Juicing is often considered the cure-all for any ailment that you may be experiencing. Celebrities have sworn by it, and although there are many benefits to cleansing your body with juicing, there can also be many harmful effects as well if not done properly. We’re here to debunk and demystify the false security that may be surrounding this diet fad!
If you’ve watched the amazing movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, you have witnessed the miraculous health benefits that were reaped from the juice cleanse of many sickly people throughout the world. But these health benefits were only accomplished because when they juiced correctly, keep reading below to find out the top misconceptions about juicing:
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You Will Lose Weight:
Initially these juice cleanses will drop your weight relatively significantly, but if you are already thin this could be dangerous. However, if you are juicing for the weight loss benefits, there is also some bad news. The weight dropped from juicing is a temporary phenomenon, as your body will put it back on as soon as you begin to eat solid foods again. This creates a yo-yoing effect on your body’s metabolic rate, and it may be difficult to reach a consistent weight if you keep confusing your body by switching between all liquid and all solid foods.
If you are already healthy and you would like to juice for several days, there should not be many harmful effects, but the issue is when improper juicing techniques are sustained for prolonged amounts of time. If you are juicing to get healthier or improve an illness, maybe try looking at what your diet consists of and focus on eating wholesome, unprocessed foods, in well-balanced meals. If you’d like to, you can compliment healthy meals with a nutritious juice to up your nutrient intake.
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It Will Detox Your Body:
The assumption that juicing will get rid of toxins in your body is also a misconception. This is what your kidneys, liver, and intestines are for! These organs are actually working their magic this very moment. With a well-balanced, nutritious diet, plenty of water, and regular exercise you can keep these vital organs healthy and at their most efficient state of detoxifying ability.
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Juice Contains Too Much Sugar:
As long as your juicing recipes follow the 80% vegetable and 20% fruit rule, you should be golden. There are many delicious fruit and vegetable juice recipes that you can try out. There is even a chart created by the USDA that can ensure that you are getting the adequate amount of nutrients with each meal.
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Juicing Will Provide Your Body Extra Nutrients:
A lot of people claim that juicing fruits and vegetables provide your body with additional nutrients that you wouldn’t be getting from your traditional solid meals. This is completely untrue; as you may be lacking certain necessary compounds such as carbohydrates if you stick to a liquid juice diet.
As we researched, we found the root of this issue is that many people do not consume nearly enough fruits and vegetables as they should be. Some have even turned this into a marketing platform; gaureenteeing that you will get the additional nutrients you are lacking from their juices. When in actuality, we should include these fruits and vegetables (through solid foods or juice) every day, and you can reap the benefits of these nutrients along with the others you get from eating well-balanced meals.
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Juicing Will Rest Your Stomach:
This claim is totally false; as it turns out your stomach does not need to rest like some claim is necessary for good health. Dr. Antoinette Saddler, a gastroenterologist at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, has also stated that although juicing requires less digestive processing compared to eating solid foods, it isn’t any more beneficial to your body as consuming nutritious whole foods.
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Juicing Contains Nothing But Healthy Sugars:
In this day and age of lackluster nutrition and exercise habits, around 79 million people living in the United States are pre-diabetic. According to a study at Harvard University in 2013, choosing fruits higher in sugar to put in your juicer could result in your pre-diabetes progressing into full-blown diabetes. This is due to insulin spikes from ingesting excess amounts of the simple sugars in these fruits and lacking adequate fiber. The results of this longterm study stated that “those who consumed one or more servings of fruit juice each day increased their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 21 percent”, while if they were to switch sugary fruit juices out for their whole counterparts “would result in a 7 percent reduction in diabetes risk”.
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Everyone Can Juice Equally:
This is not true; if you suffer from health problems, for example issues with your thyroid or kidneys, please consult a doctor before attempting to perform a juice cleanse. When juicing fruits and vegetables high in potassium; if you suffer from kidney problems such as high blood pressure, this could be deadly! Another issue arises if you are on blood thinning medicine such as Warfarin, you should shy away from spinach and kale juices, since they are high in vitamin K and could cause a stroke or other circulatory problems. Kale, collards, bok choy, and spinach all have high amounts of glucosinolates, which has been shown to cause hypothyroidism in animals.
If you are interested in juicing, then purchase your juicer by clicking the image below
