By now, you’ve probably heard rumblings about the Taco Cleanse. Yes, a cleanse. That calls for tacos. Not green juices, kale salads or hot water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne Pepper concoctions (AKA the Master Cleanse, which Beyonce reportedly tried while filming Dreamgirls).
If it sounds too good to be true — tacos for breakfast, lunch AND dinner, and it counts as a ‘cleanse?!’ — that’s because it kind of is. If you’re expecting to roll out and eat Taco Bell, Moe’s and Chipotle all day, every day, you may be disappointed. The meal plan is 100 percent vegan, and while it has a section devoted to what to order while dining out, it’s more of a healthy Tex-Mex cookbook that cheekily pokes fun at the whole “lose weight quickly while detoxing your soul!” genre than a, well, “lose weight quickly while detoxing your soul!” book. (Unfortunately, that means our beloved Delish Tater Totcos, pictured above, aren’t exactly TC-approved, but they may be a good pre-cleanse treat, because they are phenomenal.)
However, the Taco Cleanse seems a lot more sustainable long-term than the typical liquid-based cleanse; it’s not about depriving your body of certain foods, but finding healthier ways to enjoy your faves (ahem, tacos!), according to Cosmo.
The book has gotten such an extreme buzz that it’s sold out in some bookstores and on certain websites, like Amazon, though the company says it should be back in stock soon. Even Jennifer Aniston has ordered a copy.
The Taco Cleanse provides five basic tortilla recipes (flour, corn, plaintain, collard and waffle), along with dozens of fillings and sauces to go with them. There’s also a whole section on “supplements,” AKA TC-approved margarita, martini and Michelada recipes. Meat and dairy may be verboten, but booze is fair game, apparently.
The cookbook features a basic checklist to determine whether you might be a good fit for the cleanse, with such incredibly crucial and defining questions as:
Do you experience recurring feelings of hunger on a daily basis?
Do you frequently lack access to eating utensils, such as forks or chopsticks?
Do you experience a range of emotions?
If you answered yes to any of the above, you might need to drop everything and start a Taco Cleanse right this second. Or, you know, keep eating whatever you want.
Photos: Nathan Davison