So I Did A Juice Cleanse
Did I get heckled about said juice cleanse? You bet I did!
But did I love the juice cleanse experience? Absolutely!
And no, the juice didn't brainwash me.
Now that I've given you the short and sweet version of the experience, let me fill you in on how it all got started, tell you a little bit about my love for juice, and then offer you a chance to experience the juice as well.
Why Did I Choose A Liquid Diet For Three Days?
Mostly, curiosity and I love me some juice.
Also, it was swag from a conference I attended - so I figured, why not?
Why Do I Love Juice?
Last year, I was deployed to New York City for my day job, working 12 hour days without any sense as to when it would end, and found myself surrounded by incredibly sick people. It turns out, New York City is an excellent place to buy fresh juice. So I ordered my first green juice, the Flu Defense from Siggy's Good Food in Brooklyn. Drinking that juice every day kept me from catching the plague that was circling around the office. Even better, I came back from that trip feeling healthy, despite a serious lack of exercise and high stress level. You could say that was the point when I became convinced of the power of juice - however, I'll admit my wallet did not approve. So mostly, I just intermittently juice produce from my edible garden and occasionally splurge on a bottle or two when I'm traveling.
What My Three-Day Juice Cleanse Was Like
Overall, it was good three days - the first was a bit of a learning experience but I never once felt terrible. Following that, each day I felt a little better and like I had a bit more clarity - especially after suffering from a rather foggy brain (due to the flu and a migraine) for the preceeding three weeks. The skin effects that you read about? Check, my skin felt happier and more balanced after the three days of juice. I did notice that drinking six bottles of cold juice each day made me feel chilly almost all the time, normally I drink hot tea all day long - so it must have been a bit of a shock to my system.
Surprisingly, I never felt hungry and I never got that dreaded cleanse headache I always read about. My guess is that I did a couple of things that helped me avoid those experiences;
- Just as recommended by Suja Juice, I phased out a few foods (coffee, bread products, sugar, meat, etc.) a couple of days before the cleanse - although many of those foods I rarely eat anyway. I think this made the transition to a juice diet much smoother.
- I listened to my body and ate a small amount of solid food each day at a particular time. In order to function normally, I found that I needed to eat just a bit after my second and fourth bottles of juice. Following the cleanse guidelines, I picked an avocado for my morning snack and a small sweet potato for my evening snack.
As for the juices themselves, I admit I had a little bit of trouble with the ones containing cucumber at the beginning since it's just not a taste I enjoy. However by day three, I started planning to add cucumbers to my at home juicing. My favorite juices ended up being the Fuel, Green Supreme, and of course the Vanilla Cloud dessert juice.
My last sort of funny take away from this experience was that it got me totally inspired to dream up new recipes and new pairings of food! So, now I'm totally jazzed on holiday menu planning.
Interested in learning more about Suja Juice? They've got a great set of FAQ's on their website and you can also find them all over social media on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Hooray, A Giveaway!
When I ordered my cleanse, Suja Juice kindly offered me another 3-Day Cleanse to giveaway to one of my readers! While I don't do many giveaways here, I could't resist giving away an opportunity like this since I know it's not something everyone can regularly afford to do.
You've got a few ways you can enter in order to up your chances including tweeting about the giveaway once a day until it's over, and most importantly by letting me know what fruits and/or veggies would be included in your dream bottle of juice.
My dream bottle of juice? 4 carrots, 1 beet, 1 granny smith apple, 1 meyer lemon, and 1 inch hunk of ginger - I like my juice spicy!
Disclosure: This product was provided to me free of charge at a conference I paid to attend, but received a special rate in exchange for writing three posts about anything loosely connected to the event. In exchange for writing about my juice cleanse experience, Suja Juice offered me a second three-day cleanse to give away to one of my readers. All opinions are of course my own and not influenced in any way by how I received this product or how I'm able to provide this giveaway, because that's just how I roll.