El Fin

It’s the last day!! This morning wasn’t nearly as bad as yesterday. Thank goodness!

I won’t bore you with recipes since today is basically a repeat of drinks from the last two days. My conclusion? I still love juicing but I will probably never (never say never) do a cleanse again. I like solid food way too much! Overall, I lost a few unintentional pounds and I’m no longer craving caffeine. (I’ve never been a coffee drinker but I’m a sucker for a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte with soy.)  I don’t think the benefits outweigh the cost of the food, effort involved or lingering hunger associate with a juice cleanse.

Now the real question is what’s for dinner tomorrow? No beets please!

Juice Cleanse Confessions

Day one of our juice cleanse. Technically it should have started tomorrow but we were more than ready to move past the pre-cleanse days. Confession, I ate a fig bar on Sunday. And some granola. In my defense, I thought I was starving.

The first pre-cleanse day was really hard. We were out and about which resulted in a serious lack of H2O intake. I also think the sudden severance of caffeine didn’t help. We both had terrible headaches. Luke’s was worse than mine since he drinks significantly more caffeine than I do on a regular basis. He’s  actually had a headache all three days. If you are a heavy coffee drinker I recommend weaning yourself off before you do this.

I personally didn’t think the first day of actual juicing was bad at all! (Except maybe Snack #2, details below.) Here’s a quick look at the recipes we chose and our very candid opinions of them!

Hot Water with Lemon

Morning Drink: Jolt Juice

• 2 Apples
• 1 Orange
• 1 Cucumber
• 1/2 Lemon
• 4 Kale Leaves

A little too green for me but not bad! 

Snack #1: Mean Green

• 1 Cucumber
• 4 Celery Stalks
• 2 Apples
• 6-8 Kale Leaves
• 1/2 Lemon
• 1 inch Ginger Root

The lemon and ginger save the day! I would drink this again. 

Lunch: Lemon Ginger Zinger

• 2 Apples
• 2 Carrots
• 1 inch Ginger Root
• 1 Lemon

Not bad at all but be prepared for that bite of ginger. I’ve had this one before so I was ready for it. 

Snack #2: Citrus Inspired Green Juice

• 6-8 Kale leaves
• 8 Leaves Swiss Chard
• 1 Cucumber
• 2 Oranges

Never again. Close your eyes and imagine you just fell face first into a pile of grass and accidentally consumed some. 

Dinner: Ginger Beet

• 1 Apple
  
• 1 Beet
  
• 1 Lemon
  
• 1 inch Ginger Root
  
• 3 Carrots

This wasn’t horrible but I would cut down on the beets if I made it again. Actually, I probably wouldn’t make it again if I had a choice. 

Herbal Tea

Juicing Asparagus

Okay, I know the idea of juicing asparagus probably sounds disgusting and to be completely honest, I almost didn’t try it. But Luke and I had a handful of asparagus left over from dinner and it was getting to the point where its edibility was questionable. It was either trash or test and I decided to test. I looked up a few recipes but they all required ingredients I didn’t have handy. I decided to create my own and let me tell you, it was delicious! By far the best juicing creation I have come up with.

Ingredients

• 1 Lemon
• 1 Granny Smith Apple
• 1 Honeycrsip, Fuji or Gala apple
• 9-12 Stalks of Asparagus
• 1″ of Ginger

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to your juicer of choice. (I love my Breville Juice Fountain Duo!)
2. Pour into a glass.
3. Enjoy!