Do a 3-Day DIY Juice Cleanse. Really.

Just here for 3-day DIY juice cleanse recipes? Not interested in my babble? Scroll down about a third of the page.

It’s almost the end of February, which means you either A. are powering through your new year’s resolutions, B. have given up on them already, or C. have forgotten about them completely. If you haven’t had much success, but want to keep trying, I’ve got some suggestions for you to kick those resolutions back into high gear.

If your resolution was to manage your time better (this was mine), then you could create a massive sticky note on your computer desktop that says MANAGE YOUR TIME. I never was good at subtlety. It serves as a friendly reminder to get my shit together when I’m looking at that girl I sat next to in PoliSci’s cousin’s wedding photos on Facebook. All 247 of them.

Juice me!

If your resolution was to save money, you could stop buying stupid shit. You could consider getting a fixed rate bond (high-interest savings account). You could track your finances using a fancy phone app, which would also help you to manage your international bank account. Or you could just post photos all over your room of the cool places you want to travel to. That usually helps keep me in line.

If your resolution was to eat healthier, you could start slowly replacing unhealthy foods with healthy ones. Start ordering omelettes instead of bagels. But that’s very difficult. (Who can resist a bagel!?) Your palate is used to all these delicious carb- and sugar-filled foods. How can you cut those cravings, and fast?

A juice cleanse.

Why DIY Juice Cleanses Are Good for Travelers

Yes, it sounds like some crazy hippie/Gwyneth Paltrow thing, and it kind of is. But I decided to give a three-day DIY juice cleanse a try a few months ago, and I was stunned at how much I liked it. As I thought more about it, I realized that juice cleanses are perfect for travelers.

Why?

As a traveler, your routine (if you have one at all) is constantly getting disrupted, so it’s way harder for you to maintain a healthy-eating pattern. Even if you’re eating healthily at your home base, you jet off to Europe for a few weeks and come back completely unhinged. (Read: pain au chocolat.)

Juice, jajuice, juice, JUICE. You know what tune that’s to, right?

Also, most travelers are broke a lot of the time. So they can’t afford the fancy cleanses that come in pretty bottles. What’s a traveler to do? A homemade juice cleanse.

Far cheaper than the stuff you can order, and a perfect solution to getting you back on the healthy eating wagon.

What You Need to Know About a 3-Day DIY Juice Cleanse

Nothing but juice, for three days. No Cheez-Its, no coffee, no celery. (I know; a diet that doesn’t include celery — does that even HAVE calories?! — is harsh indeed.) But really, by juicing, you’re giving your organs a break from cleansing out all the nasty stuff you’re eating all the time. You’re also re-training your palate to like healthy crap.

The premise is that you drink six juices a day, with as much water and green tea as you want. I know that sounds like living hell, but it isn’t. What’s difficult is the preparation. Let me tell you, juicing is a hell of a lot of work. It’s perfect if you work from home or can do it on a 3-day weekend. Otherwise, it’s going to be hard to find the time to cut up all the ingredients for the juice (and then clean up the damn juicer!).

My parents’ juicer, which is DEF older than I am.

Ah yes, the juicer. That’s the only shitty part. You have to have one in order to do this. And they’re not cheap. (Though this BALLER juicer is a great deal — and a #1 seller on Amazon!) If you’re not sure that you’re going to be into the whole “juicing” thing, then ask around — the odds are that one of your health-nut friends has one. Or, if you live near a health food store (or Whole Foods), they’ll usually make juice for you if you give them the recipes.

You can also go for one of the expensive delivery cleanse kits, but they’re ultra expensive. Better to save your money for plane tickets. If you don’t own a juicer, you can conceivably blend the ingredients together and then strain out the pulp. Remember: no solids!

My Experience With the DIY Juice Cleanse

Awesome. I was shocked at how great I felt. The only time I found it difficult was when my parents were cooking dinner, and I could smell the food they were making. Other than that, I rarely felt hungry. I did work out while I was “juicing” (sorry, it’s really fun to say that), and I did fine. I pared down my runs by a few miles and didn’t push myself, but I didn’t feel unusually tired. Like I said, I actually had quite a lot of energy.

You might actually be craving this stuff when you’re finished!

I enjoyed the clean and healthy feeling my body had — and my skin even cleared up. Best of all, it set me on a good path for the next few weeks. (Which I promptly ruined by moving to Nicaragua and eating rice and beans and 40 cent ice cream like errrday.) When you haven’t chewed for a few days, the idea of eating a box of DoubleStuf Oreos just isn’t as appealing. I was actually DRAWN to lettuce. Who thinks about lettuce?

I liked it so much that I’m confident I’ll do another DIY juice fast in the future. The ingredients cost around $50, which is expensive, but not horrifyingly so if you consider that’s your entire food and drink budget for three days straight. Be warned: this is not a quick way to lose weight. I definitely lost some water weight and felt slimmer around the middle, but I wouldn’t do it for that sole purpose.

It IS, however, a fantastic way to kickstart a healthy eating routine and feel good about yourself and your body. Intrigued? Let’s do this!

Cheers!

The 3-Day DIY Juice Cleanse Recipes

Start early in the morning on the first day, and drink one juice every few hours. You’re supposed to drink the juices in this order: green juice, P.A.M., green juice, spicy lemonade, C.A.R., and almond milk.

Here was my approximate schedule: 8 am – green juice, 10 am – P.A.M., 12 pm – green juice, 3 pm – spicy lemonade, 5 pm – C.A.R., and 7 pm – almond milk.

Below are the recipes I used for my 3-day DIY juice cleanse. (These recipes are based on posts from Home Fitness Manual and Organic Beauty Talk. If you want to learn more about juicing, I’d recommend the documentary “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead.”)

Stick these ingredients in the juicer, and drink away!

GREEN JUICE

The first juice of the day is green juice. Though it sounds like it’d be gross, it’s not. Yes, it tastes healthy, but you can almost feel your body recharging with every sip. And the apples and lemon actually make it pretty delish.

• 6 stalks of celery
• 1 cucumber
• 2 large green apples
• 3-4 massive leaves of kale
• 3-4 massive leaves of romaine
• Healthy handful of spinach
• Less massive handful of parsley
• 1 lemon

Yes, yes, yes.

P.A.M.

The next juice up is Pineapple, Apple and Mint, or P.A.M. It should just be called Y.U.M. I could bathe in this stuff.

• 1/3 of a pineapple
• 2 large green apples
• A few pinches of mint (don’t add too much, or it’ll overpower the other flavors)

Spicy Lemonade 

You’re supposed to drink “spicy lemonade” at this point. GAG. I thought this was disgusting and decided to just drink water or green tea instead. I found that I was running out of time to drink all the silly juices anyways.

• 16 oz of water
• 3-4 juiced medium Lemons
• A few dashes of cayenne
• 1 tablespoon of agave/honey

C.A.R.

In some mysterious language, C.A.R. is the acronym for apple, beet, carrot, ginger, and lemon.

• 2 large green apples
• 2 beets (green stalks and all)
• 3 large carrots
• 1.5 tablespoons of ginger
• 1 lemon

Homemade almond milk. I am officially a hippie.

Unflavored Almond Milk

Other people recommend that you press almonds or cashews and make your own milk. Let me tell you, it is a HUGE pain in the ass. I’m ashamed to say I had enough free time to do it; Sarah, Plain and Tall would’ve been proud. In the future, I’m just going to drink about 10-12 ounces of unsweetened almond milk. Good enough.

Rules:

• Drink as much water as you want.
• No coffee. Really! Just green tea.
• No alcohol. Obvs.
• You can work out; just don’t push it.
• Try to pare down on unhealthy food for about a week beforehand. It might be too big of a shock to the system if you’re eating a lot of meat and carbs right up until you start.
• Too intense? Check out Lauryn’s cleanse, which allows one lean protein/veggie meal in the evenings. If that sounds interesting, write to her for the directions. She’s a doll.

If you’re serious about kickstarting your health through juicing, check out the products below. 

I’ve tried and enjoyed all of them, and I think they’re a great place to start your juicing journey. (Though I will receive a small commission if you purchase through the links above, I wouldn’t recommend these items unless I thought they rocked.)

What are you waiting for? Cheers to your health!

What do you think about a DIY juice cleanse? Is it something you’ve tried or would like to try?