Forever Living Clean 9 Cleanse Review

So if you follow my Facebook page you’ll know I recently did a 9 day cleanse called Clean 9 from Forever Living.  It’s basically a complete cleanse/detox that consists of:

• 2 one litre tubs of Aloe Gel, for cleansing your system – Aloe has a lot of health benefits as well as a rich source of nutrients, it also aids digestion so works well as a detoxifying cleanse.
• 1 pk Forever Lite Protein powder – I ordered the Vanilla as it’s easy to add fruit and make a smoothie to jazz it up a little
• Forever Garcinia Tablets – these help the body burn fat and are a natural appetite suppressant
• Forever Therm Tablets – support your weight loss by increasing your metabolism and your energy levels
• Fibre Sachets – help keep you full and also keep you regular!
• 1 cool little shaker cup for your protein shake
• 1 measuring tape
• Your book that explains everything and tells you what to take when as well as gives you recipes for your meals after day 2

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical of this, I’d seen the results from other people posted online and I really wondered whether it was possible to lose a large amount of weight over such a short period of time and expect it to stay off?…….

Day 1 & 2 – The detox a.k.a. the hardest part!

Breakfast:  120ml Aloe Vera Gel, 2 Garcinia tablets, 1 Therm tablet

Mid Morning: Fibre sachet dissolved in water

Lunch: 120ml Aloe Vera Gel, 2 Garcinia tablets, 1 Therm tablet, 1 scoop Forever Lite Ultra made with 300ml water or Almond/rice milk

Dinner: 120ml Aloe Vera Gel, 2 Garcinia tablets, 1 Therm tablet

Evening: 120ml Aloe Vera Gel, 2 Garcinia tablets

Snacks: Selected fruit & veg from your “free” list

Exercise: Min 30mins low intensity exercise (walking, swimming etc.)

On my way to Bootcamp!

So I started the first 2 days with just the above, doesn’t look very appetising does it?!  Luckily, I was also allowed some food from a free list of fruit & veg including apples, strawberries, red grapes and lots of salad veggies so mid morning I had a small bit of fruit cut up in a bowl then at Dinner I had a small mixed leaf salad with onion, tomato & cucumber with a teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar.  I actually looked forward to this even though it wasn’t much but it made the 2 days a lot more bareable!

How I felt:  In a nutshell – Hangry! These were the hardest days by far, I craved something tasty, I hated the Aloe Gel and I questioned whether I could actually continue!  As it turned out I got through it, my Forever distributor Jenny was a great source of help and encouragement and she gave me a tip to add a tiny drop of diluted juice to the Gel to make it easier to take and that did the job nicely.  I have to say though, whenever I felt hungry, I could fill up (within reason) on fruit and veg from my free list so for that reason this was more bareable than I thought.

I absolutely loved the shake, it was really tasty and I looked forward to having it!  I made mine with Almond milk and it gave it a lovely taste, I also added in some strawberries, raspberries or blueberries and whizzed it up in my smoothie maker for variety and that was gorgeous and very filling.

On the second day I did a really intense exercise class and I was really surprised at the level of energy I had!  I thought I’d be really low on energy and tired but no, that wasn’t the case at all, I felt fantastic!

Tip:  I couldn’t wait to get started on the cleanse as soon as it was delivered to me, but I didn’t realise that it’s actually recommended that you begin taking the Aloe Gel 4 – 5 days prior to beginning, just to get used to the taste (it really does take some getting used to, there’s no denying it!) so I really wish I had done that and it may have eased me in better.

Temptation was EVERYWHERE! But I kept going 🙂

Days 3 – 9

Breakfast:  120ml Aloe Vera Gel, 2 Garcinia tablets, 1 Therm tablet, 1 scoop Forever Lite Ultra made with 300ml water or Almond/rice milk

Mid Morning: Fibre sachet dissolved in water

Lunch: 2 Garcinia tablets, 1 Therm tablet, 1 scoop Forever Lite Ultra made with 300ml water or Almond/rice milk

Dinner: 2 Garcinia tablets, 1 Therm tablet, 1 600 calorie meal – 800 cals for men

Evening: 2 Garcinia tablets

Snacks: Selected fruit & veg from your “free” list

Exercise: Min 30mins moderate intensity exercise (Jogging, Aerobics etc.)

I was super excited about day 3 because it included a full meal, yay!  There were great suggestions on what to have included in the book but most days I had some salmon or a chicken breast, a side salad with olive oil & balsamic vinegar and a small portion of brown rice.  At this stage, it was the nicest meal I ever tasted, no joke! 🙂

On day 4 I had a bit of a setback, my baby daughter was unexpectedly taken into hospital, nothing serious thank god, just a kidney infection but she was in for 4 days which, as you can imagine, really threw me out of my routine!  I was with her most of the time so it was tough to keep going but then again, I didn’t have to think about what to have, I just had my shakes at breakfast and lunch and then bought a salad in the hospital shop for dinner.  I was totally preoccupied with my poor sick baby which obviously kept my mind off food and eating.  Of course, I couldn’t exercise though which was a pain.  I was surprised how well I stuck to it though everything considered.

On the last day, day 9, you are allowed to have a 300 cal meal for lunch as well as your 600 cal meal so that helped to ease me back into healthy eating.

How I felt: Great!  The Aloe Gel was easier to take, especially since it was just the once, in the morning, and somehow the taste wasn’t as bad. It really is one of those things you get used to after a while and the health benefits are worth it.  Also I never felt hungry, the shakes were so filling and the weather was so warm, I was drinking loads of water so that helped too.  A bonus of being stuck in hospital was that there were no temptations to eat anything other than what I had.  I was still able to snack on some fruit so I’d have an apple mid-morning and a pear mid-afternoon to ease any hunger pangs.

My stomach felt flatter and I definitely felt trimmer and just healthier in general so it was well worth sticking to it. But more importantly…..

The Results:  After the 9 days I weighed and measured myself and I had lost 8lbs and 5 inches all over which I was delighted with!  I think not being able to exercise put me at a bit of a disadvantage but still just over half a stone wasn’t a bad result at all!  More than the weightloss though, I felt great.  My skin was clear and bright, my digestive system was in top form again – I suffer with IBS so it’s always great to do a good cleanse every now and then. Also my sugar cravings were gone, it was like pressing the reset button on my whole system which was really the result I wanted.

If you’re thinking of doing it, I would highly recommend it.  Yes, it’s quite expensive as far as detoxes go and some might argue, if you eat so little. you’d still lose the weight, but I do think it’s worth it because with all the supplements you take, you are nutritionally supported through your cleanse and you don’t feel hungry or lacking in vitamins and you have tons of energy.  I’ve done a juice detox before and I had absolutely zero energy doing it and just felt drained and ravenously hungry, so in comparison I’d go with the C9 every time as you get the same, if not better results and you can actually EAT!

Would Clean 9 be for you?

Well, only you can decide that, but if you want any of the following, I’d say go for it!:

• You want to kickstart your weightloss
• You have a wedding, holiday or special occasion that you want to look amazing for, or maybe drop a dress size
• You need to lose weight quickly for medical reasons
• Want to cleanse your whole system out and lose the sweet cravings
• You suffer with IBS and want some relief from your symptoms

Would I do it again?

Yes, absolutely!  It really wasn’t that bad at all, and the results were so worth it.  I’m now one week on from it and I’ve started eating really healthy so I’ve lost a further 2lbs and still feeling good which is great!  So in answer to my question above, is it too good to be true and will you just put all the weight back on?  No, it seems not – once you don’t go back to old habits and you continue eating healthy.  🙂

Also I had forgotten how good the Aloe Vera is for easing the symptoms of IBS, I used to take it years ago but this stuff is so much better than what you get in the health food shop – if you read the label, that stuff is Aloe JUICE which is different all together – Forever Aloe Gel is way more concentrated and works much better on your whole digestive system.

I may keep taking the Garcinia & Therm tablets as they were really good supplements for weightloss.  Also I really liked the shakes so much I would defo repurchase those, especially for mornings when I’m rushing out the door and haven’t got time for breakfast (as is the case for most busy mums!).  It would be better to take this with Almond milk and some berries whizzed together than to have nothing and it’s so filling and tasty.  It would be great to have before or after a workout too as it’s high in protein.

Would you try this yourself or do you think it’s too extreme?  I’d love to know what you think below 🙂

Also, if you’re looking to do Clean 9 yourself and want to order it or have any questions, just drop me an email to kandigloss@gmail.com or send me a message on my Facebook page and I can point you in the right direction 🙂

 

My 3 Day Juice Detox Experience

I recently decided to do a Juice Detox and came across a company on Twitter that does it – Juices by Ginger,  so I  signed up for it straight away.

I had a few reasons for wanting to do it:

• I felt really sluggish and tired and had major sweet cravings all the time which led to me eating crap so I wanted to get rid of those.
• I wanted a fresh start with a healthy eating plan that I could stick to, I figured if I could survive a 3 day juice, any healthy eating plan after that would seem like a piece of cake (not literally!)
• I wanted to eliminate dairy and white carbs and sugar from my diet without it seeming too hard.
• I just wanted a good clear out and to give my overloaded digestive system a break 🙂
• In the run up to Christmas with all the eating and drinking going on, I wanted to give myself a little head-start so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat rings around me and pile on the pounds (I did that one year and managed to put on a stone! Never again)

Now, I have heard that you lose a few pounds when doing a Juice detox and obviously that is a big plus for me but I find it hard to believe that you wouldn’t put a bit of that back on once you start eating again so I just thought I’d take that with a pinch of salt and use it as a kickstart into a healthy eating plan instead.

The complete 3 day detox pack cost €70 for the 3 day detox and I got 4 jars of juice for each day, it works like this:

My juice was delivered the night before I planned to start and I was warned by the delivery guy to drink lots of water!

My juices, ready to go!

Juice Detox Day 1

Breakfast  – 8:30am

I opened my green jar and gave it a good sniff first to see what I was letting myself in for!  It smelled ok so I popped my straw in and off I went.  It wasn’t bad at all I have to say, the over-riding taste was celery and ginger so it tasted really fresh and zingy.   I was relieved that I could finish it!  In my hurry to get it into me, I had forgotten to have a cup of hot water with lemon beforehand as advised on the leaflet, it aids the detox apparently.

Breakfast time!

I didn’t feel hungry at all afterwards but by around 12 my stomach started grumbling, so I had one of the lemon and ginger herbal teas that came with the pack and that took the edge off my hunger a bit.  By the time my lunchbreak came, I didn’t know what to do with myself!  I would often go to my local shopping centre on my lunchbreak and have something to eat in one of the cafes or get a nice lunch in M&S to bring back to work with me but I obviously couldn’t do that now.  I actually buy my lunch at work quite a lot so I was glad to be breaking that habit.  Still, everywhere I went there was food (and especially chocolate, typical!) but I stayed strong and thought of my lovely red lunchtime juice back at the office. 🙂

Lunch – 2pm

I struggled with my red juice it had to be said.  Although there was lots of goodness in it, it didn’t go down for me quite as well as the green one so I just sipped at it til I finally managed to drink it all up.  It wasn’t awful now, but it just wasn’t to my taste.  Luckily I had bought extra herbal teas so I just had a nice fruity one afterwards and that helped a bit.  All I could think about was food though!  It goes to show you what a big part of your life it is physically, socially and mentally.

The dreaded red juice!

Dinner – 5:30

I had my second green juice for dinner and I sipped it slowly, again, it was grand.  I followed that with another herbal tea which, by now, was a real treat and seemed like I was having something really bold!  I had a busy evening so that kept my mind off food.

Treat Juice – 8pm

By this time I was seriously flagging and felt really tired, so I had one of my treat juices and it went down really well I must say.  It was also full of goodness but just a bit easier to take than the others.

I went to bed early, partly because I was wrecked and partly to stop me thinking about food!

Juice Detox day 2

I had a really good sleep and woke up feeling as fresh as a daisy, not a bit hungry and ready for day 2!  The juices and times were the very same as day 1 but this morning I remembered to have my hot water and lemon which, I can confirm, definitely aids the detoxing process!

Again, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself at lunchtime so I decided to go for a walk and I felt great afterwards 🙂

I sipped my herbal teas throughout the day and they really helped take the edge off the hunger and gave me something to look forward to.

I was surprised at the fact that I barely felt hungry during the day and if I did I just drank more water or herbal tea. This was my best day by far.

I decided to go to my TRX Bootcamp and that was a killer, well it always is in fairness but it was extra hard cos I had barely any fuel in the tank.  When I got home I was exhausted and extremely hungry so I had my green juice for dinner & the rest of my treat juice and went to bed early.  In hindsight, I probably should have skipped the heavy exercise.

Juice Detox Day 3

I woke up after another good sleep but was really hungry so I had my hot water & lemon and my breakfast juice.  This was definitely my hardest day, I was really starting to struggle now but the thoughts of it only being for one more day kept me going, and in fairness, I couldn’t believe I’d managed to stick to it so rigidly.

Lunch was torturous again, I didn’t take to that red juice at all it was very hard to get it down, made even harder by the fact that my work colleagues were going to the pub for for Christmas lunch so I decided to work through my lunch to take my mind off it, that was unbelievably hard! 😦

On the plus side, I was feeling lighter and brighter although my digestive system was really purging itself today (sorry, you’re getting the bad with the good here!).  I had decided not to weigh myself until the 4th morning so I wasn’t sure how much I’d lost but I was definitely feeling like I had dropped a few pounds.

By the time the evening came I hated the juices and just wanted to be finished!  I decided to do something positive and look up clean eating ideas/recipes on Youtube to give me a plan for the rest of the week.  God knows why I thought that was a good idea, but I was only torturing myself and feeling miserable so I had another early night.

Day 4 – Results!

I got to eat actual food this morning and I can’t tell you how happy that made me!  I got up at 6:30 I was so excited (unheard of for me!).  And I knocked myself out with a fruit salad with some linseed sprinkled on top and my hot water with lemon – I think I’ll keep that going actually it’s a good habit to start your day.  I then weighed myself – 8lbs gone!  I couldn’t believe it, that was a great result, but as I said I’m a bit sceptical as to whether it’ll stay off once I start eating, even if it is healthy eating, but it’ll still be a good few pounds gone so I’m happy with that.  I also measured my stomach/waist and it was down 6 inches!  So all the bloating – gone!

This has really spurred me on to keep it going and I’m looking forward to keeping this good healthy feeling and needless to say, after going through all that, I’m not likely to be reaching for the take away menu or the chocolate any time soon.  Of course, I’m going to indulge over the Christmas but I’ll pick the days and not overdo it, then just get back on with my healthy eating the next day so there’s a good bit of damage limitation.

How I felt doing it:

I felt really alert and awake for the whole time I was doing it apart from the evenings when I got really tired.  I did notice my skin was glowing and my eyes looked brighter.  I got a great sleep every night and woke up bright eyed an bushy tailed.  I didn’t get any headaches at all either so that was good, but then I’m not a tea or coffee drinker so, no caffeine withdrawals.  I did have to visit the loo a good bit though (just a warning!)  My sweet cravings are also completely gone which was what I wanted so delighted with that.

Despite my giving out, the juices were ok and it was managable for the 3 days.  I don’t think I’d have managed anymore though!

Would I recommend it?

Yes, definitely! 🙂 But only f you’re looking to kickstart a healthy diet. If you’re looking for a quick fix, or are planning a big takeaway afterwards don’t bother, you’ll only be wasting your time and money.  If you start eating processed crap or drinking alcohol after doing this, you’ll only be back to square one and you’re body won’t thank you for it either.  For the next few days, I’m just going to ease myself into eating solids again by starting with fruit & veg and then I’ll add more lean meat and brown rice etc. over the weekend.

My first day eating

Pros

• If choose to get your juices delivered by a company, everything is planned for you, you don’t have to think or organise, you just pack up your jars for the day and off you go.
• You will give your whole system a good cleanse and a rest which you really see the benefit of.
• You do lose weight, but as I said if you eat crap afterwards you will just put this back on and most of it is probably only water anyway.
• You appetite decreases and you’re more full and easily satisfied
• After forking out €70 and not eating for 3 days you’re less likely to want to ruin it by going back to your old ways.
• A herbal tea seems like the best treat ever! (who needs chocolate anyway?!)
• It gets rid of your sugar cravings
• Your health will only benefit from it

Cons:

• It’s quite expensive, if you have the time & money you might be better buying your own juicer and doing it yourself but I thought it was worth it for the convenience.
• It can really irritate your digestive system, especially if you suffer with IBS as I do.  That’s all I’ll say on that…. be warned!
• You crave food and are quite hungry if you don’t constantly drink water or herbal teas.
• You really miss chewing and you have to keep brushing your teeth or they feel a bit weird and furry!
• You don’t have any nice food to look forward to and you have to avoid everyone eating and turn down any social events or switch channels when ads for food come on! (that wasn’t easy for me, especially at this time of year!)
• You can’t exercise as effectively as you would if you’ve been eating food.
• It might seem hard to do if you have small kids or cook the family meals so in that case just cook a few big meals in advance and freeze them before you start so you are not tempted to pick while cooking for family.

This is not a fad diet and you really can’t look at it like that.  It’s not the answer to your weightloss problems but it’s a damn good place to start with healthy eating and I’ll probably do it again in January 🙂

You can get the same juices I did at Juices by Ginger (she’s on Facebook and Twitter) and the 3 day option costs €70

Will you be giving this a try??!  Or have you done it before?  Let me know below 🙂