If you have been actively following my posts lately, then you know I just finished a 4-day juicing cleanse last week. Cleanse, fast, feast. Whatever you prefer to call it. So as promised, I am writing up my recap with some tips in case you were interested in doing your own.
I figured the best way to do this was to break it into two sections. If you have never ever juiced before, then I would recommend doing what I did for my very first cleanse, which was juicing until dinner. If you currently juice or want to jump in with two feet, then I say go for it and juice fast away!
Juicing Until Dinner
The very first time I cleansed, Jessica and I did a variation of the cleanse outlined in Kris Carr’s book, Crazy Sexy Diet. We juiced for breakfast, lunch and had a small snack of fruits, veggies or nuts then ate a plant-based dinner. This means, no dairy or meat and at all cost stay away from refined sugars. And yes, no coffee (decaf or not) and no alcohol. Sorry.
The point is to give your body a break from digesting down hard foods such a meat and dairy products, so eating a fully plant-based meal for dinner is essential. Now, by plant-based, I also mean to stay away from the fake cheese and meats that vegans sometimes eat. Try to stick with whole grains such a brown rice and quinoa along with some veggies. So a typical day might look like this:
Breakfast: Kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, apple, lemon, ginger and romaine juice
Lunch: Apple, cucumber, carrot and ginger juice
Snack: 7 to 10 almonds
Dinner: Kris Carr’s Buddha Bowl
Dessert: Almond milk, agave, cinnamon and water drink
Not bad right? It may not seem like much, but after the first few days, your body really starts to thank you by feeling much much better. We did this for 21 days and I think we could have kept going. If I am completely honest with myself, I think this is how I would like myself to eat on most days. I felt incredibly good and satisfied while doing this. Towards the end, I didn’t even have those crazy off-hour cravings for sugar or unhealthy foods like I did before.
Juicing Fast
Ok, so now for you crazy kids that think you may want to dabble in a full-out juicing fast. This means juice for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. No solid foods at all. This is not for the faint of heart. It is hard. Super hard. Especially if you have never juiced before. For at least the first two days, you will feel like complete crap. Your head will hurt and you will want to eat anything. Even the pencil at your desk, will look appealing. But by day 3, your body is adjusting and using all the awesome nutrients you are getting to your benefit. I think this is especially important to those that eat large amounts of meat and dairy products. Your body will have a hard time going without these things since you are used to it. So this transitional period will be extra tough. But remember, it is allowing your body to clean itself of all those nasty leftovers remaining from consuming those types of foods.
Aim to drink at least 96 ounces of juice a day. Make sure you get at least that in water as well. If you use the 16 oz Ball mason jars, it ends up being 6 of those. If you want to juice more, go right on ahead.
If you are planning on juicing all day and work full-time, get up about 20 minutes earlier than normal and make about four juices before you leave. Store them in mason jars in the fridge until it is time to consume them. I found four juices work well for me because that means one for breakfast, one for a mid-morning snack, another for lunch and the last one is a nice mid-afternoon snack. Then once you get home you can
Maybe you had done a 3-day cleanse and what to try it again. Go for it! I applaud you! Try 5 days this time or maybe even 7!
Tips and Advice
No matter which option you choose, here are my tips for you!
- Drink coffee? Start weening yourself off it about a week before your cleanse. You will already have a headache due to your body detoxing, but when you put a coffee withdraw headache on top of it, it is pure hell. So do yourself a favor now.
- If you are juicing until dinner, I would recommend doing it for at least a week. If you are juicing all day, then start with 3-days and work your way up.
- By golly, get yourself a nice juicer! I bought mine on Amazon for less than $70 and decided if I keep up with juicing, which I have, then I will by myself I really nice one someday. A gift to myself.
- Be sure to juice mostly vegetables and add in a piece or two of fruit and ginger to help with the taste. Fruits have quite a bit of natural sugars, so by using more veggies and adding just a few pieces of fruit, you will get the full benefits of juicing.
- The week before a cleanse, try to cut back on processed foods and sugars. It will make the transition a little easier.
- WATER WATER WATER. For the love of all things holy, drink your water! It is so so important to remember to do this. You need it daily anyway, but during a cleanse try to up your water intake so you stay full and so you flush out all the toxins you are detoxing from.
- You can find juice recipes all over the internet. It just takes a little bit of searching. After a few days, you will learn what you like and what you don’t like. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different fruits and veggies. You might be surprised what you end up liking!
One thing to keep in mind, I am not a doctor. Are you shocked? With that being said, I don’t know what is best for your body. Only you and your physician do. Please do your research and talk to your doctor to decide if this is a good thing for you to try.
Other than that, the most important thing is that you try. I don’t care if you do it for 3 days or for 60. I will be proud of you no matter what. The results are totally worth it and your body will thank you. You might even enjoy it and decide to do it once every couple months. Let me know if you do and we can “Cheers” our mason jars virtually.
You can do it!!!
