For years I’ve been super skeptical about juice cleanses; in fact, I was super skeptical about any cleanse in general. This being because I tried a three day smoothie cleanse that was apparently created by Dr. Oz, and it was terrible. I’d never felt so bloated in my life!
So I swore off cleanses as a joke, without any research or thoughts otherwise.
That is until I started listening to this amazing podcast, The Food Heals Podcast. I listen to it while I’m working out and it’s so motivational and hilarious, not to mention, I love a podcast that throws in a few F-bombs every once in awhile. Anyways, they talk a lot about the power of juice. I always thought I’d rather have a smoothie for the fibre, until one of their guests, Joe Cross, the creator and star of the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, explained how and why juicing is different than smoothies and why it’s so beneficial. (If you haven’t seen it, it’s a good Netflix night pick).
So what’s the difference? Here’s how the Food Matters website explains it:
“Juicing is a process which extracts water and nutrients from produce and discards the indigestible fiber. Without all the fiber, your digestive system doesn’t have to work as hard to break down the food and absorb the nutrients. In fact, it makes the nutrients more readily available to the body in much larger quantities than if you were to eat the fruits and vegetables whole…Freshly squeezed vegetable juices form part of most healing and detoxification programs because they are so nutrient rich and nourish and restore the body at a cellular level.”
So basically… a straight shot of nutrients to the cells for optimal absorption of nutrients. Yes, please!
So why cleanse now?
I did if for a few reasons. In the podcast, Joe talked a lot about the mental clarity that comes from doing a juice cleanse, and I was like, HELL YES, I need that! I had been feeling totally foggy lately. Unable to finish my thoughts at work, feeling out of tune and unable to listen when having a conversation, and I felt like my memory was going out the door. It sounded like I needed a juice cleanse!
I also have read that people’s vision has improved while doing juice cleanses. Since I have some unexplained vision loss in my left eye, I’m all about exploring eye health these days, so I figured…why not?
The final reason I did it was because I hadn’t been able to shake the bloat since returning from Italy. All that pasta and pizza caught up with me and then just seemed to stick around, making me feel a little blah. Or a lot of Blah. So yeah…
I convinced my friend to do it with me and we ordered our cleanse from Juice Because. They had a deal going on where you could get $50 off if you ordered two cleanses at once. Yay! Three days, 6 juices per day, here’s how it went:
Luckily I did some research ahead of time, which recommended eating a clean diet leading up to it, meaning I tried to cut out caffeine, alcohol, and sugar, and focused on eating lots of fresh fruit and veggies. But…then I went out to dinner with some girlfriends the night before it started. Oh well, we’ll call that the Last Supper. I did make sure to go to bed early and only had two drinks. Starting a cleanse with a hangover just didn’t sound appealing!
Day one, Sunday.
Day one was pretty easy. Trying each juice was exciting and they were all so tasty. I even worked out in the morning and didn’t feel weak or anything. The only issue was that I felt really cold all day, despite it being quite warm outside. I found myself taking a hot shower, just because, and wearing my coziest winter sweater. I later read that this is common during a juice fast/cleanse as the body temperature drops, along with blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate.
The hardest part of day one was keeping myself from accidentally grabbing a handful of crackers, or going in for some carrots and humus. I kept finding myself walking into the kitchen, not really out of hunger, but more out of boredom. It was a big eye opener to me, realizing I probably graze and snack way more than I need to or even realize on a daily basis. Other than that, and when my husband made a huge plate of delicious smelling pasta for dinner, it was relatively easy.
Day two, not so much. Day two was hard. Like… really wanted to cheat, hard. I found myself getting jealous of anyone who was chewing, even if I didn’t know what it was! I powered through with some dramatic hangry humour texting to my co-cleanser and we made it through together. I definitely recommend using the buddy system for a cleanse! This was also her hardest day. One thing we both noticed was that the juices tasted really sweet on day two, too sweet. We were wishing we had more bottles of the green juice left as opposed to the carrot and beet juices. We sucked it up and both went to bed early so we wouldn’t have to think about food anymore.
Day three: I woke up feeling….great. First thing I noticed was that my skin was super clear! Usually it’s quite red and uneven in the morning…and all day for that matter. It was so even toned that I didn’t even bother putting any makeup on for work. All natural baby! I also woke up before my alarm even went off, and I wasn’t even interested in coffee or tea; not usual for my typical snooze button routine. It may have been easy because I knew it was the last day, or maybe because I had adjusted to the no-chewing-empty-stomach feeling, who knows. I also had a super great day at work, feeling really focused and productive. The hardest part of day three was when my co-cleansing friend and I went to an event that night that was serving really amazing looking appetizers and wine. Thank god we were there together for moral support otherwise…. I may not have lasted the full three days!
The day after: Once again I woke up before my alarm went off and was treated with nice, even skin. I felt completely de-bloated, like Italy never happened, and had another sharp minded day at work without caffeine. Whoo! As for the eye sight; I happened to be back at my naturopath for a follow up a few days later, so I asked her to check my eye again. She definitely noticed a change since last time. Not 100%, but better. And I myself could tell that I wasn’t having as many blurry moments. So who knows if it was the juice, the endless amount of sweet potatoes I’ve been eating, the vitamins I’ve been taking, or my striving to increase my blood pressure. All I know is, it’s getting better, not worse. Hooray!
So what does one eat for breakfast the day after a three day juice cleanse? Yeah, I was seriously craving… greens. Sautéed greens. I wanted warm, savoury, and green. Weird, I know, but I decided to just listen to what my body wanted and that was that! Pretty good side effect if you ask me-cravings for greens!
So would I do it again? Absolutely, but I’d probably try to design day two and three myself to get less sweet as the cleanse goes on. The beet and carrot juices were amazing on day one, but almost unbearably sweet on days two and three. Also, it’s quite expensive to do a juice cleanse for three days… so it’s not something I’d do often, maybe once or twice a year if I’m feeling really lethargic or foggy. It’s definitely a nice re-boot because for days after I didn’t want to eat any junk for fear of losing that great feeling!
Have you ever done a juice cleanse!? How long and what was your experience? Leave a comment below, I’d love to know!
