I consider myself a fairly healthy person. I actually like most vegetables, and I visit Booster Juice weekly. At the same time, I have some bad food habits that could be negatively affecting my overall health. I wanted to try a juice cleanse to see if it could help me reset my eating habits, so I reached out to SimplyWell in Kingston to see if they could help me realize my juice cleanse dreams.
I had never been inside their store before, and I was taken aback at how bright and welcoming it was. The staff there was super helpful and indulged my friend and I as we staged our mini photoshoot and marvelled at all the pretty juices I would get to drink. SimplyWell doesn’t just offer juices—their smoothie bowls and salads are delicious too!
Day 1
On the first day of my cleanse, I went to pick up my juices from SimplyWell with a feeling of confidence coursing through my veins. I thought about watching my friends do juice cleanses and struggle in the past, and vowed not to be one of those people.
When the owner of SimplyWell informed me that their juice cleanse was designed to be done with a light meal or two throughout the day, I decided to only consume the juice for the full experience, despite her advice. This would come back to bite me in the butt, but I didn’t know it yet.
I lugged the giant container of glass bottles to the bus stop and started my first beverage. The cayenne and lemon detox water was something I’d tried in the past, and it was pleasant and refreshing. I was pretty tired by the time I got all the juice back to residence and gladly downed the rest of the water.
An hour later, I moved on to the tangy pineapple juice that was meant to give me energy and a boost in my blood sugar levels. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was the most delicious juice I’ve ever had. It was sweet and sour all at once and made me feel invincible.
I awkwardly packed two of my juices in my backpack where they clinked together on my walk to lecture. My next juice was another detox water which smelled kind of gnarly but tasted a little like unsweetened matcha. Even though I had to stop myself from sniffing the bottle with every sip, I didn’t dislike the juice and finished it pretty quickly.
By this point in the day it was around 3 in the afternoon and although I wasn’t starving, I could definitely feel the adjustment of the juice cleanse starting to hit my body. I got the beginning of a headache, and my hangriness was becoming noticeable. I really, really wanted my daily dose of Starbucks, but I wasn’t ready to give up.
Things took a turn for the worse in my next lecture when I started to drink the beet juice. By drink, I mostly mean plugging my nose and grimacing while trying to swallow the juice. I absolutely hate beets, and finishing that juice was the hardest thing I did that day. It took me an hour and a half to drink and left me feeling nauseous.
I indulged myself in one recommended meal that night and had a fairly large salad, minus the dressing, at the dining hall. It felt way better than I expected to actually chew on something, and I devoured the salad in a few minutes. I then drank the ginger-flavoured kombucha that came with my cleanse, which was super exciting because I love kombucha.
In the evening, I started to feel super nauseous and my headache turned into a migraine. I consulted my favourite doctor, Google, which told me that this was fairly common on the first day of a juice cleanse. I tried to drink my green juice, but couldn’t stomach more than half of it.
In the end (TMI warning) I felt so sick that I actually threw up my once-delicious salad. Then I climbed into bed and called it a night. Maybe a cold-turkey juice cleanse hadn’t been the best idea.
Day 2
I woke up on my second day of cleansing feeling less terrible than I thought I would. At the same time, I felt starving.
I drank the cayenne detox water in the dining hall while I ate half of a grapefruit and some plain oatmeal. I felt like a cheater, but I consoled myself by remembering that I was supposed to eat on this cleanse.
I guessed that the lack of food I consumed on day one had freaked my digestive system out, so to avoid the nausea I ate a few small meals that day. Another salad for lunch, and some peanut butter and jelly toast for dinner. Whether it was because of the lack of food in my system, or the leftover upset stomach, those tiny meals filled me up far more than I expected.
For my own sanity, I cut out the beet and green juices from my cleanse on day two. They were the most nutritional juices compared to the others, but I just couldn’t stomach them after the way they’d made me feel. However, I drank all the other juices throughout the day—the pineapple juice was as delicious as ever.
Day 3
By the third day I was starting to get used to my new routine. I ate three really simple meals throughout the day, and avoided my blacklisted juices. By that point, I didn’t feel hungry at all and my nausea and headaches had dissipated. I still wasn’t ready to try the beet or green juices though, and gave them to a friend who thoroughly enjoyed them.
As the end of the cleanse drew near, I was happy that I had chosen a juice shop that understood the potentially negative aspects of cleansing, if not done correctly. The idea of just drinking juice for a few days does not sound healthy at all, and when I tried to follow it, I ended up getting sick.
SimplyWell wants its customers to enjoy healthy, unprocessed foods alongside their juices. When I actually followed their instructions (although I normally wouldn’t recommend taking out juices, like I did), I felt so much better.
In the week or so that followed my cleanse, I initially found it difficult to eat average food portions, but I slowly returned to normal. I’d like to say that all of my bad food habits were gone, but I will admit that I rushed to Starbucks for a latte the second the juicing ended. At the same time, I can definitely appreciate a huge salad as a meal now. Way tastier than you'd think.
If you are considering a juice cleanse in the future, I would definitely recommend SimplyWell. They try their hardest to understand the needs of their customers and adapt their programs to suit those requirements.
Even though I had to adjust my cleanse to accommodate my body’s reaction to the lack of food I was taking in, I never felt bad about it and came out of the cleanse knowing myself and my food habits a bit better.