Juice cleansing: Is it really worth it?

In the midst of heaps of fruits and vegetables stood a VitaMix blender, a chopping board and my laptop, which was open to a web page with multiple juice recipes. I needed to make three juices in one night, and it was not going to be easy.

When the Falcon staff dared me to complete a three-day juice cleanse, I was eager to accept the challenge. How hard could it be? Drinking juice all day for three days seemed fun, and healthy.

Juice “cleansing” supposedly detoxifies the body and lets the digestive system rest and repair itself. The body also receives an abundance of necessary vitamins and minerals from the fresh produce in the juices, which can increase energy levels throughout the day. I am already a huge fan of smoothies, so I assumed juice could not be that much worse.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

For each day of my diet, I had to make three different 16-ounce juices, as well as two 16-ounce supplementary drinks to keep me full in between meals. Oh, and all of these drinks had to be prepared the night before with the freshest ingredients and blended in a certain order to retain the nutrients.

Furthermore, some of the ingredients in these juices were utterly unpalatable. In the breakfast juice alone, there were cucumbers, kale, green apple, ginger and lemon juice. In its final form, the juice resembled a delicious green Jamba Juice, so I was hopeful at first, but ultimately disappointed. The “juice” tasted too much like ginger, and the kale gave it a bitter aftertaste: definitely not a satisfying, kick-starting breakfast.

During tutorial, I downed another drink called “spicy lemonade,” which consisted of lemon juice, cayenne pepper, agave nectar and water. Thankfully, the cayenne pepper didn’t have too strong of a taste and the lemonade boosted my spirits. I began to wonder if this cleanse was so bad after all.

And then, during my fifth-period Ceramics class the same day, the headaches hit. I had read online that some of the side effects of juice cleansing were strong headaches, fatigue and occasional mood swings during the few days of the cleanse.

Because I had two tests that week, I was nervous but still willing to take continue the challenge. I fought the headaches, taking regular sips of water from my water bottle, and tried to focus on the demonstration Mrs. Aguayo was showing the class. Somehow, I managed to struggle through the rest of the period and make it to lunch.

For lunch, I had a deep magenta juice of beets, apples, celery, pineapple, lemon juice and mint leaves. It sounded and looked more appetizing than my breakfast, so I was happy to try it. Again, I was wrong.

The juice had a sour yet bland taste, and I knew there was no way I could down the rest of my “lunch.” But I had my first AP Calculus test next period, so I needed something to fill the gaping hole that was my stomach. I was determined to stay on track and go as far as I could with this cleanse, so I finished about half of the juice.

By the time the school day had ended, all I wanted was something for my headaches and a long nap. I could hear my stomach growling quietly during the ride home, but I forced myself to ignore it. When I got home, I prepared more spicy lemonade to keep me full until dinner, and I tried to keep myself occupied so I wouldn’t think about how disappointing this cleanse was and why I hadn’t quit already.

For dinner, I drank a juice of carrots, oranges, ginger and apples, and it was probably the most bearable one out of the drinks I had had that day. It tasted more like an exotic drink, so I tried to imagine I was in Costa Rica or Hawaii while drinking it, hoping it would ease the pain and frustration of not being able to eat solid food for 24 hours.

In the end, my juice cleanse lasted only one day. The juices left me unsatisfied and hungry, and the headaches were too much to handle on a school day. I think if I had continued for one more day I would have felt the rejuvenation and detoxification I was supposed to, but solid food appealed more to me than blended vegetables.

Maybe I’ll try cleansing another time during second semester, when senioritis hits and I won’t have too much to worry about besides college rejection letters. But in the meantime, I’ll stick to solids.