Before we get to the fun stuff...

Hello everyone!

I am taking on a 14 day juice cleanse in which I will drink approximately 6 glasses of freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices everyday. I did a 10 day juice cleanse in January but I just jumped right into that one without physically preparing my body. This time around, I cut all refined sugar from my diet in mid February and I have  been eating mainly raw vegan. It is helpful before a juice cleanse to cut out caffeine, sugar, and anything else you might crave so that your body is not going through withdrawal during the cleanse, and making the experience ten times worse.  In my experience, and through my research, I have found that the first 3 days are the worst. The hunger pangs and tiredness take over you… if you let them.  During my first cleanse, day 2 was pretty bad but I tried to keep busy and I did a lot of mental preparation so it wasn’t too bad.

The point of a juice cleanse is not weight loss, it is to detox your body by hydration, giving your digestive system a break, and loading your body up with vitamins. I REPEAT, it is not about weight loss. You will definitely lose some weight on a juice cleanse but a lot of it is water weight (especially if you’re only doing a short cleanse). My first time around, I lost about 10 lbs in 10 days and then over time I gained 6lbs back. I have read many articles saying that 21 days is optimal for a juice cleanse to get the most benefits but I have obstacles coming up (trips) that I don’t think will allow me to continue past two weeks.    

Over the next two weeks I will be drinking freshly juiced fruit and vegetable juice, herbal tea, and over 2L of water daily (aiming for 3L). I will probably add a dash of sea salt to some of my vegetable juices to maintain some sodium levels in my body. If I feel the need to take some vitamins or mineral supplements along the way, I will, but the fruits and vegetables are already packed with vitamins. During my first juice cleanse I drank a lot more fruit juice than vegetable and green juice. My reason for doing so was because I was more interested in seeing if I could make it to 10 days rather than doing it the right way. It is beneficial to drink more green and vegetable juices so that will be my focus this time.

I am currently on week 6 of my ½ marathon training schedule and although some articles say you should take it easy on exercise during a juice cleanse, I want to try to keep up with my training so that I don’t lose two weeks. If I feel that it is too much, I will stop or slow down. I have read other blogs of people on juice cleanses and they have maintained their regular exercise routine and felt great doing so. I enjoy doing yoga and meditating, however I don’t currently do so everyday and during the next two weeks, my goal is to incorporate it everyday.

I am going to try to post my daily recipes, exercise, feelings, and pictures!

If you are interested, here is a link to the documentary “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead”, which is about a juice fast, and it got me started the first time.

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/fat_sick_and_nearly_dead_2010/

-Kristina