Diary of a Little Bird Organics winter cleanse

I’m not a winter person. I just feel… blah! I need the sunshine and light clothing on my skin. I also go from a bright healthy completion to dull. It’s not necessarily from a suntan, but probably from eating light fresh foods, drinking more water, getting out and about more and just feeling overall more vibrant. I really felt like I needed to give my body a kickstart and my friend Zoe recommended the Little Bird Organics winter cleanse to me. Guillaume was going away for five days last week so I thought I’d give it a go then, so that he didn’t have to put up with my crabbiness. I ordered the three-day pack. I thought I’d share my experience with you.

The cleanse consists of six drink combination of cold pressed juices, nut milk & tonic along with a raw organic detox salad bowl which is recommended to be taken in this order:

1. Cleansing Activated Charcoal Lemonade Tonic
2. Morning Grapefruit & Passionfruit Kefir – Alkalising
3. Cold Pressed Green Juice – Detoxifying
4. Cold Pressed Beetroot, Carrot & Ginger – Blood Cleansing
5. Cacao, Almond and Reishi – Energising
6. Cold Pressed Cucumber & Spinach with Spirulina – Hydrating
7. Raw organic salad

If you’ve ever eaten at the Unbakery here in Auckland, you’ll know that that do the most delicious foods, all organic, mostly raw and free from cane sugar, dairy and soy. Because of this, I wasn’t worried about the taste of the juices, what I was worried about was feeling hungry. You don’t want to be around me if I don’t eat enough! Zoe assured me that because you’re sipping juices all day, you actually don’t feel hungry. I wasn’t completely sold but determined to do it for the good of me.

So here it is, my diary of a Little Bird Organics winter cleanse:

Day 1

6:45am – I get out of bed and already I’m thinking about food. I’m about to get ready and then I’ll be serving the kid’s breakfast. I feel a mild panic that I’ll be drinking juices for the next three days.

8:20am – The box full of today’s cleanse is delivered by a courier. The kids all crowd around while I open it to reveal the juices and salad. I take number one, the tonic out, it’s black from the charcoal. The kids were really excited and half horrified that mummy was about to drink that black thing. I drank it in two goes and I liked the taste, it was surprisingly sweet. My little girl had a tiny taste and agreed. The boys didn’t want to. I wasn’t sure how long I was supposed to wait until number 2, the Grapefruit & Passionfruit Kefir, but I’m a breakfast person and really needed to feel something in my belly before taking the kids to school.

10:30am – I have to say that I’m feeling a bit hungry. Perhaps I should be having the mid morning juice now but I’m wanting to stretch it! I’m trying to bide the time with a green jasmine tea. All I can think about right now is eating and it’s just the first morning!

11:00am – I was watching the clock for this one because I was really hungry. The green juice is certainly more substantial in size and substance. So I sip it for as long as possible to savour it.

1:00pm – After the green juice I haven’t been hungry but I’m ready to have number four, the cold pressed beetroot juice. It’s supposed to clean the blood. Like all of the juices so far, it’s tasty. I admit that when I opened the fridge to get this one out, I was eyeing off the raw salad that I will have for dinner. I’m so glad that they included this because I don’t know if I’d be able to last and go to bed after a liquid diet all day.

2:10pm – I’m giving myself a little treat, a peppermint tea. I have to say that I’m feeling a little bit tired now. It might be the afternoon slump or the fact that I didn’t have a hearty lunch. I’m not a junk food person, I eat quality food that’s not mass-produced but it does tend to have sugar and sometimes lots of fat. I’m married to a Frenchman after all.

2:40pm – I’m going to pick the kids from school in a minute and I need some energy so I’m going to have the Cacao, Almond and Reishi. Out of all of the juices, this is the one I’ve been dying to try. This is described as “a protein drink rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids to keep you energised and full of stamina. Reishi mushroom (Gandoderma lucidum), is nature’s ultimate anti-stress antidote.” I definitely need a bit of that before I get the kids! It tastes amazingly delicious and satisfying, a little bit like an afternoon chocolate fix, only it’s good for you.

6:00pm – I’m having my final juice for the day, the Cold Pressed Cucumber & Spinach with Spirulina. It’s supposed to be hydrating and cleansing. I’ve found that my patience with the kids is very low, I’ve definitely snapped at them more, so it’s definitely a good thing that Guillaume is away. The cocao and almond milk really sustained me and gave me a lot more energy, which was good and while everything has been delicious, I can’t wait to chew on that salad! I think it’s a psychological thing actually, the feeling of satisfaction coming from the chewing sensation.

6:40pm – I’ve never been so excited by a meal before. The salad didn’t disappoint. It was quite substantial and having half an avocado made it quite robust. I feel satisfied now and I’m sure I’ll sleep really well tonight.

Day 2

6:45am – I woke up naturally and had the best night sleep I’ve had in a long time. I’m sure it’s because my body hasn’t been working hard while I sleep. I’m feeling energised and I’m ready to go even though I have a little sunken feeling that I won’t be eating normal meals for two more days.

9:30am – I booked a massage, which is recommended to help release the toxins. It was absolute bliss and made me realise how little I do for myself in that regard.

9:00pm – Today was much easier. I didn’t experience the hunger like I did the first day. I did look forward to and savour the Cacao, Almond and Reishi drink and the salad. I feel tired though, so I’ll be going to bed early tonight.

Day 3

6:45am – I didn’t have such a great sleep but I put that down to two kids that crawled in to bed with me and kept kicking me all night.

9:30pm – I did it! The three days! I feel good that I put all of that goodness into my body to give it a nice break. I’m looking forward to porridge for breakfast tomorrow morning.

The Verdict.

It was surprisingly easy. I didn’t starve, a couple of times I felt hunger pangs but that happens on normal days. The first day I felt a little spacey. The second and third day was a breeze. I don’t think that I could have done any excessive exercise during it, perhaps something like yoga would have worked.

While I didn’t do this to lose weight (even though I put on a kg or two over winter), I was interested to see the effect. I lost 1.5 kg over the three days. I assume that most of this is fluid but it is a good little kick start to eating healthy and exercising.

While I’m happy to be able to eat normal meals, I do feel more aware about what I will put into my body. After my first “normal” breakfast of porridge, I felt like I wanted to continue the healthy choices and ducked to The Unbakery in summer street for lunch and to pick up a healthy dessert for my Friday night dinner with Guillaume.

I think it’s a great cleanse for anyone not ready to go too aggresse with a detox. It’s delicious and flavoursome and really well thought out. I think you just need to get your mind around not physically eating for most of the day which is the hardest thing. The fact is that you’re really not that hungry. Nellie Pigot, the naturopath who put the cleanse together says in her information sheet that that there is enough nutrition in each to leave you satisfied and that when we are hungry we are often hungry for nutrients rather than simply calories.

I’d definitely do it again.

The cleanses can be ordered as a one day, three day or five day pack.

This post was done on my own accord and is not in association with Little Bird Organics in anyway, I just thought I’d share my experience with you.

Have you done any cleanses?

Mel x