Last week I attempted and successfully completed my first 3-day juice cleanse. I’ve known about all of the amazing health benefits to doing one, but it just seemed so hard! I recently got a juicer and my husband was out of town for a few days (aka no food temptations), so it seemed like the perfect time to try it out.
I drank 5, 12-16 ounce juices throughout the day, with a special nut milk drink at night to replenish my proteins and amino acids. At the end of the 3 days, I actually noticed I lost a little weight, the brain fog I was having cleared up, I had an increase in energy, and the cold I was starting to get before I started (sore throat/runny nose) was completely gone. I continue to be amazed at how the body works!
Going into the juice cleanse I thought the hardest part was going to be not actually eating food for 3 days or not chewing. When I first introduced drinking a smoothie for breakfast, even though it filled me up, I found myself wanting to eat something too just to chew. But it turns out I didn’t miss that at all. Instead, the biggest challenge I had to overcome was my mind.
I saw first-hand how conditioned I was to jump to food at
the first sign of hunger. Even in the middle of doing something, as soon as I felt that little bit of hunger creep in, I immediately thought “I’m hungry what am I going to get for a snack?” Sometimes I’d even get up and take a step or two toward the kitchen before I remembered the cleanse. Then instead of eating, I’d have some water and keep doing what I was doing (while feeling frustrated of course that I couldn’t eat that moment), and the hunger would go away within minutes.
That feeling of needing to instantly fulfill that hunger didn’t really go away over the course of the 3 days. It’s something I still have to work on: mindful eating. Paying attention to when I’m physically hungry, or when I’m emotionally hungry (usually this means I’m bored or wanting to procrastinate, sometimes it even means I’m happy and want to celebrate with a snack). Raise your hand if you can relate! Once you have identified if your hunger is real hunger, mindful eating should carry through to your actual eating process as well. This helps you to feel more satisfied at the end of your meal, and helps your overall health as well (i.e. better digestion).
Above is a helpful chart to use as reference to learn about your own body, and what your mind is telling you vs. your emotions. Below is another resource tool to help identify which type of hunger you’re feeling. It’s not something we stop and think about often, and because of this, we often end up overeating.
Try this mindful eating exercise:
- Choose a piece of food (like a nut, slice of fruit, piece of chocolate)
- Look at the food (study its shape, color, texture)
- Smell the food (take in the aroma and notice how it affects you)
- Taste the food (put it on your tongue, notice the response of your salivary glands)
- Bite the food (don’t eat it in one mouthful, notice its texture on your tongue)
- Chew the food (notice the texture changing as you chew it)
- Swallow the food (take the time to notice the sensation of the food as it travels down your throat)
- Practice a mindful bite once at every meal (set the tone for your meal by turning on your mindfulness with this exercise)
