health and lifestyle: juice cleanse recap

Okay now it's time for some facts recapping of our 5-day pressed juice cleanse!

1. The first day was the hardest for me, after that it got much easier. My body just had a freak-out for the first day and a half-ish. I had a pretty bad headache the first afternoon and literally a negative amount of energy for the first 48 hours (like if my energy level is usually at a 10, I was at a -24) I could have slept all day every day (needless to say, they were probably the least productive days I've ever had in my life). However, my husband had a super easy first day--and found that his hardest day was probably the second day. He had very low energy as well, and a headache later in the afternoon. Happy to report though--those were the only headaches that we had. Which kind of amazed us, being that we are what you would call 'caffeine-dependent'

2. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. No, but really. Honestly, it was the mental challenge of not being able to put something in your mouth and chew that proved to be the most difficult aspect of this adventure. I love good tasting food, and gulping down juiced vegetables all day er' day was not exactly a party in the mouth. Juiced kale and beets were probably the hardest part for me (which was rough because that is the majority of what they put in the juices) At the beginning, I had trouble actually getting some of the juices down, but by the end my taste buds had warmed up to it a bit.

3.  I lost a total of four pounds, and my husband lost eleven. I know, right? And apparently it was visible, because he went to a work dinner the day after we ended the cleanse and a colleague actually commented on how he looked like he had lost ten pounds without even knowing he had been on the cleanse. Again, we didn't really do it for the weight loss--but we still kept track and were definitely impressed by the results.



4. By days four and five our energy levels were definitely back up (not quite to normal, but we felt much better than we had the first couple of days). We didn't have energy to go on long runs or bike rides, but we took walks and hung out in the park. One of the hardest things about this cleanse was figuring out things to do. We couldn't really meet any of our friends--because most of the activities involved getting dinner or dessert or lots of energy--and it was  hard being out shopping or by restaurants...because most the time we were just thinking about how we wanted to eat. However, we did go on a juice 'double date' with Robert's parents to Snap--health foods & juice bar. It was a fun afternoon! It is definitely a lifestyle change though--not eating actual food. Food is such a social staple in our lives (which is kind of sad, but is just the way it is)  We may or may not have watched season 1-3 of Downton Abbey that weekend :)

5. By the end, we genuinely felt healthier, cleansed, and refreshed. The day after the cleanse ended I went on a run--and ended up running about double what I had planned just because I had so much amazing energy! We are really grateful we did it, and feel that we have a renewed desire to be healthy and make nutritious decisions when it comes to food. We've had a stocked fridge of veggies, fruits, and lean proteins ever since and are motivated to continue working on our health and fitness. We also stayed off caffeine for a week after we finished, and have realized that it really isn't something we need on a daily basis--especially if we are getting lots of nutrients in our food. We hope to keep up healthy habits of drinking less caffeine!

If you're in the Houston area, and have a desire to do this--I recommend Squeezed. They delivered the fresh juice right to our door at 6 a.m. in the morning and they really did a great job at making a quality product.

*This is what a juice made with a lot of beets looks like....num num.



So, for any of you interested in doing a 3 or 5 day juice cleanse--here are my five main tips that I learned from my experience.

1. Prepare for energy lows for the first couple days.

2. Keep yourself busy (I had a friend tell me this at the beginning, and he was very right!)

3. Evenings and nights are the hardest, so prep for that. It's all a mental game. You won't be hungry, but you'll want to eat.

4. Do pressed juices--if you're gonna do it, do it right! Get the most out of it that you can, and pressed juices are the freshest and most nutritious. Also, if I did it again I'd probably only do the 3-day juice cleanse. It was during the first three days that I saw the most results weight-wise and felt the drastic energy low and then increase. The 5-day cleanse was good, but I'd probably recommend just doing the 3-day to start.

5. Have a good attitude. My husband and I went into this excited, eager, curious and a little scared--and for reals people--I was probably the most grumpy, sleepy and bitchy I have ever been in my entire life during the first two days.  I felt anxious, hungry, and exhausted--and my poor husband just had to deal with it. Ha ha, poor dude. Needless to say, go into it with a good attitude at the beginning, because there will be some definite lows to deal with, but you'll feel great by the end!

 

If you have any other questions on the cleanse, please feel free to ask! Again, we used a company called Squeezed here in Houston and I would 100% recommend them.