Am I the only one who thinks we’ve been non-stop feasting from Christmas 2018 through Chinese New Year 2019? Now that the festivities are finally over, it’s high time to get the body back in shape!
Six of us from the team took on the task of going through a three-day juice cleanse — all for one and one for all — and we thought if we could pull through this together, nothing is insurmountable. Spoiler alert: it divided us into two camps.
Each of us reviewed a different brand, and here are our thoughts (as raw as the juices are) to help you narrow down your search if you’re looking to try out this short-term detox diet.
1. The Juice Kit
The Juice Kit appealed to me because of the range of cleansing kits available. I would have gone for the Bride Me Up kit should I have come across it before my wedding for that extra bridal glow.
But now that we’re targeting to lose that belly, I opted for the Skinny Genes (S$270, 3 Days Cleanse), which is said to help to speed up metabolism and reduce appetite.
The kit requires you to complete six bottles in a day, which is do-able. My only gripe is that the six different flavours each day was repeated over the next three days, and I quickly got bored with the flavours by the second day.
The FieldofGreen was my nemesis, it was the only flavour I struggled to complete. The veggie-based drink made with kale, romaine, mint, celery and cucumber was too raw for my liking even though I usually love a healthy serving of vegetables in my meals.
The Original NutMylk, on the other hand, was the best and was recommended to drink at the end of the day. I wasn’t sure if it was because it helped fill me up after an entire day of just sipping on juice, or was it because I loved how the cinnamon powder made the drink feel Christmasy and comforting.
Will I do it again? Yes! My colleagues think I’m crazy, but the benefits are evident: I’ve since cut down on my reliance on coffee (you’ll need to get off it during the cleanse), a little food goes a long way in keeping me full and satiated. My body felt rebooted and clean.
Though, the first day was a dread while my body tries to get used to not having food. By the second day, my stomach felt full but unsatisfied at the same time, all this while experiencing brain fog and tiredness. But by the third day, my body has gotten used to it and begins powering through the juice cleanse. I’m determined to try the five-day cleanse next time.
~Melissa, Editor
The Juice Kit: 22 Sin Ming Lane Midview City, Singapore 573969 | Tel: +65 8797 2248 | Opening Hours: (Monday to Friday) 9.30am – 6.00pm, (Saturday & Sunday) 12pm – 5pm | Facebook | Website (all orders to be made online)
2. HIC Juice
When I was told that I’d be undergoing a juice cleanse for work, part of me died on the inside. I’m a huge meat lover and an absolute foodie, and for me to forgo my beloved food for three days? Nuh-uh.
I was, however, glad to have been assigned HIC Juice because of the diverse juices available. I couldn’t imagine being stuck with the same boring juice for three days straight.
As a beginner to juice cleanses and detox diets, I chose HIC Juice’s popular The Light Cleanse 3 Days (S$335), which provided me with a total of 18 bottles.
Just looking at the menu itself – which doesn’t repeat juices, except for nut milk – piqued my interest. The juice names such as Sangria Smoothie, Spirulina Matcha Latte and Pomegranate Passion sounded so yummy that I actually started looking forward to my detox!
I loved it that HIC Juice labelled its bottles from one to six so it was easy for me to identify the order in which I was supposed to take the juices. One downside though is that I had to keep referring to the website for the exact schedule to avoid getting the juice mixed up.
One of my favourite juices was Popeye Smoothie. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t primarily made of Popeye’s favourite vegetable, spinach. It comprised red dragonfruit, pineapple, banana, spinach and ionized water.
I loved that it looked more like a red dragonfruit smoothie more than anything else, and tasted tropical with a burst of fresh, tangy flavours from the dragonfruit and pineapple.
A non-dairy take on a guilt-free dessert, HIC Juice’s Nut Milk is made of almond, cashew, Medjool date, vanilla, cinnamon, Himalayan salt and ionized water. This was one of my least favourite juices because of how pasty the texture was. I couldn’t finish the first bottle on the first day because my taste buds couldn’t decide whether it tasted more like a smoothie or diluted cinnamon water.
While I loved the variety of flavours that HIC Juice provided, I wouldn’t undergo a juice cleanse again given the choice. My body had a really hard time coping with zero food on the first and second day, I was constantly counting down to when I could grab my next juice from the fridge.
While the juices kept me full, my mouth was constantly itchy from not having something to chew on. I couldn’t wait to dig into a piping bowl of mala once the three days were over (though not advisable).
~Gillian, Writer
HIC Juice: 31 Club Street #01-01, Singapore 069468 | Tel: +65 8223 6766 / +65 8522 1103 (WhatsApp only) | Website | Facebook
3. Antidote
I’ve always been a bit of a fitness junkie but never gone out of my way to keep myself skinny (thank you, parents, for great genes).
Juice cleansing is always something I wanted to check off my dietary bucket list, so I convinced the writers to go on this journey with me. While some of them at the office hated me for it, I’m glad I did it. It was definitely an experience.
The vibrancy and colours of Antidote convinced me that surely this would be the brand to go for. Upon a brief consultation, their sales manager recommended that I try the Skinny Cleanse Pack (S$289, 3 Days Cleanse) to target my stubborn belly fat. It is said to aid in fat-burning and increasing the rate of metabolism.
The pack consists of six bottles in a day, with the same juice to start off each morning. The great thing about Antidote is the variation of juices throughout the three days. Most of the juices have an element of sweetness to them; even the spicy ones were balanced, making them easy to drink.
Throughout the three days, it wasn’t so much the hunger pangs that got to me, but the fact that I miss having solid food. Thankfully, Antidote offers a Triple Berries Yogurt (S$10) within their cleanse pack. I ate the yogurt across the three days as a little treat to satisfy the need to chew something.
I’ve had people asking me if I’d do the juice cleanse again. My answer is definitely, yes! Though the first day was torture, my head was pounding (because of the lack of caffeine). On the second day, my body was getting accustomed to the lack of food and caffeine.
By the third day, it became a mental game. My body and stomach were perfectly fine, but my mouth was itching for food! So it came down to discipline and I successfully finished my three-day juice cleanse. The benefits of the juices cleanse are evident. My addiction to coffee has been broken and my stubborn belly fat has reduced in size. I’m considering to do another cleanse after all the festivities.
~Wanjun, BD & Accounts Manager
Antidote: 11 Sin Ming Road, Thomson V Two, B03-09, Unit 10, Singapore 575629 | Tel: +9181 7415| Opening Hours: 9:30am – 6:30pm (Closed on Wednesday & Sunday) | Facebook| Website
4. FP Juice
I used to be a bit of a health nut, complete with daily workouts and eating clean. But I’ve really let it go in the past year, ever since I started writing about food.
I’ve been trying to get back on the wagon so I’ve cut out carbs whenever possible. That’s why I was quite excited to do the juice cleanse!
I picked the Deep Cleanse (S$280, 3 Days) from FP Juice, because it’s go big or go home right? The website mentioned that this cleanse is for the “hardcore cleanser looking to get the most out of a cleanse”. Most of the juices are made with green vegetables and a splash of fruits for flavour.
For this cleanse, I had to drink six bottles of cleansing juice a day with no solid food. FP Juice also provided a 1L bottle of alkaline water and a satchel of herbal tea each day. There were eight different flavours in total, although the juices tasted quite similar because most of them contained celery juice.
My favourite was definitely the Power House, because it was one of the juices without celery. Made with orange, kale, apple, lemon and fleur de sel (sea salt) cucumber, this drink tasted pleasantly sweet and citrusy with a faintly bitter aftertaste.
Unfortunately, most of the other juices weren’t really to my liking. The Big Green was especially hard for me to finish. With kale, cucumber, celery, parsley and lemon, it was basically vegetable juice with a hint of citrus.
I was a little disappointed with the All In One, because the orange hue made me think it would taste fruity. Sadly, it contained carrot, spinach, celery, broccoli and apple, which tasted very earthy and leafy.
I started the juice cleanse on Saturday and ended it on Monday, and the weekend was surprisingly easy. Unfortunately, Monday was a full workday which made it even harder to get through. I spent the whole day huddled in my office chair, sipping juice and feeling sorry for myself.
I’m actually quite proud of myself for making it through the three days without breaking the cleanse. Honestly, there’s a certain masochistic delight in powering through a particularly miserable diet. Psst, I lost 3kg from the cleanse!
I probably wouldn’t do juice cleanses regularly (as I’ve heard some people do), mainly because of the price. But I might try the Deep Cleanse (S$465, 5 Days) just before my wedding.
~Deanna, Sub-Editor
FP Juice: 100D Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore 118520 | Tel: +65 8128 3887 | Facebook | Instagram | Website
5. Punch Detox Singapore
I’ve always dabbled with the idea of doing a cleanse of some sort, so when my colleagues suggested we do a piece on trying out different juice cleanses for comparison (and also to reboot our digestive systems), I jumped on that opportunity.
I was assigned to trying Punch Detox Singapore‘s 3-Day Cleanse (S$330), making it one of the priciest cleanses of the lot. The company was originally founded in Hong Kong, until it reached our shores in 2014.
What you get for the three days is 18 bottles in total, meaning you’re to consume six bottles in a day. Out of the six bottles, four are actual juices, while one of them is a gazpacho (cold soup) and the last one for the day is a nut milk.
I had a false mindset that going through these three days would be relatively easy for me; halfway through day one, I wanted to throw in the towel.
As I was going through the same juices every day, I centred my highs around two particular juices, as they were my favourite. The first one was the GazPUNCHo, which was consumed in replacement of dinner. It was the most natural favourite as it had tiny bits of blended tomato, cucumber, cilantro, garlic, and even a dash of cayenne pepper — something that I truly missed about this entire process (read: chewing). Also, it had the most complex flavour of all six bottles.
The other bottle I looked forward to chugging was the Coco Punch, with only two ingredients: coconut water and acai berry. It tasted the mildest and sweetest of all.
My least favourite? The Vanilla Punch, simply because it tasted like wet paper. On the second day, I skipped my last bottle completely because I’d rather remain hungry than force myself to down an entire bottle of yuck.
They say some of the side effects one would encounter are headaches, a foggy mind and of course, hunger pangs. I hit jackpot and experienced all three side effects to quite an extent, with a migraine for all three days and insane cravings for solid food. I could barely focus at work, and as a food writer, editing food photos was sheer torture.
Would I do it again? I highly doubt so; I feel it’s not something my body really reacts to positively, and there would be better ways for me to reset my system. Also, being a rather pricey endeavour with very little variation between days (particularly from this brand), I would rather buy raw produce from the market and juice them myself.
But hell yeah, I am definitely proud of myself for putting my body through it. Especially since I stuck to the cleanse and refused to cave, even when every fibre of my being wanted to.
~ Wani, Senior Writer
Punch Detox Singapore: Facebook
6. Daily Juice
I always believed in having small, frequent meals so I thought that going through the juice cleanse would hardly be a feat for me because it required us to sip on juices at intervals throughout the day; but I have grossly overestimated myself.
Daily Juice has a lesser volume of juice per bottle as compared to the rest of the brands on this list and I was already starting to doubt if these eight x 320ml bottles from the 3-Day Basic Cleanse (S$195) would fill me up.Day one was dreadful because I was testing out a new recipe for my video series, preparing and cooking the food did not help in maintaining the kind of mental strength I needed to pull through the cleanse.
Unfortunately, I caved in to my hunger and cheated by drinking a few spoonfuls of clear fish soup.
What I didn’t like most was juice #1 Krypto, consisting of romaine, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon, ginger and apple. The mild bitterness from the vegetables made it difficult to have first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
Day two felt a little easier, I wasn’t hungry in the morning till noon even though I was out on a shoot. Juice #3 B.Smooth was scheduled during lunchtime and thankfully it had a thicker consistency from the natural yogurt and chia seeds, which helped tie me over. By night time I was famished, but I DID NOT CHEAT! A proud achievement, I reckon.
I always look forward to the last juice of the day, #8 White Rabbit, which comprised activated almonds, alkaline water, dates, Himalayan pink salt and vanilla. White Rabbit is the only drink that and I actually felt full from it, my only gripe was that it was slightly grainy from the grounded almonds, but I could easily turn a blind eye on that.
Day three took a turn for the worse, I was just looking forward to finally having solid food that it made me lose the will power to complete the last two bottles of the day and dig into a box of egg tarts. I’m unashamed to say I even had dinner and supper on the day itself.
Verdict: I will not do it again, especially on days when I have to go for a shoot, which took up a lot of energy. The juices weren’t satisfying. Sure, I lost 3kg from it, but the weight came back almost immediately and I didn’t felt entirely “cleansed”. No more fad diets, for now, I’ll just stick to eating frequent, smaller meals.
~Merin, Assistant Producer
Daily Juice: 1 Maju Avenue, #01-08 myVillage, Singapore 556679 | Tel: 97211321 (SMS/Whatsapp only) | Opening hours: (Mon – Sun) 12-9pm | Website | Facebook | Instagram
TL;DR: Half of us will do it again if we’re desperately in need of a detox, while the other half isn’t going to put their bodies through this ordeal again. Like every other diet out there, determination and discipline are what will get you through, but remember to listen to your body; know what’s good or bad for it.
Let us know what diets you would like us to try/review!
