Our 7 Day Juicing Fast...Well, Sorda

On a whim Jordan and I started talking about doing a juicing cleanse one night. I've never done a cleanse of any kind and knew very little about it. So I got online and was reading everything I could find about it. We decided on a 7 day cleanse. The idea is to give your body adequate time to really get rid of all of the toxins and have a good break from it's daily digestive work. 

So here's the things I learned, loved, and may never do again.

You really have to have a decent juicer

For your sanity and to get your moneys worth from your produce you really need a good juicer. Also, when they're a pain to clean, it can make your juicing experience a total nightmare. When you're gonna be juicing several times a day, you really want to be able to clean up quickly. We have a Breville Juice Fountain Duo, and although it's a little pricey, I'm really glad we invested in a nicer one. Clean up is a cinch and I love the variable speed that I control for soft or hard veggies and fruit.

Spend one day preparing, washing, and bagging all of your recipes for the fridge

We spent one full day purchasing all of the produce, coming home and washing, chopping, and bagging all of our recipes ahead of time. If I had to pull all of the veggies and fruit out every time I had to make a juice, I would have lost my mind. It took me all day (so much longer than I thought it would have taken. Mind you, I do have to constantly stop to nurse and tend children) to prepare everything, but it was well worth it when juicing time rolled around. Especially in the morning. Highly recommend this step. Also I would keep in mind what your fridge can accommodate. We only bought enough for 2 people to juice for 3 days and it was a TON of produce. We had to get creative on how to store it all in our tiny fridge.

Drink lots of water

This is a no brainer but it really is essential to really get the most of your juicing experience. It really helps flush you out and help you feel full. I will say, I've never peed so much in my life...mercy!

Our experience

We followed this website for our recipes and advice Just On Juice Pretty much every thing you need to know, this website will address. And if he doesn't cover it, just ask him. I emailed him a question and within an hour he had responded. Impressive. 

Day 1

 I felt great, had lots of energy and loved the juices. I wasn't very hungry which surprised me. I really thought the first day was going to be the hardest. Night time was a little tricky, I wanted to snack! I didn't realize how often I would snack while fixing the kids their food. An apple slice here, a chip there. Try cooking without being able to taste it. Tricky. I can't tell you how many times I had to say to myself, DON'T EAT IT!!  throughout the day. It was weird not being able to chew on anything.

I had 4 juices and  lost 6 lbs the first day!

Day 2

Not much of an appetite that morning. Developed a big headache later that day (totally normal). Still hard not to keep popping food in my mouth!

I had 4 juices and lost another 5 lbs!

Day 3

I woke up and could have sworn I had a hangover. Detoxing? I don't know. But not fun. It passed quickly and the rest of the day I still wasn't very hungry. Still far easier than I thought it would be. My mantra was still "DONT EAT IT!! It's a hard habit to break, that eatin!

I had 5 juices and lost 1 lb

Day 4

Truly the hardest day for both of us. Only drinking our meals was finally starting to take its toll on our will power. I was able to hold out till late afternoon and I basically forced Jordan to take me to dinner. 

I. was. starving.

I will say this though, you should drink between 4 to 6 juices a day. And if you feel like you can't not eat something, drink another one! I had only had 2 juices and had basically given up. I decided I wanted food more than I wanted to detox haha. I wanted something hot and substantial. 

(I'll blame it on nursing :)

So we didn't quite make it to day 7 but 3 1/2 days was a good challenge. It was fun! I still replace a meal here and there with juicing. And I appreciate the food I get to eat SO much more. And I will always have my green smoothies :) I see a juicing cleanse in the future sometime, but I think I'll stick to a 3 day cleanse. It was a great way to jump start a diet or workout routine. Losing that much weight that quick can motivate anyone!

Things I noticed while Juicing:

My skin looked amazing

My hair was shinier 

My breathe was so clean and fresh

You don't have the hershey squirts like most people think you might when drinking nothing but fruits and vegetables. In fact it was quite the opposite. I'll leave it at that.

RECIPES

Morning Glory

• 2 apples
• 1 cucumber
• 1 cup of blueberries
• 2 cups of grapes
• 2 kale leaves (I add spinach as well)
• 1" of ginger

Mean Green

• 1 granny smith apple
• 1 cucumber
• 4 stalks of celery
• 4-6 kale leaves (I add spinach as well)
• 1/4 lemon peeled (I leave a little peel for nutrition and a kick of flavor)
• 1" ginger

Sunset Passion

• 1 beet
• 1 cucumber
• 1 carrot
• 1 granny smith apple
• 4 kale leaves (I add spinach as well)
• 1/4 lemon peeled
• 1/4 lime peeled

Jolt Juice

• 2 granny smith apples
• 1 orange
• 1 cucumber
• 1/4 lemon peeled
• 4 kale leaves (I add spinach as well)

Bruschetta Tang

• 2 tomatoes (I used at least 5)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic (I used as much as 4)
• a bunch of basil (I used handfuls, the more basil flavor the better)
• 1/4 lemon peeled

Green Machine

• 4 kale leaves 
• 2 granny smith apples
• 2 cups of spinach
• 1/2 a cucumber
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 carrot
• 1" ginger