plant based

Life on the Newport Beach Cleanse

I have officially completed the Newport Beach Cleanse, and I'm so excited to share how it went with you guys! Just a brief recap: I wanted to do this cleanse to get rid of the toxins my body was holding onto and decrease inflammation throughout it. I also thought it would be a great way to reset my cravings and how I was eating because, let's be real, it isn't always easy to stay on track in the summer. I wrote an in depth post about my reasoning and going into the cleanse here. I'm going to walk you through the basics of the cleanse and what I did, my results, the parts I found difficult, and what I took away from it.

So two weeks ago, I started the cleanse. I had two smoothies every day which included a scoop of fiber, a scoop of protein, greens, unsweetened almond milk, and fruit depending on which smoothie I chose. I usually had one for breakfast and the second for lunch with additional food. I was allowed to eat pretty much all vegetables whenever I wanted and one small animal protein per day. I was also allowed to have a certain amount of chickpeas, lentils, hummus, avocado, quinoa, brown rice and sweet potato every day if I wanted to. For the most part, I ate each of them every day except the quinoa and brown rice. I ate quinoa a decent amount and no brown rice. Fruit was only allowed in smoothies. I could use certain cooking oils, but it was encouraged to use them in limited quantities. All vinegar, mustard, herbs, and spices were also permitted. I pretty much just drank water, but herbal and green teas were also permitted.  In addition to food, I was taking supplements every day - 10 at breakfast, 4 at lunch, and 10 at dinner. 

In terms of exercise, it was not just allowed but encouraged. They suggested at least 20 minutes for 4-6 days a week. I went to my usual spin classes 3 times a week for both weeks, I ran one day each week, and I did strength work/weights 2 days each week. I also went to yoga on one of my days "off". I had zero issues exercising or having enough energy to do so.

Without going into too much detail, I wanted to give you guys some measurable results from my experience with the cleanse. They estimate that a woman will lose between 3 and 15 pounds while on the cleanse. I set my reasonable weight loss goal at 5 lbs, but weight loss was NOT a major factor for me. I viewed it as more of a side effect versus a driving reason to do the cleanse. I weighed myself the day before I started, and I also took measurements of my chest, waist, hips, arms, and thighs. I weighed and measured myself this morning for my final results. I lost 10 lbs. Yes, seriously 10 freakin pounds! To be fair, 2 days before I started the cleanse I went to a concert and drank beers and ate some not so healthy food. But still 10 lbs is a lot. And this is not like a water weight 10 lbs. I was VERY hydrated throughout the entire cleanse, and I also ate a ton of food. I also lost 3 inches in my chest (I have a small chest to begin with, so this was probably more back than boobs), 6 inches in my waist, 2 inches in my hips, 1/2 inch in my arms, and 0 inches in my thighs. So I would say overall that these results were pretty great. I can see a noticeable difference in my body and the way my clothes are fitting which is definitely a great side effect.

So was it hard? Honestly, not really. I just ate whole, read food and felt pretty fantastic the entire time. Plus, I could eat whenever I wanted, so I was definitely by no means starving myself. I did have a caffeine (or lack thereof) headache for the first 3-4 days. The headache was also a side effect of my body getting rid of toxins. It was a very mild headache, and it went away once I got through those first few days. I also take melatonin to help me sleep sometimes, but I realized that my capsules contain soy. So they were out. I found that I didn't even need them, and I slept much better while on the cleanse most likely from my lack of caffeine consumption. The part I found the most difficult was probably not being able to use pre-made sauces (i.e. sriracha, liquid aminos), but it was a blessing in disguise because it forced me to play around with spices and be creative. I also missed some of my favorite things like eggs, toast, and nut butters. But honestly, I never really even thought about them unless I saw them on social media. So it isn't like I was dying to have them because I had other delicious food that I was enjoying instead.

I feel like there were so many takeaways for me with this cleanse. 1) It definitely turned me onto smoothies more. I will 100% be incorporating them into my routine more often. 2) It really put how much animal protein I was eating into perspective. I always thought I was someone who didn't eat a lot of meat, and I still think that I eat less than many people. But this cleanse has made me reevaluate my portion size when I do decide to cook it. I weighed chicken breasts one night because I was trying to have 3-4 oz, and I found that one breast was twice that amount. There are definitely times where I have eaten an entire chicken breast probably unnecessarily, so it's just something for me to keep in mind for myself. That's not to say never eat a chicken breast, but for me, I would probably be more than fine with half. 3) The cleanse also reintroduced me to packing all of the veggies into my plates. I do incorporate veggies in most of my meals, but these past couple weeks have made me want to fill most of my plate up with lots of veggies of all different colors. 4) This cleanse has further made me want to avoid processed food and focus on whole, real food. The food without ingredient lists are really the best! I also want to try to make some of my own sauces and will definitely continue to play around with herbs and spices in the kitchen. 

So overall, I give this cleanse two thumbs up! My honest opinion is that it was really great, and I think everyone would benefit from it. I feel like it has really reset my body and cravings, and I feel like I'm on a great path to continue living healthfully. If you do decide you want to try it out for yourself, you can use the coupon code 13183 to get $30 off the cleanse kit here.

 

Newport Beach Cleanse

When I hear the word cleanse, I generally want to run the other direction. It makes me think not eating or eating only one thing. I've done a couple of juice cleanses (which weren't awful), and I've heard of some bizarre cleanses like eating only apples. But the fact of the matter is, I like food...a lot. I'm not really cool with eating only apples or drinking all of my meals for multiple days. And I'm REALLLLYY not cool with starving myself which I will admit I have kind of felt on some juice cleanses I've done. 

So when I first heard about Newport Beach Cleanse, my initial reaction was NOPE. But I kept reading..."eating plan", okay, so there's food..."organic, non-gmo, gluten, soy, and dairy free", you have my attention..."healthy not hungry" SOLD! I was super intrigued now. I haven't really heard of a "cleanse" that emphasizes eating, so I wanted to know more.

A little side note. If I'm being completely open and honest, I have definitely been a little more off than usual this summer. But at the same time, it's summer! It's a time where you can do things outside, spend time with friends, and sometimes that might mean indulging a bit with food or drinking. A couple of my best friends also moved into a new apartment in Philly, so there has been celebrating. And summer concerts are pretty much my favorite thing, which generally also means beer and not so healthy food sometimes. And that's okay. That is LIFE. It's not realistic to be like I'm never going to indulge, especially in times of celebration or with friends. 

So the idea of this cleanse came at the perfect time. It seems like the perfect way to kind of reshape the last few weeks of summer and get things back on track. Plus the real idea behind a (good) cleanse is to get rid of toxins, reduce inflammation, and reset the body a bit, all things that I can definitely get behind. 

After learning a little bit more about the cleanse over at their website, for instance, that it was created by a holistic nutritionist who believes in healing through food and all of the goals and benefits of this cleanse, I was in. Without going into too much detail, you can eat whenever you want. If you're hungry, eat! This cleanse just really aims to get rid of the obvious negative things you might be putting into your body and also removes anything that might be causing inflammation. You still eat (tons of) vegetables, fruit, protein (animal and/or plant), certain oils, spices. The list of food you can each is MUCH longer than the list of things you can't. You can also exercise, something I have found difficult during other cleanses due to lack of energy. It's actually an important part of the cleanse. So overall this cleanse seems helpful and most importantly practical. 

I received the Newport Beach Cleanse Kit which includes all of the necessary supplements for the cleanse, the Newport Beach Cleanse manual, and a shaker bottle. The manual includes the guidelines of the cleanse among a number of other useful tools like a measurement chart and lots of recipes.  I used it to meal plan so that I'd be fully prepared at the start of the cleanse. I also took my measurements yesterday so that I can compare them at the end. The main goal of this cleanse for me isn't weight loss (although it does help with that). It's really about resetting my body, resetting my cravings, ridding my body of toxins, and reducing inflammation. I am, however, still interested to see how it does affect my body overall in a measurable way.

So here we go. I'm going to be sharing my experience throughout the cleanse over on Instagram (@allroadsleadtohealthy) and Snapchat (allroadshealthy). I hope to share some basic and still delicious recipes along the way. There will be a fair amount of smoothies/shakes involved, so I will try to mix content up as much as possible. But most importantly I want to be real and transparent throughout this. I'll do another blog post recapping my experience at the end and share any measurable changes just to give you an idea. 

If you're interested in giving the cleanse a try yourself, you can learn more about it here. They've also been kind enough to give me a coupon code to offer you for $30 off the cleanse kit. The code is: 13813, and you just enter it at checkout. Definitely feel free to leave me a comment here or on Instagram if you decide to give it a try because I'm very interested in hearing about your experience!

Coming Soon