Review: 18 Karrots (18k) One-Day Juice Cleanse
Actual date of cleanse: March 29, 2015
I went into this never having participated in any sort of cleanse before, because as a rule I am incredibly suspicious of any company/product/program that encourages me to stop consuming actual food. However, I had heard excellent things about 18k juices (like, people say they actually taste good!) and my concerns were somewhat alleviated by the fact that they were happy to promote their simple one-day cleanses instead of trying to sell people a “seven-year cleansing detox fast with full juice-cult initiation included!” type of thing. I was also feeling digestively bogged down after a long two months of haphazard SAD-induced eating habits, and more than that, I felt mentally stuck. So I went for this juice cleanse because why not, and it was a much more positive experience than I expected. Here are my thoughts on each juice:
- 18 Carrots (Glow): After a large cup of strong black coconut oil coffee, I started my day of juice with the Glow juice (bottles are numbered in recommended order of consumption). This was a nice enough way to start, although it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I reasonably anticipated a thick, carroty drink. Instead, it tasted bright and gingery, and somehow yellow (in a good way). The ginger was slightly overpowering - this juice isn’t as gentle as you’d expect - but this is a good “kickstart” for your morning.
- Dandelion Cleanse (Energize): I drank this one about three hours later after my Sunday yoga practice, approximately making this my brunch juice. Again with the ginger (it gives me immediate heartburn) but I liked this juice a lot. It was light and appropriately green on the palate, and I could taste the tang of dandelion, but the sweet apple-ness made it fresh and rejuvenating instead of bitter.
- 18k Citric (C Boost): Yes. Yes. By far my favorite. I could drink this juice with breakfast every day if I could afford it. Imagine a brilliant fresh grapefruit juice from the most awesome flavorful grapefruits ever, then add some sweet mellow orange and some bright sunshiney lemon and that’s it. Toddlers would probably drink this without a fuss. It’s probably the sweetest juice in the spread, and this one is entirely pleasant and not offensive in the least.
- Parsley Tonic (Balance): Ooof. Balance. You mean balance out the joy I felt while drinking the last juice? Here, we slide straight into the thoroughly no-nonsense green juice realm. Again, hella ginger. And now introducing parsley! LOTS of parsley. 18k did a good job of taking the edge off that ubiquitous parsley/ginger duo by throwing in some apple, though. I didn’t love drinking this juice, but it was not a terrible experience. It tasted clean, green, and lean. This is the “eat your vegetables” part.
- Kale Greens (Detox): This was even green-juicier than the Parsley Tonic, but somehow much less difficult to drink. It may be that I really enjoy the taste of kale, or perhaps there was enough apple in this to disguise another dose of persnickety parsley, but Detox went down easy. I then learned what 18k is referring to as “detox”. This juice will make you poop. Sorry, but I refuse to not advise potential 18k juicers to have a bathroom at hand after drinking this juice.
- Beet ‘Em Up (Vitality): It took me until almost midnight to get around to this juice - not eating solid food all day does some weird things to the appetite (in the short-term anyways) and I only started sipping this as I rode the bus home after work. A satisfyingly beety beverage, to say the least; this was thick and foody and actually tasted as red as it looked. The ginger and celery balanced out the earthy sweetness of the beets, and I felt quite happy and satisfied as I arrived home and got ready for bed. It was almost like ending the day with a hearty full stomach.
For a first-time juice cleanse, this went better than I thought it would. That being said, I have some serious thoughts and advice that I need to include. The first thing is that I have never encountered a juice cleanse that provides marginally adequate nutrition for baseline human functioning. Yes, you can live on juices and stay healthy for a number of days or even weeks, depending on your activity level and the demands upon your body in everyday life. No, I don’t believe this is advisable. Juicing is a great way to get an insane payload of vitamins and minerals delivered to your system in a short period of time, but it also deprives you of fiber, protein, fat, and other things that humans require. I therefore recommend tweaking and supplementing your cleanse appropriately to address your unique needs.
- The 18k one-day cleanse, by itself with nothing added, provides: ~1250 calories, 9g fat, 32g protein, and 10g fiber.
- During my one-day cleanse, I added: two scoops of raw vegan protein powder, one tbsp of coconut oil, and one liter of coconut water (for electrolytes). This brought my day’s nutrition up to ~1800 calories, 24g fat, 75g protein, and 15g fiber; a much more balanced and reasonable approach to my personal needs, although still not something I’d want to maintain past the immediate short-term.
- I do not recommend juicing for active people, or people who have higher caloric needs. If you are active and want to try a juice cleanse, be very cautious and try a one-day cleanse on a rest day. I did my juice day on Sunday, which is always a rest day and only involves gentle yoga, maybe some walking. But even with the added protein and fat, I still felt low on gas and was acutely aware of the delicate energy balance my body was struggling to maintain.
- Very light exercise does help, though. The megadose of vitamins in your system will move around more if you are moving your body in some way. Gentle yoga, walking, and easy bicycling are excellent options. (Running, weightlifting, martial arts, hot yoga, and other intense activities are definitely not!) If you plan to add protein to your juice day, I recommend consuming at least some of that protein directly after whatever exercise you choose to perform that day.
- I did not “lose weight”. Juice fasting is not a viable option for healthy or sustainable weight loss. Some loss of water weight may occur. Most of that water weight will return when you start eating solid food again, as it should, because that is healthy and normal and your body naturally retains water for digestion and cell function needs.
- Juice cleanses are fucking expensive. However, I think that the benefits of an occasional one-day cleanse are well worth it if it fits into your version of a balanced lifestyle. I felt refreshed and mentally rebooted. If your body responds well to short-term juice fasting, I would call it positive self-maintenance to have a one-day cleanse once per couple months or so.
- 8/10; points off for barely providing 1200 calories by itself. Seriously guys, if you are going to try this, add whatever you need to make it healthy for you because this super-low-calorie business just doesn’t fly with me. That aside, this particular cleanse was a pleasant and positive introduction to the realm of juice! I definitely plan to try other juicing options available to me, but if given the opportunity I’ll go with 18k again someday.