After A Juice Cleanse (What Not To Do)

Knowing what not to do after a juice-only diet is as important as any other aspect of the juice cleanse.

For me, coming off my juicing program was physically and emotionally difficult. I’d felt good on it, and it had protected me from my own bad habits. I wanted to stay on it, even though I was ‘done’ with it on many levels. I felt vulnerable about eating solid foods again, and making wrong choices. Most of all, I feared returning to old patterns like fast food and the intestinal blowouts they provoked.

Hopefully while you’ve been on your juice cleanse, you’ve done some soul searching and been truthful with yourself about your eating patterns.

Here are some tips on what not to do after a juice-only diet ends.

~ Watch out for the self-sabotage monster that might be lurking behind your euphoric, happy façade, ready to walk you back down the road that got you in trouble in the first place. If you were a compulsive eater before juicing, you have interrupted that pattern and now have a great chance to stay clear of this behavior.

~ If you have always rewarded yourself with food, you will need to rethink this approach to life. You may have fear and control issues, and be afraid eating will consume you again. In fact, nothing brings our attention to our relationship with food like not eating solids for a period of time. If you felt deprived while doing the juice cleanse, you are likely to over compensate yourself now with way too much food, and of the wrong variety.

~ Don’t start right in on heavy, rich, cooked foods. Pizza, steaks, fried onions, French fries – not to mention pies, cakes and other sweets – will all surely send you into a tailspin and the ensuing stomach aches, cramps, nausea or bathroom runs can send you into a state of depression. The opposite can happen too, and you can be struck by constipation that is worse than anything you’ve ever known. Eat sparingly, and allow your system time to adjust to more changes. Your taste buds may be hyper-sensitive and tastes may be more intense than usual. This can lead you to eat more than you should. Monitor yourself closely for the first few days.

~ If you eat just because it’s lunch time or because somebody cooked something they expect you to eat, you may soon feel overloaded and overwhelmed. After a juice-only diet, eat when you are hungry, and then just a little at a time.

Try to identify if you are really hungry, or if your emotional body is craving something you previously identified as ‘feel good’ food. The more you can ready your motivations when it comes to what you put into your mouth, the better your chances that you will enjoy ongoing success and health benefits after a juice-only diet period.


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