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JuiceLand Cleanse- Aftermath

JL bag

As you may know, I did a 3-day juice cleanse over week ago.  What a challenge that was… my goodness.  If you missed it, start from Day 1.  I survived the three days and here’s how my first day of eating went!

After Day 3, I woke up so excited that I got to eat.  I know you are supposed to go easy on foods, so I woke up and had an orange before my workout.  YAY, I’M CHEWING!!!

8:00am:  I went to the gym and was able to have a pretty intense workout, I was surprised.  I thought I would be weak, but I was going full force.  I think I was motivated by the thought of eating when I went home.

10:00am:  I know exactly what I’m eating… quinoa!  (even though I bought pasta yesterday, I wasn’t feeling it today).  I made some quinoa, added almond milk and cinnamon, and had a serving.  Wow, that ish was GOOD.  I think I chewed each bite twice as much as I normally chew.Quinoa

10:30am:  I waited to see how my body would react, and nothing really happened.  I felt good.  I typically would keep eating until I was full, but I stopped because I was very satisfied.  That was a great habit that I want to keep up.

12:30pm:  I made myself a raw kale salad and devoured that.  Now I wanted some pasta!!  So I made some pasta, al-dente of course, and devoured that.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  I wasn’t too hungry, so I snacked a little before my flight out to New Orleans.  Unfortunately, I woke up the next morning at 5am sick from food poisoning.  Luckily, it was out of my system before the food expo and I was good to go!  The weekend ensued of drinking a lot of Mamma Chia, and eating fresh produce from the expo.  At night, of course I got to enjoy some delicious New Orleans gumbo, crab, seafood bouillabaisse, and bread pudding… and my stomach was just fine.NOLA ruby slipper NOLA gumbo NOLA Mussels

Overall, the juice cleanse was a good experience.  I’m not sure if I will do it again– it was very, very, very, very, tough.  Did I mention it was tough?  But I can’t say never…

For me, the hardest part was not the hunger.  I just.wanted.to.chew.  I only drank around 4 juices a day (they give you 6 each day), because I wasn’t hungry.  This made me realize how emotionally connected to food I am.  It also helped me distinguish between true hunger and what I call, ’emotional hunger’.

Physically, I was a little woozy and had low energy.  I found myself spacing out and moving slowly.  Overall, I did not feel exceptionally well, but I also did not feel terrible.  I wonder if the cleanse would have had a stronger effect if I was a habitual bad eater and had more toxins to rid.  Maybe then I would have felt the ‘amazing energy’ cleansers claim to feel.  People also tell me that those effects kick in after day 3.  (ahh the thought of going longer than 3 days!)

So, should you cleanse?  Everyone is different and you have to listen to your body.  It should not be to lose weight.  Yes, I lost 4-5 lbs, but I gained them back on my FIRST day of eating.  It’s not like I pigged out– I ate mildly.  Proving, that you just lose water weight.

I know people cleanse to kick-start new healthy eating habits, which I can see as a good motivational starter.  You feel healthy, you don’t crave junk, and you want to be better.  However, in full honesty, there were times on this cleanse that I felt mentally unhealthy.  I was doing everything to distract myself from hunger, and would drink just enough juice to make it go away.  It might be a gateway for people to fall into unhealthy eating habits.

Another hard part of the cleanse was my desire for the day to be over.  Each day, I just wanted it to be 10:30pm.  A time that was acceptable for me to go to bed and to wake up a day closer to eating food.  And that is NOT how I want to go through my  day.  I LOVE the daytime– fresh air, spending time with people, walking around, and loving what is around me.  It was a little depressing when I realized I was ‘wishing away the day’.

With all that said, I am still glad that I tried this cleanse.  It gave me a great perspective of my relationship with food and it was a mental challenge.  At the end, I felt quite accomplished… it was something I never thought I could do.  Plus, the juices were SO good!!  I’m glad I have a few left to enjoy.JL drinks

I have gotten a lot of questions about cleansing, so if you are wondering if you should do it, I say give it a shot.  What can it hurt?  But only if you have the right intentions.  The lost weight will come right back.  But if you want to experience and learn about your body, it is a great way to do so.  Be sure to plan accordingly (for me, there was no good time to stop eating for three days, but I had to just suck it up).  Also, ask for support from your friends. Mine were very supportive and definitely helped me get through, especially when I wanted to cave-in.

If you decide to go through with it, here is JuiceLand’s cleanse information, and I would be happy to talk to anyone personally!  Shoot me an email at thefreshfind at gmail dot com.

Thank you for all the support from my readers!  Cheers to food!JL drinks 2

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4 Comments

  • Reply
    Pizza Girl (@PizzaKarin)
    October 31, 2013 at 9:40 am

    Cleanses make you feel woozy because your brain needs glucose to keep running. It is literally shutting down non-essential functions because of the restricted caloric intake. Skeptoid does a good rundown of why juice cleanses don’t really “cleanse” you of anything. http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4335

    I’m not saying that you couldn’t get some motivational benefit from it (and I’m glad to see that that’s where you focused your recommendations for trying it), but there are healthier ways to get motivated.

  • Reply
    RoxiB
    November 13, 2013 at 9:39 am

    Loved the learnings you experienced, Kristin. And thanks for being honest about the (water) weight loss. I find your comment about being a good eater (and having fewer toxins to rid) extremely interesting. I tried a juice cleanse years ago with my husband and found it extremely uneventful, but he suffered through it. He has professed that, if it weren’t for me, he’d never eat fruits and vegetables. It’s anecdotal, but I think our experiences with it were similar, maybe because we’re good eaters normally. Anyway – great series – keep it up!

    • Reply
      thefreshfind@gmail.com
      November 17, 2013 at 5:32 pm

      Thank you so much Roxi! It was definitely a learning experience, as you and your husband know :) Thank you so much for reading, I was so happy to see your name pop up. Hope to see you soon!

  • Reply
    A successful 8-day cleanse w/ Body + Wellness - The Fresh Find
    November 1, 2016 at 4:04 pm

    […] The broth isn’t exactly a true broth– it’s more of a pureed soup.  The recipe calls for many alkaline green veggies blended up.  This was MUCH better than drinking pure broth, or doing just juice, like I did on my juice cleanse. […]

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