Let’s do this thing! A lot of my friends have asked me how I Juice cleanse, so this post for you, and everyone else who’ve thought of doing this, or looking for ideas, and recipes.

Firstly, I am not a nutritionist. Over the past two years of closely working with my nutritionist, I just understand how my body reacts to various foods, and the nutrition it needs. I highly recommend you do that same. So this is just me documenting my experience, based on the couple of years I’ve been doing this.

I love juicing, I really love it! But, I’ll be honest, it’s intense if you’ve never done it before.
At the end of this experience, however, is feeling rejuvenated, healthy, light, and just damn good about yourself. You may even shed a few pounds, but for me, that is absolutely not the point. It really feels like an accomplishment, and you should be proud!

A few lessons I learned:
If you are currently consuming lots of processed foods, restaurant food, salt, sugar or processed meats you may want to ease into doing a cleanse and not go in cold turkey. Or you’ll end up being ravenously hungry, cranky, experience headaches, and just all around be miserable.

What do I mean by ease in? When I did this the first time, for a week before the cleanse, I stayed away from three things:
1. Highly Processed foods (includes chips, soda, canned goods, highly altered nut butters, basically most packaged foods)
2. Sugar, White, Brown, or any kind (I used fruits and dried fruits to substitute for sweetness when needed)
3. All drinks other than water.

I cooked real foods using real vegetables and fruits, with some assistance from nuts, organic dairy, and whole grains. Some examples; Soups or stews with vegetables and beans. Roasted Veggies with quinoa or bulgur pilaf, Salads with tofu, nuts and dried fruits (stay away from sugary unhealthy pre packaged salad dressings, nothing like a quick olive oil, lemon juice and your favorite herbs as dressing!) Stir Fry with veggies (stay away from salty sugary sauces) Keep your food simple, real, and tasty.
If a week seems impossible, try 3 days. It really helps the process of easing in!

Day 1 is always the hardest for me because your brain definitely ups its “Im hungry” game. But it’s important to to be aware that it’s all in your head. I get bored and I want to eat. I crave textures. I crave salt. These are all normal to feel. With these many micronutrients and fluids, there is zero chance of physical hunger. On day 2, I feel better. and Day 3, I feel like a champion! If you surprise yourself with how good you feel, try pushing to day 4 or day 5 and go pro!

Now you’re ready.

Equipment:
There is much debate about using a slow juicer vs high powered blender. In my opinion, just juicing itself is a great thing, let’s not complicate it too much with an excuse to not do it. So if you don’t own an expense juicer, that’s ok! A blender works fine. The level of pulp will differ on whether you’re using a regular blender or a high powered one like a Vitamix. I use a Vitamix.

Breaking it down:
If you’ve researched this before you know there are multitudes of resources and overwhelming amount of information on this. I like to break it down to three basic timelines:

Beginner: One day cleanse (recommend for first timers)
Intermediate: Three day cleanse
Advanced: Five to Six day cleanse

I would recommend not going past 6 days.

The components of the juice are vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and protein. Typically more vegetables, some fruits, measured protein, and limited fats.

Since fruits contain sugar, I don’t add any additional sugar. But there are times when you may crave it, and there are natural alternatives like Monkfruit sweetener. Below is the kind I use.

This week, I am doing a three day cleanse. Today is day 1.

Here is what my day looks like:

8am: 8 oz water
9am: 10 oz Green Juice (with healthy fat)
11am: 10 oz Red Juice (with protein)
1pm: 8 oz water
2pm: 10 oz Orange Juice
4pm: 10 oz Green Juice (optional:with protein)
6pm: 10 oz Orange Juice
8pm: 6 oz Fruit+ NutMilk Juice (optional: only if you’re craving carbs/sugar; it’s basically a healthy-ish milkshake!)

I found that color coding helps me easily identify ingredients for my shopping list. The base is always leafy greens and cucumbers for the green juice, beets and berries for the red juice, orange and carrots for the orange juice.

I change up flavors and recipes by varying the fruits I use, adding fresh herbs and ginger, and some healthy spices. This keeps the variety and avoid boredom.

I use premier protein shakes and powders. They are Whey based protein that’s Gluten and Soy free. Use the kind that suits you. Serving is about 30g, and I do two servings a day. If you’re currently a meat eater, you’ll probably need three or four over the day.

Over the next few days, I will follow this up with a day by day post where I will expand on each of these juices for detailed ingredients and recipe combinations.

Post cleanse:
Remember to easy your way back up to normal foods. Start slow again following a similar diet as the week prior to cleansing. Stay on more veggies and fruits and real foods and then slowly increase your carbs and other foods in your normal routine.

Also, please feel free to DM me on facebook or instagram (@Ode2Food) or comment in this post for any questions you may have. I am happy to help in anyway I can on your journey! Happy Juicing!