I decided I needed a juice cleanse after spending Labor Day weekend working at the Made in America…read moreFestival - consuming a steady diet of beer, ice cream and food truck cheese curds. Sadly, this is not dissimilar to my weekly beer and wings splurges and constant eating out. A cleanse was needed, badly. I has never cleansed before successfully (usually a day or two then I quit) - but I also know there is some psychology to taking something you pay good money for seriously.
Gilt was having a promotional sale - so I opted for the 5 day juice cleanse from Pangaea after comparing some of the cleanse options they had available. I read the positive reviews for Pangaea and decided it would be a good things to try to see how it affected my body and just as an overall experiment. I emailed the owner, Erica, who got back to me right away and was very helpful. She let me know that I would be picking up my juices over 2 trips because they only last for a few days since they have no preservatives.
So here is my experience on the cleanse, hopefully it may may answer any of the questions you have if you are on the fence about trying it.
1. Taste and Hunger - These juices are DELICIOUS. Especially served cold. Everything you are consuming is raw, vegan and only has a few ingredients and it's super fresh. You become so attuned to the subtle sweetness of the natural fruit that if you try to eat processed candy, you can tell the difference. Your taste buds get reorganized... Like when you go camping and you wait for your food after taking time to cook and everything is fresh and made right there and when you finally eat, it's the BEST. It's like that.
My favorites were the Miracle Tonic (I love ginger) and Cashew Love - it kept me the most full and it was like drinking your dessert for dinner.
2. Hungry - was I ever hungry? No. Seriously. I typically drink half a juice, stick it in the fridge, and then finish the other half a bit later. Sometimes I ate raw veggies and I "cheated" once a day and ate a kind bar or a banana when I needed a bit more sustenance. One of the cool things I noticed was that you learn to pace yourself with the juices. You never feel hungry and you never feel stuffed - you always feel "just right". Since you only have 5 to space out throughout the day - you have to listen to your body to see if it's really hungry. I feel like this is a good practice to take with me, even when I'm not juicing. And since your diet is already limited to these few things, it was nice to have a break from wondering what to eat.
3. Cravings - they were gone. I kid you not. I am only human and there where moments at the end of the day when I thought "Man, I really want a beer" or "Damn, Mr. Frostee is coming!" or "Why was I cursed with free food day today???" but those were all triggered emotional empty calorie cravings - not actual need of food cravings since I wasn't actually hungry. Cravings out of habit - which I found interesting. But when there was no stimulus or triggering food - I had no cravings aside from wanting juice. By the end - I didn't crave sweets anymore and normally I have a huge sweet tooth. Also a weird side note - I am not vegan or vegetarian, but I stopped eating meat almost entirely after the cleanse and I don't have any cravings for it anymore which I found interesting.
4. Energy - That is one of the first thing people ask - I had a little bit of coffee in the morning (this is a non-negotiable) - but throughout the day the juices gave me TONS of energy. Steady, day long energy. Maybe it's the natural sugar, maybe it's the special magic in the bottle, but I had more energy, consistently, than I normally have with the workday coffee and post lunch crash. I didn't have any crashes, at all. Also I have a pretty vigorous yoga practice (7am approx. 5x a week) and I had enough energy to do that plus my jobs.
5. Weight - Another big question I get asked. YES, you should lose weight. I lost about 5 pounds doing my normal workouts plus the juice. Likely because I wasn't ingesting any alcohol or fried, fatty or bad food that wasn't getting cleared out of my system immediately. That said, this may be TMI, but your "bathroom" breaks will be regular and satisfactory. I will leave it at that. :)
Final Notes:
- Everyone at my work has a head cold right except me - coincidence?
- Erica is super nice, she gets back to you immediately and reminds you to pick up your juice and when it's dropped off. I live in South Philly and the pick up location happens to be my gym. I love supporting her because she is local and I think the raw pressed juice movement should be accessible to everyone. She also gives you an awesome reusable bag which my kitten promptly turned into a fort (see photo).
- Plus, I am addicted to her juice. After the cleanse I ordered an extra 6 bottles and will probably order more again shortly.
- I think everyone should try a cleanse at least once - for all of the reasons listed above.