The Story Of My First Ever Juice Fast...

My name is Benjamin Angus, I am the founder of Juice on the Move.

I just wanted to spend a moment telling you about my first juice cleanse experience...

When I was about 23 years old, I was living a life much different to what I am today.

Parties, clubs and all that comes with it were the highlight of my week, my physical health and wellness were nothing more than an afterthought.

 

Yes, I did have surfing and skateboarding, something I had been doing my whole life, but even these took a backseat to the weekend shenanigans.

 

I was living a life on repeat, chasing the weekend high, and dealing with the inevitable weekday come-down.

After a year or two of living this kind of lifestyle, I began to look at things from a new perspective, I could see the emptiness in what I was chasing, I could see the path I was heading down and where it was leading me too, and it became very clear it was not a destination I wanted to reach.

 

I needed a shake-up, something to break me from my repetitive pattern, so I began researching.

Eventually, I stumbled upon a YouTube video of a lady going through a ‘juice fast’ , she talked about how it helped her break some old habits and made her feel more in touch with her body…

 

If I’m honest, I was initially somewhat sceptical, I hadn’t completed any form of fasting before, and the idea of not eating foods for days on end was rather confronting.

But I decided to take the leap of faith and try it!

I found an old juicer in the garage, researched some fruit and vegetable juice recipes, visited the local organic fruit store, and began my first-ever juice fast!

 

I remember the first night of the cleanse like it was yesterday, the idea of going to bed without food was hard to swallow, my stomach was rumbling, and my mind was screaming at me ‘where is my food!?’, but I was committed and I pushed through!

 

I woke up the next morning, in a peaceful state, my mind felt clear, and my hunger was at bay, for the first time in my life I felt what it was like to have an empty stomach!

 

When I look back, the first night was certainly the most challenging! 

It wasn’t even really the hunger, it was more the thought of going to bed without dinner, once I overcame this, the rest was pretty smooth sailing!

 

I continued the juice fast for the next 4 days…
The hunger came in waves, but now I knew how to handle it, I would try to meditate through the worst of the hunger spells and watch them disappear.

It became clear that the hunger I was experiencing was arising from thoughts in my mind, it was from habit, not actual body hunger.

I was surprised by the energy I had, it was an energy I hadn’t experienced before, it felt clean, crisp, and clear.

 

The next 4 days went by without much struggle...

Don’t get me wrong, there were moments when hunger felt very intense, but I now knew what to expect and had no problem managing my way through the hunger waves.

At the end of my juice fast I felt like a new being, I couldn’t believe how effective it was! 

I was in touch with my body and wanted to stay that way!

 

 

To break my fast I decided to have a nice meal at a local vegan restaurant, I remember looking at the food on my plate, taking the first bite, and finding the feeling of chewing rather strange...

I savoured the flavours and ate the whole plate. 
A few moments later the food arrived in my stomach and I began having strong cramps.
 I had eaten too much, too quickly, and the choice of food was way too dense, my digestive system was not prepared.

 

After that little slip up I began researching different diets and planning clean meals, meals that would make me feel good.

I learnt about different oils and how bad the oils we normally ingest are, canola oil being at the top of that list.
I learnt about GMO foods and studied the benefits of an organic diet, and then I started experimenting...

 

 I tried vegetarian diets, vegan diets, the mediterranean diet and even meat-based diets.

 

All this experimenting led me to find the diet I follow all these years later, a diet I will discuss in a future article.

The biggest conclusion I drew from this phase of experimenting was that there is no one diet to fit all; everybody is different and everybody has a unique diet that would suit them best!

Don’t be afraid to experiment and find out for yourself! 

 

I left my days of partying behind me, the thought of excess drinking and other substances no longer appealed to me, I was far more interested in feeling great, and I began a pursuit of self-perfection, attempting to become the best version of myself.

I knew I could only achieve this by treating my body as a temple.

 

My first juice fast was truly a profound experience, it catapulted my journey of self-discovery, a journey I have been on ever since!

It affected me so much that I decided to dedicate a part of my life to spreading what I had experienced...

Here I am today, with Juice on the Move now shipping thousands of Juice cleanses all around New Zealand!

 

None of this would have happened if I hadn’t taken that first leap of faith and gone on the journey of my first every-juice fast!

 

And this is where you sit...
Moments away from going through your own experience, I have no doubt you will experience something life-changing if you stick through it!

 

Your journey starts now...