As someone who flirts with healthier lifestyles from time to time, juicing has long been on my radar. Lately, a glass of celery juice a day has been all the rage in the wellness realm, and generally speaking, so have juice cleanses. I've leaned more toward the latter. Anyone who knows me knows my preoccupation with the rich and sometimes unhealthy deliciousness of food (just peep my Instagram). Trying new restaurants is a favorite pastime of mine and unfortunately, so is ordering hundreds of dollars a month in food delivery services.
Despite the love I have for my curves in new places, since my weight gain (office 20 is no joke!), I haven't enjoyed my gut or the perpetual feeling of being bloated from not eating as well as I should. My biggest wake-up call happened a few weeks back when I was lying in bed and felt my toes become numb. I had been told by a doctor that I was prediabetic before, and after a quick WebMD search, I felt like it was the Universe's way of saying, "Step away from all of the sugar, sis."
So when the opportunity to review the black woman-owned brand of organic cold-pressed "liquid magic" 1987 Juices came about, I leaped at it. The owner of 1987 Juices, La-Keasha Brown, had a primary goal in mind when creating the music-inspired line of juices, "To consistently provide health and wellness alternatives for other creatives, entrepreneurs or artists wanting/needing to incorporate healthy living into their ambitious schedules without breaking their budgets."
While some people engage in cleanses to lose weight, for me, a juice cleanse would mean a reset both physically and financially and would help promote a lifestyle of all-around better habits. Because I am so used to eating 2-3 times a day every day, the idea of "fasting" and consuming fruits and veggies solely in juice form was a little intimidating to me as a first-timer; however, the proposed schedule was easy to follow and the timeframe (3 days are ideal for beginners) made it easier to see the finish line at the end. And lawd knows I needed to be able to see that finish line.
Day 1 of the Juice Cleanse
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La-Keasha advised slowly eliminating food from your diet in the days leading up to starting the cleanse. On the eve before you start, you should be strictly drinking water to prepare for the 3-day juice cleanse. So of course, I woke up hungry af. But unlike the eggs I typically gravitate toward, I started my day with my usual 16 oz of water, followed by a cup of hot water and lemon before officially starting the cleanse.
The juices and my schedule for the rest of the day were as follows:
- 9 a.m.: The Green Mile
- 11 a.m.: Beets By Meh
- 1 p.m.: Four Leaf Clover
- 3 p.m.: Power
- 5 p.m.: Morning Kisses
- 7 p.m.: The Green Mile
I was surprised by how good all of the juices tasted. I noticed that the juices were arranged in a way that you got a "break" between the not-so-fun flavors like The Green Mile and Four Leaf Clover with juices like Beets By Meh and Morning Kisses (my personal favorites). Power was another favorite and was a combination of activated charcoal, alkaline water, maple syrup, and lemon. The green juices weren't half-bad and I was surprised at how easy it was to sip all of them throughout the day. I was even excited for a drink by the time the two hours passed.
Day 2 of the Juice Cleanse
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What goes up must come down. I don't know what it was about Day 2 but Day 2 was HARD! My head was pounding all day from a caffeine withdrawal and I was just hungry. I noticed though in the process, things like sweets and juices weren't necessarily what I was craving, just food in general. I think mentally that helped curtail whatever sugar cravings I had simply because I was so focused on how physically ravenous I felt.
Even the way the juices tasted felt like night and day. All of the juices felt hard to throw back and what took 20-30 minutes of sipping time the day prior was taking over an hour to consume. Especially The Green Mile, which is the green juice you start and end your day with. Maybe it was because I wanted food that the juices weren't doing "it" for me. My taste buds were like, "Girl, if you don't-."
Day 3 of the Juice Cleanse
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Day 3 wasn't Day 1's smooth sailing vibe, but it also wasn't the close-to-tapping-out moments that eclipsed much of Day 2. It was mostly neutral. My headache thankfully subsided. I was thinking about food, but not nearly as obsessively as I was the day before. I still wanted it, but I could also rationalize with myself internally that tomorrow morning, it'll be on and poppin', just wait. Which is what I did.
I noticed that even though my appetite wasn't curbed, my sugar cravings definitely were, which made me feel like what I hoped the cleanse would do was successful. I wanted to reset my palette and mentally and physically, I felt myself experiencing that. I had more energy and within my body overall, I just felt incredible.
This juice cleanse taught me that I can literally do anything that I put my mind to, even if it gets hard and therefore I am a lot more mentally strong than I give myself credit for. I was also able to lose a little water weight in the process. I was glowing, I was more regular. Ultimately, my favorite result was the feeling of renewal that I felt my body needed. Although I won't be a daily juice girl anytime soon, I will follow La-Keasha's lead and make juice(s) a self-care fixture at least once a week.
My body deserves it.
*I was gifted a 3-day cleanse package from 1987 Juices to review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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Originally published July 31, 2019
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