Juice Box Hawaii Cleanse: Day 1
No coffee and no food for three days, sign me up! That sounds like the worst experience, ever. Anyways, here I am, right in it. I haven’t had any coffee, and I feel totally fine without the coffee. I do love the morning routine of enjoying a nice warm brew, the aroma, the memories, the habit, amazing. Even though I love me some coffee, it is good to switch it up sometimes, so I was actually happy to take a break from coffee consumption, food, however, not so much.
Today: 6 juices, 2 juice shots, 1 small kale salad with strawberries, blueberries, and tomatoes. In theory--Yum!
Let me just tell you all, I was the kid in high school that needed to eat a snack half way through practice so that I didn’t get light headed and pass out. I did in fact pass out at one high school basketball practice. I continued this snacking tradition through college as well. Knowing my fainting tendencies, I was more than a bit apprehensive about how I would fair with a cleanse. My main worry was that I wouldn’t have enough energy to function throughout the day.
I chose to do my cleanse with Juice Box Hawaii because their juice is straight up amazingly delicious. They work with you to create juices that you find yummy.
I went into this cleanse with a few intentions:
1- To try it.
2- To write about the experience honestly.
3- To ultimately gain a sense of whether or not I feel it’s a healthy habit.
4- To be extremely gentle and nourishing with myself, only gentle yoga, naps were okay, beach, etc. (tough life, I know).
What really happened?
I made it most of the day.
I was complaining to my friend all day about how much I wanted to eat real food, and wining about how hungry I was; I was really great company (Taryn, you are a trooper). We did a small hike (not so gentle of me, view pictured below), and my fast metabolism went through that juice so quickly and was eager and ready for the next one while I still had two sips left. I thought I was doomed. Day 1 and I can’t even survive? People all over the world go hungry everyday.
However, my intention was never to feel hungry, to lose weight, or to feel really deprived. Why didn’t deprivation cross my mind given that all I had to consume all day were 6 fresh juices, 2 shots (wheatgrass and lemon), and one small kale, strawberry, blueberry, tomato salad? Not sure.
When 5pm rolled around and I was starving, I swallowed my pride and let go of the thought that I was somehow “failing” and had a piece of toast (o.m.g). Yep, I had toast. And guess what, I am still alive, the world is still spinning, I am still on a cleanse (mostly). I called my Dad earlier in the day to explain my starvation/light headed predicament, he said, “do what’s natural,” Derek said, “Don’t quit!”. I circled back to my intention which was to try it and not feel deprived. I certainly felt deprived.
I am going to continue with my cleanse, maybe the next two days go better, but I live an active lifestyle as a full-time yogi and yoga teacher. I am a lover of food. I mean a real lover. This is going to sound very western of me, but the thought of not being able to have food made me feel anxious. I had switched my juice cleanse perspective from excitement to fear, I was scared that I was going to hate it and that I would be locked in. But having that little piece of toast eliminated the fear for me, now I know that if I wanted to I could always eat a piece of toast. I wasn’t going to shrivel up and pass out.
My Advice...
Before, you begin a cleanse, check your motives. Fresh juices are extremely beneficial for your health and unquestionably great additions to your current eating regimen, but a full-on cleanse is intense. Just be aware of your motives. As for me, it was investigative. I was dubious of the benefits of a cleanse; the first day of my cleanse proved to be a lot harder because I hadn’t yet bought into the cleanse mania. I still need to do my own research on the benefits. I would also caution you against doing a non-whole-foods based cleanse, for example with synthetic powders, be very weary!
It is now 8:30pm and I just had my second to last juice, I actually feed really good. I think, if you’ve made it to the point where you have signed up for a cleanse, you are more than likely on the right track to taking control of your health and your life in a positive way.
Cleanse is a big buzz word these days and sure there are pros to sticking with the cleanse 100% but for me it didn’t outweigh the fact that I wanted to go to bed and it was 5pm. I weighed the pros and cons and went with toast. So be it, and life goes on.
Truth be told. Hopefully, tomorrow goes a bit better. One thing is for certain these juices are amazing! Thank you Juice Box Hawaii!
With Love,
