Pre-Wedding Juice and Raw Food Cleanse

One day I was at work eating a giant Chiptole burrito, when I received an email from Gilt City offering a deal for the 3 day juice and raw food cleanse.  I looked at my burrito, realized that I am about to get married, and thought that signing up for the deal would be a good idea.  I had heard that there are great benefits to cleansing, like having more energy and glowing skin - so why not give it a try?  At the very least, cleansing would keep me from drinking beers and eating fried food over the weekend.

I purchased my cleanse through Peeled (which has locations in Chicago and Evanston).  I was given 4 juices, 2 raw food meals, and a snack for each day.  The staff explained the cleanse to me.
8am: Drink the Watermelon Juice
10am: Drink a Green Juice (it has 5 servings of veggies in it)
12pm: Eat Kale Salad
2pm: Drink the Lemonade
4pm: Drink another Green Juice
7pm: Eat an Asian Salad
8pm: Eat a Macaroon (I hate coconut, so I didn't eat these)

I started my cleanse on a Friday.  The Watermelon juice is pretty tasty, so I had not problem with that (except that it smelled weird).  The Green Juice kinda tastes like weird apple juice.  It has romaine lettuce, spinach, cucumber, parsley, celery, lemon, ginger root, and apple in it.  I wouldn't say that I enjoy it, but it is pretty filling.  The Kale Salad, was not the greatest thing in the world, the smell is actually the worst part.  By 3pm on the first day all I wanted was cheese!  Knowing that I could not have cheese, I had to make the most of what I was given.  The asian salad wasn't great, so I decided to cheat a little and I added some brown rice.  It definitely improved it.  I had about 3 sips of the second Green Juice, but it wasn't happening.

The second day I woke up at 7:30 feeling great.  This might have something to do with the fact that I was asleep on the couch at 9:30 on Friday night.  I had read that you should go to bed early the first day of your cleanse, I don't think it is much of an option.  I had my watermelon juice, since I was signed up for a 9:30 class at the gym (TRX, it's great), I decided to eat a few almonds too.  I decided to let myself cheat a little, just as long as I was sticking to raw foods.  I forced myself to drink the green drink and ate a few more almonds.  I didn't want to eat the Kale Salad, so I didn't.  I went to the beach, and I drank half of the Lemonade - before it got warm and gross.  Then I hit up the grocery store to buy some raw food.  For dinner I had an avocado mashed up with some lime juice and mixed with a tomato and some lettuce.  It was refreshing and delicious.  It might have been as full with nutrients as the food peeled gave me.... but I liked it!  I tried to drink the second Green Juice, and only forced down half of it.

Kale Salad: I was supposed to eat 4 of these, and I didn't.

The third day I woke up at 7 with lots of energy.  Again, I had fallen asleep early, so I think that was part of it.  I drank the watermelon juice, and had some cantaloupe.  Then I worked out, and came home and drank an entire Green Juice.  For lunch I had half of an avocado, mashed up with lemon juice and I dipped carrots in it.  Then I totally cheated and ate a couple veggie tacos for dinner.


Overall thoughts:
I decided to do this cleanse as an experiment.  I do feel healthy and refreshed.  The cleanse also prevented me from making poor food and drink decisions the weekend before the wedding.  Plus I lost two pounds.