How To Juice: 6 Steps & Expert Tips
Excited to start juicing? EatingWell’s 7-day juice plan is designed to be a starter kit with tips and recipes to help you get started or, if you’re already a home-juicing enthusiast, to give you new ideas for your juicer. Here are tips for making your making your own healthy, fresh juice at home.
1. Wash all fruits, vegetables and herbs well-no need to dry them.
2. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for juicing-every juicer machine is different.
3. Add the most delicate ingredients first, such as leafy greens and herbs.
4. Follow with soft vegetables and/or fruits .
5. Finish with hard vegetables and/or fruits . Our recipe ingredients are listed in this order.
6. Drink fresh juice within a day or freeze it.
What A Juice Cleanse Does
Fruits and vegetables offer rich sources of active nutrients that support the bodys self-healing systems. Plant-based foods provide the resources your body requires to reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. In juice form, these foods do double duty since it takes several fruits and/or vegetables to make a single glass of juice.
With a juice cleanse, these nutrients become the sole source of nutrition for the body, providing more than a few wonderful health benefits. Health benefits you can expect from a juice cleanse include:
- Helps the body eliminate excess weight
- Imparts increased energy
- Gives your digestive system a chance to rest and repair
- Delivers immediate nutrition to the bodys cells and systems
- Detoxifies the liver and kidneys
How Long Should You Do A Juice Cleanse
A juice cleanse should be seen as a short-term option of no more than a few days. While it is low calorie and will result in weight loss, it is not something which can be maintained for a long time. Due to the fact that it cuts out some major food groups, it could result in a lack of energy.
Anna says: Going for more than around a day or two without protein can leave you feeling low energy. Juice cleanses are similar to a fast, which can give people a feeling of euphoria, through lack of energy. But this isnt necessarily a healthy thing.
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What To Eat After A 3
It is completely natural to spend your juice cleanse dreaming and fantasizing about all the foods you are going to indulge in after your cleanse is complete. But heading straight for the pizza, ice cream, or other heavily processed foods after wrapping up your cleanse will quickly undo all the good you did to your body days before. This is because the days post cleanse are as important as the days before and during your cleanse. Eating the wrong foods right after finishing a juice cleanse is one of the top mistakes novice cleansers make, follow our recommendations below to make sure you dont end your cleanse on the wrong foot.
What to eat after a Juice Cleanse?
- Drink plenty of water and start with foods that your body will find easy to break down while avoiding foods high in fat and sugar. Steamed or raw vegetables, fresh fruits, and light grains are all perfect for the first day after completing your cleanse.
- The next day, soy and dairy can be reintroduced in small doses. Jumping back into these too quickly can cause an upset stomach for some.
- On subsequent days light proteins can be added back into your diet as your body ramps its way back up to digesting more and more solid foods.
How Can A Juice Cleanse Help You Detox
Many fans of juice cleanses say that they can help you detox and they are often a popular choice for people trying to stop drinking alcohol. However, our bodies naturally get rid of toxins through our liver and kidneys. So a juice cleanse is not really necessary for that.
Sophie explains: Your liver and kidneys are constantly detoxing your body for you, removing waste matter from your bloodstream and any by-products of metabolism.
A juice cleanse will actually make your liver and kidneys work harder and can potentially cause them harm, making them unable to effectively carry out their work of detoxifying your blood.
Nevertheless, if you find it difficult to eat a good amount of fruit and vegetables and say no to processed food, a juice cleanse may be a good way to reset your eating habits. This study found that encouraging the daily consumption of fruit juice in public health policy could help people to achieve the 5-a-day recommendation for fruit and vegetable intake.
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Mistake #: Using The Same Ingredients Every Day
Regardless of the length of your intended juice fast, its never a good idea to use the same ingredients in your juice every day. Why? The main reason is that your body needs a wide array of nutrients in order to properly function. This will not work if you are only feeding it kale and oranges every day. While the benefits of kale are many, your body needs a lot more. Eating too much of a certain food can bring unwanted results. For example, you might begin to see your skin take on an orange color from drinking too much beta-carotene, which can be found in carrot juice. A tip is to change up your vegetables and fruits every day of the week, which should also keep things interesting so you dont get bored and give up on your cleanse!
How Much Weight Can You Lose With A Juice Cleanse
How much weight you can lose with a juice cleanse depends on a number of factors, including your current weight. Like the sugar-free diet plan, participants often find that they lose weight fast, with some shedding a 1lb or more a day.
In this study participants took part in a three-day juice cleanse and lost an average of 3.75lb, which they maintained two weeks later. The researchers also found an increase in some healthy gut bacteria.
However, while a juice cleanse allows you to get the nutrients and antioxidants from the produce, it omits the fibre, which is good for your gut health.
Anna, who runs Goodness Me Nutrition, explains: When you drink only juice you will be drinking high levels of sugar, because juicing removes fibre from the fruit and vegetables. Removing fibre and protein from our diet isnt a sustainable approach to weight loss.
As much of the weight lost will be water, there is also the risk that the weight can be regained once you start eating food properly again.
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Make Your Juice With Mostly Veggies
Aim to make most juices 80% veggies. That means 13 out of 16 ounces of juice should be from vegetables.
- Good veggies to include: spinach, kale, cucumber, zucchini, carrots, beets, and celery.
- Good fruits to include: lemons, limes, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, dark cherries, and kiwis. These fruits have lower sugar content and are loaded with anti-inflammatory antioxidants.
- For a boost of flavor, also consider adding in nutrient-packed herbs such as ginger root, turmeric root, basil, parsley, cilantro, and mint.
For sample juice recipes, check out 11 of our favorite, easy-to-make juices.
You May Feel Lightheaded
Whether it’s made from fruit or vegetables, the juice you’re drinking on a cleanse contains a high amount of sugar. “That will cause your body to produce insulin faster, making your blood sugar drop,” says nutritionist Leah Kaufman, MS, RD, CDN, founder of Leah Kaufman Nutrition. “This results in dizziness and feeling lightheaded.”
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Don’t Feel Bad If You Have To Add In Some Solids
For a little more staying power, some people like to add in something with a bit of fat and/or protein. If you find yourself super hungry, consider including one serving of homemade cashew milk per day of your cleanse. You can also make one of your juices a smoothie instead or include a serving of celery and nut butter. There’s nothing wrong with adapting your juice fast to meet your needs.
Option #1 Total Juice Fast
The first way to lose weight with juicing is to do a juice-only fast without eating any solid food. This is what Joe Cross did in Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead for 60 days and which resulted in him losing over 100 pounds.
This juicing diet plan requires a lot of discipline and preparation, and can actually be dangerous if not done right. Dont do a total juice fast without consulting your doctor first.
You dont have to do a 60 day fast like Joe Cross did, that is an extreme example. Seven days is the longest Id recommend you do a total juice fast, and even then please get permission from your doctor before embarking on a juice cleanse.
You can get a lot of health benefits with a short 3 day detox cleanse as well.
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What Should You Eat After A Juice Cleanse Fast
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A juice cleanse is a special, temporary diet that people implement for a multitude of reasons. This diet is also sometimes called a juice fast. A juice cleanse is drinking only juice from fruits and vegetablesto detox the body. Juice fasting can be effective and safe, as long as people don’t overdo it. Usually, a juice cleanse will last one to three days and before jumping right back to food, one must slowly ease into it. We will take a look and see what are the best foods to break a juice fast with and why.
You’ll Miss Solid Food And Get Hangry
When you only drink juice for three days, you miss out on the pleasure that comes from eating food in its natural form.
“When you’re on a juice cleanse, you’re not getting sufficient protein, fiber or fat, nutrients which help you feel full,” Cassetty says. “That means you’ll likely be really hungry, irritable and potentially even anxious.”
You’re also setting yourself up to overdo it once you start eating whole foods again. “Juices contain way more fruit than you’d ever sit down to eat,” Cassetty says. “For example, would you eat three or four apples? Your body doesn’t get as full off of liquid calories as it does from calories you chew.” That can lead to overindulging once you return to eating, she says.
Thinking about your own relationship to food can help you identify ways to maintain your weight once you’re done with the cleanse in a healthy, sustainable way, which will go much further in helping you feel present and comfortable in your body.
“It’s better to focus on fruits and veggies in other forms, whether fresh, frozen, dried or canned,” Cassetty says. “These foods provide vitamins, antioxidants and fiber.”
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Health Benefits Of Doing A Juice Cleanse
Juice cleansing is a quick and effective way to re-boot your system. If youre just back from holiday or had one of those all too familiar weekends of over-indulgence the heavy food and alcohol can leave you feeling sluggish and bloated
Alongside just generally getting you back on track, juice cleanses have plenty of benefits that certainly make them worth considering.
How To Deal With Cravings That Come With Cleansing
Hunger pangs and cravings are common for those just starting off the diet. It is also why so many people stop because they arent very well prepared.
This can mean the person didnt pre-diet properly or didnt know the options available to fight off these problems.
If these problems are becoming persistent throughout your diet, then you will be relieved to know that there are outside remedies that can tide you over. These are the best foods to keep cravings and stomach aches at bay
- Vegetable Broth: Even Bone-broth is fine for you to eat. Salt should be added in moderation, and spices like fresh turmeric can add flavor
- Carrots
- Salads: Avoid Caesar salads as sometimes the chicken is processed. Chia seeds are great to add in along with olive oil and vinegar. Keep your condiments completely natural
- Celery
Carrots and Celery arent the only vegetables you can eat. Any other vegetables are fine, but seeing how some are high in water-content, it may be best to not juice them.
image: courtesy of KamranAydinov / Freepik
It is also important to remember that scheduling your juicing sessions closer together can help you with this as well.
Dont push them too far apart, or else you may see yourself growing more and more tempted to quit the cleanse altogether. Dont drink too much whenever you juice, but make sure they are scheduled closely together
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How Long Is A Juice Cleanse
Juice cleanses range anywhere from one to 10 days or even longer, depending on which protocol you use.
There are several different types of juice cleansing or detoxification protocols. Some only allow drinking vegetable and fruit juices and other liquids. Others want you to drink the juices and take dietary supplements. Some want you to drink only certain juices in a time-based or specific order. Others want you to drink juices and do a colon cleanse during your juice cleanse. A colon cleanse involves using enemas or having colonic hydrotherapy or colonic irrigation .
You can purchase cold-pressed juices, or you can do it on your own at home with a blender or juicer.
Potential Health Benefits Of Fiber
Higher fiber intakes have been associated with lower risks of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes (
23 ).
One study compared the effects of blending and juicing on the nutrient content of grapefruit. Results showed that blending, which retains more fiber, is a better technique for obtaining higher levels of beneficial plant compounds .
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How To Do A Juice Cleanse
September 13, 2019 This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info
Whether you want to reset unhealthy eating habits, lose weight, or just improve your overall health, juice cleansing is probably one of the diets youve considered.
But theres a lot of misinformation and unfounded marketing claims surrounding juice cleanses out there. If you arent careful, a juice cleanse can be an uncomfortable experience or even bad for you.
To get the most out of your cleanse, you need to make sure you know how to do a juice cleanse the right way.
But before we get started, heres a bit more info on what a juice cleanse is and why you might want to give one a try.
Do Juice Cleanses Help With Detoxifying
Maybe your diet has been worse than usual. Greasy foods, too much alcohol. You just feel like you need a ‘detox’ and a juice cleanse sounds like the perfect solution. But, science tells us that this is not the way to go. Plus, our bodies are highly effective at detoxifying on their own.”The science of detoxifying is still being researched, so don’t fall for the marketing ploys that juice cleansing companies are trying to sell you,” says Beaver. “Instead, focus on eating whole foods, including veggies, fruits, beans, nuts and whole grains. The fiber from these foods is thought to help eliminate some toxins, while their phytochemicals may help promote the detoxification of carcinogens.”As a take-home message, Beaver says eating a well-balanced diet containing adequate amounts of vitamins helps support the body’s natural detoxification pathways.
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What Juicer Do You Use For A Juice Cleanse
Lets talk equipment. I have the Breville Slow Juicer which I love. The Hurom is also AMAZING. I like the slow juicers because you actually extract more fiber and nutrients from the fruits and veggies which gives you more pulp and gives you a bit of a thicker juice and all that jazz aka more fiber!
What Should I Eat The Day Before A Juice Cleanse
If youreplanning to start a juice cleanse,you shouldpreparefor it the right way instead of just waking up and jumping right into it one day.
Here are some things to consider:
Now youre wondering,What should I eat the day before a juice cleanse?
Stick towhole fruits and root vegetables, leafy greens, citrus, whole grains, and nuts.These food choices aresimilarto what you will fuel your body withpost juice cleanse.
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Tips To Ease Your Way Back To Your Regular Healthy Diet
With the convenience of processed and refined foods, avoiding them can be difficult. But eating whole foods provide way more of the nutrients that benefit your bodyand are easier on your digestive system when transitioning back to your normal diet. After your juice cleanse, stick to whole foods like organic produce, nuts, beans, and other foods without added sugar or preservatives.
Try to work 2 servings of fruit and 3 to 5 servings of vegetables into your meals each day. Vegetables can be eaten raw, lightly steamed, or roasted. Get all the fibre you can to keep your digestive processes moving from high-fibre fruits and veggies like carrots, apples, broccoli, and raspberries. These foods are all great for digestion .
Healthy fats are good to incorporate into your diet and can keep you full and satisfied post-cleansemaking you less likely to snack and undermine the benefits of your cleanse. Get your healthy fats from foods like avocados, olives, nuts, tofu, and peanut butter.
Refined sugars are harder for your body to digest and can make the transition back to solid foods harder on your body. Avoid processed foods and drinks with added sugar, and stick to natural sugars found in fruits or honey instead.
Your Post-Cleanse Food Guide