My Three-Day Juice Fast Experience

'Juicing' sounds like it is yet another health craze, especially when combined with the word 'diet'. If I hadn't seen the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead , I don't think I'd have been so inspired to try juicing. I'm not generally one for detoxing or dieting (sadly, quite the contrary), but when I saw how beneficial this could be for my health, I wanted to try it. I also purchased Juice a book on the topic by Liz Earle, well-renowned skin specialist of 'Cleanse and Polish' fame! This book is a great way to educate yourself on what health benefits the whole spectrum of fruit and vegetables can do for your body. It also contains plenty of juicing recipes, some of which I have tried or adapted over the last three days of my juice fast.
Let's face it, I needed to have a break from all of the crap I've been eating lately! I work long hours in a stressful job and I have not mastered the art of maintaining a healthy diet long term. I'm not overweight, but I have plenty of spare pounds hiding under my clothes- ones I wouldn't mind losing. Having said that, juicing was not an attempt to lose weight, in fact I rarely weigh myself and prefer to let the tell-tale signs of tightening waistbands on my clothing be the hint for me to put down the cake for a while. My main aim with buying a juicer was to improve my health in the long term. Fruit and vegetables are just not something I eat enough of, and I wanted that to change.
Having read up on juicing beforehand, I decided (along with my partner) to try a three-day juice diet (or 'cleanse') in order to see whether I could kick-start my body a bit and begin the holidays feeling less sluggish. Initially, the aim was to do the three days and then maybe continue...but in all honesty, it has been quite tough. Here is a record of my juicing experience. I hope it might be interesting to those of you who are considering doing this, or even to those who have also started juicing as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Day 1:

• We began the morning with a fruit blend of apples, oranges, carrots and pears. The fruit juices are sweet and fairly easy to drink. We continued with this blend every morning for the three days.
• I continued to drink unsweetened decaffeinated tea with a little milk for my own sanity!
• By mid-morning, I had a headache and was hungry. I decided that eating a banana (although not a juice) was a good move for me to help deal with any drop in blood sugar or hunger. Bananas have now become the most wonderful food in the world! I started to appreciate them so much and that in itself was quite powerful for me; so often I take food for granted.
• Then came lunch...

...and man oh man, it was an acquired taste! The parsley in it packed quite a punch and the lime made it sour rather than sweet. I drank it, thinking of all of the health benefits, but it wasn't pleasant by any stretch of the imagination.

• We went into town for a bit of fresh air and bought some wheatgerm in Holland and Barrett, which is good for adding to juices for some fibre.
• My headache continued all day and I felt weak. I knew these side effects would happen and I had read up that rest was important, so I slept in the afternoon for a few hours. It would not be a good idea to start this diet when you have to work- I won't lie, I felt rough!
• For supper I had:

...and it was glorious! This green juice was sweet with the addition of kiwis, pears and apple and packed full of kale, spinach and broccoli. I was so happy to actually enjoy it after the horrible lunchtime juice!

• I slept early as my headache continued and I had aching muscles. I drank water throughout the day to help with the headache, but it didn't really help. From what I have read, the headache is to do with your body flushing out toxins.

Day 2:

• I woke up feeling ok, but soon the headache and lethargy returned. I had a cup of tea and a fruit juice.
• I had another mid-morning banana and a few strawberries and plenty of water.
• For lunch, we decided to try a purple juice:

• It wasn't very nice, probably because it had quite a lot of ginger in it and the taste was very over-powering. The health benefits are obviously excellent, but for my fussy and sugar-addicted tastebuds, it was unpleasant! We also added wheatgerm to the juice which was fine, but sank to the bottom and required stirring.
• I napped again in the afternoon and had a banana on waking because I felt so drained.
• For supper we made the same green juice that we had the night before as it was a tasty one.
• We then went for an evening walk by the sea which was invigorating and made us feel better. My headache was clearing and I felt a bit more energetic.

Day 3:

• Again, I had a cup of tea and a fruit juice for breakfast.
• We had a walk to the supermarket to stock up on a few supplies. In terms of costing, we have spent just under £30 for the three day juicing, with some ingredients to spare. This was shopping in ASDA with a few extras picked up in Sainsbury's.
• We had this lovely juice for lunch:

       It was my favourite juice so far! The sweet potatoes gave it a mild taste with the fruit making it sweet. The kale and spinach stopped the juice from being too sickly sweet or acidic. 

• I started to feel more energetic and less groggy on day 3, to the point where I could imagine feeling better and better. Despite the fact that I have rarely felt hungry whilst juicing, I have thought about the food I would like to eat (specifically, beans on toast!) 
• For dinner, we made another green juice:

This one was nice and fresh with some healthy greens (broccoli, kale and cucumber) with some apples and kiwis. 

• The last juice was somewhat of a relief, but also marked the end of our experience. It has been tough, but ultimately worth it and has definitely been worth trying. 

I can't wait to have a bowl of granola in the morning, but I certainly don't feel like binging on fast food and undoing all the effort of the last few days.The long-lasting changes to my diet are yet to be seen, but I have certainly had an education about food and appreciate it in a new way.

Braun J700 Juicer:

This spin juicer has been superb so far. It has a powerful motor which makes quick work of hard and soft fruits and vegetables. It is easy to assemble and take apart even for a novice like me. The process of actually juicing the ingredients has been part of the fun because I am getting to play with a new gadget! The juicer is easy to clean and comes with a handy brush to get rid of pulp from the different compartments. It is best to clean the juicer immediately after use, that way no food remains can stick to the parts. I got this juicer for 1/3 off the rrp. of £149.99 from Argos. To me, it is a good investment as I know I can now make juicing part of my lifestyle and hopefully improve my health and well-being.