When Anna Balasi of Hachette was offering this book for review, I couldn’t resist.  I eat a better diet than the average North American.  I am a vegan and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables but I have been feeling kind of sluggish lately.

This book sub-titled, “Drink fresh juice,eat real food, and get back into your skinny jeans.”  It includes the basic information that you need to know about your body, how the cleanse works, and how to do it.  It takes you step by step on the kinds of foods to eat on the days leading up to the cleanse, during the cleanse and the first few days after the cleanse.  It also tells you how to do a cleanse for one or two days or over three days.  The object of the book is to make the program fit for each individual.  I think it delivers just that.
I use to make fresh juice many years ago but I had a really cheap juicer that stalled all the time.  It was really a pain to make juice.  The first think I did when I got this book was to get a new jucier.  The book includes a segment on the different juicers available and the pro’s and con’s of each kind.  I decided to go with a centrifugal juicer.  That’s what I had before but instead of going with the cheapest about $40, I went with a much more powerful one.
This juicer makes a full glass of juice in 5 seconds and it has stalled on me once.
I decided to start out slow and just start having juice in the morning for breakfast instead of oatmeal.  As the book suggests, first I have a mug of hot water with lemon.  This is suppose to get your digestive system ready for the day.  Then I make a glass of juice.  After the first few days of just doing that, I noticed that I didn’t feel sluggish in the morning any longer.  In fact, I have been feeling more energetic throughout the day.
A week later I decided to do a one day cleanse and see how it goes.  I followed the plan for preparing for the cleanse for two days before instead of three days before.  Being vegan, I was already eating pretty close to the recommendations for the first day.  The last two days are all raw foods so I skipped to that.  There were some awesome raw food recipes in the back of the book.  I especially liked the Gazpacho!
Then I did one day of the Cleanse with some of the juice recipes in the book.  If you don’t like eating your greens, believe it or not, juicing is a great way to get them in and taste good.  Really! I actually found it a lot to drink. and did not feel hungry.  There are full glasses of juices to consume and one cashew milk. 
The next day I ate all raw again and then the next day I had raw up until dinner and then had the Asian Cold Noodles with Spicy Almond Dressing.  That was delicious.  I also tried making the Sweet Potato and Beetroot Crisps recipe in the book for a snack but my oven obviously doesn’t bake evenly and I got some underdone crisps and some burnt crisps.  The small handful that turned out were quite good though.
Since then, I have been having hot water with lemon every day and juice for breakfast.  I also have one or two juice lunches during the week.  This wasn’t from a recommendation in the book, I just thought I’d try it.  Well, let me tell you, it works!  I since I started this, including the fast, it has been one month.  I have lost 15 pounds and feel much better.  The surprising thing is that my husband and I ate in restaurants 3 times during this last month, yet I still lost the weight.  I would love to loose another ten pounds but it’s not crucial.  No matter if I loose more or not I plan to continue this way.  I also plan to try a 3 day cleanse soon.
This book isn’t a magic book for weight loss, it doesn’t even try to be but if you want to feel more energetic and incorporate a healthier diet in your life or jump start a diet for weight loss.  This book is for you.  I highly recommend it.
In case your wondering, the recipes in this book aren’t all vegan.  There are a couple with fish and eggs.  However, the majority are and I really enjoyed the ones I tried. Also, if you live in the United States and don’t want to make the juice yourself, their business, The BluePrint Cleanse can deliver fresh juice to your door.  I prefer to make my own.  It’s easy and much cheaper, I’m sure.
4.5/5
Thanks again to Anna Basali of Hachette Books for this book.
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