One of the best approaches to better health is by cleansing yourself from the inside and giving your body a fresh start. This can be accomplished with a one- or multi-day juice fast. A juice cleanse is a short-term restricted diet that emphasizes consumption of primarily fresh vegetable juice and is comparable to fasting. It goes without saying that including fruits and vegetables in your diet is a wise choice. We discourage juicing fruits due to the concentration of sugars in the juice. Juicing vegetables makes it easier to reach the nutrients contained inside the insoluble fiber of these natural and healthy types of food. Your body receives enzymes from raw juice to help enhance metabolism and utilizes their phytonutrients to help prevent illness. If you're interested in learning more about juice fasting, consider these benefits:
1. Helps Reduce Risk of Disease
It’s no secret that fruits and vegetables are some of the healthiest foods you can put in your body. Studies performed by both the Harvard School of Public Health and The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute found that high intakes of fruits and vegetables can reduce the risks of heart diseases and attacks, as well as lowering cholesterol. (1, 2) Those who subsisted on regular diets of fruits and vegetables were discovered to be considerably lower in risk of a stroke. They’re also helpful for treating and preventing hypertension. The American Institute for Cancer Research found that regular intake of these foods could also prevent lung, stomach, throat, and mouth cancers, among others. (3) As a bonus, juice can also benefit your hydration levels. It’s important to stay hydrated throughout the day to prevent headaches, dizziness, and fatigue, among other common ailments. In addition to hydration, juicing also adds the necessary nutrition for our bodies to work at their best.
2. Improves Digestive Health
A healthy flow of essential nutrients and vitamins will help wash out toxins in your body, giving your digestive system the relief, it needs to function optimally. One study has reported that juicing makes nutrients from vegetables easier to absorb. This happens because the juicing method reduces proteobacteria, which has been identified as a possible signature of disease but increases Bacteroidetes and cyanobacteria, which are healthy members of a gut microbiota composition. (4) They aid significantly in resisting bacterial infection and improving the health of the gastrointestinal tract. A juice cleanse might be what you need to restore an upset stomach into a happy and healthy one.
3. Helps with Weight Management
Many people have claimed to have lost weight while participating in a juice detox. This is to be expected, given that they are consuming fewer calories overall and giving up solid foods, processed foods, alcohol, and other items. This is possible because juicing could rid the body of gross toxins and improve one’s metabolism. One should stick to cleanses that only promote natural sugars and ingredients to intake only the best vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. By just sticking to healthier foods and cutting out processed sugars and other foods, it can eliminate cravings that the body has developed over years of interaction with such items. Juice cleanses also boast lower calorie counts than most meals while still providing superior nutrition, so reducing your calorie intake will lead to loss of weight. As you kick your junk food habits, new, healthier ones will form. You could lose cravings for all kinds of bad food you used to eat and replace them with more sustainable habits that your body will thank you for.
4. Supports your Immune System
When using a household juicer, fresh vegetable juice is a key source of crucial antioxidants that are necessary to run a healthy immune system. Antioxidants play a significant role in how juicing boosts the immune system because they protect the body from unhealthy pro-oxidants and free radicals. Fresh vegetable juices are a great source of beneficial antioxidants, including carotenoids and vitamin C. Some carotenoids can be essential not just for the immune system, but for growth and eye health, as well. Vitamin C is a powerful vitamin in that it can assist with wound healing, maintaining bones, cartilage, and teeth, as well as increase the formation of collagen. These nutrients not only improve the immune system but also, as mentioned earlier, boost the body's defenses against oxidatively destructive conditions including heart disease and some cancers.
5. Boost your Energy
In addition to addressing minor aches and pains, juice cleanses can improve energy levels because of the healthy nutrients they are made of. It’s a different kind of energy from caffeine and sugar, which will do the job but cause many to crash horribly after its effects. The energy effects from the vitamins and nutrients in a juice cleanse are lasting and more consistent than quick pick-me-ups. A cleanse can also boost your mood, inspiring motivation and confidence in a healthier body that had once been plagued by unhealthy habits. An abundance of nutrients has the power to form your body into one that you can be proud of and live comfortably in.
Before you begin your juice cleanse journey, evaluate different programs before picking the one that’s right for you. Juice cleanses have the power to be very beneficial. For the greatest outcomes, make sure you conduct your homework before beginning your first juice fast. You don’t want to fall into a fad diet that is a pain to follow and will only give temporary benefits. Your body needs a consistent balance of vitamins and minerals, so treat it with the utmost care. After your cleanse, stick to healthy foods to maintain a proper balance.
1 https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/
2 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8651220/
3 https://www.wcrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Wholegrains-veg-and-fruit.pdf
4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438379/