The 3 Day Juice Detox

I have been curious about juice cleanses for a while now and had been humming and hawing about whether I should do it or not. My sister did one back in January and I think that’s where my curiosity began. There is so much hype and talk about juice cleanses both good and bad, but I think unless you have actually experienced it you can’t say one way or the other so that’s why I finally decided to take the plunge and do it!

Photo from Pure Green

I decided before I went on my wonderful holiday to Capri (to read all about it click here), that I would start on the Saturday after I got back, because I knew I was going to Taste of Dublin on the Friday evening so I couldn’t start it immediately. I ordered the juice cleanse from Pure Green based here in Dublin. It costs €75 for their 3 day cleanse which includes 4 juices a day so you get 12 juices for your money. You are given the choice of collecting it or getting it delivered but since none of the collection places were convenient I chose to get it delivered. Delivery is an extra €2.90 which I think is quite reasonable considering you can choose the day and a 3 hour window for them to deliver it so you are not sitting in waiting for it all day (something which I despise doing).

When I ordered the juice I was sent an email with a 7 page document explaining the juice cleanse, what juices were involved and the order to drink them in etc. It also gave some tips for before and after the cleanse which included cutting down on caffeine in the days leading up to it, this is to minimise headaches during the cleanse as no caffeine is allowed. The document also gave suggestions for the days after the cleanse to ease your body back into full digestion mode.

Day 1 (Saturday)

My juice was delivered at 11.30am (the slot was between 9am-12pm), I was hoping for it to come earlier but oh well. It was delivered by one of the owners himself, who unpacked the juices from a cooler right into my fridge, while he was doing this he gave me some tips on how to drink the juice including pouring them over ice and drinking some water before.

My first juice of the day was the EnerJuice which is quite nice. I took his hint of pouring it over ice which made it much more palatable. However, about halfway through the juice I began to feel quite full and not very well (probably due to the antics of the night before at Taste of Dublin which included a fair amount of alcohol). 

After this juice I went back to bed for a nap to try and distract myself from feeling unwell and didn’t wake up again until around 5pm at which point I decided to attempt the 2^nd juice of the day the Liquid Lunch, which again is nice but I found that its just a lot of liquid to drink at once so I didn’t finish this juice. 

I decided not to try and force myself drink the other 2 juices for the day as it was already 6pm so just had water for the rest of the evening.

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had to start the cleanse the morning after a big night out. So tip for anyone out there who is going to do a juice cleanse, do the prep work for the days leading up to it and don’t go on a big night out that involves a lot of alcohol the night before!

Day 2 (Sunday)

Since today was Father’s Day, I decided to get up early (well before my dad anyway) and get him the newspapers. I had the EnerJuice for breakfast again after I returned with the papers and it tasted good but wasn’t sure I would be able to finish the entire bottle, the taste just got a bit boring after a while. I had some blueberries and a vitamin C drink to go along with the juice as I was feeling a bit shaky after only having 2 juices yesterday.

I really started to doubt myself before lunch about whether I could finish the juice cleanse, but I was determined to power through. In the 7 page document I was sent before my juice cleanse it says that if you really need to, to have some solid protein such as a boiled egg so I decided that since I am so used to a high-protein diet that I would make myself a few hard boiled eggs to get me through the next couple of days.

I had the Super Juice for lunch, which I have to say is definitely the least palatable of all the juices, it has such a strong ‘green’ taste, that’s the only way I could describe the flavour. But I know it’s the best one for you so I decided to be tactical and filled a glass with pure apple juice and then took turns gulping the Super Juice and the apple juice which made it much easier to drink, not necessarily more enjoyable but drinkable which was my goal. After this I decided to have one of the hard boiled eggs I had made chopped up.

For the afternoon I went to Dundrum with my mum to try and distract myself and keep busy so I wouldn’t have time to think about food. When I got back I had the Ginger Tonic, which was actually very nice, by far the most palatable, and the taste doesn’t get too boring compared to the others.

As you are supposed to drink loads of water throughout the cleanse I decided to make some delicious flavoured water by just slicing up some orange and lemon and putting them in my water bottle and shaking it up. I definitely would recommend doing this if you are thinking about a juice cleanse.

My final juice for the day was the Up Beet, which had quite an earthy taste and again the problem was drinking the whole bottle, a small amount would have been fine but 500ml is a lot of one flavour.

I also had a hard boiled egg and half avocado for dinner. As I'm so used to a high protein diet I'm still feeling quite shaky, not that I'm hungry it's just I don't want to feel weak/shaky in work tomorrow.

Day 3 (Monday)

I woke up at 4am feeling amazing like I was set for the day, but figured it wouldn't hurt to go back to sleep until my alarm at 7.45am, but I ended up waking up feeling quite tired and sluggish.

I had the EnerJuice for breakfast at 8am, I decided to have a tactic with this one and do 4 gulps and then a break and then 4 gulps etc. until I finished it. And it was a good idea as it was much easier to do it like that rather than drag it out over 30 minutes like I had been doing with the other juices. I also didn’t have much time before I had to leave for work and I didn’t want to have to take it with me so I drank it while putting on my make-up.

I brought my next 2 juices into work, which were the Liquid Lunch and the Ginger Tonic along with some pecans and blueberries in case I needed something to nibble on throughout the day.

I would normally go for a coffee at around 9.30am in work but today, I decided to have a green tea with jasmine which I know contains caffeine but I didn’t have any other kinds of tea and figured it has much less than coffee so I just went with it.

I started to feel hungry around 11.30am so had about 5 pecan halves and a handful of blueberries. This seemed to wain off the hunger pangs until 1pm when I planned on having my next juice.

At lunchtime I had the Liquid Lunch, it wasn’t too bad today as I was distracted while drinking it. I decided since it was so beautiful out that I would drink it while sitting out on the Canal enjoying the sunshine and chatting with a colleague.

I had the Ginger Tonic around 4pm, which again was pretty nice. I drank it while I was working, and used my earlier breakfast tactic to make sure I drank the entire thing.

I came home from work and just really wasn't feeling that last Up Beet juice (it was my least favourite after the Super Juice).  So instead I had a hard boiled egg and the other half of the avocado from yesterday. I have to say that I wasn't hungry, I just felt that I actually couldn't stomach another juice, the thought of it was making me a little sick.

Final thoughts

A lot of people do juice cleanses to lose weight, and even though they aren’t technically designed for that, most people do lose weight, but its mostly because its restricted to juice and so there is no snacking etc. Since coming back from Capri last Wednesday I have lost 5lbs, 3lbs of which was during the juice cleanse. Now it remains to be seen as to whether this weight was just because I was juicing or if it was genuine weight loss.  We will see in the next few days when I resume my normal clean eating/if it fits your macros plan.

The day after the juice cleanse I found myself not really that hungry, and I had gotten so used to not eating real food the previous 3 days that I didn’t really reach for any snacks throughout the day. So I think it does teach you self-control and it really is a test of your will power.

Overall, I think it was a good idea for me to try the juice cleanse as I am a firm believer in the saying “Don’t knock it 'til you try it.” I don’t think I would do another juice cleanse, but drinking some of the juices as a meal replacement/supplement every once in a while I might consider, as it really is such a concentration of micronutrients and they are good for you.

I am really glad I stuck with the juice cleanse for the 3 days. I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. But overall, if you do decide to do a juice cleanse my only advice would be to listen to your body and if you are feeling weak or shaky, do eat some blueberries, nuts or even some solid protein such as the boiled eggs I had.

I'd love to here your thoughts on juice cleanses, if you have done one or are even thinking about one, leave a comment below!