When I last updated you on Day 2, I was about to have my cashew banana shake for dinner. I did drank it again and was feeling fine. After that, I went to Lowe’s with my parents and started thinking about the benefits I had gotten from solely juicing for two days. Honestly, there weren’t very many.
Is juicing healthy and beneficial? Yes. Does it constitute a balanced diet on its own? No
At this point I really really really wanted actual food with substance, and I began to get a headache. And then my parents stopped at Chili’s and the whole thing was settled. I decided to listen to my body instead of depriving it just to complete the arbitrary three days.
I needed food. At Chili’s, I had chips and salsa and a cup of potato soup. Though it wasn’t much food, I was completely satiated.
I finally had energy again!
I will say that it is a pretty amazing feat to eat only fresh fruits and vegetables and it did make me feel healthier in my mind, knowing I was getting so many vitamins and consuming things straight from a farm. But, I didn’t feel particularly cleansed of toxins or stool like I was expecting to. Also, I did lose a lot of water weight and felt like I had tighter muscle tone. Though, that could be because my muscles were breaking into their glycogen stores for energy, haha.
On the first day before I started I weighed myself. So there’s that. Take it as you will.
Day 1 – 117 lbs
Day 2- 114 lbs
Day 3- 115 lbs
Day 4
The next morning (Day 3) I was not hungry at all, but I ate some raw cashews for my last day’s dinner juice because they were delicious and crunchy and so what difference does it make if I puree them or eat them plain? Then, I had my morning green juice just because it tastes so good.
Life is much better when you can juice and eat what you want.
What did I learn from this?
“Juice cleanse” is probably just another fad diet. And yes, I got sucked in. None of us are immune. Fact is, a balanced diet is just that… balance. One food group will never get you whatever it is you are looking for from your food.
I’ve always gone off of all things in moderation. I eat what I’m craving, usually whatever I want. I don’t eat much, I walk a lot, stay active, and work out and run when I can.
I did explore lots of yummy juice combos and found out easy it is to get a lot of different colors in my diet. And, I think it really did help my digestive system. I had a couple people interested in the “digestive cleansing” that may/may not occur. If you have no interest in my bowel movements, feel free to stop here. To any men reading this : I still uphold that girls do not poop and all of the following is a lie.
Day 1- I went to the bathroom and felt emptied completely, though it was too soon to be from the juice and was probably just a regular stool.
Day 2- My stomach was crampy and I was bracing myself for diarrhea, but it never came. Stool was pretty soft though.
Day 3- This one’s sorta weird. But here it goes, I had wayyy more stool than usual and the beets made their appearance! Since I have never eaten beets before it was new to see dark red stool tinge the water pink and not want to call an ambulance.
So there you have it. I usually have a pretty slow digestive system but the juice seemed to regulate things and I felt like I was passing yesterday’s food each day (which is good) and was emptying completely. Very little discomfort and no diarrhea like I was expecting. I also noticed that without sips of soda and greasy chips, I hardly had any gas whatsoever.
My Take Aways:
1. Juice! Juice a lot, juice a variety of fruits and veggies- and even nuts! But don’t ONLY juice.
2. There is no cure-all, miracle food to make you feel magical all the time. (I knew this- I just was in a little juice bubble and had high expectations)
3. Try new things!
4. Be happy, be healthy! Just like the cheerio’s honey bee tells us.