Diary of a 3-Day Juice Detox

 

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We’ve all heard of juice detoxes, I mean, who doesn’t know about Gwynnie’s annual cleanse, and who hasn’t seen the slew of celebs toting bottles of potent looking green juice wherever they go. In this case though, I think they’re all onto a pretty good thing.

I’ve dabbled with home juicing, and for every-other-day treats and turning almost dead apples into syrupy sweet juice it’s perfect, but for a full 3 day detox and all that goes with it, I’d prefer to have them delivered to my door, and so I did – thanks to the very obliging Samantha Eldridge from Joburg’s Bliss Juicery.

Here’s how it went…

Monday 1 December – Day 1
Of course it all began with bang, bright and early. Sam arrived just before 8am with the box full of juices and talked me through a few preliminaries. And I quickly tucked into my first bottle of Almond Milk, which is sweetened with dates and vanilla, gorgeous. It sent me skipping through the morning, all gung ho and on to the first green juice (all sorts of green goodies like spinach, celery, cucumber etc).

Beetroot and pear followed at around 12pm. Yum. I know beetroot is a love or hate thing (I love) and so Sam has a carrot alternative if you can’t pear the earthy purpleness. By this stage, the novelty was wearing off a little and I felt like reaching for the proverbial cookie jar; I also had  the beginnings of a headache and felt really lethargic and lackluster. I succumbed and had an apple and a few celery sticks which Sam advised if I was feeling really awful, I often feel nauseous when my stomach is empty as I have low blood pressure (well, I think that’s the reason why).

There’s a delicious Tropical pick-me up in the form of pineapple and turmeric mid-afternoon (I actually watered mine down a little as it tasted quite sweet at that point, after no sugar all day), followed by another green guy (which I actually didn’t’ manage to get through), and then you end of with a nice soothing Almond Milk just before bedtime. And speaking of bedtime, by that point the headache was well and truly settled in, it felt like it was sliding down the inside of my skull and my head was thick and heavy. I felt a little dizzy too, and close to miserable. I also don’t think I had drunk enough water during the day and let myself get dehydrated, bad bad stupid move. THIS IS NOT FOR SISSIES.

Bed couldn’t have come sooner, I felt properly yuk, and I don’t remember the last time I slept that deeply. I think it was partly because I was exhausted, but also partly because my body focused on sleep and restoration, not working its way through digesting a huge dinner.

Day 2 (same juices as Day 1)
I woke up feeling a lot fresher and more clear headed. I even remember driving down the road and thinking that even the sky looked cleaner and brighter. The headaches had subsided and didn’t really come back. Towards the afternoon I didn’t have bundles of energy, (and I probably wouldn’t have turned down a stray coffee that looked like it needed a loving home) but I didn’t feel awful. And I wasn’t obsessing over the fact that I wasn’t eating, my body had kind of said ‘oh well, let’s get on with this’. I was kind of ‘numb’ and going through the motions, but definitely feeling ‘cleaner’. The green juices were becoming harder and harder to get down, they are pretty potent (because they’re so jolly good for you). By bedtime, I was properly tired, and mildly grumpy, feeling a bit sorry for myself – but not the same dramatic exhaustion as I’d felt the day before. Just a very solid kind of tired. I slept amazingly well again.

Day 3 (same juices as Day 1 and 2)
I woke up feeling good, strong and fairly fresh, not bouncing about, but WELL. Lighter, fresher, leaner. My skin was brighter, healthier. I quietly, slowly, happily moved through the day and the juices. I only managing half of one green juice in the morning and not the late afternoon one. Also the tropical one tasted super sweet by this point so I watered it down again. I felt empowered though, and a little smug, food didn’t’ have the same hold over me and I was so proud of what I had done for myself and my body, and the re-boot I’d given my system. It feels like it’s only fair to do something like this at least once a year, give your body a chance to catch its breath, do a spring clean of your whole system.

Thursday 4th December – Day 4
No juice!! I deliberated for ages whether I’d have my sorely missed morning coffee or not, and went for lemon water to start, and then a decaf coffee. The milk made me feel a little queasy actually, and it’s really important not to eat anything too rich or sugary within the first few days. Not that you feel like it actually, I had such a new consciousness and awareness for what I put in my body and didn’t want to disrespect all the hard work I’d done over the last three days so I treaded lightly.

A few things I realized
I (we?) snack, A LOT. And it’s not very often because I am hungry, but because it’s there. Juicing
helped me recalibrate this and hopefully I can keep a more careful eye on it in future.
We eat a lot of junk. Even stuff that we think is not junk is just not the best things we could be putting into our bodies, it’s like putting dirty fuel in a car, why would you do that? It slows us down and our bodies have to put so much energy and effort into processing all that stuff that it saps us of a lot of energy that would otherwise be going into making us better, stronger, healthier.
We need to eat a lot less than we think – think about portion sizes in terms of needs vs. wants (scary hey?)

Tips and Tricks for future juicing
Don’t take the below as gospel, it’s just some advice to keep in mind if you give juicing a bash…

Ease into it if you can, for a few days leading up to the cleanse reduce caffeine and junky intake, the your body won’t get as much of a shock.
Don’t get dehydrated (see above), drink a ridiculous amount of water.
Don’t do any strenuous exercise.
Don’t make any major social plans, you will want to stay quietly at home, especially for the first couple of days. If you are going through a hectic time with small kids, I wouldn’t actually recommend it as it’s hard to find the energy you need for your babies and it’s not fair on them.
Don’t juice as a permanent weight-loss plan, it’s a cleanse and a recalibration for your body and often weight lost during juicing is put back on quite quickly afterwards.
Juicing is not for ants. Or sissies. But it’s amazing and totally worth it. Like climbing Kilimanjaro. Or, some might say, Everest – worth every step and the breathtaking view when you get there.

Further reading for your interest
10 Commandments of a Juice Cleanse by MindBodyGreen

Eyes Wide Open
If you plan on embarking on anything longer than a 3 day juice detox, I would suggest consulting a health professional. I am not a qualified health professional so any information given here, unless independently sourced, is my own opinion and experience and should not be taken as professional health advice.
Also read this.

Bliss Summer Special
Samantha and the Bliss team are having a summer special on their 3-day juice cleanses from now until the 12th of December – beach season is nearing R665 (instead of R800) for all our 3-day cleanses.

Samantha’s Story
I asked Sam to tell us a little bit about herself…

I’m 25 years old, born in Joburg but studied in Cape Town. I actually have a background in finance but have always had a passion for nutrition. I’ve recently just completed a short course in nutrition through UCT and the Sports Science Institute.
My cousin lives in the UK and for a while she has been telling me about all the great juice bars over there. I always thought it would be fantastic to have something like that here so I started looking into it and came across so many amazing documentaries on juicing and the benefits of it
I drink my juices twice a week at the moment. I would love to incorporate a juice a day, say a green juice as a mid-morning snack – Once we have set up shop I’m definitely going to have a juice a day.
I have done the 3-day cleanse three times this year and will be testing out a new 3-day cleanse with
My favourite flavours are Greens 1 (Spinach, courgette, broccoli, fennel, apple and lemon) and Root Boost (Pears, beetroot, cucumber and lemon.)

Sarah: What gave you the idea of including the almond milk? A lot of juice programmes don’t include protein and I think starting and ending your day with this is a brilliant idea, and the protein is really important for a healthy, balanced intake.
I think especially if it is your first time doing a juice cleanse it is important to include that protein to get you through the day and make sure that you are getting enough nutrients when replacing your meals. When I first set out the juice cleanse I met with Holistic Health Coach and Wellness Advisor Sarah Hough from The Green Zucchini. We decided together that it was important to include two nut milks for each day of the juice cleanse – Vanilla almond milk in the morning and a calming Cacao almond milk in the evening.
Sarah: Where to from here?
With the cleanse from next year we will be offering three main cleanses: a beginners, our most popular and an advanced cleanse which will have a lower calorie content. We’re also opening up a shop in January 2015 in The Colony Centre in Craighall which is very exciting. This will give us a chance to expand our selection of individual juices and we will also be stocking other healthy snacks and treats so definitely come and visit us!

Contact Details
[email protected]
http://www.blissjuicery.co.za/
https://www.facebook.com/blissjuicery/
And find us at The Colony Centre in Craighall Park, Johannesburg from 10 January 2015.

WIN a 3 day January juice cleanse for yourself and a friend
Just let us know in the comments section below when the Bliss Juicery store opens in Joburg.