We used to think that a juice cleanse was simply a type of dieting that celebrities used. Since it’s not backed by a ton of scientific evidence and since word of mouth offers mixed opinions about the practice, we were skeptical about trying it ourselves. But after watching BuzzFeed’s YouTube video titled “What’s a Juice Cleanse Really Like,” we were inspired to take on the challenge.

In essence, a juice cleanse is a diet where someone only drinks blended fruits and vegetables for several days or even weeks on end. The purpose of this is to “cleanse” their bodies of all the toxins and bad bacteria; however, the main goal for many is to lose weight and gain more energy.

The video exposed the reality of the juice cleanse to people who have never tried it by documenting the experience of four different adults. The people in the video either gained or lost energy, and we were curious to see how it would affect us.

To start off our juice cleanse, we headed to Pressed Juicery in Los Gatos and bought two of their three-day juice cleanse packages. Eighteen juices were included in each package for $90 with a membership, and $104 without one. We chose the “Cleanse 1 Package,” which included more vegetables than fruits.

The price was ridiculously expensive, but we went with it since many people on YouTube recommended Pressed Juicery. (We didn’t make the juices ourselves because we felt it was too much work, which probably would have led us to quit.)

We were expecting the cleanse to be the most difficult on the first day and become easier on the second or third, since we would have adjusted to it by then. We also expected to be full throughout the day due to drinking all six juices.

The first day was not too challenging since we felt our stomachs being filled up with consistently drinking all day. To finish all six juices, we planned to drink one every time we would normally eat a meal and drink the other three as a snack between “meals” to keep us energized. It was difficult to see others around us indulging in solid foods, but we kept reminding each other and ourselves that this would better our health at the end.

The second day was the most challenging. The reason: We both woke up starving. Neither one of us usually feels hungry in the morning so this was a strange feeling. We made the mistake of having three out of the six juices all before lunch time due to our hunger. It was hard not to eat anything during the afternoon, so we drank a lot of water to fill up our stomachs.

The third and final day was actually much easier than the second. Our bodies had gotten used to the cleanse by this point and we learned from our mistake in day two to evenly space out the juices.

By the end of the cleanse, we were excited that we had successfully only drank juices throughout those three days. The cleanse had its upsides, the biggest one being that it reduced our craving for junk food in the days following. We also lost two to three pounds each.

The drawback was that we found ourselves less energetic due to our hunger and constant craving of healthy food. Throughout the days of the cleanse, we felt distracted and were constantly thinking about food, rather than feeling more energetic.

Even though it can be tough, an occasional juice cleanse seems worth the hassle for its health benefits. We would do the cleanse again after a vacation or after eating a lot of junk food. Though it is a bit on the pricey side, we concluded doing the cleanse is worth it for your health and body — but only every once in a while.