Grocery List
2 bundles of kale
2 bundles of red kale
8 extra large carrots
1 celery bundle
2 bundles of red chard
6 cucumbers
1 pineapple core
4 pears
3 yellow apples
5 red apples
8 green apples
10 oranges
6 zucchini
*I had no idea how much of anything I needed. So this is in no way a grocery list I would completely recommend. This did not last me a whole week, although, almost about 6 days worth. I could have used more apples and more greens like kale, spinach, chard, etc. As you can see I forgot items like spinach, romaine lettuce, beets, ginger, etc. that other people use in their juice. This did me well for those 6 days and was a good starting point to lead me to know what to buy next time.
Energy
Over the month of December I was extremely sluggish and constantly felt exhausted. On my first week of the juice fast I won't say I felt a huge energy boost, but I definitely felt better. Although, I do contribute this some to the fact that after work I would go straight to sleep instead of stay up a few extra hours snacking. Side note I work second shift, so when I got home at 11:00pm or later I would be starving and binge until I hated myself. Since started the juice fast I obviously no longer snacked when I got home, so I did end up getting a few extra Zs. I think my body is still recovering from the holidays. My job required me to work New Years Day, this last weekend including a double shift (16+ hrs.) on Sunday. So to say the least my sleep patterns have been a little F'd up. Thinking about it now, I have been a little more tired, but not to the point of exhaustion I was feeling before. Could it be the juice?! I also did not experience the "in a fog" "headache" "tired" hump around day 3-5 as most people describe.
Skin/Hair
Ugh, I say this because my skin has been so cray-cray lately I could just scream! For the past 3 months or more my skin has been inflamed with adult acne. I swear my skin didn't even look this bad when I was in high school or college. So if this juicing could clear that up that would be amazing to say the least. I haven't noticed a huge difference, but again the lack of sleep and stress from work could be contributing to that. Also, I am horrible at drinking water. Next week, my goal is to increase the amount of H2O I drink and see how that helps. I have read before that skin breaks out more as you begin to eat healthier, because your body is pushing out all the toxins from your body. Myth or not, I hoping that's the reason I thought I saw a slight improvement in day 1 & 2, but then my skin starting getting worse again.
Sleep
My sleep has been fantastic. I really mean it. I have one of the hardest times falling asleep. My normal routine before juicing was to watch some TV, check every social media outlet (twice) and then put the timer on my TV so it would turn off in an hour, hoping I had fallen alseep by than. It usually takes me 30-60 minutes to fall asleep. Since starting the juicing I have stopped putting on the TV, attempted most days to avoid the late night instagram checks and just went straight to turning off all the lights. I'm pretty sure most nights I fell asleep soon as my head hit the pillow. It's been great!!
Mental Clarity
Again, I really never had that day 3-5 "fog" or "haze" in which I overcame and had great mental clarity. I'm not sure if my hump to over come is still on it's way or what. Either way my mind has felt energized and this whole past work week felt clear and less stressful.
Weight Loss
Bad, blogger (slapping wrist now). I did not do a before weight. I've never been one to weight myself, so it really just slipped my mind. However, I have noticed I lost all my holiday bloat and have a flat stomach at the moment. I'm sure that after one week I just lost a little water weight and nothing too significant. I will try, try, try to remember to weight myself tomorrow and see if there is any difference in week 2. Again, I don't usually like to weight myself. To me, weight is just a number and put more emphasis on how clothes feel or how I see myself in the mirror.
Overall
I can't believe a week is over. It wasn't as hard as I had imagined which really surprised me. I'm a snacker and a late night binger so I was preparing myself to feel starved, but I didn't.The first few days were weird, I missed chewing. I really did. I began craving pretzels and not for the reasons you may think like wheat or salt (because I also don't even really like pretzels), I desperately wanted to crunch something!! I still every once in a while get the urge to chew, but it's an easily enough urge to just put aside. Which comes to my first realization. If you are a snacker and want to stop, do a one week juice cleanse. I did not realize how many times I just wanted to put something in my mouth, for no reason! I don't know how many times I had the urge to pick up a few crackers at work like I was use to. When I thought about it, why? To cure boredom? To pacify myself? Why? I realized how many times in a day, when I thought I was nourishing my body because I was hungry I was really stuffing my mouth for nothing. Juicing was also the perfect excuse to avoid all the cookies, cakes, chocolates, etc. I was constantly being offered. To say I was on a juice cleanse was empowering. It gave me confident to avoid all the junk I was so used to easily giving in to. Overall, I think a 7 day juice fast is great for anyone. It really puts your head in the right mindset to continue to eat healthy. I just stopped at Whole Foods today and stocked up for week 2. Again, my goal is 30 days.
I thought I would also share my favorite drinks from the week. I would definitely recommend these. Each juice I make is roughly 2 cups worth.
Morning Orange Juice
1 extra large carrot or 2 medium sized carrots
1 yellow apple
1 orange
*To me this tastes like a raw dreamsicle. I could not get enough of this juice. Perfect way to start the morning.
Sweet Treat Evening Green Juice
1 large pear
1 red apple
2-3 red chard
*I drank this as my last drink of the night to help any late night cravings. It is so yummy you may forget it's good for you
Thanks to some of my followers for their juice recommendations. If you have a favorite juice I would love to know your combinations! Hope everyone is doing well, don't forget to follow for future updates.
