Thrive Tries It: An Easy, Effective Smoothie and Supplement Cleanse

Full disclosure: Cleanses petrify me. If I wasn’t so inspired by Get Real founder Jordan Rubin’s incredible story, I’m not sure that I would have signed up for this challenge. But 20 smoothies and some 50 probiotic and omega capsules later, I’m a believer.

Rubin’s team customized a 10-day cleanse for Thrive Market’s Content Team that was anything but challenging (until day 6, but more on that later). Rather than asking us to eliminate solid food, chug herbal laxatives, or even exercise for hours on end, they encouraged us to implement a new healthy habit into our lives each day. The goal, after all, wasn’t to torture us or turn us into Victoria’s Secret Angels. It was to jumpstart our health in a positive, realistic way that we could continue from here on out.

Day 1 started with the Purple Green Fermented Superjuice Smoothie, a detoxifying, creamy, and colorful blend of apple juice, bananas, fresh kale, spinach, blueberries, and Get Real Fermented Superjuice Cleanse Powder. All our daily requirements of vegetables and nutrients (or what Get Real calls “nature’s ultimate insurance policy”) were right there in that single, delicious glass.

Minutes after slurping our last sips, we were all pumped. I started to hear whispers of “having to go to the bathroom,” feeling “full enough to skip a bagel,” and even feeling “tingly inside.” Throughout the day we all felt energized and satiated. It was a dream-come-true until around 4 p.m., when we all seemed to hit a wall and become ravenous for not-so-healthy snacks.

Day 2 addressed that problem with the introduction of the Cleansing Multimetabolite Smoothie, a dessert-like energy booster enjoyed later in the day (after our morning Purple Green Fermented Superjuice and a regular lunch). A mix of extra virgin coconut oil, flaxseed oil, raw honey, cacao nibs, roasted coffee beans, bananas, vanilla extract, and two scoops of Get Real Multimetabolite Cleanse Powder, hit the spot, gifting us a healthier alternative to our late-afternoon guilty pleasures. Each of us felt “energized” throughout the day, which was fantastic considering it was only a Tuesday.

Day 3, we all “got cultured,” as Get Real calls it. This meant it was time to incorporate fermented veggies or beverage (like a bubbly Kombucha). We also began taking a few capsules of probiotics to further support our body’s healthy detoxification. Almost every team member admitted to having to “pee a lot” that day, assuring us that we were flushing the bad stuff out. The probiotics were at work.

One team member describes it as going from “meh”in the morning  to “feeling pretty great” by the end of day. Another swore that the cold that she had been fighting was starting to disappear.

Day 4, we “boosted our omegas,” by eating an omega-3 rich lunch (think tuna over mixed greens with a flaxseed-oil based dressing), as well as taking three Real Omega Cleanse capsules. While there was nothing “life-changing” to report by the end of the day, we all agreed that we felt “better than worse.”

By Day 5, we had been introduced to each of the Core Four foundational products offered by Get Real Nutrition (fermented super juice, multi metabolite, probiotics, and omegas), and we were feeling like pros. We each started the day with a Morning Liver Cleanse, which is simply an eight-ounce glass of water with 1/2 freshly-squeezed lemon juice, sipped on an empty stomach. As silly as this sounds, this glass of lemon water first thing in the morning helped a lot, at least for me. My body felt cleansed and ready to go in time for my now-routine Purple and Green breakfast smoothie. I actually forgot my morning cup of coffee, but felt energized all the same.

Half of the team also commented on visible changes to our skin. Toxins were definitely being flushed out, and we could notice a difference in our skin’s radiance and texture. For me, sadly, it was in the form of a breakout, but as I write this a few days after the fact, my skin looks clearer than it has in a long time.

Things started to get trickier on Days 6 through 10, when we were introduced to more time-consuming, behavioral habits like breathing and earthing (walking barefoot and grounding your body to the earth). Get Real explained that our “skin, especially the ball of your foot, is a very good conductor of this energy.” And with this energy “comes great stress reduction as you allow the Earth’s energy to rejuvenate you.”

It was raining on Days 5 and 6—a very rare occurrence in Los Angeles—so we postponed the earthing for a couple days. And after that, we never really got around to it. We all felt terrible about this, but we did agree on a valuable take-away: It’s hard to take time away from our hectic schedules to unwind and relax. While it was easy for us to drink the smoothies and take the supplements, reserving 20 minutes each day to escape from our desks and decompress, can be much more difficult—which is all the more reason to make an effort to adopt more healthy habits.

So, I guess you can say we tried and succeeded with half the challenge.

I’m going to give days 6 thru 10 another go, and I’m looking forward to reporting back and sharing my experience. In the meantime, though, Get Real’s Core Four foundational products will continue to be a permanent fixture in my life.

My clearer skin, increased energy levels, and better digestion insist upon it.

Photo credit: Alicia Cho