This is my Day 8 Recap of my 10-Day Juice Cleanse! I’m using a Breville Elite juicer and juicing different things every day.
Check out the juicer I use here.
If you’re just joining me now…
- Juice Cleanse Intro
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
Get my juice recipes in one easy, printable PDF!
Day 8 wasn’t very eventful, which is why I’ve been procrastinating on writing this recap. It was a lazy Sunday, because my body felt like it needed a good rest. I wasn’t suffering or hungry for food, but just wanted to give everything a break. I spent most of the day relaxing, reading, writing the previous day’s recap, and of course….making juice.
I’m totally accustomed to the whole not eating thing at this point. Food doesn’t seem tempting to me, at least not the way it did during the first couple of days. I will say that my sense of smell is seriously heightened on this cleanse. I can smell little things that I normally wouldn’t be able to smell from afar. The other night at dinner, I could smell the vinaigrette on someone’s salad across the table. Little things like that. All senses are heightened.
So, yeah, I had a lower feeling of energy for most of the day which made it easy to relax. I had a big green juice in the morning, along with tea and water. In the afternoon I knew it was time to do the unthinkable…make beet juice. Haha. I say “unthinkable” because I don’t really like beets. They have grossed me out ever since I did this insane 3-day diet in college where all you could eat was beets, hot dogs without a bun, and vanilla ice cream. I know some of my sorority sisters remember this (looking at you, Kelly & Tooca). :) After that craziness, I really never wanted to eat a beet again.
I knew at some point on this cleanse, I’d have to juice a beet. People wanted a beet juice recipe, and I had to deliver. My friend Robyn encouraged me even more to do so. She was with me on Saturday at the grocery store when I bought the beets, and I promised to follow through. So on the afternoon of Day 8, I let out a big sigh and said “I can do this!” (So dramatic). I did it. I juiced 2 beets. And the juice actually tasted pretty good. I probably wouldn’t willingly make it again just for fun, since I like green juice so much better…but if you like beets, you’ll definitely like this.
Beet Juice Recipe:
makes about 20 oz of juice depending on juicer and produce size
- 2 beets
- 1 large carrot or 2 medium carrots
- 1/2 a green apple
- 1/2 cucumber
- 3 celery stalks
- 1 small piece of ginger
Get my juice recipes in one easy, printable PDF!
So I drank the beet juice (being careful not to get the red stainey liquid all over my clothes) and chilled out for the day. In the evening, for some reason I suddenly got a burst of clarity and inspiration to start brainstorming business ideas. I got to work and began writing. And writing. And researching. And checking out other people’s sites. I felt like I was on fire with creative juices! I had some awesome realizations and I got so excited that I emailed my business coach at 11pm to thank her for pointing me in the right direction. I literally wrote her, “I’m too excited to sleep!!” and I was. I had planned to get to bed early but I stayed up for a couple more hours on an inspiration-high. Thank you, dear juice cleanse.
Overall, I probably drank about 24oz of green juice, 24 oz of beet juice, 10oz of almond milk, 1 green kombucha, coconut water and herbal tea.
Day 8 Stats:
Energy level: Moderately low and lazy feeling. Relaxed most of the day until the evening when I got a huge creative energy spike.
Exercise: None, aside from walking to and from the grocery store (about 20 mins total)
Sleep: Slept well
Weight difference since Day 1: 6.2 lbs – my body seems to want to stay here. It’s interesting. There was a big weight loss the first couple of days, then coasting. I guess I’m drinking a lot of calories and nutrients. I sure am juicing a LOT of stuff.
$ spent today on juice ingredients: $27.06
Feeling: Kind of checked out for a lot of the day, lethargic. Inspired and exhilarated at night. My boyfriend saw my range of emotion (going from blah to extremely excited) and was like “Whoa. You need to blog about this!”
I’m having mixed feelings about breaking the cleanse after Day 10. I feel like I’ve really started to detox physically, mentally and emotionally and I really would love to keep going and get cleaner and clearer than ever before. But we’ll see how things go. Juicing is a lot of work! It would definitely feel like a lot less work if I was making the same juice every single day instead of all this experimenting with different ingredients. So moving forward, I’ll probably just continue to make my yum yum green juice as often as I can.
I’m trying to decide how to transition out of the cleanse while still keeping juices in my routine. I’ve heard good things about the “juice until dinner” plan, where you juice until – you guessed it – dinner – and then eat a healthy meal. I may transition to green smoothies for a couple of days after the cleanse. I may embark on the “Reboot” diet for a few days (promoted by Joe Cross from Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead), which is just fruits and veggies (raw or cooked). Either way, I have to transition my body back to solid foods SLOWLY and GENTLY – while maintaining the cleanliness and clarity I’m feeling from the cleanse.
Does anyone else have a favorite way for coming out of a cleanse? Raw foods? Smoothies? Let me know!
