The FIPS Fad Diet/Exercise Challenge: Week 3 - Juice Cleansing

[via ninedaves]

It seems like every time I turn around, someone I know is on another fad diet or exercise routine. From the Master Cleanse to the Caveman Diet to P-90X to Cross-Fit, it’s hard to know what works and what’s total crap. So for the next four weeks, I’ve decided to try some of these for myself. I’ll tackle a different diet/exercise routine each week, and then report the results back to you the following week.

Note: I’m not a dietitian, nor am I a fitness guru. So I make no claims here that I’m doing anything properly. I’m guessing a lot of you out there might approach this sort of thing like I do: overhear someone talk about it, do some Internet research, give it a try for yourself. For those who follow that pattern, maybe you can learn from my mistakes. For those who don’t follow that pattern, maybe you can educate us in the comments section.

If you've been keeping up with the FIPS Fad Diet/Exercise Challenge, you'll know things have been going pretty well. Week one, I started with a pretty extreme diet: raw vegan. My second week, I kept up the diet and added on some slight exercise: running. I was upon week three -- time to try a new diet. But since I was already eating raw, there was really only one other drastic place I could take my eating habits. That's right folks: I was doing a juice cleanse.

Cleanses are traditionally viewed as a healthful method to detoxify the body. People have been doing it for centuries, though from the way magazines cover cleanses and celebrity diet secrets, you'd think it was invented over the past few years. It's really supposed to help you adjust to a new healthier lifestyle by getting rid of all that shit built up inside your body. That's all fine and good, but I was mainly interested in the fact that it would help me drop weight super fast. I WANT TO BE SKINNY, DAMMIT.

My first thought was to try the "Master Cleanse," which is that super popular cleanse that basically only allows you to drink herbal laxative tea and this bullshit "lemonade" that's made from purified or spring water, fresh squeezed lemon juice, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper. It sounded miserable. And quite frankly, unhealthy. Basically, you're just giving your body water to survive, sugar so your brain doesn't stop functioning, and vitamin c so you don't get scurvy. That doesn't sound promising. Plus you're supposed to do it for 10 days, and even though I've been eating raw lately, I can't imagine going 10 days without eating a fucking apple.

So yeah, even though people lose like, 100lbs on that cleanse, there was no way I was subjecting my body to that shit.

I decided instead to research other cleanses -- healthier alternatives. I had heard a lot about the Blue Print Cleanse. I also read up on the Cooler Cleanse. But ultimately I decided that I didn't want to do some "deliver to your house" sort of program. It felt like I didn't have any connection to where the juices were actually made. Plus, I was hoping to support a local business (though damned if I could find any in Park Slope that offer this).

So I settled on a cleanse sold from my favorite vegan sandwich shop in NYC, Terri (located on 23rd Street and 6th Avenue. Seriously guys, if you haven't been yet, go. Everything there is delicious). Right off the bat, I knew all the ingredients for the cleanse, and that the juices were made on site. Most of all, I liked that they weren't throwing in any protein powders or supplemental nonsense. It was just juice. 

The price was right, too. $175+tax for a 3-day cleanse and $255 + tax for a 5-day cleanse. Far less expensive than any of the competitors. I could also set the length of my cleanse. I wasn't stuck to a 3-day or a 5-day or a 10-day, like many of the other programs I saw. And I could pick up right at the store and take it home on the F train (they do deliver, though I'm sure there's a small fee to take it out to Park Slope). Easy peasy.

OK, so here's what the Terri Juice Cleanse entails. You get six juices a day, and you're supposed to drink them throughout the day, roughly every 2-3 hours. Terri's juices are a combination of fruit and veggie superfoods, including both green and root vegetables, as well as some coconut milk thrown in the middle of the day, and a sweet indulgence for dessert. Here's the breakdown of each juice. Refer to the picture above for how they look IRL:

Juice #1: beets, pineapple, carrots, orange, ginger

Juice #2: pears, spinach, celery, cucumber

Juice #3: Young Thai Coconut Milk

Juice #4: apples, beets, carrots

Juice #5: spinach, lemon, apples, cucumber, ginger

Juice #6: strawberries, mint, lemons, maple syrup

Not bad! 

I did have one worry, though: THAT I WOULD BE STARVING. Even though I've been on this raw diet for the past two weeks, I've still been eating pretty consistently. A juice cleanse just sounds like it's not enough substance. I thought I'd be light-headed most of the day. I thought I'd feel really week. And I also had this irrational fear that I'd have major stomach problems. All that liquid? That can't be good.

But I was wrong. Not only was I not hungry, I was so full I basically had a difficult time finishing through Juice #6 each day. I had great energy throughout the day. I was thinking clearly. I slept super well. And no stomach problems at all. Hooray! 

I guess my biggest misconception was that you just drink each drink quickly, as you would a glass of water. That's not really how it goes. You kind of just sip each juice throughout the day. Like a glass of tea. So it took me 6-90 minutes to get through each juice. And by the time I was finished with one juice, it was practically time to start my next juice. So I was drinking alllllllll the time. It was like I didn't even have time to feel hungry.

I also found myself kind of addicted to Terri's juices. The red juices (#1 and #4) were delicious. The layered flavors were really refreshing -- a nice way to start the day. The green juices (#2 and #5) were really hearty, a nice balance to the reds. #6 was my favorite by far. Though I was often too full to finish it each day, it completely satisfied my sweet tooth. Even just writing about it now, I want to go back and get more.

My only complaint: Juice #3. Apparently, I hate coconut milk. I'd never really had it before, and halfway through my first juice, I thought I was going to barf. It just wasn't for me. So every day, Juice #3 became the one I was dreading the most. I'd try a way to chug it as fast as I could. It was a disaster. Of course, when my friends tasted it, they thought it was delicious. And everyone at Terri said it's pretty much everyone's favorite part of the cleanse. But trust me: if you don't like coconut, you're not going to like it. Apparently they'll substitute something else, so if I ever do it again, I won't have the same problem.

All and all, I was happy with the experience, and would definitely do it again. And I lost weight too! A little over 5lbs. Mixed with the 3.5lbs from the raw diet and the 6lbs I lost running, that's almost 15lbs total. Let's see what I can shed in my final week!

Oh, and if you're interested in trying the Terri Juice Cleanse, then stop by their store or email them at TerriCleanse@gmail.com for more info. They also sell most of their juices individually, so you can taste test the cleanse before you commit to the whole package.