Disclaimer: I did not speak with a healthcare professional before doing this cleanse. If you have any concerns whatsoever, I would encourage you to do so prior to starting one.
This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have.
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I did a 1 day juice cleanse to reset, jump start and manifest healthy choices.
I did NOT do this cleanse to lose weight, cut calories, detox, etc.
I truly believe in balance, especially when it comes to diet + nutrition. I’ve gone down many, many paths in my younger years where I thought I had to take extreme measures to be “healthy” – when really I was just trying to look a certain way, lose weight, feel skinnier, and so on. It was not healthy in any sense, and frankly it was more damaging than anything. We won’t get deep into that right now, but luckily after years of self-love and growth, I’ve come a long way with finding true balance and having a healthy relationship with myself and with food.
So, getting into the days leading up to the cleanse…
I’ll admit, I hadn’t been making the best choices, nutrition-wise. I indulged more than necessary, devoured lots of processed/fast food, and snacked my life away. And guess what – that is perfectly okay!! Could I have made better choices? Absolutely. But that’s life, and I’m not going to punish myself like I would have years ago. But I did want to give myself a little kick start into making better decisions. I had been wanting to try this cleanse as I’ve had a few friends so the same one, so I thought this was the perfect time!
Again, I want to reiterate that I didn’t do this cleanse for negative-driven reasons. I also want to mention that my friends that have tried this all had positive things to say about it. Some of them actually did a 2 day cleanse, but I felt good with just choosing 1 day.
So what exactly is it?
Basically in short, there are 6 different juices that you consume each day (see picture below). At Clean Juice, where I got my juices from, you can do a 1, 2, 3 or 4 day cleanse. I chose to only do the 1 day cleanse. If you don’t have a Clean Juice near you, try googling “juice bar near me” or “organic juice near me” and you should [hopefully] get some results. There are numerous organic juice places that offer juice cleanses!
Once you decide when you want to do your cleanse, and for how long (I suggest starting slow), call ahead to see if you need to pre-order. Clean Juice asks that you give a 24-48 hour notice.
Typically you would start the juices in the morning and drink them throughout the entire day. For my cleanse, it is recommended to space the juices out in 2.5-3 hours increments. Of course, adjust to your needs. Be sure to drink LOTS of water during and in-between the juices. You also have the option of drinking black coffee if you would like. If you are absolutely starving, Clean Juice suggests to eat something light and nutritious (e.g. unsalted nuts, low sugar fruits, small green salad, etc.) If you are doing a cleanse through another shop, check their directions and recommendations.
I can’t stress this enough, cleansing or not, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.
THE DAY OF :
Let me just start by saying that I didn’t start my juice cleanse until about 11:45am. This was not planned, as I was anticipating starting earlier in the morning, around like 8-9am. Again, I did my cleanse through Clean Juice, and you typically need to call in 24-48 hours ahead of time so that they can ensure that the juices will be ready. Knowing that I wanted to start my cleanse on Monday, I called Clean Juice on Sunday morning. They took down my information, and let me know that someone would call Monday morning around 8 or 9am to let me know that the juices were ready for pick-up.
If you missed it in my Instagram stories lol I called them at 10am on Monday morning as I still hadn’t heard from them. The girl that answered the phone let me know that they were still working on making one of the juices (the yellow one) and that they should be done in about 30-45 minutes and someone would give me a call. Finally around 10:45ish, someone called letting me know my juices were ready. I was debating about waiting until the next day to do the cleanse, but I ended up deciding to still go for it, and I cracked open my first juice on the car ride back home.
Sweet Green was the first juice, and honestly it tasted really good to me! I was also starving at this point so I’m sure it tasted even better than usual. It was deliciously sweet + refreshing, containing cucumber, apple, kale, spinach and mint.
[Note: because I got a late start to the cleanse, I drank them closer together – probably every 1.5 hours.]
Orange was next, and again, it was also pretty good and easy to drink. This one was made with carrot, pineapple, orange and turmeric. I also decided to add a pinch of black pepper to this one in order to activate the turmeric and reap more of the benefits.
Green came after. This is where is started to get a little tough for me. It was not sweet at all, and it was harder to get down. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, but I definitely had to chug a few gulps, take a break, and then chug again. And repeat until it was gone… This juice was made with cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, ginger, and lemon. Again, not sweet at all, and very green and healthy tasting! Ha! Honestly, it reminded me of the days when I used to drink 16oz of fresh celery juice every morning. I feel like I should’ve been a little ready for it because of that, but it also threw me off that the first 2 juices were so yummy and sweeter, and then this one was way more bitter!
At this point I was still super hungry, and I ended up eating a small portion of fresh watermelon as well as some unsalted almonds and walnuts. Typically, I would’ve thought this was “cheating”, but for me, the whole point of this cleanse was to make better food choices and get back into a healthy routine. This was not making me stray from that whatsoever. I am also still breastfeeding Bodhi, so I was being extra careful and really tuning in and listening to my body and what it needed.
Yellow was the fourth juice, and my absolute least favorite. Containing filtered water, lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne, it was not pleasant for me. It definitely has a kick to it from the cayenne pepper, and you get a taste of it with every sip. I’m not even going to lie, I did not finish this one. I was also a little behind time-wise, so I opted to skip over it and get right on to the next one.
Red was the second to last juice and was made of apple, carrot, beet, and lemon. I didn’t mind this one at all, and it tasted soo much better than #3 and #4. I was also entering to finish line and was almost there which gave me hope!! Lol honestly at this point, I knew I was almost there and it didn’t seem as hard as earlier in the day. I was also super stoked for the last juice as I had heard it was worth every gag, cringe and stank face the other juices caused.
White was the last juice and the HOLY GRAIL of all juices. Guys… this made the entire cleanse. It was so stinking good, I can’t get over it. It was more of a nut milk than a juice, containing cashews, filtered water, vanilla, cinnamon, and himalayan sea salt. BLESS. This one was the shiz, and the perfect night cap before bed. *It’s recommended to drink this last one at least an hour before bed to ensure enough time for proper digestion.*
How I felt :
Especially in the beginning, I was really, really hungry. I started later in the day, so I feel like I was already at a slight disadvantage. Had I started sooner, I may not have felt as hungry during most of it, but I’ll never know for sure! I’ll have to do this again at a later time and see if the results are different.
I also had a slight headache during the day. It wasn’t a typical headache but more so one that you sometimes get if you haven’t eaten in awhile. It almost felt like I was lacking substance. Which I obviously was. Am I the only one that gets those? Lol.
I had zero bloat or flatulence during the day. However I felt like a pregnant woman again as I had to pee like every 20 minutes.. to be expected as you’re obviously consuming a lottt of fluids.
Towards the later afternoon and evening, I began to crash a little. I felt drained and had little energy. I was definitely ready for bed by the time it rolled around! With that being said, I also slept well. It did surprisingly take me a bit to actually fall asleep, but once I did, I was out and got a good nights rest.
Side Note: I had also planned ahead and knew that I was going to take it easy and not exercise during the day of the cleanse as I already knew I was going to be in a deficit. I didn’t want to overdo it as my body was already in a higher alert sense as it was adjusting to something new/different.
THE DAY AFTER :
I felt great the day after! I woke up feeling well rested, and I had tons of energy! Just ask my mom and sister, I was super energized on our 3-way FaceTime. Haha! I also felt leaner, which seems pretty much inevitable as you’re obviously cutting back on calorie consumption. Any bloat that I may have had was gone. I also noticed throughout the day that I was a lot more aware and conscious of the food choices I was making – choosing healthier, whole food options that would better fuel my body. As I previously stated, this was one of the main things that I wanted to get out of this cleanse, so I’d say it was a success!!
It is said that a juice cleanse can have many benefits: rest for major organs, boost in energy, glowing skin, hair and nails, reduced bloating, and intense hydrations. Honestly, I would agree with all of those, and I would say that I probably noticed a difference with each of them aside from the glowing skin, hair and nails. If I had chosen a longer cleanse, like 3-4 days, than I may have noticed a small difference, but even then I think it would be too soon to notice a true difference with that.
Overall, it wasn’t bad! It definitely took me some willpower a few times as I definitely wanted to give in and eat real food, but I’m glad I stuck it out. And holy moly, let me tell you (again), the last white nut milk makes it all worth while!! I would literally do the cleanse over and over again just for that one. …Or I’m sure I could just buy that one from Clean Juice, but you get the point!
If you have any questions, ask away! And if you try a juice cleanse or already have, I’d love to know your results!! Any similarities? Did you like it? Hate it? Tell me the details!!
Xoxo, Alyssa
