Even I am a little nervous to start this. I admit that thoughts of “What if I can’t make it?” “What if I cheat?” come to my mind, too. I think the most important point to remember when starting a raw, vegan cleanse/ detox like this is to BE EASY on yourself. It isn’t easy, it is a process! If you are hungry, EAT! Be forgiving of yourself and DON’T become obsessive. I will be drinking more green veggie juice or eating a piece of fruit when I feel like I just need a little more. If you feel tired or faded, you need to eat more! Today I have included a grocery list for you to print out and Day 1 meal plan to give you an idea of what a raw cleanse looks like. I will also make suggestions for altering the plan according to your specific health challenge if you have one. This is NOT rabbit food. Read on!
Day 1 “Menu”: (for Saturday, June 4th)
Breakfast– cup of organic green tea with stevia, 8 oz of filtered water, Blueberry Celery Smoothie (2 stalks celery, 2c blueberries, 1 banana, 2c water, 2 ice cubes ice- BLEND)
Snack- continue to drink breakfast smoothie, 1 pear if hungry
Lunch– BIG salad with yummy dressing of your choice (2 c spinach, 1/4 red onion sliced, 1/2 avocado sliced, 1/2 soaked sunflower seeds, sunflower sprouts, 1 crown chopped broccoli, 1 apple chopped, 1 c lentils, season with salt/pepper, 2 heaping Tbsp hummus)
Snack- sliced apple with 1 Tbsp almond butter, green veggie juice (1/2 beetroot (beet), 3 stalks celery,
Dinner– Savory Green Smoothie (1 large handful baby greens or red lettuce leaves, 1/4 bunch of fresh basil, 1/2 lime juiced, 1/2 red onion, 2 celery stalks, 1/4 avocado, 2 c water)
Dessert- naturally uncaffeinated herbal tea of your choice, green juice if hungry
Below you will find the grocery list for foods you will need. Try to get everything, but feel free to buy additional fruits/veggies that you LOVE. There may be times that you will feel desperate for comfort and these will do the job without breaking from the cleanse. (Mine is cantaloupe….yum!) If you are concerned about costs, I will be visiting my grocery store (Dekalb Farmer’s Market) today to see how much these will cost altogether and will let you know Wednesday. I think you will be surprised that without buying all of the processed foods and meat/dairy, it comes out much less than you would expect.
Grocery List for Days 1-7
(always buy organic if possible, but better conventional than none at all!)
15 apples ( I LOVE Pink Lady)
10 avocados (make sure they’re close to ripe)
8 bananas* (If you are cleansing from Candida overgrowth I suggest that you keep fruits to a minimum!)
2 pints (4 cups) frozen or fresh blueberries
2 pints strawberries
1 cantaloupe
4 pears
3 peaches
10 tomatoes
3 limes
1 bunch watercress (buy more of this and add to smoothies if fighting cancer or keeping it away)
30 oz baby greens (about 8 large handfuls)
10 oz baby spinach
6 crowns broccoli (the top part of the stalk)
3 lbs carrots
1 bunch cilantro
2 heads celery
8 cucumbers
1 bulb garlic
2 bunches kale ( different colors if possible) (buy more of this and add to smoothies if fighting cancer or keeping it away)
4 red onion
2 yellow or white onion
8 peppers (variety of colors)
2 heads romaine lettuce
12-15 oz sunflower sprouts (5 handfuls)
1 container broccoli sprouts (buy more of this and add to smoothies if fighting cancer or keeping it away)
2 medium beets (buy more of this and drink more beet juice if fighting cancer or keeping it away)
1 bunch basil
1 head cauliflower
1 container “Herbamare” or sea salt
1 small jar raw honey (optional- I will not be using)
small amount of Stevia
1 box your choice- naturally uncaffeinated herbal tea (I like Chamomile)
1 box organic Japanese green tea (drink throughout the day if fighting cancer or keeping it away)
organic extra virgin olive oil
12 oz dry black beans
12 oz dry red, pinto, or kidney beans (we will cook these Thursday night and freeze some)
12 oz red lentils
12 oz green lentils
4 oz raw walnuts
4 oz raw almonds
4 oz raw pecans
4 oz raw sunflower seeds
16 oz hummus
Balsamic vineger/apple cider vinegar/ yummy organic salad dressing of your choice! (choose wisely- this will be your “happy place” during this cleanse. A good salad dressing does a lot!
1 bag organic brown rice rice cakes
1 large jar RAW almond butter (if the price is too much buy dry roasted)
This is perfect! I’m just getting started with my vegetarian lifestyle and this is extremely helpful. Some days are so busy that just trying to think about what I need is too much. Thank you ; )
These are great daily menus; look tasty and satisfying, especially for a man who get hungry from working physically hard.
Is this just mainly a detox, or will you shed a few pounds as well?
You could definitely lose some weight depending on different factors such as- how strict you are, metabolism, exercise, etc.
Just went shopping…starting tomorrow.
How much did the groceries cost you? Im wanting to do something inexpensive
Appreciate you maintaining this blog. Just found you this morning after spending a month in Greece eating myself through the country with everything unhealthy I could possibly get inside me… it was fantastic but my body is SCREAMING for a cleanse in a big way… and I googled and found you. Here we go… i’ll be following you now. And… what an inspiration your survival story is. Excellent. Keep up the great work.
So glad I could help! Let me know how it goes and any ways you think it could be improved. (:
I second the Pink Lady apples, I love them. I greatly increased my vegetables and fruits this past year, including a lot of green drinks. Yet I have had GI problems in many ways including a new diagnosis of diverticulosis and a large polyp — I am waiting results on that. It has greatly confused me since those are the types of things I was trying to avoid.
I don’t know how you manage to keep up this blog either! I haven’t watched TV in 3 years and I haven’t read a book to the end :))) but it’s worth it!
I just came back from the market with a ton of bags – good to go for a week of cleanse for my hubby and I. We just had your delicious salad! But I didn’t have a chance to make lentils – we were hungry. So we’ll have them tonight – an added bonus to the smoothie. So far – so GREAT! I already feel a ton of energy.
Sweaty yoga tonight – hope I’ll get through it hehe.
Thank you again so much for all the time and effort you’ve put into this blog!
Your blog is amazing. I never have time to go online anymore because I have a 3 year old (going on 15) toddler. A friend of mine is having health issues and I was doing a few searches to help. I came across your blog/recipes. I’m definitely going to adopt your suggestions. LOVE the recipes. Thank you so much!
Lana
Thanks for the lovely message, Lana! I know how the toddler thing goes…I have a 2 yr old and don’t know how I manage to keep up this blog! (:
Do I get to drink a cup of coffee in the morning? If I can have my coffee, and put a few more fruits in there, then me and Josh are going to give it a go! We are going to the dekalb farmer’s market on Saturday!
YEAH Josh and Callie! Hmmm…there’s what I wish I could say and then there’s the truth. 🙂 Caffeine is an addiciting stimulant….bla bla bla. You know the drill. Why would you want to be dependent on anything? Ideally, you want to be off of the stuff, and this could be your opportunity. If you absolutely have to, maybe drink 1 cup instead of two or drink decaf (ha)? Whether or not you try cutting it out, I think you will find that the foods you will be eating will be way more energizing than any cup of coffee could ever be.
Man I really wish I could follow along!!! It will be so much easier to do w/ you telling me exactly what to do lol. Sounds like a great way to shed a few pounds AND make a permanent change to the way I eat. Any ideas about incorporating this plan now without jeopardizing my supply or the quality of my milk?
Hey Cynt! It’ up to you, but I bet you could do 50-75% of the diet and be fine. Maybe even more. Watch for signs of detoxing like headaches, nausea, etc. If you don’t have those symptoms, you’re probably not doing severe detoxifying. Plus, if I remember correctly….you’re diet isn’t too bad to begin with so your body won’t be doing too much releasing of toxins. OR if you’re still nervous but still want to do it, I know how big your BM freezer stash is (mainly b/c of my jealousy!) Could you pump and dump and use your freezer stash for these two weeks until you feel ok (after a few days on the Cleanse?) Completely up to you, but that’s my two cents!
Holy cow Cort! You did so much leg work for this. This helps so much! Thanks!!