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At this point, everyone has probably heard about juice cleanses. You've seen it everywhere; celebrities frequently post this on their IGs, advertisements promise easy weight loss and magazines assure you that drinking this can lead to gorgeous, glowing skin in just a few weeks. With millions of people gulping down pounds of produce by the glassful, some of us are really wondering do juice cleanses really work? To set us straight with this new trend, we've listed down 5 things you need to know.
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Before anything else, let's start with the basics: juicing is the process of extracting juices from fresh fruits and vegetable. It's an easy way to shower your body with concentrated amounts of nutrient-packed vegetables and fruit (helloooo vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants). Plus, these drinks are automatically low in ingredients you want to avoid, like toxic fats, added sugars and salt.
1. Don't consider it a meal replacement
Green juices are typically low in calories and protein with the majority of calories coming from carbohydrates. So proportionally speaking, while drinking green juice can increase your daily servings of vegetables, most juices aren't sufficient to be full-blown meal replacements.
2. Choose a plan that works for you
Now, there are tons of juice options you can take into consideration in choosing what suits your lifestyle. Figure out what kind of juices you'd like to make, what your goals are and if you even have time to make your own juices or if you need to buy them.
3. This is not a quick fix
Week-long juice cleanses are extremely popular but the results for everyone can vary. You may lose weight and you may not. But regardless, you're still giving your digestive system a chance to "reset" while flushing out all of the toxins in a healthy, natural way. Which can later on lead to weight loss.
4. Not all juices are created equal
While many juices available on your supermarket shelves are made with inexpensive bases like apple or pear juice and topped off with spinach and carrot juice. Many also contain preservatives and other hard to pronounce ingredients that are definitely not right for your type! Always read the label or better yet, invest in a juice machine and create your own juices at home.
5. Do your own research
With all that being said, you obviously need to do your homework first. Sometimes you have consider talking to a nutritionist to see if it is something that even makes sense for you to do. And of course, to weigh the pros and cons, you have to educate yourself.