Juice cleanses: yes or no?

A juice cleanse is a kind of diet that only involves drinking juices from fruits and vegetables in an attempt to detox and lose weight. The real question is: just exactly how nutritious are these cleanses? Some people are wondering if this cleanses truly lives up to the hype – the answer is both yes and no. Let’s take a deeper dive into why that is, and weigh the pros and cons of a juice cleanse.

The good things about juicing

1. Helps with portion control

Juicing can help you accomplish portion control and eating less. When you go back to eating food after being on a juice cleanse, you can reset your portion control and stop overeating, which is easy to do.

2. Weight loss motivation

Juicing can also provide motivation when it comes to weight loss. It reduces the starch your body absorbs, causing you to shed water weight. Seeing that number get lower on the scale can help provide that boost of encouragement.

3. Get your nutrients in

Technically, the ingredients in a juice are healthy when you’re blending your own fruits and veggies. Blueberries, for instance, are high in vitamin C and K, while mangos are high in B6 and Vitamin A. If you drink these juices, you can stock up on nutrients that your body is naturally depleting in.

4. Green juices really are superfoods

While too much fruit can mean too much sugar, a veggie-filled juice is much more nutrient-dense and not as overloaded with sugary fruit juices, which can cause blood sugar spikes.

5. It’s a post-holiday restart

If you’re been eating poorly or snacking on lots of deep-fried, processed, or heavy foods, you can go on a juice cleanse to detox your system. But rather than thinking you need to starve the pounds off, see it as a way to give your body what it’s nutritionally craving – for no more than a couple of days.