My Juice Nashville Experience

 

While I was on maternity leave back in February, Netflix and I became very well acquainted. One of the best discoveries I made during that time was the documentary, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, the story  of an overweight Australian man that went on a 60-day juice fast to take control of his life. The movie was fascinating, uplifting, inspiring. And it made me curious.

Was there something to this juicing thing?

 

Watch this extended trailer for Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead:

 

I will start by saying that prior to watching this documentary I had never given much thought to juicing. Sure, I’d heard of fad diets for weight loss (like the grapefruit juice diet my college roommate attempted to do) and cleanses (the master cleanse another friend swears by), but never once had I ever considered doing any of them myself. But thanks to Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, I started to view juicing not as a trendy thing, or just a quick road to weight loss, but instead a very smart way to fill your body with a massive dose of nutrients from fruits and vegetables.

Enter Juice Nashville. I knew people who had done the 3-day cleanse and loved it, others that did it and were miserable. Earlier this summer I finally had a chance to meet Stephanie, the owner, at the West Nashville Farmers’ Market, and I purchased my first juice. The “Oh Yeah”, a mixture of apple, kale, collards, and lemon, was not only delicious, but made me feel like a million bucks!

That first taste sealed the deal. I knew I wanted to attempt the 3-day cleanse. Unfortunately, between traveling for my job this summer and all of the food-related events I was committed to, it was a couple of months before I actually had a stretch of time that I could fit it in.

Finally, in early August, my calendar miraculously had 4 days straight with NOTHING on it! I hopped online and ordered my cleanse.

Now let me be clear- I am not suggesting that any of you do this. I’m simply going to share my experience for those of you that may be curious. I am by no means a medical professional, so please do your own research before embarking on a cleanse yourself!

 

 

Juice Nashville 3 Day Cleanse

Day 1

I started my cleanse on a Sunday, with what seemed the most breakfast-like of the juices, “C Ya”, which is made up of apple, orange, grapefruit, and ginger. By noon I still wasn’t even really hungry, but since I knew I had 4 more juices to get through for the day, I forced myself to do lunch, which was a “Whoa” and almond water. I should mention that before each of these, I also chugged down 8 oz of water, which I’m sure was part of the reason I felt so full.

On this afternoon I made dinner to deliver to our friends that just had a baby, plus cooked up some sausage to put in my husband’s egg muffins for the week. I will admit that even though I wasn’t really hungry, it still took every ounce of willpower I had to not take a few nibbles of that sausage!

To keep my mouth occupied and my mind off that sausage, I drank about half a bottle of “Snap” (apple, carrot, ginger).

Early that evening, we went over to our friends’ to see the baby and deliver the food, and towards the end of our visit, around 7 pm, I actually started feeling a bit light -headed and nauseous. I blame myself completely for this turn of events, because I’m confident that it was just because I hadn’t gotten enough juices in me at that point. When we got back home, I immediately downed the rest of the “Snap” and a little over half an “Oh Yeah”. After that, I felt completely fine and not at all hungry.

End of Day 1 = 3 + 2/3 juices + 1 almond milk

 

 

My “beet milkshake”

 

Day 2

Started the day with 8 oz of water and a “C Ya”. By 1 pm, I was starting to feel a little hungry, so I grabbed the “I Heart Carrots”, the juice I never got around to on Day 1. That plus 8 oz of water was lunch, and I was satisfied.

Mid-afternoon for a snack, I combined a little almond milk with the “Whoa”. Eureka! This was like drinking a milkshake. A beet milkshake! I was on to something. While I actually enjoyed most of the juices and didn’t really have trouble drinking any of them, I know some people might have a tough time with that beet juice.

Problem solved. Add a little almond milk and it becomes a smooth, creamy delight!

Dinner was the “Oh Yeah” and later in the evening I drank a little bit of the “Snap”, again mixing in some almond milk for another milkshake. You may think I’m crazy, but I swear this one tasted like a dreamsicle! So yummy!

End of Day 2 = 4 juices + 1 almond milk

 

Mommy and Baby’s green breakfast. Peas for him and an Oh Yeah juice for me!

 

Day 3

By Day 3 I was really in the groove and not missing food at all. Now that I’d discovered “milkshakes”, I started experimenting with mixing other juices with the almond milk. In fact, on this last day, I didn’t drink any of the almond milk completely on its own, instead putting a little bit in practically each juice I had that day.

I won’t bore you by going through the order of what I had all day long, but will tell you that this final day is the only day that I drank all 5 juices plus the almond milk. It wasn’t because I was hungrier than the other days, it was really more out of boredom. My mouth was starting to miss chewing.

End of Day 3 = 5 juices + 1 almond milk

 

This is no lie: When I woke up on the morning after the cleanse, I found myself craving another juice – not food!

I absolutely loved doing this. Besides that one moment late in the first day, I felt energized, alert, and focused the entire time. Now the big question that people keep asking – Did I lose weight? Yes, I lost 5 lbs. However, thanks to a series of food related activities, a week later I had gained back 4 of them. Luckily I wasn’t doing this to lose weight, so I didn’t care. I still felt better than I have in months!

In fact, I felt so great and loved it so much that just 3 weeks after doing my first one, I was back on Juice Nashville’s website ordering my 2nd 3-day cleanse that I just completed a few days ago! I don’t own a scale, instead I only weigh myself at the gym, and I didn’t do so right before or after doing this latest cleanse, so I can’t say for sure how much weight I lost, but I can definitely tell by the way my jeans fit that I did lose some.

Again, I want to stress that this is only my experience, and you may not have the same results or enjoy it as much as I did, but at the very least, check out what Juice Nashville has to offer by visiting their website, following them on Twitter or becoming a fan on Facebook. Go buy one or two juices to start. Maybe it’ll make you want to try the cleanse like it did to me. If you do, please be sure to let me know what you think!