My 7 Day Juice Cleanse – Day 5
Happy New Year!
If you are what you eat, I’m currently something between a fruit and a vegetable.
My husband surprised me by signing us both up for a 7 day juice cleanse. I had many emotions about that. I knew it was probably a good thing, but I love food and the thought of, well, not eating it for a whole week was scary.
He signed up for it through some online deal with Sustain Juicery in Los Angeles. They make three deliveries of juice throughout the week. The first was Monday of this week. That makes today Day 5.
The thing that has surprised me most about the cleanse is that I haven’t felt physically hungry at all. We each get six juices per day, along with as much water as we want/can take. It has been enough. More than enough! Three of the four days so far I’ve only managed to eat 5 juices.
I just noticed that I wrote “eat” instead of “drink”. That’s funny.
We were warned that the first three days would be the hardest and, so far, that seems to be the case. The first night I was cranky and I had a headache. That first night I also went to the grocery store to buy water. It wasn’t easy walking in there!
Nights have been much more difficult than days for me. I already knew that I have a lot of cravings at night and I’ve been trying to keep myself from giving in to them.
What has been different during this cleanse, is that NONE of my cravings have been for sweets. You could put a pint of Ben & Jerry’s or a key lime pie in front of me and I wouldn’t need to eat it. If you know me, you know that’s WEIRD. I’m not sure why that is – possibly just because some of the juices are naturally sweet and they satisfy that?
What I have been craving, though, is FAT. I’ve been writing down the things I crave along the way. They include:
Dumplings, ramen, turkey leg, sausage, short rib sandwich (a particular one from Fiore Cafe in South Pasadena), Hamburger Helper (which I haven’t had in decades..apparently there are like 40 varieties now?), eggs, almonds, olives, ham & cheese croissants, fried chicken, portabella mushrooms, tacos, mayonnaise, buffalo chicken sandwich, and lamb rib chops.
Where do all these cravings come from? Media! Some from actual advertisements, but a lot are from social media. It seems like everyone on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, etc. posts food-related content! Does social media make us eat more? I definitely eat socially in the traditional sense – with friends or family around a dinner table or at a restaurant… I fear I may also eat socially “with” people I don’t even actually know. If they’re eating it, I can eat it, right?
When it comes to food, I’m easily influenced. I think I’ll seek out and follow a bunch of people who are dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. Maybe some of that will rub off on me, if I allow myself to be exposed to it!
My relationship to food isn’t very healthy overall and I know it. That’s probably why I often avoid the documentary films about it. I’ll know they’re right and I should stop eating fast food and processed food and sugar and sodium and…the list goes on and on. Last night I sought one of those films out. My thinking was that for the last few days I haven’t been eating those things and for the next few days I can’t eat them, so I will have less guilt and anger (yep, guilt and anger) while watching it.
I chose Forks Over Knives. It examined the trends in eating and disease over the last several decades and demonstrated that food can be our medicine. Eat to live, don’t live to eat.
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human body, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” – Thomas Edison
The film showed how, by adopting a plant-based diet and avoiding animal-based and processed foods, disease can be prevented, controlled, and even reversed.
This was the first thing that has ever tempted me to become vegan or vegetarian. I haven’t made any decisions on this yet, but I do think that I can limit the bad stuff in the future and that I can be more aware of how they make me feel. I’m proving this week that I can control my cravings and that most of those cravings come not from my body telling me what it needs, but from outside sources. They’re not the boss of me! 
I don’t know what’s going to happen, but today I feel really good. Energized and happy. And I’d like to continue feeling that way.
P.S. I just came back to add this…I’ve lost 6 pounds so far. I know it’s weight that could easily come back, but hopefully I can make changes that will keep it off.
