Prepping for your juice cleanse

So now that you've all read about how to do a juice cleanse, you're all on board and ready to do it, right?? Well read this first because this will make the transition from your regular solid foods to drinking only juice MUCH easier.

For the two days before and after your cleanse, I recommend that you eat only raw foods.  The list of foods is endless but the main idea is that you are eating only raw, uncooked, unprocessed foods.  This will help prepare your stomach for only juice, and it will also help ease your stomach back to solids when your cleanse is complete.  

Some sources of protein for this are nuts, avocados, and peanut butter.  A great breakfast might be an apple or a banana with peanut butter and raisins.  You can eat as much fruits and vegetables as you want!

I also like to make my own guacamole out of avocados, tomatoes, onions, and lime juice.  No salt!!  Garlic is a good addition if you can mince it or chop it really small--no one wants to bite into raw garlic....well...I probably wouldn't mind, but I bet most people would.  Instead of dipping chips into it, dip fresh carrots or celery or bell peppers.  You may not believe me, but you'd be surprised at how filling this can be.  Make sure that when you store your guacamole, you cover it with saran wrap and press it down so there is NO air in between the saran wrap and the guacamole.  If air gets in, the avocados will turn brown.

 

 

Nuts are a great crunchy snack if you're like me and need something crunchy in your life.  Make sure that they are UNroasted and UNsalted.  Just plain old raw nuts.  One thing you'll notice, when you're done with this, when you do go back to your old peanut butter, or when you decide to eat salted nuts, you'll be amazed at how salty the nuts taste and how salty (and sweet!) your peanut butter tastes.

A huge benefit to doing this, aside from the obvious health reasons is that you gain a better appreciation for the ingredients in your food.  You begin to realize that you don't need all that added salt.  You don't need to add as much of your usual sweetener.  If you're a soda addict (like me), the soda will taste different.  Bread will be more filling.  Everything, for that matter, is more filling.  The changes that come from challenging yourself in this way are amazing!