It’s been about a year that I’ve been in a giant rut with my eating and exercise habits. While health should be my top priority, I am falling for ALL the excuses; the busy-ness called life is winning the game! I purchased a Peloton at the beginning of the year, that’s fallen off. I hired a nutritionist, that’s fallen off. I am working more hours than ever. I’ve started a business “side-hustle”. I’m trying to keep up with my passion on social media with my YouTube channel and Instagram. Oh, and did I mention I’m raising my 4 year old on my own. My poor long distance relationship hardly gets any time (sorry John – xoxo)! Not complaining; just want to paint the picture. I find that I have no time for food prep or proper exercise. A few ladies at work were talking about doing a juice cleanse. I didn’t pay any attention to it, as I’m over all the fads that are out there. I’ve always been skeptical with juicing since there is a ridiculous amount of sugar that is consumed. It wasn’t until they actually started the cleanse that I gave it some consideration. My current state is I’m eating soooo much processed and fried food. It’s the convenience factor that got me in this rut. I need SOMETHING to help reset my cravings. I read a little about Jus by Julie and decided to give it a try!
I will be taking you through my experience in this blog. I have no affiliation with Jus by Julie and will give you my honest opinion on taste and how I felt throughout this process. I did not do research on other companies – I simply picked this so I could do it with co-workers.
What Is It? How Do I Start?
The selling point for me is that these juices are blended and ready to drink. Like I mentioned before, I have no time to food prep! The convenience alone has me super excited! The five day cleanse comes with 30 “JUSes”. Each day you consume six. To make it even easier … they come numbered 1-6 so you know exactly what you need to drink and when. The package arrives frozen and you want to refrigerate immediately. When you order you get to pick your delivery date that way you can have it delivered when you want to start your cleanse. The fact that I do not have to shop or make my own juices throughout the day saves me so much time. It’s a little pricey but at this point, I am paying for the convenience. Side note: When I went to the website a 30% coupon appeared; getting 30% off made this more affordable. I’m not sure if that is a standard coupon, but wanted to call that out.
My Weekend Prep
There isn’t much to do in the way of prep for this cleanse. I bought green tea as they allow a cup or two if needed. As an avid coffee drinker, I know what happens when I cut out caffeine cold turkey. I get the worst headaches so I will be allowing green tea during this cleanse. They do advise you eat mostly fruits and vegetables. While I did eat watermelon (my favorite fruit) I did have a few things that I hope doesn’t come back to haunt me. I made sure to get my pho and sushi fix so I wouldn’t think about it during my cleanse, and had wine at my The Hills watch party with my cousin the days leading up to the start of my cleanse. Overall I am excited to try this out. I have written down what I hope is an outcome of this cleanse:
- More energy
- Less cravings for salty foods
- Less cravings for fried foods
- Get rid of my caffeine addiction
Day 1 – Let’s Get This Party Started!
Day 1 started out pretty good! I packed bottles 1-5 to take to work. I was set! I started out my morning with Sweet Spin, which is made up of kale, spinach, pineapple, banana, mango, and rice milk. I was pleasantly surprised and how good it was. After a bottled water, I was ready for my green tea. WHERE WAS MY GREEN TEA?! I searched my bag and realized I left my tea bags at home. Like I mentioned before, I’m pretty much a coffee addict – and I know how my body withdrawals. If I don’t have caffeine by 10am, it’s pretty much a guaranteed headache. Lessons learned. I will be more prepared tomorrow.
No surprise, Spicy Lemonade (lemon, maple syrup, cayenne pepper) was a delicious treat. My 3rd drink, Green Radiance, had a very strong ginger smell to it that threw me off a little, as I traditionally do not like ginger – outside of it being cooked in asian cuisine. Overall, the taste wasn’t too bad! Green Radiance is made up of spinach, apples, strawberries, mango, coconut oil, and ginger. By this time its 5pm and I’m feeling really good (outside of caffeine withdrawals).
When I get home I have Choco-nana (cocoa, banana, strawberry, pomegranate, and coconut milk) while Presley has Chick Fil A. While I didn’t hate Choco-nana, it by far is my least liked one thus far, making Presley’s nuggets sound really good. But I resist! I stick to the plan. I finish the night off with All Green Everything (kale, spinach, celery, apple, and rice milk). I like this one more than I expected. It has a little bit of a grainy texture to it that I really don’t mind; gives me something to chew, I suppose. If you like the taste of celery I think you’d enjoy it as the celery flavor was pretty powerful.
Notes from day one: This is easier than I expected. The taste is better that I would have guessed. Spicy Lemonade wins the day. And the most important takeaway – I will NOT forget my green tea tomorrow! I drank a ton of water throughout the day and found myself visiting the ladies room quite frequently. I’m looking forward to day two!
Day Two
Today’s bundle had a couple different options for drinks, one I liked, one I absolutely did NOT like.
What a world of difference having a cup of green tea makes! Today was headache free and much more enjoyable. I’m still feeling really good other than lacking some energy. I had the house to myself, caught up on some work, and found that I fell asleep quite easily.
Instead of Choco-nana my 5th bottle of the day was Watermelon Wizard (watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, lemon juice, rosemary, and maqui powder). I was hoping this would taste like watermelon since watermelon just might be my favorite fruit, but it did not. I was thankful that it tasted a whole lot better than the Choco-nana from the previous day though. To sum of choco-nana, it reminded me of a not good grainy chocolate protein shake that didn’t mix well.
X-treme Greens (spinach, kale, orange, pineapple, hemp seeds, and lime) was juice #6. I do not like this one at all. It was actually hard to drink. Something about the smell and the after taste did not agree with me. I’m glad I won’t be seeing this bottle again until day 6.
Overall everything is still going good and I do not have any food cravings. I actually feel full of liquids so no time to be hungry for real food.
Day 3
I just keep chugging along! Two cups of green tea continues to be my source of caffeine and just what I need. I am finding that I getting brief crashes throughout the day. Perhaps its sugar crashes because of the high sugar content? I’m not sure. I am definitely feeling less bloated. This has been easier than I thought and I’m halfway there.
Today had two new flavors. I’m liking that its not the exact same thing everyday or I would likely get bored. Bottle #2 today was Spicy Pomegranate (lemon juice, maple syrup, pomegranate, cayenne pepper, and water). Yum! This and the spicy lemonade have been my favorites. Bottle #5 was replaced with Açaí Blend (coconut milk, blueberries, banana, and açaí). Again, a MUCH better option that the Choco-nana that doesn’t make an appearance again until day 5.
Day 4 and Day 5
The homestretch! Day 4 & 5 consists of flavors already mentioned. On day four I accidentally popped a tater tot in my mouth! After a couple chews and realizing what I was doing I spit it out. There is a sense of accomplishment for sticking to the cleanse for five days. I went to Costco to make sure I have some good food options. I plan on having whole grain oats, almond milk, and blueberries for breakfast. Followed by a salad for lunch and dinner is TBD. I would like to stay away from eating out this weekend. I have travels coming up so I know I can’t avoid if forever, but plan on making better choices.
Final Thoughts
I’m glad I tried something like this. My favorite thing about Jus by Julie is it came prepared and pre-bundled. I didn’t have to put any thought into, which for my crazy busy life, this worked out perfectly. For the most part the taste was pretty good – minus a couple flavors I didn’t care for. I did lose 4lbs of mostly water weight, which is expected when you cut out all salt and have a pretty high water intake. I was disappointed that as a “cleanse” I didn’t experience anything magical in the bathroom (sorry for TMI – but I think it’s important to call out). Knowing how my body responds to so much sugar I probably wouldn’t do something like this again for this long. I would like consider other cleanses though! Whether it’s from the cleanse or a mental thing… I am glad I’m not craving Chick Fil A waffle fries! LOL!
What cleanses have you tried that you really like?
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