Chances are, you’ve probably heard of juice cleanses, which are also known as juice fasts and juice detoxes. Endorsed by celebrities such as Blake Lively and Nikki Reed, the Juice Cleanse is the fad diet of all fad diets.
For those of you who don’t know much about a juice cleanse, it is basically a diet during which you only consume juice and water.
I know, it’s pretty crazy.
Of course, there are people both for and against it. Advocates of juice cleanses claim that they have detoxing, reenergizing, resetting and revitalizing benefits, whereas others think that it’s a form of self-inflicted starvation and actually wreaks havoc on the body.
Naturally, I was curious and decided to give the infamous juice cleanse a try. Over the past few weeks, I tried two different three-day programs from two different product lines: one from Cocobeets, a juice bar in Boston, and one from Urban Remedy, an LA-based company that delivers its juice to you via overnight FedEx. Here’s what I can tell you:
They tasted pretty terrible. This was real, raw, and pure juice made from both vegetables and fruit – nothing like the OJ we’re accustomed to.
Since my body had very few calories to work with, I ended up feeling incredibly cold. It was also the winter, so I almost gave up on the cleanse just because of how cold I constantly felt. I only survived by wearing my thickest down jacket all the time, even indoors.
The hunger is pretty bad on the first and second days, but it helps to keep busy so that you don’t really think about it.
On the third day, however, I felt surprisingly good. I was free of caffeine spikes and slumps, in a good mood, didn’t crave food, and my skin looked a lot better.
Some might say that it’s all a result of the placebo effect. I honestly can’t say whether they’re right or wrong, but either way the juice cleanses did me some good. Not the same could be said for my wallet, though (check Groupon for some juice cleanses on a budget).
So there you have it, real life experiences with the juice cleanse. If you happen to be trying one or decide to try one in the near future, tweet us at @HerCampusTufts and let us know how it goes!
Photo sources:
newyork.cbslocal.com, http://media.giphy.com/media/PmkkiaCjD27Xq/giphy.gif, http://www.collegemagazine.com/, http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ew-gif-1425428693.gif, http://static.squarespace.com/static/519e9748e4b048f9f832e39e/t/541bfb7de4b03814779dbf08/1411119999302/?format=500w