I like juice. I like being clean. A juice cleanse can’t be that bad, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

This isn’t our first bout with juice cleanses, Paige has done one before, but with the amount of ginger and vegetables that I wouldn’t eat even if they were in a salad with a whole bottle of ranch on them, I couldn’t do it.

Why change my mind? New product meant a new taste, I thought that was a pretty safe assumption. So with the wedding three weeks away, and wanting to look our best, I agreed that I would try the juice cleanse too, that it couldn’t be that bad, and we would pursue our best bodies together.

On the menu: Juice Press raw/organic juices. The Pink Punk, from the picture above, was my introduction to the newest option. It has pineapple, strawberry, and beet juice, a strange combination, but a good one.

Only problem with the Pink Punk… The way it punches you in the throat when the ginger kicks in.

Ginger is supposed to help quell hunger, to manage how hungry you feel and trick you into thinking that you’re full. Despite how much I hate it, I have to admit that I think it works, since the Pink Punk and a handful of chips is basically all I ate yesterday, and felt full.

Other than the ginger, I haven’t figured out how to stomach the green juices, from any company, without feeling like I want to vomit. It’s as if I want to like it, but after the third drink I’m looking for the steak and potatoes to offset the sudden influx of veggies sloshing their way through my stomach.

Luckily, I picked up a new box of Clif Bars, just in case, so there is something other than the juices for me to find some type of sustenance. In the end, the juice cleanse isn’t an awful option for halfway healthy, quick weight loss and weight management. I, however, will remain firm in my belief that really you can eat whatever you want as long as you burn the calories.

If you put in the food, you have to put in the work, and if you’re willing to do that, you get to enjoy food and life.