After the holidays is a perfect time to do a juice cleanse or juice fast. A juice cleanse is a great way to shed a few extra pounds and release toxins from the body. A juice cleanse can last anywhere from one day to sixty days.
What is a juice cleanse?
Simply put, a juice cleanse is where you consume nothing but fresh juices made from vegetables and fruit for some specific period of time. This means you don’t eat any food during your juice cleanse. You also don’t drink any sodas, coffee, or tea.
The goal of a juice cleanse is to detox your body. You are cleansing your internal organs and nourishing every one of your trillions of cells with fresh juices.
How Long Should a Juice Cleanse Last?
There is no right or wrong answer here. Joe Cross, the narrator in Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead performed a 60 day juice cleanse. Many have followed his lead and performed juice fasts of 60 days.
There is no need to do a 60 day juice cleanse to reap the benefits of juicing. You can do a cleanse for as short as 24 hours.
I personally thing a three day juice fast is ideal. You start the fast on Friday and end it on Monday. Try to do your juice fast on a weekend where you don’t have too much going on.
A juice cleanse will leave you feeling fantastic after it’s over. During the first day or so you will feel groggy and just run down. You may even feel slightly sick. This is caused a “detox reaction” and is very common.
The detox reaction occurs because your body releases a massive amount of toxins into your bloodstream. The juice helps your body rid these toxins (through your sweat, urine, and bowels). You’re “cleaning the pipes,” so to speak.
Again, you’ll feel great once the toxins have left your body. You may feel a little uneasy until the toxins have been fully flushed away.
5 Tips for a Juice Fast or Juice Cleanse:
1. Do your grocery shopping ahead of time and always have juices on hand.
If you’re going to buy pre-made juices, buy enough to last you at least 36 hours. If you’re making your own juices with a juicer, make sure you have enough fresh vegetables and fruits to last you 36 hours. Why is it essential to shop ahead of time when doing a juice cleanse?
The worst thing that can happen is for you to run out of juice during your juice cleanse. You will be really hungry and craving junk food. You’ll grab whatever is closest – which is usually unhealthy stuff.
You can make several juices at once and can safely store juices for up to 72 hours in your refrigerator. If you always have a fresh juice waiting for you, you are far less likely to cheat on your juice cleanse. Although it’s not ideal, in a pinch you can use store bought juices like low-sodium V8 and bottled organic carrot juice.
2. Have a large selection of juice recipes to choose from.
You don’t want to get bored by drink the same juice during your juice cleanse. Have a bunch of juice recipes ready. At Fit Juice we have over 100 free juice recipes.
Two of our most popular juices at the Mean Green Juice and the Real V8 Juice.
3. Remove the junk food from your home.
“Out of sight, out of mind” should be your mantra for your juice cleanse. If you don’t have junk food readily available, you are far less likely to eat it when you get hungry.
4. Go easy on the exercise.
Exercise is a great way to stimulate your lymphatic system and release toxins from your body. However, a juice cleanse is not the time to start a vigorous exercise regimen. You’ll be tired and worn out during your juice cleanse.
Take a brisk walk and/or do some light bodyweight type exercises like push-ups and bodyweight squats. Jumping jacks and jumping rope are great ways to break a sweat and stimulate the lymphatic system.
You do want to exercise because exercise aids the detoxification and cleansing process. You just don’t want to overdo.
5. Take a warm bath (if you have a bath tub) or a warm shower.
A warm bath or shower will help your body release toxins during your juice cleanse. To make your bath even more effective, add a cup or two of epsom salt to your bath tub. The epsom salt will stimulate your body and encourage it to release toxins. Epsom salt also softens the skin.
Juice cleanses: The bottom line.
A juice cleanse is a great way to get rid of the extra pounds put on during the holidays. If you have juices ready, make a wide variety of juices, and get rid of the junk food: You’ll be far more likely to succeed during your juice cleanse.
Leave a Reply