Ever wonder if it is worth it to try out a Juice Cleanse? I’ve thought of doing a cleanse before but never pulled the trigger. I’ve heard mixed reviews, from people being cranky AF to it being a good way to drop a few pounds quick. Nothing I’ve heard indicated it’s the healthiest thing to be doing, but I wanted to try it out regardless.

Scene:

::Hits Fat Weight::

::Contemplates methods to lose weight fast with minimal effort::

::Idea of Juice Cleanse Pops into Head::

:: Googles for 10 mins and Purchases the below::

• Product- JUS Juice by Julie
• Comes w/ 18 large juice bottles (6 a day for 3 days) and 12 “booster” mini juices
• Cost: $100 w/ coupon
• I saw it on groupon when I googled “Juice Cleanse” but then I went on the website and found a better deal.

Experience:

• Did I starve? No. Surprisingly I wasn’t really starving any of the days. There are 6 juices for each day. I didn’t end up finishing all 6 of them on any day. I got through either 4 or 5 of them.
• Is it hard? Yes, but doable. Day 1 isn’t bad because its still a novelty. Day 2 and on get tough mentally. Not eating is not easy.  It wasn’t really hunger that got me, it was more just missing the flavors and textures of food.
• Did I have a breakdown? I was fine mood wise. I wasn’t as cranky as many people described, nor did I have an emotional breakdown at any point.
• Is it good for you? The Juices are around 150 calories and each of them had 20-25 grams of sugar. On a normal day I would avoid having even one juice that has 20 grams of sugar. There’s no way that having 120+ grams of sugar per day can be good for your body. While there are other benefits that I will discuss later, I’m no dietitian but it doesn’t seem very healthy to me.
• Did I cheat? A little bit.  I had some nuts towards the end. It honestly wasn’t even hunger, but more lack of discipline slash just missing the texture of food. I also had to alter the timing on it a bit (more on that later)
• Taste – The taste of them is okay…. Some better than others. There were 3 a day that were green juices like “extreme greens”, that were blends of kale and some other stuff. Those stayed the same for all 3 days, which got pretty bland and repetitive. The other 3 drinks rotated a bit, and were lighter juices like lemonade type flavors. Those had better flavor so I preferred those.
• Can you exercise? I should note I didn’t really exercise much during the cleanse, partially due to having a sprained ankle at the time. Going hard on exercise might be kind of risky with out eating but I’m guessing I might have lost a little bit more lbs. if I did more exercise.
• Cost – $100 for juice after coupons etc. might seem high, but it probably ends up being a wash or I could have saved $ since I then didn’t spend any money on regular food or drinks over the days I was cleansing.

Positives:

• One pro of this is that you don’t have to think about what you are going to eat for a couple of days or prepare anything. This is a major time and mind space saver, and had me thinking about how much time I spend a day thinking about food and contemplating my next move to eat, and going out to get food during the day. It’s A LOT of time.
• It did also help me realize I definitely don’t need to be eating as much as I had been during my normal routine. Surviving on only juice for a few days puts into perspective what is actually necessary.
• I was also surprised at how much my imagination activated. I could envision how good food would taste when I was returning to it.
• I did lose a couple of quick pounds. I looked and felt a little thinner during and after as well.
  

Negatives:

• Lack of sleep – I don’t know if it was all of the sugar but I had trouble sleeping every night of the cleanse. Basically up for hours staring at the ceiling not feeling tired.
• Lack of energy at the end: Last day of the cleanse around lunch time i was fresh out of steam

The Details:

Definitely try to plan it so that you can start the juice cleanse once it arrives: 

• I didn’t really think out the scheduling/the fact that it was going to take 3-4 days to get delivered. The cleanse arrives in a refrigerated box with ice packs, similar to what comes with a meal kit delivery service.They come frozen, and you can stick them back in the freezer for around 2 weeks, but it would have been better to get right at it once it arrived.

Also, think out the timing of the days you are juicing in advance:

• I realized I had a work outing on day 3, which I was not about to be carting around juices to. Since I had some extra juices, I did a half juice day on day 3 and then a full final Day 4. So it actually stretched it out a little further versus doing it all the way through, but still not ideal.
• One day I was working from home and that actually made it easier. It helped to avoid the typical social pressures of eating/drinking slash not having to explain you are cleansing

Don’t forget to de-thaw:

• When I was ready to get started, I pulled the Day 1 batch from the freezer and stuck them in the fridge overnight, thinking they would de-thaw that way. They did not. I left them out of the fridge for a little while after that thinking I could still salvage the day, but they were still mainly frozen and that wasn’t gonna work out so i put them back in the fridge and had to delay starting a day as a result. This was clearly mentioned in the instructions I just didn’t read them. 

The Bottom Line:

• I’m now about 1.5+ months past cleansing and I didn’t gain the weight I lost back right away or at all. 
• There was a lasting effect that still somewhat fresh off the cleanse, I’ve cut down on overall intake which I attribute to realizing how much I was eating during the cleanse.
• Would I do a juice cleanse again? Probably at some point. I would definitely experiment with other diets first. If losing weight is the goal there are probably other ways to do it even faster and healthier that don’t involve not eating. As mentioned the health benefits are pretty questionable but it was beneficial as a mental exercise slash check on consumption.