Friday, July 12, 2013

My Three Day Juice Detox

I am a sucker...
for buying new books that have to do with health (my boyfriend picks on me and says that a huge part of the reason why I get them is because I like how they look on my shelf). When I decided to do my first three day all juice detox, or some people call it a cleanse, going to buy a new book for it was the first thing on my to-do list. Off to Barnes & Noble I went, and I left with the book titled, "DETOX FOR THE REST OF US" by Carole Jacobs (the capitalization is not a grammatical error, it's actually capitalized on the cover). I really liked this book for a couple of reasons, the word choice was simple and to the point. In other words, I didn't have to sit there with a dictionary next to me as some nutritionist threw all these words that were complex and looked like a foreign language. The second reason why I really liked this book was because it wasn't just a book about a juicing detox, there were 14 other detoxes included. 

My decision to do my first 3 day juice detox came from getting sick three different times in a matter of two weeks. Enough was enough, I wanted a clean immune system. When I talked to my boyfriend about it, he decided he wanted to do it with me. Let me tell you, doing it with someone and having the support of someone v. watching that person eat is SOOOO much easier. 

I think a lot of people decide to do a detox because they want to lose weight. After reading enough about it I quickly became educated that yes, you will lose weight the duration of the detox, but you will quickly gain it back. My purpose of doing this was to rid myself of whatever toxins accumulated inside my body, NOT to lose weight. 

The definition of a detox is removing toxins, so to do this I wanted to do it right. 

-What I had to do to prepare...
I started to prepare my body about three-four days before the detox was to begin. I read that if you didn't do this your body could go into complete shock, and make it harder to complete the detox. To prepare I ate a lot less throughout the day than I usually would, and my foods mostly consisted of vegetables, a little fruit, nuts, and seeds. My meals were usually green smoothies, or steamed veggies with a little lemon and pepper drizzled on top. I really wanted to do the detox right, because I wanted it to work. Cutting down on what I was eating really helped me beat the thought of hunger while on the detox. If I was eating as much as I normally would those three days before I don't think I would have been able to mentally get through it. 

My boyfriend and I also made sure that all food, other than what we would be juicing, was eaten beforehand. The last thing we wanted to do was walk into the kitchen and have the box of Puffins sitting on top of the fridge staring at us, or that oh-so-tempting bottle of cabernet screaming 'drink me, I'm delicious!' 

To prepare the actual produce we went to our local grocery store, with our grocery list intact and began filling our cart with the ingredients needed to complete the detox. WARNING: this can get expensive, especially because we only juice organic produce. We primarily eat only organic items, and juicing was no different for us. The pesticides that produce is sprayed with are cancer causing toxins, to me juicing not organic produce would completely defeat the purpose of a detox. Our total bill for our groceries came to right around 160 dollars. If you're doing this yourself you can figure it will cost you about 80 bucks for 18 juices. Personally, I didn't think this was too bad. I was actually prepared for it to cost a lot more, so it was a pleasant surprise. 

Before we went shopping I looked over the recipes and made sure that all the fruits and vegetables were in season. If they weren't I went to Google and searched the most closely related piece of produce (nutrients speaking). The only fruit I had trouble with on my most recent detox, which started today,  was a tangerine. Tangerines are usually found in the winter, so instead I went with a clementine. Luckily, I only needed one. 

After the groceries were purchased, we went home and began a long process of washing, drying, and bagging all of our juices. This process took us about 3 hours. We labeled each bag, and made two bags for each juice (one for each of us). For example, our first juice of the detox is call 'Watermelon Straight-Up', we took two bags and labeled both with "Day 1 Juice #1" we then put the recipe on the bag so we didn't have to keep going back to the book. This made it easier come morning to juice all of our juices for the day in the correct serving sizes. For each different day we used a different color marker to label the bags, it made searching for them in the fridge easier. We bag all 36 juices right after we shop, in order to make the three days easier. 

This morning we woke up about an hour earlier than usual. We juiced all 12 juices for the day (6 for each of us) and stored them in pint sized mason jars, labeled the lids with purple numbers 1-6 for me, and green for him. We found mason jars to be the easiest way to store them because they were the perfect size, we can use them as glasses later, we can use them for organizing our pantry, and they are really reasonable to buy. 

Tomorrow we will juice day two's juices and again store them in the mason jars for the day. 


-During the detox...
First of all, if you workout on a daily basis I recommend you plan to take the three days off or plan ahead for three really light days of physical activity. The first detox I did was still during winter so I opted to take the days off because it was too cold for my liking to take a walk. This time around I plan on taking walks to soak up some sun and warm air. :)

During the detox you need to beat the mental side of you that is going to keeping egging you on to eat. It is definitely easier doing a detox in the summer compared to the winter. Our first detox we did was in March, and it was still pretty chilly. Our bodies naturally want us to eat more to keep warm. In the summer, especially on really hot days I almost never get the feeling of hunger, I just eat because I need to. Instead I want to chug ten glasses of water in one sitting. (Drinking water while on a detox is important I drink at least 90 oz. of water a day while on the detox.) With that said, this detox thus far has been ten times easier. I don't know if that's because of the heat, or because now I know what to expect. 

What I can definitely tell you is this: the first day is the hardest. It is a huge mental game, your brain is telling you to eat, because that's what you have been accustomed to. It's hard to get through the actual mental thought of not eating for three whole days. The first time we did the detox I found myself really tired by the middle of the day. I can already tell that I am doing way better than last time because I don't have the urge to jump to food at all. The first time I did the detox I was thinking about peanut butter an hour in. 

The second day it gets better, your body is starting to get used to an only liquid diet, I found myself being less tired, and when I reached the middle of the second day I kept telling myself I am half way there, it would be a waste to stop now.

The third day is honestly a piece of cake, in fact you feel more energized than ever. It's almost as if you woke up a whole new person. The craving for food is completely gone, and you feel like you can climb ten mountains. I am so excited for my third day during this detox because it's supposed to be 85 with clear skies, and I already told my boyfriend we are going hiking! 

After The Three Days...
I think a lot of people just want to shove their faces with pizza the day after all is said and done. For me, I didn't just not eat for three days for nothing. I did it to feel better. When I did the last one I eased back into eating. I ate lightly for two days afterwards, but I didn't limit myself to only vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. I plan to do the same thing this time around. For breakfast, I will have egg whites scrambled with vegetables, for a snack I'll probably have a grapefruit, for lunch I will do a small salad loaded with unlimited green veggies, and for dinner I will add a little meat into the mix and boil an organic chicken breast with some greens. Don't waste those three days, eat healthy and jump into days filled with rich nutrientes. 

My Tips For You...
1. Plan accordingly! In other words, don't plan to do a detox when you have three birthday parties or a dinner party during that time frame. Not only is it hard saying no to the food being presented in front of you, but you don't want to feel rude saying no.

2. Go out and do something! Whether it be shopping, going to the beach, or a spa day. Do anything that will get you away from the house, and away from the couch where the only thing you will think about is food. My first time doing the detox I was watching Mad Men for the first day and it was the worst decision I could have made. 

3. Try to find someone to join you! It really is so much easier having someone doing it with you. You two can support and encourage each other through the whole thing. 

4. My boyfriend disagrees with me on this next tip, but tell people. Telling people will encourage you to finish strong and prove that you did it. He says that if you don't finish you won't hear the end of it. 

5. Get through every ounce of food in your house before you begin, and when you go shopping for the ingredients don't buy anything other than what you need for your juices.

6. If you're a lover of anything wine like I am, get rid of it. There are some days when I have had a really stressful day at work and all I can think about is going home, pouring myself a Cougar Town size glass of wine. 

7. Don't Pinterest. Almost every board I am connected to has something to do with food, and all you will want to do is trying making those no bake cookies. 

8. Find a good book. When I find a good book, I get lost and don't want to leave. I could spend hours reading without wanting to move.

9. Plan a treat for yourself when you get off the detox. My treat is a new bottle of nail polish, because I am OBSESSED. 

10. Plan your meals for the three days before you begin and the two days after you finish. 


Here Are Some Pictures Of My Detox Thus Far...






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