Well, as expected living on just juice was a challenge- in fact, for me it was pretty much impossible. I’m a super active person, and I always have about 100 things on the go, so attempting to go so many days without any carbs and then survive two days drinking only liquids honestly just didn’t really work.
Though I did my best to relax, I ended up working and running errands like crazy before collapsing into bed and sleeping almost all day both days. I felt like I was missing out on a bunch of important time, and by the end of day one I just got SO hungry. What can I say? I truly love to eat, and though a cleanse might work if I was laying poolside in the sun all week reading books and taking long naps, a few days without food in the middle of cold Toronto winter and a crazy busy work week started to feel almost unhealthy.
And so, At the end of day one I ate a few bites of kale salad, and on day two I couldn’t help but snag a few pieces of the vegan sushi we made with Juniper Wood Kitchen.
After my indiscretion, I ended up consulting Marcelina, curious why not eating even made sense in the first place. She explained that because our digestive system is always working hard to, well, digest, it never gets a break to heal and regenerate. By ingesting only liquid foods, we give it that break to cleanse and gather energy instead of continually loading it with solid food to process. This makes a ton of sense, but in the end I couldn’t ignore what my body was telling me- I really needed to eat, so I did.
Though I’m sure cleanse experts will shake their heads, I still feel really good about how I’ve done so far. It’s been a whole week since I’ve touched a cigarette, and six days without any animal products or junk food, which for me is VERY big. I didn’t crack and order a pizza, I didn’t go out drinking with my friends (despite their insistence vodka is basically just a potato), and most importantly I’m feeling so inspired to make all sorts of healthy vegan recipes this week!
But not so fast… I’ve still got one last day to go! I’ll report back later this week with the full review.
Good on you for rebooting your health, though I’m glad you’re questioning the idea of the juice cleanse. I looked up the juices you’ve been drinking and they look super yummy! But they are all high in sugar and low in fiber, which means your body absorbs all that sugar fast for a quick, short-lived burst of energy, followed by the kind of crash you experienced.
Cutting basically all protein, fat, and fiber from your diet and subsisting on liquids that are high in sugar (even if those sugars are from natural sources) isn’t going to do your body any favors. I think using the juices as a supplement to the clean, healthy foods you’ve been eating makes much more sense. You’ll still get all the extra vitamins from the juice, but the protein and fiber from the whole foods will slow the absorption of the sugar and keep you feeling fuller and more energized.
This juice looks great, I want to cleanse
xo
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