We Tried a Cleanse From Drew Barrymore's Favorite LA Juice Shop

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Back in 2012, we introduced you to Kimberly Snyder—a superstar nutritionist and founder of Melrose juice bar Glow Bio. With a celebrity client roster that includes Drew Barrymore (they even cooked on Ellen together), Channing Tatum, Kerry Washington, Rooney Mara, Vince Vaughn, and more A-listers, it's no surprise that Snyder has managed to garner a slew of global superfans who swear by her bestselling books.

In honor of the release of her third guide, The Beauty Detox Power, we decided to give the stylish health guru's three-day Conscious Cleanse a try, which offers a nice mix of both juice and vegan/gluten-free food for a reasonable $180.

Upon picking up our cleanse at Glow Bio, the shop's manager sat down with us to go over the program in detail, explaining each day's plan and benefits, and answering any final questions. (This is a great way to welcome first-timers to a cleanse rather than simply handing everything over and leaving them to fend for themselves.) We're ready!

DAY ONE

First up every morning (7am) is Snyder's signature Glowing Green Smoothie, or what the cool kids simply call #GGS. Jam-packed with an abundance of veggies and fruit, this baby gives you instant energy that we equate to a cup of coffee, minus the crash. We felt full from this dense beverage for quite some time. Two hours later (9am), we had a juice version of the GGS, which held us over before lunch.

Our first bite of the day (11am) was a Raw Vegan Caesar Salad which was delicious and light. (Our only complaint is that we wanted more, but fought the urge to nosh on the next item to stick to the program's every-two-hours rule.) The salad's leafy greens were fresh and the oil-free dressing had a unique taste that we wouldn't mind dipping all our future veggies in.

At 1pm, we had Glow Bio's Raw Chia Pudding, which tasted like we were cheating a little because it was so sweet. (The chia seed is pretty much the poster child for superfoods, as its crazy-rich in fiber, protein, calcium and Omega-3 fatty acids.) We noticed that the container says two servings, so we decided to only eat half (okay, like three-fourths).

As sort of a pre-dinner bite, we presume, around 3pm we enjoyed the Raw Asian Wrap, which featured a yummy (but not too filling) cashew base and a great almond butter dipping sauce. The wrap definitely held us over for a few hours before dinner.

By the end of the day, we have to say that we were feeling pretty damn good and definitely not deprived. If this is called cleansing, sign us up often, please. Dinner at 6pm was the Sprouted Quinoa & Veggie Wrap, covered in a wrap made of calcium-rich teff. (If you've eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant before, then you'd most likely tried teff before.) We didn't love the dipping sauce (it was a bit too tangy for our liking), but the wrap was more than delicious on its own. Day one, done!

DAY TWO

The second day involved another GGS first thing in the morning (7am), followed by this thirst-quenching Detoxifier juice two hours later (9am). We loved the taste of pineapple in this guy, and the fact that it included a kick of probiotics, which is great for digestion.

Our pre-lunch (11am) was another Raw Caesar Salad, followed by this Raw Purple Cabbage Slaw (1pm). The lemony capers in this slaw paired perfectly with the crisp purple cabbage, which had a sweet flavor thanks to a hint of coconut nectar. Drew Barrymore has it good if this is the kind of stuff Snyder whips up for her on the regular.

Next up were the Raw Gorilla Wraps, which we ate at 4pm. This package said that each wrap was one serving, but we gobbled up the whole thing since this was the last savory item on Day Two's menu. The super-filling walnut base was pretty tasty and not a pain to digest compared to other nutty raw foods that can be a pain to digest.

Although we were a bit sad that there wasn't another savory meal to eat by our 6pm dinner, these ridiculously delicious Blonde Truffles made up for it. (Note: the cleanse normally comes with Raw Cacao Truffles, but yours truly is allergic to cacao so Glow Bio kindly made the substitution.) Again, the packaging since this is more that one serving (six, in fact!) so we opted for just three and saved the last three for tomorrow's finale dessert.

DAY THREE

Final stretch, folks. Another GGS, but this time it was followed by our pick for the most delicious juice, ever, the Clean Red. Seriously, this thing is addictive. Here's the description from Glow Bio's site: "Beets, apple, and ginger are a sweet detoxifying juice blend to help purify the blood. Rich in antioxidants, calcium, iron, magnesium, and a great deal of vitamins A and C. This elixir is also high in folate, which is key for new cell growth and physical healing. Balanced with a shot of ginger, one of the most powerful natural digestives, which has 'warming' properties and increases circulation and metabolism." In other words, yum.

The rest of the day featured some old favorites, including the Raw Asian Wrap, Raw Chia Pudding, and Raw Purple Cabbage Slaw. The final meal of the day was this Raw Red Pepper Dip with Veggies and a handful of teff chips, which felt like a splurge. The red pepper dip was extremely tasty and made us forget the fact that anyone else would probably consider this a snack versus an official dinner entree. And who needs actual tortilla chips when teff is a perfect replacement? No joke.

BOTTOM LINE

Glow Bio's Conscious Cleanse gets our seal of approval for first-timers who aren't ready to commit to a full-on juice cleanse. Offering a great combination of both juice and bites, we'd place this program right between the liquid-happy Beaming cleanse and the food-rich Sakara plan.

The only thing that threw us off in this cleanse were the number of servings on some of the packages. Although common sense told us not to eat that entire container of truffles, we wonder if eating all three servings of the wrap in one sitting would have really thrown us off. Either way, we had some extra food at the end of each day, which was a welcomed treat and way better than feeling deprived. Barrymore, Tatum, and Washington are smart to stick with Snyder.

Glow Bio

7473 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046, USA