The juice cleanse: tough it out, and you’ll have glowing skin, a high-functioning immune and digestive system, and a sense of accomplishment. I’ve attempted many juice cleanses in my time, and as a juice aficionado, I thought it was high time to sample the pretty-looking BluePrint Juices I keep seeing at Whole Foods.
Designed for a classic cleanse, BluePrint Juices come in cute 16-oz bottles of organic, cold-pressed goodness. Each one is dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian. I decided to try each of them out and evaluate each one for taste and satisfaction, as well as overall effect on my health:
GREEN:
Contains kale, apples, ginger, romaine, cucumber, spinach, celery, parsley, and lemon. Green juice is often the hardest one to get used to during a cleanse, due to its typical lack of sweetness. Even though the apple and lemon did little to disguise this juice’s “leafy” taste, it can grow on you (pun intended).
RED:
contains apple juice, carrot juice, beet juice, lemon, and ginger. This one was probably my favorite from the line, simply because it was so robust and almost felt like a meal in itself. The carrot juice gives the mixture an appealing smoothness and sweetness in addition to the apple, and the beet juice was noticeable in a pleasant, earthy way.
YELLOW 1:
Contains lemon juice, cayenne, agave, and water. This juice, as well as Yellow 2, bears the most resemblance to the Master Cleanse – a famously difficult juice cleanse of lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. This blend is a bit more gentle, with the agave off-setting the “kick” of the cayenne. Not the tastiest, but gives the system a jump-start.
YELLOW 2:
contains lime juice, ginger, agave, and lemon juice. This juice is definitely more assertive than its counterpart, with citrusy zing and a pronounced ginger presence. This is really ideal as a wake-up juice, or a mid-study-break hydrating snack. Not bad for your breath, either!
WHITE:
Contains cashew milk, vanilla, cinnamon, agave, water. The closest thing to a “dessert drink” in this cleanse, the white juice is disappointingly thin. However, the taste is A+; I never get tired of the creaminess of cashew milk combined with vanilla and cinnamon flavors. It’s sweet but only one isn’t nearly satisfying enough.
Overall, the cleanse did the job – cleared my body of toxins, trimmed down my figure a little, and left me feeling refreshed. However, it also left me feeling insanely hungry – green juice doesn’t compare to a loaded salad, and white juice is hopeless against a vanilla cupcake. For short-term results, though, the BluePrint juices are perfectly tasty and easy to incorporate into a busy schedule.
