I Ate Only Sakara Life Meals for 30 Days—Here Are 7 Things That Happened

Let me say this: I could write multiple essays expressing my love and adoration for Sakara Life. I'm a big fan of the brand's beautifully concocted snacks and supplements, and when my body (and mind) feels a bit meh, I turn to its famous plant-based, organic meal delivery system for a reset.

If you're unfamiliar with Sakara, the brand offers organic meals based on a whole-food, plant-rich approach to eating that helps remove the guesswork from trying to figure out what to eat and features fresh, nutrient-dense, and superpower-laden ingredients. With nourishment, healing, and rainbow-inspired variety in mind, the meal system is built around nine nutritional pillars: no calorie counting, plant protein, eat your water, greens, good fats, eat the rainbow, nutrient density, sulfur-rich veggies, and body intelligence. 

Ultimately, Sakara treats food as medicine. And as someone who has personally experienced the transformative effects of the brand's meal system, I can fully attest to the approach Sakara co-founders Danielle DuBoise and Whitney Tingle have taken toward food. Suffice it to say, if I could eat Sakara every day for the rest of my life, I 110% would.

I was ecstatic when I had the opportunity to try out Sakara's highly anticipated 30-Day Reset ahead of its launch last fall. While I've done a week of Sakara meals here and there, I've never eaten them for an entire month. But this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time. I was stressed, tired, burned out, and not feeling like myself physically or mentally. Knowing how much better I always feel after just one week of Sakara, I was curious to see how I'd do after the month-long reset. Spoiler alert: The impact was wild.

So what exactly does The 30-Day Reset entail? To begin, you'll choose your preferred start date and wait for four weeks of organic, plant-rich meals to be delivered straight to your door, along with the included teas and supplements. All the meals arrive ready to eat, meaning no meal prep or cooking is required. So handy!

The package I tried also included a 30-Day Reset guidebook, access to Sakara's digital community, the brand's complete Probiotic Formula, Detox Tea, Energy Effervescents, a one-month membership to the Mindfulness app, and Campo's Beauty Energy Essential Oil Roll-On. Sounds dreamy, right?

Overall, I was so obsessed with the results and how much better I felt that I've continued to follow their Signature Nutrition Program. Keep scrolling for a very personal deep dive into all the notable changes I experienced while trying Sakara's reset program.

Prepare for some TMI. Even though I consider myself a pretty balanced and "healthy" eater—sticking mainly to lots of veggies, lean animal protein, and healthy fats—I've dealt with digestion issues like constipation and bloating on and off for years. Nothing seemed to change, no matter how many probiotics, quick fixes, or other "miracle" supplements I tried.

But there was an almost immediate switch when I started to eat Sakara meals full time. Suddenly, I had a flat, bloat-free stomach and was *going* (sorry) every single morning like clockwork, no crazy supplements needed. Honestly, it was hard to fathom, especially because I was eating fruits, healthy carbohydrates like beans, cruciferous vegetables, and other foods often associated with digestive disruption. 

"We hear this all the time," DuBoise and Tingle say after I tell them this was the most immediate and noticeable benefit I experienced while trying out the 30-Day Reset. "We nutritionally design every single meal for true transformation—results that you can see and feel. The science behind how we design the program is extensive. We calculate everything from how many greens you get in a day to the carb-to-fiber ratio to make sure your blood sugar doesn't spike." 

But it doesn't stop there. Sakara also incorporates more than 170 ingredients into its meals each week, and sources fresh and cold-pressed fats, which fight inflammation head-on. "A recent study from The American Gut Microbiome Project found that those who ate more than 30 different types of plants per week had a far more diverse gut microbiome than those who ate less than 10 plant foods per week," DuBoise and Tingle tell me. "And more diversity means a healthier gut and a healthier you!" 

Full disclosure: I debated whether or not I should bring this specific change up since weight loss wasn't a priority of mine before starting the reset. As someone who has struggled on and off with an eating disorder since I was a teen, I also know how triggering this topic can be. That said, weight loss was something I experienced during the reset, and I want to be 100% honest about all of the changes I noticed.  

My clothes seemed to fit better for the first time in over a year. I could easily slide into numerous pieces of clothing that had previously been noticeably tight or unwearable. I was surprised—partly because I was pretty sure the Sakara reset had me eating more calories in a day than I was used to and also because I was eating more carbs (which our culture loves to label as "bad for you") than I had in a very long time. I hadn't switched up my workout routine or made any other lifestyle changes, meaning the weight loss had to come down to my new eating habits.

"We've been taught that weight loss comes from restricting and counting calories, but nothing could be farther from the truth," DuBoise and Tingle explain. "Our philosophy has always been abundance over deprivation. Healthy and sustainable weight loss comes from giving your body the nutrients it needs to do its job… to burn! We call that 'burn' our metabolism and our metabolism is an intricate, adaptive, and vital set of cellular processes that turn what you eat into fuel. Bad input equals bad fuel, which can put stress on your body and lead to everything from imbalanced hormones, weight gain, fatigue, etc. One of our favorite parts of our job is helping people realize their best body is created by nourishing it every single day."

Due to my eating disorder, I went years without a period or with a very irregular period. In fact, it wasn't until a few years ago that my body and whacked-out hormone levels healed enough for me to be menstruating regularly. Then, out of nowhere last spring, I started getting my period every two weeks (very fun, as you can imagine). After seeing my gynecologist and getting some extensive testing done, I learned my hormone levels were off again.

Obviously, it can be extremely stressful when a vital health indicator like our cycle gets thrown off. Going into the reset, I worried that forgoing meat and eating a plant-based diet might worsen the issue. But I couldn't have been more wrong! While doing the reset (Remember, I also continued to order Sakara meals off and on after my trial had ended.), my menstrual cycle seemed to naturally recalibrate and return to its normal 25-ish–day cadence. Again, nothing else in my life had really changed, and it felt pretty darn miraculous.

"Dysregulated progesterone or estrogen levels and or estrogen dominance can often lead to irregular periods," DuBoise and Tingle explain. "When gut health is suboptimal, our hormones, specifically estrogen, can become imbalanced, and we can suffer from related symptoms like irregular periods or PMS. Our nutrition programs are designed to nurture and enhance the gut environment, which thereby stabilizes hormones."

Additionally, and as I noted in my first point, Sakara's nutrition programs are nutritionally designed to ensure regularity, which DuBoise and Tingle say help minimize the risk of estrogen reabsorption from stool back into the bloodstream. "A healthy gut microbiome, which has been found to regulate estrogen levels; and is abundant in healthy fatty acids, is essential for hormone production and regulation," they say.

Until I began the reset, I had pretty much forgotten what a good night's sleep felt like. For years, I couldn't sleep past 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. at the latest, would almost always wake up a few times a night (often insanely hungry and tempted to snack despite having eaten a normal dinner), and needed a very hearty concoction of supplements and stress-relieving elixirs to fall asleep. But right after beginning my Sakara experience, all of the above seemed to dissipate. I could sleep until 7:00 a.m. or later (if my schedule allowed). I felt naturally tired by the end of the day and wasn't forced to rely on things like melatonin and over-the-counter sleeping pills. I never woke up at night unless it was to go to the bathroom. (And if that happened, I was able to fall back asleep quickly.) Again, I was stunned. Suddenly, I felt and looked more rested and had more natural energy—with less brain fog—during the day. (I'll dive into this more in a second.) Not surprisingly, DuBoise and Tingle had some interesting insights.

"Studies have found that plant-rich diets, which are abundant in complex carbs and fiber, phytonutrients, and plant proteins, can improve sleep quality by stabilizing blood sugar," they explain. "A plant-rich diet may also lead to increased levels of tryptophan, which increases sleep-supporting melatonin and serotonin. Plus, complex carbs have been found to stimulate the release of calming, sleep-supporting serotonin." 

According to DuBoise and Tingle, blood sugar irregularities can also often lead to waking up at night. "Additionally, Sakara meals are made without harmful additives, toxins, and refined sugars, which induce stress on the body, leading to irregular sleep patterns," they say. "Reduced physical stress from these foods, plus flooding the body with high-quality nutrients, can reduce cortisol dysregulation and play a major role in enhancing sleep quality."

Okay, this is a weird one! I've never been a super-smelly person. Even though I work out regularly (and sweat quite a bit during), I'd categorize my body odor as pretty unaggressive. However, I've never been able to wear natural deodorants without ruining my clothes (it's almost as if they made me smell worse), and never in a million years would I think I could go without deodorant a la Matthew McConaughey. But a completely unhinged thing happened a few weeks into my Sakara reset. I went to my regular 80-minute Saturday morning workout class. It's held in a warm, steamy room, and I tend to sweat buckets during it. This time, however, I didn't smell. Yes, I was sweating profusely, but there was not one iota of scent coming from any pore in my body. Since then, I've (finally) been able to wear natural deodorants, and if I forget to apply, it's no biggie.

Interestingly, there has long been a debate that chlorophyll can naturally nix body odor. In addition to my three-daily Sakara meals, I also added the brand's chlorophyll Detox Water Drops ($39) to my water each day. But according to DuBoise and Tingle, there's more to it than that! And, like many of the changes I noticed, it seems to tie back to gut health.

"Body odor can be a symptom of poor gut health," they explain. "With our nutrition programs, you're optimizing your gut microbiome and gut environment, which in turn can improve body odor. If you think about where your armpits are on your body, you can guess what's surrounding them:  lymph! It's the lymph system's job to 'take out the trash,' so a high-quality diet means there's less trash to take out, and consequently, less odor."

DuBoise and Tingle also say that stress can cause the body to secrete an odorless white fluid made from water, proteins, and fats. When combined with the natural bacteria on our skin, this fluid can produce that foul-smelling waste known as body odor. Sakara's nutrition programs nourish the gut, remove toxins for the lymph to clear, and take away the stress of not knowing what to eat—all of which could explain the disappearance of any previous smell I had. Fascinating, right?

While intense cravings and hunger that have you feeling like a bottomless pit are often associated with the luteal and menstrual phases of our cycles, before starting the reset, I experienced both almost every day, no matter where I was in my cycle. I'd have sharp, rollercoaster-level cravings for sugar and sweets, which would then quickly veer toward rabid cravings for anything salty and savory. And then, inexplicably, I'd experience a handful of days where I had barely any appetite whatsoever. No matter how I adjusted or tweaked my diet, nothing seemed to help, and my body felt completely lost and out of sorts.

To be honest, I felt out of control around food—something highly triggering as someone with a history of disordered eating—and at a loss for how to properly nourish my body. But yet again, Sakara came to the rescue. Each day, I'd eat my Sakara breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sip the brand's red rooibos, lemongrass, and rose-infused Detox Tea, snack on one of its fantastic Super Bars, and drink lots of water laden with its Beauty and Detox Water Drops. The result? My hunger spikes and cravings completely dissipated. For the first time in years, I felt stable, in control, and much less stressed about food and how my body reacted to it.

"We've been taught that cravings are bad, but they're not," DuBoise and Tingle tell me. "They're signals that we need something. … Often, it's a combination of needing certain nutrients—for example, low magnesium levels may make you crave chocolate—and taking something out of your diet like an ultra-processed food. Ultra-processed foods can interfere with the signaling within your body. For instance, if your blood sugar is out of control from processed, refined foods, you will have a difficult time getting cravings under control due to this biological response."

In order to reduce cravings, it's important to nourish our bodies with the macronutrients and micronutrients we need to function at optimal capacity. Thus, the brand's reset programs are nutritionally designed to flood the body with nutrients, ultimately shifting our biological response away from these types of intense cravings.

As I explained earlier, lack of high-quality sleep had been a longtime problem for me. But my complete exhaustion, heavy reliance on coffee and energy drinks like Celsius, and intense brain fog seemed like it had to go beyond poor sleep. For instance, on the rare days I got more than five hours of sleep, I'd feel just as tired, cranky, and fuzzy as when I didn't. But things started to dramatically improve after, you guessed it, getting into the Sakara reset. Obviously, I was sleeping better, which I'm sure played an important part. But I also felt like I had natural energy in the morning (even without caffeine). Exercising, socializing, writing, and moving through my days felt easier and less strenuous on my energy stores. It was as if someone had lifted a hundred pounds off my shoulders, and I could go about everything in my life easily and efficiently. It was a dramatic, night-and-day difference.

"A plant-rich diet is a great solution for clearing brain fog and improving energy," DuBoise and Tingle explain. "Sakara is nutritionally designed and rich in neuroprotective omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for neurotransmitter communication, B vitamins for better intercommunication within the brain, and neuroprotective nutrients like phytochemicals (polyphenols) to support mental clarity and energy levels." 

All in all, if your budget allows, I can't recommend trying any of Sakara's Nutrition Programs enough. Take my word for it—you'll be obsessed. 

This post was originally published at an earlier date and has since been updated. 

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