Juice cleanse day 1
I'm starting a 4-day juice cleanse today. There are lots of reasons people do juice cleanses. Some like to do a cleanse to "detox" (that word is thrown around a lot these days!) Their systems. Folks who might benefit from this mindset are those who eat a standard American diet of meats, dairy, fried foods, junk foods, etc. A detoxing juice cleanse might help here to provide the nutrients your body craves, and give you a chance to eliminate some stored junk from this diet. Needless to say, that's NOT why I'm doing a juice cleanse. Other folks like to do a cleanse to jump-start a diet or weight loss program. Although many people, from what I've read, don't lose a significant amount of weight, a cleanse might be most beneficial here in the mindset and intention setting. Giving your body a clean start isn't a bad way to start any program, in my opinion! This, however, is also NOT why I'm doing a juice cleanse. I am a long time vegan, and follow a generally healthy meal plan and exercise schedule, so I don't have the intention of jump starting anything. Even though I've lost 30+ pounds since I started running in 2012, I'd like to lose about 10 more, but weight loss is not my intention with this cleanse.
So, then, why am I doing this cleanse? Well, the third reason, and my reasoning behind doing the juice cleanse, is that I want to give my body a break, and reward it for everything it does for me. This juice cleanse is my way of taking my digestive system to the spa. And I owe it to my system. In the last two months, I had winter snow storm munchies (you know, it's a snow day, so let's bake things!), lots of out of town visitors which meant more eating out, a birthday party, which was then followed by a week where organic vegan carrot cake was part of my daily breakfast, etc. I'm giving it a break for a few days. I deserve it!
I'll be doing a juice cleanse with cold-pressed juices from a New York company called Juice from the raw. I purchased the "Believer" cleanse, a 3-day, mostly green juice sequence. They accidentaly sent me the "Whenever" cleanse, which is a mix of green juices and fruit juices, but when I contacted them, they sent the missing bottles of green juice. This means I'll be able to do an extra day, and tell you about both!
I paid for this cleanse, and am not endorsed by this company in any way so you know my opinion here is totally and honestly mine. I will say that thus far, I was impressed with the packaging, and the rapid shipping. All the juices were sent frozen, and arrived within just a couple of days of my order. There's not a lot of literature included, but the website has How-to information, and they say they'll coach you through your cleanse if you call during business hours. This isn't my first juice cleanse, so hopefully I won't need a lot of coaching...
On to my day.....
Rob had to leave super early this morning, so I woke up as he was getting ready to go (around 4am). Before I was able to get back to sleep, I started thinking about (and getting excited about) the cleanse! I started to read some Amazon reviews, but that almost seemed like cheating, like I was finding out a plot spoiler, so I went over to the Juice from the Raw site (www.juicefromtheraw.com) to look at nutritional information. 'Cause that's how I roll, yo. Today I'll be drinking juices from the "Whenever" cleanse (which is the one they suggest for new cleansers, or those that follow a standard American diet).
Anyway, I started looking at the juice ingredients: kale, pineapple, lemons, beets, coconut, dates, YUM. Wait, it's not even time to wake up yet, why am I making myself hungry? I drank some water, and went back to sleep.
Just for science sake, I'll be tracking my weight, mood, headaches, and energy levels. Here's my stats upon waking morning of day 1: weight 154.4, mood okay, headache level 2, energy medium. I'll keep in mind that my headaches fluctuate with other factors, and unfortunately it looks like the next few days are going to be rainy and stormy, which often leads to increased headaches.
The juices arrived frozen (as this type of raw product should be shipped!) And the instructions suggested keeping them frozen until the day before you drink them. It suggested defrosting at room temperature, but I was concerned that they might get too warm yesterday, so I put 6 juices in the fridge. This morning, they were still rather slushy. I decided to drink some water, and go for a run, and leave the juices out for my return. I planned on a 4 mile run today, but due to some weirdness on my running trail, I only got in a little over 2 miles. Once I got home, I drank some more water, and started working on my to-do list of the day. Close to 12:45, I realized I hadn't had a juice yet, nothing to eat, but I just wasn't starving. I guess it was all the water I've had today (about 60 oz before noon). It was time to have one, and I started with the Detox Greens (they suggest you drink them in a particular order).
The detox greens juice is comprised of celery, wheatgrass, ginger, cucumber, wild arugula, watercress, lemon, apples, and dandelion. The flavor is good. Apples are the first ingredient, but it's not too sweet. It does taste and smell very fresh!
I had a second juice at 3:20, Not because I was hungry, but because I figured that if I was going to get all 6 juices drunk before bed, I was going to have to start drinking! The second juice was the Piney Apple Mint. The Mint smell of this juice was amazing, and the flavor was nice. This was a sweeter juice than the Detox Greens, but really refreshing! Ingredients: Pineapple, Apple, Mint.
5pm, still not hungry! But I had my third juice, this one was the Sweet Greens, with Apples, Celery, Cucumber, Kale, Spinach, Chard, Romaine, Lemon, and Ginger. This one tastes like juices that I make with my juicer. I started to wonder about the difference between my juicer and COLD-PRESSED juices.
A little tummy rumble while I was teaching my evening class, I didn't actually feel hungry though.
Crazily enough, I still wasn't really feeling hungry after class. I drank the spicy lemonade, and WOW. Very tart, and a great kick!
I got home a little after 8, and still had 2 juices (and more water) I wanted to drink. So I decided to curl up on the couch with the juices, water, some Criminal Minds on Netflix, and Gene Bauer's new book in case the show got scary.
The beet juice was very good, but I actually would have liked more beets and less apple in the juice. I drink beet juice often, it is great for muscle recovery, and there's nothing better than a cold glass of fresh beet juice after a long run on a warm summer day.
At 9, I powered through the coconut fusion, a mix of coconut water, and young coconut flesh. This was very nice. I wish I hadn't been so full... My cleanse will end each day with this juice.
At the end of the day, I must say that I don't know if it was the mindset of the cleanse, or what, but I wasn't hungry at all today. I feel pretty good, and I'm excited about the next few days!
End of day 1: energy was good, headache maintained levels 1-2, mood was good. No hunger pangs. You're allowed to eat a raw vegetable each day if needed, so I had purchased avocados, but I didn't need or want one today. I think day 1 was a success.
