Proponents claim by giving your digestive tract a break with a jucing cleanse, the body is able to efficiently relieve itself of the massive amounts of toxins we consume on a daily basis.
With the excess and indulgence of the holidays behind us, I decided it was time to try out a juice cleanse myself along with three friends. Together we make up a hodgepodge of diets and fitness routines.
For someone who makes a living by eating incessantly, it's going to be a challenge -- and probably hilarious.
See also: Food Blogger Does a Juice Cleanse as an Experiment: The Preparation
Day One:
So far, so good. After day one of surviving off of only liquids most of the group is still going strong.
Lisa Wray (occasional exerciser) fell off the juicing bandwagon around lunch time; she was feeling extreme dizziness and was told by her boss that she was looking pale. In all fairness, she's a teacher, was unable to get to juice when she needed it, and is hypoglycemic; so, that's probably not the best way to go about cleansing. Take note.
She's been trying to consume only liquids since.
Gilcelia Dos Santos (regular exerciser) was fine throughout the day -- hungry, obviously -- but after getting a headache in the afternoon, decided to eat an apple. She went to a pilates class afterwards and claimed she felt just as energized as she normally does.
We heard little from Emily Alvarez (part-time spin instructor; currently training for a marathon) throughout the day; however, on multiple occasions she did chime into the mass text saying that she was feeling grumpy as hell.
As for myself (occasional dog walker), I was fine, for the most part. I was able to juice as often as I felt like it -- I work from home -- so, whenever I felt hungry I'd either make myself a juice or a tea and try to occupy myself.
In terms of energy, I felt a bit off. I feel like I was satiated; however, I found myself dreaming of veggie tacos and salads -- which is a marked improvement from my usual daydreams of pizza, burgers, and beer.
That being said, I'm angry, and I'd like to slap myself for coming up with this ridiculous idea in the first place. Let's just say eating makes me happy: drinking copious amounts of non-alcoholic beverages does not.
This morning I'm feeling somewhat clearheaded, which is more than I can say for last night.
Regardless, all four of us are starving, and we've all said there is no way we would have made it this far had we decided to do the cleanse alone -- hey, the power of groups and public humiliation on the internet is strong.
I've heard it gets easier after the first day -- someone else said the third day is the charm -- we'll find out later.
Lessons learned from day one:
- You're probably going to feel weird, tired, dizzy, and you'll most likely get a headache.
- Juicing is not easy
- The desire to chew food is stronger than one would imagine
- Make sure you can get to your only form of sustenance when you need it
- Expect to be angry
- Writing about food while starving yourself is like hell -- probably worse
Follow Sara Ventiera on Twitter, @saraventiera.
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