Monday, June 3, 2013

On the Juice

You know when Weight Watchers gets a new spokesperson, and you're like, "Ouch that must have been a tough offer to hear":


Nobody wants to get asked to go on a diet, amiright?

Except me.

When Grace asked if I would be interested in doing the juice cleanse she had just finished from Skinny Limits, I was all SIGN ME UP!  And then promptly gave her a hard time for having my name on her short list of people who could really benefit from a juice cleanse.
9 months preggers with Xander, just to clarify.

I've been intrigued by the whole raw-juicing concept since watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead a couple years ago, and came *thisclose* to buying a juicer to make my own.  But man, those babies are expensive, and I figured my kids going without food for two weeks probably wouldn't justify the expense!

I was contacted by Peter from Skinny Limits, chose my plan (Tropical), picked my day to start, and then feasted in preparation for the famine.  Like any normal person would.  And I started to wonder if I could really do this thing since my love for food is humongous.  Plus grumpy cat scared me.

So, the day before I was supposed to start juicing, my juice hadn't arrived.  I nervously emailed Grace asking if I should have it already, and she assured me that it came to her around 9:30 in the morning on the day she had chosen to start.   Well, shucks, I leave my house at 6:45 am so I wasn't going to get that delivery until 4:00 pm.  I decided I would just start it as soon as I got home from work that day and ate sensibly up until that point (oatmeal, turkey sandwich, apple, peanut butter on a rice cake).

The juice had been delivered by the time I got home, and I won't lie, the first sip of my first juice made me worry about how I was going to survive this 3 day cleanse.  But I choked it down and by the time I had my second juice, I realized the first one was not very cold, and a spoonful of coldness helps the juice go down.

Phil, being the ever competitive compassionate husband he is decided to do his own version of the juice fast with me.  He just bought juices from the grocery store and tried to match what I was drinking, but honestly these juices from Skinny Limits are way healthier than anything you can buy from the grocery store.  Most of my juices only had veggies and fruit as ingredients, and the last juice of the day had fat and protein to keep me satiated through the night, (the fat and protein came from coconut oil and cashews), and none of the juices had any dairy or gluten products.

So I followed the plan for the three days - six 16 oz. bottles of the juice every 2.5 hours with tea and water intermingled as needed.  The first day was the hardest.  I had a headache and thought about quitting and eating the pizza that my body was craving.  But, the second day I felt great - really light and energized.  By the third day, I was still feeling good but looking forward to eating some real food again.  And that's ok, this is supposed to be a temporary cleanse, not a lifestyle.  Although most fad diets can not be labeled as "healthy" I think that drinking these juices gave me enough calories and vitamins to get through a few days.  I have never ingested so many veggies and fruits (in juice form) in my life, so that made me feel good too.
Our Mom is on the juice.

Not that kind of juice.
I continued to exercise while on the juice, I just toned it down a teeny bit, but that wasn't an issue at all.  My bathroom visits definitely increased, and I woke up in the early morning hours needing to go and then having a hard time falling back asleep because I was hungry.  I think the morning times were the worst for the hunger, once I started drinking for the day, I always knew another bottle was coming in a couple hours, and I could handle that.  Sometimes the clock would say it was time to drink and I wasn't even hungry at all!



3 days on the juice and I anti-aged by 29 years!  And if you don't believe that you can do what the shirt says :)
Once off the juice, it felt a little strange to chew food again, but everything tasted great and my digestive tract had no issues.  After the 3 days, I felt so good physically and emotionally, there was a new pep in my step and a lightness in my body.  The bloating and (what felt like) inches were gone, and I really truly loved the way it felt.  I guess I'm now officially a juicehead.


Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  But I would probably do a 2 day cleanse instead.  I lost 6 pounds over three days (due in large part to my increased food hoarding before the cleanse) and think maybe doing a once or twice a year cleanse after some serious holiday binging would be just what the doctor ordered.  Skinny Limits has plans from 1 to 10 days, and I honestly wish I lived in Austin, TX near their headquarters so I could pick up juice to have one everyday for breakfast.  


20 comments:

  1. Well, look at you all hot and juiced!! You go girl! You cute thang.

    I will admit though that I'm seriously bummed that the end of your post didn't say, 'hey, bestie, I'm offering you three days of juice for free cuz I'm generous like that'. lol.
    Reed would kill me because he thinks I've got not even another lb. to lose. I would agree, however, the last week or so brought a new change in my body (aka bloating by the end of the day) that I'm trying to figure out how to better monitor/take care of. What the heck, I'm the least weight I've ever been and now by evening look 4 months preggers??!! sheesh.
    BTW, not 4 months preggers.

    ps...love Maggie's shirt. I use the term on a daily basis.

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  2. THAT:S AWESOME!!!! You look fabulous, by the way!

    Just one question though, did the 6 pounds come back after you started eating normally?

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  3. This makes me want to buy a juicer, too - if for no other reason than to use up the kale that inevitably comes in our produce deliveries every week! And because I KNOW I don't get enough fruits and veggies. Someday, SOMEDAY, I will neither be pregnant NOR nursing and I can try a juice fast!

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  4. AnonymousJune 03, 2013

    What is the cost of a 3-day cleanse? Just wondering. Thanks for blogging about this because i'd been wondering!

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  5. I've never done juicing (because I don't have a juicer and can't afford it), but I do a lot of green smoothies which is almost the same thing, except the fiber has not been removed from the fruits/veggies the way the juicer does, and you can make them in any blender or food processor. I mix greens (spinach, kale, collards, mustard greens, whatever) with frozen fruit (whatever I have) and milk kefir. You don't have to use frozen fruit, but IMO they taste much better if the fruit is frozen. You can totally skip the kefir however, and just use water or ice cubes or coconut milk or whatever...and you can add whatever other things you want into them...I've thrown in flax seeds, chia seeds, nut butters, coconut oil, etc., etc. Sometimes I add a little honey too. Anyway, I love green smoothies...I drink one just about every day for lunch (except Sundays, because Sundays are for feasting).

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  6. You look great!
    BTW I love how you and your husband compete/support each other.

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  7. Ever since I read Jen's post about doing the naked juices I have been thinking about doing a juice cleanse too but everything I read says you should not use convenience/grocery store juice but make your own. I guess these juices would compare to the homemade (with quality ingredients and no added sugar) types recommended? I am totally fascinated about the whole juice cleanse concept. Thanks for doing this. I'm living vicariously. :)

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  8. Wow, you look great Colleen.

    And this post made me want to give one of these juice fasts a try.

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  9. My sister juices, with a juicer, not a prepackaged thing. She loves it.

    You look wonderful by the way!

    And Maggie's shirt? We all need one--where did you get it?
    (or I mean my kids need it)

    I have no idea why in the world you would do this.
    Maybe it explained it in the links--I rarely check the links...need to I guess...I'll go do that.

    I watched this stupid Taboo show this past weekend, about ways people heal themselves...one was a puking thing, I missed the first 5 minutes, but I think it was a way of detoxing drugs...in like Malaysia or something, anyway, they drink this stuff that makes them puke for 4 days. 4 days of puking. Then, they never want drugs again...supposedly. That green stuff in your bottle reminds me of the show.

    We all love your sense of humor by the way, the way you post things...hilarious.

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  10. Love this! I've been so interested in juice cleanses but I'm nervous to take the leap. Also, breastfeeding? Hmmm not sure if that is advisable but meh, it's got to be better than some of the crap I eat! Right?!?

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  11. AnonymousJune 03, 2013

    i'm so intrigued by juicing (although i don't own a juicer either) and love reading about peoples experiences with juicing cleanses! hmm. i'll have to look into skinny limits!

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  12. I am so kinda jealous! I want to try!! I actually did a juice fast for a week when Grace was like 11 months. I was still nursing (not a good idea) and it literally made me the meanest person around! But I think it was bc I was feeding another human on limited calories. Way to go!!

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  13. This was so interesting to read about! I'm excited that they're here in the ATX. I keep thinking about swinging by there, but am guessing that the other clientele probably does not typically show up with six young children in tow. :)

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  14. Colleen, I did the juice diet last summer. Let me tell you it was the most hardest thing to do. After watching the same show fat,sick and nearly dead, I went and bought a juicer I did it for 6 weeks! SO HARD!!! When I went back to eating solids I got SICK..really sick!!! I had diarrhea,chills and the whole throwing up sick... So I may do it, but for about 3 days.. Good for you!!! You look amazing.

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  15. Interesting. I love to eat too much.
    If you consider juice fast to include Diet Mtn Dew's...I am totally in.

    Love the tshirt also.

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  16. I'm so interested in this! I'm going to tuck it away for future reference. Thanks for blogging about it! :)

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  17. I used to juice all the time until my juicer bit the dust. Then I read Jen's juice fast and decided to try an easy one with Naked juices, but the whole week I've put it off, thinking about how it's just not as good as raw juice and the sugar content is so high! I must get back into this when I get back to Cali.

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  18. I don't know if I could do a juice *cleanse*. I love food way way way too much! :) But I do wish I had a juicer to drink more {good for you} juice! Right now I stick mostly to water. You look great, Beautiful!

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  19. What. How did I miss this post? I'm so jealous! Does raspberry margaritas count as a juice cleanse? I could totally do that.

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  20. Just seeing this post from Sarah's link up. That last picture...you look so beautiful!! I don't technically "juice" but we do have a vitamin and so do we call it "smooth"? :) I love my smoothies!

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