Juice cleansing is a “detox” diet that can last from a few days to several weeks in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices to obtain nutrition while otherwise abstaining from eating food. Many people swear by cleanses and report an improvement to their health, mood, and appearance.
The scientific community, however, is less than enthusiastic about juice cleanses—many scientists, dietitians, and doctors regard detox diets as less effective than fasting with water, and, therefore, a waste of money. That said, if you’re going to do one anyway, we recommend consulting with your doctor—or at the very least going along with an “official” juice cleanse program. Simply drinking any old juice from anywhere around town is not a good idea.
Since most juice cleanses eliminate dairy, wheat, gluten and fermented foods from your diet, you can gain a new perspective on whether any of these foods don’t agree with your body. Reintroducing them can help define which foods are causing problems for your body.
When you juice fast you’ll be sensitive to cold temperatures. For some people, winter may not be a great time to start a juice cleanse because many people do look to hot foods and beverages to help maintain body temperatures during the colder months.
Whether its made from fruit or vegetables, the juice you’re drinking on a cleanse contains a high amount of sugar. That will cause your body to produce insulin faster, making your blood sugar drop and this can result in dizziness and feeling lightheaded.
When eating a low-calorie diet, water stored in your muscles with glycogen gets used up which causes your skin to feel dry. Because of this prolonged juice cleanse can lead to a drier skin and potentially prematurely-aged skin because of the lack of essential fatty acids being consumed.
Although juicing doesn’t actually shrink the stomach, it does temporarily eliminate the possibility to eat for comfort. The upshot of that is that you will feel satiated with less food than usual, immediately after you’re done with the cleanse. This situation can provide a big psychological boost that some people need to experience so that they can change their eating behaviors and stop sabotaging their weight loss.
When you’re on a juice cleanse, you’re not eating a diet that contains all of the nutrients found in a balanced diet. That will some significant consequences but one change you’ll notice first is that your hair and nails aren’t growing as quickly.