A Closer Look into Juice Cleanses and Diets – Are They Good for You?

A juice cleanse is a diet where you drink fruit or vegetable juices for a short period, most commonly for a couple of days.

The goal can be to ”cleanse the body” and ”get rid of the toxins” or lose weight as quickly as possible.

What is it about juice cleanses that have made them so incredibly popular?

Is it the health aspects, the quick weight loss, or something else?

Today, we break down the different aspects of juice cleanses to understand better if they are good for us or not.

We will also talk about potential dangers that you may be unaware of.

The Benefits of Juice Cleanses

Juice cleanses come with several health benefits, which is why people are so keen on trying them.

For some, these benefits are convincing, while others are not convinced enough to try it out.

Here are some of the most-talked-about pros of juice cleanses:

• If followed carefully, juice cleanses can provide quick weight loss.
• If you have consumed a lot of junk food, a juice cleanse can help you get back on track to following a healthy diet.
• When you’re limited to only drinking juice and/or smoothies for a few days, it can help you learn to avoid binge eating or interminttent fasting.
• It allows you to expand your palette – you can try fruits and veggies you have never tried before.
• Because fruits and veggies contain a lot of water, juice cleanses can help you stay hydrated throughout the day.

Reasons to Avoid Juice Cleanses

A juice cleanse may have a few health benefits, but there are good reasons to be very cautious about them.

These reasons alone are enough to make a health junkie like me refuse to try a juice cleanse.

Quick Weight Loss, But at the Price of Your Health

Losing weight too quickly can put your body into starvation mode. As a result, your body will begin consuming your organs because it has no other options.

While people may lose a decent amount of weight during the cleanse, they are likely to gain it back (often in excess) unless they have a habit of eating healthy. That causes your weight to fluctuate too fast, which is hard on your metabolism and digestive system. That’s why I recommend reading blog like thehealthycuisine.com to make healthier food choices and learn to improve our wellbeing with clean food.

Fruits are Loaded with Sugar

While it is a fruit, the juicing process often removes the healthiest nutrients, making sugar one of the key ingredients that remain in the juice.

When your body obtains too much sugar, your insulin can’t keep up. The insulin in the body is what helps to keep blood sugar spikes under control. When the insulin can no longer control that, diabetes can develop.

While vegetable juice cleanses tend to be somewhat healthier, they still have the healthy fiber removed while juicing, which is a huge reason fruits and veggies are so healthy, to begin with.

Fruit Juice Can be Harmful to Gut Bacteria and Organs

The importance of gut health is not stressed enough. Fad diets, such as juice cleanses, can change the microbiome in the gut, which can completely alter how your body responds to food, exercise, and any other elements that help make an individual a healthy person.

Certain fruits contain oxalate, which can contribute to kidney stones. They are especially harmful to those with ongoing kidney issues, and it is best to stay away from these types of diets.

Being on a juice cleanse will most likely put your body into a calorie deficit, which is the goal when trying to lose weight. However, if you decrease the intake of calories too fast, your blood sugar can drop. As a result, you may feel jittery or nauseous, which is your body’s way of saying you need nutrients.

Juicing Does NOT Detox Your Body

Your body detoxes just fine by staying hydrated, drinking good ol’ water. Staying hydrated with enough water helps your body get rid of the toxins and other unwanted items in the body, but it also helps to fill you up, so you don’t feel hungry as often.

Furthermore, there is no medical proof that juicing does anything detoxifying for the body.

Finally

In conclusion, there are some obvious benefits to doing a juice cleanse. However, the benefits only work if you do not have any underlying health issues and approach the cleanse correctly. We stress that those who experience any health problems should consult a doctor before trying it.

Juice cleanses are also not a viable way to lose weight for the long term. Studies show that the lost weight is gained back in almost all cases.

Overall, the cons outweigh the pros by a landslide. All the pros we listed above can be attained by other, much healthier ways!