Nowadays, people have become so concerned with their diet, it’s hard to follow up on these trends. After some time spent experimenting with different diets and stuffing down all kinds of nutrients, naturally, we become tired and feel that some fasting might do us good.

This is probably true, we rarely even get to process the last meal when we take a new bite. Overloading your stomach, especially saturating it with processed foods, can get you to feel lethargic, but does this call for liver detox and can juice fasting really help you detoxify the body?

Juice Fasting Yay or Nay

What is juice fasting?

Juice fasting, also referred to as juice cleansing, is a short-period fruit and vegetable-based diet that grew very popular in recent years. It is said to help you lose weight while also helping your body get rid of harmful toxins – referred to as “liver flushing.”

Therefore, it became a very popular method, since detoxifying your liver and cleaning your digestive tract has extraordinary benefits, affecting both your health, beauty, energy levels, and even your mental state.

Now that research has become more focused on the brain-gut connection, it is not surprising that everyone should be concerned with what they consume and what stays in their bellies. An imbalanced microbiome can lead not just to fatigue but downright depression and even more severe mental health problems.

How it works

Preparation for the fast should start three to five days prior to fasting. You should gradually cut down on or eliminate certain foods, such as coffee, refined sugar, wheat, dairy products, meat, alcohol, and cigarettes. This should reduce the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches and cravings.

The cleanse should take one to three days drinking at least 32 ounces (four US cups) of juice or smoothies. Have in mind that, although much healthier, fruit can still contain lots of sugar, so try combining the ingredients, with at least half of them being vegetables.

After the fast, don’t go hard on your stomach immediately but slowly introduce solid foods back again, preparing light meals over the course of seven days.

Common juicing mistakes

There are rules to juicing in general that many disregard when diving into the juice craze. If you’re not drinking juice for the mere pleasure of it (which is also a valid standpoint), then just drinking gallons of juice isn’t enough.

If you truly want to reap the benefits of juicing, then be mindful of the following:

• Have the juice on an empty stomach, so that vitamins and minerals may go straight to the bloodstream. Otherwise, you will only risk unwanted digestive issues.

• Don’t wait too long before drinking your juice. Drink it freshly juiced because live enzymes begin to degrade after being exposed to air.

• As previously mentioned, balance out the fructose in your juice. Too many sweet fruits and vegetables can raise your insulin levels just as any other sugary goodness would.

• If you’re not fasting, then drinking juice cannot replace a standard meal. It is there to boost your vitamin levels and, when served before a meal, to reduce sugar and carb cravings.

• Not every juicer is the same. By using an Omega juicer, you could ensure more nutritional benefit with less oxygen than with centrifugal ones as these juicers, although slower, masticate to extract superior quality nutrients.

Pros and Cons

Even though there are questions raised that dismantle the belief about juice fasting and its beneficial effects, there are still benefits to it regardless of its usual praise.

While you might shed some pounds along the way, these are mainly from the water being pulled out of the body and muscle loss. Longer fasting period will rather put your body in starvation mode slowing down the metabolism.

Also, there is no scientific proof to support the detox claim. The body detoxifies itself naturally, and juice has no properties that affect this action.

The energy levels cannot increase as well since juice doesn’t provide the body with calories it needs to produce energy.

Pros: Not only do store-bought juices contain dangerous amounts of sugar, but they are reported to have heavy metals as well. Replacing them with fresh homemade juice is certainly a lot healthier.

Fasting on these helps the liver rest, leaving it time to do its job without loading it further.

Fasting can also help reduce cravings, attune you to your gut, have you feel what is right for it.

In any case, you can try and see for yourself, there’s nothing to lose, but a few pounds!