Clean -- Expanded Edition: The Revolutionary Program To Restore The Body's Natural Ability To Heal Itself

I happened across this book & the Clean program purely by chance, but I'm so glad I did. I have been having nagging little health problems for years that I instinctively believe could be managed without medication if I just knew (and actually DID) the right things.I work as a physical therapist & see the results of poor lifestyle choices every day and I'm determined to manage my own health better. In his book, Dr Junger explained the background of his program very well and it made a lot of sense to me. I have felt for a long time that my diet may be part of the reason for some of my issues. The ideas in the book resonated with me, and I think the timing was perfect---I was just ready, finally, to make drastic changes. Fortunately, at the time I discovered the book, I also found out about a group "cleanse" that would be taking place with support being provided by Dr Junger's "Clean Team" via Facebook. I joined the group and had a successful cleanse, losing 8 pounds and feeling so much better! The program is not a weight loss program, but of course most of it hope to lose some weight and I was so happy that I did. I have been unable to drop even a pound in the last year or two despite changing my diet & being extremely active. The program requires that you make radical changes in your diet for a period of time in order to remove all foods that are known to cause problems (sensitivities, allergies, etc.). This is difficult if you've never done something like this before, but I got the hang of it. There was a steep learning curve and sometimes I just didn't know what to eat, but once I got into the program I found that I loved many of the new foods I was eating and I adapted to the routine quickly. I had to learn about new foods (new to me, like coconut nectar, kale, and others) but found that once I knew where to find them & how to prepare them, I loved them! My new favorite foods are kale chips, warm wilted greens, sauteed mushrooms, and roasted chickpeas. Go figure---this is from someone who was addicted to Diet Coke and Honey Nut Cheerios. It was extremely helpful to have the Facebook page and the weekly calls that supported those of us doing the group cleanse. People shared their triumphs, their struggles, new recipes, and tips. The Clean Team is incredibly responsive & supportive. I got all this for the ten bucks or so that I paid for the book. The program IS centered around dietary changes, but is really helping you to begin a healthier, cleaner lifestyle that minimizes toxins and allows your body to function properly. My suggestion would be to read the book thoroughly to get an idea of what you need to do, then do a little additional research. You can buy a kit from the Clean Team that has all the supplements and protein packets, etc already prepared for you, but I did not do that. I read through the book, made some notes, researched products, checked out prices, and thought about what made the most sense for me. I made plans for what I would eat, did my initial shopping, and then went with the flow for the next few weeks. As I said, there was a steep learning curve for me, and it was sometimes hard to stick to the plan, but I did it and I'm better off for it. It did take a lot of time as I was learning about new foods, preparing meals in advance to take to work or on outings, and having trouble finding some foods that I'd never heard of or used before, but now I know. After you do the cleanse, you reintroduce the foods that had been eliminated, one at a time. This takes another couple of weeks, but is extremely helpful. This idea had been suggested to me years ago by a naturopathic doctor, but I was not ready at that time. It's a big deal to do something like this (the whole program is about 6 weeks long), but it's the best way to find out if something you are ingesting is causing you problems. I've been finished with the cleanse and the reintroduction process for a couple of weeks now. I find that I don't crave the things I was addicted to anywhere near as much as I did, and when I do give in to the cravings I don't like the stuff anymore. I never thought I could break free of my Diet Coke addiction and I have! I am eating better in general and continue to notice positive changes in my health and my outlook. This program has started me on a healthier, cleaner lifestyle. I can't recommend it enough, but I won't say it is easy.

"Clean -- Expanded Edition: The Revolutionary Program To Restore The Body's Natural Ability To Heal Itself" is a game-changer in the realm of holistic health and wellness. Written by Dr. Alejandro Junger, this book presents a comprehensive and accessible guide to detoxifying the body and restoring balance from within. Dr. Junger's revolutionary Clean Program offers practical insights and step-by-step instructions for implementing dietary and lifestyle changes that promote optimal health and vitality. What sets this book apart is its emphasis on supporting the body's innate ability to heal itself, rather than relying on external interventions. The expanded edition includes updated information and additional resources, making it an invaluable resource for anyone looking to embark on a journey to vibrant health and well-being. Overall, "Clean" is a must-read for anyone seeking to transform their health and unlock their body's full potential.

I must say i am very happy and satisfied. I will summarize all my perceptions of the book and the cleanse: 1. The book has a lot of repetive content but also has good information about food/pollutant reactions in the body and body detox info which is worth reading. What i found a little dissapointing is that the Dr. didn't add any references of medical studies of the statements he explained about so the book will have more credibility and medical support behind. For this fact i did not put 5 stars. But i want to say also that the book is very open and does not force you to do anything... the more you can, the better, if not then the little you are doing is already good. 2. I am a regular sugar/wheat/dairy products consumer but i am also fit, healthy, do sports often and eat good foods as well. Me and my husband always wanted to do a detox diet but we was afraid of doing something dangerous. We felt this one "fit our bill" and tried to do it. Funny thing: from all the food to include in this clease program, i knew only 50% of them and i was afraid i couldn't find those i knew. 3. I was surprised to find that in naturist/health stores they sell most of the foods i didn't know existed/i could find. I found also natural protein powder, pure greens powder, organic coconut water/milk/oil, stevia, you name it. 4. We live in Norway and I knew most of the vegetables and fruits I couldn't find them so easily organic, so i started with i had in hand. If i could find organic stuff great, if not, ... well, at least changing my old bad eating habits was a good step already! 5. The first 3 days are quite overwhelming because you need to find in advanced the food you need to prepare, to read the recipes, and you are ready to cook and then realized you didn't have this or that. But after the third day, you get used to it and you find it natural, it requires just a little planning and imagination as well (for the recipes). I started by doing the morning shakes and cleaning all the mess in 30 mins and now i do everything in 10 minutes. Also, in the beginning you tend to stick to the recipes and then you realize that you can adapt your own cooking recipes or style with the cleanse food/ingredients. Since many days ago i don't read the recipes. 6. first day i needed sugar horribly but after the second day the cravings faded. However, my husband had terrible sugar cravings the whole first week. I had nightmares the 4-5 day and probably felt a little tired those days but since then it is fine. My husband had headcahes, tiredness, coffee-sugar cravings and sometimes accute hunger. 7. I was not used to drinking something so heavy and powerful in the mornings so the first 2-3 days i was feeling liek throwing up after drinking the shakes and could barely drink half of it. My body got used to it and now I drink a better quantity and i enjoyed the drink. 8. The first week i was not feeling hungry and i was surprised to see how light i felt, how little i needed to eat to feel full and how much i enjoyed the shakes and the soups (making them, inventing them and drinking them). 9. I did regular sports and listened to my body a lot. I couldn't do as long as i usually do but i didn't regret it. I didn't feel a drop in energy. On the contrary, my energy increased, i was not feeling sleepy during the day. One bad thing is that we couldn't do sauna often... it would have helped even more. 10. Now we are on our second week. We both lost 3 kilos (6.5 pounds) but clothing size is the same and we were not overweight. I have no idea from where i lost that weight! I realized how much of the food i was eating affected me, specially my digestion. 11. Final comment: i recommend this, why? 1. Gives you knowledge about food, about your body and about the reactions that different foods have in your body. You don't feel hungry, you eat properly, you feel great and you feel changes. I recommend to do it in a period of your life when you are not stress or with overload of work (this is our current situation and makes cooking a little difficult sometimes) but you adapt easily to the foods and you adapt the foods into your own cooking style. Yes, it can be a little expensive... here in norway fruits are very expensive, but we eat much less and also waste much less food so in the end, the extra cost is minimal.

As a practitioner of clean for more than 2 years now, I can vouch for the results. I read some of the posts that are critical of this program and wanted to dispel some of the theories that are floating around : This is a detox program, not a weight loss program. The primary objective of this diet is to eliminate toxins from your body so that you can increase the ability of your body to fight diseases. Weight loss is and may be a by-product of this program, but definitely not the primary reason. Dr Junger does not force anyone to buy any of his products. Those are mere recommendations for busy people who may find it convenient to buy them online instead of putting them together everyday. The book has everything for one to understand and get through the program. There is no need to visit any website or refer some external content. Lastly, I read some comments on mistakes with recipes listed in the book. Frankly, everytime I do this program, I prepare my own dishes using ingredients in the "allowed" list. For example, I cook some wild rice, heat up a pan, toss some ginger garlic paste, onions and chopped mushrooms in a little coconut oil, add some sea salt, mix them all together and I have a tasty and healthy fried rice. I can list 100s of such creative stuff that I make on a regular basis. I try and do this 4 weeks every six months. Sometimes I skip, but in essence that is what I try to follow. I can tell you that I have a lot of energy, lot of stamina and have improved a lot from a health perspective. So here is my take on the program. This will be the most worthy 10$ you would ever spend in your life. I am not going to debate if Dr. Junger is a qualified dietitian or a nutritionist. IMO, it is unnecessary. Read the book and you will understand why I am saying this. Most of it is common sense and logic, along with the expert opinion of a board certified MD. Happy Living..!!

This was recommended to me by a friend. Plenty of people try liquid diets that are supposed to clean out your system, but I never tried any because it seems like they always provide mixed results and they seem very difficult to keep up. First off, I've been a caffeine addict (via coffee) for five years. I've tried multiple times to quit, but never could. I had virtually ZERO energy without it and would get the withdraw headaches. So, the first way this book helped me is I FINALLY kicked my addiction (with no headaches)! The second improvement I saw was losing weight around my gut (which has always been the hardest area). I started losing the weight after the first week and I wasn't even exercising during that time. My family was inspired and followed the meal plan as well. My father (in his early 70s) lost 10lbs. after two weeks. The third way it helped is improving my taste for vegetables. Before I had a select few I would enjoy, now I can eat all sorts and actually like the taste. There are a few downsides. For one, the way the book is written had me going back-and-forth a lot for the information I needed and it seemed like some pertinent info was just completely missing (Kindle issue?). 21 Days can be challenging when life 'gets in the way' but if you commit to it it's easily attainable. The other unfortunate thing is it can get expensive if you want to prepare a good variety of the recipes. What I had to end up doing is select my favorites and just rotate those. Lastly, the soup recipes were the only challenging meals to consume as far as taste and texture. Luckily, you can opt for juices instead. Breakfast was easy and lunch was amazing! People would see my meals for lunch and couldn't believe something so healthy looked that good. The great thing is we didn't follow the recipes perfectly every time, but we got most of the key ingredients, so there seems to be some flexibility. It's hard to know if my cleanse was less effective as a result, but either way, I plan on rotating into this system periodically throughout the year to maintain my health. I realize it's not perfect, but the Pros FAR outweigh the CONS so I think it deserves a 5 star rating. Hope this review helps!

This was my first book about Detox. I bought it based on many positive reviews and the fact the author is a medical doctor. After reading my feedback is as follows. Author's thesis that overall increasing toxicity in the world and unhealthy lifestyles are responsible for many issues we see today: cancers, heart desease, diabetes, etc. seem to make sense. However I question a number of things: 1) Proposed clean diet seems to be limited to typical Indian diets where he has first hand experience. The author does not explain why lentils are OK and lima beans are not. Nor does he make any references to the dietary practices of some of the populations with longest lifespans like the Japanese. 2) There are no weight/age based dosages, calorie counts or other nutritional information within the recipes. Maybe it is the digital edition. But I cannot imagine that 300lb sedentary 60 year old would have the same dietary needs as an active 150lb 30 year old. This element alone makes recipes unusable from the practical standpoint. 3) There are sporadic mentions of other supplementation to make Clean more productive but they are not systematic, and there is no indication on who would be the recommended subject for any of them. 4) As other reviewers had noted, there are a few references to Clean kits sold by the author or product placements of other vendors promoted by the author. That always makes one question the real incentives of the book. 5) I did not investigate co-authors or books bibliography. It would be useful to know that they have sufficient expertise in nutritional science. The author shares compelling personal of restoring back his digestive health and getting rid of depression (and shares some anekdotal evidence of others who had been helped) but he is a cardiologist and so technically may not have the academic background in the field covered. 6) The author proposes to temporarily stop eating some of the basic staple foods on assertion that some people can have sensitivity to some/all of them and that may be one of the factors building toxicity in the body. He suggests to reintroduce them gradually and sequentially to find the culprit. My concern is that after such "thorough cleaning" the body may be sensitive to just about anything, plunging one back to the life of doubt, guilt, and indigestion :) In short, it is a useful subject to learn about, but if you plan to take some action, please do some more research - changes proposed can have dramatic enough impact on your body to make this book your only source of information.

As I write this my husband and I are on day 17 of the clean diet and we feel awesome. The book is a equal to a nutrition trainin course. It empowers individuals and challenges us to be responsible and take control of our own health. This book is not for people who are looking for short term fixes or feel they need to depend on pharmaceutical drugs all their lives. However, if tired of feeling sick and miserable and depending on a gazillion of pills, give the clean diet a try. Recipes are no brainer and not time consuming at all. Most of all they are delicious and satisfying. We have saved a lot of money and time on meals (processed food can be expensive) and our kitchen is cleaner because we are eating mostly raw (salads, smoothies, cold soups, juicing etc). My husband is a long distance runner and he feels stronger and more resistant. He recently ran 12 miles with much more energy than before we went on the clean diet, and only stopped because 12 miles was all he needed on his training that day.

Recommended by a patient, since my careeer is focused around the gut biome. This is well written, much to my surprise. I’ve read hundreds of these books, and this is, by far, the most detailed info, without all the science I am used to reading. It is the perfect book for the layman, but I always recommend people to check with their medical provider for guidance. This is not, nor is there a one-size fits all. Great book!!