My Juicing Experience And My Relationship With My Digestive Health

For many years I have toyed with the idea of doing a full on liquid only/juice cleanse. Around ten years ago I did attempt the Master Cleanse, which consists of drinking only a mixture of fresh lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for 10 days. I was excited about this idea but really did not know what I was doing and I don't really recall doing much prep leading up. I ended up lasting only around a half day. I discovered I have a deep loathing for cayenne pepper pretty fast, and I thought about food and how hungry I was the whole entire time. It felt like the whole 10 days passed just in those few hours! 

Fast forward to today and I know a whole lot more about my body and health in general. My digestion has been pretty unhappy for at least 2 1/2 years now,and it wasn't all that happier for years before that. A bout with Lyme and a month of a antibiotic (I did 1/2 antibiotic, 1/2 natural treatment) really left me with an unhappy belly. Suddenly I was bloated all the time and felt pretty gross. I also slowly added on almost 20 lbs of undesired weight. 

This January I entered a weight loss challenge with my neighbors. Over 2 months, I lost 12 lbs. Much of it I believe was bloat alone, caused by food sensitivities. I realised that I was sensitive to dairy and raw onions. I enjoy both so that was a bummer, but cutting them out I felt soooo much better. Worth it. At the end of the 2 months I knew I was ready for this juice cleanse I had been thinking about for years. I ran out and got this bounty of organic veggies and some fruits. I only use green apples for juicing due to low sugar content. The other apples you see here are for my kids for eating. I love a citrusy juice in the morning so I got a bunch of oranges and grapefruit, I LOVE grapefruit. Goes so well with so many things. Lots of greens, some beets, cucumbers, celery, lemons and limes, ginger and turmeric. 

This is the juicer I have, an Omega 8006. I LOVE it and it is well worth the money if you plan on juicing on a regular basis. 

The day before I started I ate very light. I had some coconut yogurt with seeds and nuts for breakfast, and only lettuce salads for lunch and dinner. It is much easier on your system to ease into a cleanse by eating light. If you can do this for more than one day it is probably even better, but I kind of decided this last minute. 

Day 1:  I was super low energy. I also got a strange light second cycle arrival even though I had just cycled 2 weeks before. I was taken by surprise as this is not usual for me. I was slightly crampy and kind of annoyed. It was pretty cold out and I was totally freezing. I did hardly anything. Took a warm bath. Napped. Snuggled with my kids. Had to layer up and at one point I was wearing not one winter hat but two.

I do not know if temperature drop is usual, but I live in New Hampshire and it is winter right now. I tend to run cold all the time anyway. 

Def hung out in the bathroom a bit. 

Some people take a gentle, natural laxative to aid in cleansing or drink a nice laxative tea. I did not do this but next time I will. The idea of a cleanse is to clean yourself out as much as possible. We hold on to stuff inside us we do not need. Not the most enjoyable topic to discuss but it is part of cleansing. Next time I will use an organic laxative tea like Traditional Medicinals or Yogi brand. If you take a laxative, I recommend getting something from a natural food store and avoiding harsh brands you can find in a pharmacy or regular grocery store. These contain ingredients that are not clean and would not pair well with a cleanse. Best to avoid products like this overall. 

I really did not follow recipes, I just combined what I felt like, but I know some people prefer specifics. I watered down my juices a little to reduce the sugar content even more. Just enough but not too much to take the taste away. I love fresh juice. SO good.

Small tip: if juicing ginger, which is amazing for you, keep it to small amounts. Ginger is strong and potent and can overpower a juice if too much is used. It might ruin the experience for you and there should be some enjoyment. I have a friend who juices garlic during her cleanses, which I did try once, but my belly did not like it. If you can tolerate it, that would provide excellent benefit. 

I also drank a lot of water and herbal teas, naturally decaffeinated. I was hungry. I found keeping liquid in my belly helped. My husband made bacon for dinner and I had to go upstairs from the smell. Then he cooked it exactly the way I like it, crispy. That was the ultimate test. 

Day 2: Basically the same, but I was not really hungry. Really cold, low energy. Less bathroom time. Lost 3 lbs by this point. My husband made bacon again!  I wonder if he was testing me. 

Day 3: This was the best day. I had a bunch of energy, I was not cold and I did not have any GI side effects. Perhaps I did not clean out as much as I could have, but I thought this was a great first experience. 

On this day, my husband left town and I had to cook for my daughters. I was hardly tempted to nibble even though what I made them was yummy. When I felt hungry I would simply drink a juice, water or tea. This felt really good to me and a nice reminder that I can and do have willpower. 

I debated going longer and did have a juice for breakfast on the 4th day, but decided to start easing back into food in the early afternoon. Ate light. Lost a total of 5 lbs! This brought me to a total of 17 lbs in 2 months. 

During these 3 days I stopped most of my supplements. I did take some enzymes and probiotics and my thyroid support. I also did my regular shot of NingXia Red drink with Copaiba and Frankincense . 

Overall this was a fantastic experience and I am super glad I did it. It was nice to feel my body in perfect digestion and to challenge my willpower. I will be doing this on a regular basis as a way to maintain healthy digestion and a weight I feel good with. 

My assessment is that juicing is a delicious, wonderful way to clean yourself out and reset your body in a healthy way and I highly recommend it. Please let me know about your experiences with juicing, I would love to hear them! Thanks for reading!