Have you ever considered doing a juice cleanse? Well
Juice cleanses, popularly referred to as “juicing” or even “juice fasting” can offer numerous benefits:
- general detoxification and cleansing
- boost and rebuild immune systems
- weight loss in a healthy, non-fad way
- increase energy, mood, and mental focus
- improve overall health, wellness, skin complexion, and more
I was personally interested in doing the juice cleanse because I wanted
My husband decided he would do it with me. Teamwork makes the dream work, baby! Well…..that… and it’s a little difficult to stay on task when your better half is chewing real food in front of you and you are sipping a juice that tastes similar to grass. I’m just kidding, the juices are actually really delicious from “I Love Juice Bar”.. but you get the point. So my husband was on board to do it with me. Woo Hoo! He’s such a trooper!
We were just coming off the holidays and it was right after the New Year. So what better time to do a juice reset? We eat pretty clean for the most part, but we definitely enjoyed the holidays. So we were actually looking forward to it in a way. We intended to do the reset during the week but it just didn’t work out that way and our last day was on Saturday. Um… don’t do that! I suggest doing the cleanse during the week. The weekend temptations make it a bit more challenging to stay on course. But we did it!
We began the reset on a Thursday. We didn’t prep for the reset or anything. Instead, we just jumped right in. However, they do suggest limiting your sugar, dairy and refined grains leading up to the reset to help curb cravings. We picked up the juices the day before they were supposed to be consumed. For example, we picked up Thursday’s juices on Wednesday afternoon. I Love Juice Bar suggests getting them the day before if possible so you have the freshest juices when you are doing the reset, but I don’t believe that is required. I would just call your local juice bar and ask for their suggestions.
Water
First thing – water! Water, water, water! Drink a lot of water during the reset to help flush things along. We began each day with warm lemon water. I do this every morning anyways because of all the great benefits of lemon water. Therefore, it felt routine for me. You can read my post on the benefits of warm lemon water here. You also need to be drinking plenty of filtered water throughout the day. I personally suggest drinking half your body weight in ounces. Not just on the reset, but every day.
Day One – Essential Reset
I Love Juice Bar suggests drinking your higher calorie juices earlier in the day. We did somewhat strive for that but at the same time, we wanted to spread out the green juices a bit. So here is the schedule we went by for our first day.
8 am – Ginger Greens (ginger, apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
10 am – Orange You Glad (carrot, apple, pineapple, mint, ginger, lemon)
12 pm – Sweet Greens (apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
2 pm – We Got The Beet (beet, carrot, apple, ginger, lemon)
4 pm – Sweet Greens (apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
6 pm – Fresh Greens (celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
DAY ONE TAKEAWAY
On the first
DAY TWO – Essential Reset
Day two was basically a repeat of day one. We consumed a lot of water along with the juices below. We both also had black coffee in the morning, which is allowed as well if needed. Just no sugar or cream. My husband is used to drinking black coffee each morning but black coffee makes me gag. So obviously I was a bit desperate. Ha!
8 am – Ginger Greens (ginger, apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
10 am – Orange You Glad (carrot, apple, pineapple, mint, ginger, lemon)
12 pm – Sweet Greens (apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
2 pm – We Got The Beet (beet, carrot, apple, ginger, lemon)
4 pm – Sweet Greens (apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
6 pm – Fresh Greens (celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
Day Two Takeaway
Day two we both woke up feeling great. The main thing I noticed immediately upon waking was that all of the holiday bloat was gone! My stomach had massively flattened out, which felt great!
It was a beautiful day that day, so I took my kiddos on a long walk. That was probably not the best idea. I Love Juice Bar does not suggest vigorous activity during the resets and while that was not necessarily vigorous it did still increase my hunger cravings pretty significantly. I fought through it until the evening, but eventually, I had to have a handful of nuts. Ryan did the same. We felt much better after that. We also ended the evening with a cup of chamomile tea. That was a nice mix-up. Day Two is known to be the most challenging day but I think that was Day 3 for us.
Day Three – Core Reset
On the third day, it got a bit more challenging because it is mostly all green juices except for one. However, you do not have to choose to do the core reset on day three. You can continue with the essential reset again, but we were up for the challenge, so we did it. It honestly wasn’t too bad but we were both super grateful for the juice that contained coconut and probiotics, called coco pro. It helped curb the cravings massively. Here is our day three schedule on the core reset. Of course lots of water again.
8 am – Fresh Greens+ginger (celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon, ginger)
10 am – Sweet Greens (apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon)
12 pm – Coco Pro (fresh young coconut blended with hemp seeds and probiotics)
2 pm – Mean Greens (
4 pm – Fresh Greens/Ginger Greens Mix (celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon, ginger, apple)
6 pm – Ginger Greens+spirulina (ginger, apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, lemon, spirulina)
DAY 3 TAKEAWAY
I think day 3 was probably the most difficult day but I think that was because it fell on the weekend. That was the day we were the most hungry and just ready to eat real food and had kind of had enough. We also had a friend’s birthday that night and wanted to hang out with our friends and have some real food and a cocktail…but
FINAL THOUGHTS…
The main thing I realized after this juice reset was that I had way more anxiety going into it than I should have. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. Also, one thing I hadn’t really thought twice about was losing weight. I actually lost 5 lbs when it was all said and done. I was pretty impressed. Three of the pounds came back pretty quickly but it was good to know if ever in a pinch and needed to quickly drop a few for an occasion I could do one of these again.
While the cravings came and went and I had an occasional headache, it wasn’t anything too difficult to handle. It was also nice to know if I was about to hit a wall, I could go for a handful of nuts, 1/2 an apple or 1/2 an avocado. As far as the digestive system goes…we were going #1 mostly. However, when you transition off the cleanse and start eating fibrous foods….you may want to keep things close to home if you know what I mean.
My main goal was to use this juice “cleanse” as a reset and that’s exactly what it did for us. It jumpstarted us back into making healthier choices. So following the cleanse, I made a clean meal plan to slowly transition off the reset and to follow for the following week. The transition off of the cleanse is very important. You have just spent the money, time and energy on the reset. You don’t want all that to go to waste. Therefore, I highly encourage you to prepare yourself for the post-cleanse meals as well. Here is the post-cleanse meal plan I created.
Click here: What to eat after a Juice Cleanse:
In conclusion, I would do a 3-day reset again and most likely will every January moving forward. I will also do 1 and 2 day resets every now again throughout the year when I feel they are needed. I would definitely recommend a reset to anyone who needs a jump start into a healthier lifestyle or something to help them get back on track. So if you have an interest in doing a 1, 2 or 3 day cleanse just give “I Love Juice Bar” a call and they will set you up. I hope this post was helpful and reach out with any questions! If you have done a juice cleanse/reset I’d love to hear your thoughts/experience in the comments.
Disclosure: This was my personal experience and every experience will vary to some degree. Also, I am not a doctor and you may need to consult your physician before doing a juice reset.