thoughts about juicing

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 here are my final thoughts about my 3 day juice detox.

• it wasnt nearly as hard as i thought it would be.  i think it really helped that i cut back so much the week before and became familiar some of the recipes. 
• although it wasnt extremely difficult, its not like i didnt regret making the commitment to juice at some time during the weekend.  on sunday, i thought for a brief moment "why the heck am i even doing this?  i want chinese food right now!"  and monday i had a little breakdown because i was bored ... which means i usually would be all "lets go get a late lunch and a beer."  im glad i stuck it out!
• i read that several people have super awesome skin after completing a similar detox.  personally, i cant tell a difference.  BUT this might have something to do with the fact that i didnt follow a certain plan.  if they had a certain type of juice to drink at certain types of the day, then i can see how that could make a difference. 
• at one point i thought this detox would "clean me out" like in a fierce pooping type way.  that did not happen at all.  in fact, i really didnt go much at all. 
• i did loose a total of 4.4 lbs.  however, if i had gone right back to my old ways on tuesday, it would be really easy to gain it back.  my first day, i had a banana for breakfast, simple chicken salad for lunch and salmon with asparagus for dinner.  it was a very easy transition, and 3 days later, i have kept it off.  
• yes, i did this to help with the holiday weight gain, but that is not the main reason.  my number one reason was to get a new outlook on my diet.  to get out all the crap i have consumed and start from scratch with a cleaner and healthier outlook on food.  because this was my goal, i consider the 3 day juice detox to be a success.
• i would do this again!  i read that its good to do about 4 times a year.  i plan on adding juicing to my weekly diet.  maybe next time i will challenge myself to do a 9 day cleanse? 

if you are planning on doing a juice detox, here is my advice:

1. prepare your body - again, my portion size for every meal in all of november and december were through the roof.  if i had not cut back significantly the week before, i would have starved. 
2. do your research - i read a lot about juicing online.  i found a lot of bad juicing stories where people set themselves up for failure before putting one veggie in the juicer.  i also found a lot of recipes online that i was able to adjust to my liking. 
3. drink lots of water - this was helpful to wash everything down and keep my belly happy.
4. plan out your meals afterwards - if i had not taken the time to cook on monday night and get my meals ready for tuesday, i would have eaten anything put in front of me.  i had my meals planned out for the whole day ... and they were all very healthy. 

these thoughts were put together randomly.  if you have any questions, please dont hesitate to ask. 

see part one here