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I said goodbye to coffee, oatmeal, chocolate, nut butter, pancakes and all my other favourite foods for 5 days from 21th to 25th November because of a 5-day juice fast.

For the fast I decided to use the juices from www.green-detox.de because I loved their products when researching for different companies. They offer a lot of different treatments. 1 day, 3 days, 5 days,.. and also with different products. I got my delivery on time as promised and felt very well supported during my fast.

I chose the 5-day treatment with 4x 500ml green juice, 1x 250ml spiced almond milk and 1 soup for every day. It’s great to have a warm soup in the evening – makes fasting way easier in winter.

(An alle Deutschen: Ihr könnt mit dem Code plantifulalexandra17 15% bei eurer Bestellung unter www.green-detox.de sparen.)

Why did I decide to go on a juice fast?

After eating quite a lot of fatty and not too healthy foods such as cake, cookies etc. over the last few months, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to give my body a break from digesting food and to focus on other recovery processes – especially since I’d been feeling a little sluggish.

Another reason why I wanted to do it again: curiosity. So many people talk about how amazing they feel after a fast so I just wanted to try it for a longer period of time. Maybe I also wanted to challenge myself a little to see if I can do it.

One thing I also love is how after a period without food you appreciate food so much more again and everything tastes more intense.

The reason I did not do it for is to lose weight as fasting is not about losing weight! It can be used as a start to become more mindful again when it comes to food or eating healthier again but fasting itself is not a way to lose weight. Even if you might lose a few kilos, that’s mostly water weight. Fasting is not a sustainable way to lose weight, for this you need to adapt an overall healthy lifestyle.

Btw, I already did a 3-day cleanse last winter – you can read about it here.

So, what were those 5 days of juice fasting like?

First of all: On all 5 days I drank a lot of water and tea (without caffeine) which is important while fasting – and also because it makes you feel more full and satisfied when you don’t get any food.

Day 1

This one was easy and fun! I didn’t feel hungry at all which is unusual as I always get hungry soon when not having breakfast in the morning. I also didn’t feel any other symptomes such as headache, weakness or dizziness. And it was fun as I got to try all the juices & soups for the first time. Taste-wise I liked them a lot, especially the almond milk, haha.

I got my juices delivered in the morning to the office where I work. This time I decided to juice fast while working. I know that a lot of people think that this isn’t too good as you might lack concentration but to be honest, it was way easier than the last time when doing it at home where I had constantly been surrounded by food and had a lot of time to think about food.

So I had my first green juice around 11 and then the 3 other ones every 2 hours. I drank the almond milk inbetween those times whenever I felt like having it. I took the soup home with me and warmed it up in a pot.

Went to bed feeling very satisfied and.. full – as weird as it sounds. Maybe my body still had enough energy ressources from all the food I’d eaten the weeks before which was quite a lot. I had a phase in which I’d somehow constantly been quite hunometimes it had been a little too mugry and sch food, I guess.

Day 2

The second day is known to be the hardest one but for me it actually was okay. Somehow I still didn’t feel hungry. My stomach didn’t make any noises at all and I didn’t feel as if I had an empty stomach.

So I still felt pretty good. The only unpleasant thing was that I had a light headache and felt a little dizzy during the day, nothing dramatic. I also felt a little cold even though the weather got warmer again and when going for a walk, my co-worker told me that she feels so warm in her jacket while I had been freezing. But of course – if you don’t eat you don’t get the energy from food to keep you warm.

Day 3

Definitely the hardest day! I got up pretty tired and SO hungry. Especially for a breakfast person like me it’s hard to not have anything to eat in the morning. I also experienced hurting limbs, my whole body felt quite weak and as if I was about to get a cold. So after arriving at work I drank my almond milk right away, I just needed it – and it helped. Well, a little at least. But at 1am after 2 green juices I felt quite good again, the hunger feeling was gone.

During lunchtime I always go for a walk and I noticed that I felt like walking on feathers this day which felt weird and nice at the same time, overall I felt very light. Not sure if anyone else experiences this while fasting.

I also noticed that my digestion is very good despite not having any food with fiber. I also didn’t have any problems with bloating which I heard can occur during a fast.

What I did notice though were a few pimples on my back that I never get, maybe my skin took the chance to regenerate a little more than it usually does.

Day 4

I woke up with the worst back pain and hurting limbs again, I also felt quite sweaty. To be honest, I was a little worried but I checked what other people experienced with fasting have to say and found out that this is normal for a lot of people, especially when you have had problems with these areas before – which I did. At least I didn’t feel as hungry as I did on day 3 and fortunately, the pain went away almost completely during the morning.

Despite having a little bit of backpain left for the rest of the day, I didn’t struggle at all. Got hungry in the evening but just a little and after having my soup the hunger was gone.

Day 5

Just as day 1, this day has been super easy! It was a Saturday and I didn’t have to work so I slept longer than during the week which probably also made it easier as I didn’t have to go so many hours without food.

There still was a little bit of back pain left but nothing to speak of really.

I also took a nap in the afternoon as I felt pretty tired and clearly needed to rest. Fasting looks so easy but it’s actually a lot of work for your body.

Day 5 was probably the day when I – despite feeling tired – felt my best. I felt very „refreshed“, light and clean – not just physically but also mentally.

After having my juices I always felt quite full and couldn’t really imagine how I could put so much food into my body before. It’s quite amazing how quickly your body adapts to eating/drinking less volume and calories.

That day I felt like I could go on fasting for 5 more days. But I would have definitely switched to different juices as I started to feel pretty oversaturated with the green ones. After my last green juice my body was like „ok, that’s it, no more of that green juice for me, please“.

Breaking The Fast

The timing for breaking my fast was not the best to be honest. That day I’d been going to a food fair and if you’ve ever been to one, you probably know that there’s a lot of delicious food to try.

That day I woke up super happy and energized and could really feel how good this fast has been for my body!

I started my fast-breaking with an apple and a little smoothie. It’s such a wonderful experience to bite into food again after going days without eating.

Afterwards I went to the fair – where I couldn’t resist and tried a lot of different foods. I know that it’s probably not the best thing to do and I definitely do not recommend it. However, this fair only took place that weekend and I wanted to fully enjoy it. There would’ve been no sense in going there without eating anything. I told myself to just listen to my body. Fortunately I didn’t have any problems like a stomach ache and felt good, energized and happy.

Conclusion?

First of all: If you’ve been thinking about doing a juice fast or any other kind of fast and you don’t have any serious health problems that could be a problem – do it! There’s nothing to lose, you can only win. And you can always quit or eat something if it gets too hard and you truly feel unwell.

As for the hunger, for me the mornings have been harder than the evenings as I’m such a breakfast person. I tend to eat more food from morning until lunchtime and not in the evening as a lot of other people – especially as I get up super early during the week and my mornings are always long and busy. Anyway, the hunger wasn’t too bad except for one day and I could bear it easily – which is quite funny as I normally get very weak, shaky and dizzy all of a sudden when getting  too hungry. My theory is that the mindset plays a big role. I consciously chose to not eat whereas usually I get hungry because I have no opportunity to eat but would like to eat which puts stress on my body.

Which leads me to the next topic: mindset. During those 5 days I felt a shift happening within me. I felt that while I love food I don’t need it to be happy. Don’t get me wrong – I personally believe that life is better and more fulfilling with enjoying delicious food, cooking, sharing meals with others and all that fun but it isn’t needed for that deeper state of happiness. During those 5 days I felt happy and satisfied quite a lot even though before starting my fast I thought that I would be pretty miserable and already warned my co-workers that my mood probably wouldn’t be the best.

Not eating shifts your focus on other things that don’t have to do with food. Which is normal as you actually have a lot more time to focus on other things when things that have to do with food such as meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking are gone. Without having to think about food, which can sometimes cause stress when you have a busy life, I often felt a little more relaxed than I usually do. It’s just nice to get home from work and not having to prepare food, go shopping for food etc.

Experiencing some days without eating also makes you appreciate food so much more. Not just the taste and energy you get from it but also just the simple fact that you get enough food every single day. So many people in this world have to starve daily. How blessed are we to be able to eat whenever we get hungry?

Surprisingly for me, my digestion during those 5 days has been normal and good and I often felt pleasantly light and „clean“.

I have the feeling that the skin on my face cleared up a little, especially on my nose which is my little problem area. On the other hand I got some pimples on my back where I hardly ever get any, maybe because my skin has been working faster with chanelling all the bad stuff out of my body.

Overall I didn’t have any bad physical experiences despite the mentioned hunger, headache, hurting back/limbs and exhaustion/tiredness – which is all normal during a fast and no reason to worry.

For me this fast has also given me a little confidence boost it showed me what I can achieve if I truly want to. I didn’t think I would make it through these 5 days to be completely honest with you. I’m just such a big foodie.

I definitely do not regret having done this 5-day juice fast and would do it again, maybe I will make this a yearly routine. <3