Spring Cleaning - Part 1

The next few months are going to be a whirlwind of activity and travel.  This weekend being my last "calm" weekend at home, I decided to take the time to do some spring cleaning.  While I do also plan to clean out my apartment, my main effort is to detox my mind and body, so I am doing a three day juice cleanse.

I own a juicer and have done juice cleanses before, but this time I chose to do a delivered cleanse.  There are tons of options out there!  After some research, I decided on the Urban Remedy cleanse for the main reason that their juices are very low in sugar.  An added bonus that all the blends looked absolutely delicious.

Urban Remedy offers three different levels of cleanses: Signature, Purify, and Super Green.  I will be doing one day of the Signature cleanse and two days of the Purify cleanse.  The Urban Remedy site offers guidance on choosing a cleanse length and level, but in the end you can pick any combination and duration you like.

Prepping for the cleanse:  The Urban Remedy website provides a detailed list of foods you should limit in preparing for your cleanse. I normally eat a pretty clean diet (no meat, dairy, eggs, or other animal products, and limited processed foods), but in the days before the cleanse I made an effort to drink less coffee and more green juices and smoothies.   The one item I did eat from the "limit" list was bananas.  As this was the only fruit on the list, I would be interested to know why it was included.

I should also note that in deciding when to start the cleanse, I considered when I would be able to make the time to really relax and reflect, and enjoy the full benefits of the cleanse.  As I mentioned, the next few months of my schedule are jam-packed so this weekend seemed like the perfect time to take a break.

Day one:  The down side of selecting the Urban Remedy cleanse is that it is based in California, and therefore the juices had a long way to travel before arriving on my doorstep in DC.  I wake up very early naturally, so I had some blueberries and tea to tide me over until my juices arrived at around 10:45AM.  I also did some gentle yoga.  My energy was very low until I got the first two juices in me, and then I felt fine.  I went for a walk outside and did notice that my senses seemed a bit more heightened than normal.  I also will admit that I went for an easy jog - most cleanses do not recommend vigorous exercise while cleansing, but I the runner in me could not let such a beautiful day pass without at least a short jog.  I definitely felt heavier in my legs and slower than usual, which is probably due to the complete lack of coffee and caffeine in my system.   Later in the afternoon and evening I had a bit of headache, which is to be expected and some say is a sign of detox.  I enjoyed the last two juices of the day while relaxing at home.

Overall, the juices were very tasty.  The first juice was the greenest (the "Brainiac") as it contained no fruit)and I preferred this over the other green juice ("Flush") which contained apple.  For some reason, my taste buds dislike the combination of apple and ginger in green juices, although Urban Remedy's blend also contained mint which made this juice more palatable to me.  The "Time Machine" with acai, lemon, and cayenne was very refreshing, although it was not very substantial.  Since I received my juices late and was behind the suggested schedule, I decided to skip the fourth juice (the "After Party").  Okay, reality check, I skipped the fourth juice because my body was craving something sweet and the next juice ("Warrior" with raspberries and chia seeds) sounded amazing.  This juice was fantastic and was more like a smoothie due to the chia seeds.  My only criticism is that it contained stevia, which I did not think was completely necessary.  The final juice of the day ("Relax") was a cashew nut milk with cinnamon.  Again, this juice was more like a smoothie and was a great end to the day.  I was surprised to see that this juice did not contain any sugar or stevia (the "nut milk" juice of most juice cleanses is usually sweetened).

After my final juice I had some hot tea and was ready for bed.  Sleep was glorious.  I woke up a bunch of times to go to the bathroom (all that juice and tea!) but I slept for almost 12 hours which is crazy abnormal for me!  Guess my body needed it.  Well this was a longer post than I intended, but I hope it will be helpful for anyone interested in doing a cleanse.  I will post more thoughts and feedback after days 2 and 3.

Snack Attack - Veg Style

Those who know me can tell you that while I am not one to eat very big meals, I am a constant snacker.  I'm a firm believer that eating frequent, small meals is one of the best ways to keep energy levels up through long work days and hard work outs.  That being said, I am always on the lookout for new, healthy snack ideas.

Enter: The Vegan Cuts Snack Box.  Vegan Cuts is a website I discovered when searching for a Kombucha brewing kit (see earlier post).  The site was started by a couple and features a range of vegan products - food, fashion, beauty, and other miscellaneous items.  The Snack Box is a package of vegan goodies that is sent out monthly to subscribers.  While I'm not usually a fan a packaged stuff, I think that Vegan Cuts supports nutritious and compassionate products so I decided to give the snack box a try.

The snack box arrived this week and I was pleased with the contents.  While a few of the products were familiar, the majority were new for me and I am excited to try them.  Check out my live "un-boxing" video below for details on what was included!

Kombucha

Friend:  What are you drinking?
Emily: Kombucha, it's fermented tea
Friend: Kombu-what?
Emily: Kombucha!
Friend: Looks weird.

I can't count the number of times I have had this conversation.  While people have been drinking kombucha for hundreds of years, it is just now becoming more mainstream (i.e. sold in more than just health food stores). Since my friends and family had questions on what this strange beverage was, I am certain many others do too.  I will try to answer the basic questions in this post.

What is kombucha?

Not to be confused with kombu (the seaweed) or kabocha (a type of squash), kombucha is a fermented tea.  It usually has an acidic taste and can vary on sweetness and flavor.  Most are also slightly carbonated.

Where did kombucha come from?

It is thought that Kombucha tea originated in Asia, but where exactly is a mystery.  With the extension of trade routes it spread to India and Russia, and eventually further.  Kombucha was very popular in Russia and Europe until World War II, when sugar and tea were rationed, making the key ingredients of this drink too hard to come by for the average family.

Over the last few decades, Kombucha has experienced a revival in Europe and has become popular in both Australia and the United States.

Why drink it?

The health claims of drinking Kombucha are endless - some even say it cured them of cancer.  While there is not much conclusive evidence on the benefits of this drink, it is generally accepted as a health product which aids in detoxification and is beneficial for the digestive system.

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There are many different types of Kombucha on the market today; however, most will cost your $3-6 per bottle.  Since I love the drink and do feel the positive effects when I drink it, I have decided to brew my own!  To do this, I purchased a 1 gallon glass container and a brew kit online.  There are a few different kits out there, but I decided on the one from Oregon Kombucha as it was simple and affordable.   The kit comes with tea and a 'SCOBY' (which is the culture/bacteria/mushroom that will get your tea to start fermenting).

Last week I started the brew process: I made one gallon of tea and added one cup of sugar.  I let the sweetened tea cool and then added in my SCOBY.  I covered the container with a clean cloth (to keep out dust and bugs) and then let it be.  It can take anywhere from 7 to 28 days for your Kombucha to ferment to your liking.  The length of time depends on your taste (the tea will be sweeter at 7 days, and more acidic the longer it ferments) but also on the environment.   Kombucha ferments best around 80 F.  Since it is a bit cooler in my apartment, and since I like my tea more acidic, I expect it will take a bit longer than 7 days for mine to be ready.  That being said, I plan to at least taste it tomorrow and will write back with the results!


**UPDATE** I tested the Kombucha after 7 days of fermentation. It is still too sweet for my liking, but I expected as much since my apartment has been a bit cooler than is optimal for brewing.  I will keep checking on it every few days until I am satisfied.