JUICE CLEANSING


What?
Juicing or juice cleansing is a trendy form of diet where a person’s food consumption
is only limited to juices, water, and herbal teas for several days. These juices claim to
be packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.

How?
Juice cleanses are usually sold in fancy prepackaged bottles of produce blends at
relatively high prices. These trendy beverages more often than not appear to be a
green concoction containing all sorts of leafy greens such as kale, spinach, and lettuce
mixed with sweet fruits for added pleasant flavor. These juices also rarely come in one
bottle as they are usually sold as a pack of 5 or more, intended to be consumed for a
week straight on a daily basis. Other than being a drink packed with all sorts of
micronutrients, marketers promote juice cleanses as a medium of “detoxifying” the
body, as some fancy method to “spring-clean” a person’s insides, ridding them of toxic
waste.

THE TRUTH
(debunking the common misconceptions re juicing)
a. The body requires an external help to “detoxify” every once in a while.
The body does not require an external assistance in order to detoxify as it does the job
by iteself with the aid of the liver, kidneys and GI tract. These organs primarily allow the
elimination of toxins and harmful substances that are foreign and should not remain in
the body.

b. Juicing is a healthy way to lose weight.

Juicing is rather a short-term and inefficient solution to weight loss. Initially, if a person
only limits his/her consumption to these beverages, he/she is expected to shred a
couple pounds due to the intense caloric deficit. Given a relatively high amount of
caloric deficit, the bdy tends burn glycogen. Using glycogen rids the body of a good
amount of water weight, which may apper as weight loss on the scale. However, on a
long-term perspective, this is deemed ineffective as it also puts the body at high risk of
experiencing nutritional imbalances.

c. Cleansing improves energy levels

Given the fact that these juices are relatively low in calorie, replacing solid calorie-
dense foods with these beverages subjects the body to a lot of unpleasant condition
rooting from the lack of energy - headache and shakiness due to low blood sugar to
name a few.