Cleansing away 2012

Last year, I started off 2012 with a bang! I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and I needed a change, in a big way. So, I joined a boot camp that one of my friends had referred me to and ended up changing my eating habits, getting healthy, and losing 20 pounds in 3 months!

Fast forward to the start of 2013...A few too many dinners out with friends, glasses of wine, holiday munchies and cookies from the cookie exchange and those same 20 pounds that I lost have somehow found me again! With our wedding only 156 days to go (yikes!) and my wedding dress sitting lonely in the bridal shop because I know it won't fit yet, I need to cleanse away my bad habits once again and get back on the wagon! It's now or never.

So, I went yesterday and bought the best toy in the world- my Juiceman juicer! Honestly, the most fun $80.00 I've spent...I know, I'm strange. One stop at Whole Foods, an hour later and voila! I have 5 different juices for the next 3 days to complete my juice cleanse.

Why a juice cleanse you may ask? Well, according to Joel Odhner (who is the creator of Catalyst Cleanse juices and works with Dr. Oz):
"When you drink fresh juice it goes into the body and can assimilate much quicker, which in turn gives you more energy and feeds your cells exactly what they need in order to function optimally. At the same time, the juice helps the body eliminate toxins in a very efficient manner. When you flush with juice, you give your digestive system a break—kind of a mini-vacation. I recommend doing three to five days of juicing at a time; it’s a great way to “reset” your whole body, gain mental clarity, increase your energy and maybe (just maybe) lose a little weight."
So there you have it!  A 3 day cleanse will be the jump-start I need for my body to get back into the swing of things!

The basics of the cleanse are this:
Drink 5 different 16 oz servings of freshly-made juice throughout the day
Drink herbal tea (decaf) and lots of water
Drink 1 serving of Almond milk to add some necessary fats to your cleanse. 
Simple!  

So, I made 2 different fruit juices and 3 green juices to drink each day. All of the ingredients were organic and cleaned like crazy before juicing them. I decided to just purchase the Almond Milk rather than making it myself- not as raw because of the preservatives but I like the taste of 365 Brand (Whole Foods) and if I'm drinking it plain for 3 days, I need to like the taste.

The first drink of today was a green juice with the following ingredients:

½ small lemon

cilantro

handful of sprouts

1 cucumber

2 celery stalks

1 green apple

piece of ginger

4 kale leaves

The second was a fruit juice:

2-3 apples

8 carrots

1 inch ginger

This one was my favorite, by far! It was sweet and just like apple juice.  Plus carrots are SO good for you and sweet themselves so it was a good combo.

Then I did another green juice:

apple

kale

collard

lemon

Another fruit juice:

apple

orange

grapefruit

ginger

And the last green juice:

3 celery

1 cucumber

1 pear

1 green apple

handful sprouts

small handful spinach

slice of lemon

2 strawberries (I didn't have any because they're not in season)

Sound odd, I know, but honestly it tasted like cucumbers and was surprisingly refreshing! 

The only worry I had was that I'd be starving all day but the juices are really filling so I haven't been hungry yet! Ready to ring in 2013 and to get rid of those pesky 20 pounds again! Who wants to join me?!