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Last Thursday I started the Dr. Oz 3-Day Detox Cleanse and I’ve decided to share my experience with you guys.

Let me start by saying that I had a great support group. My in-laws and my husband followed the detox along with me, and this made the experience a lot more enjoyable. It’s great to have people go through challenges with us; if you’re thinking about starting a detox or a cleanse, I highly recommend having a close friend or family member follow it along with you.

To get ready for it, our family went to the grocery store on Wednesday night. We bought all the needed ingredients the cleanse called for. We then went home and spent all night prepping our ingredients; chopping celery, washing kale; cubing pineapple, etc. We wanted to be as prepared as possible for the 3-unfamiliar days we were about to face. None of us had ever done a strict detox cleanse before, so we experienced mixed feelings…feelings of excitement to detox and cleanse our bodies, and feelings of intimidation as we had no idea what to expect.

Our 1^st day

We started the morning with detox tea, and followed it with our “breakfast” drink (spinach, banana, raspberries, lemon, almond butter, flax seeds and water). I personally felt pretty low energy all morning up until my “lunch” juice (kale, celery, cucumber, green apples, almond milk, lime, pineapple and coconut oil). Lunch didn’t taste as good as breakfast at all, but it was drinkable. I immediately felt a small boost of energy and decided to take advantage of it by running some errands; I went shopping at Lowe’s (of all places) and dropped some materials off for the contractors remodeling our apartment. 4:30pm hit and I went home to prepare my “snack drink” (mango, blueberries, avocado, coconut water, almond butter, flax seeds, kale, cayenne pepper and lemon). This smoothie was delicious, and I downed it. I continued to feel tired, so I went to bed. Bed, you guys, bed! It was 5pm and I went to bed. I never in my life take naps, so this juice cleanse was working miracles. I took a long nap and woke up when my husband got home. My “I took a nap!” excitement quickly disappeared as I felt a headache. The headache continued and I started feeling weak. Time passed slowly and I felt worse, so I decided to go to bed again. I slept until 8pm, woke up and that’s when the nightmare began. I had a massive headache and felt nauseous; I ended up getting sick that night (my husband felt the same way). What the heck, right? We then went to bed and didn’t wake up until day two.

Our 2^nd day

We woke up, drank our detox tea and walked to my in-law’s house (from the little guesthouse where we are staying) to prepare breakfast. We juiced, we drank and we carried on. It took everything from us to continue on with the juice cleanse; we felt like we had to do it though…we didn’t want to waste $115 worth of fruits and vegetables. We kept strong and juiced on. Surprisingly the second day was incredible. I felt super energized, did not crave solids, and did not feel the slightest headache whatsoever. Day 2 went by smoothly; no sickness, no dizziness.

Our 3^rd day

We started off our Saturday morning with a good cup of detox tea and our breakfast drink. It was bit of a cloudy day, so we decided to watch Les Miserable in bed (awesome Saturday morning activity to do with your hubby, by the way)! We then got ready for the rest of our Saturday, drank our lunch smoothie and went out the door. A few hours later, we went back home for our “snack” smoothie. Physically we felt great, but we were running out of willpower! We were craving solids so, so bad. We were very close to finishing our detox, yet we felt anxious and vulnerable. It was 7pm and we decided to cheat! I had never been so excited about chewing in my life; we convinced the in-laws to go out to dinner with us and we all CHEATED! Food had never tasted so good. The feel-good sensation only lasted so long. That night, we all didn’t sleep well, had nightmares and felt incredibly bloated! Lesson of the day: do not cheat on your 3-day detox cleanse.

We woke up the next day (day 4) and felt like we could juice again. We were running late for church, so went to church on an empty stomach. Surprisingly enough, we did not feel hungry even after the 2-hour service. We had energy, felt great, felt light and very alert.

Guys, even though I had such a bad experience on my 1^st day, I totally recommend doing a detox cleanse. Your body will thank you for this break (specially your liver, kidneys and colon). You might also experience all of the benefits we got from this detox…my mother-in-law noticed an improvement on our complexion (she said our skin looked great), my husband noticed his senses were more alert, my father-in-law noticed an improvement in his sleep, and I noticed I was way more calm and lost some weight. Go on and give it a try.

In order to celebrate juice cleanses, I’ve decided to make one smoothie a day this week. Today’s featured drink: my Berry Chia Smoothie.