All About the Juice

Juice cleansing is nothing new. In fact, I would say it's reaching a point of yuppy chicness these days. I mean seriously, where else but in America will people voluntarily shell out $65 a day to starve themselves on the recommendation of hungry starlets and idosyncratic bloggers? Nowhere.

So I joined the masses in January and did my own cleanse. And like all things that happen in my life, it took me a while to sit down and actually write about it. I can tell that there's a fascination with juicing now, because in the weeks and months following my cleanse I have received a lot of messages and emails from friends wanting to know more about what I did, if it's possible to do it on your own (without a pricy program), and how I felt before, during, and after. So here goes. I chose to do a cleanse...

• Because for the better part of the last three years I've injected myself in the arse and the gunt with hormones.
• Because my life is a little out of control and this is a place where I can exert control (and yes, I am in therapy for this too).
• Because I was feeling kind of physically and emotionally heavy.
• Because I wanted to see if I could avoid having a tummy tuck if I just lost "a little more weight".
• And because when I was in college I smoked and drank and may have snorted everything but my shoes.  I'm pretty sure that sticks with you, so I thought this might reverse some of the damage I'd already done to my body.

I was not new to juicing or drinking green juice before the cleanse. In fact, I owned several books on it before cleansing (like this one and this one) and I keep a Pinterest board for new recipes. A few years ago I scored a ridiculous deal on a juicer in Marshall's, of all places, and that was the catalyst for my conversion. But I had never done an actual fast. Now fasting companies will call this a feast. Do not be fooled.

So following the birth of Lola (my third child if you're new around these parts) I hit an emotional low and I felt the need to exert control over my life and that manifested into my first three day juice cleanse. My research on this consisted of a quick google search on a hasty night in January. I selected the company, BluePrint Cleanse (BPC), because it was one of the few that offered nationwide home delivery and because I liked the clever copywriting and the clean packaging. What can I say? I'm an easy sell.

In an effort to keep this post from getting out of control long, I'll be back tomorrow with my full experience and some resources for anyone that's interested.