My 7 Day Juice Fast

What is a Juice Fast

A juice fast is when you take fruits and or vegetables and run them through a juicer to separate the liquid from the solids. It removes the fiber content from the fruits and veggies and leaves with the juice containing vitamins and minerals. It helps to detox the body of harmful toxins. There are any ways to do a juice fast. Some people consume food while taking in juice others opt to consume only juice. The most common time frames for completing a juice fast is 1-10 days. I recommend you do your research and even talk to your doctor before trying a juice fast for yourself.

Juice Fast Positives

Drinking a ton of vitamins and minerals can help improve your immune system as well as your gut health. It gives your digestive system a time to rest so your body can focus on restoring other problem areas, which is one reason I think my back pain improved while juicing. For me a positive was that I gained a sense of self control. I cut out my habit of eating at night and eating a sweet treat too often. I was able to eat less after the juice fast and feel full for much longer. The Prama Institute and Wellness center has a great article listed here, about the difference between sugar in fruit versus table sugar.

Juice Fast Negatives

I have heard that doing a juice fast you lose weight but that a percentage of the weight is from muscle loss. Apparently for women the percentage of muscle loss is higher than men. Taking in too much sugar is also a concern I’ve heard. According to Web MD, listed here, in order to combat this you should keep your ratios 3:1, three parts veggies to one part fruit. During my juice fast I noticed how expensive it was. To feed my husband and I for 2 days it would cost around $40. If I were to simply eat the food I purchased I could have made it last longer than 2 days. Also some of the side effects include feeling foggy, tired, and sluggish. As mentioned before do your research as I am not in the health care industry.

Why I Went on a Juice Fast

I had tried juice fasts in the past the most I’d ever accomplish was 4 days before feeling sick and listening to my body to consume solids. This time I felt different though. I felt mentally ready. Mostly this time I did the juice fast because I wanted to gain control over my eating and I wanted to boost start losing weight. I also wanted to start healing my body.

In an effort to complete transform my life into a better version, I decided a juice fast was right for me. This was on top of working on my health, mental health, relationships, and finances. I want my son to grow up seeing that his parents take care of themselves, so he knows how to care for himself when he is an adult. It’s been too long that I’ve taken my body for granted and lived with self hate.

Day 1

I didn’t experience any cravings. I found myself only wishing I could eat one time, when I was making my son dinner. It was a rainy day but I tried to stay busy. During the same time I was completing a screen detox. I think I was more focused on not having my phone than not eating. I felt tired but motivated.

Day 2

On day 2 my family took a trip to a nearby city so it kept us busy. A lot of the day I felt okay. Around dinner time I started really wanting to eat. I started thinking about all of the restaurants nearby and could smell the food really well. Again I felt tired but motivated. Every time I felt hungry I would drink a juice and that would tide me over and help me stay focused. I went to bed hungry which has been a struggle of mine. I’ve gotten into a bad habit since I’ve had my son that when he goes to bed I munch on all the treats I didn’t want him to see me eat.

Day 3

This day was more difficult. Again when dinner time rolled around I wanted to eat. I felt a little shaky in the beginning of the day. I was still having my morning coffee and I wonder if that had to do with the feeling. I felt foggy all day and tired. I was still motivated to push through and see what the next day was like. I listened to my body and when I felt hungry I had a juice.

Day 4

I celebrated Valentine’s Day with my son in the morning and found myself wishing I could have a treat. It was the first time I had thought of anything sweet which was surprising to me since I have a sweet tooth. I stayed busy through the day and helped my husband work on our dining room table. Day four wasn’t much of a struggle and I felt a lot better and more alert. My sense of smell was really strong.

Day 5

I continued with our current daily routine on this day, posting to my blog and typical cleaning stuff. I also continued to work on the dining room table with my husband so like the previous day, I was pretty busy and focused. I didn’t find myself struggling and decided to turn my five day juice fast into a full week of 7 days. I felt proud of myself, happy and in control. I couldn’t believe how good I was feeling.

Day 6

On this day I started to struggle again. I still felt in control but I was feeling nauseous at the thought of drinking juice. I had contemplated ending my juice fast early but I wasn’t feeling terrible just nauseous and so I decided to keep pushing through. I focused on daily tasks and only felt nauseous if I was hungry. I only had two juices on this day.

Day 7

I felt better on day seven. I was so proud of myself that I pushed through and couldn’t wait to have a meal the next day. I felt more in control of my eating habits. I developed a little bit of confidence in myself that I hadn’t had before. I felt more in tune with myself.

Overview of experience

Completing a seven day juice fast was one of the best decisions I’ve made, although at times it was a struggle and time seemed to move more slowly. I’m debating making it a yearly occurrence, kind of like a spring cleaning for my body. I felt so much better, my daily back pain diminished. Going into my juice fast I was experiencing depression but by day five I started to feel a huge improvement on my mental health. My sleep also began to improve. When I finally ate my first meal, I ate at two in the afternoon and felt full after even when I went to sleep that night. It made me so grateful to be full.

If you liked this please check out my other related posts Screen Detox, 10 activities to reduce stress, and Five Bad Habits to Cut Out of Your Life.