Rachel MacPherson is a health writer, certified personal trainer and physical nutrition coach based in Montreal. If you've heard of cleansing juices and wondered what they are and if they actually work the way advocates claim, it's wise to read about current research and available evidence. Like so many other fads, juice cleanings come and go in popularity, especially during the New Year and spring. A juice cleanse, also known as quick juice, is a detox diet.
During cleaning, you consume vegetable and fruit juice (and often nothing else) for a short period of time, usually one to three days. Advocates believe that drinking juice floods the body with healing nutrients while eliminating toxins and waste. Proponents of juice cleansing claim that they support the body's natural detoxification processes by eliminating sugar, caffeine, refined foods and other substances that can deplete energy from the diet. However, there is a lack of research to support these claims, and any weight you may lose during a juice cleanse is likely to recover once you start eating as you normally do.
Raw (unpasteurized) organic juice is normally recommended for juice cleaning. You can make your own juices or buy them already prepared. Warm or room temperature water can also be consumed between each juice or meal to help eliminate toxins (science hasn't proven this). Proponents of juice cleanings prefer organic products.
Shakes and some healthy foods can be included or replaced by those that require more calories. Some people may choose raw or vegan foods only, while others may eat gluten-free meals and snacks. Dried fruit milks are often used during juice cleansing to provide additional nutrients and variety. They are drunk alone or mixed with fruit and vegetable juices.
Gluten-free vegan meals and snacks can be suggested if you're hungry during a cleanse, while preparing for a cleanse, or leaving a juice cleanse. Stricter juice cleanings restrict all solid foods, as well as any liquid that isn't made with compliant fruit, vegetable and nut milks. All animal products are excluded from cleansing juices, including dairy, eggs and foods eaten on a vegetarian diet. Part of the cleaning process involves eliminating processed foods and foods that don't provide nutrition.
Proponents of cleansing with juices claim that nutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidants are more easily absorbed by the body in liquid form. However, research on the bioavailability of raw juices versus that of whole fruits or vegetables is mixed. Advocates recommend drinking the juice slowly rather than swallowing it to optimize nutrient absorption. Usually, juice is consumed a couple of hours apart, and the last drink of the day at least three hours before bedtime.
During a juice cleanse, you should also do light physical activity. While it's a good idea to lower the tone of your exercise routine during a juice cleanse, daily activities, such as walking, can help stimulate blood and lymph circulation. One recommendation is to try massage therapy (such as Swedish massage, lymphatic drainage, deep tissue massage, and Thai massage), contrast showers, and skin brushing, which can be done as part of a normal shower. It's a good idea to prepare for emotions that may arise.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, the liver is associated with anger, the kidneys with fear, and the spleen with worry. Proponents of juice cleansing believe that old emotions can arise and be cleansed from the system as the corresponding organs are cleaned, but there is a lack of evidence to support this. Some people find it easier to make juice at the beginning or end of the day and prepare enough for an entire day. While you should consume the juice as close to the time you make the juice as possible, you can temporarily store it in capped or BPA-free glasses or glass bottles.
The day after cleaning, eat mainly raw or lightly steamed vegetables, fruits, or nuts. Portion sizes should be small and the diet should be very similar to the one you did to prepare for cleaning: no sugar, coffee, wheat, foods containing gluten, processed foods, or dairy products. The next day, include more plant-based foods, such as beans, brown rice, or quinoa. Continue to add the foods you would like to include in your regular diet.
On the fifth day after fasting, resume regular meals. Some people use the days after cleaning to identify their reactions to food. To do this, keep a diary and re-enter food systematically, recording any changes in energy, digestion, cravings, or other symptoms. For example, gluten can be introduced in small amounts on the first day.
Then watch what happens during the 24 to 48 hour period after each food is re-introduced. Dairy products are another category of food that is often carefully reintroduced and tested. While advocates for a juice cleanse tout the benefits of this fasting plan, there is limited research to support health claims. However, increasing fresh fruit and vegetable juices can be part of a healthy diet.
While drinking freshly squeezed fruits and vegetables can have many health benefits, consuming just juice for three days or more isn't necessarily healthy or sustainable in the long term. All health benefits obtained are temporary only. Children, people who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or people with diabetes or chronic liver, kidney, or gallbladder problems should not be cleaned with juices. Following a juice cleanse may provide a short-term boost to start a new healthy eating program or a quick recovery after a few days of enjoyment, but is not recommended as a long-term weight loss program.
While following a juice fast for three days may provide short-term weight loss, it doesn't teach the skills, such as planning and preparing healthy meals, needed to lose weight in a sustained manner. A juice cleanse does not meet USDA guidelines and is not considered a healthy eating plan because it does not provide long-term guidance or weight control. Relying on juice alone to detoxify, lose weight, or cure specific ailments isn't an effective strategy to improve your overall health, nor is it backed by science. Remember that any weight lost with a juice primarily cleanses the weight of water and is likely to regain it once you resume a regular diet.
Remember that following a long-term or short-term diet may not be necessary for you, and many diets that exist simply don't work, especially in the long term. While we don't support trendy dietary trends or unsustainable weight loss methods, we present the data so you can make an informed decision that best suits your nutritional needs, your genetic plan, your budget, and your goals. If your goal is to lose weight, remember that losing weight isn't necessarily the same as being healthier, and there are many other ways to achieve health. Exercise, sleep, and other lifestyle factors also significantly affect your overall health.
The best diet is always the one that is balanced and adapts to your lifestyle. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. By Rachel MacPherson, BA, CPT Rachel MacPherson is a health writer, certified personal trainer, and physical nutrition coach based in Montreal. Our online classes and training programs allow you to learn from experts anywhere in the world.
Many people choose to try juice cleansing or fasting as a way to start their path to better health, weight loss, and better gut health. A juice fast, also known as cleansing or detoxifying, generally involves drinking homemade or pre-made juices made with vegetables, herbs and fruits (and occasionally nut milk, such as cashew milk), in addition to plenty of water, tea, and sometimes clear broths. Squeezing fruits and vegetables is different from mixing it because it isolates the liquid in the product from the pulp and the fibrous portion. For a quick juice sample, check out this one-day juice cleanse.
Juice fasting has many touted benefits including reducing inflammation, improving sleep, cleansing the skin, promoting weight loss, eliminating toxins from the body and reducing sugar cravings. But are these juices really worth promoting? Most of these statements are baseless and anecdotal, rather than based on science, but it is possible that some positive aspects of juice fasting can be observed in the short term. A study1 investigated the health effects of drinking juices. This study looked at how a three-day fruit and vegetable juice quickly affected the gut microbiota, weight loss and body composition of 20 healthy people.
During the fasting period, the subjects drank six 16-ounce bottles of juices, which were a blend of leafy greens, roots, citrus fruits, cayenne and vanilla almond, totaling about 1,310 calories per day. After fasting, all 20 people could resume their normal diet for two weeks. The results showed that people lost a significant amount of weight while fasting with juices and that the weight loss persisted for the next two weeks (possibly due to changes in the gut microbiota). However, weight loss may be due to lower overall calorie intake, rather than juice in particular, and beneficial changes in people's gut microbiota may be due to the overall increase in fruits and vegetables in the diet during those three days.
However, this study shows that a fasting juice of this composition and a calorie count of up to three days is safe and may be somewhat beneficial. But those benefits can't necessarily be fully attributed to the juice itself. There are quite a few disadvantages and side effects of juicing, fasting and cleansing, which is why many health professionals, such as dieticians and doctors, don't recommend it, especially if a cleanse consists of juices that only contain fruits. Before starting a juice fast, take a moment to think about why you're doing this and set realistic expectations.
Is it for weight loss? Reduce sugar cravings? Restart your digestive system? Whatever your goal, a juice fast may be a step in helping you reach that goal (depending on your current eating habits), but it's not a fast track to well-being. Making sustained changes to your health and well-being takes time. Juice fasting requires you to drink a lot of juice that is perishable, so it might not be better to drink juice quickly when you're traveling either. During a juice fast, you should try to drink at least six 16-ounce servings of juice.
That's equivalent to one serving of juice every two hours starting at 8 a.m. You can also drink as much water and herbal tea as you want during the day. Adding one or two more servings a day is OK if you feel like you need more sustenance. This amount of juice is needed to get enough calories and still meet (or close to meeting) your body's basic energy requirements.
Try to make most juices 80% vegetable. This means that 13 out of every 16 ounces (or at least 1.5 out of 2 cups) of juice must come from vegetables. For sample juice recipes, check out 11 of our favorite, easy-to-make juices. It would be a good idea not to engage in any strenuous physical activity (think HIIT workouts) during a juice fast, as you might get dizzy and fatigued more easily.
And if you're constantly feeling tired, crazy, unable to concentrate, or your hunger pangs are taking hold, this may be a sign that your juice fast is doing you more harm than good. At this point, consider returning to a whole-food diet (think fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, fish, and eggs). Research shows that it's completely safe for healthy people to participate in a juice fast for up to three days and then return to a regular diet. Drinking juice on an empty stomach for a longer period of time may increase the likelihood of experiencing the negative side effects of juices, such as headaches, hunger and blood sugar changes, and there is no evidence of the benefit of greater detoxification with longer fasting.
On the first day after a cleanse, try to eat smaller meals and snacks throughout the day, as a large meal may cause you to feel nauseous and uncomfortable. Salads, oats, sweet potatoes, and whole fruits may help you get back to eating solid foods, but if you don't have a sensitive stomach, you may be able to go back to your normal diet right away. After this brief period of introduction to solid foods, it is important to re-incorporate high-quality nutritious foods into the diet. Whole fruits and vegetables will return more fiber to your diet.
Whole grains, such as brown rice and quinoa, and protein-rich foods, such as lentils, legumes, and high-quality meats and poultry, should also be added to meals and snacks. There are several groups of people who should not participate in juice fasting. Children, teens, and pregnant and breastfeeding women need adequate amounts of energy and protein to grow, and fasting with juice would not meet those needs. Elite and competitive athletes also have very high calorie needs, and fasting with juice would not support that high energy expenditure or contain the nutrients needed for optimal recovery.
The most prominent health claim related to juice fasting is its potential to help detoxify, but if you have a functioning liver and kidneys, you really don't need to do anything other than eat a balanced diet high in whole foods and minimally processed to detoxify your body. You can achieve the supposed benefits of juice fasting, such as weight loss and better digestion, by simply adding more fruits and vegetables to your regular diet. If you like the idea of drinking fruits and vegetables, try making a smoothie as a meal replacement instead of juice. Shakes allow for greater flexibility with the types of foods you put on them, especially protein-rich foods.
Adding dairy or soy products, nut butter, chia seeds, or flaxseed meal to smoothies increases protein and fat content, making that shake a filling meal that contains everything you need to nourish your body and feel satisfied. Juice fasting and cleansing are essentially modern, trendy diets, and most of the reported health benefits of juice fasting aren't backed by science. However, there are better and safer alternatives to juice fasting, such as adding more fruits and vegetables to your daily diet. But if you really want to try a quick juice or clean it up, consider the tips above to minimize potential side effects.
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