Give Your Digestive System a Break! A Guide to Juice Cleansing
Sometimes it can be very beneficial to give your digestive system a break and go on a short juice cleanse. This is when you consume nothing but fresh juices for three to five days. A juice fast has been found to have a number of health benefits including weight loss, improved concentration, increased energy, clearer skin, better sleep and much more.
Juice Cleanse – The Basics
If you have never tried a juice cleanse before you might be wondering what it is like and what you should expect. Here are some dos and don’ts that you should keep in mind when you are doing your juice cleanse.
Don’t rely on juice cleansing to cure a serious illness. As far as medical science knows, juicing is not able to cure any of the chronic diseases that seriously endanger our lives. No matter how much pumpkin and carrot smoothie you drink, it will not cure you of cancer.
Do find a friend who can undergo your juice fast with you. It will be a lot easier if you have someone to talk about the experience with, so that you can share both the highs and the lows. Also, if you do the cleanse with your partner you won’t have to watch them eat when you can’t!
Don’t have a negative attitude. If you think only about all of the foods that you can’t eat during your juice fast, you will only make yourself miserable. Instead, focus on the delicious juices that you can drink and the healthy effects that they are having on you.
Do make sure that you do your research. Find out about the different options out there and read up on the juice diet, instead of just starting it without knowing what you are doing.
Don’t use a juice cleanse diet to detox from a drug addiction or alcoholism. You will be going through quite severe withdrawal symptoms and a juice diet will not help you to kick the habit. If you have an addiction to drugs or alcohol, you will need to speak to your doctor and perhaps go through an in-house detox program where you will be supervised by trained professionals.
Do phase-out certain foods in advance of your fast. A few days before you go on a fast, you can gradually reduce your dairy, sugar, alcohol, coffee and wheat intake. This means that you will go through the headaches, cravings and other withdrawal symptoms before you are actually on the cleanse.
Don’t jump right back into eating normal food again. You might be tempted to treat yourself to a cheeseburger as soon as your fast is over, but this can cause a lot of stress on your digestive system. The first foods that you eat after your fast should be fruits and vegetables, then work your way up to meats and breads again slowly.
Do try to get organic juices if you can. The point of a juice cleanse is to detoxify your body, so you don’t want to be filling it with pesticides and other chemicals, do you?
Don’t try a juice cleanse if you suffer from diabetes. You will be eating too many fruits at once and the carbohydrates from the fruit will turn into sugars. You will be putting yourself at risk of a serious spike in blood sugar or elevated glucose.
Do make sure that you don’t have anything too strenuous planned for the three days that you will be doing the juice cleanse. When you are on a juice fast, you might find that you need more sleep and want to spend more time resting.
Don’t go out to dinner with your friends, or put yourself in a position where you will be tempted by food. It will only torture you and you might indulge in a treat that will eliminate all of the hard work that you have done. Remember that the point of a juice fast is to give your body an opportunity to stop the energy consuming process of digestion. As soon as you eat something solid then you will start the entire system again and end the detoxification process.
These are just a few important dos and don’ts to keep in mind when you are doing a juice fast. Good luck and happy juicing!
About the Author
Lena Lewis is a freelance writer and self-confessed health nut. She loves fresh fruit smoothies, going for walks in the forest and playing with her two dogs.
