I was all prepared to start my my juice cleanse after all the weekend stuffing and holiday “cheat” meals. It was really easy to start gorging out on food unknowingly during rest days, friends meet up and gatherings, only to realize it after you step on the scale or after the pants is too tight to fit. Familiar?
The best way to start the week right will be committing into a juice cleanse! Read my previous juice cleanse journey here! Why do I say so and what can a juice cleanse do for you?
Here’s a whole list of benefits of what and how a juice cleanse can help your body reap;
1) Rest the stomach and liver – Juices require less of the stomach’s digestive processing and goes directly into the blood stream. The liver as our main detoxifying organ, every molecule of food that is absorbed through the intestinal wall moves into the liver for detoxification and preparation before being allowed to enter the rest of the body. The problem is, there are too many toxins for most of our livers to handle – causing wreak havoc in distant cells. A juice cleanse rests the liver’s overload.
2) Rest and repair the gut – Toxic foods (such as saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, foods with additives, pesticides and allergenic foods), taking medications (such as antibiotics), and even stress can impair the intestine’s functioning. By consuming only juices, it cleanse the gut and allow it to rest without transporting food to our digestive organs.
3) Reduce your appetite – Juicing doesn’t really shrink the stomach — although it feels like it does. Juicing eliminates the habit of comfort eating, and makes you feel satiated with less food, which provides a big psychological boost to help get over the hurdle of changing habits.
4) Eliminate harmful foods and flood it with super nutrition – A juice cleanse eliminates dairy, wheat, gluten and fermented foods from the diet (as well as coffee and alcohol). Pumping up on the vitamins and minerals as those fruits powerhouses cleans-up and heal the body system.
5) Lose weight – A juice cleanse (three days minimum) is a great way to jump start a diet. It not only helps control appetite and cravings, but is naturally lower in calories, while supplying the body with probably more concentrated beneficial energizing.
6) Rehydrate the body – Drinking sufficient fluids (5-6 glasses/day) makes the body function more efficiently, moreover increasing energy and helps insure proper elimination of toxins.
Source: Huffington Post
I started off with Green Apple and Lemon juice to kick-start breakfast! Apples contain pectin, which detox and remove cholesterol and toxins through the liver and kidneys. Lemons contain a pocketful of benefits, this also includes in removing waste and promotes a healthy liver. I love how those sour buds got tinge up after my first juice.
Next, blending my favourite green juice! The best way to re-hydrate and cleanse the body system! Green juice are harder to consume as it is not as sweet as what fruit juices are. Imagine.. Broccoli? Cucumber? Celery? Bitter-gourd?
Therefore, people who are accustomed with green juices can consume 6 bottles of them in a day, for me I prefer a mixture of greens and fruits juices. Here’s what I did (pictured);
1. Green Apples with Lemons
2. 5 Green Juice
3. Guava Juice
4. Oranges, Yellow Pears with Lemons
It was not a starvation day for me, as I am used to having juices for breakfast. The challenging part was during night time, as work ended and everyone is heading back home for dinner and what I could have was just a cup of cold green juice. I must say, it takes a lot of discipline. Juice cleanse encourages early sleep as well, as the body is drained out of solid food and the mind starts to spin around.
How to survive a juice cleanse?
1. Prepare your juices and label them, this will ensure your mind to accustom what comes next for lunch,etc and it will be hard for you to break that.
2. Be consistent in fulfilling your juice quota. Drinking every 3 hours is vital, filling full and satisfied is important to keep the juice cleanse going on.
3. Stay in the office during lunch hour and do more work instead of thinking what to eat, as usual.
4. Stay focused on the finishing satisfaction and remain committed. Make every second worth it!
5. The best survival technique is to get a bud and do it together! Cause nothing works better with a constant motivator and someone to check on your progress. Competitiveness will boost and enhance performance.
That’s all for now. #Juicingselfie
Definitely, not everyone is suitable to go through such a juice cleanse programme without solid food at all. Some may experience fainting spells and cold limbs, which I strongly encourage all to listen to your body. If a 3 days juice cleanse is too long for you to handle, shorten it to a day or two instead. What is most important is the body is able to withstand and reap those benefits instead of crashing and falling sick.
Mabel Tan 