I have no idea how my biokineticist (Jessica Weston – I will leave her details below, as she is brilliant) & I got on the topic of juicing but we did, and she was saying how much she enjoyed it and how good it made her feel. So I thought, I would like to give it a try and got the details from Pressed Juice Co from her.

In this post of my juicing experience, I am not going to list benefits & side effects, as you can google to get those. I am just giving you an account of what I experienced, with a little added info from my husband’s perspective. Also, I was very impressed with the service & products I received from the ladies at Pressed Juice Co, so wanted to give them the praise they deserved. Please note, this post is in no way sponsored, they did not give me the juices to try.

What it includes?

The Pressed Juice Co is really organized, they give you a full breakdown of how to prep for your juice cleanse, which juice to have when and how to ease out of it. The juices are all labelled with the numbers on, so there is no confusion about which juice is which.

I ordered mine and decided to collect from the Bryanston Shopping Centre, as that was the closest to me. The juices were perfectly packaged in polystyrene boxes, with dry ice in to keep them frozen and labelled with my name (if you want to know why they are frozen, etc you can visit this page on their website).

Then all you do, is take them home, load them in the freezer and remove them the night before to defrost. I normally took mine out in the morning and let them defrost during the day, so I could get them in the fridge overnight. Only because Garith, my husband, doesn’t have a fridge at work to keep them in.

They also give you 2 herbal teas per day, I think it’s to make sure that you don’t stray onto the coffee…hehe!

How did I feel:

Day 1

This is probably the best day, as there is lots of excitement as to what all the juices will taste like and the novelty of juicing is still fresh in your mind. For me, I didn’t notice any difference on Day 1, except in the late afternoon I was a little more tired than I usually am, but after having Juice 4, I was fine again.

Was I hungry? No, not at all but I did keep busy while I was juicing, so I didn’t spend too much time thinking about food. I also made sure to drink about a glass of water with each juice. And, I drank each juice really slowly, took me about 45 min – 1 hour to finish each one.

Garith’s (my husband) take on the hunger was that he knew he wasn’t hungry but because he didn’t chew anything he was feeling like he should be hungry. The ladies at Pressed Juice Co, do suggest that men do their soup & juice cleanse because of this, but my husband wanted to try juicing at least once and he tends to think he is hardcore 😀

The only strange thing for us, was not having to prep dinner at all, and getting your head around having a juice for dinner. Also a bonus is – there were no dishes to wash!

Day 2

For Garith, this was a very tough day. He felt exhausted and like he needed a nap by 10h00. He also had a monster headache from a lack of caffeine, which didn’t help. We are both heavy coffee drinkers – but I was spared as I didn’t realize my one medication has caffeine in! I must say I was wondering why I never got a terrible headache. And to top it off,  he was very very hangry. So, he spent his day drinking lots of herbal tea & rooibos to get him through the day.

For me, I woke up feeling energized, alert, and ready to take on my day. Again, I didn’t feel hungry at all, and actually found that the juices were great if you are on-the-go, as there is no heating up food or trying to find a snack. It’s all ready for you in a bottle – no thinking required – I love that.

So, it just shows that we all handle a detox slightly differently, though I do think if I had a caffeine headache, I might have felt differently.

Day 3

I woke up feeling a little dizzy and almost like I had brain fog. So, I went back to bed and slept for an another hour (joys of working for yourself) and woke up feeling much better. So, not sure if I just hadn’t had enough sleep or what the case was…but was just glad it was gone.

The other thing I experienced this morning was leg cramps, maybe from a lack of salt because of all the liquid I am drinking. So, I had some salt and they seem to have gone away.

The thing I have found hard today is feeling like a coffee, to be accurate a cappuccino. I’m not physically craving one, but mentally I am. I could really do with a nice delicious hot cappuccino. Other than that, I’m feeling good, happy & healthy. There is something satisfying about having so many veggies… even if they are juiced.

However, my husband is just dreaming of food, he can’t wait to chew something…anything, so I think the easing him out of the cleanse will go our the window at breakfast tomorrow morning!

Was it worth it?

For me, I would say yes. I do feel better in general, my junk food cravings are gone and I feel less bloated and just great & healthy. However, I would never do more than a 3 Day Cleanse, but that’s just my personal feeling. For me it is the length, 1 day is too short and 5 days are too long.

I’m sure you all want to know if I lost weight, though this was not the main reason I did the juice cleanse. I did loose 1kg over the 3 days. However, this is water weight and once I start eating normally again will put some or all of it back on. So technically I didn’t really lose anything…which is ok as I feel great…which is the important part.

The Juices

My favourites were Juice 4 – Pressed Yellow, which is coconut water, pineapple & lime. It tastes like cocopine – all I needed was a tropical beach and a little umbrella and it would have been perfect! Also, I really liked the Nut Milk – cashew nuts, purified water, vanilla, agave nectar, cinnamon & himlayan salt. It’s super yummy!

Garith did the Summer Cleanse – so he had slightly different juices. He said that Juice 3, Pressed Gazpacho, was delicious but alot more spicy than he expected. So if you like a spicy gazpacho, then you will love this!

All in all, the juices were tasty and the combinations were delicious & interesting and I would definitely recommend getting some juices from Pressed Juice Co – those ladies know what they are doing and how to combine their flavours to make delectable juices!

My tips

• Try & stick to the times they give you, I was always running an hour late, but my intensions were good
• If you like your juice super cold & a little slushy – like I do, place in freezer 30 mins before drinking. Also means you can chew your juice, which makes it last longer
• Try to keep busy, so you are not sitting and thinking about what you are drinking & not eating – this really makes it much easier
• If you are feeling hungry, have some water or any caffeine sugar-free tea, such as Rooibos. I like fruit infusions, so I used the Tea Merchants range – love the Cranberry and also their Pineapple Peach.
• The cup of herbal tea before bed, really helps! It made me feel less hungry and also we always have a cup of coffee after our meal, so this replaced that habit
• It’s a case of mind over matter…your mind needs to be in the right space, to have the will power to juice
• Lastly, take one juice at a time, you can do it!

I’m sure that after reading this, you are thinking, should you juice or not? If you google about it, there are all sorts of side effects and benefits and articles about yes you should and no you shouldn’t. All I can tell you is, the short answer is it depends on you. I really enjoyed it while my husband suffered and probably wouldn’t do it again. However, keep in mind, Day 3 is the hardest of all the days. Though, I also think it would have been very hard to do if I was doing it alone. As the smell of food when you are having juice would definitely be a true test of will power. So luckily my husband and I did it together.

Pressed Juice Co contact details

I dealt with Philly, so I have given you her contact details, as well as their social media & website details in case you want to know more.

Philly Grundlingh

Tel: 0799270157

Email: philly@pressedjuice.co.za

Website: www.pressedjuice.co.za

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pressedjuiceco

Instagram: www.instagram.com/pressedjuiceco

Jessica Weston contact details

Tel: 0722434088

Email: jessicawestonbio@gmail.com

Address: 4 Homestead Ave, Unit 8, Bryanston, JHB