Chakra Juice Reboot Day 1: Root Chakra

Day 1 of juice feast, my reaction is very mixed. I started my morning with a couple sun salutations and began my first day of my juice feast with hope. One glass of warm water with the juice of 1/2 a lemon and my daily dose of MSM followed the salutations. About 15 minutes later I opened up my new toy for the next two weeks: Gaia Herbs's Super Cleanse Kit. I have full faith in this company because of their ethics. I wanted to try out of one the detox kits they have at the Whole Foods, but didn't know which one to choose. I settled on Gaia Herbs because they are one of the only organic ones. On top of that, they are certified by Oregon Tilth, currently the most stringent organic certifier recognized by the USDA. They have a beautiful farm in NC and I really support their research and environmental efforts, so from the get go, the company got two thumbs up in my book.

The cleanse is made up of 3 parts and lasts 2 weeks. There is a morning fiber powder, called the Rejuve Powder, and tinctures to be taken twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon.

After my lemon and water, I started with 2 teaspoons of the Rejuve powder and almost felt like throwing up the entire time I had to drink it. I was shaky, I actually started to feel like I was breaking into a cold sweat, and the whole time I kept telling Andrew "I'm trying not to throw up, I'm trying not to throw up." It's been about 15 minutes now and the feeling is wearing off. I honestly don't know if I can do this every morning, but it's for science! My biggest fear is that I'm no naturopath, and I'm totally trusting the mix of herbs and substances in these powders and tinctures to help me cleanse. Will they? I technically have no scientific idea, but I'm trusting it will. Good idea?

I followed that with my first juice from last time's Root Chakra feast so I won't do a repeat of all the things a Root Chakra is for. It was a carrot-apple-ginger juice made with one huge Rainier apple, two big carrots, and a good chunk of ginger. It was divine. Like I've said, this is by far my favourite juice. Crisp, refreshing, energizing, perfect!

Later in the afternoon I followed that up with the first set of tinctures (there are two sets to be taken in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon). I woke up so late that I will only be taking those tinctures once each today and will do it properly tomorrow. They made me feel better than the Rejuve Powder but the morning experience left me very wary to try them. I think I now have a reverse placebo effect to any product that comes out of that box...

After about an hour I had the second tincture which is suppose to be had 15-20 minutes before lunch and dinner. That one was strong, but okay. The second juice was a combination of golden beet and red beet with a sprig of parsley for iron. It was pretty thick and though I thought I would love straight up beet juice, I definitely think I'll add something sweeter to the blend next time (another apple maybe? or a cucumber to lighten it).

Throughout the day I had a teaspoon of bee pollen and some spirulina powder. For dinner, we went over to my cousins' place for a great Lost finale and some play time with the cutest (and most well-behaved) 2 year old on the planet. We honestly think he's a perfect child... And that's saying a lot considering he's going through his "terrible twos."

All in all, an okay day. I didn't get hungry, but neither did I feel great and super energized or anything... I guess that's normal after Day 1 of cleanse, but hopefully it'll pick up!