Coming at y’all fresh off three days of juicing — I’m trying not to call it a juice CLEANSE because I feel like that presents an image of something I’m not trying to accomplish. Don’t worry, I’ll explain.
In 2022, I started juicing for three consecutive days each month, and I did that for six months, or basically until I started working a retail job. As much as I enjoyed juicing, I felt like it was just not something I could sustain on a retail schedule (I honestly could have, looking back, but I didn’t!).
So, now that I’m back in the swing of a 9-5, WFH job, I really wanted to get back into juicing this year.
I remembered that setting aside three days (always a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) around the middle of the month is what works best for me, and then I stick to that schedule each month.
For example, for January, I started my cleanse Monday, the 15th, and for February, I’ll start my cleanse on Monday, the 12th.
In 2022, I tried juices from three different places: Squeezed, Juiceland, and Pressed.
While each business had pros and cons, I really liked Pressed the most. They have a great variety of juices to choose from, the prices are reasonable, and they deliver!
I also decided to get a membership from Pressed, because it would offer me two big benefits: the monthly $10 “fee” would help keep me accountable (although you can cancel at any time and the $10 goes toward your juice purchase), and it would make the juices more affordable (you get $1 off per juice!).
So, I signed up for the membership, and it immediately paid for itself (although technically it costs nothing) in the savings!
Pressed has premade juice packs, but I hand-selected each item I wanted. I really like to have the most variety while I’m juicing!
In case you’re curious, here’s what I ordered:
- Citrus 1, 2, and 3 (I love all of their citrus options)
- Greens 2 (I got two of these)
- Chocolate Banana Protein Smoothie x 3 (one for each day)
- Apple Ginger Lemon Cayenne (this is a new flavor; I enjoyed it cold and also mixed a bit with hot water to make a “tea”)
- Hydration+ (I got one Dragonfruit and one Greens to make sure I stayed hydrated and got probiotics)
- Roots 1 (I got two of these)
- Mango Turmeric Lemonade (tasted like mango juice; loved it in the morning)
- Refresh+ Blue Pineapple Lemonade (delicious!)
- Calm shot x 3 (a new item, and my new favorite thing)
My goal was to get one smoothie, one green or root, one citrus, one spicy, and one beneficial (like the refresh or hydration) juicer per day, plus the calm shot!
Whenever I juice, I don’t take my morning or nighttime supplements, including my bedtime gummy. Luckily, the Calm Shot includes the same ingredients as my bedtime sleepy supplement 🙂 And, it tasted fantastic!
A few benefits from juicing (for me) are: three days of no planning, prepping, or cleaning up from cooking meals at home (more on this in a bit), my digestive system gets a rest, my body gets loads of nutrients, and I revisit my relationship with food.
Every time I juice, I realize how much of an emotional eater I am. There have been times when I’m juicing that I realize I would’ve turned to food to cope with the situation. For example, I was on day three of juicing when I got laid off in 2022.
This time around, there was bad winter weather, and a pipe to my water heater cracked (resulting in lots of repair work, no hot water, and no heat for a day). I couldn’t turn to a warm, comforting bowl of soup!
But I got through it just fine.
I felt like my digestive system really needed a rest after the holiday season. I ate so many things that were out of the ordinary for me, and I was feeling it.
And finally, the TIME I gain while juicing is astounding! If you’re someone who cooks at home a lot, you may not realize how much time and effort it takes, but it’s huge.
For the most part, I enjoy making food for myself, and I often put on music or a podcast while I cook, and pour myself a drink of some kind (even if it’s a mocktail). But it’s still 2-3 hours per day that I’m prepping, cooking, and cleaning up my kitchen.
While juicing, I use my extra time to rest or focus on hobbies. This time around, I used my extra time to put away my Christmas tree, work on my Etsy shop, and rest.
And there you have it, my first round of juicing in 2024! I likely won’t give an update after every round, but I’m glad to be back in this healthy (for me) habit.
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