If you haven’t read my Juicing “Prep” post from yesterday, please do. This is my experience…continued…
Yesterday was a successful day 1. Was it easy? NOPE! However many times you do this, the first day is always a challenge. Day 1 is hard, because your brain ups its “I’m hungry” game. It’s important to be aware that it’s all in your head. I craved textures. I craved salt. That jar of pickles had never been more appealing to me. It called me all day.
I debated my brain several times. I negotiated with myself all day, about the foods I was missing, and how they were going nowhere, and were just three days away. No shame in acknowledging reality, but I knew that with these many micronutrients and fluids, there is zero chance of physical hunger. These are all normal to feel, and most importantly, I made it through!
Despite all this, if you need to reach for food on day 1, don’t beat yourself up one bit. Just grab a whole fruit, scrambled egg whites, or some steamed veggies, and make as healthy a choice as possible and move right along. Just continue where you left off. The point of this is to feel healthy, and heal your body; not to kill yourself over rules. No guilt.
As expected, today (day 2) is already much easier. I have minimal cravings, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the day of juicing! The transition of your experience into day 2 is often drastic, and for the better.
Now over to the details of DAY 1
Day 1 timeline:
7am: 10 oz water
8am: 10 oz Green Juice (with protein)
11am: 10 oz Red Juice
1pm: 8 oz water
2pm: 10 oz Orange Juice
4pm: 10 oz Green Juice (with protein)
7pm: 6 oz Fruit & Nut Milk smoothie (healthy fats)
9pm: 8 oz water
Juice Components:
The components are vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and protein. Typically more vegetables, some fruits, measured protein, and limited fats. I like to do one drink with healthy fats in them (like avocado, coconut oil, almond milk or nuts), and two drinks with added protein.
I use premier protein shakes and/or powders. They are whey based protein that is gluten and soy free. Use the kind that suits you. Each serving is about 30 of protein, and I do two servings a day.
If you’re currently a meat eater, you’ll probably need three or even four servings over the day to keep you satiated. Try and dose only 30g at a time, as absorption is much better than just dumping 60 or 90 g at a time. So spread it out over several times a day.
Since fruits already contain sugar, I typically don’t add any additional sugar. During the times when we may crave it, and there are natural alternatives like this Monkfruit sweetener. Below is the kind I use occasionally.
Important things to know:
Drink the juice/smoothie and water slowly over an hour. It keeps you more satisfied. If you gulp down the whole glass in a few minutes, the remaining hour or two until the next drink is bound to be miserable. Slow and steady is the name of the game.
To keep you more full, you could drink up to 16 oz of juices/smoothies, and adjust your water accordingly. I stick to a total of 70 to 80 oz of water in a day, which is more than enough fluids for me.
Organizing yourself:
I plan out all the smoothies for each of the three days ahead of time. It makes it much easier to have a full grocery list and stock your fridge with everything you need.
Then during the cleanse, I make the juices each day for freshness.
It is more nutritious to consume it within 24 hours. Having said that, you could absolutely store these in the fridge upto 3 days, it keeps the taste and integrity.
It is important to do various colors each day. If you are pressed for time, you could absolutely just have the same green, orange, red and pink smoothies everyday and make them all in bulk for three days and refrigerate them. This time around, I have time, so I am planning to switch up flavor combinations everyday.
Grocery List:-Best veggies and fruits to juice
Kale
Spinach
Cucumber
Tomato
Broccoli
Carrots
Celery (I hate celery! but it’s ideal too)
Beets (red and gold)
Orange
Lemon
Apple
Berries (all kinds)
Watermelon
Pineapple
Banana
Almond milk (or any nut milk you prefer)
Fresh Spices and Herbs: Turmeric, Ginger, Parsley, Cilantro, Basil, Mint
You can pick and choose pretty much any combination you like. Remember to stick to the ratio that I mentioned above in the “juice components” section. Mostly veggies, some fruits, measured protein, limited fats.
Recipes:
Okay…here are my day 1 recipes for all 4 types of smoothies. If you want to drink two of any of these during the day, just make them all at once, and double the quantities.
One 10 oz glass of Green Juice:
2 kale stems, leaves removed and stems discarded
1 handful baby spinach
1/4 english cucumber (much fewer seeds)
3 basil leaves
1 apple, core discarded (I used pink lady apples, they offer natural sweetness)
handful of ice cubes + 2 tbsp water
~30 g/1 scoop of protein powder (I use a flavorless powder for this)
Place all the ingredients in a high powered blender and grind until smooth. I use a Vitamix. I puree in high power 1 full minute for a really smooth texture.
I like to use ice cubes to keep my juice cold, and give it more body. Makes it more satisfying to drink! This is optional, you could easily skip the ice, and add more water if you’d like it to be thinner.
One 10 oz glass of Red Juice:
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1/2 of medium beet, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
1/2 handful raspberries
2 chunks of watermelon ~1/3 cup
juice from 1 lemon wedge
handful of ice cubes + 2 tbsp water
Place all the ingredients in a high powered blender/Vitamix and blend until smooth.
One 10 oz Orange Juice
10 baby carrots
1 orange (I use clementines; use 1/2 an orange for larger varieties, remove thick rinds)
1 slice pineapple ~1/3 cup
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 inch piece ginger
handful of ice cubes + 2 tbsp water
Place all the ingredients in a high powered blender/Vitamix and blend until smooth.
One 6 oz Fruit & Nut Milk smoothie:
1/4 large banana
4 strawberries
1/2 handful raspberries
4 oz almond milk
handful of ice cubes
Place all the ingredients in a high powered blender/Vitamix and blend until smooth.
Tomorrow, I’ll have my day 2 experiences and recipes for you!
1 comment
[…] you haven’t read my previous posts: “Prep” and Day 1, please do. This is my experience, […]