It’s been a year.
A full year of Covid, a full year of change.
Last year I was in Nepal at this time, just getting into the Himalayan mountains. This year I have been super grounded in Janesville, California. Working on developing my business, working on myself, exploring presence rather than exploring the world. It’s been awesome, and hard, and all the feelings in between.
But the days are lengthening and the weather is warming and everything is awakening and it is time to cleanse all of the old and prepare this body for newness.
I knew I wanted to cleanse and I enjoy this spring ritual when I was bike riding with a good friend in Bishop and felt heaviness in my body.
Laurie always challenges me when we ride together. Feeling the heaviness in my body this time, I was inspired to take action on the cleanse I had been thinking about doing.
I knew that I wanted to cleanse but I didn’t want to create anything too restrictive. I sought for this experience something easy, enjoyable, flavorful, and a resetting experience to embrace a lightening of my body, focusing of my mind, and nourishment of my gut.
So, I gave myself few rules and went to Grocery Outlet and bought all the fruits and veggies that appealed to me that I knew would be good as juices or smoothies. Knowing myself, sometimes I can allow obstacles to arise and I didn’t want to count on my own willpower alone to create all my juices and smoothies from scratch so I purchased a few pre-made juices as well.
Below I’ll share a few notes about how it went, what I made for myself, how my energy levels were as it progressed.
Day 1 - Tuesday March 23
Today’s juices:
Mango-apple-orange juice (Bolthouse)
Veggie stock (premade)
First thing in the morning my sweetie has been making me coffee on the reg. And you know what, I have quit coffee in the past, I feel fairly fine either way with it, and I figured I could allow myself a single cup of this indulgence. Some cleanses will recommend against it; I’ve cut it out before, and I just don’t feel like cutting it out right now. Maybe I will in a couple days. Anyhow, if you want to judge me you can, I don’t really care.
I had a few things I was trying to get done yesterday, so I didn’t turn my attention to making custom juices. But this mango juice was a great way to start and kept me going all day!
In the evening it was veggie stock. The savoriness was delicious!
Day 2 - Wednesday March 24
Today’s juices:
Apple-pineapple-mango-banana-kiwis (Green goodness - Bolthouse)
Carrot-apple-celery-lemon
Cabbage-celery-lemon-apple
Papaya-coconut milk
Lemon-maple syrup-cayenne
Veggie stock (premade)
This was a great concocting day! I started the day and drank the entire 1.5L bottle of green goodness by 4pm, but was knee deep in making fresh juices I’m so stoked about! I’ll be drinking them over the next couple days.
Energy levels were great today!
Days 3 & 4 - Thursday & Friday, March 25-26
Continued with some of the drinks I had prepared (listed above) as well as beet juice (Naked). I also simmered down the veggie remains from juicing the carrots, celery, and cabbage to make a delicious homemade veggie broth. I always hate how much waste happens during juicing. A lot of times I’ll use a recipe I found years ago to mix them with ground flax (as a binder), add water and whatever preferred spices I like, and dehydrate them to make crackers. This is awesome but also labor intensive.
Thursday afternoon and evening my emotional levels started to plummet and continued that way until Friday morning.
Friday to counter the negative mood I awoke in, I went to a morning yoga class in town. Lucky for me the theme was detoxing and we did a lot of work on the digestive system, twists and heart openers. After this I felt absolutely energized, electric, and on fire all the rest of the day!
Day 5 & 6 - Saturday & Sunday, March 27-28
Today’s juices:
Pineapple Mango (Tropicana)
Cabbage-celery-apple-lemon
Carrot apple ginger
Strawberry banana lime smoothie
Kale-romaine-parsley-lemon-ginger-celery-cucumber-pear (Roots Juice Bar: Green Machine))
Watermelon (Evolution)
Veggie broth (premade)
Saturday morning I taught a 2-hour Ashtanga workshop and, having finished all of my homemade concoctions, drank a Tropicana Pineapple Mango juice. The simple fact that I taught an Ashtanga workshop should indicate to y’all that I was feeling strong and fueled up through the cleanse.
Then I came back to prep some more juices and made another round (listed above). The latter two of these were my main juices over these couple days. It was fantastic to have them ready for grab and go.
Feeling on fire, super-positive, light in my body, and creatively curious, I went to Bidwell park to look at flowers in the afternoon, and drove to my friend’s house in Redding for the evening, drinking another veggie broth at night.
Sunday we went to Roots Juice Bar in Redding to start the morning, where I got a Green Machine, which contained a lot of leafy greens that I can’t do well because my juicer is not a masticating type. After I left her place I went to Sprouts and reloaded on some more fruits and veggies. I also splurged on a couple Evolution cold pressed juices: Watermelon, and another Essential Greens.
Day 7 - Monday March 29
Today’s juices:
Cucumber-pear-ginger-apple-lime
Blueberry-blackberry-banana-lime-coconut milk smoothie
Woke up with a lot of energy in the morning but then started to drag. This is the first I’ve felt a dip in energy much.
I’ve been reading some blogs in the last day or two about others’ experiences doing juice cleanses. I was interested to find some patterns in relation to energy levels, as well as some inspo for different things I could possibly incorporate, and more about nutrition. Unfortunately, a lot of articles I came across were focused more on the struggles to not eat, the cravings, the hunger. I understand these because I have had those problems in the past. These blogs I’ve been reading come from doing a cleanse as a challenge, and treat it in their minds as such, and it creates s cycle of difficulty.
It’s interesting to me, because this time I am not having any struggles at all. It is mindset. Also paired with the limited social landscape we can find ourselves in during Covid; i.e. its a lot easier to abstain when you’re not getting invited to parties, or dinners out, etc. But still, I find that during this experience, I’ve adopted a perspective of commitment instead of challenge. A perspective of health and wellbeing and vitality rather than an objective to lose weight. Sometimes I crave small things, but the change in mindset makes it easier to look past them.
Today I will maybe make some more juice as well as begin to prepare some whole grains. I am skiing tomorrow and I don’t want to lose all vitality.
Also, I’ve been eating a handful of nuts here and there as need be. Some days none, some days 1-2 handfuls, first cashews, and at sprouts i got walnuts and Brazil nuts. The Brazil nuts I nibble, taking my time to consume the entire nut.
Days 8 & 9 - Tuesday & Wednesday, March 30-31
Today’s sustenance:
Oat-chia pudding with honey-blueberry-blackberry-strawberry and coconut milk
Barley cooked in veggie stock
Pitaya smoothie (Mammoth Juice Cafe)
So, Ive only been downhill skiing once this year, and I haven’t seen a dear friend who is a ski instructor there for a year and a half. So when Kelly said she still had a couple friends and family passes left I jumped on the chance to see her and get on the mountain.
But, I didn’t want to be weak for skiing. In addition to the juice I prepared yesterday, I made a couple of very simple foods to provide me protein, fibre, calories I would need to stay strong as well as be very clean.
These kept me from being hungry and I’ll be honest, I felt really strong and capable on the mountain both days. I also treated myself to a delicious pitaya-based smoothie from a juice cafe in Mammoth.
Day 10 - Thursday April 1
Mix of juices already listed above (mostly berry smoothie, watermelon, and lemon) and a few very clean, simple foods (walnuts, Brazil nuts, grapefruit).
Today I’m feeling incredible. I haven’t weighed myself - I’m not a weight numbers oriented person - but I feel sooooo much lighter in my body, so much less craving for sugars, breads, and junk food, and a million times more energetic in my body and focused in my mind.
I still don’t have a great desire to break or change, although I will probably start to ease out a little bit as I am preparing for a several day camping trip and want to be able to eat deliciously. I’ll start working on preparing a menu for the trip so that I can continue to eat clean and begin to work this into a longer term change.
Breaking the fast - Friday April 2
Originally I wanted to do the juice cleanse as a lead into Shankaprakshalana, a yogic colon cleanse practice. Aside from simply cleaning myself from the inside out, I’ve previously used that practice to reset my gut when I returned from India with some sort of gut parasite.
However, the juice days continued and I was feeling fantastic, and I ran into a situation where I had to make a choice. I had a trip planned to go camping in the desert, and I didn’t really want to continue juice fasting for the duration of the trip, nor enforce the very strict, very clean diet one needs to abide by in the days following the Shankaprakshalana practice while I was camping. So I decided to begin to break the fast.
I did this with a very basic, simple meal of barley and simple root vegetables: potatoes, carrots, celery, cooked lightly in oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, and turmeric. Next, I planned my meals for the trip pretty cleanly, but did have some alcohol, chips n guac, pizza (made in my brand new Dutch oven!), etc. I did take the opportunity, as I started introducing new foods, to notice their subtle effects on me. Each time I do a cleanse like this, I am reminded of what really makes my body feel good, and in the following weeks and so forth I find it easier to reinforce good choices for nurturing my body.
Parting thoughts…
I love finding this kind of reset in my mind and body. While time consuming (I spent a lot of time preparing juices and smoothies and cleaning my appliances!), its completely worth it! I feel lighter, cleaner, more focused, and more intent on carrying forward with a diet free from preservatives, sugar, and processed foods, and integrating more whole foods into my daily choices. It is also a double check - after a long, dark winter - into keying into what my body needs.
Thanks for reading! Drop a note in the comments about your experiences with cleansing of any sort! I love to try new things to help my body feel great!
