Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The book really isn't all that great (repetitive)...you can get all the information you need off of the clean website. However, I think the program is great. It was nice to have someone lay out what you should do to clean your system and eat really healthy.

My boyfriend and I have been slowly moving towards eating healthier and all organic so taking the next step and trying the clean program was a natural step forward for us. Although, it was not easy in the beginning (a few grumpy days at the start).

We wanted to use all the suggested supplements recommended in the Rebuild ingredient list, but $425 dollars for each of us is outrageous...so, here is what we did:

Nourish-Multivitamin and protein. We used Nature Made multivitamin for her (the general multivitamin did not have as many vitamins as listed on the nourish print out-also make sure you buy a reliable brand I recommend Nature Made or Schiff). For the protein we used RAW brown rice protein by Garden of Life. Please note the serving the package recommends is much higher than that of nourish so use 1/2 a scoop instead of a whole scoop). Multivitamin once dialy (morning) and protein morning and evening.

Move-Fiber. We used Supra Fiber by Sunsweet which is a blend of D'noir prune, blueberry, pomegranate, and acai berry fiber. We followed the suggested serving size. This is great fiber because it tastes awesome in juice. Personally I would not mix in the smoothie as suggested by the book, it tasted awful and gritty, but it is not bad in juice (we used Langer's juice). Use morning and evening.

Ease-Digestive enzymes. It was hard to find something that had all the digestive enzymes in it, so I settled for one that was pretty close. Multi-Enzyme High Potency Vegetarian Formula. Take with each meal.

Balance-SKRM. Unfortunately I was not able to find this so we aren't using.

Clear 1-Probiotics. We bought iFlora probiotics. I did some research on the company and they seem to be pretty respectable. Take with each meal.

Clear 2-Candibactin BR. I found this, but it was $62 dollars a bottle...I could not stomach that so we are not using this either. I only found one manufacturer Metagenics.

Encourage-Probiotic. Another probiotic...I just suggest getting a good quality probiotic. I wasn't able to find one that had 100% of the same strains. As said above we used iFlora.

Relief-Milk Thistle. The brand we got was Oregon's Wild Harvest. The only thing with this is that the serving size was much bigger than suggested by the Rebuild ingredient list. So instead of taking it with each meal, we just take one in the morning...I don't want to OD on anything.

As far as food goes it was a challenge to find some things that would work as snacks besides fruit and cooking the recommended crackers biscuits (don't get me wrong, I will cook, but sometimes it is nice to have a quick back up!!). Also beware just because it is a rice chip doesn't mean it is made from only rice. So many things we found had either soy or corn in them.

At our local health food stores we found some organic brown rice and wild rice cakes by Lundberg. Also Lara bars are awesome because there are many flavors you can have (ex:cashew cookie, key lime pie, cherry pie, and pecan pie to name a few).

We wanted something besides water to drink occasionally and to mix with fiber. Langers brand has several options. In the frozen section we found we could buy their apple juice. In the bottled section we found Pineapple juice, Cranberry Raspberry Plus juice, and Cranberry Plus juice. These were nice options because they were less expensive than our local healthfood store's juices.

Just some ideas and things we found helpful that we would have loved to know earlier. Hope this helps anyone looking to try it!

Clean is an outstanding book that has completely changed the way I think about food. I've always been a bit skeptical of "crunchy" food claims around organic or "all natural" or (especially) gluten free. Perhaps the biggest contribution Clean has made to my life is helping me connect the dots between toxicity -> inflammation/ irritation -> aging and disease. How many studies have we seen proclaiming various antioxidants that reduce inflammation (resveratrol, Coenzyme Q10, fish oil, etc. etc.) to be life-extenders, but never asked the question *How do we minimize inflammation in the first place?*

Hundreds of millions have been spent on drugs to treat the exploding depression epidemic, but how much has been learned about why depression has increased so much over the last 50 years (hint: the majority of seratonin is produced in the gut...)

If you're already sold on healthy natural living, you'll appreciate Clean as an approachable (because it uses real foods), well-defined alternative to more radical cleanses like juice fasting or the Master Cleanse. If, like me, you need to understand *why* things work rather than just blindly trusting some expert's opinion, you will LOVE this book for the explanations it gives about the effect of toxicity on your body.

PROS:
+ clear explanations of the science connecting toxicity with many modern diseases
+ program focuses on whole foods and does not limit caloric intake
+ excellent supporting materials (like the Clean community and the recipes)
+ the recipes are DELICIOUS, even if you're not doing the cleanse!

CONS:
- parts of the book feel like a sales pitch for the over-priced supplements for sale on the website (see below). Reliance on highly-processed supplements seems odd or even a bit hypocritical for a book focused on moving to natural, whole foods.
- frequently repeats concepts; could benefit from tighter editing

HOW TO GET CLEAN ON A BUDGET:
Many people complain that the book is only an extended sales pitch for the supplements for sale on the Clean Program website. First off, it's a soft pitch, as the book itself really emphasizes using natural alternatives whenever possible. Dr. Junger never says that you need any specific brands of supplements, and he provides recipes so you can make your own liquid meals rather than buying the shakes off the website.

However, most importantly: YOU CAN BUY CHEAPER VERSIONS OF THE EXACT SAME SUPPLEMENTS. The Clean Program supplements are manufactured by a company called Metagenics. Search "clean program supplement alternatives" on Google and you will find a website listing the metagenics versions of every single supplement in the $425 Clean Program package at a huge discount. Buy only the supplements you need (metagenics versions), make your own shakes (probably healthier anyway), and you can easily complete the Clean Program at a cost equivalent to your monthly grocery bill. But you will feel so much better!

I decided to get the book and do the program because (after reading about it in Outside mag) it sounded like a more doable and sustainable detox program than I've done before. I'm a guy that rides a bike 20 miles to work, so lemon water as a diet doesn't cut it.

I started a month ago by cutting out alcohol, and cutting down on caffeine to the point of quitting coffee about 2-3 weeks ago. Then eased into the elimination diet. Going into the second week of detox now.

In that time:

- lost 10 pounds
- have had 2 compliments on "looking younger" and "your skin seems to glow". I don't normally get those
- Wake up ready to go and go all day long, vs. wake up tired and need another double espresso by 3.
- I work at a keyboard most of the day as a programmer analyst. My typing was getting bad, it's improved overnight (I'm not kidding)
- I used to have to constantly blow my nose, especially in the morning and while working out. Problem gone

Anyway, so far so good. I like that this is not a starvation diet, hasn't affected my athletics at all. But I do admit to never feeling completely full, and am downright hungry as I near my next meal.

Highly recommended