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.