This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Kaeng Raeng for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this cleanse. Kaeng Raeng is the first cleanse I have done that I KNOW I will use again & again. I’d like use it at least twice a year, if not every 3 months.

What is Kaeng Raeng? It is an all natural, vegan, gluten-free meal replacement cleanse program. Kaeng Raeng in Thai means “be healthy, be strong.” Despite it’s Thai name, Kaeng Raeng is 100% made in the USA.

Why I loved it?

1. It is truly all natural. All natural REALLY means all natural with Kaeng Raeng.  All of the ingredients in Kaeng Raeng shakes are familiar and easy to pronounce and all come from the earth, including vitamins which are derived from fruits and plants.  There is nothing in these shakes that is made in a lab.  There are no fillers, chemicals or preservatives.

2. It is made from real, fruit.  Not fruit flavors.   The fruit is picked and freeze-dried for preservation, then ground to a powder form.  The fruit is purchased locally in California which keeps a low-carbon footprint and keeps costs low.  The farmers Kaeng Raeng work with grow their fruit organically.  I love that there is no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.

3. Fiber from plants The fiber in Kaeng Raeng is made from indigestible vegetable seed, safe for daily use.  Fiber is great in a meal replacement shake because it fills you up without adding additional calories.  It also keeps blood sugar levels stable.  This was huge for me, as I have had problems in the past with juice cleanses bringing on low blood sugar issues.  I did great on this cleanse and never felt weak or light-headed.  It was actually the opposite. I felt strong, full and energized.

4. Protein from plants Kaeng Raeng uses pea protein, my personal favorite type of protein. This pea protein is non-gmo.  That makes me happy!

5. Vitamins from plants Most of the vitamins in Kaeng Raeng come from fruit, but they also add 100%natural  vitamins that come from guava, lemon, sesbania, alma, and basil.  I had to look a few of those up to even know what they were! Most companies use vitamins that are synthetic and cheap to produce, which has been a very frustrating thing for me when searching for cleanses.

6. Probiotics I was happy enough with this shake knowing it had plant protein, plant fiber and vitamins, but the added benefit of probiotics pleasantly surprised me.  They really thought of everything and made the cleansing process convenient, safe and as beneficial as possible.  Probiotics are friendly bacteria that help to regulate and speed up digestion through the intestines and colon. Kaeng Raeng uses only non-dairy derived probiotic cultures.

7. It is not a fast.   You are allowed to eat as many raw fruits and veggies as you want.  I loved this.  So often with cleanses there are such strict rules involved that you feel set up for failure.  I also personally get really bored with just one type of texture for long periods of time, so I really loved that this cleanse allows for food.  I love plant food and found ways to manipulate plant food to provide all of the variety of texture my palate desired.

8. Adequate calories Each serving has fewer than 230 calories.  The recommended amount of servings to consume is 3 a day, which would provide 100% of your daily vitamin needs, including protein.  I personally could only consume 2 shakes a day, as they are incredibly filling, but I know I got enough nutrition each day as I also ate plenty of raw fruits and veggies.  I feel like this is the healthiest way to cleanse, as it is low-calorie, but not restrictive. There are different levels of cleansing, and I used the 3 day beginner cleanse.  You can take this quiz to know what level is good for you.

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So why do I think cleansing is an important thing to do occasionally?

Removes Toxins–toxins come in all forms, from chemicals in the foods we eat, medication, the environment, products we put on our body..especially women who use lots of beauty products.

From the Kaeng Raeng Website:

Your body can consume all natural ingredients easily, healthfully separating fiber and nutrients, and passing waste through your colon cleanly. When you consume additives, chemicals, toxins, and other processed foods, your digestive system cannot properly separate the healthy from the non healthy components of the food. Many times, these toxins will not pass through your colon properly, sometimes building up over days, weeks, months, or years. Kaeng Raeng works to “flush” all of those toxins by using all natural fibers and water to help eliminate that colon build up. Further, Kaeng Raeng is a restricted diet whereby you are abstaining from cooked, processed, heavily sugary or salted foods. By removing these foods from your diet, even for a short period of time, your body will naturally release toxic build up through the digestive system and skin. While challenging at first, your body will adapt to the raw vegan diet. During any cleanse, it is imperative to drink plenty of water to ensure a smooth cleanse. Never drink a cleanse product that has artificial ingredients as these counteract the benefits of detoxing.

Beauty from the inside out–cleansing reduces bloating, clears skin & makes it glow, even gives hair a healthy shine.

Jumpstart weigh loss— when properly conducted, cleansing can really help with weight loss.  I am on cancer meds that put me into a chemical menopause, and one of the side effects of this is an extra 15 lbs.  No matter how healthy I eat, my scale has not budged for months, until this cleanse that is!  In 3 days on Kaeng Raeng, I lost 4 pounds.  The waist of my jeans are comfortable again and I am so happy about that!  Kaeng Raeng is not recommended as way to lose weight quickly, but weight loss is great added benefit.

Reduce sugar cravings –this is a huge reason I do cleansing, and a side effect of cleansing that is most noticeable for me.  Right before I started this cleanse, I was on a weekend soccer tournament road trip with my Todd and Avery.  I love to snack while traveling and we did our share on this little getaway.  I came home with the worse sugar cravings after indulging all weekend.  Now that I am finished with day 3 of my cleanse, the cravings are gone.  They actually were gone by day 2, replaced with cravings for plant foods.

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Here is how my cleanse went:

Food day 1:

‘Daybreak’ shake

Black Coffee

Raw green beans (afternoon snack)

Raw Almonds (evening snack)

‘Into the Blue’ shake

I started with Daybreak shake, which is their mango/peach/pineapple shake. I mixed it with almond milk and water.  When I took my first taste, I felt like I tasted vitamins.  I dumped the mixture into my blender and added 1/2 banana and a handful of frozen mango chunks.  Mmmmm….now we are talking.  That made it delicious.  Kaeng Raeng site has more Recipes if you want some more ideas of fun things to add to their shakes, but I kept things pretty simple during my cleanse.

I kept drinking coffee during my cleanse.  I kept it to one cup a day and drank it black.  No lattes! Kaeng Raeng website recommends no coffee, but if a must have they say to keep it to one cup a day. I didn’t want to deal with a caffeine headache, and I figured coffee beans are plants…ha!  Do you like how I find a way to keep my coffee?  My coffee beans were organic and I highly recommend if you do keep drinking coffee keep it to one cup a day and NO CREAMER or SUGAR.  Keep things pure.

I was super surprised at how filling the shake was.  I passed lunch and still was sipping on my shake.  It makes 24-36 oz depending on how much liquid and frozen fruit you add, so that took me awhile to drink.  They also advise you to keep your water intake up to keep constipation at bay, which could be an issue due to all the fiber in the shakes.  It was not for me, as long as I kept drinking water. Needless to say, it is a lot of drinking.  I did not feel hungry until around 1 in the afternoon, and even then I was not  really hungry, just in the mood to crunch on something.  I ate some raw green beans.  I did sprinkle them with a bit of seasoning salt.

I made ‘Into The Blue’ shake for dinner. It is their blueberry/banana shake. I added a handful of frozen blueberries and it was yummy.  I drank it at dinner time and again felt full.  I had a handful of raw nuts before bed.

Food day 2:

‘Joyful’ shake

Black Coffee

Raw Kale Salad

‘Into the Blue’ Shake

Red pepper slices

Cucumber slices

Yellow Squash / Tomato Sauce

Almonds

I woke up with a bit of a headache.  This is pretty typical when detoxing.  You may have some physical symptoms the first day or two, headache, body ache or stomach ache…depending on how toxic your body is.  This is called the Herxheimer Reaction, which explains why sometimes a healing crisis occurs, where you feel worse before you feel better.  Mine was very small and passed the minute I got some shake in my belly.

I made the ‘Joyful’ shake for breakfast, which is their strawberry/raspberry/pineapple shake.  I added 1/2 frozen banana and a handful of frozen strawberries.  This one is my favorite.  It was really enjoyable and sweet.

My local coop has a deli that makes a great raw kale salad so I had about 1/2 cup of this for lunch.  Again, I was not really hungry, just wanted something to munch on. Late afternoon I made the ‘Into the Blue’ shake.  I was still sipping on it during dinner.  I made my family spaghetti.  I used my spiralizer to make raw yellow squash noodles, put some tomato sauce on them and they were delish!

Before bed I had a handful of raw almonds, some red pepper slices, and some cucumber slices. My digestive system got moving this day.  It was regular but impressive.  There is no laxative effect with this cleanse.  That is all I will say about that!

Food day 3:

Black Coffee

‘Daybreak’ shake

Yellow Squash / Tomato Sauce

Raw almonds & sunflower seeds

‘Joyful’ shake

BIG raw salad

Confession: A slice of pizza

Day 3 started out with the ‘Daybreak’ shake.  This time I decided to use less liquid.  24 oz instead of 36.  It made the shake thicker and I liked it better as it was easier to drink quickly. I added 1/2 frozen banana and blended it.

For lunch I had leftover spiralized yellow squash, and followed it with an afternoon snack of raw sunflower seeds.

For dinner, I made the ‘Joyful’ strawberry shake with 1/2 banana and some frozen mango.  I drank over half of this, made myself a large green salad topped with lemon juice and hummus,

then…confession time….I ended my dinner with a slice of pizza.  I know, I know…not the best way to end the cleanse, but it was family night and I just couldn’t resist.  I did not allow myself to eat the pizza until I had my shake and green salad, which kept me from gorging on pizza.  I recommend eating pizza on a full stomach, as a small piece is fulfilling and delicious!

It is recommended to ease off the cleanse slowly.  Eating pizza like I did is not the best idea, although it did not make me feel sick.  I do think it would have been better for my body to start slow with some cooked vegetables and grains.

I’m excited to have 3 packets left of shakes since I could only fit in 2 a day instead of 3.  I will continue this great cleanse for 3 more days, having a shake for breakfast, a raw plant meal for lunch and a sensible plant-based dinner.  No sugar or processed foods. No meat or dairy. No alcohol.

If you can’t tell already, I am super happy with this cleanse.  My skin looks glowy and clear, my jeans fit, my stomach is not bloated, and my digestion is great.  I don’t have any sugar cravings and I’m craving healthful plant foods.  I never was hungry and other than the headache and a bit low energy on day one, I felt amazing the rest of the time.  I loved knowing I was getting all the protein, fiber and vitamins I needed, and it has really motivated me to continue to take great care of my body and be conscious of what I put in it.

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GIVEAWAY

What about you?   Have you ever done a cleanse?  What did you like about it?  What did you not like about it?  Would you consider Kaeng Raeng cleanse for your next cleanse?   Leave a comment and tell me why YOU want to try a vegan cleanse and it will automatically enter you in our Kaeng Raeng  3-Day Beginner program giveaway.  For an optional entry, like Kaeng Raeng on Facebook 

If you don’t want to wait, you can purchase Kaeng Raeng on Amazon, at www.kaengraeng.com, and Select Whole Foods Markets. Users can leave a review with their experience on Amazon.com and receive a coupon for 15% off their next order atwww.kaengraeng.com.

OR

Can’t wait? use code: NewNostalgia15 {Exp. 6/20/14}

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*IMPORTANT

•Due to the calorie constricted nature of the cleanse, I do not recommend KR for pregnant women or women who are nursing. There is nothing in KR that will harm a pregnant woman or her baby, so it is fine to be used as a meal replacement. However, as a cleanse program, it is calorie constricted and not recommended for pregnant women or nursing moms.

•Kaeng Raeng is not intended for children.