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I had of course done some research before just taking the plunge and doing a full on 5 day cleanse. Out of all the juicing companies that I had come across, Orchard on long made use of Norwalk juicers which is a cold pressing system which has the ability to retain up to 5 times the vitamin, minerals and enzymes compared to the standard centrifugal extraction...so I went with them.
The reason for me wanting to do a juice cleanse was because I have been suffering so badly on and off since January with the flu, mostly due to the fact that I am currently suffering with a mass amount of lack of sleep because I have a baby who is constantly sick due to all the sick children at the day care that he goes to and due to this, still isn't sleeping through the night entirely. Regardless of that, my body has just felt run down and I felt in need of a serious cleanse to boost my immune system, nourish my system and help my body function at its best...basically to give myself a kick start if you want to call it that.
Two days before the cleanse I went on a full vegan diet to prep my body. I found it easy to do this but my coffee craving those two days were bad.
Day 1
I opened my eyes, had my morning warm water with fresh lemon!
I was so excited to fetch my cleanse in Town at Orchard on long. When I arrived, I was so impressed with the way that it was all packaged in a mint cooler box, my favourite colour...right up my alley. All my juices for the next two days were marked with numbers according to the order in which I needed to drink them. I received a schedule explaining the order of the day and I got fresh lemons, mint tea and rooibos teabags.
I returned to work and started my cleanse by drinking my first juice scheduled for the day. It all went well. I craved my caffeine fix and I had a slight headache. By 9pm I was extremely tired and I started to feel hungry so I went to sleep.
Day 2
I woke up with a massive headache, a detoxifying symptom. I drank my warm water and lemon and headed off to work with all my juices for the day.
The day went by so quickly, I felt slightly dizzy around 10:30am but no severe hunger at all throughout the day. The fact that everyone at my office was eating cake didn't even bother me like I know it usually would. Had another early night to avoid wanting to snack late at night.
Day 3
I woke up and felt so full of energy. It was such an amazing feeling to wake up and feel like that. I haven't felt that feeling in years. I cycled for 30min and got ready for work while I sipped on my lemon water. An hour later the most intense headache kicked in but I think it was due to the fact that I had not drunk enough water the previous day with being so busy at work. Water is good to help rid your body of those toxins. Around 12 noon I started to feel rather sluggish. The rest of the day went off well. No more caffeine cravings.
Day 4
It was another busy day for me, being a Saturday and having an early morning hair appointment etc. I just went through the motions. Didn't really think about how I felt during the day. I woke up with hunger pains. I did notice that I started to break out on my jawline and my forehead. Aahhh at the age of 32 to still get pimples but I understood that it was due to the detox my body was going through. I was also extremely grumpy and on edge but I couldn't say if it was due to the juicing or the fact that I had gotten roughly 3 hours sleep because Camden had been waking up every hour throughout the night or could it have been the fact that it was a weekend and I was around family who were eating whatever they felt like and I was sipping on my juice.
Day 5
I woke up feeling like I could carry on juicing for a bit longer but I had a feeling of excitement too that this five day of no solid food was finally over. I was so moody and I can only put it down to the lack of sleep over the weekend and the fact that everyone was eating whatever they wanted around me and Wayne kept forgetting that I was juicing and kept asking if I wanted coffee, the thing I craved the most during this fast was coffee. My family also decided to make a Sunday roast so those smells were killing me.
It was so nice to be taken care of by Orchard on Long. The Team there in Long street were so friendly. They had all my juices prepared for me for the day and I just loved having all the juices ready to go because that meant that for five days I didn't need to spend any time preparing my meals for the day. Being a mom I am extremely busy and having the juices ready for me to drink was a nice easy solution and it saved me some time.
All in all I felt healthy, I had no more snotty nose and I felt more energised. So I accomplished what I had wanted to. I found the cleanse difficult on days that I hadn't slept well and I would recommend juicing perhaps when your life isn't so busy or crazy. I didn't exercise as much as I wanted to due to the lack of sleep. I cannot begin to describe to anyone how this lack of sleep is really killing me, it has been a long 11 months but that is a story for another day. I am glad that I did this cleanse and I would definitely do it again in the next few months.
