3 Misconceptions About Juice Cleanses

Juice cleanses or fasts are thought of as a popular way to detox and reboot the digestive system. But, like most fad diets, juice cleanses might not be doing what you think they are.

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[pratofundo]

"Drinking very expensive juice", GREEN, Hank. Yes, yes, yes! But unfortunately, people will let carried away by the trend.

[JeanLoupRSmith]

If you dilute the juices over and over and over again they'll be even more powerful!

[megavegan]

I agree that the whole detox thing is a load of hooey, but that's not to say that the Standard American Diet doesn't overwork the pancreas, liver, and kidneys. People should 'detox' long-term by not eating poorly to begin with.

[Hinoarashii]

Makes me laugh when I see people putting a few bits of berries in water and call it detox water as if water itself doesn't detox

[BladeRedwind]

I was never under the impression that my juice fast would help me 'detox' my system. I did it for 30 days because I wanted to get in a habit of eating healthier and I wanted to supercharge my system with vitamins and nutrients. I also did it to help my husband, who was ill and rapidly losing weight for no fucking reason. We both did it for 30 days whatever it did helped him immensely. Me as well. We both eat healthier now. Honestly, just watch Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. Juice fast, don't juice fast. Do what works for you. But, depending on how long you do it? You will lose weight if you have a lot of it. Whether or not you gain that weight back depends on your food choices after the fast.

[DeconvertedMan]

Reset your system - what are we comptuers?!

[RufusDriscoll]

I will just mention, I did a juice fast for a week about a year ago just to get a lower body fat percentage. I lost a stone (13 to 12 stone. that's 14 pounds) and when I returned to eating again I never gained a thing.
I never followed a programme though. I just bought a load of fruit and veg and juiced it for a week drinking nothing but that and water.
Just feel like mentioning this because clearly it was not water weight. I succeeded in what I was trying to do by juicing and I fully believe that if you do it yourself and you do it right then you can get a positive result from it, it really depends on the individual and what you seek to gain.

[NewLife-qjmx]

In my own experience, juicing gives your body "some" nutrients without the heavy digestion process so your damaged gut can heal. I had a damaged gut from drinking bad water - almost killed me.
Juicing for 10 days gave me a fighting chance.

[Moonbeam]

If I want to clean myself out, I have myself a good ol' glass of prune juice. A warrior's drink.

[n.barrett]

Maaaan, that dude is like sooo smart! He also doesn't rub it in or make people feel small, which stops people from learning or accepting what they are being told. *Thumbs Up* to the SciShow people!

[BagelCollector]

this is literally days after my roommate said "I'm going on a juice fast". He did it for a day or two and then devoured a whole pizza probably not a day later and left the rest of the vegetables in our fridge to rot. Was there a viral video or something that convinced a bunch of people this was a good idea?

[manussos]

Dear Mr. Green and the SciShow team,
THANK YOU for making my life easier.
Nowdays, instead of having to spend an awfull lot of my time explaining to my friends that some stuff they do and try to impose to me are pointless, I just give them a link to one of your videos.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!

[luxtenax]

...People actually do that?? and they do it enough times that they start creating misconceptions around it or is that the result of a bigger misconception??

I don't get it, I'm sorry, this is the first time I heard about that.

[Tomyb]

This comes so handy to me right now! I was just arguing the other day with some of my family members because they claimed these were like a breakthrough in weightloss science (lol) and were spending quite a bit of money on these juices that, according to my mom, taste horrible (but she did it anyway for the supposed weighloss effects). Maybe they'll stop spending money on these "magical"medicines, which are a scam. And don't even get me started with homeopathic medicines...

[LazerLord]

Could you make a video about gluten? It seems like it's trendy now to not eat gluten for some reason, and I'd like to know if there is any science behind it. (Which I doubt there is.)

[AlltimeConspiracies]

"Give yourself diarrhea for a few days"! Haha. Made me laugh. :)

[MrThingstodotoday]

"it shouldn't be the same colour going up as it is going down"

[Julianna.Domina]

m8 you guys are gonna hit 3, 000, 000 subscribers soon. I've been here since the beggining and loved it every episode!

[NolanAlighieri]

The less entertaining, but more direct to the point Penn Gillette.

[pandagirl]

I say don't knock it till you try it. I just finished a juice cleanse. I had some problem sores that refused to go away, we are talking years here! No matter what I put on them including what the doctor gave me, they would not go away. The treatments did not work. After the ten day cleanse, one of them is completely gone and the other is halfway to falling off. All I can say is it worked for me.
 If you eat totally healthy, then yeah there would be no need for a cleanse. Even though it is fewer calories than the average daily intake, at the very least, juicing adds vitamins to American diets that are frequently deficient in them. Without those vitamins, your body can't heal itself. That is straight up science.