I have three goals in life:
1. To love God and serve Him first.
2. To serve my husband in a way that allows him to be the best man he can be.
3. To serve my children in a way that allows them to be the best people they can be.
A close fourth is this:
4. To avoid having another kidney stone. Ever. E.V.E.R.
I have now had three kidney stones, all different experiences, but equal in shattering the ceiling on any pain threshold I may have had prior. And I've pushed out two ten-pound babies, so that's saying something.
Memories of writhing on the ground, screaming in the car, later being pumped full of morphine were the driving force behind my desire to complete a 3-day juice cleanse, along with some lesser significant goals. Now seemed as good a time as any, so on Monday....it began.
Unwilling to shell out huge cash for an already prepared cleanse, I used recipes from this website to complete the DIY Blueprint Cleanse. It was extraordinarily time consuming, but being at home all day, I had the ability to make it happen. The produce cost me more than expected, but I hadn't factored in that produce is generally more expensive here. (No Farmers Markets in the tundra. Boo.)
Positive Results from the cleanse:
- I felt a noticeable surge in energy every day.
- I was pleasantly surprised that my hunger level was mild, if any. I had a CLIF bar on days 2 and 3 to ward off some shakiness.
- I felt significantly more hydrated. (I was definitely DE-hydrated going in to this week.)
- I lost a total of 6 pounds. That wasn't the goal of this cleanse, but a not-so-shabby side effect. :)
- I found I have a smaller appetite post-cleanse, and desire to avoid foods that counter my hard work.
Not-So-Great things about the cleanse:
- It was really difficult for me to consume that much liquid. I really forced myself to drink all day long. It's not that the juices were terrible (they ranged from yummy to tolerable), it's that I'm not used to drinking so much daily. Confession: I skipped the fifth juice entirely. I just ran out of time each night.
- I was cold. Every day, all the time. And cold is a feeling I really try to avoid (it's hard, believe me!). Is there a hot-chocolate/coffee/wine cleanse for us Northerners?
- It sucked up all my free time. Next time, I'll do much more prep work.
NEXT TIME? Yeah, I'd do it again.
9 comments:
I was wondering if you had started doing it..might be something in my future to try out!
PS - did you just use a blender? Or what was your plan of attack?
Carrie, I ended up purchasing a Cuisinart juicer on sale...it worked really well! The cashew milk was made in the blender, then strained.
Thanks for the link to the DIY website you used! I've been wanting to do this for a while but I have been wondering about the cold factor. It's crazy cold here on the east too…
Yeah, I'd definitely do it in warmer weather next time
You're awesome, I wish I was brave enough to do that. I too have experienced multiple kidney stones, thanks to pregnancy. If juicing wards them off, then maybe I should give a try. Very skeptical though.
Yay!! I was so surprised how much energy I had. I also got the shakes but never felt starving. Summer would probably be better for cold and produce prices too!
Renee- juicing alone can't ward them off, but hydration certainly does. And as you well know, pregnancy contributes to dehydration. I had one during pregnancy, but the other two were not: in my case, they were build-ups of calcium. My prevention plan includes staying well hydrated (I've sucked at that lately, hence the cleanse) and avoiding large amounts of dairy. I wish us both a stone-free future!
I'm gonna do this. Buying the ingredients tomorrow.
Terrified.
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