A quite anticipated article today, as I promised to many that I would post about this subject the last few weeks. Many of you know that not too long ago I participated in the popular Dutch television show Kassa. The show asked 2 participants to tryout a 5 day juice cleanse by two different cold-press juice suppliers. I would go for the Juice Brothers 5 day juice cleanse. Through our experiences and the knowledge of health professionals, the show’s angle was to research and challenge statements made by the suppliers. One of these statements was about the detoxing effect of a juice cleanse, that fasting for a certain period of time in combination with a series of cold-pressed juices allows your body to get rid of toxins, thus detox. Considering that the human body has a (generally) well working detoxing system (remember liver? yeah it has a purpose!), I wondered how quitting food and drinking juice could/would add to that. Plus, the last year or two fellow bloggers went ballistic (with enthusiasm!) over cold-press juice cleanses. Then again, how can I have an opinion about this without trying it out myself? I wondered: am I missing a magic potion that’ll turn me into a #fitboy?
After the (live) show (which you can look back by clicking here) I received tons of messages. Now I will refrain myself from sharing my thoughts on how a natural body process (obviously) doesn’t need fasting and cold-pressed juices to work. However, I do wish to elaborate a bit on the overal effect that this challenge had on me. Let’s start with the fact that I quit the 5-day cleanse after 3 days. I was feeling very tired and as my job involves being active and focussed most of the day, I didn’t feel like continuing the fast. Yes, food was on my mind a lot during the 3-day juice cleanse, though the hunger wasn’t necessarily the thing that got me most. When the first day ended an ongoing headache led to asking around, Googling and even calling Juice Brothers to find out what was going on. Drastic cuts in certain dietary habits most likely could lead to having a headache, and immediately I knew what was missing: coffee. As my system emptied all left-overs (ieuw, sorry about that) I became more and more conscious of some extraordinary eating habits. It struck me that I (generally speaking) consumed over 10 cups of coffee a day! Also, I was having food cravings at random hours, only to realise how much junkfood I consume throughout the day (and night!).
Now I can’t really explain why a grown man has little clue of these bad eating habits, though I’m guessing that getting used to a routine created that unawareness. That was a crucial realisation that the 3-day cleanse brought to my attention, leading to some drastic changes in my eating habits (on the road to becoming a #fitboy! 😉 )
Would I do the juice cleanse again?
I honestly think I would indeed consider to fast for a day or two in the future, just to continue that (apparently very necessary) ongoing wake-up call from time to time. Though I would switch it up a bit and combine cold-pressed juices (the yummy ones 🙂 ) with some raw veggies!
For more information on cold-pressed juices visit the Juice Brothers website.