Kellie Galentine
LV Life Editor
I cracked the seal of my sixth and final juice of the day. I poured the blend of cold pressed cashew milk, agave nectar and vanilla bean over ice and took a sip. The “dessert” drink I had been looking forward to for hours proved to disappoint my taste buds as my gag reflex was triggered yet again.
The juice-cleansing trend has caught on with juice bars like Nékter popping up across SoCal.
During Nékter Juice Bar’s “One-Day Classic Juice Cleanse,” I drank six bottles of cold-pressed juice, each designed to play a unique role in detoxifying the body and decreasing cravings.
According to mercola.com, a leading health website, juicing has the benefits of boosting the immune system, increasing energy and helping absorb all of the nutrients in vegetables.
During my juice cleanse, I felt more energetic at the end of the day than usual and also discovered some other benefits. Throughout the day my body felt less bloated, which could have been from the amount of water I drank in addition to the juice and the next day my body felt less cravings.
Despite the benefits, the process proved to be less than thrilling. I walked into Nékter in Upland and picked up a Grab-n-Go classic cleanse from the front counter, which included a day’s worth of juice in an insulated cooler pack. The one-day cleanse cost $48 and once I bought it, I knew there was no going back.
The cleanse directions suggest the day leading up to juicing to eat only clean foods including fresh vegetables and fruits–something I neglected to take seriously. I really do not think that eating healthy the day before my cleanse would have made my experience better.
When I woke up the morning of my cleanse, I was excited and ready to get started – until I took my first sip of juice. The first juice a bright green and was filled with apple, parsley, kale, spinach, mint, lime, cucumber and celery. It made me gag. Note to self: make sure you like cold-pressed juice before committing to drink it for an entire day.
Now, I am not saying that Nékter has gross juice; friends and family who like cold-pressed juice tasted my drinks throughout the day and thought they were tasty.
Every two to three hours I opened the seal of a new drink, and plugged my nose while I chugged. The cleanse directions also allowed for me to eat a handful of almonds, which I took advantage of around noon when I started to feel a bit woozy. Aside from drinking down the juice, my day was a routine Saturday.
I went to my little brother’s soccer game, did homework and went to work to serve tables. My favorite juice of the day was called “Skinny Lemonade,” which was a blend of lemon, agave nectar and cayenne pepper. The sweet, spicy and sour drink was a vacation from the cold-pressed green goo I drank the rest of the day. With the juicing trend, many people opt to make their own juices instead of buying a pack from juice bars like Nékter.
Mercola.com also said that drinking green juice can become a beneficial daily routine and can be made at home using fresh veggies and a juicer. For my next juicing endeavor, I would make my juice at home instead of buying it so that I could control the taste of each juice. Not only will it taste better, but it will not be so expensive.
For more information about Nékter cleanses, visit nekterjuicebar.com.
Kellie Galentine can be reached at kellie.galentine@laverne.edu.
