My One-Day Juice Cleanse — Total Wellness

Juicing Day

8 a.m.

I had 6 juices to drink throughout the day, with 2 hours in-between each juice, so I decided to wake up earlier than usual to start. Juice 1 consisted of kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, cucumber, celery, and lemon. The taste was better than I expected. "I can do this," I thought to myself, naively. Little did I know of what the rest of my day would be like.

10 a.m.

By this time, I started to get a little hungry. I popped open another equally green juice. I had just come back from the gym and was super thirsty, so I chugged this one down quickly. This one had pineapple in it, so it was a little sweeter than Juice #1, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the aftertaste.

11 a.m.

I started to watch a new show on Netflix and had an almost uncontrollable urge to snack on something. I stared at a half-eaten bag of chips on my desk.

At the time, I didn’t question why Pressed Juicery gave me green water, but I went with it. I shook off my craving and opened up the bottle of chlorophyll-infused water that they told me to drink throughout the day. Later, I learned that a study in Appetite revealed that incorporating thylakoids, a component of the chlorophyll pigment in plants, into a diet helps to curb hunger sensations. [3]

1 p.m.

I tried to bring myself to drink Juice #3 at noon, but I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of drinking another juice so soon. I wondered if I was already tired of juicing. I wasn’t even halfway done with the cleanse and I started to feel disgusted from the thought of drinking more liquified vegetables. More kale, more spinach.

3 p.m.

It was around this time that I began to feel the effects of calorie deprivation. I laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling for about 20 minutes. I started to contemplate my life and my life choices up until this point. Juice #4 went down, but not without a fight.

5 p.m.

One of the stages of grief is bargaining. I started to bargain with myself around Juice #5. Would I really lose out on anything if I nibbled on a granola bar? I missed the sensation of chewing more than anything. So, I popped a piece of gum into my mouth as soon as I finished chugging down #5, hoping to curb my insatiable desire for solid food. Chewing gum to curb hunger has always been one of those things I’ve heard that works, but I wasn’t sure if it was completely true. But, according to a 2011 study in Appetite, chewing gum for around 45 minutes apparently does help to curb feelings of hunger, appetite, and cravings. [4]

7 p.m.

It was about time to drink my last juice. I was a mess. My dependence on a high-calorie intake became more and more apparent as I begrudgingly shuffled my feet to the fridge. This juice was different - it wasn’t an ugly, green reminder of promised health benefits. Instead, this coconut-based drink was a milky white color - a beacon of hope shining through the green haze of low-calorie juices.

To this day, I’ve never cherished drinking 300 calories more so than that night. I literally felt myself become energized with each sip of the coconut elixir. It was such a simple drink, made of coconut and cinnamon without added sugar. But, in that moment, it felt like I was drinking a sinful dessert.

Final Thoughts

My juice cleansing experience was challenging, to say the least. There were times when I considered stopping the cleanse, even though it was only a one-day cleanse. But on the same token, I realize that a one-day cleanse might not have been enough to really reset my system. If anything, it was a glimpse of what could have been.

One thing that really stuck out to me was how caloric intake actually affects our energy levels. As a person that typically consumes 2000+ calories a day, I felt much more tired and sluggish as I trudged through most of my day with less than 500+ calories. My biggest take-away from this entire experience wasn’t the magic feeling of juice cleansing; instead, I really gained a newfound sense of appreciation for the food I eat and the nutritional content of those foods.