Hey :) I am starting a juice cleanse on Monday and will be blogging about my progress. Hopefully this will help me be held accountable!!! I used Pressed Juicery and my cleanse is getting delivered on Monday. I chose juices including Green vegetable, beet, carrot and some citrus juices for when I'm really craving sugar. I also ordered Almond Milk for "dinner" drinks. I am going to complement this diet with soups and take an iron supplement as well because I won't be eating any meat. I am going to be doing this cleanse starting Sunday evening and mostly likely ending Thursday. I usually do straight Juice for the first three days and then incorporate healthy solids back in on my fourth day. It really isn't THAT bad, but sometimes the first day can be pretty tricky. It helps if you start the night before though because then your stomach has time to shrink for your first day--so when I say start the night before I mean have your last meal at 4 pm and then juice for dinner. This makes it much more bearable throughout the cleanse. Also, make sure your last meal is not carbs because this will spark far more cravings then if you have lean protein and vegetables. Things like Quinoa are okay too. I am probably going to go with a sunday meal of fish and kale salad. Let me know what you think or if you want to join me for this and we can help each other out. #Motivation in numbers.
Oh and by the way the goal of a juice cleanse (for me at least) is not to lose weight, its to get healthy and to restart your cravings-I like craving salads not pizza and this is what this juice cleanse (when you start eating solid foods again of course) does. During my juice diet I cut out all alcohol and pills--advil, tylenol etc...I try to keep only very natural things going into my body so it can heal and rejuvenate to its utmost ability. You will initially be more tired and sleep deeper, this is a good sign, your body is repairing. At the end of the cleanse you will notice more energy. I keep cardio to a minimum but still engage in strength training (light weights), resistance training (pilates), and stretching. I usually notice a better sleep, more energy towards the end of my cleanse, happier moods, "lighter feeling", clearer mind, shinier hair and better skin condition. A key to juice cleansing is to drink tons of water in addition to your juices so your body can continue to flush out toxins and keep blood volume high. Sometimes your blood pressure can drop without the kind of calorie intake you are used to so drinking water is key so you don't feel dizzy if you are not used to this type of calorie restriction.
Happy Cleansing! Or at least wish me luck and watch from the sidelines while you have a delicious bowl of pasta haha :)
