recently i had the pleasure of trying out the locally-owned (very locally, they're right down the street from sS) CAN CAN cleanse, a 3-day juice cleanse that promises to leave you feeling lighter, brighter, and just less gross. juicing also helps bring down inflammation and cleanses your body of nasty toxins, so it's great for your skin, too. the cleanse is pretty straightforward: 5 juices, 1 soup, and 2 teas throughout the day, all the water and herbal tea you want, and nothing else. no chewing for 3 days, and nothing but freshly juiced (our souped) fruits and veggies. i had done one-day juice cleanses before, but this was the first time i had fully committed to 72 hours without food. how hard could it be? (hard.) DAY ONE: all the juices come in mason jars that you can keep and reuse or return to CAN CAN. the mason jars are pretty cute, so i'm going to opt to keep them. also, i know i'm way too lazy to pack up 24 jars and return them. so thanks CAN CAN, i really hated my ikea drinking glasses anyway. juice 1: hot lemon juice with ginger and cayenne this juice is really, really good and it smells amazing when warming it up. i feel refreshed and am convinced that i want to start the day with this everyday. who needs coffee? juice 2: green juice one of the best GJ’s i’ve had. i used to drink hardcore ones with no fruit and i loved those because they tasted like LIFE, but this just tastes really nice. i can definitely taste the greens, but the apple and the citrus give it a really refreshing, sweet flavor. could drink it all day. juice 3: nettle tea a really nice herbal tea, kinda feels filling which is good since i am starving. decided to draw this one out over the course of the afternoon since we don’t eat lunch until 3:30 at sS. i already know am going to have to drink a LOT of water to make this work but at this point i'm generally feeling pretty good, a little light headed but nothing unmanageable. i realllly stretched this one out and had 3 cups of tea with it. was great to have something to sip on. but didn’t stop me from being ravenous by the time the soup came around juice 4: SOUP THANK GOD i have never in my entire been so happy to eat soup. the spring root soup was really good, a little bit sweeter than i’m used to liking, but very well-balanced. loved the fennel. the texture was great, very hearty, very filling. might try watering it down a little bit tomorrow just so i feel like i have more food to eat. no complaints. an hour after the soup i’m pretty hungry again, but am determined to wait at until 5:15 to start my next juice so that the evening lull won’t be too bad. juice 5: grapefruit mint yum. much needed sugar kick. can’t help but think how good this would taste with vodka. ended up adding some water to it instead to stretch out the juice flavor which made the juice a little less bitter. overall this is a really, really solid grapefruit juice that's not too minty. and i maintain that it would make an excellent greyhound. juice 6: green juice, again i had this one when i had just got home from work and REALLY needed it. (when i got home i spent a solid 3 minutes wondering why my work keys wouldn’t unlock the front door to my apartment, so not feeling that clear-headed.) i tried really hard to savor it since it’s the most nutritious one of the day but i totally just chugged it. it says you’re supposed to wait 2 hours after the green juice for the almond milk but within 30 seconds of finishing the green juice i know there is no way that’s going to happen. i manage to distract myself for 45 mins with some terrible show on netflix (white collar, if you're wondering) and as soon as the credits roll i am on my feet hunting down the sweet nectar of almonds. juice 7: almond milk i have mixed feelings about the almond milk. it’s good, but it’s not as decadent as i’d been hoping. in other cleanses they give you these absurdly caloric nut milks at the end of the day (cashew milk, i’m looking at you) and it really makes the day feel worth it. i drink almond milk most days when i’m not cleansing, so this didn’t really feel like a treat, it just made me wish i could pour it over some cereal. that said, it was pretty tasty, and after i finished it, i felt like a cloud had been lifted, and my hunger pangs definitely calmed down. juice 8 -- chammomile tea i drank this in bed while i was winding down and didn’t quite finish it. but i enjoyed it all the same. overall, i'd call day one a success. feeling pretty good about this and i'm convinced that i'm going look great at the end of it, so my resolve is intact. DAY TWO woke up feeling amazing. oh my god this is so easy! i love cleanses. fastforward to 1pm. i hate cleanses. i hate them i hate them. i cannot think, cannot move properly, and when i spilled some green tea cleanser in the stock room, i almost started crying. not feeling positively about cleanses at all. i maintain this attitude for the rest of the day - and even though i've read that day two is almost always the hardest day, it doesn't make me feel any better and all i want to do is quit. but i don't. DAY THREE i woke up hungry. wtf? i thought i was supposed to be refreshed and feeling light and beautiful, all i am is hungry. my skin looks great though, and i definitely have lost some water weight, so i'll soldier on. besides, it's my day off so i can take it easy and won't have to wait until 3:30 to have the soup. around noon i made my boyfriend take me to target so i could "buy something." i was convinced that a little retail therapy might somehow make me feel better. had no idea what i was in the market for. i ended up wandering through aisles of plastic knick knacks wondering why we had come here at all. left. i thought it might be a good idea to go to trader joe's (on a friday!) so that i would have all my clean post-cleanse foods ready to go. no parking. i hate this cleanse. i want to go home. when i got home i immediately cooked myself the soup. i added red pepper flakes and chili powder for a little flavor. is this cheating? i don't even care. shortly after i took a powerful 2-hour nap. had a series of nightmares about losing my dog, so not the most restful nap, but a much needed one. since i skipped over the nettle tea this morning in lieu of getting some rooibos tea (which was disgusting, why do people drink that?) i'm now drinking the nettle tea dilluted with water over ice. it's life giving. feeling better now. good enough to clean my house, put on some more white collar, and go to bed. when i wake up this will all be over. BACK IN ACTION as recommended, i broke the cleanse by eating mostly raw fruits and veggies. full disclosure, i also had a glass of wine with lunch but since i hadn't eaten for 3 days it felt like i had the whole bottle. overall, i feel and look great. my clothes are fitting better, my skin is looking clearer and brighter, and i feel like i have the motivation to eat better than i was before the cleanse. as someone who had a really hard time wrapping my mind around a dairy-free world, i feel like the juice cleanse really helped me kick my cheese cravings. if you're looking for a way to jumpstart your acne-safe diet, to combat inflammation, and to just generally feel better, i can't recommend CAN CAN enough. it's definitely not an easy three days, but you'll survive, and be better for it.