I awoke this morning to my last and FINAL day of the cleanse.  And boy, am I glad this is the last day.  Seriously…enough of this juice – I want REAL FOOD.

Yesterday was pretty easy (much easier than the day before) as far as not feeling hungry or deprived.  In fact, things went pretty well the whole day.  D and I went to see “The Fighter” (GREAT movie!  If you haven’t seen it -it’s awesome!).  Since D was coming straight from work, he brought along some sushi with him.  I literally thought I was going to rip the salmon avocado roll straight from his hands.  I wasn’t even that hungry — just the smell of it was torture!

Needless to say, I’m very ready for this to be over.  But here are my thoughts on this cleanse in particular and cleanses in general:

Pros:

• My body feels really “clean”.  My skin looks super clear, I have a lot of energy (surprisingly), and I’ve been sleeping really, really well.
• I honestly haven’t craved any junk or sweets.  Periodically, I definitely will crave dark chocolate or other sweets (I am a girl after all!), but I can honestly say that all I really want is real food (salmon, veggies, warming soups — things that are really good for me!)
• The cleanse was really easy to follow — the labeled bottles were easy to tote and it definitely didn’t interfere with my day to day life.

Cons:

• I really miss real food.  I don’t know if I could do this more than 3 days, because honestly, I just want a real meal so badly.  Enough of this juice business.
• I was cold….ALL.  DAY.  LONG.  No matter how many layers I wore (apparently the Mary Kate/Ashley Olsen hobo look isn’t flattering on normal people), I just couldn’t get warm.

The Bottom Line?

The cleanse definitely helped me to refocus after feeling sluggish and just generally yucky post-holidays and post-vacation.  I feel more energetic and healthier.  Whether this is due to it ACTUALLY doing something for my body or the mental effects is unclear.  I’m still not a total believer or convert to this stuff.  And even though I did lose a little weight (which wasn’t really my purpose), I suspect that it was mostly water weight.

Would I do it again?  Maybe…I would definitely consider doing a modified cleanse (they offer a juice-until-dinner option with a raw, vegan dinner, a snack, and a treat which I would consider trying).  But I don’t know about nonstop juice….maybe I’m just not a juice kind of gal.

Would I recommend this as a weight loss tool?  No….well… sort of.

I would recommend this to people who are looking to jumpstart a healthy, weight-loss program that focuses on eating lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains, lean meats and fish.  Because, if we’re being honest here, 3 days is really a blip on the screen when it comes to longterm health.  The best way to be healthy, look great, and lose weight (if that is your goal of course) is to eat healthy all year round.  And eating healthy also means indulging in yummy things (dark chocolate, wine, etc..) in moderation.

And with that, I’m going to go in the corner and chew a piece of cardboard ahhh (kidding)