A juice cleanse refers to a period of detox. You deprive your body of food and replace meals with juices, designed to provide the same nutrients and keep you healthy.
How does it work
Most juice cleanses last between 3-7 days, but it can vary depending on the type of cleanse you choose. The most standard juice cleanse is only 3 days. Alternatively, you can opt to replace meals with a detox juice for prolonged periods of time.
Juice cleanses are typically done to:
- Help you lose weight
- Improve the body’s ability to absorb nutrients
- Lower cholesterol
- Lower blood sugar levels
- Detox your liver
- Improve your skin
A juice cleanse is ideal for helping the body detox because there’s only a limited need for digestion. Your body has time to flush out anything that shouldn’t be there.
How to safely do a juice cleanse
In order to be successful in your juice cleanse, it’s important that you choose a pre-cleanse diet.
This diet should start at least 5 days prior to the start of your cleanse. Professionals do tend to recommend you dedicate a full week to the new diet, though. This helps to prepare your body for the upcoming cleanse. If you don’t apply a pre-cleanse diet, you could suffer from detox symptoms, such as:
- Anxiety
- Body aches
- Digestive issues, like diarrhea
- Headaches
- Irritability
- Lack of energy
- Mood swings
What is the pre-cleanse diet?
Typically, a dietary adjustment is made based on your lifestyle and eating habits. It will be similar to clean eating, though. The point of this diet is for your body will have a period of adaptation.
In the week before your cleanse it’s recommended you avoid:
- Alcohol
- Boxed food
- Caffeine
- Canned food
- Dairy
- Meat (and by-products)
- Preservatives
- Processed foods
- Sugar
You should also make a change to the amount of water you’re drinking. You want to increase your water intake to ensure you’re going to stay hydrated and healthy. The body can go a while without food, but it’s incapable of being without water.
Make the cleanse work
There are several juice cleanses, depending on your own taste and goals. Whatever you choose, though, the basics are the same for all of them:
- Drink 1 juice every 2-3 hours
- Be consistent
- Increase your water intake
- Splash lemon into your water
In addition, there are other actions you can take to make your juice cleanse a success, such as rubbing off your dry and dead skin to open your pores and sweating out the toxins in a hot bath, sauna, etc.
During the cleanse, you’re going to want to avoid excessive physical activity. Since your body is not getting food, exercise can quickly drain you of any energy.
Juice cleanses recipes to try out
As you probably know, there are many juice cleanses on the market. They target specific goals, lifestyles and also range in flavors. You’ll want to choose a juice cleanse that works for you, personally. You can even make your own with the recipes below!
The instructions for all of these recipes are the same: Cut/peel the vegetables/fruits, throw them in a juicer and blend! If you don’t have an electric juicer, you’re going to want to invest in one.
Ultimate Green Detox Juice
- 2 green apples
- 3 celery stalks
- 1 cucumber
- 8 kale leaves
- 1/2 lemon
- fresh ginger
- 1 mint leaf
This juice is high in vitamin C and full of nutrition.
Tropical Carrot Juice
- 1 large apple
- 15 oz pineapple chunks
- 2 carrots
- fresh ginger
Rich in vitamins and minerals and tastes deliciously sweet!
Red Zinger
- 2 lemons
- 2 carrots
- 2 apples
- 2 beets
High in vitamin C, potassium and iron, this is a great boost for your mornings.
Green Lemonade
- 1 cup spinach
- 2 celery stalks
- 4 kale leaves
- 2 apples
- 1 lemon
- fresh ginger
- Tsp organic honey
This is a juice for high-energy and nutrients.
Aftercare for juice cleanses
Once you’ve finished your cleanse, you need to revert to the pre-cleanse diet. The goal is for the body to adapt to eating solid food again. You can undo all of that hard work by rushing back into your typical diet. 3-5 days of the post-cleanse diet will be enough time for your body to adapt.
The final step of any juice cleanse is observation. Evaluate your current diet and start cutting out foods that make you feel unwell.
You can also take this opportunity to identify any food sensitivities you may have. Gradually adding food, such as dairy, meat, gluten or nuts, can help you identify sensitivities.
The ultimate goal of a juice cleanse is to feel better and you’ll want to repeat the cleanse periodically. Make sure you don’t do it too often, though, or you’ll only deprive your body of much-needed nutrients!
Always listen to your body!
As with any cleanse, dietary or lifestyle changes, it’s important that you’re listening to your body. If you’re hungry or feeling ill, it may be best to eat something. A handful of nuts or vegetables works well.
However, before grabbing a handful of nuts, ask yourself if you’re really hungry or just want to chew something. More often than you’d believe, the need to eat is actually the need to chew.
If you’re experiencing this need, you’ll need to endure it. If you’re truly hungry, eat. Remember: one healthy snack will not undo the process of your juice cleanse.
If you want to give this cleanse a go, you can find 5 more juice recipes to try out on the video below.
