Trend Alert: Raw Food Cleanse

At this point we’ve pretty much all heard about the liquid cleanse craze and I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon, but a new trend is bubbling and I think it’s WAY WAY better! I’ve been noticing that raw food cleanses have become more mainstream and they’re fantastic! Don’t get me wrong, if I ever need to drop a few pounds in a hurry to fit into a dress, I would totally do a three-day liquid cleanse, but I would know full well that odds are I’ll binge right after and end-up heavier than I was pre-cleanse (trust me – three days of juices is not enough to get rid of your sugar, white bread, or fried food cravings). As an alternative my favorite restaurant/take-out spot, One Lucky Duck, is offering raw food cleanses that combine raw-vegan food with juices. I eat at One Lucky Duck and at their sister restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, all the time so I’ve tried many of the items on their one-week cleanse menu — it’s all delicious. Not only does doing a cleanse like this mean you won’t be a bitch (I don’t often use words like that, but when you’re surviving off of no more than six juices a day, trust me — you’ll probably end up being in a very bitchy bad mood!), but this is something that is actually sustainable beyond just a week.

We should all be incorporating more vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts, seeds, and whole grains into our diet (cancer cells love the acidic environment that results from meat-based diets and they feed on mucus, which the body can produce in response to dairy), One Lucky Duck’s cleanses are the perfect way to get on track to not just loose a few pounds, but actually live a healthier life. When healthy food is this good, it doesn’t feel like healthy food. See One Lucky Duck’s menu options here. Alternatively pick-up one of the owner’s books and try your hand at a DIY raw food cleanse.

As for juices, while I don’t believe you can get long term weight loss or health benefits from a short liquid cleanse, I think drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juices every day as part of your regular diet is one of the best things you can do for yourself – and I’ve discovered the ultimate juices! They’re made by a company called Body & Eden (they launched in February), and unlike the juices you’ll get from most brands they aren’t loaded with sugar (have you ever looked at Blueprint’s nutrition facts??). They call their juices tonics, which basically translates into herbal tea infusions blended with fresh fruits, veggies, and superfoods sourced from local farms…they are beyond delicious (I got four of them and I drank them all in one day). Better yet, they’re flavorful even though they clock in, mostly, at 60 calories or under.