My Shred 10 Experience: Eating Clean for 10 Days

Shred 10 is a program designed to rid oneself of unhealthy food habits, foster a positive relationship with food and "get back on track."

For 10 days, the following are eliminated:

  • gluten
  • dairy
  • caffeine
  • alcohol
  • processed foods
  • artificial sweeteners
  • refined sugar
  • eating after 6pm

In turn, one is to add more REAL food to their diet. Taking Juice Plus Capsules and drinking Juice Plus Complete shakes are encouraged. Sleep, exercise and water should be priorities, especially during this time.

Full disclosure, I have a vested interest in this program because I am a Juice Plus consultant. Juice Plus is a company whose main products consist of capsules that are full of real food nutrition. Fruit, veggies and berries full of antioxidants and phytonutrients are picked at their peak ripeness and flash-frozen, pureed, dried and powdered in order to be put into the capsules or made into gummies. I feel like taking Juice Plus capsules are an insurance policy towards getting the nutrients I need daily, especially on those days when fresh produce is scarce. Juice Plus also offers protein powders, bars and an omega 3 supplement. All products are gluten-free, vegan and non-GMO.

My husband and I have two friends that have completed a Shred 10 before, and they proposed that we all do it together so we went for it! We felt like we were letting to much junk food creep back into our diets, and we wanted a reset. We generally take a whole foods approach to eating, we love to cook and are fortunate enough to live around many great grocery stores. But there are always treats lurking around, and I was enjoying being able to have alcohol again (since I'm no longer pregnant)! Overall we were slipping and we weren't proud of that.

We could tell that our energy was low. Of course, with two babies at home this isn't abnormal. But I was sick of dreading the morning alarm, and sick of feeling too tired to give my daughters the attention they deserve. We were ready to dive back into consistent healthy eating because we knew we'd feel better quickly. We are used to following strict rules because we have done other detoxes before that are longer and more involved than this one. One of the appeals of Shred 10 was its manageable length, and another was its inclusion of legumes and non-gluten grains.

It's funny, we actually completed the Shred 10 stricter than it is written. We included no added sugars at all, whereas the program allows for natural sweeteners like honey and pure maple syrup. The only sugar we ate was in whole food form (i.e. fruit) or in the Complete shake powder. I felt guilty sometimes for even having that since it's sweetened, but I needed the protein and energy boost most days. I did make adjustments for breastfeeding, though. I realized I needed extra carbs if I didn't want to feel nauseous or shaky, so we included rice, beans and garbanzo bean pasta, which on other detoxes would be on the NO list.

So WHAT exactly did we eat? Here was my intake for the 10 days:


DAYBREAKFASTSNACKLUNCHSNACKDINNERSNACK
1Banana, chocolate Completetuna saladappleSalmon, broccoli, 4 grape
shake with almond milksquash with onionstomatoes
22 buffalo chicken egg muffinssalmon, squash,appleinstant pot pulled pork,
1 small avocadoonionswhite rice, tomatoes,
magic green sauce
32 buffalo chicken egg muffinsunsweet teapulled pork, rice,applemu shu chicken (thighs)
berry banana smoothiemagic green sauce,
tomatoes
42 buffalo chicken egg muffins, unsweet teamu shu chickenturkey burger wraps,
berry banana spinach smoothiepotato salad
5Vanilla complete smoothie with potato saladchicken thighs on
fruit and almond milk, 4 egg salad, Tessemae's
whites, 2 yolks, potatoes, avocadoCasear dressing
6Coco mocha smoothiepotato saladrotisserie chicken,2 turkey meatballsburrito bowls with
2 strips bacon, 2 eggs5 dried figscole slawhummus, carrotspulled chicken breast,
rice, beans, green sauce,
veggies, avocado, corn
7Coco mocha smoothie burrito bowl 2 lemon vanilla ballssalad in a jar with lots
with chocolate Complete of toppings, balsamic,
and spinacholive oil, chicken thighs
8vanilla Complete smoothie applesalad in a jar, chocolate Completechickpea spaghetti
with fruit and spinach, almond butter with almond milkbolognese
2 hard boiled eggsturmeric dressing
9chocolate Complete smoothie salad in a jarbuffalo shrimp chocolate
with fruit and spinach and homemade balsamiclettuce cupsComplete shake,
almond milkdressingalmond milk
10chocolate complete smoothie chickpea spaghettisteak, potatoes,
with banana, almond butter, bolognesemushrooms
almond milk and spinach
***See my Instagram @eatwhatfeelsgood for pictures and recipes!

My husband and I both had headaches the first two days. We had just returned from a weekend away with family during which time we drank too much and got way too little sleep. We knew we'd have low energy while our bodies recovered from the weekend but we were surprised at how much we wanted coffee those first two mornings. We woke up the third day feeling better! We hadn't meal planned too well since we had been away, but by the second day we were on the right track. We made some amazing meals and overall we didn't find it hard to stick to the plan.

The weekend was a little more challenging, but we got through it. It being football season, we really wanted a beer on Saturday and Sunday! But we knew we wanted to commit to the plan, so we had our Shred 10 buddies over and enjoyed homemade hummus, turkey/sweet potato meatballs and chicken burrito bowls.

We could tell that focusing on going to bed at reasonable times, avoiding alcohol and maximizing the nutrient density of our meals was helping us to feel better. By the morning of Day 11 I had reached my goal of waking up to the morning alarm and not saying "NOOOOO!" Seriously, that was my goal. I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to get out of bed, and as a new mom this feeling is GOLDEN.

I know that I cannot maintain that feeling all the time due to circumstances of life and the fact that I won't be following Shred rules all the time. But now I know that the unicorn I strived for is an attainable one and I know what I need to be doing in order to achieve it.

If you or anyone you know is interested in learning more about the program or the Juice Plus products, please feel to message me on Instagram, Facebook or email me @eatwhatfeelsgood@gmail.com

Here is my Juice Plus link that will take you straight to my page and help you get started!


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