Can You Drink Smoothies for 3 Straight Days?

This is one of those posts that I ask you to take with a grain of salt.

You know my opinion of “cleanses,” and that hasn’t changed.  I believe that our bodies regulate themselves naturally, and there’s really no need to “detoxify” our systems with juice fasts or excessive doses of cayenne pepper.

That being said: I’ve been really frustrated with my own body lately.  There have been so many changes with my digestion and energy levels this past year, which I believe is the result of the heavy antibiotics I was on when I contracted bacterial meningitis last year.  (This is common for people who are on/ have taken antibiotics.)  I’ve been seeing a GI since January.  I’ve had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy.  I tried the low-FODMAPs thing out.  I tried not eating dairy.  I still try not to eat gluten (but, um, does chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream count?).  And still… I’m not able to find any recognizable patterns of why some days I feel terrible, and others are fine.  It’s dispiriting.

So when I was given the opportunity to try Kaeng Raeng, a 3-day, “an all natural detox drink” plan, I decided to give it a shot.*  I was not looking to lose weight or clean out any “toxins,” but see if drinking, rather than eating, my meals had any effect on how I felt

Unlike most “detoxes,” Kaeng Raeng’s plans involve packets of powders instead of bottled juices.  The 3-day kit costs $70, which is significantly less than its bottled counterparts.  For each of the three days, there are three meal-replacement packets in three flavors:  Into The Blue (blueberry + banana), Joyful (strawberry, raspberry + pineapple) and Daybreak (mango, peach + pineapple).

Created by certified personal trainer Lindsay Reinsmith, Kaeng Raeng means “be healthy, be strong” in Thai. Each Kaeng Raeng pouch is a full meal replacement and contains more than a full serving of fruit and fiber, 15g of lean non-GMO protein, probiotics, essential amino acids and vitamins, so you can detox without depriving yourself of important nutrients —or of flavor.

Kaeng Raeng is vegan, gluten-free, caffeine-free, eco-friendly, and contains no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, preservatives, laxatives or stimulants.

The instructions recommended drinking the smoothies cold, so I poured my first packet into a 32-ounce jar with cold water and shook it vigorously.  There were still clumps of powder in the jar that weren’t fully mixed; I don’t have a blender, but that probably would have changed the consistency a little bit.  Still, the texture wasn’t totally unpleasant.  My favorite flavor ended up being the one I chose to begin every morning with: Into The Blue. 

 Conversely, my least favorite flavor was Daybreak, and I found myself having to choke it down.  The smell really turned me off- kind of the way that papaya can smell and taste kind of gross… do you know what I mean?  There was no papaya in this flavor, but there was something about it that just really didn’t sit well with me.

The Kaeng Raeng plan lets you eat as many raw fruits and vegetables as you want, so each day I brought a banana, apple + orange with me to work.  I also usually ate a small handful of dried apricots in the morning before I left the house, and at night once I got home.

So, did I last all 3 days?

I made it through 2.5.  I actually wasn’t hungry most of the the time, although the time between the midday and evening “meals” were a little challenging.  At about 4 PM on the third day, a couple hours after I drank my midday smoothie, I went to Terri for one of my favorite sandwiches in the city.   It felt good to chew my food again!

Would I do it again?

No. The biggest problem for me was that I felt incredibly bloated all day long, even when I woke up on an empty stomach.  This is a problem I had beforehand- and one I’m working with my GI to alleviate- but it felt worse while I was doing the cleanse.  It’s probably just my wonky digestive tract, but I felt like I had more in my stomach than I did on a day of regular eating.  It also may have been that the soy protein (which is non-GMO) didn’t agree with me, either.  Who knows!  But it’s one more plan I can eliminate in terms of possible solutions to my GI problems.

One thing I will say, though, is that the three days I did the cleanse it was nice not to have to worry about what to pack for lunch.  I’m out of the house for all three meals every day, and it’s hard to plan all the food I have to bring with me.

Have you ever tried a “cleanse” or “detox” program?

*I sampled Kaeng Raeng free of charge, but was not paid for this review.  As always, the opinions posted here are my own.