This is why I needed to cleanse.
It’s not about weight for me. I really needed to do this to feel better physically and mentally. I needed to kick the sugar addiction that was causing me all sorts of trouble. Trouble that included heart palpitations, headaches, exhaustion, and the inability to find any energy at all.
A friend of mine (hi Kerri!) had been posting for a few months about the Arbonne cleanse and clean eating. I was intrigued. Intrigued, but not yet ready to jump in to try it myself. So, I secretly stalked her Facebook page and followed her journey. And, my Lord this girl was kicking butt. Between her glowing skin, clean recipes and going from a size 26 to an 18 within a few months, I was sold. She inspired me to try this out, so I stopped stalking her page and had her sign me up.
Of course being my first cleanse and all, I had her sign me up for the July session. July 3rd to be exact. The day before the 4th and all of the best bbq’s of the year. I started feeling a little bit nervous. Could I actually do this? Yes, I could. I was determined. Mind over matter, right? Oy vey.
My friend dropped off the goods and I was able to stare at the items in the box for a good week before I started this thing. The word detox was more frightening to me than Pennywise (you know, the clown from IT. Yes, the cleanse scared me more than him).
When you sign up for this, you receive 2 big bags of protein power, a bag of Arbonne’s fiber boost, their Digestion Plus powder, 2 boxes of fizz sticks, herbal detox tea, the 7-day Arbonne cleanse drink, and a partridge in a pear tree. Ok, you do not receive the partridge, however you do receive an amazing support system from the person who signs you up and an online group which offers you support, weekly meal plans, and comments from other people on the journey with you or people who have completed it already. It’s fantastic.
There’s a list of foods to eat and to avoid. I went on Pinterest and found the nifty little chart above. (Note: I couldn’t find the original creator of this chart, so shout out and jazz hands to whoever you are because it’s fantastic). Coffee was probably the most difficult thing for me to give up. I never thought I would be able to do it. But, I did and it has been over a month and I’m not even craving it anymore! This coming from a coffee addict.
I’m not going to lie, the first few days were really, really tough. When you are used to a certain way of eating what you want, just because you’re a grown up and able to, it’s tough to change. It’s so easy to order a bagel with your morning coffee or grab a donut during the office meeting. However, once you have it in your head that this is what you want and once you feel how you feel after week 1, you will not go back.
Weeks 1, 2, and 4 are the same. For me, a day of cleanse eating consisted of a detox tea mixed with ice and a fizz stick first thing in the am for energy, 2 eggs for breakfast or a protein shake, I would alternate shake and eggs for either lunch or breakfast, for snacks I would have some of the veggies or berries and at night I would have a sweet potato with some leafy greens and chicken. There are a TON of recipes for this cleanse on Pinterest. I mean, a TON. I just tried to keep it simple because it is a little overwhelming to jump into, let alone adding all kinds of brand new recipes into the game. Shout out to my husband for helping me out with meal prep so much.
Week 3 you get to drink the Arbonne 7-day body cleanse each day for 7 days. You pour the contents of the packet into a water bottle (they give way better instructions on the kit than I do, so make sure you read those), shake it up well, and then sip it over the course of 6 hours. This one scared me a bit. I didn’t like the smell of it, thus didn’t want to drink it. However, it really was not bad. In fact, after a few days I craved it! It tasted like diluted apple cider vinegar to me, but not in a bad way. Now, you cannot go crazy and drink this stuff all the time. You’ve got to have at least a month in between (I believe), but it does its thing and flushes all of those toxins right out of your system. You CANNOT drink the detox tea during this week. It won’t be good, listen to the Arbonne pros when it comes to this one.
After week 3, I really started feeling my energy pick up. I didn’t have that brain fog that I tend to get after eating sugar and junk. I also didn’t have an upset stomach or headaches. After week 4, I started receiving compliments from people noticing a difference in my weight and in my skin. When somebody tells you your skin is glowing and it’s not because you are pregnant, that’s a pretty good feeling! Even my doctor asked what I was doing different in the last two months since she had last seen me. My blood pressure was better, weight was down, many inches were lost and energy levels were way up.
I’m about 2 weeks post-cleanse and I am feeling fantastic. Not fantastic enough to post full body before and after pictures yet, but here are headshots from June 25th and August 8th!
Even though the 28 days of cleansing are up, I have continued eating clean, I have continued with Arbonne’s protein shakes, fizz sticks, and detox tea. I even signed up to be a preferred client through my friend for $20. I love this stuff and really recommend it to anyone thinking about taking the next step towards their health.
This isn’t about losing a bunch of weight in a short amount of time. It’s not about vanity or impressing others. This is about kicking your bad dietary habits to the curb, saying no to your sugar or caffeine addiction and taking back control of your life. My plan is to jump into another cleanse round in September and to continue eating clean. Who’s with me?!
*Note, Arbonne did not pay me to review their products. This is my honest review and opinion of the Arbonne cleanse, combined with a clean eating lifestyle. Not everyone will have the same results, but it’s definitely worth a try! If you’re interested in checking out more, feel free to send me an email to slowpaceandgrace@gmail.com so I can direct you to my friend, Kerri or find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/slowpaceandgrace.
More info on Arbonne here:
https://www.arbonne.com/discover/products/30days/files/assets/common/downloads/publication.pdf
slowpaceandgrace.com 