Back in November, I was at an awards ceremony and met the CEO of a local juicebar called Nekter. I’ve been to this juice bar a few times – I’m actually a big fan of fresh veggie juice and they’ve got a great acai bowl as well. I’ve always been intrigued by the juice cleanse they’ve got, so when the folks at Nekter offered for me to try it, I was excited. I’d recently watched the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead in which a severely overweight man with a chronic disease goes on a juice fast and basically heals himself. (If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s eye-opening.)
I will confess – my eating habits careened out of control this past winter. It started with the cruise . . . I threw all caution to the wind and dined with abandon. Unfortunately, I also did this in Peru. And then in Haiti. And then in Nashville. And in Florida over Christmas. Travel is a great excuse to eat poorly. You know what else is a great excuse? Moving. And then not having a kitchen. We were hitting the drive-thru as a family more than I’d like to admit.
I was amped to do the cleanse because I hoped it would be a reset button for my eating habits, and I have to say . . . it really was. A few days in, and I was waking up craving the green juice. I decided to do the longest cleanse (5 days) and by the end, my sugar cravings were totally gone. I felt healthy and when I went back to eating, I made much better choices. I ended the cleanse two weeks ago and I’ve stayed off process foods since then. I’ve also lost some of the weight I put on as a result of my winter binging.
I know the big question about a juice fast is always, “Weren’t you hungry?” I will be honest . . . yes. I was. But it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I was allowed to eat almonds, which helped. The juices were filling. As I said, I was already a fan so I wasn’t gagging over the thought of kale juice. It also helped that about a week before going on the cleanse, I started cutting out sugar and processed foods, so I wasn’t in heavy detox. I didn’t experience any headaches or fatigue, and felt like I had enough energy to function.
I’m glad that I did the cleanse. I know I could have achieved the same results juicing at home, but having the portions ready-made was so convenient and kept me from making excuses. More that that, it jump-started some habits that I am hoping will continue in terms of healthy eating. Nekter has nationwide shipping so if a juice cleanse is of interest to you, you can check out the details on their website.
