Project Juice Seasonal Reset Cleanse

Ready. Set. Juice.

July is almost over, and I’m gearing up for an exciting and busy August – one of the warmest months of the year, and one of the busiest with the #MermaidYogis Instagram challenge, a weeklong trip to Utah for Outdoor Retailer, and plenty of warm water surfing here in San Diego. It’s prime time to be bikini fine, and that means pressing pause on indulgences like ice cream and summer BBQ’s, and hitting the reset button on nourishing my body with whole foods and exercise. I decided to jump start my August with a one day Seasonal Reset Juice Cleanse from Project Juice, and figured I would share the experience with all of you!

Wanna juice? Use code STOKEDYOGI for 10% off until August 17.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done this.

The last time I did a juice cleanse was about four years ago, right before my now-husband proposed to me, and it was not pre-prepared juice – I made it all myself. With a five day juice detox, I ended up spending about four hundred dollars on local, organic produce to make the best quality juice I could at home. We started the detox with a few days of eating plant based, mostly raw meals, and overall we had a great juicing experience – but I spent countless hours prepping, juicing, cleaning, and shopping, and this time around I just wanted the juice without all the fuss. Living on a boat, cleaning the juicer can be a bit tricky.

Cue Project Juice.

Their name is totally appropriate, as their origin story tells of a “personal ‘project’ to develop and deliver the highest quality plant-based foods and cold pressed juices in a convenient and accessible form.”

What make them different?

In their words, “sourcing the best of the best certified organic produce and featuring ingredients from local farms, they craft a wide selection of delicious plant based foods, premium cold pressed juices and superfood smoothies.”

In my words?

Their juice is really fresh and left my body feeling nourished. I liked it!

I was stoked that Project Juice delivers right to the door in Southern California – this week Brent & I are house sitting for our friends, and though I’d booked the cleanse a few weeks ago, they were super chill about me emailing to change the drop address.

Normally I am the queen of the snooze button, but today I woke up like a little kid on Christmas morning, knowing that my juice was going to arrive. With enthusiasm, I ran down to the door and sure enough, before 7am our juice had been delivered, nice and chilling in it’s cold bag, and we were ready to rock for the day.

Brent and I started the day with coffee- hey, don’t judge, I’m just being honest – but right after that started with the first juice of the day, the Green Lemon (Kale, Romaine, Spinach, Celery, Cucumber, Green Apple, Lemon.) We took our juices to go and cruised around the block, enjoying the warm summer morning and the sweet nourishing green juice.

One thing that’s pretty handy is they send you clear instructions about how to conduct your cleanse, tips for success afterwards, and a schedule for when to drink the juices.

The instructions have you start the day with warm lemon water (an excellent tip) and then drink a juice every two hours, stopping at least two hours before sleep. We started around 9AM, enjoying a leisurely walk through the ‘hood and “chewing” our juice to release the enzymes (another interesting tip from the instructions).

At 11AM, the Watermelon Berry (Watermelon, Strawberry, Young Coconut Water, Green Apple, Lime) gave me a hot pink pick me up while I continued to buckle down at the computer.

1PM rolled around and it was time for the Green Ginger (Kale, Romaine, Spinach, Celery, Cucumber, Green Apple, Ginger). I have to say, I’m not a huge fan of ginger, and this one was definitely a bit spicy, but I went for it anyway and it seemed to give me a boost of energy! It even inspired me to roll out my yoga mat and move through a spicy little flow.

3PM feeding time meant getting down with The Master (Lemon, Pure Filtered Water, Raw Agave, Cayenne.) named for the Master Cleanse (I’m guessing). This was the only juice that I just couldn’t hang with. I’m kind of a sissy when it comes to spice, and my body was just not into the intense citrus and spice combo.

This is my no thank you face.

My 5PM dinner juice was probably one of my favorites – the Sweet Greens (Cucumber, Kale, Spinach, Romaine, Celery, Green Apple) tastes just like what I would make for myself if left to my own devices.

You know the expression “save the best for last?” Well, so do the juice wizards over at Project Juice. If you make it through the first five juices, you get a reward – Cashew Mylk (Cashew, Pure Filtered Water, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Vanilla, Raw Agave). Which, for some reason, is not on their website but you can check out the similar Almond Mylk. It’s a delicious, creamy, vanilla and cashew reward that tastes like heaven in a bottle. Now, maybe it’s just because I didn’t eat solid food all day, or maybe it’s because I’m a fat kid at heart, but I loved this “milkshake” style juice and probably could have knocked back like five of them. It’s a good thing they only sent one, or I’d be here with a tummy ache.

So it’s evening now, and the cleanse is over, and I feel surprisingly really good! Before the last juice, all I could think about was pizza, but I think the healthy fats from the cashews did their job and now I’m feeling happy, healthy, and just a little bit lighter! All the greens helped with my mental clarity, and overall I feel like my insides are cleaner.

The only thing I would change about the Project Juice product is the packaging – the juice comes in plastic bottles, and as a free-spirited, Gaia-loving, granola-crunching, hippie chick, I would really love love love to see the juice in glass bottles. But hey, can’t win ’em all.

I’d definitely recommend checking out the cleanses from Project Juice if you’re thinking about doing a juice cleanse – especially if it’s your first time, or if you’re a busy professional, stay at home mom, or really anybody who wants to juice but doesn’t know where to start – or doesn’t want to clean the mesh strainer full of produce pulp like five times a day. You can go online to order the one day Seasonal Reset cleanse – it’s $75 and worth every penny. When you order, use code STOKEDYOGI for 10% off! (valid until August 17, 2015)

I will be ordering again, for sure, and I will also be trying their Get Up and Go Go (Purified Water, Cold Brew Coffee, Raw Almonds, Date Paste, Vanilla Bean, Sea Salt) which seems to be something like a Starbucks Frappucino minus the GMO garbage and plus the feel-good caffeine. I love coffee. Coffee Juice. Yum.