Review: Pure Glow Cleanse 1-Day Juice Cleanse
I recently tried a Pure Glow Cleanse 1-Day Juice Cleanse which promised to make me glowy, nourished and feeling like a glitter-covered, love-filled lady riding on a unicorn over a rainbow*. *PGC doesn't promise this, in as many words, anyway ;)
Pure Glow Cleanse - local Perth juice cleanse
Juice cleanses have taken off in the past couple of years, and if you think of them as a fad...well, so did I. But that was before Pure Glow Cleanse ;)
Juice cleanses typically last anywhere from one day to three days (and, in my opinion, shouldn't be any longer than that). Most juice cleanses claim to increase your energy, clean out your system and kickstart your healthy eating again. Usually, a juice cleanse day involves 6-8 cold pressed juices, smoothies and/or nut milks that are all vegan that you sip on throughout the day. It's recommended you keep off the caffeine as well to reap maximum benefits, so between juices you can sip on water or herbal teas. Not all juice cleanses are created equal, however.
You see, looking at other juice cleanses, many of the juices are just packed full of sugar with high-fructose fruit. When I saw PGC actively works to minimise the sugar content in its juices, I was intrigued (and the team has a resident nutritionist overlooking the whole program to make sure it's safe and as beneficial as possible!). I've long been a fan of green smoothies, where you blitz plenty of good veggies and a little bit of fruit and end up with a nutrient-dense swamp water concoction full of fibre do regulate the digestion of the naturally occuring sugars in whatever ingredients you use. Juices are a fab way to get a tonne of nutrients in one tasty hit that your body finds incredibly easy to absorb. HOWEVER, it's important that such a tonne of nutrients isn't predominantly sugar - the more vegetables, the better!
So, I was pretty stoked to see the PGC daily juices (or, more specifically, four juices, a green smoothie and a nut milk) and mostly green!
The Pure Glow Cleanse Juice Menu:
- Sunrise Elixir (juice) - Lemon, Cucumber, Aloe Vera, Filtered Water
- Glowing Greens (smoothie) - Kale, Cos, Cucumber, Celery, Green Apple, Pear, Avocado, Parsley, Lemon
- Green Guru (juice) - Kale, Cos, Celery, Cucumber, Green Apple, Mint, Lemon
- Good Karma (juice) - Carrot, Lemon, Green Apple, Ginger, Turmeric, Grapefruit
- Buddha Juice (juice) - Cucumber, Green Apple, Mint, Lime
- Chai Vanilla Dream (nut milk) - Almond, Brazil Nut, Cashew, Medjool Date, Chai Spice, Vanilla, Filtered Water
Pure Glow Cleanse does deliver to some suburbs, but you can also pick up your freshly made juices from its North Perth juicery. The girls were so lovely when I went to pick my juices up, and really kick-started the whole experience with a smile :)
1. Sunrise Elixir
I regularly start my day with a warm lemon water, and I was stoked to see this juice was full of two of my favourite flavours - lemon and cucumber. It was a nice sunny day, and sipping on the Sunrise Elixir was like giving my insides a shower - it felt refreshing and like it was setting me up to get the most from the rest of the juices that day.
2. Glowing Greens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eRyPPJLcmk&feature=youtu.be
I was pleasantly surprised by a) how sweet this smoothie was despite being relatively low in fruit, and b) how filling this was! As you can see, it gave me plenty of energy haha! It was about 11.30am when I tucked into my Glowing Greens and normally I'll have a headache by 11am if I haven't had a coffee (...it's a one-a-day habit, I swear!) but I had absolutely no sign of a headache! Doing the cleanse does encourage you to stay well hydrated, if only to feel full but also to help absorb all the goodies in the juices, so this probably helped keep my caffeine brain at bay!
3. Green Guru
By the time I got around to my Green Guru, I thought I'd be staaaaaaaarving. But I wasn't at all! Green Guru is again very refreshing and sweet, but not sickeningly so at all. I gotta say, though, I was hanging out for Good Karma and willing the next couple of hours to pass heehee.
4. Good Karma
Right, so...Good Karma is pretty much all of my favourite things in juice form. Reading the menu, I knew this one would be my favourite and it certainly was. It was about 4.30pm when I popped open my jar of Good Karma and I'd been studying all day. I could feel myself starting to go a bit fuzzy, but this juice seems to be perfectly suited to the slump. Very clever, PGC girls ;) I loved the little zing of the turmeric and ginger and I even popped a bit of ice in this one to make it last a bit longer haha.
5. Buddha Juice
Guess who was too wrapped up watching some trashy TV on Foxtel and forgot to take a photo of her Buddha Juice? This grrrrrl. I promise it looked super creative and Instagram-worthy perched in my hands as I sat on the couch with my hair in a bun on my head and my bra well and truly off and retired for the evening.
I'd been sipping on herbal teas for most of the day, and it wasn't until my Buddha Juice was due to be sipped that I started getting a bit of a tummy grumble. I think I was just craving something to chew. So I cheated juuuuuust a little and ate a couple stalks of celery. I know. Out-frikkin-rageous. :P Once I'd finished my yummers Buddha Juice, though, I was full to the brim and could continue watching Real Housewives tummy grumble free.
6. Chai Vanilla Dream
I admit, I've never really liked chai spice or medjool dates, so while this is a lot of PGC cleansers' favourite of the six juices, it was actually my least favourite of the bunch. I then saw some cleansers on Instagram warmed up their Chai Vanilla Dream and I reckon I would've enjoyed it more if I'd steamed mine a little bit. Now, that's not to say it didn't taste pleasant!! It was silky, creamy and rich but it didn't feel heavy. You definitely notice how sweet this one is after the other five milder juices - the medjool date does its job nicely. If you like chai lattes, this will be absolute heaven for you!! I love the idea of finishing the night with a glass of milk, too :)
So, what's the verdict?
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the 1-day cleanse felt. It was nice to know that all my nutrients were ready to go in jars in the fridge, all I had to do was grab 'n' go. I can see how a 3-day cleanse would re-ignite healthy eating habits, too. On the cleanse, everything you need is in the fridge and it so your body can become friends again with its old pal, Discipline. Even after just one day, my body was craving nutrient-dense foods (read: vegetables) so I'd imagine a 3-day cleanse would amplify those cravings. As I mentioned, there was a point where I just wanted to chew something - I reckon if I was doing this in the summer, I'd freeze some of the Good Karma and/or Buddha Juice into icy pole moulds ;)
The next day, my tummy was happy, I'd had a great night's sleep and I felt like I'd treated my body to a bit of a vacay from digestion to focus on absorbing as much goodness as it could. Was I glowing? Well, I wasn't any duller after my cleanse day, and I can imagine that the 3-day cleanse or one of PGC's six-packs would have made a more visible difference to my skin. I will say, however, that I've been dealing with problem skin lately and waking up with at least one new, big spot on my face every day, but after my juice cleanse, I didn't find any new zits on the block!
Pure Glow Cleanse is available to Perth cleansers. You can get 1-day and 3-day cleanses, and 6-packs of Green Guru and a Good Karma/Sunrise Elixir combo. Each cleanse comes with an uber cute packet of paper straws, and a guide to getting the most out of your juices. I'd definitely recommend Pure Glow Cleanse if you're looking for a local cleanse. It's a saturated market out there with heaps of companies vying for your attention (and dollar), but PGC really goes above and beyond to be friendly, yet very professional, right from the moment you book in your cleanse. With a nutritionist on board, you know you're getting the most bang for your buck and your cleanse if being overseen by a seasoned pro, and isn't a backyard lemonade-stand jobby.
Check out the website, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to get glowing!