I’ve always been intrigued with the idea of a detoxing, ever since one of my college friends explained to me the orific intricacies of coffee enema and how light it felt after that. Now dealt with a bulging waistline and fatty liver on my last health check, i thought i’d finally do something about it in the dying minutes of 2008.

My colleagues led me to Juvanex, a 7-days detox program that is supposed to flush out all kinds of stale matters dormant within you and makes you feel brighter, lighter and healthier at the end of the day. It comes with Total Cleanze(tm) which is supposedly a secret ingredient of fibres, probiotics and cleansing agents formulated into a lemon-ginger concoction.

Juvanex sachet

Give it a shake and it becomes a drink that you need to have twice a day after meals. The little instruction booklet also encourages you go to eat lightly and carefully over the 7 days, starting with a fruit/vege diet with little carb, adding meat sources and finally ending with a balance diet of carbs/protein with still lotsa fruits and vege intact.
Juvanex shake
For the first 2 days, i followed the diet almost strictly, surviving on fruits and vegetables. Ok perhaps a small confession – i didn’t eat 1 portion of apple, i ate 1 apple but i’m a big guy i might be dead by now. The effect on me was pretty light, my bowel movements regular as usual. I had to work on Day 1 and my conclusion is the strict diet will make you feel really weak so it is very difficult to go on detox if you’re not relaxed, especially when you’re stuck in a KL jam and beeping low in energy. Had a bit of headache but otherwise was merely tired and slept early.

On Day 2 i repeated my diet regime and by noon, i was getting a bad bout of carb withdrawal – i crashed. I weathered through it, ate the most fruits i’ve had in recent memories and had an early night as well. Needing a companion for this my wife joined me for 2 days on my day 3 and 4, where i was slowly adding back my carbs as there was just too many happenings and events to go to.  I ate healthily and consciously for most parts, and gulped down my final drink this New Year morning.

So does it work?

It’s really hard to tell. The effects was not drastic for a “solution” selling at RM135(discounted!) at Watsons. But one thing is for sure – when you are detoxing you tend to be super-sensitive of the food you consume and will naturally eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. You also tend to pay extra attention to your stool, inspecting it for special effects (hopefully of the nasty kind you never knew existed). End of day it does make me feel a bit lighter. Whether it’s due to the placebo effect of going on a detox or Juvanex itself i’m not too sure. Maybe both.

Not that i’m in the trend of setting new year resolutions but i would think eating right 358 days of the year is surely better than detoxing 7 days of the year. So here goes:

  1. Breakfast - Gotta skip white bread. Eating muesli (need suggestions on brands most suck!). I’ve been taking lessons in carbohydrates
  2. Lunch / Dinner – Gotta cut down on rice/starchy foods. Forcing through a portion of fruit or veg.
  3. Workouts – Gotta fit in an additional day of aerobic sports in my week.

So there goes. Happy New Year 2009 !

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