The One with the Attempted Juice Cleanse

Full disclaimer: This 3-day cleanse was awkwardly spread on 2 1/2 days so that Thanksgiving wouldn’t be my first day out of it. Even though I had already made special request for a Thanksgiving salmon in lieu of a turkey, something tells me the lighter fare wouldn’t exactly be the best way to celebrate solid food again. I did the Gouter cleanse with two salads per day (but by the second day had stopped eating the salads and went only for the juices). My favorites were the hemp melk, refuel, and stretch…and I will be going to buy more of those soon! It was great because they were delivered straight to my house (they deliver in the DC area and are also sold by Washington’s Green Grocer).

Day One

I spent much of today eating with my eyes. My stomach grumbled asking for macaroni and cheese, gnocchi, chocolate (my coworker just returned from Geneva so you better believe I have a stash of what she brought back waiting in my desk), tater tots, mashed potatoes…anything, really. Instead, I swallowed my kale tonic imagining it was lasagna. Luckily, I didn’t discover this hot sandwiches slideshow until later, when I could sleep away my carb fantasies.

I just started reading the Hunger Games (I know, I know, late to the party), so I spent all night reading and wishing I had bread with goat cheese and basil and blackberries…though I was able to relate to District 12’s hunger much more easily than I could have last week when I was stuffing my face with margaritas and tacos (Mexico update soon).

Day Two

At 6:05, I woke up thinking, I feel great! Fell back asleep. At 6:45, I woke up thinking, I feel hungry, give me some eggs and an english muffin now plz. Just as I gazed longingly in the fridge at my sweet potato gnocchi last night, this morning I woke up missing my usual spin endorphins (I felt entirely too lightheaded to sweat for 45 minutes and, as they always say, I am prettier on the bike than off).

Day Three

I stomached my last few juices, which are actually delicious (and I always looked forward to the nourish, a hemp melk with dates, vanilla, cinnamon, etc), but I needed some sort of sustenance. I need food. Admittedly, I probably shouldn’t have picked the cleanse with salads (sprouts) because it made me chew which made me even more hungry. Thought of the day: grilled cheese.

First meal back

Grilled veggie wrap from Juice Joint–wasn’t hungry again until 4 p.m., but it was so, so good. You are supposed to eat vegan/raw for the days before and after the cleanse, so full disclosure…I was a bit lenient on that aspect of it.

Outcome

Though I did notice a smaller appetite and slight weight loss from my self-proclaimed terribly planned cleanse, I never felt any of the rejuvenation or second-day feelings of euphoria I had read about in the blogosphere. I missed spinning and felt like I couldn’t concentrate or think clearly, evidenced by the fact that I was really proud of myself being able to spell “pencil” correctly. Will I do it again? Maybe, but it’s more likely that I will buy the juices to keep on hand as a dietary supplement and carry on with my foodie life.  If I DO do it again, I will do a better time prepping and stick to just the juices! For now, though, sweet potato gnocchi never sounded so good.