So I did seven days consuming only juice and not eating even a single bite of food. I did not eat for a whole week! Might seem crazy to a lot of people, and that is why I called this article 'challenge your mind'. Your body can easily survive on juice, but can your mind agree to it? Here is why I recommend juice cleanse to everyone and how it went for me.
WHY DO A JUICE CLEANSE
- Raw fruits and vegetables are optimal foods for human beings and their digestion. This is the conclusion I made after reading a lot of books on this topic (’80/10/10 diet’ by Douglas Graham, ‘Raw Veganism’ by Don Bennett, ‘The China Study’ by Colin Campbell, ‘The Miracle of Fasting’ by Paul Bragg, etc). Typical human being consumes a lot of different foods beyond raw fruits and vegetables, including cooked starches, meats, milk, eggs, fish, refined sugars, oils and others. All of the toxins from these foods accumulate over time in human tissues and intestines and possibly other organs as well.
- I also came to another conclusion that human beings eat too often, and our bodies are always occupied with digesting that food and dealing with toxins from it and trying to understand what to do with it. We never get a break. This digestion thing is a vicious cycle that never stops. It might stop briefly overnight, but then we stuff ourselves again in the morning. What happens when we fast? Woohoo! We can redirect our energy to flush out the toxins or revitalize our cells or have a more clear mind without constantly thinking about what to eat for the next meal. It gives you space and it gives your body space. (If you want to read more on fasting, go to Arnold Ehret or Paul Bragg)
- Why do I say flush out toxins? I will go into some details here: if you think you will not be going to the bathroom after you stop consuming food, you are WRONG. Surprisingly, your intestines can continue processing and releasing during all days of the juice cleanse. You might be surprised to see that you still have bowel movement on day 5 or day 7. And that happens on juice?! How long has all that 'stuff' been inside of you then?
- Juices are a perfect balance between a complete fast and normal eating routine. By making juices, you detach the fiber but you keep the vitamins, minerals, and calories. It is a super boost – you simultaneously replenish your vitamin needs and give your digestive track a break. Its a combo, two-in-one. On a complete water fast, your intake is zero and you might experience weakness, but on a juice cleanse I felt great 95% of the time.
- Another great reason to do a juice cleanse: psychological. We are all slaves of the food industry. We are like drug addicts. I am pretty sure you can’t imagine yourself not eating for a week. Break this psychological addiction. Try your mind. It very much might be that psychological challenge will be way tougher for you than physical. Juice cleanse removes the fog from your brain. You will realize that this challenge is very much doable and diminishes your food addiction.
- This psychological addiction can very much keep us stressed. Thoughts like 'what am I gonna have for lunch? what am I gonna have for dinner? what if I eat too much carbs?', they all fall off, because you prepare all your meals in the morning. And then, the entire day, you are worry-free. When food is not in the picture, there is a lot of room for other thoughts.
- I listed it as a last reason because it wasn’t important to me, but might be important to others: weight loss. I personally lost 3 kg (7 lbs) on this juice cleanse. For some people it might be more, for some it might be less.
TIPS
1. You do not have to be anti-social and stop going anywhere. Over this week, I have been to different restaurants around 5-6 times, and I just ordered fresh juice for me everywhere.
2. My favorite juice recipe forever: watermelon + mint + lime. It is just incredible.
3. It is also you and only you who is in charge. Nobody else will help you and give you enough stamina to push through this. If you need motivation to keep going, watch 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead' (really great documentary about a 60-day juice fast). Read about juice cleanses. Inspire yourself. Likewise, avoid being around food too much if you are afraid you might fall into that trap.
4. Total cost for me: around 300$. Can definitely be cheaper if you purchase boxes from local markets.
PREPARATION
Since it was my first time doing a cleanse, I purchased program and recipes from Fully Raw Kristina, raw vegan with 13 years of experience. You can easily google her.
For three days before my juice cleanse, I ate only raw fruits, nuts and vegetables completely eliminating cooked foods. I also was not too hungry and did not eat as much as I usually do. The evening before I only had a romaine salad with lemon juice dressing and then I fasted for 18 hours before drinking my first juice. I was both anticipating it and scared at the same time – I felt like my knowledge and level of confidence were enough to push through 7 days of not-eating, but I had no clue how my body was going to react.. Then it began.
DAY 1
I woke up early but started juicing around noon. I felt hungry as if my body was craving breakfast, but it was a very mild feeling that vanished in the process. This morning was messy – ingredients all around the kitchen, me making three different types of juice (two from fruits, one from veggies), utensils piled up in the sink. I then strained my juices one by one (strainer is used to eliminate all the remaining fiber and make the juice smooth) and poured them into mason jars.
After I was done with making all my ‘meals’ for today, I drank my first juice – pineapple with mint. I made 750 ml of it, and it made me quite full. Later in the afternoon, I drove to the city center and met up with a friend. Two jars of juices (orange juice) came with me so I could drink it at lunch. I also purchased fresh pomegranate juice because it would be too tedious to juice it myself.
Here comes the first detox symptom: I started sneezing a lot. I am not allergic to pineapples or oranges, but I just couldn’t stop sneezing. There also came a brief point while drinking pomegranate juice that I just couldn’t drink anymore, so I stopped. It came down to 1 liter of orange juice and around 300 ml or pomegranate for lunch.
We went for a walk in the alley after. For 5 minutes, I felt really nauseous and was afraid I might throw up, but as we started quickly moving and talking about all different sorts of things, I felt so much better. This one moment of nausea was probably the only downside of my day.
In the evening, I decided to take it easy and relax and spent my evening with family at home. I had my green juice ready for me for dinner. It contained all good things: celery, kale, romaine, lemons, and cucumbers. I miscalculated with lemons, and my juice was quite sour, but I still had 1.5 liters of it.
I felt really good in the evening, and then fell asleep at night almost immediately.
DAY 2
I happened to wake up at 5 am with an enhanced feeling of an empty stomach. I could feel how empty it was. It was an interesting feeling, because it was different from hunger. Do you know that feeling of hunger when you are starting to feel weak and angry and turning into hangry? It wasn't even nearly that. I was just empty. I also sneezed couple of times, and then it took me sometime to fall asleep again.
Today I started juicing around 10 am, and my breakfast was 1 liter of sweet and incredible watermelon juice. Its color was fantastic, and I again felt full. Me and my mom went for an intense yoga session afterwards, and I felt full of energy while doing a lot of balance/strength-requiring asanas. Lunchtime: I made such a tasty juice (apples, one beet, touch of ginger) for myself in the morning, and now it was waiting for me in jars that I brought along. Juice was of an incredible red color, and I drank 1 liter of it. My mom suggested we have lunch, and I ordered one fresh-squeezed pineapple juice (300 ml) and orange/grapefruit mix (300 ml). Lunch total: 1.6 liters. Everyone around me (including mom) was eating salads, pizzas, grilled veggies, pastas, and I could smell all of the food, but surprisingly, even while being exposed to it, I had a very mild desire to eat. It was a feeling I could very easily suppress. I am afraid I might have a stronger craving tomorrow, on day 3. I have heard day 3 is the hardest to push through.
Then we got home, and I lied down on the couch to read and watch a movie. My intestines decided to start growling, quite loud, as if it’s full of liquid (which it is). I guess detoxification is in progress.
For dinner, I drank 1.5 liters of green juice. In the morning I added apples to it for subtle sweetness, and it was very delicious. I do not know what happened but all the juices today were just tasting incredible.
At night, I took a bath and read a book. I am feeling very light, very calm, and still not craving food.
DAY 3
I slept really well without waking up at all for 10 hours. In the morning, per usual, I made all my juices, it took a little bit over an hour. I was mentally preparing myself for today: I have heard that 3rd day is the hardest in terms of detox process, and I might feel very down.
After having 1 liter of watermelon + mint juice for breakfast, I took the rest of the juices with me and went for Japanese lesson. So far, I was feeling fine. After Japanese, I had my lunch: pineapple + orange + apple juice (1.3 liters). Tightly closed mason jars with juice traveled with me everywhere these days – I did not want to be caught off guard by hunger.
Afterwards, we went with my family to pizzeria – I ordered fresh squeezed tomato juice (which tasted absolutely different that packaged one, had 1 liter of it). Looking at my younger brother eating penne arrabiatta, I imagined myself eating it. Despite a mild desire to do so, I remained calm. So far throughout this cleanse, I always had this steady concrete confidence that I can do it. I guess I just saw a long-term goal in this – transitioning to raw veganism.
Then we went to see a movie, and that was my LOW POINT. The juice I brought with me to the movies was a mix of greenery: celery, kale, romaine, cucumbers etc. And it DID NOT taste good. I had 1 liter with me, but could barely drink half of it. Driving home, I felt nauseous, hungry and wanting to lie down. It felt like my body was punishing me for drinking something that tasted bad. At home I had camomile tea, and then went to sleep still not feeling well.
DAY 4
Woohoo! I woke up and felt so energetic, mind so clear, body so calm, mood so good. I decide to avoid green juice for today after my experience last night, so all my juices turned out to be orange, red, and pink color. So beautiful! Today the feeling of emptiness in my stomach is very mild, I am noticing it way less. I felt like moving and after visiting my friend, I planned on doing yoga.
Orange juice for breakfast (1 liter), then I brought my jars along with me to my friend’s house and had 1.5 liters of watermelon-melon-mint-lemon juice for lunch. We were sitting outside, and I was sneezing a lot. Then I went home and did yoga feeling quite satiated. A thought crossed my mind: if I had to do more than 7 days of it, I could. It wouldn’t be too much trouble.
For dinner, I had a sweet apple juice with some greens and some beets (for color). It looked very pretty, and I felt good drinking it. At night, I felt somewhat tired and a little bit nauseous, so I fell asleep pretty fast.
DAY 5
Today, I again felt a lot of energy! I was listening to the music and dancing and jumping and feeling so clean and happy. I honestly was that energized bunny from those ads. The day itself went by pretty fast – I made all the juices in the morning, went for Japanese, and tried making it to yoga class but got stuck in traffic (Moscow during Fifa Work Cup is insane).
The only down point of the day – my green juice that I was planning on drinking in the evening turned some weird grayish color, and even looking at it made me nauseous. I still somehow drank 1/3 of it and then could drink no more.
Later, I was feeling hungry (because I only had 1/3 of prepared juice) and drank a lot of herbal tea to try filling up my stomach with liquid. I again fell asleep very quickly that night and learned my lesson: green juices aren’t really working for me at this point.
DAY 6
It is becoming a routine. Of course, I am excited to start eating food in 2 days, but even if I was doing it for another week, I think I would manage. I am surprised that all throughout this cleanse I am remaining very calm and confident. There are no explosive emotions that could lead me astray. I see my goal very clearly and I am moving towards it.
Today was a very good day again. I was high on energy and went for 90-min yoga class. Afterwards, I ran some errands and then met up with my best friend in the park. I brought 1.5 liters of pineapple/orange juice with me and had it for lunch. We also sat down at a restaurant, and I ordered grapefruit/orange mix there as well. Moscow was very beautiful today, and just walking aimlessly around Gorky Park was giving me this endless energy.
It was kind of sad tomorrow was going to be my last day. I drank carrot/ginger/apple/celery/lemon juice for dinner, took a long bath, and fell asleep.
DAY 7
It is almost over, and it honestly seems like it just started. I am so surprised. I think many people would be surprised seeing how easy juice cleanse actually is. I would understand if somebody said water fast is hard – no doubt. But juices give you calories and energy. The initial feeling of emptiness turns into a normal state, and a constant flat stomach into a bonus.
BREAKING THE CLEANSE
So one of the best ways to break the cleanse is with some soft food that can also act like a laxative (to help clean out the rest of toxins). I chose soaked prunes. I just soaked them overnight and also drank the water in which they were soaking. For some people, bowel movements stop completely during juice cleanses, so their bodies might need a little help right when they get back to consuming food.
For a couple of days, you might want to keep consuming only raw fruits/vegetables before going back to your normal diet completely.
I absolutely loved it. I feel like my mind is clearer, I feel happier, and I think I am going to miss this ‘emptiness’ feeling. It is very much likely I will repeat this cleanse or go for a longer one in half a year. Definitely recommending it to anyone to cope with psychological addiction, clean out your body, and replenish your cells with vitamins, minerals, and energy <3
