And your liver.
In general, trust your body’s mechanism for removing waste products and toxins from itself.
Your body has evolved over thousands of years to be really efficient at getting rid of things that are toxic to it.
It cleans blood and produces waste products and in extreme cases reacts violently against toxic substances by making you sick.
If you have toxins in your body that your body can’t get rid of in a day (or 2) then you are ill…get to a doctor. Juice and smoothies and fancy green tea will no help you!
Don’t believe me? Consider this…
Have you ever had a hangover? you are sick and you feel awful, that is your body’s reaction to toxins. Have you noticed that hangovers rarely last more than a day and generally only a few hours. This is true even after periods of over indulgence like christmas. That thing where you feel better after a day is your body getting rid of toxins and getting back to normal functioning! The only thing extra juice will do in this situation is help you be hydrated and give you some sugar which will generally make you feel better.
Companies that are producing juice cleanses, detox diets and such like are quite simply after your money. You can’t use a juice diet to reset anything…apart from your bank balance and toilet paper supply…
They claim you will lose weight…ok..you probably will…
This is because you are not eating food. You are severely restricting your calorie intake and essentially starving yourself. On top of that, the effect of a considerable increase in fruit and vegetables in your diet has a well documented effect…and not a pleasant one! There is a very real possibility that you will gain it all back again mind you …
If you do a juice cleanse or a fancy tea thingy cleanse or a cleanse that involves you drinking water with cayenne pepper in, it is very similar to saying ” I am going to starve for 3 days, and take laxative…”
If you put it like that is sounds a little different doesn’t it?
What would your reaction be if someone said that to you?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that people who do cleanses have eating disorders, that would be alarmist and a little on the rude side. I am saying that taken in its rawest form, these cleanses have a lot of similarities with eating disorders and can promote an unhealthy attitude to weight loss. The fact that this sort of extreme diet works in the sort term can lead people to extending the process and doing these things again and again. In the long term, this is not a healthy approach to eating, and in extreme cases can be a stepping stone to other disordered eating patterns. Taken to the extremes these diets lead to the same side effects as any severely restrictive starvation diet
I am not the only one who thinks this:
http://blog.timberlineknolls.com/2014-01-11/blender-addiction-when-juicing-jeopardizes-health/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judith-j-wurtman-phd/dangers-of-juice-cleansing-_b_3639400.html
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that juice can’t have a place in a healthy diet because it can. I am not saying that more fruit and veg (mainly veg…because sugar!!) and less processed crap won’t make you feel better and be healthier because it will, but it would if you ate it in solid form too!
What I am saying is don’t believe the hype and take these things with a giant pinch of (metaphorical) salt! Be conscious of what you are trying to achieve. They won’t kick start your metabolism, they won’t remove toxins any better than your body can, they won’t give you more energy long term, they won’t do the majority of the magic they claim on the box.
After saying all of that, there is one thing that these “cleanses” might do for you. They might well serve as a psychological kick start. They could help you break a pattern of unhealthy eating and mark a change in lifestyle. They can be the mental full stop you need before starting on a new healthier path.
Just be aware of their limitations that is all 😉
Project Warrior Goddess 
Reblogged this on Real Fitness Sussex and commented:
If you are considering a detox, consider your reasons and have a think about what they can really do for you! Have a read of this from my other blog and think about whether you are just after a quick fix!
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Totally, totally agree, despite having juiced before myself. At the weekend, I actually got my breakfast from Nekter Juice Bar (the place I did that one-day juice cleanse last fall)- but it wasn’t liquid. They serve solid actual food, too, it turns out – and it was DELICIOUS! A lovely frozen yogurt-y acai bowl with fresh fruit.
I’ll say that for me, if it weren’t for the cost and the inconvenience of having to go all the way to the juice place, I could see adding one or two of the juices to my daily diet – but mostly to ensure I’m getting the adequate amount of veg and fruit intake. I’m pretty sure I don’t – and that’s a bigger issue I need to solve for.
net/net – Juice cleansing is not going to cause long-term weight loss nor is it actually cleansing you (apart from emptying your bowels). 🙂
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exactly, delicious, healthy food and juices from places like this, and those you make at home can certainly find a place in your diet, and it is a good way to boost fruit and veg intake but you have it right, adding them to your diet, not replacing your diet with them 😀
and I forgot to even mention the smugness of some people who do these cleanses, as they believe they are all healthier than thou!
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Totally!
Well, do you remember that Australian man who did the documentary, “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, Joe something or another. Anyway – he did nothing but juice for a year!!! What in the actual f&ck???
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I know!!!
I guess if you are in an extreme situation, it can help lose weight, but he must have lost muscle! How did he get all the nutrients he needed??!!
and is there any information about what happened to him after he started eating food again?
It will work, but it is basically starvation with nutrients, which make no sense as a statement but you know what I mean!
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I think he’s generally very healthy now. He drank a shit-ton of juices so he was definitely geting all the nutrients in – and he was exercising. Watch the documentary, it’s actually very interesting. I just don’t know how on earth he managed to go a year without CHEWING. I tried it for one week in early 2014 (3 hilarious blog posts about that nonsense) – and nearly died. I think I made it to day 4, and that’s with cheating and snacking on almonds and actual fruit. …
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I will watch it 🙂
I suppose you just have to drink way way more juice than people think for it to be sustainable and be really selective about what you put in them!
but I couldn’t do it for a day…
well…maybe a day but still!
I remember your attempt…I think I told you to work out if you had achieved your goal or if you were just being stubborn about sticking to it 😉
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I’ve talked to a few people recently, which has involved me pointing out about the lack of food causing the amazing weigh loss, not to mention the blood sugar fluctuations from ‘hits’ of fruit (as opposed to veggie) juice. I have also tried to talk a friend of mine out of taking diet pills, which she says are ok because they are mostl caffeine. I have no clue what the rest was because she also didn’t know. People go for things like this so easily without doing proper research rather than just reading the claims from the people promoting it.
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Oh yes! Those mostly caffeine diet pills, as an almost immune to caffeine coffee addict, they even make me talkative and somewhat angry (strangely) I tried them as I thought they might keep me awake…it was a bad plan!!
People just assume that because it is a fruit and has a name like the super fancy poo a lot cleanse then it will be healthy and good for you!!
Maybe I should patent that name 😉
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I can see that catching on! That’s really scary, I know how much coffee you drink, if they even affect you they must be pretty potent.
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Yeah, they were pretty scary!
I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone!! I don’t have them now! It wasn’t fun, I couldn’t stop talking and was really angry for some reason! I dread to think what else was in them!
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