The 21-Day Cleanse

I definitely learned that I don’t need sugar or caffeine. And I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would. My sleep score jumped up an average of 10 points during the cleanse. The first few days do feel hard but then it just becomes routine. Best thing I learned and now practice is prepping my smoothies for the week. That’s such a time saver! Definitely a confidence booster to know I can do hard things. Empowers me to try hard things in other areas of life.

I’ve always been a health conscious eater. I have been eating mostly plant based since 2019. I do eat fish a couple times per week. Joining Rawk the Year has helped me to increase my fruit and vegetable intake. I love to do the cleanses. I tend to eat a lot of my meals on repeat and the cleanse recipes are so delicious, fun and different! I enjoy the versatility with being able to swap foods that don’t work for me in the recipes. I have Multiple Sclerosis, A-fib, and Hashimoto’s. Changing how I ate helped with managing all of those issues. Eating 100% plant based makes me feel even better. I always learn something new about myself and about food when I do a cleanse. After the cleanse is over, I am more disciplined in my eating habits and hydration. When I look back over the last three weeks, I am proud of what I accomplished. All of the food prep is very taxing on my energy, but having leftovers is the saving grace!

I can’t believe that I’m able to give up sugar for three weeks! I would not have believed it possible before doing the Rawk the Year cleanses. The food is filling and satisfying. I must admit I did have an oatmeal raisin cookie on Sunday and it tasted fabulous! 😊

Thank you Jen (and team) for sharing your inspiration and encouraging others to find their passion.

Honestly, many plant-based recipes look decidedly like similar mish-mashes at best or unappetizing and unappealing at worst. I absolutely loved almost all of the recipes and was challenged to use some ingredients that I was unfamiliar with. I am a light eater so found that I had too much food to get to all the recipes and wasted some ingredients because of that, so I was glad that meals repeated. I did try to minimize the use of oils; and because I eat very little, I found it difficult to eat enough protein.

After cooking for decades, the decision of what to cook had gotten to be an agonizing chore. Having the decisions made was wonderful, along with the grocery and prep lists, but I will admit that prep was daunting; sometimes I just did it over more than one day.

I’ve dabbled with plant-based eating before, but wandered aimlessly through endless materials. This was a guilt-free, no-judgment structured approach that leads you through the basics with clarity and compassion. Now I can take it as far as I’d like and will continue with the system until I feel confident in my skills, my choices, and the durability of my commitment.

I always start out with good intentions but life. If I get in a smoothie everyday I am winning. I find that most of the smoothies for me sustain me till lunch. I feel fulfilled and less bloated.

I love reading reviews and getting other rawkers suggestions and tips. They helped me out with my refrigerator problem!!

I’ve been in the cleanse game for a while but haven’t picked up on a completion yet. It hasn’t deterred me. I’ll keep coming back knowing one day I will complete the cleanse . I don’t have to be perfect just committed to try and do my best at what I can during the cleanse.

The cleanse helps me to eat better. I make better choices and love the fact that I eat clean a lot more than not. My refrigerator has better choices and I do feel better when eating clean.

Thank you Rawk family. You are the best!!

The first time I did a 21-day cleanse with simple green smoothies, I felt very revitalized by it. I felt like I had so much energy & that was despite giving up coffee. This time it was a very different experience. I felt tired & my muscles ached & it got progressively worse. So I had to “tweak the cleanse” in week two to reintroduce complex carbs a little early to feel better. That I felt empowered to listen to my body & make this change is indicative of the atmosphere of the cleanse. There is a consistent message of progress over perfection, of adapting the cleanse if needed so that one can fully live their life – one isn’t expected to put life on hold for three weeks, but to learn healthy strategies and to build the habit of returning to healthy choices after, say, a special event is over. The food is really delicious. There are always subjective responses to the recipes, but you can easily adapt seasoning or swap vegetables if there’s something that really doesn’t suit you. Some practical considerations – if you have a small fridge it can be a challenge to store all the raw veg & prepped food for the cleanse, plus the food your family/housemates will eat! Another challenge is if you have people with nut allergies in your family – the menu does include chopping, processing & cooking with a lot of nuts. It would be helpful to have substitutions for the recipes that included nuts – either ingredient substitutes or just alternative recipes. Finally, I felt a valuable lesson about portion sizes – I think I’ve definitely been overdoing the rice when having stir fry & rice-based dishes. I learned that I can do 1/2 cup of cooked grains and fill the bowl with vegetables and that will satisfy my hunger. I think that alone will help me achieve & maintain a healthy weight after the cleanse.

Feeling tired and noticing more inflammation in my joints, I decided to do the 21- Day cleanse. I love cooking and I was totally surprised at how delicious some of the new super foods in my diet were, such as tofu or tempeh. Between the morning smoothies, lunch, dinner and two in between snacks, I did not feel hungry and felt energized throughout the day!

I use each seasonal cleanse to reset and rein in my food choices. I’m never 100% but that’s OK. It’s progress over perfection. Jen’s recipes are great and have introduced me to foods and combinations I love but never would have otherwise considered. I plan on continuing with this plan for the near future.

My diet was already plant-based, lots of veggies and leafy greens, whole grains, healthy fats (avocado), some low-fat yogurt, chicken, and fish. The 21-day Cleanse helped me to reset my system by eliminating dairy, gluten, and sugar and eating a greater variety of veggies. I love Jen’s recipes! I didn’t have time for all of the prep, but I enjoyed using the same ingredients in simpler ways, and I’m still trying out the recipes I didn’t get to. Since the Cleanse, I’m drinking coffee again, but a lot less than before, and I’ve made a huge reduction in sugar. I have more energy throughout the day, my mind is clearer, and I sleep better. Also, I finally bought a blender! I love the smoothies, and Jen gave me great advice on finding a Vitamix at a discount.

It’s truly amazing how your body responds when you feed it well. This is my third cleanse, and I’m still amazed by how well I feel and how satisfied I am all day long. I still eat meat (mainly chicken or salmon) occasionally, but I have learned so much about eating healthier, providing the nutrients my body needs and now craves. I have more energy, sleep better, my skin is healthier, and I have more clarity and less brain fog, and my digestion is way better (ex, less bloating). It’s a little more labor-intensive than I expected, but you have one body and one life, and it’s worth treating it right. I’m used to the prep work now and have it down to a science because Jen Hansard sets you up for success (using ingredients in more than one recipe, freezing methods, etc.). Eating whole foods through the seasons (the best way to eat fruits and veggies in their peak value of nutrients) has been a wonderful, tasty learning experience. I have cooked and prepared foods I have never tried before, and combinations I would have never thought of putting together, and it all tastes amazing. Jen Hansard has put together a wonderful program (grocery & prep guides), and a community (from all across the globe) that is so supportive.

I started the cleanse to answer the question: would my quality of life improve without gluten and/or dairy, and/or caffeine, and/or sugar, and/or eggs, chicken and fish. I had never given them all up at once, or any of them for more than a few days. For me, it took 14 days to get results and then I was stunned. My racing mind, my anxious mind, my overthinking mind just CALMED DOWN. For the first time I can remember, I had spaces between my thoughts. For me, that is a definite improvement in my quality of life. I am spending my post-cleanse week carefully testing one of the eliminated items each day to see if any trigger negative symptoms. Overall, my quality of life has definitely improved.

I did feel the cleanse was too low on protein for me. Once I added chick-peas to my salad on day 14, my mood improved and my energy came back. Great learning for my that my body needs that.

I was disappointed with the low-level of group interaction. I am unclear whether it was a small group, or if people started and then faded away or it was just a group that didn’t want to interact.

I would suggest that you consider adding weights to your recipes. Veggies like sweet potatoes can vary greatly in size and adding too little or too much might negatively affect the outcome of the recipe. I like chefs that either provide a list of their definitions of a medium onion in a separate section, or list in the recipe as 1 medium onion (about 6 ounces). It would also help with odd shaped items like frozen peaches that don’t really nestle together in a cup.

I am so glad to have participated in the 21 Day Cleanse. I had been reading and thinking about doing it for years; however, I kept putting it off. I feel great, my joints are not hurting when I awake, my energy level is improved and my gut doesn’t feel clogged, I lost 5 pounds and was NEVER hungry. I have been wanting to go to plant-based eating, but I wasn’t quite sure how to get the protein necessary for our bodies. Jen Hansard has done all the work for us and her recipes taste delicious. I now have a new lifestyle change and I am feeling great!

I was a little bit nervous about the time to prep for the meals. Turns out quicker than cooking over the stove and oven. Had most of the ingredients already around in the fridge/house. Instead of the stove used blender.

Sleep is better without caffeine. I may consider giving up coffee altogether thanks to the alternative beverages. Sometimes I think I simply enjoy holding a warm mug ritual.

My Word of 2026 is Cleanse. I want to cleanse my home, my phone, my mind, my body…one of my goals was to do at least one of Jen’s seasonal cleanses. I am so glad I did this Winter Cleanse. I feel great. I lost 7 pounds, experienced no bloating and gained energy. The recipes were so good. The prep directions were great. It really helped to have a few recipes made ahead of time. I will keep these recipes in my meal rotation going forward. I can’t recommend this Cleanse enough. It rawks!!

Thank you, Jen!

The first week was the hardest with headaches/migraines everyday. The second & third weeks were magical for me and so eye opening. I know Jen said we’d sleep better, our skin would glow, we’d have more energy, yada yada yada; but honestly, I didn’t think it could happen this quick (in 3-weeks time). I thought, “sure in a month or two, I might experience these benefits!” But, starting in week 2, I was sleeping all night, my skin was changing, my focus and clarity were sharper, late night cravings for ice cream were gone, and the energy was not only felt or noticed by me, but my husband noticed. I’m sold! Jen knows what she’s doing and the recipes are amazing! There are recipes I would never have thought to try or put together the ingredients she choose. Who knew walnut could be turned into ‘taco meat’, lo! That was a new and scary recipe I tried and absolutely LOVE it! I have learned so much and my taste buds have been pleasantly surprised and super happy, lol! My family is benefiting from everything I’m learning as well. I also have lost 7+ pounds over the past 3 weeks. It’s not a ton of weight, but a great start and I’ll take it and continue forward. This is such a fantastic program. So thankful I’ve decided to join. See you on the inside of Rawk the Year! 😉