Source : Well+Goodnyc
I had never heard of a juice cleanse until early 2009. I remember chatting with a friend on Facebook about how to lose weight, and she suggested that I either go to Liquiteria or a Whole Foods to get BluePrint. At that time I didn’t fully understand what a juice cleanse could do to your body. So, I did a little research on the Internet.
What is juice cleansing? Juice cleansing means drinking fresh juice only; no solid food. It is also described as the process of detoxifying the body by only drinking fruit and vegetable juices. Some people would drink herbal teas and water as well.
After learning a bit about juice cleansing, I got all excited and first thing I did the next day was to go to Liquiteria in the East Village. I bought 12 bottles after calculating my budget and how many days I was willing to commit to the process. For a starter like myself, I thought that 3 days was enough. However, little that I knew about it and was being unprepared. I completed the process, but I absolutely failed to live healthy. Here’s my story…
I was so eager to try everything I saw in the 2 fridges at this juice bar, but I was grateful that the prices were quite expensive to get a bunch. So, I left the store with 12 bottles that should last 3 days. My first pick to try was All Greens with Apple. It was pretty sweet and flavorful.
My second favorite was grasshopper! I could definitely say that Liquiteria juices were very tasteful. It made my first experience doing a juice cleanse very pleasant. Well, I spoke too soon. The first day was amazing. I gushed about it! However, the second day was getting much harder because I started to miss solid food, real meats, and more. I felt as if I was suffering and in despair. A trip to my refrigerator was a torture as I would see real food that my roommate fully stocked had tried to haunt me. Also, because having any solid food but juice started to get to me as I made more trips to the bathroom. I’m not going to talk about that. One thing that I felt good about was my skin, it was very radiant and glowing. I was glad that toxin in my body was cleared out, but it was the price to pay. On the last day, I would always remember, it was Monday and I had work. I told my boss that I was doing a juice cleanse. She, however, called it a juice fast. She said that I should just go to a health food store for a fresh pressed juice because it was much cheaper than those bottled ones. She was right, there was $3-4 different, but you buy the taste I suppose.
That last day was horrifying! Everything smelled so good at that point. I consumed all the good flavor and had some juices that I did not like, royal flush and beets me because they had ginger in it. I started texting my friends and letting them know that I started to feel very dizzy. I knew it was very alarming. I just wanted to fully commit to the 3 day program, but I was at the point where I knew it wasn’t worth it if I would end up in an emergency room. So, I gave in and went out to get real food. It was so delicious and I remember eating every bit of it. I had a thought of kids from third world countries that barely had any food, and I could afford to have food but chose not to.
I learned from my experience that going forward I would not allow myself to go too extreme. But for those who are on a juice cleanse, I’m rooting for you and hope you get through it, but for me one time was more than enough. I’d much rather eat healthy meals and cut out junk food and eat more fruit and vegetables.
