You would think that I would first test the whole juicing experience with a single juice--- nope! I decided that I would do a 3-day juice cleanse the weekend after Christmas. Babe, bless his heart, willingly decided to do it with me, so off to the grocery store I went. I chose juice recipes by Vegan Cooking, for no particular reason other than the fact that she provided a shopping list for everything involved.
I had initially bought enough ingredients for the 3-day juice cleanse for one person. We wanted to make sure that the juices were fresh when we drank them and to be honest, we weren't so sure about what we were getting into. I came back from the grocery store with this:
I'm not sure if Vegan Cooking's grocery store has different size "bunches" of produce than mine did, but holy kale! I had enough to feed an army... Most of her juice recipes ended up making four juices, adding little to no water to them. So, if you're planning to try out her cleanse, there's way more produce on that list than what's necessary! Anyhow, Babe and I decided that we would change our 3-day cleanse to a 2-day cleanse since it made so much juice.
The juicing process went really well. The juicer worked great! It took about 2.5 hours with produce prep, juicing, and clean-up. We had a good bit of pulp for our compost, but I was still impressed at how much juice we were left with. We ended up with 25 jars of juice!
And so it began...
You guys! I hated this juice cleanse! I'm hypoglycemic, meaning that my blood sugar gets low. I need to eat something every couple hours to prevent my blood sugar from dropping and to prevent myself from dropping to the floor. Being hypoglycemic is not fun or convenient-- it's just the way that it is and now, I have even more respect for it. So, if you haven't guessed already, I had major issues with the juice cleanse.
The morning started off fine. I'm typically an "eat within 20 minutes of waking up" kind of girl, but surprisingly, I was fine. I had my first juice and about an hour an a half later, I had my second juice. Yes, I wanted food, but I was fine.
Juice 1: Kale, Spinach, Romaine, Cucumbers, Celery, Apples, and Parsley
Juice 2: Apple, Pineapple, Mint, and Lemon
By the time juice number three came along, I was feeling quite nauseous. I had a pretty bad headache by the time this juice was finished.
Juice 3: Kale, Spinach, Green Grapes, Celery, Pear, and Cucumber
By the time juice number four was to be consumed, I was really shaky and feeling totally terrible. And I wished I had added the optional agave.
Juice 4: Ginger, Apple, Limes
I couldn't bring myself to try juice 5. Babe tasted it first and said it was fine. Then he changed his mind--saying that it tasted more like dirt- those darn beets!
Juice 5: Beet, Broccoli, Kale, Celery, Apple, Parsley
Instead, I skipped right to juice 6. It was certainly the most filling of the juices and it had the most mild flavor as well.
Juice 6: Almonds, Dates, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg
Results
My cleanse was really too short to see any real results. Though I could not have made it the whole three days, Chuck definitely could have. I didn't experience any sense of calm or clearheaded-ness--- I had never felt worse.
I would love to be a person that does juice cleanses and feels great afterwards. But I'd also love to be a person that enjoys taking baths, and I don't see that happening either. So, for me and my health, I'm going to stick to the occasional juice and forget the juice cleanses.Instead, I'll try to focus on eating more of those foods that would otherwise be juiced and eating less of the processed stuff.
Have you tried a juice cleanse? If so, how did it work for you?
I read that a lot of people see results like clear, glowing skin, weight loss, a more clear mind, etc.
