Incorporating juices from fruits and vegetables in your diet gives your body high nutrients. According to some experts, taking vegetable and fruit juices provide cleansing and health benefits.
This is where a juice cleanse comes in. a juice cleanse is a particular diet that incorporates only juices from fruits and vegetables.
Other benefits associated with a juice cleanse include boosting vitamins and antioxidants. Before you start a juice cleanse, it is good to consult with your healthcare provider or a qualified dietician especially if you have other underlying issues.
I will take you through everything you would like to know about a juice cleanse, the benefits, risks, how to do it correctly and alternatives to a juice cleanse. Let’s get right into it.
So, What Is A Juice Cleanse?
A juice cleanse, also called a juice fast is a type of detox diet where you need to consume only juices from fruits and vegetables for a certain period. It can be one, two three, or more days.
Juice cleanse lovers believe that taking juices from vegetables and fruits provides healing and removes toxins in the body. Additionally, it aids the natural detox process by removing sugar, refined foods, caffeine, and other things that drain energy.
According to research, there is no evidence to support that a juice cleanse works. When you resume your normal eating habits, you are likely to add the weight you had lost.
What Should You Eat?
Juice cleanse lovers recommend organic juice from various fruits and vegetables. If you need to take in more calories, you can include smoothies and other substitutes.
Some of the fruits and vegetables that you can take include celery, carrot, kale, cabbage, beets, spinach, peppers, and leafy greens among others.
Some strict juice cleanses restrict taking any solid food like dairy, meat, fish, seafood, and the like.
Six Pros Of A Juice Cleanse
There are several benefits associated with a juice cleanse. Proponents of a juice cleanse claim that it removes toxins from the body and other harmful substances. Below are other benefits of a juice cleanse.
1. Weight Loss:
According to experts, taking juice-based diets is associated with weight loss. If you are on a juice cleanse diet, you take in fewer calories than you burn. Therefore, this contributes to weight loss.
2. Improved Health:
Vegetables and fruits contain nutrients that your body needs. Taking juices from fruits and vegetables gives your body minerals, vitamins, and essential anti-inflammatory compounds. All of these aid in improved health and support your immunity.
3. Easy Way Of Incorporating Fruits And Vegetables Into Your Diet
Not everyone finds it easy to take fruits and vegetables. However, through a juice cleanse, you can incorporate essential nutrients into your diet.
4. Detoxification:
Juice cleanse lovers claim that taking juice from fruits and vegetables can help in flushing toxins from the body.
Additionally, taking fluids is also associated with boosting kidney function and removing non-ironic waste from the body.
However, there is no enough evidence to support how a juice cleanse aids in the removal of toxins in the body.
5. You Stay Hydrated:
Engaging in a juice cleanse diet increases your energy levels and reduces dehydration. It is recommended to take about 9-13 cups of fluids every day, which can make you feel fatigued. However, if you take juice throughout the day, the fatigue feeling goes away.
6. Aids Digestion
Raw juice is rich in enzymes that enhance digestion.
For instance, if you take freshly made orange juice, it has an effect on the acidity and the pH in your digestive system.
Drinking juice from leafy greens is also associated with improving gut microbiota.
Seven Cons Of A Juice Cleanse
While a juice cleanse is associated with many benefits, it also has some cons. Any health benefits you get from a juice cleanse are not permanent. Below are some drawbacks of a juice cleanse.
1. Slows Down Your Metabolism:
If you eliminate fats from your diet and restrict it to calories, this reduces your metabolic rate.
Apart from calories, your body also requires fats, protein, and other essential nutrients that are rare in a juice fast.
Therefore, your body will try to store more calories as it can lead to reduced metabolism.
2. Weight Loss Is Not Permanent:
Depriving your body of some essential nutrients can also be followed by fast weight gain.
Experts say that once you resume your normal diet after a juice cleanse, you have a high chance of adding more weight.
This is because the body feels as if it was starving and you end up eating more
3. Can Cause Kidney Stones:
Most of the juices are extracted from beets and dark leafy greens which contain high oxalate. This can cause kidney stones or other issues.
4. Doesn’t Feel The Same Way As Eating Whole Fruits Or Vegetables:
While juicing provides essential nutrients, you end up missing antioxidants and fiber in the seeds of the vegetables or fruits.
Additionally, eating whole fruits or vegetables prevents high blood sugar levels because the fiber ensures the body doesn’t absorb more fructose sugar.
5. Bacterial Infections:
Unpasteurized juice can lead to bacterial infections and make you sick. This is especially for young children, older people, and other people with chronic illnesses. If you juice at home, wash your produce thoroughly. Also, ensure you store your juices in tightly-sealed containers and consume within 24 hours.
6. A Juice Cleanse Is Expensive:
If you still want to incorporate juicing into your diet, consider the price. Even if you do not want to have an established juicing program, making juices at home is also expensive. You need to buy many fruits and vegetables and this can be expensive.
7. Nutrient Loss:
If your juice cleanse includes a lot of laxatives or other ways of bowel stimulation, you can end up losing more nutrients in your stool. This can result in imbalanced electrolytes of dehydration.
How To Do A Juice Cleanse?
Before you start a juice cleanse, you should do that under medical supervision. There are various programs supported by lovers of juice fast which include the following:
- Drinking only juices and other liquids for some days.
- Taking juices with dietary supplements.
- Drinking juices with other diets to promote weight loss.
- Taking juices with procedures to cleanse the colon.
What Are The Alternatives To Juice Cleanse?
Experts say there is insufficient evidence to support the effectiveness of a juice cleanse. If you would love to maintain a healthy body weight, there are other alternatives to a juice cleanse like the following:
Balanced diet – Maintaining a balanced diet and keeping yourself hydrated is a good way to maintain a healthy body weight and remove toxins from your body.
Plant-based diets – Plant-based diets provide your body with essential nutrients for good health. They lower your risks of getting heart disease and they have lower impacts on the environment compared to animal-based diets.
Fasting- Intermittent fasting refers to avoiding eating for a limited period and maintaining a regular diet at other times. This is associated with weight loss and improves insulin sensitivity.
Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs
Why Should I Do A Juice Cleanse?
The main aim of a juice cleanse is to drink juices from vegetables and fruits for a specified period to aid in detoxification or weight loss.
What Can I Eat When On A juicing Diet?
This depends on your juicing cleanse because they vary. Some juice cleanse requires you to avoid all other types of foods while others do not restrict. Therefore, when you juice, you can choose to eat or not depending on your juice diet.
Can I take Coffee When On A Juice Cleanse?
It is great to stay away from caffeine when on a juice cleanse. However, if coffee is part of your daily routine, then you can take it during your juice cleanse.
How Long Should A Juice Cleanse Last?
If you are getting started, three to four days is recommended. this will give your body enough time to understand what you are doing.
Conclusion
People engage in juice cleanses for several reasons. It could be for weight loss, detoxification or simply giving your digestive system a break.
While taking fruits and vegetables sounds right and healthy, taking juice only might not be as good as many people think.
There are both the positive and the negative sides of a juice cleanse. Therefore, understand these pros and cons in detail before you commit yourself to a juice cleanse.
Additionally, talk to your doctor or a professional dietitian first before you begin a juice cleanse. They can help you make changes to your juicing plan for your overall health.

Hello, This is Annie Walker, a 37-year-old blogger, founder, and editor of Cookware Guider from NY, USA. I am a cookware fanatic and passionate cooker. I love to cook with different types of cooking appliances (example: all types of cookware, rice cookers, slow cookers, etc) almost every day in my kitchen. I love to share my experience with my readers in my blog. Also, I enjoy helping people to solve their problems through my website. You can follow me on Twitter & Pinterest. To know details about my blog please check the about us page.