<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Flickr/walidhassanein</div></div></div>Ever wished there was a way to cleanse your body of those last few months of subsisting on greasy takeout and leftovers? No, you don't need to spend the next four days juicing and declining invites to dinner.Meet your liver and kidneys.Together, these two toxin-bashing organs act as a super-efficient system for filtering out most of the harmful substances we eat and drink.While our <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneydiseases.html">kidneys</a> filter our blood and remove any waste from our diet, our <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/liverdiseases.html">liver</a> processes medications and detoxifies any chemicals we ingest. Paired together, these organs make our bodies natural <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-detox-diets-juice-cleanses-dont-work-2015-1">cleansing powerhouses</a>."Unless there's a blockage in one of these organs that [cleanse our bodies] day and night, there's absolutely no need to help the body get rid of toxins," family physician Ranit Mishori of the Georgetown University School of Medicine <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/15/146927835/can-a-diet-clean-out-toxins-in-the-body">told NPR</a>. Mishori <a href="http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=9783">has spent years reviewing the medical literature on cleanses</a>.<h2>Where did the idea of detoxing start?</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Flickr/Lu Lu</div></div></div>The original detox diet, called "The Master Cleanse," was thought up in the 1940s by Stanley Burroughs as a "natural" way to treat stomach ulcers. The method was never substantiated by any research.He published a book describing it called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Master-Cleanser-Stanley-Burroughs/dp/1607966077?tag=bisafetynet-20">The Master Cleanser</a>." The cleanse consists of a daily regimen of six to 12 glasses of water mixed with lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup, plus a laxative at bedtime. Yum.Cleanse proponents like Peter Glickman, who helped resurrect the cleanse in 2004 with a book called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lose-Weight-Have-Energy-Happier/dp/0975572253?tag=bisafetynet-20">Lose Weight, Have More Energy and Be Happier in 10 Days: Take Charge of Your Health with the Master Cleanse</a>," say dieters begin to feel "euphoric" and "serene" after about a week of not eating. We could think of better words to describe the sensations of incipient starvation. <h2>Why 'cutting sugar' is wholly unecessary</h2>Perhaps you don't want to do a cleanse - you just want to get one of the alleged toxins you eat every day (like sugar) out of your system.There's a basic principle that explains why you don't need to completely eliminate anything from your diet - aside from things you're allergic to, of course.It's called dose-sensitivity, it's a basic tenet of toxicology, a branch of <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> that focuses on potentially harmful effects of things we encounter in our environment. As author Alan Levinovitz explains in his recent book <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-go-gluten-free-2015-7">"The Gluten Lie,"</a> this principle explains why consuming low and high doses of something - like water, for example - can have entirely opposite effects. Have enough to keep you hydrated, and you function like a normal person. Have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/things-that-seem-harmless-that-can-kill-you-2015-4?op=1">six liters in one sitting</a>, and you could die.The same idea can often apply to sugar and many of the other "toxins" we seek to rid our bodies of.Small amounts of sugar, like would be found in a serving of fresh fruit or a cookie after lunch, are likely far from harmful; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-eating-too-much-sugar-2014-3">huge amounts</a>, like would be found in six cans of Coke or several bags of M&amp;Ms, are probably harmful. (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-eating-too-much-sugar-2014-3">Overconsumption of sugar</a> has been linked with serious health problems, from cavities and weight gain to insulin resistance, diabetes, and heart disease.)Rather than cutting sugar completely or trying to finagle another way to rid your body of the "bad" foods you eat, a better alternative would be to eat them in moderation. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-eggs-so-good-healthy-2015-4">Here's why eggs are so good for you</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="00Z2ZhcDrk7FEwVaS0ZIzzhtAZCpUmOX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

A basic principle explains why doing a 'detox' is utterly useless

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Vogue.com</div></div></div>Ever wished there was an easy, quick way to cleanse your body of all those 2016 toxins?Turns out you're already equipped with everything you need. They're called your liver and kidneys.Together, these two toxin-bashing organs act as a super-efficient system for filtering out the vast majority of the harmful substances we eat and drink.In other words, you never need to detox. Not for New Year's Day. Not after too much Thanksgiving turkey. Not even because you spent most of last year subsisting on greasy take-out from the C-rated "restaurant" next door.Here's how it works: While our <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneydiseases.html">kidneys</a> filter our blood and remove any waste from our diet, our <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/liverdiseases.html">liver</a> processes medications and detoxifies any chemicals we ingest. Paired together, these organs make our bodies natural <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-detox-diets-juice-cleanses-dont-work-2015-1">cleansing powerhouses</a>."Unless there's a blockage in one of these organs that [cleanse our bodies] day and night, there's absolutely no need to help the body get rid of toxins," family physician Ranit Mishori of the Georgetown University School of Medicine <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/15/146927835/can-a-diet-clean-out-toxins-in-the-body">told NPR</a>. Mishori <a href="http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=9783">has spent years reviewing the medical literature on cleanses</a>.<h2>If detoxing is bogus, where did the idea come from?</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Shutterstock</div></div></div>The original detox diet, called "The Master Cleanse," was thought up in the 1940s by Stanley Burroughs as a "natural" way to treat stomach ulcers. The method was never substantiated by any research.He published a book describing it called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Master-Cleanser-Stanley-Burroughs/dp/1607966077?tag=bisafetynet-20">The Master Cleanser</a>." The cleanse consists of a daily regimen of six to 12 glasses of water mixed with lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup, plus a laxative at bedtime.Yum.Cleanse proponents like Peter Glickman, who helped resurrect the cleanse in 2004 with a book called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lose-Weight-Have-Energy-Happier/dp/0975572253?tag=bisafetynet-20">Lose Weight, Have More Energy and Be Happier in 10 Days: Take Charge of Your Health with the Master Cleanse</a>," say dieters begin to feel "euphoric" and "serene" after about a week of not eating.We could think of better words to describe the sensations of incipient starvation.<h2>Ok, so the lemon detox is out. What about a juice cleanse?</h2>Other less-extreme alternatives to Burroughs' and Glickman's self-deprivation plans exist, from swapping a few meals a day for a $12 pre-packaged bottle of green liquid to juicing up a few bags of fresh produce at home each day.Unlike the Master Cleanse, a juice diet won't totally starve your body, but it will drain your wallet, and the benefits are dubious at best.For starters, you have to practically buy out your grocery store's produce department for just a few days of juicing. Take the list of ingredients for this recently posted <a href="http://www.doctoroz.com/article/joe-cross-3-day-weekend-juice-cleanse">three-day juice cleanse from the Dr. Oz show</a>: four carrots, four apples (type not specified), two golden delicious apples, two 1-inch pieces of ginger, three cucumbers, six celery stalks, 14 kale leaves, half a lemon, one lime, four plum tomatoes, two red bell peppers, one-fourth of a small red onion, two cups parsley, one large sweet potato, two large red beets, one orange, eight Swiss chard leaves, and six clementines. Disclaimer: this list is only for one day on the three-day cleanse. ($40 at our local grocery store, multiplied by three days = $120.)Or you can buy the premade version: Suja offers a <a href="http://www.sujajuice.com/products/suja-classic/green-supreme/">bottle of its cold-pressed "Green Supreme" kale, apple, and lemon juice</a> for $9 a pop. (Three days of three bottles of Suja each day = $81.)<h2>Juicing removes some of the healthiest parts of fresh produce</h2>When you juice fresh fruits and veggies, you remove all of their fiber, the key ingredient that keeps you feeling full and satisfied until your next meal. What you keep is the natural sugar in the produce (a bottle of Suja's "Green Supreme," for example, has more sugar than a can of Coke).The immediate effects of a high-sugar and low-protein, low-fiber diet, are felt almost immediately: You're constantly hungry because there's no fiber to fill you up. Meanwhile, the sugar you're consuming is temporarily raising your blood sugar, but with no protein to stabilize it, you're on a roller-coaster ride of high and low energy. The long-term effects are more severe: a lack of protein, when prolonged for even a few days, can cause you to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140">lose muscle rather than fat</a>, because protein is what your muscles feed on for energy.But there's another reason juicing isn't the best idea for some people that goes beyond depleting your body of muscle, and it has to do with behavior.<h2>Cleanses can mimic other dangerous eating habits</h2>Cleanse advocates describe their plans as quick fixes that clean up the mess of processed carbs, sugar, and booze we throw in our bodies each day. In reality, though, this type of eating pretty closely mimics the dangerous binge-and-purge style of eating recognized globally as indicative of an eating disorder.For people who are prone to disordered eating, juice cleanses could serve as a gateway to bigger problems.At one eating-disorder treatment clinic in New York City, more than half the patients report having tried a juice cleanse, <a href="http://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/a7601/cleansings-dirty-secret/">Marie Claire reports</a>. "Maybe a patient tried it and became obsessed, or maybe the eating disorder was already there and the juicing became part of it," the clinic's director of nutrition services Debbie Westerling told the magazine.Eating nothing but juice for several days can also cause eating problems from the past to resurface, writes registered dietitian Megan Holt in a post about cleansing on <a href="http://potentiatherapy.com/health-in-the-media/qa-series-cleanses/">her clinic's website</a>. "I tend to discourage fasting because it can reactivate disordered eating behaviors," Holt writes, "whether that's restriction or feeling out of control with food or feeling disconnected from hunger and fullness cues when one does start to eat again."In other words, you can't simply drink your way to health - hundreds of dollars' worth of freshly liquefied produce or not. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/healthy-foods-debunked-myths-2017-1">6 'healthy' eating habits you are better off giving up</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="M3NzBhdjqInjU8WOsGvZaYp9wipY3RoI" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Doing a detox is possibly the worst way to start the New Year

With the festive season just around the corner, most of us want to look our best and enjoy the celebrations. So this is the time to start the preparations to look all toned up and well maintained on <keyword id="6389817" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="new-year">New Year</keyword>’s Eve. There is no need to starve, though. You can flaunt a well-maintained body by following a few simple rules. Here’s a step-by-step guide for you to dazzle everyone with a hot bod glowing with <keyword id="6354750" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="health">health</keyword>. 
 
Now the countdown begins… 
3 weeks before the New Year Drink enough water: Make sure that you drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day. It keeps the body hydrated and flushes out the toxins. Drink green tea: Drink 3-4 cups of green tea every day. The flavanoids present in green tea improve micro-circulation, adding to the skin glow. 
 
Eat lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains: Consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables give your skin an attractive and healthy glow. Also, include a variety of whole grains in your diet like whole wheat bread, oats, brown rice, millet and barley. 
 
Cleanse your system: Our bodies are constantly exposed to toxins. One of the easiest ways to remove toxins is by including vegetable and fruit juices in diet. Here’s an excellent juice recipe: Take 1 carrot, ½ beetroot and 2 tomatoes. Cut them and put them in a juicer to extract the juice. This combination rejuvenates the cells of the body, detoxifies the liver and makes your skin glow. 
 
Avoid oily foods: Avoid oily foods as these are not good for your skin and make your digestion sluggish. Fats in the food make the skin more prone to skin problems. 
 
Include protein in your diet: Eat lean proteins such as fish, chicken and eggs whites as these are high in protein. 
 
2 weeks before New Year’s Eve Boost your immunity. We all are prone to cold and flu around this time of the year. Be sure to take a <keyword id="20923" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Vitamin-C">Vitamin C</keyword> tablet of 1,000 mg once a day. Also drink amla juice (available at all our centres). 
 
Eat home-cooked food: Cooking your own food gives you the crucial control on what you eat. Chuck out all fast food and restaurant food from your diet. 
 
Exercise &amp; move: Make sure that you weight-train 3 days a week. This will help you improve your body shape and give you more energy. 
1 week before New Year’s Eve 
 
Reduce salt: Salt makes us retain water, which adds to the weight and makes us look bloated. Avoid salty condiments like ketchup, barbecue sauce and canned/processed foods prior to any big event. 
 
Do not skip your meals: Don’t follow the feasting-and-fasting strategy. Skipping meals lead to more snacking on sweets and leftover food. Eat 5-6 small meals instead of 2-3 large meals. 
 
Reduce alcohol intake: As it will make you puffy-eyed and bloated. If you must drink, take a small peg of vodka. Avoid cocktails as they add to the body weight. 
 
Avoid <keyword id="23666" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="stress">stress</keyword>: Stress is bad for our skin and body. It makes you want to eat sweets. Avoid being sensitive to issues and take life easy. This is the best way to avoid stress. 
 
Catch up on your sleep: It is essential to get sound sleep that allows your body to rest and recharge. 
 
Special care in winter: Since the New Year comes in winter, you need to prepare keeping in mind the temperature drop. Make sure to keep yourself warm and drive away infections this winter with these heat-generating foods: 
• Snack on unsalted nuts and dry fruits like almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, walnuts and apricots. They are nutritionally dense and take longer to digest, thus keeping your appetite in check. 
• Have grilled and roasted foods that stimulate the body to produce additional heat. 
• Drink the juice of one stick of fresh haldi and one amla daily. These are available in winter and will protect you from infection. 
• Avoid dry skin by drinking sufficient water and incorporating Vitamin E and Omega3 fatty acid-rich foods like nuts, fish oils and also seeds. 
• Always oil your hair before washing to bind the moisture within. Condition it regularly with a good conditioner. 
 
In India, where we experience a dip in temperature only for a few months, you should enjoy the season with warming foods like warm soups, hot curries, steamy broths, whole grains and roasted nuts that will provide loads of physical energy and warmth. 
 About the author: Dr Anjali Mukerjee is a nutritionist, researcher, columnist and author. She is also the founder-director of <keyword id="1978577" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Health-Total">Health Total</keyword>.

Want To Look Fab This New Year's Eve? Try These Healthy Steps

Her son said his stepdad was sexually abusive. A judge gave the stepdad custody anyway. Then she found the photographs.

It's a brand new year. You want to get fit and healthy, and now's the time. Could giving up eating altogether - with the exception of a few ounces of lemon juice and a dash or two of cayenne pepper - help you lose weight and rid your body of all the crap you've consumed in 2014?
While detox diets sound promising, they are wholly unnecessary and can cause you to gain weight and lose muscle in the longterm. Here are a few of the reasons "cleanses" are total bogus.
1. No one actually needs to detox. Unless you've been poisoned, we&#xa0;already have a super efficient system for filtering out most of the harmful substances we eat. It's made up of two toxin-bashing organs: the liver and the kidneys.
While our <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneydiseases.html">kidneys</a> filter our blood and remove any waste from our diet, our <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/liverdiseases.html">liver</a> processes medications and detoxifies any chemicals we ingest. Paired together, these organs make our bodies natural cleansing powerhouses.
"Unless there's a blockage in one of these organs that do it day and night, there's absolutely no need to help the body get rid of toxins," family physician Ranit Mishori of the Georgetown University School of Medicine, who <a href="http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=9783">has spent years reviewing the medical literature on cleanses</a>, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/15/146927835/can-a-diet-clean-out-toxins-in-the-body">told NPR</a>.
The original detox diet, called The Master Cleanse, was thought up in the 1940s by Stanley Burroughs as a natural (unproven) way to treat stomach ulcers. (He published a book describing it, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Master-Cleanser-Stanley-Burroughs/dp/1607966077">The Master Cleanser</a>.")&#xa0;The cleanse consists of a daily regimen of 6-12 glasses of water mixed with lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup, plus a laxative at bedtime. That's it.
Cleanse proponents&#xa0;like Peter Glickman, who helped resurrect it in 2004 with a book called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lose-Weight-Have-Energy-Happier/dp/0975572253">Lose Weight, Have More Energy and Be Happier in 10 Days: Take Charge of Your Health with the Master Cleanse</a>," say dieters begin to feel "euphoric" and "serene" after about a week of not eating.
We could think of better words to describe the sensations of incipient starvation.
2. Juicing is ridiculously expensive. Other less-extreme alternatives to Burroughs' and Glickman's self-deprivation plans exist, from swapping a few meals a day for a $12 pre-packaged bottle of green liquid to juicing up a few bags of fresh produce at home each day.&#xa0;
Unlike the Master Cleanse, a juice diet won't totally starve your body, but it will drain your wallet, and the benefits are dubious at best.
For starters, you have to practically buy out your grocery store's produce department for just a few days of juicing. Take the list of ingredients for&#xa0;this recently-posted&#xa0;<a href="http://www.doctoroz.com/article/joe-cross-3-day-weekend-juice-cleanse">3-day juice cleanse from the Dr. Oz show</a>, for example: 4 carrots, 4 apples (type not specified), 2 Golden Delicious apples, 2 1-inch pieces of ginger, 3 cucumbers, 6 celery stalks, 14 kale leaves, 1/2 lemon, 1 lime, 4 plum tomatoes, 2 red bell peppers, 1/4 small red onion, 2 cups parsley, 1 large sweet potato, 2 large red beets, 1 orange, 8 Swiss chard leaves, and 6 clementines.&#xa0;Disclaimer: this list is only for one day on the 3-day cleanse. ($40 at our local grocery store, multiplied by 3 days = $120.)
Or you can buy the premade version: Suja offers a <a href="http://www.sujajuice.com/products/suja-classic/green-supreme/">bottle of its cold-pressed "Green Supreme" kale, apple, and lemon juice</a> for $9 a pop. (Three days of 3 bottles of Suja each day = $81.)
3. Juicing removes some of the healthiest parts of fresh produce. When you juice fresh fruits and veggies, you remove all of their fiber, the key ingredient that keeps you feeling full and satisfied until your next meal. What you keep is the natural sugar in the produce (a bottle of&#xa0;Suja's "Green Supreme," for example,&#xa0;has more sugar than a can of Coke). 
The immediate effects of a high-sugar and low-protein, low-fiber diet, are felt almost immediately your head: You're constantly hungry because there's no fiber to fill you up. Meanwhile, the sugar you're consuming is temporarily raising your blood sugar, but with no protein to stabilize it, you're on a roller-coaster ride of high and low energy. The longterm effects are more severe: a lack of protein, when prolonged for even a few days, can cause you to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140">lose muscle rather than fat</a>, since protein is what your muscles feed on for energy.&#xa0; 
4. Cleanses can set you up for more dangerous eating habits. Aside from potentially wrecking your body in the short term, detox dieting can set you up for a lifetime of dangerous eating.
Cleanse advocates describe their plans as quick fixes that clean up the mess of processed carbs, sugar, and booze we throw in our bodies each day. In reality though, this type of eating pretty closely mimics the dangerous binge-and-purge style of eating recognized globally as indicative of an eating disorder.
For people who are prone to disordered eating, juice cleanses could serve as a gateway to bigger problems.
At one eating-disorder treatment clinic in New York City, more than half the patients report having tried a juice cleanse, <a href="http://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/a7601/cleansings-dirty-secret/">Marie Claire reports</a>. "Maybe a patient tried it and became obsessed, or maybe the eating disorder was already there and the juicing became part of it," the clinic's director of nutrition services, Debbie Westerling, told the magazine.
Eating nothing but juice for several days can also trigger former eating problems from the past and cause them to resurface, writes registered dietitian Megan Holt in a post about cleansing on <a href="http://potentiatherapy.com/health-in-the-media/qa-series-cleanses/">her clinic's website</a>. "I tend to discourage fasting because it can reactivate disordered eating behaviors," Holt writes, "whether that's restriction or feeling out of control with food or feeling disconnected from hunger and fullness cues when one does start to eat again."&#xa0;
In other words, you can't simply drink your way to health - hundreds of dollars' worth of freshly-liquefied produce or not.

Everything That's Wrong With Doing A 'Detox' Diet

Last week, I went on a cleanse. For you. Well, for me, really, but I had you guys in mind. Promise.
The decision to do a three-day juice cleanse can't really be chalked up to any one thing. I wasn't trying to drop weight, exactly, though I'd been feeling a little sluggish after a holiday season spent mostly eating and drinking. As someone who's a little too quick to pull the mac and cheese down from the cupboard shelf when there's "nothing else" to eat, I also wondered if I would have the willpower to commit to clean eating..even for just a few days. <div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.stylegirlfriend.com/">Style Girlfriend</a></div></div> And for as much as we talk on here about the link between looking good and feeling good, I thought a discussion about a more mindful diet might inspire some of you to share (or take up!) your own healthy living efforts.
At the end of the day, I wanted to get a jump on the new year feeling a little…Lighter. Fresher. Newer. <a href="http://bit.ly/1eySXFA">Pressed Juicery</a>, the California-based company that shipped 24 16-oz drinks straight to my door, promised not just health but mental benefits, with the nutrient-dense cleanse "shifting your mind and body to a more central place, and giving yourself a chance to detoxify your cluttered thoughts while enjoying less processed foods." Sounded pretty good to me.
Here's my three-day cleanse diary.
<h2 class="p1">Sunday (3 DAYS TO CLEANSE)</h2>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.stylegirlfriend.com/">Style Girlfriend</a></div></div>
8:02 p.m.
A menacing calendar invite pops on my phone, reminding me to "stop drinking coffee/alcohol, eating bread/meat/dairy" beginning Monday. That's because I had (thankfully) had enough foresight to think, hmm, maybe I shouldn't simply show up on Day 1 (Wednesday) without any pre-game conditioning. Looking <a href="http://bit.ly/1dXaHHy">online</a>, Pressed Juicery suggests:
To get the most out of your cleanse, preparation is essential. You'll want to start weaning yourself off of your usual indulgences and make a few adjustments a few days before you start - don't worry, it's going to be easier than you think… and your body will thank you for it!
We'll see about that.
<h2 class="p1">Monday (2 DAYS TO CLEANSE)</h2>
11:10 a.m.
My head hurts. By now, usually I'll have had one cup of coffee..maybe two. Today, I drank a smoothie for breakfast and drank some Sleepytime tea (the only decaf drink I had in the house). Caffeine is part of my morning ritual…or at least, I thought it was just a ritual, but apparently I am sufficiently addicted to the point that if I don't have it for 4 hours after my body expects it, I want to punch a very large hole in my apartment's very small kitchen wall. That's…interesting.
2:30 p.m.
I meet a friend for coffee…well, he has coffee, and I have nothing. As I chat him up about my impending cleanse, I realize I've become one of those people. You know, the kind with single-minded interests who's oblivious to the fact that no one else cares quite as much as them about the topic - like race training, or a new puppy, or a baby. I hear myself talking, but I just can't stop. I can't stop talking about my cleanse, and it hasn't even started yet.
<h2 class="p1">Tuesday (1 DAY BEFORE CLEANSE)</h2>
10:47 a.m. 
My box o' juice arrives! It's huge. And heavy. All this is going into my body in only three days?
I spend the next twenty minutes arranging it all in my fridge, MTV Cribs style.
8:08 p.m.
I had every intention of trying out this delicious and easy-looking <a href="http://bit.ly/19LmKM0">homemade tomato soup recipe</a> tonight…but then I went to a spin class and realized I would have to make a bathtub-size batch to be satisfied. Instead, I inhale a plate of nachos for dinner. It's my last supper; I can't resist.
<h2 class="p1">Wednesday (DAY 1)</h2>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.stylegirlfriend.com/">Style Girlfriend</a></div></div>
6:00 a.m. I wake up with a little bit of a sore throat, and now I'm nervous. The voodoo acupuncturist lady I go to always talks about the danger of "<a href="http://bit.ly/19NwXI3">cold winds" and "dampness"</a> in the body and that when you're sick, your body wants hot things, not cold. I'm about to drink cold things for three days straight. Let's see how this works out.
9:20 a.m.
After drinking some warm water with lemon (not hot, just warm) as the instruction card that came with the juices suggests, I have my first juice, conveniently labeled "1." It's…not bad! It's green, which is a little strange, but tastes sweet enough to not make me feel like I'm drinking a salad. The ingredients: kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, cucumber, celery, apple, and lemon (this is definitely not a <a href="http://yhoo.it/LTrUeL">Beyonce/Master Cleanse</a> situation - each of these juices are full of <a href="http://bit.ly/1fZOXSb">nutrient-dense ingredients</a>). I definitely taste the cucumber, and the parsley..somehow the apple saves it from going full veg flavor.
9:27 a.m.
I'm halfway through and feel like I already have to pee.
9:57 a.m.
Oh my god, I finished my juice but I don't get another for another hour. What do I do til then? What do I do with my hands? What do I do when I don't want to answer that email that just popped into my inbox? What do I do with myself??
12:37 p.m.
Okay, I've had two juices, one green, one citrus, and I feel…full. Not sated necessarily, but I'm certainly not starving. Maybe this won't be so bad after all?
1:50 p.m.
I might be starving. Not sure. Maybe it'll pass?
9:46 p.m.
Done with Day 1! Well, almost. I'm slowly sipping my aloe vera h20 (why it's not just aloe vera water, I don't know..maybe water doesn't sound fancy enough?) and I kind of can't believe I made it. I only went outside once today and practically fainted from all the smells. Have you ever eaten Polish food? It's delicious and all smells amazing. That is my neighborhood, and like a person who's just been blindfolded, my senses were heightened to recognize the delicious smells everywhere.
I'm feeling a little wary about Day 2 just because the novelty will have worn off, and I already know what all the juices taste like. I also have a meeting at 11am at which I will drink herbal coffee and try not to have to go to the bathroom three times because my bladder is constantly full of liquid.
In terms of how I'm actually feeling…not so bad! It was definitely smart to start easing off solids and alcohol and caffeine (except for that little pre-cleanse Mexican blip the night before)..I had my caffeine withdrawal headache the day before I started, so what could have been a really bad day was only…strange feeling.
Plus, the last "juice" of the day is really an almond milk, and if you close your eyes, it tastes a little like melted ice cream. As someone who NEEDS to end their day on a sweet note, this is kind of life-saving.
<h2 class="p1">Thursday (DAY 2)</h2>
12:07 p.m.
I'm only one juice into today and I'm actually feeling surprisingly fine.
I drank my first juice around 8 a.m., then tucked the next into my bag to have at some TBD time before or after my 11am meeting. Walking to the subway, I thought I might have to chug it while waiting for the train, but then the hunger subsided, and I decided to wait til after. Now, though, I'm working from a coffee shop (had to have a change of scenery, delicious food smells be damned) and the juice is still sitting in my bag. Partially because I feel bad about bringing it out while using this place's free wifi / partially because I really don't need it.
It's interesting working through some "Am I really hungry right now, or just bored? Am I hungry, or do i just eat at this time bc this is the time I've always eaten at?' questions on this cleanse.
4:54 p.m.
I just went to the grocery store and all I bought was toilet paper. I feel like I'm peeing every five minutes, but of course, that's a good thing. I also am only on juice #4 and it's already 5 o'clock. It really does feel like my body's getting used to the idea that i don't need a big breakfast..AND a big lunch..and a snack..and still be starving at dinnertime.
10:34 p.m. 
Okaaaaay, maybe the lack of food is getting to me just a little. Because I just yelled at someone I love on the phone who probably…okay, definitely, didn't deserve to be yelled at. I think I might be more food-deprived cranky than I thought. Time for bed.
<h2 class="p1">Friday (DAY 3)</h2>
7:46 a.m.
I wake up and notice how totally fine I feel. It's the last day, and Im not starving. I'm not miserable. I do miss food and liquid that's not crushed vegetables and fruit, but I suppose knowing there's a light at the end of a three-day tunnel has made it that much more manageable. If I was doing a cleanse longer than this, right about now might be when I was the most unhappy.
If anything, the cleanse has made me less social. I had herbal tea yesterday when meeting someone in the morning to talk about a new project (she drank a latte..I was very jealous). I'm skipping a concert tonight because it doesn't start til 9, and that's about an hour after I've had my last juice, so I'd be ready for bed right around the time the headliner comes onstage.
I'm starting to feel tempted to celebrate the end of the cleanse with a big meal tonight..but that's really not how it works. While I feel confident I can hold out this last day, I'm not so sure how good I'll be about "slowly reentering" the world of real food tomorrow. I really want to give this cleanse the attention it deserves, and do it the way it's recommended to get the most benefits, but tomorrow when I wake up? I'm pretty sure I'm going to want an egg sandwich, not broth and steamed veggies.
1:32 p.m.
If anything, I'm a little tired of not eating. I'm on my third juice of the day, and I'm about to go meet a friend, and I'm going to have tea. What I've found I miss the most is salty carbs. I want pizza. And nachos. And ramen. Forget cake or cookies. Give me buffalo wings and bbq chips.
11:45 p.m.
Got a little caught up watching old West Wing episodes, so heading to bed finally with my aloe vera water (sorry, h20) in tow. Already feeling a little sentimental - I'm going to miss having everything I need for the day tomorrow planned out for me. Plus, there's nothing in my fridge.
<h2 class="p1">The Final Verdict</h2>
While I'm not going to tell you what I weighed before or after the cleanse (what are you, crazy?!), I will say I had lost 3 pounds when I weighed in Friday. 3 pounds in 3 days? Not too shabby. And I feel…light. Not that I'm constantly stuffing my face with food and eating to excess, but y'know what? Sometimes I do. I did with those nachos. And sometimes I drink too much. And sometimes I don't exercise enough. Doing this cleanse made me feel good about myself because there was no "too much." The only test of will was in not cheating, not in a piece of cake sitting on the counter that I'm tempted to eat even though I'm not hungry.
I will 100% do this cleanse again - right now, I'm thinking once a season, or at the very least twice a year - and I'm starting to think about how I could incorporate juicing into my regular eating habits. The cleanse I went on isn't cheap, but eating healthier usually isn't. Organic fruits, vegetables, and meats cost more, but they're also significantly better for you than the alternative.
The way I see it, it's an investment in me. Just like I set aside money from my budget for high quality clothing and accessories that will last, my body deserves the same attention. Whether that's splurging on a gym membership when the temperatures dip and I cant run outside, or a seasonal reboot to my diet, it's worth it - at least for me.
Now if only I could go cold turkey on my beloved mac and cheese…. <div class="feed-footer-wrapper"><div class="feed-footer">

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