We started The Good Stuff with a philosophy: health is built on habits. We don’t believe in diets you do for a few days or weeks, or regimens that strip away everything you love about food. We believe in food that makes you feel great.
Our ready-to-blend smoothies are designed with this in mind. We want to make it as easy as possible to do something healthy for yourself - every day. Over time, we believe this can contribute to even greater changes for your health.
However…
We’ve come to realize that not everyone needs a gradual shift. Some people like to shock themselves into a new habit. For those, “resetting” their body is a way to show that they’re ready to make a change. We recognize the power in making a strong statement about your health.
The most common way to do this?
Cleanses.
If you live in Vancouver, you probably know someone who’s done a juice cleanse. It is a 1 to 7 day regimen that focuses on only drinking juice and eating select raw foods. Juice cleanses are powerful specifically because they allow you to feel that “reset” for yourself.
However, for all their positives and popularity, juice cleanses also have problems. High sugar, low fibre, and exhaustion to name a few. Our own dietitian wrote about those problems here.
So we thought, what if we could create a green smoothie cleanse? One that offered you a chance to reset your body while also keeping you full and energized?
We wouldn’t be the first - JJ Smith wrote a green smoothie cleanse recipe book - but with our product we could make it easy. We had to try it.
But, we decided we’d only do it if it could be different from most juice cleanses.
Here’s what we did:
- Worked with our team’s nutritionist to create a bundle of smoothies with enough calories and nutritional diversity for a cleanse.
- Created a guide on how best to do the cleanse.
- Found test subjects to compare a juice and smoothie cleanse.
The Test
Meet Meltem and Giselle.
They are friends of The Good Stuff and co-workers at Cloudraker, a local agency. We chose them because they are close to the same age/weight, and they promised to be totally open with their experience.
They each agreed to do a cleanse: Meltem a popular juice cleanse, and Giselle our new green smoothie cleanse. They started them one day apart, and I had them answer a few questions at the end of each day. I hoped to answer the ultimate question:
How does a green smoothie cleanse compare to a juice cleanse?
Here is what happened.
Unboxing
The juice cleanse box comes like this:
The green smoothie cleanse box comes like this:
Each cleanse comes with 21 drinks (3 days worth), and a guide on how to do the cleanse. The juice are to be refrigerated, with a shelf life of 3 days, and the ready-to-blend smoothies frozen, with a shelf life of 3 months.
Here's what they look like lined up:
Juices:
Smoothies:
What activities did you do during the cleanse? Were they affected by the cleanse?
Meltem (Juice Cleanse)
I started the cleanse on a Sunday, and finished on a Tuesday. I had a low-key Sunday with lots of cat time, and two long working days after that.
The juice cleanse didn’t really affect my day-to-day activities. I went out with friends on the Saturday before, so I knew to take it easy with the cleanse coming, but that was the only change.
Giselle (Smoothie Cleanse)
I started the cleanse on a Monday, and finished on a Wednesday. We had a client visiting, so it ended up being a crazy work week including client dinners. I did manage to squeeze yoga in on the second day though.
The cleanse certainly affected what I ate at the client dinners. But other than that, it had little affect on my activities. I thought I wasn’t going to have the energy to make yoga, which happily wasn’t the case. Blending and bottling a bunch of smoothies also became part of my morning routine.
How were your hunger and energy levels?
Meltem (Juice Cleanse)
I was surprisingly not hungry all day. I missed chewing, but having an almond here and there helped. I think not eating processed carbs like bread and croissants helped. At one point my friend ate cookies in front of me which made me realize: I definitely would have eaten half the pack. I really noticed how much food I normally eat for no reason.
However, 7 juices a day is a lot! I averaged finishing about 5 per day. I kept getting energy spikes after I had a juice. I am not used to consuming drinks with so much sugar in them. One day, the 6th juice of the day actually came back up… Not a pleasant experience. By the 3rd day I was cutting my juice with Pepto Bismol. The nausea really affected my energy.
Giselle (Smoothie Cleanse)
I wasn't hungry at all during the cleanse. My morning smoothies were very filling, potentially more filling than my regular breakfast that consists of 1 egg and toast. 7 smoothies a day is enough for one every 2 hours, and sometimes I actually wouldn’t be hungry but would force myself to drink it to get through them all. I missed chewing, but gum helped.
As for energy levels, I definitely missed my coffee kick. I didn’t realize how dependant I was on coffee until now. Other than that, energy levels were totally fine. I got pretty used to the morning smoothies, and may keep up the smoothie thing after this cleanse.
How was your general mood?
Meltem (Juice Cleanse)
I felt like Gwenyth Paltrow! There is a certain je ne sais quoi you feel when on a juice cleanse.
I did feel slimmer by day 3 as well - where is my Victoria’s Secret contract? I know weight loss isn’t the point of the cleanse, but I enjoyed the feeling.
Giselle (Smoothie Cleanse)
I had a hectic few work days, but my general mood didn’t change. Most people really hype up their cleanse, but it felt more like a diet change than an ordeal to go through. I can’t lie, I enjoyed the smugness of being on a cleanse as well.
Overall Thoughts
Meltem (Juice Cleanse)
I was expecting to struggle very hard and be hungry all the time but that was not the case. I felt pretty good on energy and not eating solids wasn’t as bad as I thought.
However, if I do another juice cleanse I will only do green juices - I can’t handle all the sugar. From day 2 onwards I was quite nauseous.
It also shocked me how much I eat out of boredom! I had no idea that was the case, until I had to consciously cut myself off from. This experience definitely opened me up to improving my daily health in the future.
Giselle (Smoothie Cleanse)
This was fun! The smoothies were delicious and I’d definitely do this again, as well as recommend it to friends.
It’s worth noting, I didn’t get “flushed” in a bowel movement sense like cleanses usually do... I was also a bit desperate for chocolate, and other naughty delights. But I felt great not giving in to them.
The smoothies were really filling, and enough for one every two hours. I didn't actually get through all of the smoothies every day; I was also hankering for something warm, so I cheated and had soup for dinner every night🍲 🙄. The nice thing is the smoothies don’t go bad frozen, so I still can keep them for whenever I want them.
Summary
Mike again here. I had three takeaways from this:
- We all eat out of boredom more than we realize.
- Juice cleanses: not all bad.
- Our green smoothie cleanse can do it better.
Sometimes going to an extreme can help you realize your own bad habits. Although both cleanses can be effective for this, our smoothie cleanse did it without the added sugar nausea.
So we’re rolling out our own Smoothie Cleanse! Head over to our Buy page to try it for yourself!
Have you ever tried a juice or green smoothie cleanse? What was your experience like? I’d love to hear in the comments below!