How a Juice Cleanse Brought Mr. & Mrs. Thompson closer

My husband and I recently did an eight-day juice fast… not a big deal for me, as a nutrition coach, but a pretty big step for my hub.  His idea of “green” was sautéed spinach and eggs, and healthy food means his morning protein smoothie.  But green juice?  Never.

It turned out to be a pretty big deal for our marriage. 

You’re probably familiar with the physical effects of cleansing or juicing.. glowing skin (wow- like a moonbeam), weight loss (a good five for me, eight for him—darn those men), increased energy (energizer bunny- after two days for me, the entire time for him-darn again),  and clear thinking; but not much is said about the emotional piece.

There’s a big part of the cleansing ritual that rocks our emotional world. The more intense the cleanse + the longer you go, the more profound your experience may be.

Juicers should come with a warning: Proceed at risk.  Juicing may put you in touch with long forgotten emotional issues you’d rather leave dormant.

Each time I cleanse, I’m surprised at the insights, revelations and forgiveness that surfaces.  Old thoughts come in, sometimes days of negative stuff, comments, hurts, offense, fears.

Why am I thinking about that?  That was years ago, pre-happy marriage.  She was always passive-aggressive, why did I hang in so long with that friendship? I was wrong to say that. I could have done better. I’m glad to have moved on. I made mistakes, he made mistakes, some we made together.

Hurts, pains, fleeting moments of “a-ha’s”… healing again, moving through it all again. No big drama, but pin-pricks of pain that had added up.

Our eight-day cleanse was like that. Things floated in and out.. we talked and processed. We made peace with others, and most importantly we made peace with each other.

By day six we realized what had been going on– things had come up and out.  They left.  They were gone forever.

We felt clear + content.  Content is a good word.  Satisfied with where we were.  Actualized in our thoughts.  We got real about ourselves, and each other.  Somehow dealing with our separate pin-pricks had brought us closer.

“By day six we could say anything to anybody.”  I scrawled in pencil on my calendar. We went to a party, sober and drinking green juice. We smiled, we laughed and we felt like we had a secret.

It was a wonderful secret. It said, I’m clear in my thinking, I’m 100% honestly present, and I’m tuned into you. Expect no pretense or posture. Here I am. A wonderful way to be.

We regretfully went off our cleanse after eight days. It was over.

We mourned the lightness of being, sadly knowing it was time to return to the real world.  My husband woke on day seven and said, “I don’t want to stop. I feel amazing…”  He looked at me—I could never eat again. How weird is that?

I know. I knew… I’d been there before. We felt lighter and his skin looked like a moonbeam. We’d connected and shared a crunchy couple of days, emotional turmoil + processing + emerged from the cycle on a higher level—in touch with our emotions + each other in a profound way. We were floating, hovering above earth.

We’d both ignored things…previously thought silly things… but important enough to come back and demand to be dealt with .

We looked at each other and smiled, sadly.

We’ll go easy, I said.  I’ll make a vegetable soup…and one day we’ll do it again.

*Consult a professional before beginning a juice cleanse of any duration, and your doctor on any major changes to your diet.  Juice cleansing is not recommended for the chronically ill, pregnant or elderly.  Use caution with juice cleanses if you have, or have had an eating disorder. This is a personal story and not a recommendation.

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