Peter Summerville is exceptionally bright. Most juice cleanses, not so much. Here’s what happens when clever marketing whips an intelligent soul. No stress, youngster. It happens to all of us.
At Kaplifestyle, we try to dive into a wide range of philosophies, myths, trends, and workout routines. My latest experience went way off the usual path.
As an athlete and new GM at Diamond Star Sports in LA (I am extremely busy, but everything is going well), I wanted to experiment with a recent trend…a five day juice cleanse.
What was I thinking? I truly have no idea…but my desire to try this was solely based off of my internal curiosity. I wanted to see my body’s response to something new. I also wanted to give myself a mental challenge and have a feeling of accomplishment at the conclusion of day 5.
I began by finding a good deal for a cleanse on Groupon and selected the day I wanted it to be delivered. I scheduled my trips to the grocery store meticulously around this delivery date, to make sure no food went to waste.
What is a juice cleanse supposed to do, you may ask? I did some research as well.
You will most likely feel a renewed sense of energy- thanks to ridding of the toxins, and a noticeable decrease in cravings.
For those who don’t know exactly how a juice cleanse works, this specific cleanse featured 6 bottles a day, and I would drink a new juice every 2-3 hours. The juices vary in taste, from a morning juice with kale, mango, spinach, banana and more to an afternoon one of lemonade with cayenne pepper and hemp seeds. All of the bottles are frozen until the night before, and then you let your next day thaw out overnight.
The Results:
I will get right into this…day one was absolutely miserable. I don’t think I drank enough water with the juices, which made for an unfortunate headache come 4:00PM. I tried to combat that by crushing some water but was unsuccessful. My cravings for food really never were noticeable. My energy throughout the day was significantly decreased, and I did not have any durability or power in any of my lifts in my morning weight session.
Days 2, 3, and 4 were very similar and, unlike day 1, actually very pleasant. I began to really enjoy the tastes of each juice and was looking forward to a new flavor every 3 hours. I also took it upon myself to drink a lot more water consistently throughout the day. The combination of the water and my newfound appreciation for the tastes of the juice lead to much more successful workouts and sprints (which I do in the back of Diamond Star in the parking lot). Energy was maintained throughout the day, and I had no real issues. Towards the end of day 4, I did start to have cravings for whole foods and a nice meal.
Day 5 was positive, just like the previous few days, however, my cravings for a meal exponentially increased. Anytime I saw someone with food, it looked very appetizing. This is where the mental challenge really set in…and I won. Day 5 came and went, and I had sustained energy with no noticeable side effects.
Overall, the experience was positive, and I definitely felt a feeling of accomplishment after completion.
However, would I do this again anytime in the near future? No chance. I did not feel so much better after completion that I would want to limit myself to strictly juices, other than to have one as a midday treat. I don’t think I got rid of any “toxins” and still had cravings.
The next day I went back to dominating eggs for breakfast. For dinner, I had some bison steak from Whole Foods, which I highly recommend.
slappythefishman says
Peter, great post and hope you are doing well.
I have always wondered about cleanses, what Toxins are you specifically trying to remove?
Since the kidneys are the only way to remove toxins in the body. How is drinking a juice more effective than just continue eating but eat foods that don’t contain the toxin?
Also, what was the day after the cleansing like? Did you need to control your appetite? Did you have cravings? Did it affect your sleep?
Thanks again
Peter Summerville says
STF,
Thank you for your comment. Likewise, I hope all is well with you. I was driven by curiosity more than anything, and I really wanted to see how my body reacted. I think Gabe brings up a great point about how drinking juice and paying for a cleanse is a great marketing strategy for a business. When in reality you really can benefit similarly from eating whole (unprocessed) foods.
The day after cleansing was very interesting in that I felt like I could eat anything and everything. However, I had heard that this was the case, so I eased back into everything very slowly and did what I could to control my diet.
In terms of sleep, throughout the cleanse and after I did not record any significant changes in my sleep routine or quality of sleep.
All the best.
-Peter
Jack says
Hi Peter, thanks for sharing your experience. It’s quite impressive that you were able to do 5 days and still work out each day. Some of my friends have done juice cleanses for anywhere from 1 to 10 days (it’s definitely very pervasive in LA culture), and the general feedback seems to be “I feel a lot lighter/cleaner, but also much less energetic”.
My personal take on it is that regardless of whether any toxins are actually removed, you’re undeniably giving your digestive system a break from its usual workload. Fasting has been a part of many cultures throughout history for various reasons, and to me juicing seems like it would reap similar benefits without going totally calorie-free. I’ve never done the 6-juices-a-day thing, but I’ve done several 36-hour fasts (with only water) – it definitely resets your tastebuds and appreciation for food.
Peter Summerville says
Jack,
I appreciate your feedback and that information. Like I mentioned, the length (5 days) was the biggest challenge.
Hope you have a great day!
-Peter
Ed H says
How do you juice a banana or hemp seeds? Is it possible you were actually drinking some “food”? If that’s the case I wouldn’t call your experiment a juice cleanse….just mild torture.