If you’ve heard about how healthy a juice cleanse is, you may be listening to the proponents that believe it helps detox the body of harmful chemicals. Others may use juice cleansing as a way to start a program of healthier eating and preparing for cutting calories. A juice cleanse can be ongoing, choosing to drink only fruit juice, vegetable juice and water for three days a week, instead a one time option. The type of juice is normally made from organic fruits and vegetables and made at home. It isn’t from processed juices found on the grocery shelves.
There’s no magical reset to the juice cleanse that’s often touted.
It’s the function of the body’s organs, like the liver, kidneys and colon, to remove waste and toxins. It functions on its own quite well. According to the NIH—National Institute of Health—there isn’t much evidence to back up the claim that a juice cleanse works to detox, even though it would be nice to think it could work. However, juices are rich in vitamins and minerals, so it could provide extra nutrients. Juices also contain healthy enzymes that can improve digestion. What they don’t contain is fiber.
Juicing is not the same as creating smoothies.
When you juice, you remove the pulp and that removes an important nutrient, fiber. Fiber is also necessary for a healthy body. It also aids in digestion and keeps the food moving through the system. It’s a prebiotic, which means it feeds the healthy bacteria in the digestive system. Fiber also fills you up and slows the absorption of sugar, which helps stabilize blood sugar levels. It can cause digestive issues if you eat too much without getting your body adjusted to the change. Juicing doesn’t allow that. Leaving in the fiber is a true cleanse, since it acts like a scrubber to aid the body in removing toxins from the colon.
There are pros and cons, but the biggest test is what you do after a cleanse.
If you do a juice cleanse expecting to lose weight, you’ll be disappointed later. Any weight loss you noticed, normally disappears the minute you start eating normally. However, one study found that people who used it as a way to start a healthier diet actually kept the weight off. It can also affect your gut bacteria. In some cases, the effect was beneficial, improving the population of healthy ones. One explanation was that it eliminated unhealthy junk food, which negatively affected healthy bacteria.
- Rather than opting for a juice cleanse, consider making a blender option that blends the whole fruit and vegetable. You’ll get any benefits juice cleanses offer, plus feel fuller, control blood sugar better and still give up the junk food and highly processed food that affect your health.
- If you cleanse, keep it short and only a few days. Studies show that prolonged juicing has the potential to damage kidneys.
- You may not feel good on a juice cleanse. The super low calories and high fruit sugars that cause spiking and dropping of blood sugar can cause that.
- If you want to find a way to lose weight and stay healthy, plus provide many health benefits, besides normal healthy eating, try intermittent fasting. It’s been proven to provide health benefits and just requires you limit your eating to eight hours a day.
For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness