My Juice Cleanse

I have always wanted to try a juice cleanse. I'd heard about its many benefits:

• efficient way to absorb high doses of vitamins, minerals and nutrients naturally
• removes toxins from your body
• helps you to adopt healthier eating patterns
• improves health and wellness 
• increases your immune system
• boosts your energy levels
• facilitates weight loss
• helps to strengthen your bones
• good for your skin and gives it a glow
• reduces your chances of heart disease, cancer and strokes

I knew I would never stick to a juice detox if I had to put in the effort of making the juice myself, so I was really happy to find Juiced Co, who delivers 100% juice to you, frozen and ready to pop in your freezer. Their range and quality of juices seemed fantastic, so it didn't take long for me to decide that I wanted to give one of their cleanses a go. Their juice is cold-pressed, to gently extract as many of the nutrients out as possible while minimizing oxygen exposure to keep it fresher for longer without any preservatives, stabilizers or additives. 

I was very excited to receive my polystyrene cooler box of 15 frozen 500ml juices (as well as herbal teas and daily wheatgrass/ginger shots). I was going to be doing the "What a Weekend" cleanse, which was a 3 day cleanse with a difficulty rating of 4/5, "the ideal cleanse for those looking for maximum results in the shortest possible time". They say it's for experienced juicers which made me a little nervous since it's my first time! But hey, I like a challenge ;) I was super amped to get going, and I decided I would start on Monday because the weekend would be too hard, temptation wise and work would keep me distracted from food.

I woke up a little bit earlier than normal, overly excited to start my cleanse, hehe. I had a glass of hot water and lemon, a hot shower, gathered my juices for the day and went to work. 

The wheatgrass shot was delicious, as always! People think I'm mad because I love the taste. 

The first juice was called Dare and consisted of celery, cucumber, kale, spinach, parsley, lemon and apple. It was much sweeter than I was expecting and I convinced myself that after the cleanse, I'd like to continue with one of those for my breakfast every day since I am not much of a breakfast person. It was yummy! As was the Radiate one closer to midday. Radiate consists of beet, orange, carrot, apple and celery and it's bright purple!!

After my beet juice I started feeling a very mild wave of nausea, but it only lasted about an hour and a half and then subsided - apparently it's normal due to the large amount of iron. I also had a craving for salt, but that could have had something to do with my colleague eating a packet of Lays in front of me ;) 

I had my second cup of herbal tea and enjoyed it. The tea supplied is by the brand Pukka, it's really delicious and they have such a nice variety of flavours. I enjoyed every single one, but my favourite was the red one (revitalise) - it was strong cinnamon and I loved it.

It's now 16:00 and I'm a bit late drinking my 3rd juice (I moved everything up an hour because I'm a late riser and I go to bed late). This juice is called Boost and has spinach, cucumber, parsley and carrot. It's definitely the most natural tasting so far, but as I said before, I like the "green" taste. 

I feel GREAT! I'm feeling so energetic and lively suddenly. It is really much easier than I thought it would be (so far). I know the real test will be tonight though when I start to go crazy for chocolate. Every night I eat chocolate and I haven't weaned myself off it for this detox, as suggested. I didn't wean myself off my daily cup of coffee either, but I've been okay without it for now. On another note, I have a bit of a furry-feeling tongue which I was told would be a symptom of juicing. Oh and I have to mention I'm running to the loo to wee every 15mins or so.

Let's hope the rest of the day goes just as well, catch up later xxx

The rest of the day was pretty good, I had cravings, but they were tolerable. I felt a little bit spacey, but not at all terrible. Day 1 was successful! It's also really nice and convenient having a schedule that you can pop on your fridge with a magnet (I also made a copy to take to work).

9am - I barely slept much, it wasn't a good night. I was so restless, tossing, turning and feeling very uneasy the whole night. I also kept getting pins and needles. I think I was awake most of the night. When my alarm went off this morning I didn't have much energy and I didn't want to get out of bed. I also had a mild headache which I am hoping will go soon. I just had a ginger shot and I'm sipping on a delicious herbal tea called "womankind". Hopefully I'll feel better after I have had my first juice.

1pm - I am feeling better after my 1.5 juices so far today :) I'm sitting drinking my "Shine" juice which is carrot, orange and ginger. It's very refreshing and a tasty. My headache has subsided and is very faint now. I am however feeling sleepy because of my rough night. There also suddenly seems to be a million photos of pizzas all over Facebook ;) 

4pm - I am glad that the day is nearly over. It hasn't been easy today, I've been "hungry" although I know it's only mental. I'm also still tired, and feeling a bit grumpy. But lack of sleep also does that to me. Looking forward to going home to rest - I guess that's why they call this a weekend cleanse. 

Rest of the day - I was grumpy and irritable for most of the day and I was SO close to giving up. The support of wonderful friends and a fantastic mommy helps a lot. I ended up trying to go to bed early and finally fell asleep until morning (YAY, sleep!). 

11am - I woke up about an hour before my alarm went off, feeling okay! Much better than yesterday. So far the day is going pretty well and I'm not really craving badly today like the first two days. I think my body seems to be used the juice. The beet juice from last night made me wee a nice bright pinky-red colour a few times, that was fun! I am feeling a lot more positive today - I'm nearly done!!

2pm - Everything is still going alright. I went to the shops during lunch time to go buy some pure coconut water and didn't feel tempted by anything with sugar in it. I am craving something salty though. Anything salty actually... crisps, biltong, nuts, pizza! Ahh. 

Physically I feel okay, not amazing but not terrible either. Half a day left! You're meant to ease back into solids, but I don't know if I am going to be able to do that. I'm already planning my scrambled egg breakfast tomorrow morning :) 

Rest of the day  - The rest of the day dragged a little bit, and I did have a heachache (probably due to the fact that I didn't drink enough water during the day) but it was actually easier to get through than it had been previously! The next thing I know it was the end of the day and I had done it! What an accomplishment :) I was proud of myself. I must admit though, that before I went to bed, I did have a little piece of biltong to celebrate my achievement. Probably not the best idea to dive straight back into a piece of meat, but I took the risk, and I slept really well! 

The next day I felt great! I went for breakfast and had scrambled eggs. For about an hour afterwards I was feeling a bit nauseous, but it went away after that - I think it may have been the oil from the onions (I decided to give things like that a break for a while). I've had energy and I've been in an exceptionally good mood. 

Would I do it again? Maybe. After I've forgotten the difficult parts. But what I will definitely do is incorporate more juicing into my daily life. Juiced Co offers monthly juice deliveries as well, and I think I'll be having a juice for my breakfast going forward. I'm not much of a breakfast person, and I definitely don't eat nearly close to enough fruits and veg, so that is a nice way to kill two birds with one stone :) Every single one of their juices was delicious and I definitely feel more rejuvenated and healthy.

Have you tried a juice cleanse? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments section below! 

You can visit Juiced Co's website here and get all the info on their amazing juices and cleanses.