So many people have been asking me questions about the fast and I figured, what the hay? Why not write a blog about my experience?
(DISCLAIMER: I am by no means a certified health professional, nor was I monitored by a doctor while on this detox. Follow in my footsteps at your own risk, or get with a doctor first to make sure you are physically able to do a juice cleanse safely and healthily. You have been warned!!)
So here it is: I, Hali Rose Walsh, drank more fruits and veggies in ten days than I've probably ever actually eaten in my lifetime, and here is my story...
WHY WE DID IT...
Most couples will tell you that when you get hitched, the weight starts to pile itself on. As predicted, Ian and I have both been steadily gaining weight for the past year and a half of marriage. In the beginning of this year, we finally got fed up with our lifestyle of eating garbage, and started on our beloved Paleo Diet. We stuck to it pretty strictly and began to lose weight and felt much better, but we quickly derailed when we went on a cruise for our 1-year-anniversary and never quite got back up, falling into the trap of giving into cravings, laziness and poor meal planning, finding ourselves frequenting McDonald's and Taco Bell instead of cooking at home.
A few weeks ago, we reached our breaking point. Not only was it depressing to find that none of our clothes fit us anymore, but we were sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, and were finally ready to make a total lifestyle change that would stick. It wasn't until about a month ago that we both (without knowing the other person was thinking the same thing) started to think about what we had heard about the health benefits of juicing. When I told Ian I had been contemplating juicing as part of our everyday diet, he excitedly told me that he had too, and I posted an ad on the church's Facebook asking around for a juicer. Thankfully, a lovely lady from church came forward and said that we could have her virtually new juicer because it was just sitting her in garage, having only been used twice. Score!
Ian ended up finding a documentary on Netflix called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and that's what put the nail in the proverbial juicing coffin; It was the motivation we needed to start it. It was time to do this thing!
Aside from losing weight, we wanted to detox our bodies from all the crap we've put into it over the years. We were also hoping our taste buds would change so we would no longer crave the nasty, greasy, sugary, over-salted, hormone and antibiotic-filled foods which we had grown accustomed to eating, and would instead crave every manner of healthy food that had previously been only a minute part of our diet. We also wanted our bodies to be more energized so we wouldn't have to search too hard for the motivation to exercise or even go about a regular day's activities. Ian also had a few habits and health issues that he wanted to kick once and for all, namely smoking cigarettes.
PRE-FAST PREP...
Upon deciding we were going to do a juice fast/cleanse/detox (whichever name you prefer), we found the website that the man who made and starred in the above documentary created to help people with juice fasting and changing their lifestyle (you can find it here). He calls it a "Reboot" for your body, as it works to clean out your system and bring it back to its most natural state so you are ready to embark on a new diet. He suggests that you do a prep phase in which you take the few days before launching into a full-blown fast to begin to cut things out of your diet that would make stopping them cold turkey harder (caffeine, processed foods, and sweets) and to begin to incorporate juicing into your normal routine by meal supplementing two meals a day with juice.
To be perfectly honest, even after watching the documentary, I wasn't so sure I actually wanted to do a full-on juice fast and thought that simply juicing for a meal or two a day would suffice in helping to change my lifestyle. Ian however, my lovely "all in or all out" husband, was ready to dive head first into a 10 day fast. By the time he was done doing five days of prep and I had only done two with no clear intention to do a fast, he informed me the night before beginning that it was his last meal before doing the detox and if I was really serious about losing weight and creating a clean slate to start a new life, I should do it, too.
To say that I went into it totally excited would most certainly be a lie; it's one thing to give up food you shouldn't be eating, but it's quite another to give up food entirely AND have to drink/eat something you really dislike for all your meals spanning ten days. But I was SO over the way that I looked and felt day-to-day that I decided to try it. I told Ian that I would aim for five days and see how I felt, and if I wanted to continue for the entirety, then I would.
Another important part of the preparation process was figuring out where, what, and how to buy our produce, although that process of "figuring that out" bled into the first couple of days of our fast, anyway.
We chose to do entirely organic with no conventional produce because we wanted to get the absolute most out of this detox and buying fruits and vegetables that are non-GMO and pesticide free is definitely taking advantage of that. It quickly became clear that Ian was much better at doing all of the shopping, so he took that role for the entire fast. I was concerned about how much money we'd be spending, but was pleasantly surprised when Ian crunched some numbers and found out that with a combination of shopping at Whole Foods and a local farmer's market, we were able to find everything we needed for basically the same amount of money that we would spend on food for the two of us, anyway. That was good news for our wallet! (We probably would have saved even more money if we didn't buy all organic produce, but it was worth the few extra bucks each time, in our opinions).
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| Beets and apples, ready to juice! |
AND WE'RE OFF...
Day 1 - 3
All sources say that the first few days are the hardest. Half true for me, very true for Ian. Because Ian had been doing 5 days of prep and I had only done 2, his body was already ahead of mine. He started to exhibit signs of detox earlier than me: runny nose, coughing, sneezing, aching throughout his body, inability to sleep, basically flu-like symptoms. For me, the first day was surprisingly easy. I experienced some shakiness at the end of the day and a slight headache, but nothing unmanageable. I also found that after each juice, I was actually full! I didn't become hungry again until about four hours after each meal which is pretty normal with solid food, anyway. I felt energized right out of the gate, thanks to my naturally sugary juice in the morning, and didn't get tired as the day wore on.
I will say though, that I realized VERY early on that I do NOT like the taste of kale!! Some people love it, some people don't mind it, but then there are those, like me, who find it absolutely disgusting. I thought that maybe I hate it because I'm not used it, and hoped that gradually throughout the detox, my taste buds would change and I would find myself enjoying it. Either way, I anticipated some rough lunches and dinners ahead of me!
The first few days we became very aware of just how MENTAL food cravings are! I wouldn't even be hungry, but would find myself wanting food "just because." I realized how much of my subconscious revolved around food and how much of my time and energy I put into contemplating it, even if I didn't know I was doing it! I definitely had not been eating to live, but living to eat!
Of course it wasn't all mental...Ian and I both found ourselves craving and dreaming about eating (literally, actually!). I kept thinking about a big juicy cheeseburger and he kept saying he couldn't wait to eat pizza, again. Our sense of smell was unbelievably sensitive and I remember someone eating a chicken salad and that smelled like heaven, whereas before I wouldn't even think twice about a salad being that desirable! Smelling food being cooked around us was tough to deal with when we had a big cup of green slop in front of us to suck down. (Although to be fair, Ian really liked the green drink that we had to have for both lunch and dinner, everyday. To that I have to say, "Weirdo!")
Another cool thing that happened very early on was our spiritual sensitivity was extremely heightened! I would simply hear a song on the radio about Jesus and just start crying because His presence in my car was so strong. When I told Ian that, he started laughing because he was experiencing the same thing! There's so much I can say about the amazing benefits of taking your flesh out of the equation through fasting and being able to tune into God more, but for the sake of the post I'll just point out how even this kind of fasting was different than other fasting I'd done because it isn't just about depriving your body of your favorite foods, but about cleaning it out from all the toxins that affect you everyday without realizing it. Definitely a plus!
According to the "literature," you can lose up to 10 pounds of water weight within the first 3 days. Ian and I decided not to weigh ourselves (although now for curiosity's sake, I wish we had) because our goal was to feel and look good and we didn't want to get hung up on a number, so I can't say for sure that we each lost that much weight in the first 3 days, but I can tell you that I definitely FELT like I dropped a lot of water weight. On day 3, Ian commented on how my face already looked thinner and the puffiness I always seemed to have under my eyes was completely gone! Likewise, Ian's pants were already starting to get a little looser and a little baggier.
Day 4 - 6
As Ian came out of his time of detox and looked all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I entered into my time of detox: clogged nose, coughing, sneezing, weakness, sore throat, you get the idea. It wasn't fun, but I noticed something great happening: I no longer craved food! I was almost completely unaffected; I didn't even want it! I would see people eating things in front of me that I would normally go crazy for, and even imagining eating it with them made my stomach turn a little bit. I hated my green kale juice, but I surprisingly found myself not even mentally able to give it up for solid food. The desire to eat just wasn't there!
On top of just not really wanting to eat, I felt my body and my taste buds changing. Don't get me wrong, the kale still tasted NAS-T, but suddenly the carrots were irresistibly sweet and the cucumbers satisfied my body's craving for green veggies. A totally weird, but welcome change! In fact, our bodies were changing so much that a few days into it, we allowed ourselves to have our first "dessert juice" which contained a peach, half a sweet potato, an apple, a handful of blueberries, and a dash of cinnamon, and we felt like we just ate the most decadent dessert in the entire world! It's amazing how your body will respond to even the smallest amount of natural sugar after taking away all the refined crap!
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| Orange, carrot, and beet juice. One of the yummier juices for the morning. |
Day 5 came and I vaguely remembered saying that I was only going to do 5 days unless I felt like continuing on, and I laughed to myself how at this point, it wasn't even a question of whether I would continue on or not...of course I would! Like I said, I didn't even WANT to eat, anymore.
At this point in the detox, something totally wonderful happened: Ian no longer craved cigarettes!!! MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!!! My husband didn't want to smoke!! He had tried smoking some cigarettes at the very beginning, but his body was so adamant about ridding itself of toxins that not only did they begin to taste bad to him, but his physiology rejected the poisons he was inhaling so intensely that it burned his throat and lungs and made him physically unable to continue smoking! This is a BIG BIG DEAL because he's been smoking since he was 14 and has never been able to really quit for longer that a few weeks at a time. He started using e-cigarettes to supplement for the oral fixation and that was that. THANKYOUJESUS!!
Although I was feeling sick for about three of these days, overall we both slept SO MUCH SOUNDER. I'm talking sleep-like-a-rock status. We would get up in the morning and be ready to go, instead of groggy and still wanting to lay in bed. Another miracle of miracles because let me tell you, the Walsh family does not consist of morning people!
Ian also noticed that these little red bumps he was always getting on his upper legs were going away. Likewise, my skin was clearing up even more and had an overall glow that wasn't there, before. The juice was clearing up our skin!
Day 7 - 10
By this point in the fast, we were physically ready to do this thing forever because we felt so good, but mentally were ready to eat, again! For me, I was ready to cry whenever I even looked at the kale in our fridge; my taste buds had not changed to accommodate the bitter superfood as I had hoped. In fact, my dislike for kale got WORSE and it became harder and harder to drink it. Some days I found myself so tortured by the drink that I would make less juice than I was supposed to just because I didn't want to suffer through 16 ounces of my own personal hell (I don't recommend doing this because you HAVE to eat. I was hungry frequently because of this). At first I was really upset about this and felt like I must be doing something wrong or there was something wrong with my body, but Ian assured me that it is okay to not like certain vegetables. Everyone's taste buds are different and as long as there were certain greens I liked to eat, then I was absolutely fine.
And in fact, I did notice that my aversion to green veggies was also changed...I found myself wanting steamed broccoli, which is totally weird because I have never been a huge broccoli fan. I also knew that spinach and cucumbers were some of my favorites and had recently started craving zucchini. Perhaps I would survive, after all!
The "Reboot with Joe" website talks about the importance of exercising during your juice fast to assist in weight loss, but keeping it light and easy, such as walking and swimming. While Ian was in beast mode on his speed walks almost every day, it took my quite a while to start going on walks because I'm on my feet all day at work and often didn't feel like I needed the extra exercise, lest I burn too many of the few calories I was consuming each day. But near the last few days, I went on a walk on the beach with a friend and was totally amazed at my energy level! I was walking at a speed and a distance that would normally have been breathing a little heavy, sweating, and having my calves burn, but none of that was happening! In fact, we had to stop sooner than my body wanted to: I could have easily kept going for another half hour and would have been just fine! MIRACLE OF MIRACLES, yet again, because this girl right here HATES exercise. Like, I don't think you even understand the depth of my distain for it. Yet I was doing it happily and wanting more!
BREAKING FAST...
On day 10, we decided to begin to slowly wean ourselves off of the fast to prepare for our "breaking fast dinner" at a restaurant we were going to that night for a friend's birthday. In the morning, we both had our last juice for breakfast. I can't even tell you what a weird blend of excitement and fear I experienced at breaking the fast. I had read that you should really take a few days to reintroduce foods, but Ian swore by the fact that after ten days, our bodies wouldn't completely freak out and that he had once done a 40-day master cleanse (what a crazy man!) and had eaten meat right after and was totally fine. His dad who is a certified health professional, also told us that as long as we control our portion sizes, we will be fine.
I decided to make it as easy for my body as possible, so I ate an orange shortly after my breakfast juice. Chewing didn't feel foreign to me like many people have said it would, but it did feel foreign to chew so slowly and carefully out of fear that swallowing a big chunk of orange would send my digestive system into freak-out mode, because I had never taken the time to thoroughly chew in the past. I nervously waited to see what would happen, but found that my body digested it just fine and I didn't feel the need to run to the bathroom in panic (my worst fear, by the way).
When I started to get hungry again after the orange, I decided that my best option for lunch based on what we had at my job was to eat a small amount of raw salmon. Halfway through, I freaked out and thought I had made a huge mistake because I read somewhere that your good gut bacteria needs time to replenish itself after a fast, and I had just ingested raw fish...but then I thought about how anything written about breaking a fast is erring on the side of caution and happily ate my salmon until I was full (which didn't take much at all) and was perfectly okay, with no bathroom episodes, or even pain in my stomach.
When I got home, I got ready to go to Miami to a restaurant that serves all manner of pork....
Yes, we were about to eat PORK after ten days of no real food. Think it was a dumb move? I thought it might be too, but it seemed worth the risk.
Now mind you, we hadn't eaten since lunch around 1pm earlier that day, so it was really amazing that by the time we sat down for dinner at around 9pm, we were JUST starting to feel pretty hungry. We were giddy with excitement at the idea of our first real meal of meat in 10 days. We both ordered one appetizer each, which was four small pork cheeks because we knew our stomachs were the size of a bead and we wouldn't be able to eat very much.
..,let me tell you, that first bite was HEAVEN ON EARTH. A soiree of flavors that practically punched us in the face! We forced ourselves to chew thoroughly and slowly and by the time we finished just four small pieces of meat, we were full!
After eating, I waited to see how my stomach would handle it, a little apprehensively, I might add.
Then it hit me: I REALLY had "to go." But surprisingly, it wasn't the altogether horrible experience I thought, and was over as quickly as it began and I felt fine. Meat successfully digested!
POST-FAST LIFE...
It is VERY true what they say about feeling guilty and even scared to eat after finishing a cleanse. Ian and I were making super healthy food choices and STILL felt like we were doing something gravely wrong by eating.
I had a bit of an emotional "episode" the day after where I was so overwhelmed with the wide variety of food choices I now had, and the fear of ruining all the hard work I did by regaining the weight I lost and slipping back into an unhealthy lifestyle, that I was afraid to eat altogether. IAN TO THE RESCUE! He held me as I cried a little bit and after him assuring me that we would be just fine, we ventured to Whole Foods for lunch where we hit up the salad bar and found ourselves drooling over raw vegetables and spinach leaves. Even the pieces of rotisserie chicken tasted like a treat!
We couldn't believe how FULL we got off of such a small amount of food. So awesome!
Probably the most eye-opening thing about how sensitive our taste buds were to flavor now was when Ian bought one of those Tazo iced teas. Now, I am an iced tea FIEND and can suck one of those down easily by myself. But just one small sip of that stuff was like a sugar bomb went off in our mouths! Not only was it way too sweet, but we could taste flavors in the tea itself that I had never been able to detect before, like the spiciness and the small notes of cinnamon, even. Now THAT rocked my world!
By the end of our grocery trip, we had only drank a quarter of the bottle between the two of us! And actually as I'm typing this two days later, we still have that bottle in the fridge with tea left. Amazing!!
Another thing I didn't realize until yesterday morning (the second day post-fast) was just how much energy I had during the fast. For breakfast, I made myself a small orange, apple, and celery juice, and also made scrambled eggs with spinach. Only a few hours later, I was EXHAUSTED and wanted a nap so badly! This feeling was so foreign to me during the fast and only until then did I realize how I never once got tired in the middle of the day at any point during the detox! That further convinced me that from now on, I should have a juice as soon as I wake up to give me the energy to carry me through the day.
Ian and I have been determined to "keep up the good work" and have been making a point to go on "speed walks" while we reintroduce our bodies to exercise. We have a holy fear (haha) of eating the right food and even though we are eating healthily, we still feel the need to exercise to make sure we are continuing to burn calories and keep off the weight we lost.
OVERALL RESULTS...
1) We both lost a lot of weight and didn't realize it until we tried on clothes we couldn't previously wear! We've been getting comments left and right from people telling us that it's noticeable how much we have slimmed down. We want to continue on this path, but it's amazing that we are now wearing clothes we haven't worn (comfortably) since before we got married!
2) Ian has totally quit smoking cigarettes! He still uses the e-cig to supplement for his oral fixation, but all in all, that desire is gone!
3) We sleep a lot sounder now that we have cleansed our body of toxins and continue to juice one to two times daily. It's great to feel rested in the morning!
4) Our taste buds have completely changed. We now crave healthy foods and have no desire to eat junk! We find ourselves savoring and more thoroughly enjoying flavors AND don't feel the need to add salt to everything, anymore! For me, the Salt Queen, this is a big big deal! Things that seemed flavorless or needing something extra before, are now more than delicious to us!
5) We feel overall happier and more motivated. Because we're so well rested, we get up earlier and have more time to get things done. It doesn't feel like as much of a burden to take care of our business and we have more energy to do the things that we WANT to do. While I still don't LOVE exercising, I find it much easier to get moving and feel more satisfied afterwards.
The list is endless! Everyday, we're discovering something that has changed for the better. But the most important thing we got out of this is a total lifestyle overhaul that isn't hard to maintain like it was before! Granted, this is only day 3 off the fast, but we feel totally different: our desire to change our lifestyles is no longer just due to mental will power, but to our bodies actually wanting it, too!
Final thoughts: If I can do it, ANYONE can do it!! When it comes to food and exercise, I have always been in the top ten people in the world with a willpower problem. I was dreading going 10 days without food, but somehow, I did it.
And it was worth every second of sacrifice!
If you've got any questions at all about my experience, please ask! I would love to give you any information that might help you do your very own juice cleanse!
