Taking a day or more to clear your body and mind by fueling up with nothing but cold-pressed juices and plant-based fruit- and veggie-only smoothies – that’s a juice cleanse. It’s designed to give your body a break from the everyday stresses of a busy life, like when you’re overworked, eating poorly, have chronic fatigue, aches and pains, brain fogginess, moodiness and just an overall feeling of blah.

Take Judy. Judy needed a juice cleanse to give herself a break from the oh so many trigger foods and substances running her life—sugar, processed foods, flour, grains, meat, dairy, alcohol, nicotine. Bad Judy. She didn’t realize just how much this junk was contributing to her less than peak feeling. However, eliminating these for a few days gave her body the rest and the boost it needed to recharge; since her cleanse, she’s thinking of becoming a professional bungee jumper.

Before the big day, get some of the crap out of your system. Double your water intake, eat a plant-based diet (just for a couple of days – you can celebrate with a juicy prime rib next week) and load up on raw fruits and veggies, clean soups and veggie-only salads without the creamy dressing. If this is too much to ask and you’re saving all of your will-power for the actual juice cleanse, then simply hydrate more and get rid of processed foods for a few days before you begin the cleanse. And stay tuned… this is the just the beginning of how you’re going to reroot your life.

Day one. We feel like it’s the big game and we should be giving you the pep talk that will bring your team to the championship… get back to us in a couple days on that one. Hmmm. How do we put this gently? Once you begin your cleanse, your body is going to be like “WTF are you doing to me? Give me those cheese puffs!” That’s cool – just tell yourself those cheese puffs will be your reward for a cleanse well done. And that’s a lie because we’re betting you won’t want those cheese puffs in a few days. Judy totally threw hers out.

It’s actually not that bad – we just like to be dramatic. The truth is, on the first day of your juice cleanse, your body will start to go into detox mode. Actually, if you did the prep phase, it’s probably already in full-on detox mode. Eeeeek! On your way to cleanse stardom!

Now that you’re actually in the “juice cleanse mode,” each juice you consume is like a personal cheerleader for your body. Not only will it help you get rid of the bloat, fatigue, fogginess, toxic chemicals and sludge – yes sludge – that your body was hoarding, but now your body is revving up its internal and external system with raw, living, wholesome goodness that it’s been screaming for in the nasty symptoms that led you to URBAN ROOTS. This is an awesome journey for you and your body.

Throughout the cleanse, the detoxification symptoms you’ll most likely deal with will be headaches, fatigue and fogginess. Yep – same symptoms you had before the cleanse. This is because your body is kicking that nastiness to the curb and prepping you for more energy, mental clarity and overall happiness.

On the second day, you’ll still have those detoxification symptoms. Stay hydrated and keep up with the cleanse. Don’t miss a juice or smoothie – they are the key to sending the sludge packing. You’ll also notice that during this second day of the cleanse, some of the stronger symptoms will start to alleviate and you’ll really start to taste the freshness and well, yumminess of the juices and smoothies. On the third day, you should wake up feeling a little lighter – no, not “I did a juice cleanse and lost 10 pounds lighter,” – just lighter, as in any headaches should be minimal and you’ll begin having more energy and mental clarity. Although, you may lose a little weight, too.

It’s pretty awesome to see just how powerful a three-day juice cleanse can be for your mind, body and overall health. One thing to remember – during the detoxification phase, if you can, give your body and mind the support it needs with rest and relaxation. Just wait and see. In no time at all, you’re gonna swoon.

Wait! Before you plaster on the feed bag, there is a little thing we like to call “Breaking the Cleanse.” Not the coolest name on the block, but we’ve got juice to make and can’t be sitting here all day coming up with funny names. OK, you’ve finished your juice cleanse. First, wrap your hands around your shoulders and squeeze – that’s a hug from us to you. Job well done! For the next week, you’ll want to continue drinking a lot of juice and clean soups while re-introducing solid foods.

On top of that – another phenomenal thing to do for yourself is to pick a day – once a week – and fuel up only with juices and smoothies. We call this preventative upkeep. Yes, we want to see your face as often as we can, but really, we just want you feeling awesome.

You loved your juice cleanse so much that you can’t wait to do it again. Yes! We suggest doing a juice cleanse every 3 – 4 months. Why? Please read this section again. And hey, get out there and reroot your life!