juice cleanse review

as I mentioned last week, I did a 3-day juice cleanse from BluePrintCleanse. if interested, you can read the basics in my first post here.

I received some great questions on that post. please remember that this is my personal experience, and not representative of all juices cleanses. the effects of a cleanse will vary from person to person based on a number of factors.

I copied the questions below:

My biggest concern would be similar to yours – lack of energy for workouts (and, just getting through the day as an “active” person). Did you experience any notable fatigue?

there were definitely moments of fatigue, but usually they would happen right before I was “due” for another juice, and the juice would give me energy. the juices are full of nutrients and contain a lot of sugar (obviously natural), so they would give me a temporary boost. as for energy for workouts, I decided from the beginning that I would give my body a 3-day rest, but I imagine I could have gone on a short run or a bike ride if I had chosen to. I was consuming less than 1,000 calories/day, so I didn’t want to intentionally burn more calories than necessary.

any headaches?

I did have dull headaches come on during each of the 3 days, mostly during the morning hours. I was sure to drink plenty of water and green tea which seemed to alleviate the headaches…

I guess my biggest worry would be fatigue. Do the juices include any protein?

the green juice had 2 grams of protein, the P.A.M. had 1 gram, the C.A.B. had 2 grams, and the cashew milk (6th juice of the day) had 7 grams of protein. all nutritional information for the juices can be found here.

from Billy: My question is this: Did your husband experience any side effects to your cleanse?

of course! ha. just like everything else in our marriage, we chat all the time, so Billy was in the loop on how I was feeling – sometimes great, sometimes hungry, moody, tired, etc. watching him eat dinner wasn’t my favorite part of the 3 days – I missed the ritual of grocery shopping, preparing food, and eating meals. dinner:

How were your emotions and also (maybe this is not the point of the cleanse BUT…) did you notice anything of a more spiritual nature shifting inside?

there were a few times during the 3-days when I realized that I was doing something “bigger than me”, out of my comfort zone – a mind above matter situation to get through the 3 days. it was like setting a goal, and seeing it through. nothing too deep for me, but I can see how a 5-day (or longer) cleanse might take it to a deeper level. I do have a newfound respect for people who fast!

I think my biggest thing would also be fatigue, mood swings (I get downright ANGRY when I am hungry!) and just that – hunger. Were you wilty-hungry all day or were they good enough to keep you sustained?

since I wasn’t exercising (just riding my bike to and from work + headstands!), I wasn’t SUPER hungry – at least not for extended periods of time because I had a juice to drink every 2ish hours. still, yes, when I look back at my notes, there were definitely times when I felt HANGRY, but then it would become a mind over matter situation again. am I truly hungry, or am I just used to eating right now?

Did you lose weight during the 3 days, or afterward? Did the juices taste good?

I don’t weight myself, so I can’t say for certain if I lost weight. if so, it was water weight. I woke up with a flatter than normal stomach on the 3rd day of the cleanse, and the couple of days after the cleanse, but by the weekend (Sunday), I felt back to normal in terms of my body composition/natural belly from food!

I thought the juices tasted good – especially on the 1st day, but by the 3rd day, I was pretty much over the flavors. in other words, each juice was really good on its own, but 6 juices/day for 3 days was a lot to swallow. the P.A.M. – pineapple, apple, mint – was so very sweet (too sweet!) with 45 grams of sugar.

I would be concerned about lack of protein! Can you/did you add anything to the juices?

they recommend just drinking the 6 juices as-is, but they also suggest the following if you really need to eat something: cucumber, celery, 1/4 avocado, low sodium warm vegetable broth, half a cup of black coffee, etc.

My question is similar to the others – energy levels during the cleanse. I think I’d have a hard time with my blood sugar dropping and getting that jittery-need-food-now feeling. Did that happen to you at all or did the juice give you enough to avoid that for the most part?

there was a moment in the morning during the 2nd day when I felt a bit jittery – I ended up sipping on my 2nd juice earlier than I did on the 1st day, and stretching the juice out, sipping slowly, over an hour or so. I realized that helped. the 1st day, I drank the juices very quickly – the 2nd and 3rd, I sipped more slowly which helped maintain my blood sugar levels.

I walked outside during lunch, sipping my 3rd juice (2nd green juice) of the day.

Headaches? Fatigue? Do you normally drink coffee? Because I would imagine the caffeine withdrawal alone for me would be enough… Did you find yourself focusing on food the entire time (that would be my worry) or did you find another mental sphere you didn’t know you had? Tell all.

I’m not a coffee drinker, so that wasn’t an issue, and they recommend drinking as much green tea as you’d like, so there’s a little bit of caffeine for you! I wasn’t hungry so much as I missed the act of eating, socializing with my work friends at lunch, and preparing my breakfast and afternoon snack, etc. then there was the other side of the spectrum which was that I didn’t have to make any decisions about what the eat – my days were 100% planned for me. convenient!

something else I noticed – I usually drink so much water during the day, but when you’re drinking your “meals”, drinking more fluids isn’t as appealing.

the cashew milk (water, cashew, agave nectar, vanilla, cinnamon) was really thick so I poured the end into a tiny bowl and ate it with a spoon – ha! dessert:

some final thoughts:

I think some people could do a 3-day juice cleanse and not think twice about it. I personally love to eat and associate it with joy as well as fuel for my active lifestyle. since I restricted off and on for years, eating healthy amounts of food (especially healthy fats!) is important to me everyday. there were a few times when I thought to myself (or said to Billy), “why am I doing this?” because it felt so unnatural for me to consume less than 1,000 calories in a day. but again, I’d cycle back in my mind that this was just a 3-day experiment.

I did the cleanse Monday – Wednesday, and I went for a run Thursday morning. I made it through, but it was pretty terrible. I felt weak (in hindsight – duh) and had some serious stomach cramping. I felt good the rest of the day, though, as I started eating solid foods again. I ran Friday morning and it was awesome – lots of energy and feeling great.

would I do it again?

never say never, but not likely a full juice cleanse. I would do a modified version. ex. a juice for breakfast and lunch, and then a dinner with solid food.

let me know if this brought up any additional questions for you!

Tagged as: calories, dull headaches, fatigue, grams of protein, green tea, juice cleanse review, juices, lack of energy, nutrients, nutritional information, personal experience, workouts