As one of the things on my 25 by 25 list, I wanted to try another 3 day juice fast. I made a plan and prepared as best as I could. Check that post {HERE}. Plans don't always go, well, as planned. So I'll tell you how it went. What worked. What didn't.
First, preparing the juice in bags. LOVED IT. When I did it, it took a while. Washing, peeling, cutting four to six juices worth of produce took a long time. However, on that first day I was VERY happy that I did. That first day is when I was the hungriest. When you are hungry and your only option is juice. You are not happy about it. You have no desire to get the produce out, wash, peel or cut anything. You just want to eat. When you realize all you have to do is get the bag out and juice it. You are more inclined to do so. I was juicing in 10 minutes {including washing the Breville}. The downside? Preparing that much was not my favorite task. SO I didn't do it through the whole fast. I really wish I did, though.
As for the weening off of sweets and such. I didn't do a very good job. I tried and partially succeeded. Then there was one of those packaged grandma cookies at work, calling me, so I ate it. Of course I felt pretty bad afterwards. I'm not talking guilt either, my stomach just wasn't happy with my decision.
I also planned on taking one of the nights off of work so I would have all three days off and I managed to do that just fine.
The final part of my plan was to record it. I had planned on recording some vlogs for each day, I didn't do that. I did however record the juicing and then summarized the experience afterwards. That video is at the end of this blog post.
First, preparing the juice in bags. LOVED IT. When I did it, it took a while. Washing, peeling, cutting four to six juices worth of produce took a long time. However, on that first day I was VERY happy that I did. That first day is when I was the hungriest. When you are hungry and your only option is juice. You are not happy about it. You have no desire to get the produce out, wash, peel or cut anything. You just want to eat. When you realize all you have to do is get the bag out and juice it. You are more inclined to do so. I was juicing in 10 minutes {including washing the Breville}. The downside? Preparing that much was not my favorite task. SO I didn't do it through the whole fast. I really wish I did, though.
As for the weening off of sweets and such. I didn't do a very good job. I tried and partially succeeded. Then there was one of those packaged grandma cookies at work, calling me, so I ate it. Of course I felt pretty bad afterwards. I'm not talking guilt either, my stomach just wasn't happy with my decision.
I also planned on taking one of the nights off of work so I would have all three days off and I managed to do that just fine.
The final part of my plan was to record it. I had planned on recording some vlogs for each day, I didn't do that. I did however record the juicing and then summarized the experience afterwards. That video is at the end of this blog post.
Time to talk recipes.
I told you I was going to use lots and decide on a handful that I would use for the fast. I did and it made buying groceries easy and less expensive. The thing is, I didn't try as many as I would have liked. I found these six recipes on Just on Juice for their 3 day fast and tried every single one of them. Afterward, I chose four of them and just mixed & matched during the fast. Those recipes will be detailed at the end of this post for convenience.
The breakfast juices were both really yummy. Of course, more fruity and sweeter because they are the juice that starts your day. Loved them both and used them both during the fast. I always looked forward to drinking them.
The lunch juices were okay and the issue was an ingredient shortage or incorrect ratios. For the Mean Green juice I had ran out of Kale. So, I only had 2 kale leaves and decided to substitute the rest with spinach. I think I used too much. It ended up having a deep green taste. Not my favorite. Now, for the Bruschetta Tang. Whew! Spicy! We used small tomatoes and two large cloves of garlic, both bad ideas. We definitely needed bigger tomatoes and just one clove of garlic. I think then it wouldn't have tasted like I was warding off vampires. To be honest, I want to give it a try again. It is a largely different taste than any of the other juices I've ever made. It would have been fun for the fast. Since I didn't have a lot of time to try and decide if they were going to work for me, I ended up cutting the lunch juices from my fast.
The dinner juices were very good. I had a few Sunset Passion juices and as you'll hear in the video, I was peeing beet colored pee for days. I also beefed up the Green Machine juice once to accommodate more than just me and it turned out well.
I wasn't thinking much when it came to working out. I wasn't thinking at all, I guess. I just did what I normally would and that was a bad idea. Lesson learned: You Should Not Workout Near The Start Of A Juice Fast. It definitely affected the rest of the fast. I was hungrier, craved salt, and felt drained.
Other than me being a total B*tch {yes, capital "B"}, it worked out really well. Daniel had to deal with me yelling at him to go get me some Jimmy Johns every couple of minutes. The poor guy would then ask me if I am seriously doing this and if I was then he would not listen to me about food. I then would proceed with justifying why I can eat. What a champ he was, he never caved in to my craziness. Then there was me yelling at him for eating. I glared at him, the smell was the worst.
After that first day, I wasn't as bad with the solid food cravings. I just felt drained. My limbs felt light. It was strange. Not a big deal.
Near the end of the third day I started allowing tiny nibbles here and there. I knew that jumping right into eating a whole meal would be a bad idea. I found all I wanted were pretzels and that they have never tasted so good, ever. I think I was low on sodium because of the hard workout & running I did early on in the fast.
Now I present you the video! Lots of super speedy clips of me juicing, but enjoy!
I told you I was going to use lots and decide on a handful that I would use for the fast. I did and it made buying groceries easy and less expensive. The thing is, I didn't try as many as I would have liked. I found these six recipes on Just on Juice for their 3 day fast and tried every single one of them. Afterward, I chose four of them and just mixed & matched during the fast. Those recipes will be detailed at the end of this post for convenience.
The breakfast juices were both really yummy. Of course, more fruity and sweeter because they are the juice that starts your day. Loved them both and used them both during the fast. I always looked forward to drinking them.
The lunch juices were okay and the issue was an ingredient shortage or incorrect ratios. For the Mean Green juice I had ran out of Kale. So, I only had 2 kale leaves and decided to substitute the rest with spinach. I think I used too much. It ended up having a deep green taste. Not my favorite. Now, for the Bruschetta Tang. Whew! Spicy! We used small tomatoes and two large cloves of garlic, both bad ideas. We definitely needed bigger tomatoes and just one clove of garlic. I think then it wouldn't have tasted like I was warding off vampires. To be honest, I want to give it a try again. It is a largely different taste than any of the other juices I've ever made. It would have been fun for the fast. Since I didn't have a lot of time to try and decide if they were going to work for me, I ended up cutting the lunch juices from my fast.
The dinner juices were very good. I had a few Sunset Passion juices and as you'll hear in the video, I was peeing beet colored pee for days. I also beefed up the Green Machine juice once to accommodate more than just me and it turned out well.
I wasn't thinking much when it came to working out. I wasn't thinking at all, I guess. I just did what I normally would and that was a bad idea. Lesson learned: You Should Not Workout Near The Start Of A Juice Fast. It definitely affected the rest of the fast. I was hungrier, craved salt, and felt drained.
Other than me being a total B*tch {yes, capital "B"}, it worked out really well. Daniel had to deal with me yelling at him to go get me some Jimmy Johns every couple of minutes. The poor guy would then ask me if I am seriously doing this and if I was then he would not listen to me about food. I then would proceed with justifying why I can eat. What a champ he was, he never caved in to my craziness. Then there was me yelling at him for eating. I glared at him, the smell was the worst.
After that first day, I wasn't as bad with the solid food cravings. I just felt drained. My limbs felt light. It was strange. Not a big deal.
Near the end of the third day I started allowing tiny nibbles here and there. I knew that jumping right into eating a whole meal would be a bad idea. I found all I wanted were pretzels and that they have never tasted so good, ever. I think I was low on sodium because of the hard workout & running I did early on in the fast.
Now I present you the video! Lots of super speedy clips of me juicing, but enjoy!
I was happy for the experience and if you try it out, let me know in the comments. I'd love to watch or read up on how your fast went.
The four recipes from Just on Juice that I used during the fast:
Morning Glory
Jolt Juice
| Sunset Passion
Green Machine
|