I said I would go through each day of our juice reboot, so here it is.
Day 1: We realized the juices were awesome! (How is it we were missing this deliciousness until now?) I learned that I needed to peel the lime for the Watermelon Crush. We were both having cravings, but they seemed manageable. We figured out that making an extra 1/5 of the recipes were enough for us on most ‘meals’.
Day 2: This day the cravings were almost too much, but I was sleeping much better and waking up easier, so I thought it had to be doing something good. What I learned this day was that you really need to peel the beets before juicing, they are earthy enough without the skins. We were also sure that you could mix and match whatever “Green” recipe and it would turn out yummy. Also, the organic extra-large lemons were ok to juice the peel, but not the small ones.
Day 3: This is the day I wanted to quit. I looked up the plan and saw a 3 day thinking, that’s good, we finished one of the plans. I had no idea if I was going to be able to finish the whole 5 days at this point. It was hard to concentrate and all I wanted was a cracker from L.L.’s lunch. We learned that Gil just isn’t a fan of juiced beets this day, even if you peel them.
Day 4: This was an easier day and I woke up knowing that I could make it through the rest of the 5 days. In fact, I was excited about them. I had the hang of juicing and cleaning them quickly. Plus, the carb cravings weren’t bad, I just felt good. It still wasn’t easy, but I could feel why people wanted to go with a raw diet. This day’s juices were just like the rest. What I learned this time was I should have used the whole watermelon because we had the baby size for the Watermelon Crush. And that a little extra orange is really good in the breakfast juice. We started to run out of produce and I didn’t feel like going to the store for a third time, so we made do.
Day 5: We had made it! I was almost sad to eat dinner that night. (of course, I got over it) We had to do with the produce we had and it all worked out, but we did mess up a bit. There was a bit of confusion on what drink we were on, so Gil started making what he thought was the green, but then put in the watermelon ingredients. We didn’t realize the mix up until Gil tried to drink the Snack and it was bitter from ginger. It wasn’t pretty, but we drank it real quick anyway. This was an easy day.
Some of you might be scratching your head on where the last two drinks are…well, we started on Sunday, but I didn’t document it. We had plans to have dinner with friends on Friday, so we made it work. Also, some of you have said that you were going to do this or at least start juicing. If you are one of them, let me know how you are doing and what you thought. I would love to hear about your experience.
I also wanted to throw in that I chatted someone at the farmers market last Sunday who has done close to 20 juice fasts – crazy, I know! Here is his website (yummy, organic ketchup). What was actually amazing was his last one ended mid-April and it was 40 days. %$#@! I asked him how it was, of course, he said he loved it and that it wasn’t terrible because his girlfriend was there to support him. What I thought was interesting is that he said he hates to come off of them because of how different he feels once he eats regular food again, and he’s a vegan! Just goes to show you how much we are missing in our daily diets (and I don’t mean a weight loss one).
Juice on, friends!
Did you have any a-ha moments about food or the role it plays in our society? When I did a cleanse, it was like no one wanted to invite me to hang out because I was doing one. So much of our socializing is based on food and eating, not to mention adult beverages…
Hmmm…I don’t think I had an a-ha moment since I have done a 10-day one before. Really starting South Beach was harder since it lasts longer. I guess that happened the first time I tried to plan one. This time it was almost too difficult to decide when to do it because of that. However, I do find that after being pregnant and breastfeeding I don’t care as much about the adult beverage part. It will always be there next time.