After the horror of the nasty beet juice, I managed to fall into a blissful sleep and dreamed of McDonalds.
At 5am, I was awoken by a pounding headache so strong I could barely see. I assumed I needed more water, since it had been 6 hours since I’d consumed anything and quickly drank a bottle. I managed to fall back to sleep, but when I woke up at 9am the headache was still lingering. I texted my sponsor Amy (the one who inspired me to do this) to make sure I wasn’t having some type of brain aneurism from food withdrawal. She reminded me that I haven’t had caffeine in 24 hours and that probably caused the headache. Makes sense, considering I drink 2 cups of coffee each morning. I took 2 Aleve, downed a bottle of lukewarm water and took an extra long shower as I prepared for round 2 of the Blueprint Juice Cleanse.
11:45 a.m. Back for more!
Plug my nose and it’s down the hatch with Juice #1, The Green Juice that I loathe. Yesterday it took me almost 1 hour to finish the first juice and now I knock it back in 5 minutes flat. Today I am using herbal raspberry tea as a chaser to wash away the salad flavor. Food is the farthest thing from my mind.
1:30 p.m. Heaven in a bottle
Juice 2 is so rewarding after that dastardly green juice. I really love the minty fresh flavor and could see myself drinking this everyday.
Food hasn’t crossed my mind and I have no hunger pains. It’s shocking to me that I haven’t started gnawing on my fingers yet, but the juices are very filling. Aside from the bad headache I woke up with, I haven’t experienced anything out of the ordinary today.
2 p.m. I am going to kill my husband… again!
After suffering all morning with a headache due to caffeine withdrawal from my beloved coffee, Sean just asked me if I could make him another pot of coffee. The nerve!
3 p.m. Exercise
My body isn’t tired, but it definitely doesn’t want to exercise. A yoga class is more than I can handle at the moment so I decide to talk a long, brisk (uphill) walk to get the blood pumping. When I got home and settled back into my laptop, I feet invigorated. That is until I read the Blueprint instructions on how to break the cleanse. Looks like chili, tacos and steak are out of the question when I can finally eat again.
3:30 p.m. Not hungry…
…but I am in one hell of a pissy mood
3:50 p.m. I HATE GREEN JUICE!
I have this down to a science now. I plug my nose as hard as I can, down Juice #3, and chase it with peppermint tea. This is the only way for me to ingest this salad mix without throwing up. In fact, the thought of green juice had me push off drinking it for 30 minutes. I will not miss this.
4 p.m. How can I say this delicately?
Loss of bowel control – OH MY GOD!
5:30 p.m. Are those hunger pains? Either that or a stomach ache
I think I am going to relocate my office to the bathroom for the next 2 days. Just as I get into my work, I need to pee. The fact that I am going 4-5 times an hour makes me think I have a ton of toxins to flush out.
5:45 p.m. Venturing outside
I’ll admit I’ve been terrified to leave the house due to unforeseen side effects from the juice cleanse. Comfortable that there won’t be trouble, I open Juice #4, the sweet and tangy lemon & cayenne mix, and head to my sister’s house. She’ll keep me busy stuffing invitations for her baby shower so I don’t have to stare at the wall and think about my sushi craving. Patty is so supportive she even called me ahead of time to ensure I wouldn’t be arriving in the next 45 minutes since they ordered take-out and would hate to eat it in front of me. I decide to hit 1 store before I arrive at her house so I am not tempted by the delicious pizza and garlic knots.
6:30 p.m. No, I am not a model
While running into the store for a few quick items, I notice a hip, fashion type checking out my juice. Perhaps she recognized it from the article in US Weekly this week, which named Sarah Jessica Parker and Jessica Szohr as fans.
The retro style bottle and Tiffany blue label is a looker and I suddenly felt amazing. I whipped my scarf around my neck, threw on my sunglasses and strutted out into the world ready for my close-up.
8 p.m. Death to beets!
Being at Patty’s house was the perfect antidote to my edginess and for two full hours as we chatted about my soon-to-be niece or nephew I forgot all about the dreaded beet juice. I pushed it off as long as I could, but Juice #5 had to be consumed.
Patty had no idea what she was getting into what I asked her to sniff the juice before I poured it down her throat. As soon as the grassy scent his her nose she burst out laughing for a good 10 minutes. Her yellow lab Murphy, who will eat anything you put in front of him, kept sniffing around so I decided to do a test of my own. I poured a few drops in a bowl and presented it to Murphy. After a few licks, the dog backed away from the beet juice. It’s that gross.
10:30 p.m. My poor fingernails
My poor nails are suffering as a result of my anxiety. Nursing a lingering headache all day has me on edge, and I feel like I am constantly surrounded by food. I am dreaming of lentil soup and sushi.
As I sit here savoring a bottle of my absolute favorite drink, Juice #6 which contains vanilla bean, cashews and cinnamon, I realize that getting through a cleanse is really mind over matter. I haven’t had any hunger pains, or food cravings, but as soon as I see something I begin to crack up. Never did I even consider breaking the cleanse, but seeing things you can’t have definitely makes it harder for you.
Sean said he already can see a change in my skin and insists that it’s clear and glowing, which is great to hear. I don’t have any more energy than I usually do, but then I am a pretty energetic and hyper person.
The caffeine has been the hardest struggle. I drink 4 things regularly: water, wine, coffee, tea. On occasion I’ll mix things up with a Diet Coke or Dirty Martini, but mostly it’s the same four things. Prior to this it never occurred to me how much I rely on my morning and afternoon coffee for a much needed jolt of energy. I noticed that during the last 2 days I’ve become very edgy and bitchy around 4pm, now known as the witching hour. It’s around that time of day that I usually have a small cup of coffee, or a snack, to keep me going. Without the extra kick, I’ve been sluggish and nasty, but luckily it quickly passes and by 5:30 pm I am back to my old self.
Tomorrow is Day #3 of the Blueprint Cleanse, my final day. Let’s hope I can survive the final 24 hours.
To be continued…