Lucky You Juice Cleanse Review: We try out this popular detox!

Run-down and exhausted, with a serious caffeine habit and skin that had seen better days (think eye-bags, wrinkles AND zits – awesome!) this mama decided a full body overhaul was due. The way to kick-start a new me? With a juice cleanse of course! There are various juice cleanse options available in Singapore, but the new kid on the block is Lucky You Cleanse, coming to the little red dot straight from uber-healthy Sydney. What could be better?

Order your juice on their super-easy-to-use website (yep it’s pricey but consider that this is all your food for 3 whole days or however long you’re cleansing for) and they’ll deliver directly to your door from Tuesday to Saturday. As I like to feel like I have a fresh start every Monday, I decided to use Monday as my pre-cleanse prep day by abstaining from coffee, alcohol and processed foods to get my body ready for what was ahead. I was surprised after a day without coffee that I didn’t feel any side effects whatsoever. This was going to be a DODDLE. In the late afternoon I received my juice delivery — three days worth of juice is a pretty huge quantity as you get six bottles a day, so make sure you empty a whole shelf of your fridge! I kept peeping at my juice stash, I was so eager to get started.

Day One
After starting my day with a glass of hot water and lemon as recommended by Lucky You, I tucked into my first juice of the day, which was actually a yummy banana and kale smoothie. You’re encouraged (in the daily motivating emails LYC send out) to “chew” each juice as you drink it to get your digestive system working, and this is easy to do with the smoothies (which are actually quite filling). You get a recommended schedule along with your juice delivery, which has you slurping down a bottle every two hours roughly, so you feel like you’re pretty much always drinking something. A green juice comes next, then a ‘Spicy Lemonade’ which has cayenne pepper in it, and which your kids will NOT like thankfully, as mine kept wanting to try all the other ones while I smiled through gritted teeth thinking, “this is all I get to eat all day darlings so hands off!”

In the mid-afternoon it’s what I liked to think of as the JUICE OF DEATH: my nemesis. I loathe beetroot juice, so getting through the ‘Red Juice’ was a massive struggle (and they say you really need to try to finish all the juices!). Thankfully once that was drunk I could cruise through to my next ‘Green Juice’ and finally to the manna from heaven, the ‘Cashew Mylk’, a yummy nut milk sweetened with dates that felt like dessert. Apart from feeling a bit tired towards bedtime I was surprised how easily I got through the first day… so easy. Why don’t more people do this juice cleanse malarkey? I even thought about emailing Lucky You to extend to a five day cleanse, so smug was I!

Day Two
Woke up with a stinking headache, and in a stinking mood thanks to a 5:30am wakeup from my little one. My helper was cooking Adobo and the delicious smell permeated through our apartment. My kiddos were happily tucking into freshly-baked muffins in the kitchen. I considered going back to bed but the headache was so bad I couldn’t sleep. Caffeine withdrawal had kicked in with a vengeance and all I wanted was a huge latte, and a burger. Instead I started in on my juices and prayed I’d start to feel better. When I met a sympathetic friend for a cup of herbal tea and a sniff of her coffee she said, “Oh, you have juice rage”, and I agreed with her. That’s exactly how I felt. I wanted to barf the red juice. All was bad with the world. I went to bed as soon as possible after finishing my nut milk and fell into the deepest most wonderful sleep I have had since before I had children.

Day Three
After my amazingly restorative sleep (and I really cannot rave enough about this side effect!) I woke up filled with energy for my final day. Pretty serious hunger pangs kicked in and I was worried I’d be tempted to actually grab the food out of my children’s hands at mealtimes. I managed to distract myself by trying different herbal teas between juices, and went for a swim to try and follow Lucky You’s advice that exercise helps the cleansing process. I found I got tired a bit more easily than usual though, and felt slightly light-headed. Amazingly though my skin was already looking better and my stomach felt amazingly flat (well obviously as I hadn’t eaten anything solid for 3 days!). The day flew by and once again I felt so tired by 8pm that I fell into bed and had another incredible night of sleep, waking feeling fresh as a daisy the next day.

Afterwards
I have to confess I didn’t really follow the post-cleanse tips at all, but once you’ve finished your juice cleanse you will naturally be more aware of what you put in your body and be more drawn to healthy and fresh food. I’ve continued my hot water and lemon habit, followed by a green juice or smoothie in the morning. Weight loss wasn’t really a priority for me, but the fact that I’m off to Koh Samui next week means a flatter tum is much appreciated! I definitely saw a difference in the clarity of my skin, and also the quality of my sleep, which was really an unexpected but much-welcomed bonus. I’d really recommend doing a juice cleanse if you’re feeling run-down even if you generally have quite healthy habits. I know that now I’ve started I’ll be trying to do one every 6 months just to give my system a break and a re-boot. I thought Lucky You’s service and juices were fabulous, and I was thrilled to see that you can even buy the Nut Mylk separately if the craving continues (you HAVE to try it mama!).

A 3 day cleanse with Lucky You costs $330, and we have a special discount code to share which will give you a 10% off your cleanse until May 23rd – just enter SASSY when you check out on Lucky You’s website!
www.luckyyoucleanse.com.sg