Feeling tempted to give into the juice trend? You arent alone- the juicing trend is showing few signs of slowing down. However, before you buy a blender, juicer, or 22 pounds of raw kale, consider the following realities of juice diets, cleanses, and detox programs. Remember, juicing may sound like a good idea right now, but the truth of juice diets is largely glossed over in our fervor to lose weight. So its time to ask yourself, is a juice cleanse the best way for you?

  1. Prepare to.embark upon the straight path to disappointment. Most juice diets and cleanses dont last long. Thats a good thing, because most juice diets and cleanses are completely lacking in protein and are otherwise nutritionally inadequate, despite increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Any weight you lose is primarily water weight, as your muscles empty themselves of glycogen, which retains a few pounds of water in a non-cleanse state.
  1. Prepare to.listen to your stomach growl. You will be hungry on a juice diet. The human body is meant to have whole food and fiber to digest. In its absence, hunger sets in, and no volume of fluid will be able to truly satiate you when your body is used to, wants, and needs, whole foods.
  1. Prepare to. feel really, really sick. You will likely experience a slew of negative symptoms that youd normally associate with illness. Aside from feeling tired and hungry, many people experience dizziness, headaches, nausea, flu-like symptoms, and irritability. Not a great way to start of your intended lifelong path of healthy living.
  1. Wave goodbye to any lasting weight loss; say hello to regain. Weight loss does not last Even if you succeed in losing some weight, the weight returns when you resume your typical eating patterns. Thinking of using a juice cleanse as a way to jumpstart your weight loss resolutions? Thats not a get out of jail free card, either. Even if the content of your diet post-cleanse is healthier than it was pre-cleanse, consuming more calories than you need to lose weight means youll either maintain or gain weight.
  1. Prepare toget knocked off balance. Juice diets are unbalanced- Many people experience blood sugar surges thanks to the high sugar content of an all juice (or primarily juice) diet. Even if no sugar is added to the juice, sugar occurs naturally in fruit. Furthermore, not having anything to anchor the pure carbohydrate, such as protein or fat, which typically slow digestion and reduce blood sugar surges, your blood sugar will experience high peaks and low valleys- leaving you exhausted, cranky, and ready for this diet to be done, already.
  1. Prepare to.Say hello to a few extra pounds. Unless calories youre carefully counting calories, it is absolutely possible to gain weight on a juice kick. Many juices, especially those with fruit, are pure sugar- high in calories and devoid of protein and fiber- leaving your stomach grumbling for something else. If the only thing youre willing to drink is more high calorie juice, weight gain can happen fast.

To lose weight, the average American woman, (54, 166 lbs, less than 3 hours vigorous exercise per week) should only be consuming 1,200-1,500 calories. Two of the most popular juice recipes on pinterest contain 370 calories and 446 calories. If you had just two servings of each (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack), youd have already consumed 1, 632 calories, overshooting your caloric goal, and still famished.

  1. Prepare to.fall right back into old habits. Juice cleanses dont promote the important behavioral changes necessary to achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle: juice diets fail to teach you how to count calories, measure portion sizes, consume a varied diet, dine outside of the home healthfully, or regulate hunger and temptation appropriately. Come to think of it, these diets teach you very little, aside from how to use a blender.
  2. Prepare tonot actually detox anything. Juice diets dont actually detox your body of anything- organ processes are already in place to dispel any bodily toxins, and an all juice diet doesnt help with the process.
  3. Prepare to.rob fruits and vegetables of their most important attributes. Despite the media frenzy and false scientific claims made in regards to the magical health properties of juices, juicing fruits and vegetables actually makes them less healthy. Proponents like to state that the juicing process speeds the delivery of nutrients into the bloodstream, but theres no reason that this delivery needs to be any speedier than that of the typical digestive process. Whole fruits and vegetables retain two of their most important qualities: volume and fiber.

Both volume and fiber promote satiety, or the feeling of fullness. When you pulverize them to make juice, your body no longer needs to break them down (bye bye fiber content), and the items volume is reduced- leaving you hungry even though there was quite a large amount of volume to begin with.

  1. Prepare to.leap into the arms of failure. Juice diets fail to jump start your metabolism, detox your body, or provide any real positive contribution to your diet, aside from an increased produce intake (which has, remember, been robbed of much of its potency in the juicing process). Juice diets do nothing to foster mental resolves of promote lasting, life affirming changes that will help you achieve and maintain long term weight loss. The only way to do that is to monitor your caloric intake and engage in sufficient exercise. Is that method as trendy as a celebrity-endorsed juice diet? Well, no. But theres no reason to sacrifice actual results and healthy behaviors for a ludicrous trend with no long-term pay off. And after all, isnt whole food what youre really hankering for anyway? Chew, swallow, and savor your way to weight loss: no straw required.

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