While everyone’s talking about barbecues and patriotic treats for this 4th of July, I’m going to be sharing the details of the three day juice cleanse I just went through… Still interested???  Stick with me, guys.  Juices are delicious, too!

I shared the news on Instagram and after getting a positive response and expressed interest in how it went, I thought yea I’ll have to post on the blog about it.  Thanks for that by the way everyone, and for all your encouragement.  I didn’t think I was going to make it D:

And that brings us to the disclaimer: I am NOT an expert on this topic.  This was my first juice cleanse ever, and it also happened to be one I JIY’ed (juice it yourself).  I’m writing to share the details of my experience rather than to advise you on what’s the best way to do a juice cleanse, because there’s no way I would know that information.  At the very least, this is about sharing some delicious juice recipes you at-home juicers will love.  <3

So let’s start with an important question…

 

WHY DID WE GO ON A JUICE CLEANSE?

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My boyfriend has been struggling with acid reflux.  At the recommendation of his doctor, he went gluten-free for a couple weeks.  A miracle… his acid reflux subsided.  So we continued on, and the next part of the plan was to eat only raw veggies and fruits for three days, which I did with him (’twas difficult), and then… a three day juice cleanse.  The idea was to reset the system, clear everything out, and then after the cleanse, to start re-introducing foods back in to see what the culprits are.  Ultimately, this is the beginning of becoming a lot more diet conscious.

So my reason for the cleanse is him.  I wanted to support him, and especially since we cohabitate, it would have made things unquestionably harder for him had I been cooking my own delicious meals while he juiced by himself.  We did it together, because we are a team <3.

Before you say that was nice of me or anything, I’d like to share that I complained HARD, and often, especially in the beginning.  He would gladly tell you all about it.  “Hangry” is a real thing.

 

THE JUICES

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We based our recipes and schedule off of a local, pre-made juice cleanse package that we had considered purchasing, but decided instead to save some money, put in the extra elbow grease, and put our own juicer to use.

This is our Omega Juicer.  It’s a masticating juicer that crushes the fruits and vegetables instead of shredding them, which gets more of the juice out.  Thing is, some of the pulp comes out with the juice, so we used a strainer to catch and remove it.

We made three different juice recipes, two green and one red.  Each day we made one day’s batch for the both of us, which is all three juices in the following quantities.  Some of it we made up as we went, and we weren’t exact on quantities, but this is roughly what I can remember about how we made each juice.  Everything we used was organic.

Green Juice One (makes roughly 64oz)

-2 green apples
-2 pears
-5 large handfuls of kale (we used baby kale leaves)
-2 large cucumbers
-1 medium handful of parsley
-10 stalks of celery
-8 carrots

This juice was the mildest of the three.  Had a very clean taste.

Green Juice Two (makes roughly 64oz)

-2 green apples
-1 pear
-5 large handfuls of kale (we used baby kale leaves)
-1/2 pineapple
-handful of mint
-8 stalks of celery
-6 carrots
-2 lemons, no rind

The mint was sooooo gooood, especially with the pineapple.  Made this one extra refreshing, and it was my favorite.

Red Juice (makes roughly 32oz)

-3 beets, including the stems and leaves
-2 green apples
-4 large handfuls of spinach
-2 carrots
-1 lemon, no rind
-handful of blueberries and strawberries (We only added these because we had them in the fridge and they were soon to go bad, but they added a nice tart flavor to the juice that I really liked.  They did make the juice thicker though, which might not be preferable.)
-little bit of ginger to taste

The first round of red juice, we used about an inch of ginger, which I loved, but my boyfriend hated it.  The kick was too much for him, so we reduced it down to about the size of a fingertip.

So each of us drank 32oz of green juice one, 32oz of green juice two, and 16oz of red juice total in a single day, as shown in the mason jars above.  The quantities in the recipes provide two sets of these.

 

THE SCHEDULE

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I mixed up the order as I pleased, but the idea is to space out 16oz servings 5 times a day

1) Breakfast- 16oz of Green Juice One
2) “Snack”- 16 oz of Red Juice
3) Lunch- 16oz Green Juice Two
4) “Snack”- 16oz Green Juice One
5) Dinner- 16oz Green Juice Two

All in between, we drank water often.  It was also important to get good sleep every night and make sure we were well-rested, and really, we didn’t have tons of energy during this whole thing, so we were happy to go to bed early.

 

TAKEAWAYS AND THOUGHTS

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• This cleanse required a lot of stuff, and juicing each day took us about two and a half hours.  Contributing factors were that we had to cut the stringier veggies (greens, herbs, celery, beets) into tinier bits since these things tend to jam up a masticating juicer, and we also cleaned out the juicer in between each juice.  Summary: it was a LOT of work, and I can see why purchasing a pre-made cleanse would be worth it.  If we didn’t already have a juicer, we absolutely would have gone that route, and maybe even still now if time were more of an issue.

• Were we hungry all the time?  Yes.  The nights were especially hard, and we’d cope by going to bed early and sleeping through the hunger, then tossing and turning while talking about all the things we wished we could eat at that moment.  It was just as fun as it sounds… but the point is that this would have been so much harder to do alone.  This is absolutely something I’d need to do with a friend if I ever do it again.

• It wasn’t all bad, though.  Again, the juices are delicious, and it felt good at times to be “eating clean”, a nice departure from feeling bloated after a large, greasy meal, although I do love those.

• The first night, I dreamt that I was shoveling all kinds of food in my mouth and that was it.  I remember it so clearly.  Can we take a moment to think about how awesome eating is??  I’ve come away from this with a heightened appreciation for food and being able to chew.

• I don’t see myself doing a cleanse again, but after eating raw for a few days and drinking all these juices, I’m convinced that I need to incorporate fruits and veggies more often into my regular diet.  It’s true that it just feels good to eat things that are good for you, and for a while I had fallen off the horse and was just going for the quickest, easiest stuff I could eat.  I would say we are generally pretty health conscious, but we are absolutely even more now.

All in all, it wasn’t terrible, but I think three days is my max.  The first day after the cleanse was over, everything tasted a little strange!  We both agreed that it felt like our taste buds were off, and we were starting to crave fruits and veggies again.  Still, I much preferred that than to have continued on with the cleanse.  I’m proud of having gone through it, but I love food too much.  This isn’t the end to my juicing, but now it will just be in addition to regular meals.

Have you ever done a juice cleanse before?  Did you JIY it?  I’d love to hear about your experience and any delicious juice recipes you know of!