Juice Cleanses Replace Failed Resolutions

Every year after making an end of the year / holiday final binge of food and sweets, many of us embark on the new year wide-eyed and hopeful.  "This will be my healthy year..." we tell ourselves and typically that begins with a New Year's resolution like cutting out unhealthy food or kickstarting a new exercise regiment. More often than not we were simply telling ourselves lies and thus the cupcakes are eaten and the six-packs are downed in a downward spiral of self-misery and shame. But in our defense, let's face it - Houston's never really had a "healthy" reputation.

But it seems Houston's turning over a new leaf, so to speak and we're seeing a trend of juice bars popping up and catching on. One of the best offerings of a juice bar is a juice cleanse.  Typically in 3, 5 or 7-day lengths the idea is to abstain from all solid food and only drink juices (and in some case nut milks) so that you inject super amounts of vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients and literally cleanse all of your systems while flushing out toxins, fats, and general build up of what we put our bodies through on a daily basis. Here are our top picks for some of the most rejuvenating juice cleanses in Houston (in alphabetical order).

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Crushed Juicery - In addition to being the exclusive local juice provider at La Table's Marche in-house market, Crushed has a delivery/pickup process easily done online. Crushed break out their cleanse options relative to the experience level of the customer: first crush for beginners, crushed hard for experienced and major crushed for experts and priced at $144 for the 3-day. Order directly here.

Flow Juice Bar - Founded by restaurateurs Laura and Jerry Lasco, Flow Juice Bar was a helthy alternative business venture for them to balance their richer and more indulgent ventures such as Max's Wine Dive. We visited the Fairview location (actually next door to Max's) and found the staff super helpful and attentive. What's unique about their cleanse is you can opt to supplement or add a fruit/juice all natural smoothie to really help curb the hunger withdrawals.  And for those healthy lovers, Flow is offering 20% off cleanses for two through Black Sunday. 3-Day cleanses start at $139. Find their locations and cleanse info here.

JuiceLand - JuiceLand is easily the undisputed heavyweight champion of all things juicing and cleansing in Austin, their highly anticipated first Houston headquarters has recently opened in the Heights.  While they may have been around the longest of all of our picks, they certainly aren't resting on their laurels or lax in their approach, process or integrity. With an ever-changing menu and local garden and farmer vendors, they really do set the bar high, and that's a great thing as Houston's juice scene is just now a flourish. They also have crafted cleanses in levels: the rookie, the happy medium, and green reviver, around $146 for 3-days. Check em out here.

Nourish Juice Bar - A relative newcomer to the scene and occupying an incredibly warm, inviting and well-designed space on West Gray in the Montrose, we're wondering where has Nourish been all our lives? Owner Jessica Huffman brings not only an enthusiasm and love of juicing to the table - her previous life working as a scientist in clinical research really means she's giving the best of both worlds in every juice. Combining a passion for taste and flavor with the nutritional science behind adaptive recovery and cleansing, Jessica's juices and cleanses really stood out among the rest. The line was nearly through the door when we stopped by and people were just simply hanging out in the awesome space - and we don't blame them. It could be the "open kitchen" concept she has so we can all watch the juice magic or the chill coffee shop vibe, WiFi, tunes and Crave sushi she serves. Take your pick and visit her here.

Revolucion Coffee + Juice - As recently reported, Revolucion Coffee + Juice will soon be opening their first brick and mortar location in the Heights. Randy Ray and his team started the business in San Antonio and have been testing the market in Houston for some time with pop-ups at Revolution Yoga Studios and the Rice Village Flea. He offers cold-pressed coffees, nut milks and juices and we tested the 3-day cleanse and thought it was the best-tasting set of juices we had ever had. His nut milks also come in excellent tasty seasonal flavors like pumpkin cashew or autumn spice almond and really do help offset hunger pains. There's something about his juices that just taste best and we see why business is so good he's continuing to expand. For now he will make the juices to order and deliver or you can pick up at his pop-ups. 3-day cleanses La Vida and El Toro are $157 and more than worth it in terms of taste, freshness and overall appeal. Plus the the love inside? Priceless. One of our unlikely favorites was the "activator juice" which is made of activated charcoal. Yes you read that correctly. Tasty charcoal juice. Trust us and order yours now here.

Squeezed - What we really love about the Squeezed juices were the wide-range of pick-up locations through many parts of the city at gyms, personal trainer locations and yoga studios. This can really lend itself to a one-two punch combo for those getting a double dose of exercise and juicing. The usual suspect of juice flavors are in the Squeezed line-up and you'll find they put them in a sturdy portable cooler bag too. Pickup at Joy Yoga on Washington a Thursday was super easy and quick. 3-day cleanses start at $144 and you can get all the info you need here.

Happy cleansing and juice on.