We hear about them, we see them, and you’ve probably been interested in them – but what are they? Juice fasts have been around for years, but we’ve recently seen an increase in juice detox diets on social media, in documentaries, books and more, but why?
What Can Juice Fasts Do for You?
- Help determine food sensitivities
- Rehydrate the body
- Repair your digestive system
- Promote weight loss and healthy eating habits
- Detoxify the body
- Boost your immune system
- Prevent heart disease
- Increase energy levels
- Improve overall health
- Provide a “master cleanse” for the body
With all the information out there, it’s easy to formulate your own juice fast regime – but how do you do it safely? Here are a few things you should consider before jumping into a juice cleanse:
People Who Should Avoid Juice Fasting:
- Young children
- Pregnant women
- Older adults
- Those with weak immune systems and low blood sugar
9 Tips for Success:
1. PREPARE FOR THE FAST
Before jumping into a juice fast, you should prepare your body. If you jump right into your fast from an unhealthy diet, you may feel sick from the detox symptoms. To properly prepare for your fast, we recommended transitioning from your regular diet to a cleaner diet with raw fruits and veggies. You should also focus on eating smaller portions than usual and eating only to satisfy your hunger. You should also incorporate regular, non-strenuous exercise into your routine while drinking enough water to flush out the toxins in your body. Preparing for your fast will help reduce the side effects of fasting such as nausea, extreme hunger, fatigue, and more.
2. PLAN YOUR RECIPES
Planning your recipes before starting your juice fast will help you research and be prepared in the kitchen during your fast. Our Juicing Companion book can be very helpful during this process – you can use it to learn which fruits and vegetables are great for your juicer meet your specific health needs. Here are a few ingredients with great health benefits to jumpstart formulating your recipes:
Kale – antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, helps arthritis and autoimmune diseases
Green Apples – anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, reduces inflammation, lowers cholesterol, and increases energy
Ginger – aids in digestion, reduces pain, improves the immune system
Cucumber – lowers blood pressure, promotes healthy skin, prevents some forms of cancer
3. CALORIC INTAKE
Doing a juice cleanse may reduce the number of calories in a person’s diet, which can lead to weight loss during a juice fast. Sounds great, right? Well, reducing your caloric intake may lead to dangerous territory. After an extended period of time without your favorite foods, you might feel like you need to reward yourself after your juice fast is over. Having this mindset might set you back from gaining some of the great benefits from your fast.
4. LACK OF PROTEIN
Our bodies need protein to maintain and build muscle mass, make us feel full, and so much more. When eaten, fruits and vegetables contain low amounts of protein – and can leave us hungry and potentially decreasing our muscle mass. When doing a juice fast, consider drinking a homemade nut-milk beverage (cashew or almond) in between your routine beverages. Juicing dark green vegetables will increase your protein consumption. Take for example these raw veggies and the amount of protein in 227g /8oz serving per ESHA Genesis nutrition database:
- Kale: 7g protein
- Watercress: 5g protein
- Broccoli: 5g protein
- Baby spinach: 5g protein
- Cabbage: 3g protein
5. GOING ALL IN RIGHT AWAY
Before starting a juice fast, you should slowly work your way into your fast. This means replacing a meal with a fresh-pressed juice until you’ve phased out solid food entirely. Slowly integrating juice into your diet will help you from jumping into your juice fast and prevent shocking your body and leaving you tired and starving.
6. HYDRATION IS IMPORTANT
Hydration is king. Making sure that your body is well hydrated during your juice cleansing is very important. We recommend drinking warm lemon water during your fast – plus, water will help you fight off hunger between juices!
7. CHOOSE YOUR FRUIT AND VEGETABLES WISELY
When juice fasting, aim to choose organic fruits and vegetables due to the lower amounts of pesticides. In addition to lower amounts of pesticides, organic produce includes around 20-30% higher levels of antioxidants and 50% less heavy metals. When consuming exclusively fresh fruit and vegetable juice, you should consider the potential pesticides that are in your food.
8. WORKOUT ROUTINE
Exercising is an important part of any diet, but when juice fasting you should try to conserve as much energy as possible. While juice fasting, you should follow your instincts and try not to overdo it and make sure to listen to your body before overworking yourself.
9. SLOWLY BREAKING THE CLEANSE
When you are nearing the end of your cleanse after one to three days, you want to slowly integrate solid foods into your diet. You can do this by drinking smoothies, eating watery fruit, and other soft foods such as oatmeal. This is a great time to go back and revisit your intentions for your juice fast. If you’re trying to understand your food intolerance, make sure you keep this in mind when integrating food back into your diet. Move slow and track everything you’re eating so you can easily pinpoint what bothers your body. We recommend continuing to hydrate – you can do this buy drinking lemon water, herbal tea, green juice, and more.
If you were looking for a “restart” or body detox, make sure to focus on yourself and plan your post-fast meals as much as possible with healthy raw and whole foods. This will help you avoid gravitating towards processed foods and unhealthy snacks after completing your fast.
At HOME JUICE, we love doing juice fasts to deep clean and flush our bodies of toxins – but we think it is highly important to fast safely. We hope our tips will help encourage and educate you during your fasting journey! For more information please visit our site www.homejuice.com.au
If you’re looking for more in-depth tips on how to prepare for your cleanse, make recipes, and re-introduce specific foods into your diet, read our latest blog, How to Do a Juice Cleanse. Do you have any tips for juice fasting? Let us know by commenting below.
