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In my 30’s I think I tried every juice cleanse diet there was and somehow I managed to work through it. Now I just don’t think crash diets work for me. I find myself unable to function.  I also think that being too restrictive isn’t good for your body in the long run. I know for me whenever I restrict, the bounce back is worse than the pre-cleanse period. It’s like it’s on! I want to eat all the things! But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in detoxing. I think it was when I realized how many of the common foods I was eating were hurting me. So many foods are proven to cause inflammation, and cutting them out for a set period of time is an opportunity for our bodies to reset and start functioning optimally again.

Actually during a detox, with a break from heavy digestion, your body can actually start to repair itself (hence why the often call it a healing crisis when you start to feel awful). I was already a long time fan of Sakara’s meal delivery program. Read more about my experience here. But even thought Sakara eliminates many of the common allergens/inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy, soy I’m certainly not eating plant-based and entirely perfect every day. Sakara Life’s Level II Detox is a five-day detox that is less about deprivation and more so about fueling your body with healthy fats to get you into a state of ketosis (and yes, ketosis is crazy hot these days).

“It’s not meant to be a crash diet or make you feel like you’re starved.” 

Sakara Life co-founder Whitney Tingle

“It’s designed to help heal your gut because your gut is the center of your health—from how well you sleep to your hormones to your sex drive to how clear your skin is.” Our bodies store toxins from tap water, the clothes we wear, and our fat tissues. Going through the detox process allows your body to release some of those toxins.   

Sakara Life’s Level II Detox is an intensive five-day detox that eliminates meat, dairy, gluten, sugar (including fruit), nuts, soy, nightshades, pesticides, harmful chemicals, alcohol, and caffeine. The detox comes with five days’ worth of meals, supplements, and broths delivered to your door so you don’t have to prepare anything yourself. I love this. Especially when cleansing, I don’t want to have to think about anything, after all your body should be focusing on rest and repair.  What I love even more is this program is doctor-created and overseen. Sakara worked with certified functional medicine doctor Aviva Romm, MD, to ensure every meal was created to eliminate dietary inflammation in your body. Lastly, they include nutritional support from their amazing certified health coaches- available on demand. And there is a great Facebook support group (so you can all commiserate together! 😉

When I Do the Cleanse

I love doing this program seasonally. Especially after a long winter, or an especially indulgent holiday season!  Going in I always look forward to resetting my body. Since I deal with digestive issues, another cue on when I need to do the detox is when my tummy just seems angry at me- for me that means extra gas, bloating after meals and constipation (yes, it’s ugly but true). The Sakara detox always resets my gut and in just a short period my digestion (and bowels) start humming again.

Is There Enough Food?

Even though I have often cheated on more restrictive programs, this program feels like enough food which I love. Providing me with all my meals for the full five days had me excited for the program ahead. I love to look in my fridge to see my next day’s meals. It definitely doesn’t feel restrictive.

The Breakdown

Breakfast and lunch are delicious (and filling) veggie-based meals.  Afternoons included probiotic coconut kefir and digestive teas. Dinner for the first four nights includes healing broth made of adaptogens and mushrooms. Insider tip: Because of my veracious sweet tooth I saved half of the kefir to drink after dinner and this just worked for me.

I tend to be an all-day snacker. But the best advice I received on the detox was to actually finish my meals—yes it seemed crazy. I actually felt fuller than during my normal meals. But eating the meals in full, at their designated times, helped me felt satiated and I didn’t feel the urge to snack. Since the meals are doctor created, they are actually flooded with nutrients so I trusted that my body was receiving what it needed; even if it seemed like more food than I would normally eat.

My Day One

Day one of the cleanse was super delicious and felt fairly easy. I usually have a bulletproof coffee and skip breakfast. I was definitely missing my morning coffee. The root veggie detox breakfast, shown below, was actually so yummy. I never thought I’d like a savory breakfast. I also loved the nori wrap that was for lunch, and the coconut kefir was delicious and felt like a treat—it is insanely delicious and ended up being my favorite part of the cleanse each day. Dinner was the medicinal broth, which tasted a bit medicinal at first, but as days went on I started to enjoy it more. Insider Tip: blend in a high-speed blender to make it frothy, creamy and delicious!

Overall day one was easy and rewarding—to be quite honest, I was shocked. All day long you are able to enjoy Sakara’s Beauty Water Concentrate drops in water. I love the drops and was already accustomed to them from my regular Sakara meal delivery (as they are included in all programs). They taste like rose and moisturize your skin from the inside out as they include 72 trace minerals. I also find the digestive tea really warm and comforting. When not on the detox, I love to add a little non-dairy milk and a natural sweetener. But it’s so good that drinking it black is a-ok. At night I drank the Sakara Detox Water Concentrate which are chlorophyll drops that aid in detoxification. Each night you take magnesium, which helps your body relax all over, aids in sleep and elimination (check, check, check!!).

Supplements

Sakara includes all the supplements you need to help assist in the program. These aren’t your average supplements either, they are medical grade. I truly love that they thought of everything, and this really enforces that this is more than just a “cleanse”.

Support

I loved that I could email a Sakara health coach whenever I had questions, and I had many the first time around. What I loved is that their answers were never formulaic. They actually provided thoughtful, insightful guidance and reminded me of why I started the cleanse in the first place (omg, so needed on days 2 and 3)! The detox’s Facebook group is also really invaluable- you have the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback from other women going through the same thing (or who have been there during previous detoxes).  

Day Two

Day two starts with a “Deep Forest Detox” breakfast, my favorite meal in the entire detox (so much so I begged Sakara to add it to our regular meal delivery!). Lunch was zucchini and jicama noodles with superfood falafels. Day two I started feeling extremely bloated but I persevered. I contacted Sakara who reminded me it was crucial to move my bowels, so getting some movement in (even a walk), lots of water, and extra magnesium, were encouraged. Ending day two, I was amazed at how much food the I was consuming and I never really felt hungry throughout the entire first two days. I felt strong and excited to keep going.

Day Three and Four

I woke up feeling lighter and happier on day 3.  Day three is definitely when the challenging part of the detox set in. You don’t realize how you often just reach for things throughout the day so feeling so regimented felt difficult. I realized how much my food actions were dictated by my cravings. I’m used to getting a snack the second I feel a flicker of hunger, and being on a more restrictive diet forced me to acknowledge how much I snack without even thinking about it.  When I felt myself crashing, or craving, it was incredibly helpful to have access to both other people going through the detox on Facebook.  

Day Four is the all liquids day, and honestly many say it is the hardest day of the cleanse. But by this point any detoxing symptoms I had (which were really just foggy headedness and bloating) were gone.  I actually love green juice and the carrot ginger soup for lunch was insanely yummy. By day four I felt lighter, energetic, and the fog had started to lift.   

Day Five

Day five always falls on a Friday, which is exciting. I actually love doing the cleanse Monday- Friday. I can rationalize that it’s short and by the end of the week the cleanse is over!  I woke up feeling a surge of energy and like I was truly firing on all cylinders. I started making plans for all the things I planned on doing with my newfound energy!  While I was a bit hungry on day four,  I woke up excited to eat the squash frittata for breakfast this morning, below (so, so good). My favorite part of the day was the Detox Macro Bowl for dinner. It was a nice treat to depart from the broth dinner. This day had the most food on the menu, mostly to help our bodies transition back into our regular lives.

Conclusion

I think the most surprising thing about the detox is my results really showed up in Days 6-9. I lost 6 pounds. My bloating was completely gone. And everywhere I went people were commenting on my glowing skin. I felt energetic and fueled. What I love most is it reset my digestion. Even when having a few bites of gluten and other inflammatory food that weekend, I handled it with ease. My digestion was humming. But the detox also had the added benefit I didn’t expect- it made much more mindful around my food choices. I didn’t realize just how much I was mindlessly eating throughout the day, snacking and grazing, oftentimes not even looking that the food I was shoving in my mouth while typing on my computer or scrolling on Insta. I learned how to be much more mindful of what I put in my body and take a second to think about if I really need the food I was reaching for. Is this program easy? No. But nothing worth it ever is. It will make you feel incredible, and that’s worth more than the price of admission.

The Sakara Level II Detox occurs monthly —sign up here. Just enter code GLOWSAKARA at checkout to save 20% of the Sakara Level II Detox or any meal program!