I used to think people who did juice cleanses were a little crazy.
Well, last week I entered the world of crazies and did a three-day juice cleanse along with my husband. At least we’re crazy together.
I briefly mentioned that I was doing a cleanse and the biggest reason why is because I wanted to hit the reset button. I’m largely a desserts blogger and I make and eat sweets, desserts, treats, and sugar 365 days a year and I sample it all. Some recipes I sample more than others.
For 3 days, I wanted to give my body, mind, and spirit a break and chance to allow it to re-center, realign, and restore. Like pressing the reset button.
My husband, Scott, had been talking about wanting to do a juice cleanse for ages and we decided to try Urban Remedy’s Three Day Signature Cleanse together.
For a few days leading up to the cleanse, you’re supposed to eat as high raw and vegan as possible. No caffeine, alcohol, watch your sugar, processed foods, gluten intake, and common sense things that will make the transition to juice-only for three days as graceful as possible.
I estimate that 80% or better of my diet is very clean and is vegan, lots of raw foods, gluten-free, and so forth. The other 20% is worlds apart. I don’t deny myself sugar, chocolate, coffee, treats or what I’m craving. But going into the cleanse, both of us really cleaned up our acts, including that pesky 20% stuff. The one thing I couldn’t eliminate was my coffee intake. I’m hopelessly addicted to caffeine.
The juices arrived at 10am on our start day and every three hours or so, you’re supposed to drink one bottle. The bottles are 16-ounces each and there are 6 bottles per day. They’re labeled one through six, drink them in order.
The total daily caloric intake per day is about 1250 calories. However, as the Urban Remedy site indicates as well as other authorities and experts on juicing, 500 calories of juice is almost all usable calories; whereas 500 calories of a bagel and cream cheese is not. It’s like mainlining pure nutrients so you require less, in theory.
If you’re wondering, neither my husband or I lost any weight. We both thought we would, but mathematically after I stopped to think about it, it’s not likely to pencil out. For example, if on an average day I consume about 2000 calories (I don’t count but am just guessing here), and on the juice cleanse I consumed 1250, that’s a 750 calorie per day deficit. Over 3 days, that’s a 2250 calorie deficit. One pound of fat = 3500 calories. So, mathematically you’d have to juice for awhile to lose true fat.
And with all that liquid we were drinking, we didn’t find we were losing water weight either. Everyone’s experiences vary, and we didn’t go into this to lose weight, but neither of us did.
On Day 1, we both did well during the day. By dinnertime, I was going through gnarly caffeine withdrawals. I had a pounding headache and was also cold from drinking cold juice all day. Although you’re not ‘supposed to’, Scott told me he drank a small coffee when he was out and that it helped him tremendously. I had a cup of warm herbal tea, which is reluctantly ‘allowed’. It wasn’t coffee, but it was warm and it got me over the hump.
Drinking the last juice of the day, which is more like dessert-in-a-bottle, was enough fat and substance for me to hop into bed and sleep like a baby.
On Day 2 both Scott and I were up and down, hour by hour, as to how we felt. Some hours were good, full of energy, not hungry, really thriving. Other hours were hard and we’d text each other ‘So hungry I want to eat my arm off’. By evening, after going 48 hours without any solid food and my caffeine withdrawals as bad as ever, I had a small cup of coffee and a rice cake. It was the best tasting cup of coffee and the best tasting rice cake of my entire life. Those two very small things were enough to propel me into Day 3 with zest.
I woke up on Day 3 ready to tackle the world and did great the entire day. I had been going for runs each day because I am a lifelong runner and it centers me and helps me quiet my mind. When I don’t run, I am a mess. The last thing I wanted to do was give up my runs while trying to get through the cleanse. I didn’t have as much energy as usual and ran much slower and gentler than normal on the first two days, but on Day 3 I powered out a great run. By the time nightfall came, I was ready to go to bed, knowing that when I woke up on Day 4, I was going to eat!
Overall, I feel the cleanse gave my body a chance to reset and in the week since the cleanse I’ve been eating less sugar, less processed snacks, and more fruits and vegetables. I’ve drank far less coffee, probably 50% less than I had been drinking, and I am more mindful of what I’m putting in my body. The cleanse provided an opportunity to re-examine food choices and habits and make tweaks and adjustments accordingly.
My husband particularly loved it. He felt like it gave him mental clarity that he otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. In removing solid food, your senses really heighten and hone; smells, sights, experiences, and everything is intensified. He said it helped him realize that he doesn’t need to have a bagel with cream cheese, an apple, a banana, a glass of juice, and a cup of coffee all before 10am. He rationally knew this, but said actually doing the cleanse proved that he would be fine without it. Ironically, this week he went out of town for the week to a Transcendental Meditation retreat. This is not the man I married 13 years ago and watching his evolution into a juicing, meditation man has been a gift for me. And it all helps makes him the most patient Daddy ever.
If you’re interested at all in doing a juice cleanse, just do it. You have nothing to lose. If you get wickedly hungry after the first day and want to eat, do so. There are no absolutes. This is your body and you shouldn’t feel shame, guilt, or negative if you have to tweak the cleanse in order to get through it.
That said, three days was definitely my maximum. I wanted to chew, I missed solid food, and something about just juice and all the liquid left me feeling full, yet vacant and unsatisfied. However, it’s suggested that the more cleanses you do, the easier they get and that the first couple days are always the hardest.
We went with Urban Remedy rather than making our own juices and I cannot say enough good things about them. The juices are just so very good, and the more you drink them, the more you want to drink them. The juices are made without adding sugar, compared to many other companies who do, and they also don’t use much agave. Everything is organic, made fresh before shipping, and they make the whole process as easy and effortless as cracking open your next bottle. They have different levels of cleanses and we went with the signature and they have deeper and harder core cleanses and you can cleanse for as many days as you choose.
My favorites were Number 6 (cinnamon cashew milk with vanilla) – What’s not to love. It’s like dessert, complete with 310 calories and about 35 grams of fat in the bottle. Nuts are not low-fat. This is the juice I had have in order to make it through the day as it’s the only significant fat or protein source.
And Number 4, After Party (beet root, carrot, ginger, apple and lemon) was my other favorite. I chugged this juice every day in like 15 seconds. Loved it.
I also really liked Number 3, Flush (cucumber, mint, ginger, apple, and lemon). At first Scott said he hated this one but by Day 3, he liked it. I liked it on Day 1 and on Day 3, I loved it.
The only downside to Urban Remedy or other companies who provide juices to your doorstep is that it’s not cheap. It’s about $60 per day, per person. Each bottle of juice is $10.
However, each bottle of juice contains about 2 pounds of fresh, organic produce. That would have required me to purchase and then juice 24 pounds of organic produce per day, which not only would have cost a pretty penny, it would have taken lots of time. No thanks.
Not to mention, I am woefully under-researched in the how-to-put-a-successful-cleanse-together department and having the guesswork taken out was beautiful. I stocked the fridge and we drank them in order.
If you want to start juicing, I recommend checking Craigslist or Ebay for used juicers until you know it’s something you can see yourself sticking with. Cleanup is time-consuming and it’s not cheap to juice because you need so much produce in order to produce a significant volume of juice, very different than smoothie-making in a Vita-Mix or blender where you use everything, pulp and all in say a Tropical Green Smoothie
The juicer I’ve used is this Breville Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor
and although it’s fine as juicers go, cleanup is still tedious.
Will I do another cleanse? Yes, one day. And now that I know what it’s like, I can better prepare for it, including trying to eliminate coffee beforehand, which was the hardest thing about the cleanse for me. Not the lack of food, but the lack of caffeine.
Scott told me that he wants to try a Five-Day next time.
Have you ever done a juice cleanse or juice fast? Any interest?
What do you do when you feel like you need to press the reset button? What helps you get back or stay on track?
This post was written to share our experiences on the cleanse. In no way am I am expert on juicing, and this is not intended as medical advice. I am not telling you to juice or not to juice and am unable to answer detailed medical questions about if I think juicing would be a good idea for you. Do your own homework and research.
This was a fascinating post for me, Averie. Thank you for sharing your experience and for introducing me to Urban Remedy. I know that my diet is atrocious (case in point: I just inhaled 10 macadamia nut Hershey’s kisses while reading this) and I’ve been toying with the idea of juicing. Maybe not a full cleanse but I’ve been wanting to replace the pastries and coffee I have every morning with juice. I keep putting it off, thinking that I need to do research, find recipes, and plan ahead so that I can properly grocery shop. I hear ya on going the simpler route and just getting the juice premade from a reputable company. Hopefully I’ll actually get started on juicing.
I think if you’re even on the fence of doing it, to just go for it. You have nothing to lose! Even if you just did 1 day. Have 1 day delivered and see how you do and go from there :)
Thank you for this post, Averie. I have been wanting to do a juice cleanse for a while now, but have been unsure which one to do. I don’t own a juicer and resources for juicing (ie. fresh juice bars) are pretty much non-existent where I live. It’s really helpful to read about other people’s experiences with different juice companies.
PS. Caffeine withdrawal is one of my biggest fears about juicing!
There are tons of mail-order juice companies out there. In the end, most of them come down to about the same price when stretched over 3 days, including shipping, etc. They’re all within a similar price range so I’d say go with the company who’s juices look good to you! We loved Urban Remedy’s and their whole program but it’s SUCH an individual thing so do your research b/c it’s a big $$ of money and it’s also your time, body, energy, and such a big thing. Good luck!
Oooh i love the idea of resetting my body. After stuffing my face with carbs for breakfast every morning I feel ill and not ready for lunch until at least 3pm. This would get me on a more healthy meal schedule if i went back to just juice for breakfast. I suppose you could supplement your normal meals with this juice too, right?
You could of course supplement your normal meals with the juice. Really there are no rules; but in terms of a cleanse, obviously you’re not going to be doing that but just for day-to-day life, trying to cut back on big heavy meals and replace with juice is an option!
Last week I was reading another blogger’s experience with raw food & juice fasting and finally decided that YES I am going to do a raw food & juice cleanse next week and I even convinced my husband to do it with me. And then today I’m catching up on my blog reading and see this post. Clearly this is a sign! I’ve been researching different companies and still haven’t decided which one to go with, but Urban Remedy seems to have a little more variety than some of the others, which is nice. Because if I’m going to have juice all day, I need at least a LITTLE variety. :)
Well best of luck and yes, it was a sign! Can’t wait to hear more details about it and what co. you’re going with and your experiences!
congrats on finishing the cleanse and being a crazy juice cleanser person…lol…i’ve done the weird cayenne pepper lemon water cleanse now that makes me a definate crazy…hahaha…I have no idea how you made food for your blog and stayed true to the cleanse that would be so killer for me….torture…you are a strong women! loved the post.
Hi Averie girl! Happy Easter. Ok, I have to say that this is one of my favorite posts that you have written. It’s so informative and you’re so real in your analysis of the cleanse, that I can really get a feel for what it would be like to do a 3 day juice cleanse. I think I would feel the same way as you, up and down, full of energy at times and then sluggish at other times and I totally get the feeling cold part. I usually have a cup of chamomile tea with lunch each day or at least in the afternoon to warm up. I’m not a cold drink type of gal at all. I only drink water without ice and really prefer it room temp as well.
I was curious about the work out factor. I wasn’t sure if I would feel up to working out, but since you did, I’m sure I would be able to as well.
The hardest part for me would be feeding the kids. Zoe expects and wants a balanced dinner every night, so feeding her something simple and low-key isn’t really an option, where as Eli wouldn’t care if I fed him cereal at every meal. I would still have to prepare a normal dinner and that would be hard for me. Was it difficult preparing and feeding Skylar her meals?
Anyway, we’re heading to Disney land in a week and I may look into doing a cleanse upon our return. I know I’m not going to have too much control over what we eat on our trip, so it would feel good to just come back and do a cleanse.
Anyway, I’m babbling here. I’m in a food daze from our Easter Brunch and ready for a nap! I will let you know if and when I decide to cleanse though! Thanks for this post!
xoxo, Jackie
Making Skylar wasn’t hard…making some RIDICULOUSLY awesome food for my blog, photographing it, handling it for hours, and not even having a nibble…THAT was hard :)
I think you’d like the cleanse overall, knowing you, but it’s a mindset and you just have to know what you’re getting into, going into it. And glad you like the post and it’s one of your faves of mine!
I did a three day cleanse last month. I really enjoyed it. But I”m not sure I would want to do 5 days. That is a long time. I tried the cooler cleanse.
Oh wow, congrats on doing the cooler cleanse! Bravo! And yes, 5 days would have been wayyyyyy too much for me. Maybe in the future for something to work up to, but for this one, that wouldn’t have been do-able!
I really should try this. Juice cleanses scare me, but for three days I could handle it…with coffee. My husband would love this. He could do it while traveling, which is his main issue right now, too much traveling!
Your hubs sounds like Mr. Healthy from what you’ve described and he’s love this. And actually, traveling while doing a juice cleanse would be pretty easy! You just bring your juices and never have to think about food once on your trip! A reader/friend of mine did a 21 day while she and her hubs were in Maui for a trip for part of it and said she went to the WFs in Maui and got fresh juice every day and it was so easy!
I own the Jack Lalanne juicer from Costco. I’ve had it about a year now and I really do like it. It has OK reviews but I enjoy it. And I love the cookbook that came with it. You can put all the parts in the dishwasher so clean up is not terrible. Thanks for the review. Just this week I was looking at Urban Remedy. Too expensive for me but I’m going to do a little research and create my own. I’ve looked into Dr. Oz cleansing program also.
We are having the honey dinner rolls and carrot cake loaf (i made it into a bundt) today for Easter. Happy Easter!
honey dinner rolls and carrot cake loaf (i made it into a bundt) = YAY!!! Glad the Bundt worked; good job on that. Posts I write that involve Bundnts never go over too well but if it’s in a loaf pan, people love it…so when making it for just us and not taking pics, I like it in a Bundt too.
And the honey rolls are a fave of ours, too!
Happy Easter and good luck with creating your own cleanse. Sounds like a plan!
You inspire me to take the juice plunge:))I’ve been thinking of doing this for so many reasons. I now have to just do it, right?:)
Well if you’re at all even on the fence about it or have thought of it and have considered it, yes, by all means….go for it!
I never thought I would say this, but I think I want to try a cleanse! Not sure if I could do it though! You did a great job on this review!!
Well if my review nudges you in that direction, then I guess it was a job well done. I actually think you’d love the experience for so many reasons!
Girl, you have got some willpower! I feel like I would get soooo hungry, and the coffee thing would drive me bonkers too. I love the idea though. I’ve been trying to work through the same thing where you want to create recipes, you have to taste them, but at the same time, you want to be good to your body. Even with trying to make healthyish desserts, it’s still a tough balance. My favorite thing about this though is the fact that you were able to maintain your normal activity level. I really don’t believe in programs that tell you not to exercise while you’re doing them. That is not healthy. I love that these juices incorporated nuts and fat to keep you satisfied and energized!
I couldn’t have lived without working out. I wasn’t going at 100% full-steam but I still worked out. I need that on so many levels so stay sane and grounded :) And yes, programs that tell you not to work out, that wouldn’t be for me!
I always love reading reviews of all of these different juice companies. I have been thinking more and more about it. I just hate how pricey they are!
Wow, this one actually sounds like it’s worth the heavy price tag! I tried the cayenne-maple-lemon thing, but that only lasted about half a day. :P (In my defense, I have to be careful, lest I fall back into my ED way of thinking -when everything but air and water was considered evil.) This particular cleanse sounds like the healthy way to go about getting healthy. :)
Thanks for the review!
I’m glad you posted this! I was very curious to how it was going for you! I would love to try a juice cleanse, but the cost is to high for me. I wonder if I could stick to it? I did do a 3 day detox and felt great! But the hardest part is the same as you, coffee! That is one thing I can’t give up. On my 3 day detox, I had horrible headache by day two. I broke down and made myself a frappe. I kept some of what I learned from the detox which is my hot water and lemon first thing in the morning, before my coffee, and I love that. I also try to stay away from processed foods. I do love the idea of juice cleansing, and maybe one day I’ll look into it. Thanks for the update and letting us know how it went!
The horrible headache by day two is why I had to have a tiny coffee and a rice cake on Day 2. I was just miserable and that simple act changed my whole reality for the rest of Day 2 and all of Day 3. I think you could put together your own cleanse and save some money. Just do your research and you’ll be fine!
Congratulations to you and Scott, Averie! Doing a juice cleanse is a tough thing to do, even 3 days. I can see that the coffee would be the hardest part. I definitely hear you on that one. Your diet is usually pretty low in sodium and since your calorie deficit wasn’t over the 3500 calorie mark and you weren’t cutting out huge amounts of sodium, it makes sense to me that you didn’t lose weight. When I did my 21 day juice fast last year, I only lost about 8 pounds total. But when I did my water fast, I lost 20 pounds each time. The first water fast was 11 days and the second one was 12 days and that was 0 calories for the entire time. I definitely needed to add some calories back in and build up my tolerance for food after those. It took me a while to get back to my normal weight (which is not much in the first place!) :-D Glad to have done it though. The water fasting was the best I have ever felt in my entire life. I hope to do at least 2 per year.
After you told me you did water fasts, I read about it. I was pretty much in shock with each site I opened. I had no idea such a thing existed. I can’t even imagine it. I never pass judgment though and if you say you felt the best you’ve ever felt in your entire life after it, then that’s awesome and good for you! :)