5 Day Detox: Day One

, by Unknown

Today I started a 5 Day Detox created by Nikki Sharp of Stay Sharp and Be Strong. I had found Nikki originally through her popular Instagram account where she posts motivating pictures of a healthy lifestyle as well as Before/After pictures people have taken as a result of using her detox.  After weeks of reading the success stories I decided to purchase the Detox Plan for $8 through PayPal, after which one can download the 20 page PDF file onto any device.



I was iffy about paying money for a detox plan when there are so many available for free online. What finally convinced me with this plan however, is that the main goal is to not actually lose weight, but to teach you how to balance your meals in order to achieve the correct amount of nutrition. I am a vegetarian, and have been for almost 3 years now, but I never really learned how to eat a balanced diet. I know I don't eat enough protein and I consume way too many carbs. I've been very lethargic lately which I want to kick in the butt.

Every day this week I will blog about doing this detox, how easy or difficult it is and of course my results at the end. 

My cat Pan super excited about the groceries
The Food: My biggest concern about buying the detox (as well as many other readers on Nikki's blog) is how expensive all the ingredients are. Turns out there is a pretty big list of things you need to buy in order to make the meals. Below is the complete list and the prices I paid for each (if I bought them). You won't know how to make the recipes or what to eat when so I don't feel bad for giving this information out, if anything it will only encourage potential detox-ers. If I don't include the price, it means I haven't purchased those items yet.

Food Shopping List

Herbs: Basil, Cilantro or Coriander/ Mint

Spices: Cayenne Pepper ($1 for 5.5 oz), Cinnamon ($1 for 5.5 oz), Ginger Powder, Turmeric

Extras: Green tea ($2.59 for 20 bags), Extra Virgin Olive Oil ($3.99 for 375 ml), jar of tahini, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar ($1.29 for 1qt)

Fruit: Strawberries ($2.50 for one box), Blueberries ($1.67 for one box), 3-4 Apples ($3 for 4), Kiwi ($2 for 4)

Protein: Almonds ($8 for 16 oz), Firm Tofu ($4.99), Chia Seeds ($18 for 16oz), Black Beans ($1 a can), Lentils ($1 a can), Quinoa, Plain Oats ($1.59 for 16oz), Egg Whites ($3.99)

Produce: Lemons ($.50 each), Spinach ($4.99 for large bag), Limes, Cucumbers ($3.99 for pack), Broccoli ($1.67 for one bunch), Red Peppers ($1.56 for 2), Avocados (5 for $6.25), Asparagus, Tomatoes ( $1.56 for 2 large ones), Carrots ($1.99 for pack), Mushrooms ($1.99 for pack), and Garlic ($2.99 a pound)

Lunch Salad
So a grand total with all of that is $90 which is pretty damn expensive for my taste. However, I was able to get a great deal on most of this (as you can tell). The real killers for me were the Chia Seeds for $18 and the almonds for $8. But the chia seeds bag is pretty big and will last me a long time, as will the spices and extra ingredients. This also seems like a lot of food for only 5 days and will last me much longer I'm sure. Considering how much I've previously spent on Starbucks & eating take out, I am 100% okay with this price, however I did not buy all the ingredients as to cut down on costs.

I also live in New York City, so this may change the availability and the price compared to where you live. I have a ton of specialty health food stores near my apartment so the ingredients were all accessible to me. 

First Day Evaluation: I feel great! The whole day I have had energy and I haven't had any headaches nor have I felt lethargic. The recipes were also super easy to make, which is a relief on my part. I am not a cook and I don't have a great history with cooking meals properly (i.e. burning food). However, I personally think I did a job well done on preparing my food for the day.


Dinner Stir Fry
Breakfast was a simple oats & berries combination, lunch was a salad, and dinner was a veggie & tofu stir fry. At 9pm I was hungry so I ate an apple with cinnamon, but now it's nearly 10pm and I'm hungry again. I'm not sure what I'll eat to curb this, probably some more salad. 

The key is to remember that this is a detox, not a daily meal plan. So after 5 days I can incorporate more foods. This is also the first time in my life that I will be eating totally vegan. Normally I have a lot of dairy (such as eggs and cheese) in my diet and a ton of bread. After this week I plan on adding eggs and a little bit of cheese into my diet but I'd like to continue not eating processed food or adding artificial sweetener to everything I eat. However, for the first time today I did not get a headache from not drinking coffee which is strange.

My biggest challenge this week will be the events I'm attending for work. Tomorrow night I will be at a  Kenneth Cole event with free cocktails, and alcohol is no go for the detox plan. Then non Thursday I will be going to two press events with expensive free food so eating "clean" at both places will be very difficult. Especially ignoring the delicious desserts they always have. I also am not allowed to have coffee either! 

However, I'm veyr motivated to keep at this and I'm ready to make a change!

You can read more about Nikki's 5 Day Detox on her site, read the testimonials, and check out her Instagram for the Before/After pictures people sent her!

8 comments:

  1. Great to hear your progress! Im starting next week, so keep it coming :)

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  2. Wow! I had no idea you were doing this... very cool to see! A tip that I need to add to the detox is that frozen fruit is absolutely allowed and cuts down on costs quite a bit. I also find my almonds in the Indian section where you can get huge bags of nuts for cheaper. Thanks for posting this, isn't very interesting to see what others think of the detox and I'm very glad I came across this and look forward to seeing how you feel. (I also included a bit more on the shopping list than you probably need so that you have the foods to carry out over the 5 days because everyone I find wants to continue eating that way). xxxxx Nikki

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    1. How sweet of you to reply to this :)

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  3. I plan to do this next week after purchasing the plan recently, but luckily a lot of the ingredients on the shopping list are things I buy anyway so there's only an additional few items I need to get. Result! So excited to see if I can stick with it and lose a few pounds.

    I'm a veggie also, and am always trying to get my diet balanced so this will hopefully be really helpful.

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  4. This is kind of late, but check amazon for chia seeds and also your local farmer's market. Sometimes the health foods stores will be a little more pricey. I am usually able to get chia seeds for around $9 at the farmers market (Dekalb County Farmer's Market) here in ATL. It you shop around a little, you can definitely save some money on the seeds.

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  5. Finding your review was awesome, it hits really close to home since I started it for the exact same reason. I've been a vegetarian for about three years and I just don't eat as well as I should and I often get low on things like vitamin B due to my lack of balance. The detox has helped me a lot with defining where my proteins should come from and what to eat to keep myself feeling energetic. Also, with the price concept. The first time you detox it's expensive, but after you buy the things like nuts, spices, oils, seeds, etc. those things last long enough that the next time you detox, you'll have to buy mainly just the produce.

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  6. I failed at the first hurdle, didn't like the smoothie (tasted very floury to me :/ and I didn't enjoy the salad either (not convinced on the dressing) so haven't eaten much of either and am now starving so I cheated and had a small low fat soup. Hoping that I'll enjoy the stir fry and try a different breakfast tomorrow!! Not giving up just yet!

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  7. We live in a small city (Tupelo, MS), but our local Kroger store carries quinoa at a pretty good price. At first, they only had it in the natural/organic section, but now you can also find it in the rice/bean section. I have also ordered quinoa from nuts.com and from Eden organic.

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