrate, but we would recommend it for people lacking energy and who wish to give their system a good clean out.
The Revitalisation Cleanse costs Dhs897 for a three day supply of juices and will be delivered right to your door. www.essentially.ae.
Alternative detoxes
Holistic approach
Detox Delight claim they can purify your body with liquid meals that are balanced, healthy, nutritious and based on a holistic approach.
Detox Delight (055 556 8318) www.detox-delight.ae.
Online detox
The guys at Nosh offer a variety of different juice detoxes and cleanses to help you stay in shape and, handily, you can order online.
www.noshdetox.com
