The article was republished from Bel Marra Health.
For many people, juice cleanses are too difficult to endure as the temptation to simply carry on with your regular eating habits becomes too strong. Additionally, as mentioned, many individuals may feel almost sickened for a few days as your body begins to detox. Here is what you can expect while on a juice cleanse.
Day 1: Your bowels will still remain regular this day, but you may be thinking about all the foods you could be eating instead. You may miss chewing and may feel yourself unsatisfied.
Being on a juice cleanse detox diet also significantly reduces your calorie and carbohydrate intake, so your sugar can take a dip, leaving you feeling dizzy and sluggish. Avoid intense exercise on your first day and take more time to rest.
Day 2: On day two, you may already start feeling lighter and even more energetic despite not consuming solid food. Your body isn’t using its energy to break down food, leaving you with far more of it to use.
You may also find your health improve in other ways as many individuals who embark on a juice cleanse detox diet unknowingly uncover a food allergy once they stop eating that food. If you feel dramatically better, you may want to speak to your doctor about uncovering an underlying food allergy.
If you’re a regular caffeine drinker, you may be experiencing headaches and other pains – this is known as withdrawal.
Lastly, you will find you are going to the bathroom much more often as you are not intaking fiber to slow down your bowels.
Day 3: You would think day three is a breeze, but this is when many individuals go back to intense cravings. Even though you have flooded your body with many nutrients, juice cleanses do not provide fat and protein, and so by day three you may find it hard to function – it is not advised to complete a juice cleanse for over three-day span as it can result in muscle loss.
A surprising bonus on day three of a juice cleanse is a boosted libido. Not being bloated or gassy can make you feel more confident, thus promoting a higher libido.
Health benefits of juice cleanse (including detox and weight loss)
As mentioned, juice cleanse detox diets can offer many health benefits, including weight loss. Juice cleanses have grown in popularity over the last little while with many celebrity figures boosting them as well. Many suggest that juice cleanses can aid in detox, boost nutrient absorption, improve skin appearance, promote energy, and improve overall health. And yet many individuals are still skeptical about this newest craze.
It is justified to be a skeptic when it comes to juice cleanses as there is a lack of peer-reviewed evidence to support this type of diet. Many experts do agree that embarking on a juice cleanse is unnecessary, as our liver and kidneys are our own built-in detox and filtration system, so there isn’t much of a need to do something different to aid this along. The idea of only drinking juice and forgoing the consumption of saturated fat and sugar is probably where juice cleanses really get their hype from, but you don’t necessarily need a juice cleanse to do that – you can simply remove junk food from your diet and get similar results.
But even with that in mind, a juice cleanse is still a good idea to get in essential nutrients, which your current diet may very well be lacking. Furthermore, committing to a three-day juice cleanse could be the kick-start you need in order to begin a healthier lifestyle.
For some, the psychological effects of a juice cleanse are more benefiting than the physiological, as it changes their state of mind and breaks bad habits to start new healthier ones.
Weight loss is a large reason why a person may embark on a juice cleanse, and although many juice cleanses do not promise weight loss many people still experience a drop of a few pounds. Unfortunately, if you resume your unhealthy or normal eating patterns, this lost weight will come back quite quickly and in some cases with a few more pounds. It’s important that you change your style of eating after your juice cleanse as it is not a permanent fix.
Here are some other benefits you can obtain whilst being on a juice cleanse:
Nutrition: Consuming only juices from whole fruits and vegetables, you will get a boost in vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients.
Weight loss: Although not promised, reducing calorie intake can lead to weight loss.
Maximum detoxification: Without food to break down, your liver and kidneys can use their energy to better detox the body and eliminate toxins found in cells.
Liver health: Your liver does not have to work so hard when there is no food to break down. Instead, it becomes flooded with nutrients to help make it better. Think of it as a mini vacation for your liver.
Harmful foods eliminated: A juice cleanse is an easy way to instantly remove harmful foods in your diet and hopefully kick-start a life without them. A juice cleanse may also make you aware of a possible food allergy or intolerance, as you may feel better once you stop eating certain foods.
Stomach rest: Not consuming solids means the stomach doesn’t have to produce acid in order to break food down.
Gut repair: Our diet can cause damage to the gut and cause our gut bacteria to go awry. Not having to do so much work, the gut can begin to repair itself.
Reduced appetite: You may find your appetite has reduced after the cleanse as you’ve got used to not eating as much.
Easier food decision-making: Now that you’re used to consuming healthy foods, you can make easier, better food choices as you know that eating well is enough to feel full and healthy.
Improved energy: Once you have become adjusted to only consuming liquids, you may experience greater energy and clarity as your organs are not using your energy to perform their functions such as digesting food.
Rehydrated body: Many of us do not drink as much water as we should, and so this is a good way to get into the habit of drinking more fluids.
Reduced physical problems: You may notice a reduction in headaches, rashes, aches, and pains, along with bloating and cramping. These are ways that our body fights off irritants, so by taking on a juice cleanse you are giving your body a break.
Reversed cell damage: Cell function starts improving as cells are able to repair themselves.
Digestion: As previously mentioned, no food means no digesting, which means your digestive system as a whole is not overworking to break down the bad food. Thus, it gets a break, too, and can heal itself by the time you start eating once again.
Heart health: Juice cleanses help relax blood vessels with the influx of nutrients, which boosts circulation.
Read more on Juice cleanse guidelines (Pre, Post & During Cleanse)