I’ve only recently been a fan of juices and smoothies. They never felt like a meal to me, but then I started making smoothies for breakfast and not chewing my food until noon became the norm! Now, I’m a fan of grabbing a midday juice from Bebidas or driving through Smoothie King instead of a fastfood place for a quick meal.

I have not, however, ever been committed enough to do a 3- or 5-day juice cleanse, and honestly the feat seemed impossible. Anastasia did only a short one-day one and even then I was impressed. I thought I’d be hungry for three days straight, have to force feed myself the juices because they were healthy and gross, and thought I’d be weak and miserable the entire time. But, I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could do it.

Well, I did it and all that I thought was completely untrue. My cleanse was a Nourish Juice Bar cleanse. I did some sort of combination of the Rookie and the Middle Child cleanse, but different. When I went to pick up my juices, Gerry at Nourish asked my what my schedule was like. Do I workout in the mornings or evenings? What time do I wake up/go to bed. Then I tried some juices and he custom made my cleanse and schedule, numbered my juices and sent me on my way.

I think my biggest surprise was how much I loved the juices. Seriously, I wasn’t expecting that. I have literally never liked drinking something green, but I guess I can’t say that now.

Anyways, without further adieu, here’s my first juice cleanse experience!

The Juices

Southern Squeeze. Looks like OJ, but it is way more than that. It has carrot, orange, lemon, cayenne and flax oil. I honestly don’t taste too much of the carrot — mostly the orange and the cayenne kick! I was expecting something sweeter, and the cayenne goes straight to the back of the throat. Maybe it will kick me awake first thing in the AM!

Go Go Juice. The first “green” juice I tried. It has spinach, kale, apple, watermelon rind, celery, pineapple and flax oil. There are a whole lotta flavors in this one. It’s much sweeter than I expected — thanks pineapple and watermelon. I can see and smell the green (obviously from the spinach and kale) but the fruit flavors are more overpowering. It frequently gets separated so I’m constantly reclosing it and shaking it up.

Pink Starburst. OK, this one had a name to live up to and it did not disappoint. Carrot, apple, pineapple, beet, ginger, flax oil. It’s TASTY. I think it’s the pineapple and the ginger. It’s so good I kinda think it’d make a good mixer… just saying. I think this is one of my two favorite ones.

Drop the Beet Darla. This one was forebodingly dark. It’s got beet, apple, lemon and flax oil. The apple flavor really masks the beet’s (or complements it, not sure). It stained my tongue and lips red! It’s tasty, but heavy, if that makes sense.

Talent Kicks In. I think I have thought it with most every juice, but this is my new favorite!! Spinach, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon, cinnamon and chia seeds. The chia seeds are a surprise and look weird, but I hardly noticed them. The cinnamon is just so perfect. This was the fastest juice I drank, hands down. In conclusion, this is my second of my two favorite juices.

The Refresher. Definitely one of the greenest juice. It has kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, apple, lemon, mint, turmeric, flax oil. The taste of cucumber still kind of makes me gag (v dark time when I drank these weird smoothies), but the apple and lemon mask it quite nicely.

Juan Carlos. I love that this juice exists and the lil Nourish orange has roller blades. Such a cool Houston reference! This one has spinach, pineapple, grape, cilantro, lime and flax oil. I can definitely taste the cilantro, but, despite the fact that I don’t like cilantro, I still like this juice!

The Rules

• Drink 6 juices a day, spread out (9 am. 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m.)
• Drink 8 glasses of water a day, can have lemon in them
• No eating! If it’s a make or break moment, eat some produce and get back on track.
• Don’t die.

Day 1

Morning: I feel like I didn’t sleep well in anticipation of starting the cleanse! Safe to say I’m super nervous. I don’t usually eat breakfast until I’m at my office (around 8:30), so I’m not starved really until then. I make a hot water and lemon to-go since it’s a little chilly out and I need something to do with my hands! Plus, I read somewhere that this is a good way to start your day while cleansing. My first juice is the Southern Squeeze and it’s really tasty. I feel a little less hungry after drinking it, but after I finish it, I switch back to my hot water/lemon to try to fill my stomach more! Juice No. 2 at 11 a.m. is Go Go Juice, and it’s really fruity, despite being my first green juice. I’m realizing I’m such a slow drinker that I’m pretty much always drinking something. After juice 2, I’ve decided I’m not hungry, but I feel like I should because I haven’t chewed anything today??? BIZARRE.

Afternoon: Oops, I didn’t drink my 1 pm juice until 2:30, so I got a little hungry. I was sipping on some soda water (no flavoring) so that helped a little. Luckily my third juice was the Pink Starburst, which I gulped down! Feeling good post Starburst, I booked a 5:30 pm Soul Cycle class. I know I might regret that, but I also think I might be my strongest on day 1 of the cleanse and can work in something lighter tomorrow/Wednesday. I chugged my Drop the Beet Darla juice at 4:30ish, so I’ll do the next one at 6:30 and then the last one at 8 or so. I’m surprised how it’s kind of hard to squeeze all these juices into one day!

Evening: Wow, I KILLED it in SoulCycle and felt great after! I thought it would be tough on day one to do a hard workout, but I was super energized. I drank juice No. 4, Talent Kicks In, after and guzzled it. Then, because I hadn’t worked out enough, I went for a 2ish mile walk around the bayou. Casual. Ended with The Refresher, which is supposed to be an appetite suppressant, which I really needed. Kinda hungry and every commercial (even the cracker ones) makes me want food.

Day 2

Morning: Not that I was really expecting it, but I by no means popped right out of bed full of energy. I was my normal sluggish, snooze-4-times self. Again, I wasn’t hungry until 8:30/9, and I had my first juice. This time I started with Pink Starburst (fave!!), and it was such an energy booster.. then I crashed shortly after. Tired/hungry, I grabbed the Go Go Juice at 11. It’s a green one full of kale and spinach, but still, less than an hour later, I’m hungry. It’s so interesting — I wasn’t really hungry all yesterday, but today I’m starved and ready for lunch… which I don’t get. 🙁

Afternoon: I’m definitely feeling sluggish today, and all I can do is think about how I’m getting into my jammies and heading straight to bed when I get home. Every food sounds amazing to me today. When it’s time for my 1 pm juice (Drop the Beet Darla), I drank it so fast. I was so hungry, and the juice actually filled me up pretty well! My fourth drink of the day is the Juan Carlos, which is a very solid green juice. It’s easy to drink, but low on my list of favorites. No SoulCycle for me today!

Evening: I resisted the urge to go straight to bed, and I threw on shorts and headed to the pool to drink my second to last juice. I lounged and read for about an hour then I headed back inside and did some laundry and blog work. I drink my last one, The Refresher, at around 8 and headed to bed at around 10. TBH, I was kinda hungry.

Day 3

Morning: Feeling super sluggish this morning, but yay! Last day! I start with a Pink Starburst at around 9:30 (famished!). I also do a hot water and lemon after. I have a twitching eye, and I have no clue what that’s coming from! Second breakfast juice is another Refresher… I know this is an evening one, but I needed the appetite suppression asap!

Afternoon:I have a busy afternoon, thankfully. It took my mind off the juices, and I mixed up my order a little bit. I drank a Juan Carlos and a Go Go Juice to close out my last afternoon on this cleanse.

Evening: I saved the best for last, IMO! Talent Kicks in and Drop the Beet Darla. I drank these early and reward myself for these past three days with a SUPER early bedtime… 9 pm. The faster I sleep, the faster I get to breakfast tacos. I sleep with the satisfaction of accomplishing something super awesome and healthy!!

My Juice Cleanse Tips

I was given a lot of juice cleanse tips/advice before I started mine. My turn.

• Chose your juice cleanse day wisely. I opted for three workdays that don’t happen to start or end with work or blog events (rare to get three in a row). I knew it’d be too hard to be around people eating or drinking.
• I got the, “You’ll have so much energy” spiel, and in a way it was true. Day 1 I felt GREAT and did two workouts (? who am I), but Day 2 was rough. Day 3 was kind of a daze, including lots of dreams of tacos and french fries.
• Sparkling water was my friend. I have a soda stream, so I brought a big bottle of soda (sometimes with lemon) into work every day. I like to think the bubbles helped my hunger!
• “It gets easier as you go” isn’t always true. I started out way stronger than I finished, but I never felt THAT bad. Just a little sluggish and really craving food.
• You won’t miss chewing. OK, this might just be a personal thing, but I didn’t feel the need to chew things.
• Cheating only makes it worse. One little cheat could unravel everything! Stay strong.
• Ease in AND out of the cleanse. I may or may not have done these things… OK, I did neither. I had a busy weekend full of drinking/food before my cleanse, and I kind of pigged out after. REGRETS. You CAN be hungover from food.

PIN FOR LATER

First juice cleanse? Here’s how to do it right! // itsnothouitsme.com // Houston, TX

First juice cleanse? Here’s how to do it right! // itsnothouitsme.com // Houston, TX