Happy holiday monday! Today's post is a little longer than normal but after a few requests for a juice recipe post, I thought I'd just go all out with some juice talk and a cleanse review!

As you've probably seen a few times on instagram, I'm no stranger to juicing. When Glow Juicery first opened up in Edmonton I was instantly intrigued, immediately fell in love with green juices and started to research a little more into juicing. Shortly after, I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix and I think it may have been the next day that I got my own juicer!

I like drinking juice first thing in the morning because I tend to eat breakfast late, so I feel like the fresh juice gives me a good kick start with some vitamins and nutrients and makes me feel good before I manage to eat my breakfast. Although I've been juicing semi-regularly for over a year now, I had never tried a juice cleanse.

I know there are a lot of differing opinions on juice cleanses but my main motivation to try one was just out of curiosity. I wasn't looking for a quick fix for anything or hoping to drop a bunch of weight- I just wanted to see how my body would feel, and use the cleanse as a reset as I continue to work towards an overall healthier lifestyle.

When I finally decided that I'd like to commit to a juice cleanse and was ready for a reset, I then had the decision of figuring out how to go about my cleanse. I had wanted to try out SPUD (Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery) for a while, so when I saw they offered juice cleanse programs, I was in!

SPUD is a local grocery delivery service that focuses on foods that are sustainable and as close to local as you can get. I'd looked into them previously and thought a cleanse program would also be a great way to check out the quality of their produce delivery.

Three huge boxes of beautiful produce were delivered to my office and I was pumped to start the cleanse. I've long been disappointed with the produce at grocery stores and the Farmer's Market isn't always convenient so I definitely know I'll be ordering from SPUD again.

In each box was a TON of produce- one box of produce for each day of the cleanse.

Each box contained: 1 Bag of Carrots // 1 Bag of Beets // 1 Bag of Tomatos // 3 Cucumbers // 1 Celery Stalk // 1 Head of Swiss Chard // 2 Bunches of Kale // 1 Bag of Apples// 1 Bag of Oranges // 1 Bunch of Parsley // 3 Limes

I had never juiced with parsley, chard or tomatoes so I was excited to get crackin!

The SPUD juice cleanse came with a manual that had the recipes, cleanse tips, pre and post cleanse instructions and other information. I think my biggest tip for pre-cleansing would be to plan in advance when you'll be cleansing and prepare a few days before.

Obviously Herman was curious about the boxes, I don't think he's ever felt so tall!

I didn't take a few days before the cleanse to try to cut back on caffeine or slowly cut back on meat and dairy however, I have already for a few months been cutting out sugars, processed foods and pre-packaged foods so my only concern going into the cleanse was the potential caffeine withdrawal.

When it came to the actual cleanse itself the first day was the worst. At no point during the SPUD cleanse was I physically hungry, but I was mentally hungry. Thankfully, you can have one meal of vegetables on this cleanse plan so I didn't feel deprived or "starving" at any point. I also may have for sanity's sake, in times of desperation eaten an extra carrot or celery stick or a few slices of cucumber just so I could "eat something".

The juices themselves, took a bit of getting used to. You can see the recipes here and if you take a look, you'll see that the first and last juices of the day are quite sweet, with the ones in-between are more bitter. My usual juice "recipe" involves spinach, kale, cucumber, celery, lemon, carrots and one apple. The spinach and kale pack the superfood nutrients I'm looking for, the cucumber and celery give lots of juice and adding one apple and a few carrots add just a bit of sweetness but not too much. If I'm looking for a sweeter juice, a small juice with a few carrots and oranges are a perfect sweet treat.

I found it hard to drink the 2nd and 3rd juices of the day as they were more bitter than I was used to, so on the second day I saved a bit of my first juice of the day to mix with those two. I'm not sure if this affected the cleansing process in any way, but it helped get me through so I did what I had to do!

I also know that I definitely did not drink enough water the first day. I struggled to drink all of the liquid in the juices, never mind the cup of hot lemon water in the morning, and enough water and herbal tea throughout the day. Day two I smartened up, sucked it up, and drank more and felt better for it. I did experience headaches my first day and I was so exhausted that I went to sleep at 8:30 (on a Saturday night!!!) and slept until 8:30 the next morning. I can't ever remember a time I was so exhausted. Day two, I felt like a new woman (as I'd imagine one should after 12 hours of sleep!), I had lots of energy, no more headaches and only had one mini "I need to eat now" meltdown- I call that a success.

By day 3 I felt awesome. No headaches, lots of energy and just overall feeling good. Overall, I'm really pumped with my experience. Post cleanse, I spent the next week eating mostly vegan before I slowly introduced dairy and meat back into my diet.

After my experience I'd definitely recommend doing a cleanse if you're looking to work towards a healthier lifestyle. I think to put yourself through this process with the hopes of "detoxing" so you can go right back to eating cheeseburgers is not the way to go, but if you like me, are looking to eat more whole foods and be more conscious of what you eat, it's a great way to take pause and focus on what you're putting into your body. I'm glad I did a 3 day cleanse and not a one day- the first day was just torture(!), and I'm happy to say I've been staying on track with eating clean, cutting caffeine and am feeling great!

So what do you guys think- are you for cleanses, against them? Have any clean eating or juice recipes I should try- let us know in the comments below!

PS - USE CODE CREDM-TIDDIA TO GET $20 OFF YOUR FIRST SPUD ORDER! XO

Juicing Recipes and My SPUD Juice Cleanse