Juice Cleanse on a (time and money) Budget

(Photo credit: Afrobella)

        I have had requests for information on my recent “juice cleanse on a budget.” Online juice cleanses cost anywhere between $60-$90 a day. If you juice at home, a juicer will run you about $100 plus the price of produce. I did mine for a week around $20 a day. Without a juicer. Special.

The good news is that juicing works. In fact is the only thing that has worked for me in the past 5 years. I kept quiet about juicing, and after the first 5 days of my cleanse my mom quizzically looked at me and demanded, “Tell me where you got those jeans!?! They make you look so skinny!” Yesssssssss. I was grinning ear-to-ear in my old jeans that I had worn countless times. Suffice to say she and my sister have been juicing.

        Currently, after 5 days of juicing and 3 weeks of clean eating I am down about 8 lbs, don’t need coffee, my sluggish mornings are gone, and I have good energy throughout the day. 

Below is my juicing regimen. The easy part of juicing is the juice, the hard part is a combination of  intense cravings, irritability, and willpower to stick with it. On that note, I have included some suggestions to get through the hard parts.   

Morning juice:

Whole Foods Cold Press Raw Juice “Greens With Envy” - $6.99.

Afternoon juice:

Protein Bar “Market” Juice – double kale, double parsley - $8.00

If you don’t have access to Protein Bar or another juice bar, bring a “Greens With Envy” from Whole Foods for lunch.

Afternoon snack:

Handful of green pea Siracha chips (found at Whole Foods)

Afternoon/Dinner Smoothie:

Approximately $5.00

Combine in a blender

-       1 frozen banana

-       1 cup fresh spinach

-       1 peeled orange (discard seeds)

-       8 frozen strawberries

-       ¾ cup coconut water

      This recipe yields approximately two smoothies. You can half it and have one in the afternoon and one at dinner, or just have a large one. 

Daily

5-7 bottles of water.

Drink lots of water. If your work doesn’t offer a pure water source bring bottled water. One of the most valuable things I learned in college is that chugging beer is easier with room temperature beer, same for water.

The Tough Stuff

      The most difficult part is mental. For the first three to four days I was out of it - my mind was slow, slightly foggy, and I was irritable. To get through the hardest part I found two things very helpful: (1) having a juicing buddy to commiserate and celebrate with (spare all of facebook from your juicing struggles/photos of your green juice) and (2) watching clean eating and juicing documentaries on Netflix. Two in particular: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead – about a guy who went on a 60 day juice cleanse. The other is Forks Over Knives – health benefits of a plant based whole foods diet. These documentaries were very motivational and helped shape my post juicing plans to keep the weight off.

        Finally, go to bed early. Not only is sleep good for you, but spare yourself the agony of obsessing over food and pinning carb rich dishes late into the night. Make it easy on yourself and get some rest. 

       Feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you have any questions. Best of luck.