10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse for Detox and Waste Removal

The Honest Version: It’s a Liquid Diet, Not a Detox

JJ Smith’s 10-day green smoothie cleanse went viral, and it does produce fast scale drops. Here’s what’s actually happening. You’re replacing every meal with a blended fruit-and-greens smoothie for ten days. That drops your calorie intake to roughly 1,000 to 1,300 kcal per day (well below most adults’ maintenance), and it strips carbs and sodium along the way. So the scale falls.

The falling scale isn’t fat, mostly. It’s water and glycogen leaving the body, plus reduced food volume in your gut. Klein and Kiat’s 2015 review of detox diets in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics found no credible evidence that these programs remove “toxins” or produce lasting fat loss. Meal-replacement research (Rains and colleagues, 2015) does show that structured liquid replacement can help short-term weight loss, but it’s the calorie deficit doing the work, not the “cleanse.”

If you like green smoothies, keep drinking them. They’re a good way to eat more vegetables. Just know what a 10-day liquid diet is and what it isn’t. Below you’ll find the classic 10-day recipe set, kept intact, with honest labels on what the plan can and can’t do.

What’s on This Page

• What the 10-day cleanse actually is (calorically)
• Honest pros and cons
• The basics of the plan
• 10 days of smoothie recipes
• Kidney stone and oxalate warning
• What to expect after the cleanse (rebound)
• Who should not do this cleanse
• FAQ

What the 10-Day Cleanse Actually Is

Stripped of marketing, the plan looks like this:

• Three smoothies a day replacing breakfast, lunch, and dinner, up to 72 oz total.
• Small snacks of raw fruit, vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, or unsalted nuts.
• Total calories land around 1,000 to 1,300 kcal for most adults, well below maintenance.
• Protein is low unless you add a scoop of plant protein or Greek yogurt.
• Fiber is high, which helps satiety but can also cause bloating in the first few days.

This puts the plan in the same category as commercial meal replacement programs. Structured, low-calorie, easy to follow for a short window, hard to sustain.

Honest Pros and Cons

The Basics of the Plan

No single method fits everyone, but the framework is consistent:

1. Replace all meals with green smoothies for 10 days, made with leafy greens, fruit, and water.
2. Add a plant-based protein source (pea, hemp, or soy protein powder) to keep protein reasonable, ideally 15 to 25 g per smoothie.
3. Snack between smoothies on raw vegetables, an apple, a hard-boiled egg, or a small handful of unsalted nuts.
4. If you can’t do all three meals, replace one or two per day and eat a protein-forward, salad-heavy meal for the remaining one.
5. Aim for up to 72 oz of green smoothies per day, spread across meals.
6. Drink water freely. Skip alcohol, sugary drinks, and coffee drinks with syrup.

10 Days of Smoothie Recipes

Below are the ten daily recipes. Adding the optional scoop of protein powder to each is strongly recommended (see the note on muscle loss above). If a recipe already includes yogurt or nut butter, the extra scoop is optional.

Day 1

• 1 large apple
• 1 cup frozen peaches
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup frozen or fresh grapes
• 1 1/2 kale leaves, de-stemmed
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 2 cups of water
• 1 stevia packet
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 2

• 250 ml almond milk
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1 pitted Medjool date
• 1 small ripe banana
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• Optional: 1 scoop of maca powder

Day 3

• 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries
• 1 peeled, frozen banana
• 1 apple
• 1 handful of spring mix greens
• 2 handfuls of spinach leaves
• 1 packet of stevia
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 4

• 160 g hulled ripe strawberries
• 160 g baby spinach
• A handful of kale leaves
• 1 small avocado, halved and scooped
• 150 ml bio yogurt
• 2 small oranges, juiced
• 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 5

• 2 apples
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peaches
• 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries
• 3 de-stemmed kale leaves
• 1 handful of spinach leaves
• 2 packets of stevia
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 4 shakes of Celtic sea salt
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 6

• 50 g spinach
• 1 avocado
• 1 ripe mango
• 1 apple
• 200 ml almond milk
• 1 dragon fruit
• 100 g mixed berries
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 7

• 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 1/2 cups peaches
• 2 handfuls of pineapple chunks
• 2 kale leaves, de-stemmed
• 2 handfuls of spring mix salad greens
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 8

• 2 handfuls of kale
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 lime, juice only
• A large handful of frozen pineapple chunks
• Medium chunk of ginger
• 1 tbsp cashew nuts
• 1 banana (optional)
• Optional: 1 scoop of maca powder

Day 9

• 1 cup pineapple
• 2 cups of frozen peaches
• 2 frozen bananas, peeled
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1 1/2 packets of stevia
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 10

• 1 cup frozen peaches
• Handful of grapes
• 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 3 packets of stevia to sweeten
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• Optional: 1 scoop of protein powder

Kidney Stone and Oxalate Warning

Look at those ingredient lists carefully. Spinach, kale, chard, and berries all appear repeatedly. Spinach in particular is one of the highest-oxalate foods in the human diet.

For more on this topic, check out our guide on smoothie under 200 calories.

Ferraro and colleagues (2020) reviewed dietary factors in kidney stone risk in Nutrients and highlighted dietary oxalate as a modifiable risk factor for calcium oxalate stones (the most common type). Loading up on daily spinach smoothies is a plausible way to raise oxalate excretion.

Practical mitigation:

• Rotate greens. Use romaine, cucumber, cilantro, parsley, and mint on some days instead of spinach and kale.
• Include a calcium source (Greek yogurt, dairy or fortified plant milk) with the smoothie. Dietary calcium binds oxalate in the gut and lowers stone risk.
• Drink plenty of water beyond what’s in the smoothies, aiming for pale yellow urine.
• If you’ve ever passed a kidney stone, this plan is not for you without a nephrologist’s OK.

What to Expect After the Cleanse (The Rebound)

The wellness content usually ends at day 10 with a scale photo. Here’s the part it skips.

• Days 1-3 after refeeding: Glycogen refills. Each gram of glycogen holds about 3 g of water. Expect 3 to 6 lb back on the scale from fluid alone.
• Week 1 post-cleanse: If you return to your previous eating pattern, most of the scale loss is gone.
• Actual retained fat loss: Usually 1 to 3 lb for most adults, and only if you keep some new habits in place.

The rebound isn’t failure. It’s how bodies work. The lesson is that a 10-day protocol is not a weight-loss strategy on its own. If you want the loss to stick, use the cleanse (if you choose to) as a launchpad into a maintainable pattern of eating, not as the finish line.

Who Should Not Do This Cleanse

Talk to your doctor first, or skip entirely, if any of these apply:

• Type 1 diabetes, or type 2 on insulin or sulfonylureas (hypoglycemia risk from very low protein and irregular carbs).
• Chronic kidney disease (potassium and oxalate loads).
• History of kidney stones.
• Pregnancy or breastfeeding (calorie and micronutrient needs are higher).
• History of eating disorders. Very-low-calorie liquid plans can trigger disordered patterns.
• On warfarin, thyroid medication, or lithium (any drug adjusted to food intake).
• Children and teens under 18.
• Older adults with sarcopenia risk (low protein accelerates muscle loss).
• Post-surgery or recovering from illness.

FAQ

Does the 10-day green smoothie cleanse actually work?

For short-term scale drops, yes. For lasting fat loss, mostly no. The drop is mostly water and glycogen, and most of it comes back within a week of eating normally. If you build new habits during and after the cleanse, you may keep 1 to 3 pounds.

Does it detox my body?

No. Your liver and kidneys detox you continuously. There’s no measurable evidence that green smoothies remove “toxins” beyond what your body already handles.

Why do you keep recommending protein powder?

Because the base recipes are low in protein (often under 40 g for the whole day). Losing weight on low protein tends to cost muscle mass, which slows your metabolism and shows up as looking “skinny fat.” A scoop of pea, hemp, or whey protein per smoothie gets you to a safer 60 to 80 g for the day.

I’ve had a kidney stone. Should I do this cleanse?

Not without your doctor. Spinach and kale are very high in oxalate, and calcium oxalate is the most common stone type. Ferraro 2020 flags dietary oxalate as a modifiable stone risk factor.

I’m starving on day 3. What do I do?

Add a protein scoop, add a hard-boiled egg or two, or add a small handful of unsalted nuts to snacks. Persistent hunger, headaches, or dizziness are signals your calorie intake is too low for you. Stop or scale back rather than push through.

I have diabetes. Can I do this?

Talk to your endocrinologist first. Fruit-heavy smoothies can spike glucose, and low protein plus irregular carbs is a hypoglycemia risk if you’re on insulin or sulfonylureas. Structured meal replacement programs designed for diabetes exist and are safer.

What should I do after the cleanse?

Return to solid food gradually over 2 to 3 days. Focus on protein at every meal, plenty of vegetables, and portion sizes you can maintain. If you want the scale loss to hold, the day-11 habits matter more than the ten-day plan did.

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