The Blueprint Myth
First off, a disclaimer: I’ve never tried the Blueprint Cleanse myself. However, one of my friends recently did and after I visited the website/conducted some independent research, I was pretty surprised that she thought it was a good idea. Blueprint is basically the juice version of Nutrisystem. For those unfamiliar with weight loss programs, Nutrisystem is a diet program that delivers prepared food to your home. Unlike programs like Weight Watchers, it doesn’t just tell you what to eat; it literally gives you what to eat. By consuming only said food, you’re supposed to lose weight. Blueprint is the same thing, except they don’t give you food; they give you juice and only juice and you’re not supposed to consume anything else. Oh, and it costs $80 a day.
Sound ridiculous? Well, on paper, yes. But if its press coverage is any indication, Blueprint has succeeded in selling its improbable premise. It’s landed mentions in practically every major women’s magazine and has established itself as the go-to “detox” program. That’s the interesting part: Blueprint isn’t marketed for weight loss (though given the liquid-only meals, you have to wonder what else it could possibly be good for). Instead, the company claims that by going on two-, three-, four-, or five-day fasts, our bodies cleanse themselves of toxins and we feel more energetic as a result. Well, I’d feel awfully awake too if my stomach were eating itself from the inside.
Does this all sound preposterous? To be fair, plenty of diet programs out there rely on questionable claims. However, I take issue with Blueprint in particular because of the following:
1. Price. I seriously resent the implication that one has to be rich in order to be healthy. With an $80/day price tag, Blueprint, which markets itself as some sort of life-changing/health-transforming program, is completely out of reach for the majority of consumers. I’m not going to judge people for what they choose to spend their money on, but I will definitely judge companies for ridiculously unjustified mark-ups on their products. Just because you can does not mean you should charge $15 per bottle of juice. I actually find that rather unethical for a company that is trying to promote health. Health ought to be egalitarian, and though I don’t necessarily advocate diet programs in general, I know that programs like Weight Watchers are much more accessible than Blueprint is.
2. Questionable claims. I may personally believe that Atkins is stupid, but I can’t deny that there is scientific evidence that cutting carbs will lead to weight loss (just as there’s evidence that you’ll gain it all back one you start eating carbs again). Hell, I’m sure even Nutrisystem works if you eat exactly what you’re given. With Blueprint, however, evidence is scant and vague at best. The website offers a lot of claims about the benefits of juice detoxing but doesn’t cite any actual scientific research. Blueprint’s premise rests on the assumption that eating the liquid form of spinach is somehow superior to just eating spinach. That’s the idea it’s selling to its customers. Objectively speaking, it’s a pretty bizarre idea. If you’re going to cast suspicion on solid food, wouldn’t you want to cite everything and anything that supports your claims? (And I’m not even talking about weight loss here, just its claims that it’ll “detox” your body.)
3. Lack of lasting benefits. Healthy day-to-day eating will always be more beneficial than fad dieting. The problem with Blueprint is that if you believe the ad copy, you get the impression that your body will morph into some uber-pure, radically changed form at the end of the program. Blueprint conflates short-term fasting with long-term healthy living when three or four days are clearly not going to change your body, no matter how much it “detoxes”. Weight Watchers at least teaches you to eat healthily for life.
For the record, I’m not denying that juicing can be beneficial. I actually think it’s a great way to consume a lot of needed nutrients in one sitting. Since Patrick bought a juicer earlier this fall, I started making juice every morning. But that’s precisely it: juice may be a good supplement with meals but it’s not a substitute for meals. Just because a machine allows me to consume four or five fruits at once does not mean I would like to give up biting into an apple any time soon.
I would even go so far as to advocate occasional liquid fasts for those with the willpower; plenty of people from athletes to monks practice short-term fasting with soups and juices and experience better performance or health as a result. I personally know several elderly, Asian people who do this. However, none of them ever had to sign up for a $80/day program (being Asian, they would probably balk at the price) and most don’t fast for more than 24 hours at a time (being elderly, they would probably pass out). They also usually fast under a doctor or nutritionist’s supervision and generally eat well anyway, so they aren’t deriving their good health from these fasts alone.
Might you get an energy boost from Blueprint? Entirely possible. Their ingredients are fresh, natural, and nutritious — that’s not something I doubt. But you’d probably get the same energy boost (and a fuller stomach and wallet) if you ate only salad and fruit for three days straight instead. The time and money you’d be spending on Blueprint would be better spent on a gym membership, a personal trainer, a juicer, or even just solid, organic food.
