my cleanse.

When I chose to participate in a juice cleanse, my decision wasn't based on a desire to lose weight.  I already knew that any weight I lost from a three day cleanse would be largely from loss of fluid and would (mostly) return when I started eating normally again.  I needed the drastic measure of the cleanse (and I do think it is drastic to completely cut food for multiple days!) in order to stop the madness of my sugar consumption.  I know, in truth, my sugar addiction is not as strong a compulsion as alcoholism, but there are times I feel completely helpless to the pull of the ice cream in the freezer, or the chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar, or the Hot Tamales in the pantry.  I'll have just one (bite, taste, piece, spoonful) does NOT work for me.

This was the first time I've ever stopped eating in my life.  The cleanse consisted of 6 juices a day.  Three of the six were the same.  In addition to that main juice, there was a pomegranate/coconut water "juice," a lemon/cayanne/agave "juice," and a cashew "juice."  I was supposed to drink the juices, in order, every two hours throughout the day.  I say "supposed to" because I didn't.  The first day I started with the wrong one simply because I grabbed the first one I saw out of the cooler (that I'd just picked up) as I was headed in to Starbucks to get the two year old a muffin.  In addition, I couldn't finish ALL six of the juices in one day.  ("Stomach" all of them would be a better word.)

Although the founders of the program "strongly encourage ditching all food for the length of your cleanse," the program allows for a few "cheats" (because we're human) that (they say) won't undo all the good work.  These include the following:

-half an organic avocado squeezed with lemon juice

-organic celery or cucumber

-organic romaine with lemon squeezed on it

-warm organic vegetable broth

I will tell you I had 1/2 an avocado a day, as well as some organic celery (that I salted) one of the days.  I also drank one cup of coffee with low fat milk each day.  I'm all about full disclosure people.  Yep, I cheated.  A little.  But I don't feel guilty.  Other than a severe caffeine withdrawal headache the first day, I felt really good on the cleanse.  There were times I felt hungry, but not famished, and the hunger went away as I drank the juices.  I'm happy to report, that the cleanse was very much a success for me.

Things I learned during this process:

1. I can do anything for three days.
2. Kale, cucumber, spinach, celery, and green apples belong chopped up in a big bowl with a good Italian vinaigrette.  They do not belong in a juice.
3. I would rather be hungry, than drink that juice.
4. The best way to drink that juice is to hold one's nose and gulp the juice down as quickly as possible.  Affectionately, "plug and chug." (I wish I'd learned this on day one.)
5. Apparently, not everyone thinks that juice tastes as bad as I do.  (See *picture.)
6. I've always loved my veggies, but when the sugar is out of my body, I crave them.  (The morning after the cleanse, I woke up hungry (not normal) and was thinking about the small, perfectly round red and yellow cherry tomatoes the two year old had picked out from the produce section.  We bought three containers of them because she ate an entire one as we were shopping.)
7. It's easier for me not to eat sometimes, than to make healthy choices.
8. I'm glad I did the cleanse.
9. I'm not glad I paid $240 for it.  (And neither is Sparky.)
10. The next time I "cleanse," I'll get juices form Whole Foods or make my own and buy myself a new pair of shoes instead.  Perhaps these in tan.

{that's my brother.  "this stuff isn't bad."  really, denny?  you owe me 13 bucks for that juice!}