I usually do a mild cleanse cutting caffeine and alcohol or cutting starchy carbohydrates out for a week, a couple times a year. This year I am trying a one day juice cleanse. I have had many questions from friends and clients about cleansing and one, in particular, is the juice cleanse. I honestly have never thought highly of the idea of juice cleanses but to give it a fair and honest assessment, I must try it.
I researched some of the local juice shops to see what they had to offer. I found that Earth Bar had a cleanse that offers a little more product than most places and is affordable. They have two options and I chose the one with food, fiber pills and boosting shots. Here below is a list of all that is included and the order they recommend taking them.
Journal Log: Please feel free to skip ahead if you don’t want to see entire journal log. I bullet-pointed the areas that are most important to read on. Be sure to catch them all!
5:00am- I woke up this morning excited, energized and ready for a challenge! A fridge full of goodies and looking forward to a refreshing day of cleansing!
5:30am- Total Greens with AM Pills- There is really something about the taste of liquid celery that just doesn’t do it for me. But I managed to drink almost all of it.
7:30am- Liver cleanse juice- The liver cleanse tasted like heaven compared to the first juice. But still couldn’t finish the entire thing. It’s just SO MUCH juice!
9:30am- Wellness Shot- I was pretty nauseated by the time I got to the shot. I took one sip of the wellness shot and it immediately had me feeling better. It is extremely spicy and sour so I was only able to finish about half of it.
1130am Veggie Power-
- Four juices in…Well, I can’t follow a recipe to save my life but I did what I felt I had to do to make me not feel sick. I had just got doing some of the following exercises (below) and really felt weak and exhausted. Keep in mind these were really light exercises that they recommend you do to help with cleansing. Anyway, I blended 1/2 the juice with 1/2 cup of yogurt. The protein helped me so much but I know I broke the cleanse already. Oh well, keep going.
*Side Note: Activity for the day – Walked 10 minutes in early A.M, Then 20 minutes before noon, Yoga for 20 minutes. Then, I did an additional 30 minutes of walking but spread it out throughout the afternoon and evening.
1230pm: Next is E3 Live Shot – This is weird tasting but surprisingly enjoyable. I liked how it wasn’t sweet and didn’t taste like a liquid vegetable either. This was the first thing I actually was able to finish all of. 
130pm: Vegan wrap -or what I made instead-
- They offer a wrap for you but instead, I opted for another juice that I can just enjoy tomorrow and help with the transitioning period. Instead of the wrap, I made a veggie patty made from garbanzo beans and vegetables and ate that with mushrooms, sprouts and dijon spicy mustard. Light and refreshing and didn’t include a tortilla which is why I skipped the Earth Bar wrap option.
230pm: Citrus cleanse- This one tasted the best and was light and refreshing. I could only drink about half of it though before I felt bloated full of liquid. So I put the other half back in the fridge with the rest of the unfinished business.
330pm: Almond Milk- Oh wow delicious. Seriously so good and worth trying if you only go for one item at Earth Bar. I still can’t finish it though. . .
430pm: Yellow Jacket
- 7 juices in…Dread crept in… I just couldn’t fathom the idea of drinking another juice. I decided here that I am not going to force the next two juices down if it’s going to make me sick.
Yes I admit, I threw in the towel. But I kept myself in check!
- In this case, I decide to have a snack/meal that is vegan, low calorie and still nutritious. I had a portioned size bag of trail mix, 12 slices of seaweed and 1 cup of Brussel sprouts drizzled in vinegar for dinner. After I ate, I felt like a new woman!
- The one day didn’t go as planned but I have 3 more juices left and a few leftovers for tomorrow. All in all the cleanse will just continue into another day but with less juice. Cheers to day two!
*Side Notes: I also sat in a hot sauna for 10 minutes after one of my walks. I took a salt bath after hot sauna to help with detox and used a couple of lavender oil drops to help with soothing any stress or tension.
Journal Log Continued Day 2:
530-630am: Lemon greens- Just forced it down.
830-930am: Citrus Cleanse-
This was my favorite from yesterday and I had half left. It was a delicious snack on a work break! Thumbs up to citrus cleanse.
1030am: Wellness shot- I also had half left from yesterday. I loved these shots; they ease any hunger pains and boost my energy instantly!
1130am: Veggie power juice that I turned into a smoothie– I blended this with ice, blueberries and 1/2 cup of yogurt that I didn’t use yesterday. This again was perfect! Adding that extra protein made me feel 100% better.
1230-130pm: Vegan meal- I had the exact same thing as yesterday in place of the vegan wrap.
330pm: Trail mix with sweet potato- That’s right I am over the juice.
*The Gimme Greens and Yellow Jacket juices were sent to work with my boyfriend because sharing is caring!
530pm: Vegan dinner- Had same as last night.
730pm: Almond Milk:
Delish! Again, I highly recommend trying this.
Activity for Day: Walking 10-20 minutes at a time totaling 60 minutes. Didn’t have much energy for more than that.
- Conclusion: Positive Notes: It was a challenge and I like challenges. I like them more when I fully succeed at them but I am not mad about turning my one day cleanse into two. There were a few drinks that you can see in my journal log that I thought really tasted good and gave me bursts of energy (Citrus Cleanse, Almond Milk, and the two shots).
- On the downfall though, I actually have cravings for things I don’t normally have cravings for like… fries! It was mentally challenging, physically challenging and way to much juice and sugar for me. Things like mental clarity and energy were also highly lacking.
- A response to the question that I know some of you are asking. Well, you didn’t do the cleanse exactly how you were supposed too. If you would do the one day cleanse as is, would you have gotten good results? Probably not, at least not much different of a feeling that I got after my two days of cleansing. Let’s think about it, you are drinking juices all day. Spiking your blood sugar over and over and over. You will feel many highs and lows like I did. Bursts of energy then fatigue, fine then nauseated, happy then grumpy. You are only doing it for one day so you won’t have time to get used to it anyway. I believe that cleansing your body needs to be a gradual, gentle process and be done with healthy eating that you do consistently for a long time. I did this cleanse to be able to say that I’ve tried it. I really did give it my all and I was hoping that it would prove me wrong! But it’s not for me and I wouldn’t recommend it to my clients.
- I would like to note. I am not saying anything bad about Earth Bar. I actually love their juice shop. They have great smoothies and fruit bowls. I continue to go back for the ginger shots and love the clean friendly atmosphere. They sometimes offer a free coffee with purchase in the mornings during the week which is an added bonus. I do recommend you at least walk in and check out their shop. They have so many healthy items to choose from that could suit your needs.
I hope this helped you with any future decisions on a juice cleanse.
Peace,
Justine
