Since two years I'm making myself green juices every now and then after my workout or when I'm on the go. If you have the right ingridiens, the juices taste very good and they are really healthy. Until now I haven't replaced meals with juices for some days in a row or even just had juices for a couple of days. These juice cleanse are also quite controversial. Just drinking juice for three of five days in a row also seems quite weird to me. The success of course will be enormous and I guess you'll lose at least 2-3 kg in those 5 days. After those days I guess all the weight will be gained again because your body starts saving the food as soon as you eat again. Detox often doesn't primary mean loosing weight but detoxifying and cleaning your body.Â
After Christmas I wanted to feel fit and healthy again after all the food and sport-free time. I decided to go to the gym more often again and starting with this 5 Days Detox Juice Cleanse. My plan was not to give up everything but just replacing dinner with a healthy juice. I found great recipes and new combination ideas online which I've never tried before so I went shopping last Saturday and the detox program could begin.Â
Below you'll find all juices and their recipe. Furthermore I've made a report on how it worked out for me. Enjoy!
Day 1: Power Gulp
• 1 cup sliced kale (from about 3 large leaves)
• 1 cup seedless green grapes (about 28)
• 1 English cucumber, thickly sliced
• 1 small Granny Smith apple (4–6 ounces), cored and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup water
This juice is surprisingly good because there's a good balance between vegetables and fruits. I really love green juices but I've never used kale so far. I always used baby spinach instead but I would say there is hardly any difference with regards to taste.
Day 2: Antioxidant Supreme
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen, thawed)
• 1 cup (about 5) fresh strawberries, halved (or frozen, thawed)
• 2 cups peeled and coarsely chopped mango (from a 1-pound mango)
• 1/4 cup water This was officially the best juice of those 5 days.
As you can see there were no vegetables in there which is why it was pretty sweet and therefore really good. I could not get blueberries and strawberries on their own so I just got a mixed frozen berries. This would be a juice I'd drink in the morning or when I'm on the go.
Day 3: Post-Workout Refueler
• 2 medium oranges (10 ounces total), peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup whole, raw almonds
• 1 small sweet potato (about 4 ounces), scrubbed and coarsely chopped
• 1 medium apple (8 ounces), cored and cubed
• 1/2 cup water
When I tried this juice I asked myself for the first time why I'm doing this to myself. This juice was really not great which was a pity because I was quite hungry after my workout. Maybe it was because of the sweet potato. I mixed all ingredients of the juices in their raw state but maybe I should have cooked the sweet potato first. The next time I would definitely cook the sweet potato again or use half of it.
Day 4: Immune Booster
• 1 (14-ounce) grapefruit, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 medium oranges (10 ounces total), peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 kiwis (preferably golden, about 12 ounces total), peeled and cut into chunks
This juice definitely did taste better than it looked. The kiwis gave him a weird look but it was really delicious. For my taste I would reduce the amount of grapefruit because it was quite bitter in the end. Still I guess I will make this more often from now on.
Day 5: Detox
• 2 tablespoons peeled and chopped fresh ginger (1/2 ounce)
• 1 medium beet (8 ounces), scrubbed and coarsely chopped
• 4 medium carrots (8 ounces total), scrubbed and sliced
• 1 cup seedless green grapes (about 28)
• 1 cup water
On TV they would say 'Please do not try this at home' and that's exactly what I'll recomend with regards to this juice. As you can see I didn't plan to make as much of it in the beginning. Compared to all the other days the blender is only half full because when I saw the ingridients I already thought that this could end in a disaster. I have no idea how this juice could taste at any stage. As much as I love beet but you can't use it for drinks because it just dominates everything. This is definitely the worst juice out of the five and I'll never try it again.
Résumé:
I really enjoyed my 5 Days Juice Cleanse and I will definitely to it again. One thing I really liked is the fact that most of the juices tasted really great. There was a big amount of fruits involved which was really important for me. Due to the fact that I didn't eat at night anymore I slept really well and I felt energized in the morning because my stomache didn't need to work that much at night.
Furthermore I didn't feel that sleepy during the cleanse phase and I also lost about 1,5 kg which is a nice side effect. Also, I was dealing with a headache since last weekend which didn't really go away till the second day of my juice cleanse. Slowly it stopped and finally on the third day I haven't had a heachache anymore without taking any medicine.
I can really recommend you to try out a Juice Cleanse. Either you do it 3 days in a row and only drink juice or you do it the way I did it with just replacing dinner for 5 days. I would also advise you to make the juices on your own and not buy expensive pre-made juices. Then you really now what goes into the juice, how fresh the fruits and vegetables are and you save loads of money. I've spent like 25€ on all the ingridients I needed for five juices (whereby I always would have had ingridients for 4-5 juices because I couldn't buy smaller quantities) whereas you normally pay between 35 - 40€ for six juices. Therefore it's definitely worth making them at home and always have a completely fresh juice!
I hope you liked my Detox Diary. Now I would like to hear your comments/questions!