As most you already know I did the Prolon Cleanse last week. I ordered this right before my family vacation with the intent to do the cleanse post vacation. We got back from vacation Saturday and we started the cleanse on Monday.

Why Prolon? I have done my fair share of juice cleanses, which are fine, but I feel like the juices are just loaded with sugar. Yes, overall you are consuming less calories on a juice cleanse because you are just drinking juice, but your blood sugar really spikes. That is why I was drawn to Prolon. I watched an episode on Goop about this cleanse probably a year ago and had forgotten about it until I saw Courtney Kerr post about it and how they had done this cleanse 3 times and just felt so good afterwards. I was intrigued. I was honestly at a point where I was kind of disgusted with myself. I was eating portion sizes that were too large, eating the kids snacks and leftover food, and having wine most nights. I wanted and needed a reset.

What is Prolon? Prolon is a fast mimicking diet. What I liked about this cleanse is you do actually get to eat. You are eating fewer calories than usual, but you are also getting macro and micronutrients and you get the benefits of fasting. They also include daily supplements for you, as well as the L drink, which helps to ensure your blood sugar levels don’t drop too low. This cleanse helps jumpstart weight loss, helps with metabolic health, and triggers autophagy, which is the clean up of cells in your body and cell regeneration. This cleanse is based off the research of Dr Valter Longo- he is a well renowned longevity and fasting researcher, and he knows it all when it comes to fasting and the benefits on your body.

Prolon Arrival | The cleanse comes beautifully packaged. It is laid out in boxes for each day with specific instructions on what to eat. This card is included which spells out your meals for the week. You do not have to eat the food in that order, although we did you just can’t trade food from other days. I liked to check off each meal as we ate it as encouragement.

My Experience | I went into this cleanse very determined and ready for a change. I wanted to be held accountable and show self control. We started this on a Monday and ended Saturday morning. Next time I would start the cleanse on a Sunday so I could be done by Friday for the weekend.

Days 1 and 2 were by far the hardest for me. Day 2 was a low point, I was hangry and everything irritated me. At first we both thought the soups were meh. As a foodie I was not moved by powdered soup. However, I will say by Friday, the last day of our cleanse, we both said the soups had grown on us and we actually liked them more than we did at the beginning. The key to the soups is adding in spices. You can add up to 1 teaspoon of no salt added spices. I seasoned every soup with cayenne, red pepper flakes, black pepper, chives, and parsley.

I actually loved the nut bars, crackers, and olives. I really looked forward to those. You actually get a free 20 box of the nut bars when you order the cleanse, so I will be enjoying those post cleanse as well. I wish they sold the crackers, as I would buy them as well!

By day 3 my hunger had subsided. Evans and I both said we felt pretty good. I felt like by days 3 and 4, we had turned the corner and were feeling better. By day 5 I felt really good, my energy levels were high, I felt mental clarity, and my “pooch” on my stomach was getting flatter. However, by day 5 I was over the soups and the lack of variety of food. I felt good but I missed cooking and eating veggies and salads. I have to mention I also slept very well while on the cleanse. Literally, the best sleep I have had in years. I often toss and turn at night, but I slept like a rock on this cleanse.

We ended the cleanse on Saturday morning. We really debated what our first meal would be after the cleanse and we decided on avocado toast and eggs. They say to kind of ease back into eating normal foods. We immediately felt so full from the toast we actually ended up skipping lunch that day and just had dinner out later.

This cleanse taught me to really savor my food. Eat slower and listen to my body. A lot of my eating before the cleanse was mindless snacking. I was just eating to eat something and I was not necessarily even hungry. It also reminded me to think about what I am putting into my body. On Saturday night we had dinner out, I skipped the bread basket which I would normally slather a piece in butter in and eat it. I also took home half of my meal which before I probably would have eaten the entire thing.

Did We Lose Weight? Evans lost about 7 pounds and on the final day I had lost 5 pounds. I know this weight will most likely not stay, off but it did help jump start me wanting to shed a few pounds.

TIPS for Prolon |

1. Stay Busy. I booked a hair appointment, got a mani/pedi, took the kids to see a movie, and went back to school shopping. If you are busy you are less likely to think about food.
2. Order takeout for your kids or pick up premade meals. One of the hardest parts for me was cooking food for my kids, that really made me want to eat. However I will say I came out of this cleanse so proud of myself and my willpower- I avoided Mac and cheese, chicken tenders, movie popcorn with butter and charcuterie. This cleanse reminded me I do have self control and willpower and that was a good feeling.
3. Ration your food. After the first day I would only eat half of my bar in the morning and then save the other half for an afternoon snack. Same with crackers we would eat 2 crackers with lunch and then save the other half to have as a snack or for dinner.
4. Buy some sparkling water to have for happy hour. Every night we would have sparkling water in a wine glass and pair it with olives if we got them that day for a little happy hour.
5. Season the soups! I highly recommend adding cayenne and red pepper flakes to all the soups.
6. Sip on the L drink all throughout the day. This helps cure hunger pains. I brought the bottle everywhere I went and when it got low I would top it off with ice and water.
7. Get in bed early. This helps you not think about food. I read almost an entire book last week at night in bed.
8. Have a partner do it with you! It helped so much that Evans did the cleanse with me. We could commiserate together and also encourage other to stay the path.
9. Soak the vegetable soups before you cook them. The tomato soup doesn’t need to be soaked but I found the veggie ones were kind of crunchy and if you soak them prior that helps.

Would I do it again? Absolutely! While the beginning was challenging for me, I came out of this cleanse feeling so good. I felt lighter, my mind felt sharp and I felt inspired to stick with healthier habits. In a few months I will do this cleanse again.