I was very excited to try doing a juice fast. I have met
several people who have done extended (7 days and more) juice fasts who have
spoken to me about how amazing they felt-The clarity, the energy, the flat
stomach. They all swear by them.
I have also been doing some research into the benefits of
fasting and that we humans are designed to go through periods of fasting. It
gives our digestive system a break so it can repair and heal and the latest
study I read was about how your whole immune system can be rebuilt after
fasting for just 3 days.
I love trying new things and experimenting on myself when it
comes to health. I never feel comfortable recommending anything to my clients
unless it is something I personally have tried. So I thought it cant hurt, I
may as well give it a go. Worst case scenario I waste 3 days and maybe lose
some weight.
After a big vegetable shop (my organic grocer sure did love
me this week), and convincing my mum to join me on the adventure I was ready to
begin.
Each day consisted of 5 juices. I had a template I was
following but really just made up my own combos using the template as a guide.
I also made sure to drink plenty of water and herbal teas. Lets just say I
couldn’t venture too fat from the toilet for the 3 days. Lucky I chose a week
where I didn’t have too much on.
The daily routine:
7.30am Glass of warm water with the juice of ½ lemon
8am breakfast juice
9am Green tea
10.30am morning tea juice
1pm Lunch juice
2pm Green tea
3.30pm afternoon tea juice
6.30pm Dinner juice
8pm Chamomile tea
To be honest it wasn’t as hard as I expected. After reading
several blogs where people found it very challenging I was expecting the worst.
I didn’t suffer from any extreme symptoms. My head was a bit groggy, especially
the first day but it never developed into a headache. The second and third day
I did have a bit of a stomach-ache but it certainly wasn’t present the whole
time. I felt a bit hungry at times but the juices were so big and I felt so
full of fluid that the hunger was short lived. I also expected to not sleep
very well as in the past I have never slept well on an empty stomach but I was
feeling quite exhausted and really had no trouble in the sleeping department.
The chamomile tea and Epsom salt baths I was having before dinner probably
aided too.
I think I felt the best on the second day, which may have
been because I was busy and distracted that day. I felt quite energetic and
positive. The third day I was feeling a little irritable but certainly not as
bad as I expected.
What I found the most challenging was my thoughts. The fact
that I couldn’t eat food meant that I was constantly thinking about it. Although
I wasn’t that hungry, food was always on my mind. It certainly didn’t help that
my husband decided to enjoy food that we don’t normally have at home and bring
home a pizza for dinner. I think the mind games we play with ourselves are
always our biggest challenges.
The other challenge was all the preparation. It took about
half an hour to cut the veggies, make the juices and wash the juicer. Doing
this 5 times a day became a bit tedious. By the third day I had simply had
enough of the juicing!
I didn’t quite experience the huge positive effects others
had spoken to me about but I think 3 days probably wasn’t long enough to really
feel light, free and clear. It was just long enough to give my body a nice
break and recharge. It will be interesting to see how I feel over the next few
days but today I still feel a bit tired. I definitely do feel lighter in my
stomach (I lost about 1.5kgs) and not as foggy in the head. I am truly glad I
gave it a go, especially since it is spring. A little internal spring-cleaning J.
I could see myself doing it again and possibly for even longer next time!
I certainly do advocate doing some for of detoxification at
least once a year and think spring is the perfect time. The juice fast is just
one of many ways to aid the body’s natural detoxification pathway which is so
important in our society where we are constantly bombarded with toxins and
pollutants.
If you would like more information on what type of
detoxification might be best for you feel free to contact me.
I would also love to hear your juice fasting experiences!
