Do you feel bloated, sluggish, and lazy? Or you just can’t stop your craving for junk food. Do you depend a lot on caffeine to carry out your daily ordeals? If yes, then you should find ways to lead a healthy life. This will cleanse your body from the toxins that have accumulated in all these years.
One of the best ways to cleanse your body is Juice cleansing. The article will guide you through all aspects of Juice Cleanse.
- What is Juice Cleanse?
- How does Juice Cleanse work?
- Process of Juice Cleanse
- Benefits of Juice Cleanse
- Side effects of Juice Cleanse
Juice Cleansing – Idea Behind Detoxification
In the simplest terms, juice cleansing is a method to detoxify your body or cleanse your body with the help of fruits and vegetable juices.
Yet, a complete definition of the juice cleanse is “consumption of vegetable and fruit juices to gain the required energy and nutrition for the body while abstaining from all other food items”.
This cleanse can last from few days to several weeks. In this cleansing technique, you have to fast throughout the day and survive on juices for regular energy and nutrition.
A study by R. Huber shows the effect of juice cleanse for a week.
How Does Juice Cleanse Work?
Well, some of you might think that aren’t liver and kidneys in our body meant for the detoxification?
Surprisingly, yes liver and kidneys are meant for the detoxification of the body on a regular basis. But thanks to the busy lifestyle, pollution, bad eating habits, drinking, smoking etc., the vital organs remain overloaded with toxins. It is to such an extent that you cannot get rid of them without any external help.
- Juice cleanse is a lot more than cleansing and is a thorough detoxification process. People do it for spiritual and religious reasons. It can help reduce weight.
- Juice cleanse can help in stopping certain habits and addictions like smoking, caffeine addiction, overeating etc.
- While opting for Juice cleanse, make sure you do not consume any toxic substances for a few days to speed up the detoxification process.
- Juice cleanse can be viewed as a jump-start to speed up the detoxification process. All the fresh juices that you intake at the time of juice cleanse helps in killing all the ill habits that you might have developed over time.
Juices cleanse help to keep the cells in your body hydrated. It keeps your body nourished and leaves you feeling great about yourself and your body.
Juice Cleanse – Preparations
You might assume that Juice cleanse is an easy technique. It requires only fruits and vegetable juices. But this is not the case. As a matter of fact, for any detoxification process, you need to prepare yourself and your body for the same.
You should find what kind of juices will benefit your body and fulfill your daily requirements of calories. You can also consult a dietician for this and can strike the perfect balance between calories and nutrients and get better results.
Before you start with the cleansing process you should dedicate at least 3-7 days for preparation for this technique. This will help you get maximum benefits from this detoxification. Following are some pre-juice cleanses guidelines:
Save Alcohol But Drink Water
With pun intended in this heading, you should take this by its literal meaning. Drink as much water as you can and do not confuse dehydration with hunger. It is important to keep your cells hydrated before you start a juice cleanse.
Besides, water will help your body to transport nutrients throughout your body. Drinking more water will also help you eliminate false hunger thus preparing you for cleansing.
Reduce Caffeine Intake
Once you are in a habit of drinking caffeine every day it will be hard to live without it for a number of days you decide to carry out the juice cleanse.
In addition, a sudden break in caffeine intake will result in laziness and make you sluggish. Thus before you start with the juice cleanse, give your body some time to get detached from caffeine.
I am not asking you to stop caffeine intake completely but instead, you should keep it to at least level possible.
The reason behind this is, caffeine is acidic and thus has effects that are more toxic. You can opt for low caffeine cold coffee or you can gradually shift to green tea.
Eat Fruits And Vegetables
Replace your evening snacks with fruits and during lunch try to consume as many vegetables as possible. Since during the juice cleanse you are going to rely on veggies and fruits, it is better to get used to it gradually rather than doing it forcefully from the starting day of the juice cleanse.
If you do not like eating raw fruits and/or vegetables then you can go for a homemade fresh smoothie. This is the simplest way to include fruits and vegetables in your diet.
Reduce Meat Intake
While meat is a good source of energy and protein but at the same time, it is more demanding in terms of digestion. Thus, before you start your cleansing process it is advisable to reduce the pressure on the digestive system as much as possible.
If you eat meat on a daily basis, then reduce it to two times a week. This helps you to ease out pressure on the body and mentally you will be prepared well for the cleansing process.
Say No To Processed Food
Processed food are dangerously toxic and you should reduce their intake in your diet to almost null. In addition, processed food has many preservatives in them that increase the toxic substances in your body.
Eating food made from fresh raw materials helps your body ease out in the toxic pressure and it will ensure you have the maximum benefit during juice cleansing.
Get, Set, Go-Action Of Juice Cleanse
Once you are done with the juice cleanse preparation it is time to get the action going.
- Consult a dietician and formulate a juice chart accordingly.
- Start your day with warm water and lemon. Lemon is best when it comes to fat loss and with the added benefit of warm water, this mix is very important for starting the juice cleanse.
- While on a juice cleanse I would recommend you to refrain from eating solid food products and follow a juice only diet. This is because solid foods slow down the digestion process and body takes times to process the juices that you drink.
- Drink at least six bottles of juice every day and drink them at regular intervals.
- Juice cleanse should not be extended for a long time as it will drain away energy from the body.
Always remember that this is a detoxification process and not a diet plan. Like other detox processes, this should also be a strict time-based diet. It is advisable to follow a 3 day or a 5-day juice cleanse program. It is sufficient to help your body detoxify and not drain out the necessary nutrients from the body.
Few Things To Remember
- Since juice cleanses will reduce the solid food intake to zero for at least a week, plan your day-to-day activities and prioritize your work.
- Juice cleanse will not give you as much energy as your regular diet but the energy will be enough to carry out day’s work comfortably.
- Avoid too much exercising during the process, as it will result in the lack of energy in the body.
- Instead of going to gym, opt for brisk walks, light running, yoga etc. sweating will help your body to push the toxic substance out of your body at a much faster rate. Exercise will act as catalysts and help you obtain better results in a short span of time.
- If you have to be active and full of energy every day then you can modify the cleansing process a little bit. You can consume solid substances but make sure the food you eat is completely organic and natural. This will help you with all the energy you need and will not overpressure the vital organs of the body.
- Make sure that there is no intake of animal products like meat and other dairy products or else you will end up slowing down the cleanse process and will not get the desired results.
- Since the juices do not have any fiber content, it may be hard for the body to eliminate toxins faster. So to speed up the process you can add psyllium husk to the juice.
The husk is not digested by the body and will increase in volume when mixed with fluids. It will thus speed the evacuation process of toxins from your body. In addition, this will help the body to clean the intestines and colon in a better way.
Benefits Of Juice Cleanse
Now, after reading the process you might have an obvious question: Will this be worth the effort I am putting in?
Well, the answer to this question is yes. At the end, you will come out as a winner feeling healthy and happy. Listed below are certain benefits that one can hope to achieve from juice cleanse:
- Happy stomach: Due to our lifestyles today, we tend to eat a lot especially the heavy stuff. This makes our stomach do double the work thus producing acids and toxins in a large quantity. This will result in a consumption of acid regulation pills. Nevertheless, once you follow the juice cleanse it will ease pressure from the stomach and help it to regain its working potential.
- Ease the intestines: Our intestines are very sensitive and thus their functioning will be affected by the acidic content in food and stress level you have mentally. So juice cleanses will help you ease this pressure by reducing the acid generation in the body and reduce your stress levels.
- Liver eases out: Juice cleanse reduces the level of toxin intake and thereby reducing the work that liver has to do. This, in turn, gives your liver some rest for at least a few days. In addition, juice cleanse reduces the solid food intake in your body thus again reducing loads of work for your liver. This process helps your liver to an extent that it starts functioning stress-free.
- Reduces comfort eating: Juice cleanse will help you reduce the comfort food that you intake daily and in turn, it will reduce your appetite. Juice cleanse helps you cure overeating habit. The less junk goes into your body the healthier it becomes.
- Helps your body to be gluten free: Since juice cleanses removes the intake of dairy and other fermented products from your diet it helps the body to get rid of all the gluten that you may have accumulated. This is also a great way to find out which food helps your body and which food is harmful to the body.
- Eases out food addiction: Juice cleanse is an all juice diet thus, we do not have to decide what meal to go with next and the added benefit is that we drink freshly produced juice from fresh raw materials. This helps us leave our junk food addiction and takes away the stress of deciding the next meal.
- Rejuvenates body with nutrients: An all juice diet is filled to the brim with all the necessary nutrients and proteins and most importantly enzymes that help our body to be clean from inside and also enzymes help speed up digestion process also they have good anti-inflammatory benefits.
- Clear mind: With regular dosage of caffeine and high dependency on alcohol and smoking slows down our thought process and thus makes us feel dizzy or sluggish all the time. You might feel that these things help you relieve stress levels but they do more harm than good. After you get used to juicing diet within the start of few hours, you feel an instant surge of energy, also brain cells work more efficiently, and you feel a sense of clarity that you might have never experienced before.
- Dehydration: Most of you might think that drinking enough water keeps you dehydrated right. Well, I would say it is correct to some extent but rehydration of body cells require much more than just water. It requires vitamins and electrolytes that are constantly lost from our body due to sweat. Juice helps us gain those vitamins and essential electrolytes, in turn keeping our cells hydrated.
- Heals us from inside: Juice and an all-organic diet help our cells in working efficiently and reduces the number of free radicals and inflammation that our cells go through every day.
Side Effects Of Juice Cleanse
Now everything has its benefits some share of side effects if used for a long period. However, juice cleanse focuses on all organic juice diet but it also has its very own demerits.
Now, I do not want you to be disheartened or be confused but it is my moral obligation towards my readers to give them the complete information. Listed below are some demerits/side effects of juice cleanse:
- Metabolism slows down: Since juice cleanse is an all liquid way to detox the body thus, our body starts preparing itself to live on an all juice diet because it is unaware about the next solid meal it will be getting. Thus, the body goes into conservation mode and the next time you eat a solid meal you might have slow metabolism problem for some time.
- Increases sensitivity to cold temperature: Imagine starting juice cleanse at the time of winters. Now, in winters for obvious reasons, we are attracted towards hot beverages but instead if we drink cold pressed juice it will reduce our body temperature.
- Low energy levels: Switching to an all juice diet during a juice cleanse will only give you the limited amount of energy and this if practices for prolonged periods may make you feel weak, lightheaded, or you may also have constant headaches.
- No caffeine no good: No matter how much we criticize the caffeine consumption but the fact is that we require caffeine on a regular basis. Caffeine helps our brain cells to stay alerted thus, zero intakes of caffeine may reduce the alertness in the cells of the body and in turn you might experience headaches and light head.
- Reduction on glycogen levels: Our muscles store glycogen in the form of water weight in our body but when we are on a low-calorie diet then we end up depletion our glycogen reserves.
- You may feel sad: Juice cleanse provides almost all the nutrients required by the body but what it does not provide is omega-3 fatty acids that are required by the brain. This shortage of fatty acids will result in depression and sad feelings.
- Urgent calls: You might feel the urge to go to the washroom a lot more than regular. The reason is that liquid is processed more quickly than solid food.
- You may stay irritated: Our regular need for calorie is 1000 calories a day and once you start a juice cleanse, the calories that you get are less. This low intake of calorie over a long period affects you in a bad way and you may feel irritable on smallest of things.>
- Too much insulin: Now juices contain natural sugar and especially if you are drinking an all fruit juice, you are like to get an overdose of sugar. This excess sugar results in the faster production of insulin and thus in the long term, it may damage your liver. Therefore, the solution to this is a diet that has juices made out of 80% vegetables and 20% fruits.
- Loss of focus: Now this effect is temporary and will only be prevalent during the time of cleansing. When your calorie intake is lower than the required amount the brain starts conserving energy for the vital processes thus making you try harder to focus on tasks.
Does A Juice Cleanse Work?
So, after reading all this you may be feeling confused. Well, it is ok to be confused about new things. Now this question is very important to everyone because this will tell you whether the time and effort invested by you will be result oriented or not.
Well, there is no simple answer to this question. The reason is that many dieticians oppose this practice due to the serious demerits that it has. Many dieticians also believe that this is a great detox process.
Conclusion
To give a verdict that this is an effective method or to say that this is ineffective will be a wrong thing to say. So, make sure before you start a juice cleanse you consult your doctor or local dietician to guide you through the complete cleanse.
This may be good for you and you might get the results but you can only decide this once you have undergone the process. There have been claims that this is one of the best ways to detoxify the body but then again there have been few claims that suggest that this does not work.
Therefore, a careful advice to my readers would be to take into account all the benefits, side effects, and consult a professional before embarking on a juice cleanse.
