Hey, hey! Happy Friday! As you may already know, I paused on the Whole30 Program to do a 3-day juice cleanse with South Block Cafe & Micro Juicery. I’ve long been a fan of South Block; I go there all the time for fresh pressed juice, smoothies, and recently sampled some of their *new* raw treats, which were delish! When I got the chance to test out the cleanse and have it delivered via their *new* delivery service, I could not resist! 18 bottles of cold-pressed juice delivered to my doorstep? Yes, please! 🙂
I should mention that I’ve never done a juice cleanse before; this was my first! I’ve tried a few juices here and there but never six-a-day for three full days (no food)! With this month’s mantra being Now or Never and stronger-than-ever will power built up from 20+ days Whole30, I decided to go for it. Read below the jump for a day-by-day account of my experience.
Day one: The taste of the first juice was a little shocking! It had a real zing to it and not at all what I was expecting. I could really taste the ginger, too, which, I think worked in my favor because that morning I happen to wake up with a really sore throat, which is now gone completely. DETOX made me feel instantly alert and awake; definitely more so than from my usual morning cup of coffee!
The second juice of the day :: GLOW :: was sweet and delicious — an instant favorite. The third juice, though, :: GREENS :: turned out to be my least favorite. I joked with Aaron that it tasted like earth, Lol! With a mix of cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, fennel, lime and mint it’s no wonder this juice tasted earthy.
By lunch time I started to feel a bit perplexed by this idea of not eating. I usually graze throughout the entire day so I felt a little off and like something was missing! I was also sad not to have my usual salad club salad and I found myself day dreaming about all kinds of unhealthy foods, like donuts, ice cream, and pizza — which, I haven’t even during the Whole30!
I drank the fourth juice at the end of the day and it gave me a real boost of engery. CURE has a really powerful zing, probably from the mixture of cayenne and ginger. I wasn’t sure I liked it at first, but on the second day, this was my favorite juice.
Before + After
After work I decided to take it easy; after all, the cleanse instructions say to “unplug,” and so I did just a few things around the house and on my computer. Oddly, I didn’t feel very hungry, my stomach didn’t growl and I wasn’t tempted by food in the house. I did at one point eat a mini seedless cucumber and a few almonds. I didn’t feel bad about it, though. I mean, a mini cucumber? COME ON!
Day 2: On day two I worked from home and drank my juice every two hours, as prescribed. I felt really alert and energized throughout the day but the thought of food wasn’t far from my mind. In fact, Aaron was home and when he cooked some eggs, I had to shut the door to my office to keep out the aroma; they smelled so good! I enjoyed my second juice, GLOW, with a side of vanilla tea.
Even though I didn’t FEEL hungry my stomach did start to growl in the afternoon; obviously my body knew something was up! I ended up eating another seedless cucumber to just settle my stomach. It was such a treat to chew on something! I started to feel a little giddy afterward!
By 5 o’clock I was a little stir crazy from being at home all day so I made plans to go to CrossFit – juice cleanse or not, I needed to get my sweat on!
By the time I got there at 7:30, I had already had five of the six juices of the day. I didn’t feel weak or tired or anything but I did have a little hectic (probably from caffeine withdrawals). The workout was a doozy: A 20-minute AMRAP of 20 thrusters (135/95), 20 pull-ups and 20 burpees. I walked in thinking there was no way I would Rx this one – 95 lbs! But as I racked my bar I decided to go for it! I told myself to just take it slow; after all, I had 20 minutes!
I’m so glad I pushed myself because I made it through two rounds of those heavy thrusters! They were especially difficult during the second round — I did them one at a time and there were a lot of failed attempts — but I left CrossFit feeling invigorated! What a great workout!!
When I got home I was immediately comforted by my very favorite juice CAVEMAN MYLK. I could live off this stuff, it’s so DELICIOUS!! It doesn’t taste like milk at all but has a milk texture, thick and creamy and it’s a little sweet from the dates, but not too sweet. It’s by far my favorite juice and one I’ll definitely get again!
Day 3: Day three felt like a breeze in comparison to days one and two; at this point I was committed, more than halfway there… I could make it another day! But, I did break down and have a banana in the morning. I felt completely satisfied by it, though, and knew I’d be good throughout the rest of the day.
I really took it easy on the third day and actually had quite a long nap in the afternoon. I love that this cleanse turned into a period of rest. It felt so good to let myself just relax. I always feel compelled to workout, work on the blog, just go-go-go, and sometimes it was such a treat to let myself do nothing.
In the end, my favorite juices turned out to be CURE (pictured below); the really zingy juice with a punch, GLOW, the sweet and semi-tart juice, and of course, the CAVEMAN MYLK, which was such a nice reward at the end of each day.
All and all, I’m really glad that I gave juicing a try. For me, personally I think I’m more comfortable supplementing my diet with juice, not relaying on it solely. But, I do see the benefit in juicing if you’re in a cycle of making poor food choices and need to jumpstart to begin making healthier choices.
I also think it’s important to have an after-cleanse plan because hunger can sometimes deter people from making good food choices. Obviously this whole process would have been pointless if I dove headfirst into cake after the cleanse. (Thankfully I had the Whole30 to go back to and will be doing that until Thanksgiving.)
Also, South Block makes it so easy to juice! You can customize your six pack, picking your favorite flavors, and they’ll deliever them to your doorstep if you’re within 20 miles of their East Falls Church location. And, there’s a promo code for free delivery (code: freedeliver; normally $10) now until Feb. 14 2015.
Soon South Block will also be opening up a cafe next to their existing location in Clarendon serve raw foods and Kombucha on tap! I already know I’ll be by to pickup more dark chocolate caveman balls — they are so, so good (and Whole30 compliant)!
For more information on cleanses, check out the South Block FAQs page at http://southblockjuice.com/pages/faq. There’s also a cleanse guide at http://southblockjuice.com/pages/cleanse-guide.
Have you ever done a juice cleanse?
