After 6-days on the Lifestyle Juicery cleanse, I have survived!

Firstly, if you have no clue what I'm talking about, read about why I'm on this cleanse. Then come back here, and read about my review and experience, during this cleanse. From that post, I explained why I decided to embark on this journey, and the benefits you can reap from a cleanse.

Before we read about how I fare, let me introduce the Lifestyle Juicery juices that have been my buddies for the last 6 days.

#1 SEIZE THE DAY
A juice combination of carrot, orange, celery, pineapple, apple and parsley. I found this juice alright actually and I kind of liked it. Would have liked it more if I didn't dislike the taste of celery and parsley so much. But it was bearable because the carrot taste was the most dominant, and I'm fine with carrots. The orange and pineapple adds a bit of sweetness to this, which is why it tastes okay. I think they got the ratio of fruit & vege quite right in this one.


#2 MEAN GREEN
A juice combination of kale, spinach, cucumber, apple, lemon, broccoli and ginger. It tastes as mean as it sounds! The kale and spinach flavor is very, very dominant here. I had to struggle to chug this down. Maybe I'm just not used to drinking veggie juice, but this is definitely not my favorite. It can be likable I guess because it isn't nasty, it's just too green-tasting for my liking. After about 3 days in, you sort of just get used to it and chug it down like a boss. The faster it goes, the better you feel.


#3 ROOT FOR RED
A juice combination of beetroot, kale, carrot, apple and broccoli. This isn't too bad, if you're okay with beetroot. I'm on okay terms with this juice and it can be quite pleasant, especially when I'm really hungry. The only thing is, be really careful when opening the bottle, the juice will stain your clothes red.


#4 THE GREEN FACTOR
A juice combination of kale, spinach, cucumber, apple, lemon, pineapple and orange. This juice is also green, but it tastes alright. I think it's the mix of the fruits in this that evens out the strong taste of kale. By day three, I have already started liking this juice very much. If I had to pick a green juice, this is it!


#5 COCONUT GROOVE
A juice combination of coconut water and a cinnamon stick. My favorite juice of all time. I could drink coconut water all day, everyday. This juice works to rehydrate and provide electrolytes for your body. The cinnamon is just an added bonus for a slightly exotic flavor to the common coconut water. Love this!


#6 NUTS ABOUT NUTS
A juice combination of almond, cashew, pecan, cinnamon and vanilla bean. This isn't too bad, given the vanilla flavor that makes the almond taste pretty good. I had bad experiences with almond flavored drinks, so I was a little skeptical, but this is quite lovely. It is also the thickest juice, which will keep you full throughout the night.

HOW DO YOU START OFF?
Before starting a cleanse, you gotta eat clean. By clean, I mean all fruits and veggies, no meat or bread, pasta or even rice. And cutting out alcohol, sugar and caffeine (yes, no coffee!) completely is a must. It wasn't easy for a meat lover like me, but thankfully, fish is allowed so that was the main staple in my clean diet for 3 days, during the pre-cleanse period.



So basically, the juices will be delivered every two days for the duration of the cleanse. They are very professionally packed in a polystyrene box, and with every order you will be given a very convenient cooler bag and some reusable ice packs to enable you to carry your bottles around with ease. Didn't I tell you they have thought everything through for your convenience?






There will be daily emails and SMSes from the lovely people at Lifestyle Juicery to help you through the journey. The emails are mostly tips and things to do throughout the cleanse. I find that helpful because in times of weak-will, the emails will serve as a guide and motivation to plunge on. Some of the emails recommend spa pampering and skin brushing to help relax yourself and enhance the cleanse benefits.


Here I have a summary of my feelings and experiences from my journal. I recommend you to write in a journal to note down your feelings and how you feel about food, just so you can see how the cleanse has changed you.



DAY ONE & TWO
From my journal, you can see that day 1 & 2 was pretty alright, with very little hunger pangs, just the urge to munch, which I successfully curbed. I went to the toilet quite frequently during these two days, mostly to pee and to eliminate the solids I had during my pre-cleanse. I would strongly suggest you to stay put at home or in the confines of your office during these two days. Nature calls are quite frequent.

The good thing though, is that the elimination process is so smooth, there's no constipation at all. I felt so good right after! The hunger pangs are not really apparent, yet, so these two days were bliss.


DAY THREE
Was a bit of a challenge. Food presented itself as a pretty big temptation for me. Most of the solids I had during pre-cleanse were mostly already out of my system, and I am starting to feel that nagging hunger becoming more apparent. My stomach would literally growl at me whenever I am in between breaks from having juices. I took some tea and water to help sooth my tummy, but smelling someone's lunch in the office wasn't really helping. Even the last bottle of the day didn't help fill me up. It was a hard day.

I would like to highlight that I walked around for quite a bit in a mall, and I nearly fell over from dizziness after 2 hours of walking. So please, take it easy from day 3 onwards. There were also slight headaches, but as I am not a coffee drinker, it isn't too bad. Coffee drinkers beware, headaches might be bad from having a caffeine withdrawal. I suggest you start cutting down coffee a week before your cleanse.


DAY FOUR
I woke up hungry and this was probably the worst day out of the six. It's my hungriest day and fighting hunger pangs all day was hell. I couldn't stop thinking of food and my tummy's growling was like really loud throughout. If you have pets and when you forget to feed them, this was how it sounded like. There isn't much toilet business by now, so I was mostly trying to do my work and ignore my tummy. I couldn't even bring myself to go out for my morning jog.


DAY FIVE
Still feeling real hungry, but it is much more manageable, maybe cause my body has gotten used to it. The hunger is much easily satiated from drinking juices. I learnt that making chewing motions to 'chew the juice' eventhough there's nothing to chew; tricks your body into thinking that you're eating, and that helps with the hunger pangs.


DAY SIX
I feel great and I feel very clean, and empty. I'm also excited because it's the last day before I can have some real food. It's quite an invigorating feeling that leaves you feeling contented with life. My energy levels are coming back up, and I am excited to have some of those sweet jambus that my mom always buys, after all is said and done. After the cleanse though, there is another 3 days of clean eating called the post-cleanse days - to help ease your system back into accepting solid food. Don't go all out on that nasi lemak just yet.


In conclusion, this cleanse has been a journey that has its ups and downs. The downs being the hunger pangs - as I am not accustomed to feeling extreme hunger; and the ups being the great feeling of being cleaned from the inside, a better mentality towards food and just feeling healthier in general.

Mentally, a cleanse can help you rethink your eating lifestyles, and help you focus on starting a cleaner eating habit. After the cleanse now, I find that I am much more mindful of what I put into my mouth. No point going on a cleanse and end up botching up everything you have gone through, right? This is a great jump start to better eating and to start looking out for your health.

Physically, I lost about 2KGs from the cleanse, but that shouldn't be the main point of a cleanse. Gaining the experience and the refreshed mindset is what's more important. Physical changes though, are a bonus! I feel better, and I have to admit, excited to also finish the cleanse and finally eat something, even if it's just a piece of fruit! It's been a fun challenge and I enjoyed most of the ride (albeit battling hunger wasn't that much fun). I would say that this experience has encouraged me to go on a cleanse at least twice a year, just to get rid of some old cobwebs and keep my insides clean.

I have to also give props to the bottle design! The label is very well-designed and it states clearly what are in the juices you are drinking. I also love the fact that the bottles used are the sturdy type, not the flimsy plastic mineral water bottle - which makes it great for recycling in my home, to use as a water bottle or to store my own pressed juices.





WIN A VOUCHER TO KICK START YOUR CLEANSE!
If you are looking for a great start to a new eating lifestyle and a refresh to your digestive system, please give cleansing a try. As a start, I am giving out 5 vouchers, worth RM50 each to help you start off your first cleanse with Lifestyle Juicery. They have cleanse programs ranging at 4 days and 6 days; in different modes of silver, gold and platinum. Drop by their site and have a look to see which program suits you most.

To win an RM50 voucher for your first cleanse, head on to Lifestyle Juicery's Facebook page and click like, and comment on this post, with an answer to: 'Why would you like to embark on a juice cleanse?'

Please leave your FB name and email. Contest closes MAY 16th, 2014 at 12PM. Winners will be notified by email. :)


***UPDATE
The contest has closed! Winners, please check your inbox! For the rest of you, thank you for participating. :)