Welcome to the latest installment of Integrative Nutrition Reviews, where we consider books, movies, and other media related to health, food, and personal wellness. Want to suggest something for us to review? Post it in the comments!

Many of us are looking to start the New Year with a clean slate and a clean belly. Only how? Before falling back into old habits or repeating the same ones, take a look at a new book that is designed to help you reboot with new energy, satisfaction, and self-love.

The Conscious Cleanse, written by Jo Schaalman and 2010 grad Julie Pelaez, is more than recipes and nutrition advice. Though the word “cleanse” might sound like a fad or crash diet, as IIN Founder, Director, and Primary Teacher Joshua Rosenthal explains in the foreword, “That kind of ‘crash cleansing’ is not what this book is about. A conscious cleanse is a much gentler, holistic process that teaches you how to pay attention to your body and its sensitivities.”   

The book helps readers clean out toxins found all around us – from our physical environment to the pollutants in our mind and our stomachs. With an easy-to-follow 14-day program, it’s like having a real-life Health Coach talk you through the ins and outs of a healthy cleanse, answering questions and providing helpful advice along the way. With a special emphasis on improving the primary food in your life – going on date night, making a gratitude list, taking time to do “nothing” – who knew doing a cleanse could be so enjoyable?

Incorporating inspirational quotes, humor, check-off lists, and an uncanny ability to understand how the reader feels throughout the process, this might be one of the first cleansing books that we feel confident readers will be able to complete with little fuss or failure. In fact when starting out, your goal might be to lose the holiday weight, but you’ll find yourself more alert, energized and creative, with the motivation to keep going. Not to mention, there is an entire section dedicated to green smoothie and juice recipes! (How does a Passion Parsley smoothie or Ode to David Wolfe juice sound?)

More importantly, the authors understand that you have a life outside of cleansing. That is why this particular program is fantastic for a “real-world” cleanse, allowing readers most foods (no gluten, dairy, caffeine and sugar) with delicious alternatives and preparation ideas, as well as a slow ease into eliminating foods so that you don’t give up before you get a chance to start, aka “cleanse fatigue.”

The book’s authors both work in nutrition and as yoga instructors. To learn more about the authors and The Conscious Cleanse, visit the website or Facebook page. You can also download the Conscious Cleanse E-cookbook for free!

For more cleansing ideas, read our post on Choose The Cleanse That Works For You and 25 Ways To Detox Your Life.