Juice Cleanse

It's no secret that I'm a picky eater. I love trying new foods and spicing things up, but I've been dairy free for a few months now because most foods just leave me feeling gross.

For years I've heard about Juice Cleanses. Trendy ones, dangerous ones, expensive ones, easy ones, and have always thought about doing it. (Most of the time I buy things for it and then wake up and eat my regular bagel like usual - oops!) But this week I had an entire week off from work, not a lot of school-related things to do, and decided that I would finally commit. I bought a little bit of all juices and didn't subscribe to any specific programs (so expensive!) - Naked Juice, Odwalla, Suja, and some homemade smoothies.

Disclaimer: I did not do this to lose weight (although that would be a nice benefit), I did it because so many foods lately leave me bloated or feeling sick, and I had read so many stories of feeling energized, full, and healthy from juice cleanses. 

After a couple days, my thoughts are as follows:

First, it's hard to feel "cleansed" or "healthy" when you're distracted by feeling hungry. I would love to say that I felt energized and operating at 100%, but the honest truth is I was mostly just feeling hungry the whole time. It's hard to tell whether my body feels better or worse, when the only thing you feel is the desire for popcorn and pizza.

Second, it is expensive. Buying groceries for a week normally sets me back $40, and that's to feel full all the time (For 7 days in a week, 3 meals a day, that's about $1.90 a meal not counting snacks). Each juice (and I got the cheaper versions) is $5-$9, making for quite an expense when you're investing in a couple days worth of them.

Third, you're certainly losing weight - but for what cost? I don't feel healthy when I'm not eating. Normally I prefer diets where you can eat as much as you want of certain foods, so that you can feel full but feel healthy at the same time. This was not one of those diets, and I'm interested to see whether the weight stays off.

In general, I'm not sure whether juice cleanses are for me. I'm certainly glad I tried it - and I may do it again - but I would love to hear feed back about what programs & tips work for all of you!