Juice Cleanse - Day 1

Today I started my juice cleanse! Juice cleansing is something that I've always wanted to try but never really could justify the cost (which is ironic because now I have $0 income)... but when the Healthy Living Club at school offered a 50% discount off of Organic Avenue's 1, 3 or 5-day cleanses, I couldn't say no!

One of my big concerns going into the cleanse was the fear of being constantly hungry. I'm one of those people where when I'm hungry, it's all I can think about! What I've realized now is that my concern was misguided; I probably won't be hungry, so long as I can ingest everything that I am supposed to.

I signed up for the Love Fast 3-day cleanse, which is the second "level" of the program. That means it's not fully juice based -- we get some thicker drinks ("smoothies") and 1 meal a day. I thought this would be a good level to start off on because all juice sounds too pro for me and the beginner menu had a lot of vegan food on it, which I know is healthy for me but... let's face it, it's not tasty at all.

No big deal, right?

With a juice cleanse comes a lot of supplies and a strict schedule of which one, when, and in what order you're supposed to consume things. Today, I have 7 treats - 5 juices, 1 soup (which I think I'm supposed to drink cold??) and a salad.

Here are my thoughts:

9:00am Chlorophyll: I am literally scared to drink this. It comes in a little glass bottle that is tinted black, kind of reminiscent of what a bottle of poison looks like in Disney movies. Even more startling is that you're supposed to take it like a shot and the bottle warns that your teeth may be stained green. Nervous, I took this right before my marketing class. It tasted like what you'd imagine grass tastes like, but even grassier than you could imagine. Afterwards I "chased" it with about 2 minutes of running water from the fountain and then ducked into the ladies room to check the damage. And... sure enough my teeth were green! I rinsed my mouth a good 15 times or so just to make sure the greeness had subdued a bit. According to Organic Ave, the chlorophyll regenerates our bodies at the molecular and cellular level and helps improve the health of the circulatory, digestive, immune, and detoxification systems. Also, as a throwback to high school science class, chlorophyll is also the green pigment in plants that allows them to photosynthesize sunlight into energy! Kind of cool!

10:30am Pear Juice: I was actually excited for this one. I love pears, so pear juice couldn't be anything short of awesome. And I wasn't disappointed! The pear juice had a normal texture and actually reminded me of apple juice, in terms of sweetness. It helped get rid of the chlorophyll-y taste I had in my mouth for the last hour! I have a feeling that it will probably be the best tasting thing I drink/eat today. Pear is high in fiber so this is to help with the digestive system.

12:30pm Master Tonic: Ok, this one I was very nervous of. One of the principle ingredients is cayenne. My first thought -- what the heck is cayenne doing in my drink! This juice itself has a really spicy aftertaste. After the first couple sips, I quickly realize the only way I'm going to finish this guy is if I gulp it down as fast as I can, and then cry as all the aftertaste accumulates and hits me all at once. It kind of works, but I can't stick with my plan which means I'm hit several times with the stinging. The cayenne is supposed to kill cancer cells in the prostate, lungs, and pancreas and also can help improve heart health. I'm not surprised at all that it can kill cancer cells... I can feel it zapping my taste buds one by one! On the bright side, I'm half way done with today's "treats" which means I only have 5/6 more of the program to go :)

1:30pm Young Love: I'm starting to fall a little behind and I want to finish this guy up before my finance class, so I start this juice right after the Master Tonic. After one sip, I totally get why this one follows the Master Tonic. While the MT was hot and spicy, Young Love is cool and subdued. It tastes like (slightly grassy) water. This juice is spinach based, which is heart-healthy and full of iron, which is great for me because I am slightly anemic.Even though I haven't technically eaten anything, I haven't thought about food all day -- in fact, I feel super full from all the liquid intake!

4:30pm Raw Green Soup: Cilantro, Pepper, Avocado, Onion: Finally time to drink the "soup". All the juices are starting to smell and taste the same to me now. This one is special in that it is super thick. I can definitely see why they called it a soup. I debated warming it up and really trying to eat it as a soup, but read online that it's only truly considered raw as long as the food is never truly hot. The idea of sipping lukewarm soup isn't that appetizing to me and if  I'm going to do this cleanse, I'm going to do it right! In my head, I pretend I'm Katniss from the Hunger Games, just grateful I have something to fill my stomach with. It helps a little bit.

5:00pm Greek Salad: After trying to drink the Raw Green Soup, I kept getting tempted to add salt, or chips to the "soup" that I realized that my body was craving a real meal. As a compromise, I decided to save the remaining raw green soup and dig into my greek salad! This salad actually looks and feels like a normal salad, except the dressing is kind of weird -- a lemon based gloopy mess! I decided the salad is almost better without the dressing, but thank goodness there's feta cheese in the salad! Cheese is amazing. It can save any meal!!! *No picture because I got so hungry I forgot to take a picture!

9:00pm Cashew Hemp Mylk: After 2+ hours of finance tutoring, the day was starting to wear on me. I felt a little sluggish and had a hard time keeping up with my tutor's ninja-level excel skills. However, after seeing an email chain from my support group (a few other girls on the cleanse), I got pretty excited about the cashew mylk. They said it was delicious.. and delicious it is! It's like a mild version of chai latte/horchata. Yum! A great way to end a challenging first day!

We were sent the menu for tomorrow's item and already, I'm excited. Some of the things I love -- aloe vera and today's pear juice make an appearance!

Today's stats:
Weigh-in: 119lbs
Completion: Everything except part of the Greek Salad and most of the soup (blegh)

Till tomorrow!

Love,
V