Warning: obscenely long blog ahead.
I had been eyeing different juice cleanses for a few months now. I have a handful of companies added to my instagram where I would constantly scroll past the juices and mentions of cleanses and thought, I really, really want to do that. But a) I had been eating terribly so I had no idea if I would be able to last and b) they are wicked expensive. However, at the very end of 2013, I decided this would be worth the splurge and I would challenge myself to a juice cleanse at the very beginning of 2014. I chose the Pressed Juicery level 1, 3-day cleanse to start on the 3rd. Unfortunately, the snow storm slightly delayed my shipment so I was unable to start until the 4th! To give the most honest review possible, I wanted to get down all of the nitty gritty details. Hence, the long blog entry! If you're interested or curious in cleansing with Pressed Juicery, read ahead:
Day one was off to a rough start. For someone who isn't used to drinking anything other than water (and the occasional vodka tonic), I should have figured it'd be more difficult for me to get juice down. The first drink is the chocolate almond, which involves almonds, cacao, dates, and sea salt. Now, I'm not exactly sure what I tasted, but it was sort of a watered down version of what I image chocolate almond milk might taste like. It was difficult to stomach. My reaction to it was along the lines of, "ugh chug the hell out of this before you puke." Note: this could also be because I woke up only twenty minutes before and it's tough for me to stomach a glass of water that soon.
I was not excited for my next juice, to say the least. And when I opened Greens 2, I was scared. It reeked of cucumber. Now, I don't have much issue with cucumbers besides that I think they're a bit overwhelming in salads if not smothered in dressing. But when I tasted the drink, the only distinct taste I really got was of apples. Sweet relief. However, the smell of cucumber was still so strong that I had to hold my nose while drinking at times. The funniest part about it was after I drank, I would breathe out pure cucumber. Despite not loving the smell, it still made me feel fresh.
By the time I got to the Roots 3 drink, I kind of felt like I hadn't stopped drinking all day. I was a bit bored and wanted to eat… but I wasn't actually hungry, which shows me a major flaw in my eating habits (which I already knew, but it was interesting to know it for sure with this). This drink also has a distinct cucumber smell, which made me worried, but I actually don't find it too bad because it also tastes like cucumber. Since the taste and smell didn't conflict, I found it easier to get down. It also has a very strong aftertaste of carrots which I did not mind at all!
I drank Citrus 2 around dinnertime. I was still not very hungry, though the feelings were starting to get there. I heard my parents order pizza downstairs and felt a little pang of jealousy, but I knew I can eat pizza anytime, so that wasn't a real temptation. I was looking forward to this one because it had nothing grassy in it or anything I'm not used to tasting. However, the taste of mint is very strong. Not so strong that it threw me off, though. The pineapple-mint-sour mix was definitely the most pleasant that I had so far. (I kept forgetting to take a picture of Citrus 2, so you will only see an empty bottle. Sorry, guys!)
After drinking Citrus 2, I definitely had more energy. I felt a bit tired during most of the day because I didn't sleep quite as long as I should have to start this (was aiming for 8 hours, but it was more like 6 tops).
Around 7:30 I was starting to feel hungry. I also had terrible cramps around this time. TMI alert: I did this cleanse while I had my period. I definitely don't think this was a bad thing because I was flushing my system out. It also kept me from giving into those time-of-the-month cravings! It shows me that I really do have the willpower not to eat that pound of chocolate, and I don't feel deprived from it, either. In fact, over the full three days, I felt that I actually had zero cravings related to my period. Or cravings at all!
My next drink was Greens 3 and I'll be honest, I was kind of sick of drinking things by this time. I chugged it extremely fast. It has a similar taste to Greens 2, but a slightly more grassy taste. Not bad, never had to hold my nose with this one!
The last drink, vanilla almond, was definitely much better than chocolate almond. Still chalky but not hard to get down at all. Definitely something pleasant to end the day with. Although I was very sick of drinking things. I just kind of wanted to stop at this point, which is why I had this a little bit early. I also wanted to make sure that I finished it well before I was going to sleep. The only other thing was that it was clumpy at the bottom. I'm not sure if that meant it was going bad or it was just separated for too long or what, but obviously I stopped and didn't try to force anything clumpy down my throat.
Everything was tasting better than day one, meaning I was getting used to the tastes, and they truly were enjoyable. Still was lightly chugging but only because it works better for me to try and get it down in 15-20 minutes than lingering on it for a while. I think if I lingered, it'd be impossible for me to get all the juices down, because it really is a lot of liquid!
That morning, I was feeling really tired. My muscles even felt tired and I hadn't been doing any exercising. I was considering doing a yoga routine later on to help this feeling/energy level but I ended up just trying to stay on my feet and do light stretching instead.
Another TMI moment coming, folks! Midday, I had my first bowel movement (of a few). In the tips that Pressed Juicery sends with the cleanse, they wrote that you may have to use some kind of light laxative, insinuating that some people may be constipated, but I definitely did not have this problem. Nothing was painful, at all, and I felt like all of my stomach bloat was gone after. However, this made me think that (along with the multiple trips to the bathroom to pee) this cleanse may not be very work-friendly.
For my shower on day 2, I had to take a warm shower rather than my usual hot one. I felt a little bit light-headed and like the heat was too much. I am guessing the mention of a warm shower/bath is intentional on their "tips" card. I did not have this issue on day one or three, however, so I am guessing this is one of the few reasons why people have said that day 2 is the hardest.
I was more hungry this day. I really missed eating, because there were far too many talks about food. I had a good day though, no staring hopelessly at the leftover Christmas cookies on the counter (that are definitely all old and stale by now anyway, right? RIGHT?).
The vanilla almond was still wicked chunky. I threw maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of it away because it was unpleasant.
I had more energy and showering didn't make me feel like I was going to drop dead. Around 2:30, I did have that standard "2:30 feeling" of wanting to lie down but I chose not to. I started my cleanse later because I didn't sleep all that well, but this kind of tired feeling did happen post-Greens 2, which is when this feeling happened the other two days, as well. So I'd say that was the least energizing drink for me, despite it being full of super healthy things.
I've read on multiple blog posts that people feel that they felt that by day 3, they felt that they could keep going with the cleanse. I do think it would be possible for me to complete a 4 or 5 day cleanse, for sure, although I am more than happy to return to eating. This has really inspired me to keep up with cleaner eating, so I hope that I will be able to carry that out into the future with only minor slip ups here and there.
Roots 3 had definitely started to go bad by now. There was a carbonated taste to it that it didn't have before. I tried to get through this but I didn't want to get myself sick, and the more I thought about the fact that it was going bad, the more paranoid I got. So I ended up throwing away probably about 1/3 of it. I drank all of Citrus, but ended up tossing the last tiny bits of Greens 3 and vanilla almond, noticing the faint taste of carbonation there, as well.
At this point, I mentioned on Twitter that my drinks were going bad, not as a jab at Pressed Juicery at all, but just as an observation. They wrote me back, wanting to resolve any issue I had. I sent them an email letting them know that this drink in particular was going bad before the others, but they do only guarantee a 3 day shelf life, so do I fault them? Of course not! There was unfortunately just bad timing because the snowstorm had delayed my delivery. Had my delivery made it to me on time, the drinks would have been just fine! My suggestion to them was to consider making it two shipments rather than one, so that days 1 & 2 come together but day 3 comes on the next day, therefore making sure it's still at its freshest (particularly for the customers on the east coast, like me). This is the one improvement I really thought they could add to their service. Of course, this would add to the cost, which I think would be worth it.
What I didn't expect was to receive the offer of a free 3-day cleanse to make up for these small issues I had. Of course, I responded with an overwhelming thank you for being so great with customer service, and then we worked out a deal that will allow me to have this order shipped in a couple of months when I wish to do another cleanse. So I will be doing this again!
Would I have done another 3-day cleanse from them if they hadn't offered this chance to me? Maybe, but far off in the future when I could actually afford it and plan it a little better (i.e. not in the same week as a snow storm). My guess is that without this offer, I would have stuck strictly to a 1-day cleanse next time around (for financial reasons). But now, I will definitely be doing another 3-day cleanse in the near future and allow myself to detox and rejuvenate my system once again. The feeling of taking control of my willpower, along with finally ridding that awful holiday (and time of the month) bloat was definitely worth the money!
I had been eyeing different juice cleanses for a few months now. I have a handful of companies added to my instagram where I would constantly scroll past the juices and mentions of cleanses and thought, I really, really want to do that. But a) I had been eating terribly so I had no idea if I would be able to last and b) they are wicked expensive. However, at the very end of 2013, I decided this would be worth the splurge and I would challenge myself to a juice cleanse at the very beginning of 2014. I chose the Pressed Juicery level 1, 3-day cleanse to start on the 3rd. Unfortunately, the snow storm slightly delayed my shipment so I was unable to start until the 4th! To give the most honest review possible, I wanted to get down all of the nitty gritty details. Hence, the long blog entry! If you're interested or curious in cleansing with Pressed Juicery, read ahead:
Day one was off to a rough start. For someone who isn't used to drinking anything other than water (and the occasional vodka tonic), I should have figured it'd be more difficult for me to get juice down. The first drink is the chocolate almond, which involves almonds, cacao, dates, and sea salt. Now, I'm not exactly sure what I tasted, but it was sort of a watered down version of what I image chocolate almond milk might taste like. It was difficult to stomach. My reaction to it was along the lines of, "ugh chug the hell out of this before you puke." Note: this could also be because I woke up only twenty minutes before and it's tough for me to stomach a glass of water that soon.
I was not excited for my next juice, to say the least. And when I opened Greens 2, I was scared. It reeked of cucumber. Now, I don't have much issue with cucumbers besides that I think they're a bit overwhelming in salads if not smothered in dressing. But when I tasted the drink, the only distinct taste I really got was of apples. Sweet relief. However, the smell of cucumber was still so strong that I had to hold my nose while drinking at times. The funniest part about it was after I drank, I would breathe out pure cucumber. Despite not loving the smell, it still made me feel fresh.
By the time I got to the Roots 3 drink, I kind of felt like I hadn't stopped drinking all day. I was a bit bored and wanted to eat… but I wasn't actually hungry, which shows me a major flaw in my eating habits (which I already knew, but it was interesting to know it for sure with this). This drink also has a distinct cucumber smell, which made me worried, but I actually don't find it too bad because it also tastes like cucumber. Since the taste and smell didn't conflict, I found it easier to get down. It also has a very strong aftertaste of carrots which I did not mind at all!
I drank Citrus 2 around dinnertime. I was still not very hungry, though the feelings were starting to get there. I heard my parents order pizza downstairs and felt a little pang of jealousy, but I knew I can eat pizza anytime, so that wasn't a real temptation. I was looking forward to this one because it had nothing grassy in it or anything I'm not used to tasting. However, the taste of mint is very strong. Not so strong that it threw me off, though. The pineapple-mint-sour mix was definitely the most pleasant that I had so far. (I kept forgetting to take a picture of Citrus 2, so you will only see an empty bottle. Sorry, guys!)
After drinking Citrus 2, I definitely had more energy. I felt a bit tired during most of the day because I didn't sleep quite as long as I should have to start this (was aiming for 8 hours, but it was more like 6 tops).
Around 7:30 I was starting to feel hungry. I also had terrible cramps around this time. TMI alert: I did this cleanse while I had my period. I definitely don't think this was a bad thing because I was flushing my system out. It also kept me from giving into those time-of-the-month cravings! It shows me that I really do have the willpower not to eat that pound of chocolate, and I don't feel deprived from it, either. In fact, over the full three days, I felt that I actually had zero cravings related to my period. Or cravings at all!
My next drink was Greens 3 and I'll be honest, I was kind of sick of drinking things by this time. I chugged it extremely fast. It has a similar taste to Greens 2, but a slightly more grassy taste. Not bad, never had to hold my nose with this one!
The last drink, vanilla almond, was definitely much better than chocolate almond. Still chalky but not hard to get down at all. Definitely something pleasant to end the day with. Although I was very sick of drinking things. I just kind of wanted to stop at this point, which is why I had this a little bit early. I also wanted to make sure that I finished it well before I was going to sleep. The only other thing was that it was clumpy at the bottom. I'm not sure if that meant it was going bad or it was just separated for too long or what, but obviously I stopped and didn't try to force anything clumpy down my throat.
Everything was tasting better than day one, meaning I was getting used to the tastes, and they truly were enjoyable. Still was lightly chugging but only because it works better for me to try and get it down in 15-20 minutes than lingering on it for a while. I think if I lingered, it'd be impossible for me to get all the juices down, because it really is a lot of liquid!
That morning, I was feeling really tired. My muscles even felt tired and I hadn't been doing any exercising. I was considering doing a yoga routine later on to help this feeling/energy level but I ended up just trying to stay on my feet and do light stretching instead.
Another TMI moment coming, folks! Midday, I had my first bowel movement (of a few). In the tips that Pressed Juicery sends with the cleanse, they wrote that you may have to use some kind of light laxative, insinuating that some people may be constipated, but I definitely did not have this problem. Nothing was painful, at all, and I felt like all of my stomach bloat was gone after. However, this made me think that (along with the multiple trips to the bathroom to pee) this cleanse may not be very work-friendly.
For my shower on day 2, I had to take a warm shower rather than my usual hot one. I felt a little bit light-headed and like the heat was too much. I am guessing the mention of a warm shower/bath is intentional on their "tips" card. I did not have this issue on day one or three, however, so I am guessing this is one of the few reasons why people have said that day 2 is the hardest.
I was more hungry this day. I really missed eating, because there were far too many talks about food. I had a good day though, no staring hopelessly at the leftover Christmas cookies on the counter (that are definitely all old and stale by now anyway, right? RIGHT?).
The vanilla almond was still wicked chunky. I threw maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of it away because it was unpleasant.
I had more energy and showering didn't make me feel like I was going to drop dead. Around 2:30, I did have that standard "2:30 feeling" of wanting to lie down but I chose not to. I started my cleanse later because I didn't sleep all that well, but this kind of tired feeling did happen post-Greens 2, which is when this feeling happened the other two days, as well. So I'd say that was the least energizing drink for me, despite it being full of super healthy things.
I've read on multiple blog posts that people feel that they felt that by day 3, they felt that they could keep going with the cleanse. I do think it would be possible for me to complete a 4 or 5 day cleanse, for sure, although I am more than happy to return to eating. This has really inspired me to keep up with cleaner eating, so I hope that I will be able to carry that out into the future with only minor slip ups here and there.
Roots 3 had definitely started to go bad by now. There was a carbonated taste to it that it didn't have before. I tried to get through this but I didn't want to get myself sick, and the more I thought about the fact that it was going bad, the more paranoid I got. So I ended up throwing away probably about 1/3 of it. I drank all of Citrus, but ended up tossing the last tiny bits of Greens 3 and vanilla almond, noticing the faint taste of carbonation there, as well.
At this point, I mentioned on Twitter that my drinks were going bad, not as a jab at Pressed Juicery at all, but just as an observation. They wrote me back, wanting to resolve any issue I had. I sent them an email letting them know that this drink in particular was going bad before the others, but they do only guarantee a 3 day shelf life, so do I fault them? Of course not! There was unfortunately just bad timing because the snowstorm had delayed my delivery. Had my delivery made it to me on time, the drinks would have been just fine! My suggestion to them was to consider making it two shipments rather than one, so that days 1 & 2 come together but day 3 comes on the next day, therefore making sure it's still at its freshest (particularly for the customers on the east coast, like me). This is the one improvement I really thought they could add to their service. Of course, this would add to the cost, which I think would be worth it.
What I didn't expect was to receive the offer of a free 3-day cleanse to make up for these small issues I had. Of course, I responded with an overwhelming thank you for being so great with customer service, and then we worked out a deal that will allow me to have this order shipped in a couple of months when I wish to do another cleanse. So I will be doing this again!
Would I have done another 3-day cleanse from them if they hadn't offered this chance to me? Maybe, but far off in the future when I could actually afford it and plan it a little better (i.e. not in the same week as a snow storm). My guess is that without this offer, I would have stuck strictly to a 1-day cleanse next time around (for financial reasons). But now, I will definitely be doing another 3-day cleanse in the near future and allow myself to detox and rejuvenate my system once again. The feeling of taking control of my willpower, along with finally ridding that awful holiday (and time of the month) bloat was definitely worth the money!
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