The easiest mistake that any juice cleanser can make is to eat the wrong foods when coming off their cleanse. While, naturally, we spend most of a cleanse dreaming about the foods we are going to indulge in when we’re done – a big juicy burger, a gooey brownie, a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese – we must be diligent about making good food choices after the cleanse.
Your digestive system is very delicate after a cleanse, having barely digested anything for days. Your body has been on hiatus, focusing solely on pushing toxins out and healing tissues. Therefore, if you choose to binge on high-fat, high-sugar, hard-to-digest foods, you will not only feel the physical repercussions of those decisions – think stomach cramps, headaches, bloating – but you will actually hinder the progress you have made while cleansing.
The days after you finish your juice cleanse should not be seen as calorie ‘make-up’ days, but as an opportunity to continue the detoxification process. At this point, your body has efficiently gotten rid of toxins and increased the functioning of its detoxification pathways (liver, intestine, kidney), making its ability to clear toxins that much more effective. Therefore, if you ease off of the cleanse with healing, easy-to-digest foods, you can further promote the clearance of toxins, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of the juice cleanse itself. This is something worth investing in, especially if your goal is to use juice cleansing as a means for permanent changes, not simply a quick fix.
The best foods with which to break your cleanse are soups, vegetable purees, superfood smoothies, and steamed vegetable and gluten-free grain bowls. It is best to eat in this manner for the three days following your last day of juice cleansing. Post-cleanse, don’t simply dive right back into old habits of making poor food choices, but take the opportunity to start anew, focusing your diet on plant-based, green vegetable-rich meals.
A Day’s Worth of Post-Cleanse Recipes
Breakfast
Mineral-Rich Chocolate-y Smoothie: Rich in minerals, including magnesium and potassium, your body will happily accept this form of chocolate. A great way to break the cleanse, this tasty smoothie should be on your list for the morning after the end of your cleanse.
Tropical Green Smoothies: Now that we have moved on from juice, we are going to step it up with smoothies. Not to forget our old friends, green vegetables, these smoothies will continue to promote the cleansing process, while also satiating your appetite.
Coconut Pear Smoothie: There is nothing more satisfying than coconut and avocado in your smoothie, which is why we absolutely must have this on our post-cleanse menu. With just a touch of sweetness from pear and coconut water, you will be more than happy with this addition to your post-cleanse food repertoire.
Lunch
Superfood Thai Green Curry: Soup is always a perfect re-entry into the solid-food world, and what better recipe to begin with than this one. Rich in healthy fats, cleansing herbs and nourishing vegetables, your body will be thanking you.
Chickpea Chestnut Soup: Complete with plant-based protein and satisfying comfort-food flavors, this soup is a perfect transitional food to support the healing process.
Kale and White Bean Soup: This fiber-rich soup not only promotes the clearance of toxins and normal bowel movements, but it is also rich in amino acids, replacing those that were used for healing tissues during the cleanse.
Dinner
Marinated Kale Salad: There is nothing healthier than a kale salad, especially when it is topped with mineral-dense sea salt and good fats such as olive oil and avocado.
Gluten-Free Quinoa Tabouli: Since we have missed solid food oh so very much, we are putting this awesome gluten-free tabouli on the post-cleanse menu. It still fits the “easy to digest” bill, while also offering slow digesting carbohydrates to boost energy and brain power… much needed after a juice fast.
Vegan Crunchy Tacos: Completely raw, these “tacos” take health to the next level. Utilizing health-promoting vegetables and herbs, such as cumin, coriander and sprouts, this meal will support detoxification, which is just what you need post-cleanse.
