My first 3-day juice cleanse // A detox diary

my first 3-day juice cleanse // a thousand threads
I’m not a diet girl — I don’t dig deprivation. So most of the time I try to watch my portions, track my calories, and do my best to eat food that’s as wholesome as possible. Not so much because I should – if I could I’d eat sugar cereal and loaves of bread interchangeably and always — but because if I didn’t, I’d starve.

Nothing will teach you the value of good, real food like counting calories for a week… and there we find the root of my fascination with juicing. It doesn’t seem like it should, but somehow a whole day on juice can actually leave you feeling… not full exactly… but pretty okay.

If you’re feeling skeptical of the juice cleanse in general, check out this documentary… it might change your mind.

As much as I’m a believer, though, I’ve never made it through a multi-day cleanse. A day, maybe… but only ever with my own scrappy little juicer and a dream. So when Fruitive reached out to talk about a collaboration – a chance to try a real (as in someone actually put some thought into the various juices and their individual health impacts) multi-day cleanse — I jumped at the chance. Fruitive’s juice is fresh, seasonal, organic (or better) and totally delicious… to a point that if I weren’t looking at the word “kale” on their label, I’m not sure I’d believe it was in there.

I chose their “clear the fog” cleanse, because I’m a wimp and the all-green-juice deal looked just a little bit too intense. And with my general love of but total lack of knowledge of longer juice cleanses, I set off to document the journey…

my first 3-day juice cleanse // a thousand threads
Day One

8am // I wake up and down juice #1, my juice shot, it’s pulpy and delicious. After 20 minutes I’m ready for my first official juice, which despite its green disposition and “kale”ish name, is pretty darn fruity and delicious. The juice tastes real — like I spent 3 hours feeding it through my juicer to prep for this cleanse. Thank god I didn’t. Juicers make me a little bitter and a little guilty… cleanup is always such a pain, and throwing away all that pulp just feels wrong… at least this way I don’t have to look at the carcass. (Such a hypocrite.)

5 minutes after finishing I have a sudden urge for toasty sourdough and eggs… probably because that’s what I had for breakfast the day before.

Instead of reaching for the skillet, though, I fight it back, and curl up under at least 15 blankets to keep warm on another of these freezing days we seem to be living in now.

11am // Another ridiculously delicious, tart, sweet juice… I’m feeling a little spoiled, to be honest. My homemade juice never tastes this good. But I’m still craving a piece of toast.

1pm // It’s starting to get a little harder. I feel a little hungry, a little weak…

I’m starting to eye the unpeeled potatoes on the counter like they’re beignets.

2pm // I’m pretty sure the dog smells like peanut butter. He smells delicious.

5pm // Okay maybe I’m not as tough as I thought. I’m not feeling great… I have a dull headache and am feeling incredibly weak. Is it time for bed yet?

9pm // Off to bed. My last juice of the night is my savior… I’m not feeling hungry, but I am feeling bad.

Overnight feels like a drug detox, or what I assume a drug detox feels like… no babies on the ceiling, but I toss and turn all night.

my first 3-day juice cleanse // a thousand threads
Day Two

8am // I wake up feeling pretty okay… but not very hungry, so I make the mistake of holding off on my juice for a couple of hours… crabbiness ensues. Juice comes to the rescue.

I’m feeling a little weak, but generally not starving. Though the cravings for crusty bread are still there (let’s be honest, when are they not…).

3pm // Feeling pretty okay, bring on the juice.

5pm // So. Hungry. But at least I’ve shifted my expectations… my body had reluctantly given up on the crusty bread, now I’m craving my nighttime indulgence juice.

8pm // Not as hungry, my stomach seems to be settling into the routine and my indulgence juice is delicious.

10pm // Off to bed. I sleep like a baby.

my first 3-day juice cleanse // a thousand threads
Day Three

8am // I wake up feeling pretty great. Not necessarily dying for more juice, but not dealing with the hardcore cravings either.

2pm // I’m totally getting my energy back, and these juices are still delicious.

5pm // No cravings. Not for bread, not for sugar. How’d I manage that?

11pm // I fall asleep in front of the tragedy that is the BCS championship game, still feeling pretty great, and sleep well.

Post-cleanse

I eased back in fairly slowly, but didn’t have any major body freakouts upon introducing regular food back into my routine.

The cleanse itself was hard to get through, yes. But the rewards are completely worth it. I’m working hard to maintain a new normal with less sugar/carb cravings… though I won’t hold my breath. Such is the life of a house full of bakers… but at least I know that whenever I feel the need for a reset I have the option for another cleanse!

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