Read about my juicing adventure from the beginning: Day 1 and Day 2.
Day 3 Sunday
9:50 am I wake up at least an hour and a half later than is usual on weekends. I notice that juicing makes me fall asleep later and therefore, sleep in. But that’s small loss since the scale tells me I’ve 2 lbs since yesterday! Squeee!! Feeling smug, I drink a tall glass of chilled detox tea with a splash of organic cranberry juice.
10:30 am After berating me yesterday for “cheating” with almond milk shakes, Boyfriend offers me some of his usual morning shake with ice, blueberries, almond milk, and a scoop of Vega protein powder. I take a small cup, about 8 oz–it isn’t super yummy like it usually is, but at this point I’ll drink anything that doesn’t taste like bile.
1 pm I swing by Whole Foods and find one of those high-end cold pressed juices that are everywhere these days. I choose Suja for no other reason than that it is on $2.00 off sale for a relatively benign $6.99–cheap compared to $8.99 or even $11.99 of some brands! I sample a few flavors and settle on Fuji Apple Cucumber Celery Kale Spinach Collards Lemon Ginger. This is the first juice of my cleanse that boasts so many claims to “cold press” and “raw,” though the other juices from my local places were also organic. It’s also the sweetest and the most pleasant tasting with a smooth mouth feel. But I think I still prefer to support my neighborhood places–and at 140 calories and 28 g of sugar per bottle, it’s also more sugary than the other juices I’ve had.
5:00 pm I’d decided at the beginning that I would eat a light dinner on Sunday so as to not wake up Monday morning feeling out of my game. So I start making dinner–Mushroom Sofrito Stuffed Tomatoes. It feels so good to be making food again and I realize how much I enjoy not just eating, but the whole experience of selecting the ingredients and preparing food. After all, why the heck would I work so hard if I don’t ever put the food on the table?
7:45 pm Boyfriend and I share a beautiful meal of stuffed tomatoes and I even eat a small dessert of frozen blueberries. I’m amazed that even though I’m allowing myself to eat solid food for the first time in three days, I don’t need to eat a lot to feel satisfied. During the three day cleanse, I ate around 800-900 calories a day on Day 1 and 2, and probably around 1,400 on Day 3. I didn’t eat any gluten (except for those few bites of vegan chicken salad sandwich on Day 2), oil, added sugar, salt, and most remarkably, any chocolate. Perhaps that’s why I felt so calm this morning when I woke up, or why my skin looks better than before the cleanse. And even though I gained back 0.5 lbs since yesterday (making my total weight lost 3.0 lbs), I feel so much lighter, leaner, and well, clean! And, drum roll please…1.5 inches lost from the waist, people. That’s something to fight for. Here’s what I learned after juicing:
1. Food tastes so much more intense now that I need less to feel full. I even realized I could cut back on the salt.
2. I don’t have to say yes to every free food that’s vegan! It’s okay to enjoy the company of others more than the food on the table.
3. The best part of the cleanse wasn’t the few lbs I lost, but realizing that I don’t need so much sugar and carbs to keep me happy. Without them, I feel more in tune and in peace with my body. So this morning, I grabbed another all green juice instead of an energy bar like I would have done–and it gave me all the energy I needed to take on a Monday from hell.
