A juice cleanse is a type of a dieting regimen that focuses solely on the intake of juices made from vegetables and fruits, and nothing else. The goal is to detoxify the organism, as well as to promote weight loss. While there are many disputes about whether juice cleansing diets are healthy and effective, some things simply stand for a fact. Here are some aspects that focus on whether the juice cleanses are effective for weight loss.
What is a juice cleanse?
Juice cleansing, also referred to as juice fasting is a type of a diet where the person taking it consumes only vegetable and fruit juices, and not any traditional, solid foods. As the name suggests, cleanses are used to detoxify the body of any built-up toxins that may have accumulated over time.
The reason this works is that vegetables and fruits have a high percentage of dietary fiber that can clear out the toxins. In addition to detoxing, juice cleanses are often used for promoting weight loss which is perfect to achieve because there are obvious restrictions in calorie intake, and there are some additional mechanisms by which weight loss is promoted, which will be discussed down the line.
How does it work?
A juice cleanse includes the intake of only juices made from vegetables and fruits. It strictly excludes traditional, solid food intake, as the main goal is to detoxify the body from the toxins that may have built up as the result of an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. This means no alcohol, dairy, refined sugar in any form.
Animal products are also restricted, as well as caffeine and all sorts of processed foods including both canned, and bagged foods because they are full of artificial coloring and flavoring, as well as preservatives. An average amount of juice that a person should drink daily is 5-6 bottles. Aside from juices, the intake of water is also allowed.
Health benefits
The health benefits from a specific juice cleanse diet will depend on the vegetables and fruits that are used to make them since they all have specific benefits. The most commonly used ingredient in the top cleanses are kale, spinach, carrots, apples, and oranges. Spinach and kale are full of antioxidants that prevent tissue damage and have inflammatory properties. Spinach is also full of vitamins that help our body function properly.
Carrots are one of the rare ingredients that are packed with vitamin A that helps with eyesight regulation by being the precursor for retinol that plays a key role. Apples not only serve as a neutral base for juices but they also promote cardiovascular health too. All of the ingredients that are commonly used to make a juice cleanse are inherently healthy thus the juices themselves have all of their benefits combined.
Other benefits
In addition to many health benefits that inherently come from all the ingredients used in juice cleanses, there are additional benefits that are worth the mention. During a juice cleanse you will end up consuming fewer carbs. This is important because our body uses carbs as the main source of energy, and by not consuming additional carbs, it’s forced to use the reserves in the body, thus promoting additional weight loss.
Furthermore, in the process of using up the carbohydrate reserves in the body, sodium is also being consumed. This means that built up water in the body will also be flushed out because sodium ions attract water molecules. Restricted calorie consumption with carb reserves depletion combined with water flushing significantly promotes weight loss.
Changes in the metabolism
One of the most prominent benefits of a juice cleanse is that it offers a lot of dietary fiber. As you already may know, dietary fiber regulates digestion, and it also eliminates any toxins that might have built up in your body over time. In addition to this, a lesser-known fact about juice cleanses is that they kickstart your metabolism and make it faster even if it’s for the time being.
Some particular juice cleanses have especially been linked to significantly faster metabolism which in turn promoted weight loss. These juices are suspected to do a good job because of some specific ingredients like pepper. However, this needs to be taken with precaution, as rapid weight loss can be unhealthy and even be a stepping stone to some diseases.
After discussing all the health benefits that juice cleansing diets have, it’s becoming more clear that they are useful for promoting weight loss. The main reason is that they restrict unnecessary calorie intake, as well as the fact that they flush out water and sodium by using the carb reserves from the body.
