Pros and Cons of Juice Cleansing

Around this time of year, many people consider a juice cleanse to shake off the indulgences of the festive season and get ready for a fresh start to the New Year. If weight loss is one of your goals, juicing can seem like an easy way to lose a few kilos and reset those taste buds to help you make smarter food choices. But is juicing really as good as it promises?

The theory behind juice cleanse

Some experts claim that juice cleanses can help mobilize and remove toxins, kick-start a diet plan, and reboot your body’s operating system. Cleanses of up to three days are considered safe.

However, before you decide to cleanse and spend a fortune on organic fruits and vegetables, be sure to weigh up the pros and cons of a juice cleanse.

Pros of a juice cleanse

1. You will fill your body with nutrition. Drinking a lot of fresh juice not only boosts your intake of vitamins and minerals but also the all-important phytonutrients that are powerhouses for the clean-up and healing process.
2. By nature, raw foods retain nutrients that would be destroyed by cooking, including some B vitamins and enzymes, which are vital for good digestion and managing inflammation.
3. A juice cleanse is a great way to jump-start a diet. It not only helps control appetite and cravings but also is naturally lower in calories.
4. To optimally support all phases of the body's natural detox process, you need a broad range of plant-supplied nutrients like anti-inflammatories and antioxidants. When you’re doing a juice cleanse which is high in green leafy vegetables, you’re providing your body with nutrient-dense foods in ample amounts to support the various phases of detoxification and help remove accumulated toxins stored in the body.

Cons of a juice cleanse

1. Juicing fruits and vegetables removes most of their beneficial fiber. While eating a limited amount of fiber for a short period of time will not harm most people’s diets, fiber plays an important role in keeping you full and satisfied – so you might find yourself quite hungry on a juice cleanse.
2. Juice cleanses are low in calories, which will leave you with little energy to exercise and may disrupt your metabolic rate and blood glucose levels.
3. You may experience gastrointestinal distress and frequent bowel movements.
4. You’ll lose weight, however most of it will be water weight. During the first few days of a juice cleanse, a person initially burns their glycogen stores for energy. Using glycogen (the stored form of glucose) pulls a lot of water out of the body – this is where their short-term weight loss comes from. You will also feel less bloated, but again this is water weight, not fat. If you are looking to lose fat, a juice cleanse alone is a good place to start, but not the answer.
5. The cleansing and hunger pangs that come from a juice cleanse can be challenging for some people to tolerate.
6. Finally, you need to stick to a ratio of 80% vegetables, 20% fruit (ideally organic), or you will be consuming too much sugar in the form of fructose. The body deals with excess fructose the same way it deals with sugar – it turns it into fat. 

Our Philosophy

We believe that a diet of whole, fresh foods is the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle.

Nutrition and health are about the big picture. What you do for three days out of the year is pretty inconsequential. Rather than worry about a three-day juice cleanse, consider a long-term, sustainable and deeper detox.

If you’re aiming to boost immunity and feel lighter, we have a focused superfood range packed full of nature’s richest foods which you can enjoy every day to add extra nutrition to your diet.

Zupafood ELITE and Zupafood GREENZ are a unique blend of superfood juices containing natural ingredients that help correct the toxic symptoms of modern life while allowing the body to return to a balanced and healthy state. Drink daily to boost your energy and mood, bolster your defenses, support your body's detoxification, relieve stress, and feel beautiful inside and out.