juicing 101.

Being a young college girl, I've probably heard of every single diet trend on the planet. However, I never really gave a single one a try until my dad approached me and asked if I would do a juice cleanse with him. I thought, "How L.A.! Count me IN."

Just kidding.

Kinda.

Anyway, trusting my father, who is a certified physical trainer and has always been a health nut, I gave it a shot. Nothing but fresh fruit and veggie juice for 4-7 days.

Why in the world I would do that/Benefits of Juicing:

• For starters, the point of this cleanse is to give your bowels a break by not eating solid foods in order to cleanse the body of toxins. This is exactly what it sounds like.
• Juicing is a super easy way to introduce your body to a diet centered around fruits and veggies. Your system is getting a break from artificial sugars, grains, meat, dairy, etc.
• I hate eating vegetables. Especially cooked vegetables. ESPECIALLY LEAFY GREENS. With juice, it's so easy to sneak in vegetables with fruit and create something that actually tastes really good.
• No cooking or heavy meal prep is necessary.
• Anyone can try anything for less than a week.

Soon I'll be sharing a few of our favorite juice recipes, but first I wanted to introduce juicing in general and share my experience with this type of cleanse.

My dad bought this juicer, and we love it. It's super powerful and super easy to clean.

We also used this website as our main resource, and we both watched this film and found it inspiring, even if it seems a bit dramatic at first. I strongly recommend you watch the film even if you aren't down with the juice thing because it addresses food in general and how important a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is!

During and after the cleanse, I had a huge amount of energy. It's amazing to me the difference in how I feel after drinking a juice vs. eating a meal heavy in meat and carbs.

Even though I'm not a huge believer in any kind of temporary diets, I really loved how introducing juice into my diet has made it so easy for me to get in more nutrient-dense food. I now love replacing meals with a juice or two, especially in the early mornings when I find it hard to stomach a heavy meal.

My dad and I have only tried the cleanse once, and since we're going to the beach next week, this week we're juicing most of our meals. He's actually juicing everything and having just one smoothie a day, while I'm simply replacing at least one meal a day with a juice. I love having a smoothie with a side of fruit when I wake up, drinking a juice with more veggies in it for lunch, and then eating a real meal of solid food for dinner.