The final day of the Healthista team’s Live Juice Fast – read all about our last day juicing and whether we’d do it again
THE SKEPTIC
Anna says: Well, that was intense. Sunday started off fine. I made a green juice that had a little too much cucumber in it but it was bearable. But I had to work in the office all day and by 1.15pm was so hungry and foggy that when the spacing was off in one of my edits and I couldn’t find what was causing it, I began holding my head and having a panic attack. Everything is a catastrophe when you haven’t really eaten for seven days. The work I was doing was heavy duty editing (and anyone who knows WordPress knows it can do your head in even when you’re fully fed) and I spent the morning taking twice as long to do my tasks and then falling into an anxious mess at the end. That was when my husband said: ‘You need to eat,’ and took me to lunch. Then he made me order the roast beef and he made me eat it all. So there you have it, I caved. I ate a roast dinner for yesterday’s lunch. Anyone who has read my previous diet musings knows the paleo diet saved my body and got me off a serial dieting bandwagon that lasted 20 odd years. And though I can live without bread, pasta, potatoes and rice, I love meat. Paleo works so well for me, eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, nuts, fats and quality meats. So, although beef isn’t my favourite meat it was all they had and by George even it was good. After that, I worked until 8pm and sailed through the afternoon with focus and calm.
Everything is a catastrophe when you haven’t really eaten for seven days.
How I’m feeling: Relieved to be off the juice fast and able to eat again. I don’t have any junk cravings at all and it’s so freeing to be on solids. So, so happy to feel satisfied by food again and not always be thinking about my stomach. This morning (Day 8) I ate the most divine breakfast of scrambled eggs, spinach and olives. It’s like falling in love all over again.
What I’ve learned: Hmmm, that juice fasting – especially juice fasting in the winter – is not for me. To be honest, fasting generally is not really my thing, as you’ll see here when, for about 20 seconds, I tried the 5:2 diet. On the upside, I have realised I probably eat more than I need and before the fast I was getting a little too fond of crisps, which I have managed to avoid for eight days now.
I think juicing gets your palate used to the taste of vegetables and fruit and makes you crave more of those; a good thing. Still, I think for the future, it would be great to continue having a juice a day, perhaps at breakfast or even at dinner time with a salad when I get home at god-knows-what-time and it’s too late to cook. The hit of nutrients is so good for you and that showed in the first few days in how well my skin looked. Overall, I won’t be 7 day juice fasting again in a hurry.
On today’s menu:
Breakfast: Green Machine Cucumber, celery, apple and romaine lettuce juice.
Lunch: Roast beef and vegetables with gravy (nope, not juiced but hot and whole and delicious). Oops.
Dinner: I was too full from lunch to eat dinner so drank a cup of Rooibos tea with milk.
THE VIRGIN
Cassie says: I am so excited to eat a proper meal. Having a salad yesterday and soup tonight made so much of a difference. Contrary to what a lot of people think, I’m not craving any processed or junk food (apart from a biscuit or two). Right now, McDonalds, pizza and even pasta (my all time fav) are not even on the list of foods that I want. Instead, boiled rice with stir-fried vegetables with soy sauce, medium rare steak, and a boiled duck egg are the things I’m most looking forward to. Is this sad? (I already know the answer) but hey, the body wants what the body wants. I haven’t been craving tea either which is great as I usually have two sugars. I’ve noticed my skin is a lot clearer too. Happy days.
How I’m feeling: So much better. I have a lot more energy and don’t feel sick or dizzy. Despite eating solids, I did get a bit hungry during the day.
What I’ve learned: Chicken stock cube may be my new obsession, ha. Also, that I really don’t need to eat as many snacks during the day, and if I’m hungry late at night, I can wait until the morning. Although I wouldn’t do the juice diet again, I definitely will be incorporating juices into my diet, simply because they’re so easy to make and provide so many nutrients.
On today’s menu:
Breakfast: Dessert Delight – recipe from a Facebook friend, (sharing is caring after all). 1 sweet potato, 1 apple, 2 nectarines, a handful of blueberries and cinnamon.
Lunch: 1 banana and 1 nectarine
Mid-afternoon snack: Dried mango pieces and ½ chicken stock cube in hot water
Dinner: 2 bowls of soup. Sweet potatoe, carrot, suede, celery and butternut squash.
THE CONVERT
Christina says: Day seven has finally arrived, never have I been that relieved that something is over! I sipped on juice throughout the day but it was much less than at the beginning of the week and I added more solids. I had different fruits and vegetables and didn’t have any problems with my stomach. Everything seemed to go back to normal, my hunger came back, my energy was up and I felt like a human being again. Being able to actually eat something with my boyfriend was such a welcome experience.
Juice fasting can really help eliminate bad eating habits and shed some weight, that I learned from my first juice fast. But if your diet is already healthy then I don’t recommend going through the hassle of starving yourself just to lose a few pounds. In my opinion the best way to do a juice fast is when you don’t have lots of other things in your life going on such as work. It should be an opportunity not only to cleanse your body but also to relax and calm your mind.
How I’m feeling: Well and happy, I went for a one hour walk and it was amazingly refreshing. I’ve enjoyed eating my vegetables and fruits and felt fully recovered.
What I’ve learned: I’ve learned that juicing can help me to get out of bad cycle of eating too many sweet treats and get back on track. But for this purpose I think that a three day juice fast is enough for me. So, it’s probably going to be quite a while before a do another seven day juice fast again.
On today’s menu:
Breakfast: 1 Banana and one apple
Snack: Green juice with 1 apple, 1 pear, 2 kale leaves, 1/3 cucumber, 1 grapefruit and ginger. I drank that throughout the day. It was a bit bitter because of the grapefruit, if you do enjoy the bitterness of a grapefruit you will definitely like this juice.
Lunch: 3 carrots, 1 cup of grapes and some strawberries.
Dinner: One whole pomegranate! I know it’s quite a lot but it was so delicious.
Other days in the Healthista team’s 7 day juice fast
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