With the approaching season change from Summer to Autumn, it's especially important to physically, emotionally and spiritually shed the skin of the past few months and move into a new phase. A wonderful way to facilitate this change is to do a Philosophie cleanse. 

What can I expect during a Philosophie cleanse?

During the cleanse duration (either 5 days or 14 days) you can expect to experience a challenging first 2-3 days. Most of our Philosophie cleansers get headaches between days 1-3. Some only experience them for 1 day and then it goes away. Others may feel it in their body or feel overly lethargic as the toxins are moving out of the system. I call Day 3 the *Magic Day* because this is when you really feel an energetic and physical shift. You feel more energy, more excitement, more focus and notice your skin is glowing and your body feels overall much lighter. Clothes feel looser. If you can get past day 3, you will fly to through the rest.

What if I get hungry in between the meals and snacks on the cleanse menu?

No problem! This cleanse is NOT a fast. It's not a deprivation but instead, a SATURATION of nutrients. It's much more important to snack on foods from the cleanse (have another helping of soup/smoothie/salad or have an additional smoothie) rather than feel hungry. That's not the point. We encourage you to eat as much as you want to feel satisfied and to allow the body to recalibrate. By the 3rd day your body will be regulated and only crave what it's truly hungry for nutritionally. 

A few extra tips for the Philosophie Cleanse:

• try and plan your cleanse when you don't have evening plans (i.e. dinner plans, social events)
• if you do have social events, eat your Philosophie cleanse food/meal BEFORE going and BRING your snack of juice, smoothie or trail mix in your bag so you a can nosh while you're there. If there's a veggie platter or fresh fruit, you can snack on that, too!
• Make sure you get EXTRA sleep. Go back to sleep in the morning if you have the ability to. Call in sick to work. Take a vacation day if you need it. Take a nap. Your body will be working extremely hard to cleanse the system, so be sure to nurture yourself. 
• drink half your body weight in ounces EVERY day. This helps accelerate the cleansing process and speeds up the painful first few days ;) 
• find a friend and do the cleanse together. If you live with someone else, have them do it too or give up something that's difficult for you to watch or be around. If your husband/girlfriend/mom won't do the cleanse with you, have them give up coffee and processed food and sugar for the duration of your cleanse. If you gather 3 friends to do the cleanse with you (co-workers, friends, family, neighbors) you not only get a really amazing discount but you can cook together, have get togethers, support each other!  
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• join the facebook Philosophie Cleanse group! email us for the invite. 
• Journal. Stream of consciousness. Do art. anything to let whats going on inside come out. Although eating food appears to mostly be a physical act, it's actually very tied in to our emotional and psychology. Work through what's going on within your heart and mind. Let go of what isn't serving you to allow space for what WILL work. 

Here's the April Ab Challenge! My husband and I were just doing it on our own and we've gotten so many questions and interested people that I decided to start to post about it and share the love!

I can't stress enough how important ones diet is in having flat abs. I'm asked all the time how my abs are so fit and flat and I can't say it enough times: watch what you eat. See how it affects your body. Change what doesn't feel right.

You could sit down and do thousands of situps and if you still eat unhealthy foods, you absolutely will not have a six-pack. I, be no means, have a six-pack but I am trying to take my fitness to the next level by fine-tuning my diet and focusing every single day on bringing energy to my core. I very rarely sit down and do ab exercises. Most of what I do is full body. I run, spin, jog, walk, stairs, cross-fit, insanity, yoga, Pilates and strength train with weights. I MAYBE do 15 minutes a WEEK generally on concentrated ab exercises. This is why I think it will be a difference on my body. And if not, we'll know in 30 days! :)

A LOT of our physique is absolutely genetic and past a certain point can not be manipulated. But the MAJORITY (in my opinion) is what we eat and how we work our bodies. Develop strength and flexibility around your core (stomach/abs/back) and slow down. Work your entire body- arms, legs, back muscles and glutes, because THESE exercises strengthen the core.

If you have abdominal fat, no matter how much core strength though, you will not have abs, lines, obliques. You have to change your diet and increase your energy output. You need to burn off more calories than you eat to reduce the body fat. I haven't tested my body fat for a long time Set realistic expectations. Be patient. Build up your core strength with full body exercises, strength training, cardio and to reduce body fat and feel good in your skin reduce salt, breads, soft drinks and junk. Every workout and ever clean meal is one step closer. It's a goal. You have to plan on a slow and steady progression.

My 29th Birthday is on the 30th of April and as a b-day present to MYSELF I want to have the best lookin' abs I've ever had.

Here's what we're doing:

1) NO DESSERT for the full 30 days. We both have quite the sweet tooth, so this is the biggest challenge for us. Since we both do have such a sweet tooth, we're doing our best to have really clean "desserts" with my superfoods like raw, Cacao Magic pudding with avocado and frozen banana Green Dream ice cream. It helps, big time! We're also not doing those every day because that would almost defeat the purpose :) CHALLENGE FOR YOU: give SOMETHING up that makes you feel yucky. High sodium foods, processed or excess sugar, meat, dairy, alcohol. If you really want to drop some weight and feel amazing, drop all of those things and try my 14 day cleanse. I'll be doing it later this month!

2) morning and evening ab exercises. As I said above, I rarely do specific ab exercises. So we are doing them twice a day to see if it makes a difference. Energy goes where we put it so hopefully it will!

3) 30 minutes minimum of activity every day. Work up a sweat! Take the kids to the park and PLAY with them! Go for a long hike! Turn on the music in the house and do exercises and dance while you clean!

4) we will both be doing the 5 day Philosophie Spring Cleanse on April 15th. I'm so excited: new recipes, new detox bath soak and I always feel SO good after the 5 day cleanse! here's a video explaining it: http://youtu.be/IaZ43zCe8NY JOIN US!

please share below how you're doing, what you'd like to see specifically, how I can help, how you're being challenged, what your goals are... etc! Thanks so much for reading and loving YOU! <3