Soup Cleanse
For as long as I can remember New Years has been my favorite holiday - I love the glitz but more than that I LOVE a fresh start.
This year I decided to do Elissa Goodmans soup cleanse to take things up a notch.
Its the perfect way to kick off an exciting new year, saturate my body with nutrient dense foods and get my eating habits back on track.
Because this is my second time doing the cleanse with such amazing results I had to share my experience.
So first lets chat about why people cleanse:
Often people will attempt to cleanses solely to lose weight and that really defeats the whole purpose. I mean yes it did work for Beyonce that one time but if you look it up she admits she gained back all the weight and then some so if you decide to cleanse I really hope you do it for the right reasons.
If done right there are so many powerful benefits to a good cleanse.
Ridding your body of the chemicals and toxins found in the food and products of todays world can result in:
Better skin
Increased metabolism
Healthier digestion & balanced microbiome
Harmonized hormones
Weight loss
Plus addition benefits on an emotional & spiritual level
Why the S.O.U.P Cleanse:
I have done all different kinds of cleanses including juice cleanses and other restrictive programs and I have never felt good after doing them.
If anything I would feel like I was punishing myself and it really triggered a lot of my old food issues.
That is what really sets Elissas program apart.
Elissa calls it a “gentle cleanse’ that removes excess of animal products, processed foods, added sugars and unhealthy fats and focuses instead on nutrient dense food and the addition of superfoods with anti-inflammatory and alkalizing properties.
How does it work:
You do her cleanse for 5 days and have fresh food delivered to your door on Sunday and Wednesday.
The majority of the days are spent eating hearty soups, sipping both broths and elixirs and then there is a delicious seed bar each morning with an option to supplement a few things here and there; topping off salads and soups with pumpkin seeds/hemp seeds, adding avocado slices to things and adding in a green juice.
She also gives options to up the detoxification with dandelion tea and digestive enzymes which she provides.
Why do I cleanse:
I am someone who considers herself a very healthy eater. I eat 99% organic I use earth friendly, non toxic products, I would say aside from my make-up I am basically toxin free.
So you might be wondering why I would want to do a cleanse.
I will admit that first year of motherhood derailed a few of my usually healthy eating habits but my main reason for wanting to cleanse right now was actually on more of an emotional level.
I have been on a healing journey for a while now and as I have peeled back the darker layers and moved out the toxins of years of drinking and drug use, I find myself going deeper and deeper with what cleansing really means.
When you strip away your coping mechanisms you will often get to the root of things and for me I have found that I have been lacking in the self-love department and a little too abundant in the perfectionism unit.
So in true Candice fashion I wanted to have some way of really symbolizing a new found compassion and inentional gentleness towards myself.
This was just the loving cleanse I needed that was more about replenishing than stripping away.
My challenges:
Even though this is a gentle cleanse there are always challenges and I want to be honest about this.
The hardest part for me was giving up late night snacks, in particular chocolate.
Like so many women I use chocolate as a comfort food and it doesn’t help that it has been glorified as a health food. I mean as if I am only going to have one tiny piece right?
It was great that two of the nights there was a reishi cacao elixir that helped satisfy me but I still craved that fix of chocolate. Recognizing how dependent I was on this was eye opening and I plan to replace my nightly treat with berries or frozen mango a few of the nights.
I also struggled with keeping to a schedule. With a baby in the house it seems like the priority is on her schedule and apparently mine had been neglected a little so prioritizing and planning out my own nutrition will be part of my self-love moving forward.
Other than that I didn’t really have many cravings or struggles and I know that is because this cleanse has you eating/drinking all day. I was never ever hungry not once.
My results:
So day 5 a lot of you know from my instagram that Vivienne and I caught a 24 hour stomach bug and were neck deep in puke buckets. I can’t sit here a say on that 5th day I floated around light as a feather feeling amazing but I know it was just from the virus so for that reason I am going to ignore that and tell you how I felt day 4 and assuming I would have felt day 5.
At the end of the cleanse if I summed it up I would say I felt nourished.
I saw the most noticeable results in my skin. I had zero bloating at all and my skin was super glowy. I always consider the skin on my face to be a barometer of my health so this was a major sign of positive results in my books.
I also felt energized, with less brain fog (mom brain), I was creating more, my mood was high and I felt a deeper sense of love towards my body.
Overall, I loved this cleanse and I will definitely be doing it again.
GFG approved and highly recommended.
If you live in LA and want to try this S.O.U.P Cleanse for yourself or connect with Elissa Goodman check out her website. Her story is amazing and she has so many amazing tips on her socials as well. Definitely add her to instagram you won’t regret it.