I had the absolute pleasure of having my wisdom teeth surgically removed on Friday night. Since I wouldn’t be able to eat solid foods and I was in enough pain as it is, I figured, why not inflict even more torture on myself by going on a juice cleanse! All joking aside, being forced to go on an all liquid diet does have its benefits. While I could have easily subsisted on ice cream and pudding for 3 days, I figured I may as well use having my teeth pulled out as as an opportunity to kick start some healthy habits, rid some toxins, and potentially shed a few pounds.
While there are countless cleanses in the market, Blueprint Cleanse is probably one of the most well-known, and I’ve heard many good things from friends. I decided that rather than shelling out a couple hundred bucks or so for the Blueprint Cleanse, I’d do a DIY Blueprint Cleanse and recreate it as more filling smoothies, giving me an opportunity to up my domestic goddess points, get more use out of my blender and mason jars, and more importantly, save some ca$hmoney (though if you do own a juicer
or a Vitamix
The introductory Blueprint Cleanse called “Renovation” is designed for beginners and contains the “grassier” green juices cleanses are known for, but adds sweeter fruit juices and nut milks to make the process a bit more bearable. It features 6 juices that you drink in a specific order: A Green Juice, followed by P.A.M. Juice (Pineapple, Apple, Mint), then another Green Juice, Spicy Lemonade (similar to what is consumed in the even more tortuous Master Cleanse), C.A.B. Juice (Carrot, Apple, Beet), and finally Cashew Milk, which ends your day with as close as you’ll get to a dessert. Blueprint Cleanse includes every ingredient used in the juices right on the label, so I used this as my grocery shopping list and spent a total of $60 at Trader Joe’s and my local grocery store, incredibly thrifty compared to the $200 price tag of a Blueprint Cleanse.
While I would normally provide exact recipes, there was a bit of guesswork on my part in terms of measurements. I’ve included every ingredient that went into each of the smoothies with a rough estimate of how much of each went into the blender, but you may need to adjust by adding more/less liquid to get the consistency you prefer or more/less of a specific ingredient to suit your tastes. I ended up making double of each recipe, drinking the first 16 oz. of it and then splitting the rest into the 8 oz. mason jars pictured to drink the next day.
All in all, the juices ended up being pretty tasty, particularly the P.A.M. Juice and Cashew Milk as you would expect. If you like beets (like I do) then the C.A.B. juice is also something to look forward to toward the end of the day. Given that I start my day with a green juice from the office cafeteria quite often, I already have an acquired taste for green juices, but the taste may be off-putting if you’re a newbie. I recommend mixing in fresh squeezed orange juice instead of water or mixing in some pineapple if you need to make the taste more bearable.
1. Green Juice/Smoothie
To make the Green juice, throw the following ingredients into your juicer or blender (makes about 32 oz. as pictured above since you will drink this as your 1st and 3rd juices of the day):
- Large handful of chopped organic kale
- Large handful of organic baby spinach
- Large handful of chopped romaine lettuce
- Handful of chopped organic celery (if you are making this as a smoothie, I recommend leaving this ingredient out as the celery as it does not blend well)
- 1 large organic cucumber, chopped
- 2 organic green apples, stem and seeds removed, roughly chopped
- 2 stems of fresh organic parsley (if making this as a smoothie, removed the stems as they do not blend well)
- Juice from 1 organic lemon or Meyer lemon
- 1 oz. fresh ginger
- Filtered water as needed to achieve desired consistency (I used about 8 oz.)
2. P.A.M. Juice/Smoothie (Pineapple, Apple, Mint)
To make the P.A.M. juice, throw the following ingredients into your juicer or blender (makes about 16 oz., enough to fill 2 of the 8 oz. mason jars pictured above):
- 8 oz. organic pineapple (you can use frozen if you are making this as smoothies like I did)
- 2 organic green apples, stems and seeds removed, roughly chopped
- 6 organic mint leaves
- Filtered water as needed to achieve desired consistency
3. Green Juice/Smoothie – See Juice 1
4. Spicy Lemonade
To make the Spicy Lemonade, stir to combine the following ingredients together (makes about 16 oz., enough to fill 2 of the 8 oz. mason jars pictured above)
- 14 oz. of filtered water
- Juice from 2 medium organic lemons or 3 Meyer lemons (I used Meyer lemons since they are sweeter)
- 1 tbsp. organic raw agave
- Dash of cayenne pepper
5. C.A.B. Juice/Smoothie (Carrot, Apple, Beet)
To make the C.A.B. juice, throw the following ingredients into your juicer or blender (makes about 16 oz., enough to fill 2 of the 8 oz. mason jars pictured above):
- 8-12 oz. of organic carrot juice (if using a juicer, substitute for 5 whole large carrots)
- 1 organic red apple, stem and seeds removed, roughly chopped (can substitute with a green apple for easier grocery shopping)
- 2 organic beets
6. Cashew Milk
To make the Cashew Milk, throw the following ingredients into your juicer or blender (makes about 16 oz., enough to fill 2 of the 8 oz. mason jars pictured above):
- 5 oz. of unsalted raw cashews, soaked in filtered water at least 4 hours (I used Trader Joe’s Ground Raw Cashew Meal as pictured above instead)
- 15 oz. of filtered water
- 1 tbsp. organic raw agave
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract (the scrapings from 1 vanilla bean is ideal!)
- Dash of cinnamon
I was able to do the full juice cleanse without consuming anything else for the first 2 days, but by the final day, I was dying of something more savory so I made a raw tortilla soup for lunch to satisfy my taste buds. That said, this DIY Blueprint cleanse is actually quite doable, especially if you make it as smoothies. Since I was on painkillers from my wisdom tooth surgery, I unfortunately didn’t get to reap the benefits of feeling more energized since I was ready to fall asleep at any given moment, but the process really did make me feel good in general and is a starting point for continuing healthy habits as I progress into more of my marathon training. The great thing here is that you don’t necessarily need to do the entire cleanse – even just incorporating a couple of these juices into your diet every so often can still be a big step toward a healthier lifestyle. Happy juicing!
[…] go to my personal favorite of brussels sprouts, I had some beets leftover from last week’s DIY juice cleanse, as well as some cauliflower from some cauliflower fried rice I made the other day. So I roasted […]
Hi – I have a question… So did you do the full 3 day cleanse? Did you have to make more each day? I thought each serving on the cleanse was 16 oz but maybe I’m mistaken. Just wondering because I’d like to do but need to know if I should buy 3 times the amount. Thanks!
Hi Alyssa! Yes, you should buy 3x the amounts listed for each juice. For the green juice, the ingredients listed make 32 ounces, but you need to make 2 servings of that per day so the 32 ounces will yield enough for 1 day. Hope that helps!
Thank you for sharing this! I don’t have a juicer-you really think it’ll be ok with just a blender? Thanks again!
Hi so sorry for the delayed response! Yes, the end product just ends up being like more of a smoothie instead of juice. If you have a high power blender (like a Ninja or Vitamix) you could also use a cheese cloth to strain out the pulp and end up with just juice! Hope this helps 🙂
Thanks for sharing this! Just a question.. the blueprint cleanse has 5-16oz bottles per day. are you just drinking 5-8oz servings instead b/c the smoothie version has fiber and other nutrients so we can have less and still get about the same amt of calories? im planning to start this next monday =) thanks!
Hi I’m so sorry for the delayed response! The final servings end up being 16 oz. smoothies
Hello, Great article, question:
Did you spend $60 per day? or can you use the ingredients for several days? thank you!!
I spent $60 total! It’s a huge savings to DIY compared to ordering a BluePrint Cleanse 🙂
No kidding! The BP cleanse is SO expensive to order! I used to consult for a high end “boutique” fitness club where they would promote it…and my jaw dropped at the price. Crazy!
Thank you so much for posting this. Super excited to start me cleanse. Thank you once again
Hi! I have a question. Do I eat all 6 smoothies in one day or all they for all 5 days? Are you allowed to eat anything other than the smoothies like fruits and vegetable? Thank you and i hope you can get back to me.
You drink all 6 smoothies in one day for a total of 3 days, so 18 total. Otherwise you would be way too hungry! 🙂 Raw fruits and veggies are ok (I made a raw tortilla soup the last day as I needed something savory) but you should ideally try to stick with the smoothies. Hope this helps and good luck!
So sorry for the delay. Drink all 6 in a day and repeat for 3 days. You should try not to have anything besides the smoothies, but if you want some solid food, make sure you are only eating raw fruits and vegetables
Hi! How much of the cashew meal did you use instead of whole raw cashews?
5 oz.
[…] supply of juice recipes online. From those that teach how to emulate popular juice cleanses like Blueprint Cleanse to easy, everyday juices featuring nearly a single ingredient – you’ll have a blast learning, […]
Could I use coconut water instead of must it be filtered water ? Also should I be drinking just the juices or water in between as well? Hoping to start Monday
Totally! And you should 100% stay hydrated along the way
[…] supply of juice recipes online. From those that teach how to emulate popular juice cleanses like Blueprint Cleanse to easy, everyday juices featuring nearly a single ingredient – you’ll have a blast learning, […]
[…] In the interest of healthy living, I looked for a healthy cleanse. I found this smoothie cleanse here. Since it’s getting you to eat (really, drink) lots of healthy veggies and fruits, I decided […]
Now this is what I was looking for! A smoothie version of the BP cleanse! I think I will try this…I know I couldn’t just do juices…plus the fiber is so good for you! THANK YOU for this post!
[…] DIY Blueprint Cleanse – Homemade Juice & Smoothie Cleanse | Indulgent Eats […]
Thank you for these recipes! Economic and healthier too!