On a bit of a whim, and prompted by some of my darling Academy Goddesses who are also on board – I’m starting my own 5-Day Juice Flush this week.
It’s been over a year since I did this last, and I always feel ah-mazing afterwards! My skin is clearer, I am much more switched on mentally and therefore way more productive (what’s with that?!) AND I realise that hey – I don’t actually “need” a coffee after all – cravings are zapped away! On top of that – you really do get an insight into where any unwanted eating habits lie. Boundless energy and better nights sleep too. Juicing truly is the stuff of miracles.
BUT. (and that’s a big, J.Lo style butt…..)
I’m WELL aware that juice programs are often used in the WRONG way by lots of women….by that I mean, purposely juicing to fit into a dress for the weekend, or drop lbs before a holiday, or a party….which almost ALWAYS results in a junk food or alcohol fuelled binge after the juice flush ends. Come on girls – you know I’m right. Have you been there? I’m speaking from experience because I have. AND I’ve seen it countless times with women who have started juice programs.
This is the main reason that I took my 5-Day Juice Flush OFF the website last September. I didn’t want to be encouraging this kind of cycle with any of the women who visited my website. Since September, it has been ONLY available to Goddesses within my Academy – because I trust that they will use it properly and I know they have done the groundwork on their relationship with food.
As you know, my utmost priority is always that you have a healthy MINDSET around food and your body – and don’t become obsessed with the scales, or controlling what you’re eating.
Here are my top 5 points for juice flushing safely without going cray-cray.
1) Abundance of Juice. If you get hungry, more juice. No limitations. Think of abundance of nutrients, feasting on juice rather than going hungry.
2) NO weighing yourself!! I mean it – it’s tempting to see how many lbs you’ve lost BUT the truth is, the real lasting benefits of juicing are not about your weight – it’s about all the goodness that you’re flushing through your system. When you take the focus OFF weight and put it onto how GREAT you feel? That’s when you’ll get the best results – body AND mind. Plus — juicing is not a long term weight loss plan or sustainable lifestyle. You WILL begin to gain water weight lost again when you start eating solid foods. You KNOW this already. Please. Do. Not. Weigh. Yourself.
3) Plenty of water and peppermint/herbal teas. I find that during a juice flush a peppermint tea or herbal tea can really help soothe you and keep you warm. Sometimes you just need a cuppa! Do stay away from the caffeine though – a big part of the juice flush is the fact that you are going without any stimulants. Drink pu-lenty of water, too. You will be on the loo a lot. 🙂
4) If you are going crazy – eat. I mean it. This goes against what other practitioners say – but when I’m juicing, I love to also be able to crunch or chew something small every day. If I don’t, a disowned part of me goes a bit cray cray and a forgotten part of my brain starts to create ‘fear’ around eating solid food. This is rooted way back when I used to do crazy diets. To keep my sanity, I listen to my own needs and have a crunch on some fruit or vegetable when I want to. I go for an apple, a pear, an avocado, or carrot sticks. That works for me. If you relate to this – I would SO much rather you did that – or had a salad in the evening – than struggle like crazy through the 5 days, send yourself cray cray – and then binge afterwards (or midway through!) on all the WRONG foods.
5) Your Transition back to food is KEY. When you finish juicing, you must remember your stomach is more *sensitive* than usual, and will react to what you feed it with in the first couple of days. Go for smoothies, fresh salads, soups, keep making your juice (you will be really craving it by then, I mean it!) and keep drinking lots of water too – AND be sure to limit or stay away from your meat, wheat, dairy, caffeine and alcohol, while your body gets used to digesting real food again.
All my love, Goddess – and have a juicy day!
