I had the smart idea of going on my first ever full juice cleanse while camping last weekend. Hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, and pop galore, I was in for a world of pain by removing myself from all of the regular camping noms. Yes I said noms.
We’d booked our campsite quite late into the season, so the only lots left were ones without electricity. We could have easily boiled some water over the fire, but since we’d only be there for about 48 hours at most, we decided to keep the entire trip simple and forgo the hot drinks. Instead, I decided to give the 1 day juice cleanse from CEDAR a try to both cleanse my system of the prior day’s food binge as well as keep myself energized throughout the day without any coffee or tea.
I’ve tried some at home juice cleanses in the past to no avail. Trust me when I say that the lemon and cayenne pepper is not a cleanse you want to attempt unless you’re okay with being bound to a toilet the entire day. Because of that, I had my reservations. But let me tell you, CEDAR is completely different from the lemon and cayenne pepper cleanse that I made for myself in the past. I had expected to feel hungry, tired, and even some slight hints of bathroom urgency (which wouldn’t have been good in the woods), yet I didn’t.
I was given 6 bottles to last the entire day, each one measuring out to about 946mL, which leaves me to survive on about 5,676mL of liquids for the day. If you were to think about it like that, it doesn’t seem like much. But each bottle and the entire cleanse itself is designed to deliver the required nutritional value that you’d need for the day without the extra unhealthy bits like saturated fats and simple sugars.
My first concern was that I’d feel hungry, and I did. But not in the sense that you’d think. I wasn’t hungry because I was drinking juice, but because I was so used to reaching for food when I was bored, that the absence of being able to chew on something made me feel like I hadn’t eaten and that I needed to. It was like a ghost hunger. You’re conditioned to feel a certain way because it’s in your habits to do so.
I had a rough start with the cleanse since I’m not a big fan of liquid kale and the main component of the first drink was just that. It tasted like a shot of wheatgrass, except it lasted a whole lot longer since I had to down the entire bottle. I didn’t think that I’d get full off of it, but the wondrous magic of fibre found in the greens certainly made me feel full. And although I knew that it would be good for me, I certainly wasn’t looking forward to drink it again as the third bottle.
Luckily for me, I was in for a treat with the second juice – Pineapple Head. It was a nice adjustment switching from greens to a fruit. The second juice was significantly sweeter and actually tasted like a juice as opposed to the green shot. The mint was a nice touch too and offset the sweetness of the pineapple perfectly. I basically inhaled this one as we packed up our supplies and headed out from our lot and onto the beach.
I finished my second installment of the kale juice while we spent the afternoon at the beach. I had thought that by now I would feel tired since I hadn’t really eaten much, but the flavors of the kale and cucumber were not only refreshing by invigorating as well. It’s funny because even without any food or coffee, so far the juice cleanse had given me the energy and vitality to go camping without feeling tired or hungry.
The fourth juice, Lemon’s Your Lucky Day, was demolished on our drive back to civilization. It was a nice reward from the intense flavors of the kale. To me it basically felt like a minty lemonade, like lemon flavored sour patches – only in liquid form. It was sour (as lemonade truly should be), but naturally sweetened so that I wasn’t scrunching up my face with every sip.
At this point, we’d arrive back at home and I made the difficult decision of deciding whether or not I wanted to workout after not yet eat solid food for an entire day. Since I’d only just finished the fourth bottle, I felt that it would be best to ration out the juices so that they’d last me till the evening. Putting a couple hours in between coming home and going to the gym, I gave the beet juice a try.
Skip To The Beet was tough for me to stomach. I’m not a huge fan of ginger and its flavor paired with beet was significantly stronger than all of the other drinks that I’d already had. But tossing it aside was not an option since I’d already made it this far. I’m glad that I drank it before workout out though, since it was slightly heavier than the lemon juice, so it gave me a slight boost with the additional fibres in it.
I got through my workout fine without any dizzy spells or light headedness and was elated to drink the last one – Cracked It. I usually drink a protein shake immediately after my workouts, so I was a happy to find that the last juice was just as milky as any of my protein shakes. Easily my favorite of the bunch (mostly because it felt like I was eating something compared to just drinking a juice), I finished that last one in less than 5 minutes. Chugging it was the only viable option – when your so-called juice tastes more like a milkshake, why else would you hesitate?
So did the 1 day cleanse due much in terms of visible physical effects? No. Don’t expect to be losing any weight from just one day of drinking pressed-juices. Instead, it gave me the energy to do what I needed to get done that day without the help of any caffeine. I was even surprised that I didn’t really need to chew to get rid of my hunger pains – since they were more habitual feelings of hunger as opposed to actual ones.
But now that I’ve successfully given the 1 day cleanse a try, I’m on a mission to see if I’d be able to survive a 3 or even 5 day juice cleanse. To me it was all mental, so I’m sure a 3-day cleanse wouldn’t be too bad, but a 5-day one? I’ll have to finish the 3-day first to see where I sit. If you’ve ever done a juice cleanse yourself, I’d love to hear about your experience and whether or not it benefited you!
