Can a One-Day Soup Cleanse Really "Reset" Your System?

By Annie Tomlin

We're living in the golden era of juicing, but it wasn't that long ago that juice cleanses were considered fringe-y rituals made by and for new-agey wackadoos. As recently as 2010, the concept of cleansing was still just nudging its way into the mainstream, as writer Judith Newman called her juice cleanse a "strange and green journey" in The New York Times. Now, though, it seems like there's a juice bar opening every other week, and in some circles, a seasonal juice cleanse is practically de rigueur. So what's the next logical step in liquid cleansing? Soup, naturally. Only a few months old, Soup Cleanse is the brainchild of Lucinda Duncalfe. The CEO and founder of Philadelphia-based Real Food Works, Duncalfe is a regular juice drinker herself. "A bunch of our folks [at Real Food Works] juice," she explains. "But we were a little concerned with the fact that juices have no fiber, and there's so much fruit in them that you end up with a lot of fructose-which isn't so great when it's not attached to the fiber of the fruit."

Related: 9 Cleanses to Try This Year

In search of a more fiber-rich, low-glycemic solution, Duncalfe and her team developed Soup Cleanse. The one-day, six-soup regimen is organic and free of gluten, nuts, soy, and animal products. The vegetable-based soups can be eaten hot or cold, and they're meant to be consumed within a day or two of receiving them. (They arrive semi-frozen and need to be refrigerated immediately.) There's a little mind-and-body naming thing going on, too: A spinach-and-kale mix is called Detox, while a beet-and-carrot blend is Energize. As with its juice counterpart, Soup Cleanse has rules: no caffeine, no booze, and no food other than the soups themselves. The idea, Duncalfe says, is to "reset" the way we eat and to give our digestive systems a break from our usual diet. "It breaks habits and makes you mindful of how what you're eating might not be the best," she says. But can cleansing for a single day actually lead to healthy results? Maybe, says Kerry Bajaj, a Certified Health Coach at the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City. "It's not going to do much," she says. "It can give your digestive system a bit of a rest. If you're [cleansing] for one day, you're putting the brakes on, so to say. You're not eating more bad stuff on top of everything, but you're not necessarily cleaning out the gut."

Still, Bajaj likes the idea of the soups. She points out that soup does have more fiber and a lower glycemic spike than juice, and that Soup Cleanse's focus on fresh, organic vegetables is a good one. And, she adds, paying attention to our eating habits is always a good thing-particularly in these late-winter months. "Your body wants warming foods right now," she says. "If you're going on a juice cleanse when it's five degrees outside, that's not eating with the seasons at all. I know that when I have soup on these cold days, I feel much warmer in the afternoon." Bajaj's words were the final nudge I needed to try Soup Cleanse. It almost made sense, actually: This interminable winter has practically demanded warm foods, and the idea sounded more do-able than a juice cleanse. Soup, I reasoned, would be filling and nutritious. Almost grandmotherly, even. So, on a blustery Wednesday morning, I found myself heating up a bowl of Detox, a blend of spinach, kale, wakame, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper. The soup was fresh and fragrant-and so green that it just looked healthy. It turned out to be pretty tasty, too. My bowl was empty in 10 minutes, and I felt pretty good. Chipper, even. Then, an hour later, I was famished. I typically have a medium-sized breakfast right after waking up-some chia pudding and goji berries, or some oatmeal and almond butter. While the soup quelled my body's early-morning hunger, it didn't fuel me as well as my usual a.m. snack. When 10 o'clock rolled around, I pounced on the next soup. (Shine, if you're keeping track.) The good news: It had a savory pumpkin-and-apple flavor that was as good as what you'd find at a bistro. The bad news: The serving was half the size of Detox. "Please, sir," I want some more," I thought.

Related: The Safe, Doctor-Recommended Cleanse You Should Actually Try

Still, it was something, and I was grateful for the nourishment. Ditto the third soup, a spinach-and-kale variation on Detox. But as I prepared to head out to some afternoon appointments, a problem arose: How would I have my afternoon soups while on the run? If this were a juice cleanse, I could pop a bottle into my purse and guzzle on the go. Sitting down to slurp soup, however, would be challenging-and then there was the question of heating up the soups. My solution was to space out my soup consumption; I'd have to double up when I returned home at dinnertime. Which is just what I did, practically gulping Energize (beets and carrots) before heating up Replenish (snap peas, asparagus, celery). The soups tasted good, but by that point, I was so light-headed that I just shoveled spoonful after spoonful into my mouth. That's exactly the opposite of the mindful eating that Duncalfe advises, but I was too hungry to summon much mental self-flagellation. The cleanse adds up to 335 total calories; call me a baby, but it wasn't enough for me. Even for just a day.

Related: Are You Ready for an Extreme Detox Retreat?

Before consuming my last soup, I thought about the psychological side of cleansing. It's not exactly fun, but it can be powerful. Cleansing forces us to examine the way we eat, to wean us off our bad habits, and to take better care of our bodies. But with the single-day soup cleanse, I just didn't have the right attitude. Instead of focusing on my long-term health, all I could think about was food, food, food-and for someone who doesn't diet, this mental shift was as foreign as it was uncomfortable. About an hour before bed, I heated up the last soup. Transcend was, well, transcendent: a light pear purée with hemp seed, vanilla, and cardamom. It was delicious-not in the "decent for a cleanse" way, but in the "I need this recipe right now" way. It felt like a reward. So much so, actually, that in the giddy haze of wrapping up the cleanse, I wondered if maybe I should think about doing this again. Is that crazy? Maybe-but then again, they used to say juice cleansing was crazy, too.

More From ELLE:
8 Foods To Eat Now For A Flawless Complexion
10 Foods to Eat For Gorgeous Hair
Best Cold-Weather Moisturizers at Every Price
11 Supermodels Reveal Their Beauty and Fitness Secrets