Juice Cleanse: Prep

Inspiration for my journey toward a healthier life came from a lot of places, none of them more important than the fact that I simply got fed up with the way things were: I realised I needed to make a change or I was going to go crazy.  But one of my biggest motivating tools was watching the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead," in which an overweight man (Joe Cross) with a lot of health problems decides to to a drastic 60-day juice cleanse.  I knew I couldn't handle anything that extreme, but his idea of eating food as close to its whole form as possible is what inspired my 60-day vegan experiment.  Now that almost a year has gone by, and I feel much more aware of the foods that I eat, I decided to see what juicing is really like.  So, today starts my three-day juice cleanse!

Back when I reviewed the movie, I expressed my concerns about juicing--you get too much sugar out of fruits and veggies and not enough fiber, it's wasteful, and depending on what you buy, it can be very expensive.  I decided that for three days, the good would probably outweigh the bad, so I started preparing a list of recipes. I got everything online, and one of my biggest staples is going to be the very one that Cross relied on at the beginning of his journey, something he calls "Mean Green" juice. Below you can see some of my recipes and my crazy shopping list.

I immediately disqualified any recipe that had an expensive or hard-to-find ingredient.  So most of it ended up being stuff I eat everyday anyway.  But as you can see from the shopping list, it was in ridiculous amounts.

I must admit, I felt pretty silly going through the checkout with nine cucumbers, six lemons, 2 each of bundles of celery, kale and parsley... and this is all for one person, for three days!  My total at the grocery store was about $40,  so my daily total is $13.33, almost exactly what Cross paid.  Again, I did the math: if Erica and I both did this for 30 days, we would spend exactly $800 on food in a month, not including any household items. So yeah, three days is just fine.

When I got home from the store, my massive haul of veggies pretty much took over the refrigerator.  Almost the entire left side is dedicated to juicing.  When you look at it as half a refrigerator full of stuff, it's a little intimidating.

Well, no more stalling.  I have to go make my first juice of the day.  But you know me, I'll be keeping notes and taking pictures!

(PS "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" is available for streaming on Netflix and regular Hulu!  Please check it out, it is a really well-done documentary.)