I don’t mean to get TMI here at the start, but I don’t think I’ve ever peed this much in my life.
I’m heading into the final 24-hour stretch of a three-day juice cleanse from local juicing advocate Leah Thompson, one of the stars of Zaarly’s marketplace of DIY makers and doers, and if I’m not slugging a large Mason jar of cucumber-fennel-apple-based deliciousness for breakfast, I’m downing a double dose of red-cabbage-mint-celery awesomeness for brunch. Then there are the lunchtime kale and bok choy concoctions that are invigoratingly green, and my favorite of the four juices I have each day, a yummy dinnertime carrot-orange-bell-pepper-turmeric mix that is almost savory enough to be a soup. There isn’t a nasty beverage in Leah’s bright green, purple, and orange bunch, plus these freshly pressed, seasonal inventions don’t trigger the terrible sugar comedown that super-fruity, store-bought varieties can cause. Oh, and per Leah’s instructions, I’m also sipping hot water and lemon twice a day, and purified water in between, to maximize this total system overhaul.
Dehydration is not gonna be an issue here, if you know what I mean. But neither is feeling sluggish or that post-weekend nastiness, which makes me wish I could undo everything that Friday and Saturday night did. Following Leah’s program is making me feel kinda giddy, in fact. I’m also feeling crazy healthy, less stress-cranky, and very full of liquids right now.
While living in San Francisco, I’ve been slowing morphing into one of those full-bore NorCal types. I do the meditation thing and the yoga thing, and I eat fresh veggies like a rabbit. But I also need the occasional kick to help me along when I’m feeling run down or when I’ve indulged in one-too-many bottles of wine and whiskey. And then, if the booze doesn’t get to me, the colds and flus do. How is it that I get sick like every other month? Stress. Every doctor I’ve been to tells me I’ve got to find a way to manage it, which of course just stresses me out even more.
I know the drill when it comes to juicing as an anecdote to feeling gross, though, and how good it can be for you if it’s done right. I’ve attempted to recharge my brain and rinse my system out a number of different ways over the years. (In college, I drank a crap-ton of pulverized carrots, spinach, and cucumber for a two-day fast before feeling so hangry that I lost my will and scarfed down a real dinner.) The concept of a juice cleanse seems to have spread to a wider audience only in recent years. There are all kinds of programs that flush your system, but I’m skeptical of anything that would deprive me of fiber, protein, and food I can chew.
Leah explains that, like crash diets, fasts that forbid eating have you ping-ponging from one extreme to the other (unless, say, you’re on some blissful, restful retreat, but that’s another story). They’re not sustainable. But I totally endorse doing a system refresher from time to time, which is why I’m going with her holistic “non-deprivational” cleanses. As she lays it out on her Zaarly page, her program can be worked out for omnivores, vegans, and pescatarians like myself, so there’s lots of individualized attention here, and she believes in channeling unhealthy cravings into healthy ones by allowing yourself to eat good food while you cleanse.
Leah is a bubbly 28-year-old Oakland earth mama with grand lifestyle-shifting ideas behind her service (her vision is generally that eliminating stress + eating right for the long term = helping fight cancer, putting you in a good mood, and making you a much better person to others). I’m down with that mission, but I’m also into her straightforward meal plan. She’s all about moderation and slowly eliminating toxins while loading up on antioxidant-, vitamin-, and mineral-rich liquids she’s made from organic produce grabbed at her local farmers’ markets.
Over the course of a couple of lengthy e-mails (she gives you a ton of guidance along the way, which is great, and she even offered me tips on getting rid of my cold), she recommended that I prep for my cleanse by slowly eliminating alcohol, dairy, sugar, gluten, and caffeine, and then abstaining from these guys altogether during my juice days. But she didn’t leave me to go cold turkey; she had plenty of healthy subs in mind. For breakfast, for example, she suggested quinoa with cinnamon and nutmeg, and instead of caffeine, she told me to try yerba mate. (I attempted to make a batch of the latter, and it tasted like nasty, grassy cardboard, but she had another option for me, which was to add mint and almond milk to the mix. Voilà. I no longer felt like a box-licking cow.)
Leah has a number of deals on the Zaarly marketplace (beach yoga sessions and therapeutic teas), and her cleansing options (one-day for the beginner, three- and six-day if you wanna jump right in there) come with home delivery. So when she swung by my place in leopard-print leggings with 12 full Mason jars on a Saturday night, I got to know a little more about her background. She told me she grew up in a healthcare-minded family — her parents run the North Oakland Medical Clinic. But she found her own path to helping folks through a combination of studying “sustainability and social justice, holistic health, and exercise science.” She’s a yoga instructor and a certified fitness trainer through the National Personal Training Institute, and she’s gotten deep into the worlds of fitness and nutrition. She also told me that since she’s an active gal herself, she’s tailored her program to be athlete friendly. As a runner and a swimmer, I needed this kind of kindred spirit as my cleanse master.
Online, Leah explains that her cleanses are designed to “nourish the body and its cells with antioxidants and living enzymes, reduce inflammation, alkalize, and support healthy immune function.” When I asked her about the additional ways she helps her customers, she explained that things like stress, food allergies, “less than high-quality sustenance,” and other factors tax your system and deplete your energy, and that certain foods can trigger inflammation (which can aggravate everything from arthritis to regular aches and pains). The ingredients in her juices counteract all this. “You may notice increased and more even energy levels, a more stable and positive mood, and better digestion and elimination,” she added.
But the effects of this Zaarly cleanse are meant to last beyond your batch of Mason jars. I got through that Saturday night and went into Sunday and Monday feeling awesome — no bad food, bread, or a booze hangover. By Tuesday morning, my cold was finally gone, and I felt an extra woogie buzz inside. As I finish off my final batch of turmeric and pepper juice, I like that these last couple of days have inspired a subtle readjustment in how I do things. The experience has made me more conscious of how the food I eat affects me (I felt much lighter and more stable without dairy and sweets in my system) and how energized a ton of veggie vitamins and minerals can make me feel. It’s made peeing this often totally worth it.
You can dabble in one of Leah Thompson’s single-day juice cleanses or have the three- or six-day experience by checking out her page on Zaarly. (Zaarly is currently offering Bold Italic readers a special deal for Leah’s one-day cleanses.) Expect your juicing program to come with a ton of personally tailored advice, great tips and recipes, and, of course, lots of delicious juice. You can also meet Leah and other amazing local people at the Zaarly Bazaar on Sunday, March 24th at Fort Mason.
And while you’re on Zaarly, be sure to check out The Bold Italic’s collection of local food favorites from their marketplace.
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