Juice cleanse rejuvenates body, mind

Last week a crazy thought came into my head: I should try a juice cleanse.

Hearing celebrity after celebrity say they’ve juice cleansed and felt more energized, healthier and even skinnier I thought, “Why not?”

With the semester a little more than a month in everyone can start to feel a bit sluggish.

With promises to lose weight and to feel rejuvenated, juice cleanses have become increasingly popular over the last few years. Target even offers a one-day cleanse for those not willing to try the three-day or week-long cleanses.

So, I went to Google and typed in 3-day juice cleanse and found exactly what I had been looking for.

A company called Pressed Juicery offered a cleanse named Cleanse 1 for beginners. It was a bit pricey at $199 and almost made me change my mind, but curiosity got the best of me.

I purchased the cleanse and then waited patiently for it to arrive. But beforehand, I made sure to change my diet as suggested. Cleanses normally recommend erasing all processed foods, meats, starches, dairy products, sugars and alcohol from your diet at least two days prior to the cleanse. With this in mind I ate a lot of fruits and veggies as there was little else I could eat.

Finally, the juices arrived and I began my cleanse the next day.

The juices all tasted pretty good. I didn’t have any complaints about the tastes, although I didn’t like one of the green juices as much as the others.

One of the hardest parts of cleansing was remembering to stay active and hydrated. If you’re not doing anything, you begin to remember how hungry you actually are.

In my situation, I started day-dreaming about pizza. But, I’d promised to push through this thing so thoughts of pizza were quickly dismissed.

Although one is recommended to not partake in challenging workouts while cleansing, I did manage to do yoga a couple of times. Each time I felt more energized and ready to continue on with the cleanse.

While cleansing, I found the hardest part of my day was mid-afternoon. Each of the days I became groggy and irritable around that time.

My mother had to give me a pep talk the second day after I called complaining about how hungry I was.

Funny enough, the last day was the easiest. At this point, I became used to drinking only juice, but I was also incredibly busy with school work so that might have played a part in feeling good.

Overall, post-cleanse I do feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Since cleansing I’ve slept much better than I had been and I’ve been wanting to maintain making healthier choices when it comes to eating.

While I didn’t lose a ton of weight as some claim they do, I do feel less bloated and more confident putting on my skinny jeans.

So, do I think cleansing is worth it? If you’re wanting to feel refreshed and renewed at a steep price, then the answer is yes.