Do Juice Cleanses Actually Work?

Juice cleanses are all the rage. But do they actually provide any health benefits? Cristen explains.

Juice cleanses supposedly rid our bodies of toxins and restore our digestive systems. Depending on the specific and sometimes copyrighted cleanse, you spend a couple days to a couple weeks consuming nothing but liquefied fruits, vegetables, and maybe some nut milk.

Since lots of people are pretty bad about eating enough fruits and vegetables to begin with, this may mean that during a juice cleanse, you’d be getting more vitamins and minerals than usual.

These are substances that your body needs to turn food into energy and to grow and maintain cells. Some even have antioxidant properties, which means that they can help prevent cellular damage under particular circumstances.

The benefits of these vitamins and minerals are real, but keep in mind that your body can only process a certain amount of them at once.

After that, you’ll just excrete the rest.

Research does show that eating fruits and vegetables rich in these substances can decrease your risk of some diseases in the long run.

The key phrase: “in the long run.” The best way to reap these benefits is to consistently eat five or more servings every day. One juice binge isn’t going to do much.

Consuming nothing but juice for a few days also means that you’d get a lot less fiber, fat, and protein -- and way fewer calories -- than normal.

Fats and proteins are just as essential for healthy cellular function as vitamins and minerals. And fiber in the diet is actually part of your colon’s normal cleansing system. It absorbs water (and water-soluble waste) in your intestines and moves everything on out.

Plus, fiber can slow down your body’s uptake of sugar, keeping your blood sugar levels more stable.

Without it -- and considering the high levels of fruit sugars and the limited calories involved in a juice diet -- you’ll feel extra hungry, and may experience dizzying blood sugar spikes and crashes.

A day or two of this shouldn’t do any harm to the average person, but restricting calories and nutrients for much longer than that can trigger starvation mode: Your body doesn’t know when it’s going to get more food, so it slows your metabolism down. When this happens too often, the change can be permanent.

So is it worth it? Psychologically, maybe. You’ll probably lose a little weight due to the decrease in calories, which might be what you’re looking for. And people around the world have been using short fasts to practice mindfulness for hundreds (if not thousands) of years.

But physiologically, juice cleanses don’t help clear toxins out of your body. The thing is that your liver and kidneys are natural detoxifiers.

They filter bad stuff out of your body all the time, but they need the full compliment of nutrients provided by a healthy diet in order to do so.

SOURCES:

[Millerinski]

I lost 30 pounds on a "mostly" juice fast over six weeks a couple years ago. Best thing I ever did for myself.

[adamsbja]

I'm a desert rat, and I've found a big glass of water usually works for me. Dehydration can sneak into all sorts of "feeling cruddy" symptoms without actually feeling thirsty. Not bottled special woo-peddling water either, just a liter of tap water in a cup, run it through a filter if you're feeling posh.

Oddly enough I've also found that when I get thirsty I *think* I'm hungry instead, so reaching for the water first also means I eat less.

[restorationconcrete]

I did a 40 day juice only fast years ago. Never felt better in my life. Lost weight, energy level skyrocketed, mental clarity went up, emotional wellness … amazing. Not disagreeing with her but only saying my results were the total opposite.

[Eric.Morrison]

"The liver and kidneys are natural detoxifiers". Yes. But what happens when the liver/kidneys become damaged through stress, drinking, poor diet, and/or aging? I don't buy into most of the cleansing crap out there, but some people are more prone to congestion than others. Your car/house/vacuum all have filters, but guess what. You have to maintain or (gasp) ...clean... them.

[jumbowana]

If you want to feel better (particularly after a hangover) eat a huge bowl of chili and wash it down with a coke. Nothing can survive what that does to you.

[mmabagain]

My experience so far on day 7 of a juice fast is: Lost 12 pounds. Blood pressure has returned to a more normal 119/78. Down from 147/95. And I check it several times a day. I have been on BP meds for over 10 years so that's a good sign. I have not been hungry and I don't lack energy. I still go to the gym 3 days a week. My guess is I am getting enough calories and nutrients. I will return to eating soon but will not go back to the same diet that raised my BP.

[pkxdgaming]

I went to a naturopathy camp and fasted for around 7 days with just lemon and honey. Results were AMAZING !!!!

I felt so light and energetic after that for weeks. Now a days I am feeling lethargic so planning to go there again.

And not just detoxification, hundreds of people get benefitted over there for different diseases just by observing liquid fast for many days.

[itskelvinn]

Nothing yells bro science more than detox diets.

[vamosrafa]

I went on a raw diet for 3months which was two juices a day and lots of salad for fibre. worst decision ever, my grades dropped, my energy dropped. definitely lacked carbs

[paulshults]

I've been juicing for 11 days and dropped from 168 to 156 lbs.
I don't align with most of the information in this video.

[herbertkeithmiller]

LOVE the o=phrase cleanse your body of toxins. Witch toxins specifically I have asked people on a cleanse. I NEVER can get any one to name exactly what chemicals or substance is being removed.

[CheezeCurdler]

I went on a juice diet for 7 days, hardest thing I ever did. Making that much fresh juice all the time was exhausting. Plus you need a good juicer. I had headaches and dizzy spells. Would not recommend

[nikoskabbadias]

I ve tried a few of them.

Never felt so weak and sick in my entire life.

My recipe to staying healthy, strong and beautiful is :

1. As the girl said, try to eat some fruit and veg every day

2. Dont try to cut off rubbish food COMPLETELY. Try to moderate it

3. Make a few of easy simple replacements. Diet Coke instead of Coke (and not every day)

Brown bread instead of white.

Skimmed milk instead of whole.

Nuts as a snack at work instead of chocolate or haribo

If you drink coffee with sugar every day, cut off the sugar. If you cannot drink coffee without sugar - like me - then just quit coffee. Yes, you heard me, quit coffee. You dont need it, and if you do everything on my list, you ll have WAY more energy than what you have with your current lifestyle and coffee

4. Exercise. Sorry, no way around this one. There are thousands of types of exercise, from going to the gym, dancing, martial arts, to cycling to just squatting and jogging and doing pushups.

Find one out of the thousands that you like and do it.

There s no time is bullshit.

Exercising is a NECESSITY for your health. Place it higher in your priorities than facebook, parties of people you dont even like, TV, videogames and calling your friend Betty for the third time today to discuss something you ve already discussed.

5. Keep your house nice, comfortable and warm, but try to put yourself through as much hardship as possible outside it.

Do not take your car to go a mile further down just because its slightly drizzling. Walk.

If you re at a cafeteria, dont go sit inside as soon as the temperature drops below 30 degrees.

Even old people can handle as low as 10 degrees easily, if they re used to it. Man up (or woman up).

Hardships make you hard, soft treatment makes you soft.

At the end of the day, you ll go back to your sweet warm home, and your immune system will start working on making you harder for the next time.

Peace.

[DragonsREpic]

I hate "Cleans" its a very anti science word that actually makes me angry

[PawsAndBreathe]

They def can work. My mom had bad cervical cancer for 5 years. Everything everything would get so backed up n her kidneys would start to back up into her body and they would put her on hospice she would come home and we would do a juice cleaner with mostly anti inflamatories. She would always get better. Until the last time, but at that point the cancer was just everywhere.

[sanyamjain]

I take carrot juice everyday. Is it helpful for me ?

[notsoanonymous]

I admittedly do not consume enough vegetables & fruits. I’m probably good diet wise with vegetables but certainly not fruits. I like the idea of boosting the natural vitamins found in these, but ultimately, I’m learning that a maintainable diet is best practice. I like to think I make healthy choices in my regular diet already.

*I’ve done one day juice cleanses, and while I didn’t feel like I “touched the sky” or anything, I did feel good afterwards, relatively speaking. I cannot discern whether some of these ‘results’ were a placebo affect or not, but I did feel good, at least.

[maggieo]

Biggest recommendation: go vegan. I went from a size 16 to a size 6 in about 2 months. And you feel happy and peaceful.

[jessig]

Trolls in our comment sections" ....I died 😂😂👍

[neeneko]

mmmm...


I will admit I have done the whole nothing but juice for a few days' thing, but it has always been due to a combination of heavy schedule and not wanting to go shopping. The effects on blood sugar start showing up in my work pretty quickly and thus I would not call it a good thing.