The Pros & Cons of a Juice Cleanse

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So with all the buzz around juicing and “detoxing” I thought I would touch on why I do not necessarily approve of ‘juicing’ as a health necessity. There are many pros and cons to juicing and I would love to inform you of them today based on my experience. In this article, we will become detectives to figure out if juicing is truly beneficial or if it is a waste of time and money.

Some critical questions are:

Is it healthy?

Will I lose weight?

Does it Work?

The Pros & Cons of Juice Cleansing

My positive experience with a Juice Cleanse…

I tried a 5-day juice cleanse about 3ish years ago and let me tell you, it was soo hard. Some of the side effects I experienced were feeling cold, wanting sugar, and just plain tired. I had watched a documentary on the wonderful effects of juicing and why it is so great for the body, the mind and for weight loss- I was sold. I wanted to try it and feel fantastic like all the health claims.

At the start of this cleanse, I hadn’t been eating healthy AT ALL and didn’t know much about veggies, fruits, juicing, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, keto or any of those terms because I wasn’t interested. But after the documentary, I was inspired to eat better and aspired to be healthy. So after I completed the juice cleanse, I became infatuated with fruits, veggies and how they can be extremely beneficial to the body.

This juice fast made me realize that I wasn’t eating nearly enough fresh foods but instead indulged to much in processed foods. After doing the juice cleanse my mindset around food had changed. I realized the food that I was consuming at the time was surely killing healthy body goals! So I started intensively looking into veganism, watching health food documentaries and other special diets to change my self. That year I went vegan and never felt better.

The positives of a Juice Cleanse…

The truth is, ANYTIME we eat an abundance of healthy wholesome veggies and fruits we will cure diseases and our bodies cravings for fresh foods. It doesn’t take a juice to do this but it does make your body want cleaner foods afterward so you can eat better.

So with that said, Juicing benefits:

-You are getting an abundance of nutrients and vitamins in a juice that you wouldn’t if you drank something else. You are able to consume more veggies in one sitting

-It can change your mindset about food, make you feel good and give you a more positive outlook on veggies. You will realize how much you don’t consume them when you do.

-You will also have better absorption of the nutrients and other foods when drinking a powerful green juice.

My negative experience with Juicing…

It’s not all sunshine and butterflies with juicing so let me tell you some of the cons I experienced with my juice cleanse. To start, I constantly felt cold, hungry for carbs and tired. I also felt bloated because of the lack of fiber and excess sugar. When I wanted the sugary junk and other processed foods during the fast, It was because my body wanted those things and I was detoxing them out of my system (which is good! it just sucked).

The carbs and sugar that are in the juice can probably make you crave more fruit sugar and veggie-carbs which I think is how and why I started to crave more veggies because fruit sugar and the veggie carb is way different than the ‘bad’ carbs cravings.

Another MAJOR con that I simply can’t ignore is how EXPENSIVE it is.

Look, when I did this I was a freshman in college with not a lot of money so it was a huge deal for me with how much it cost. Not to mention the fact that I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started this cleanse, I juiced a bunch of things and didn’t do much research on it. I kept it in my pitcher and would drink a pitcher a day for the 5 days. You guys… a pitcher of juice cost around 20-30 bucks depending on if you were doing it organic or not, this is like 100$ for 5 days!! That is too much to spend for a ‘cleanse’ when you would actually get way more out of the one store trip of veggies that could last you a little over a week. Not to mention the insane veggie waste for after you juice- you’re just throwing your money away. You could be getting way more nutrients if you made a smoothie.

Some of the other cons I think are worth mentioning are…

Keep in mind, I ate like crap before the juice cleanse and ever since I have been way more mindful of what I put in my body.

Bloating like crazy
Feeling cold constantly
Not feeling full
The detox feeling of sugar
Feeling tired

Not enough fiber
Can be really carb-rich and sugary
The veggie waste is insane
Holy cats EXPENSIVE
You ‘need’ a juicer (more on this later)
It’s not magic and will not just cure all your problems as you think

So do I completely disagree with juicing?

Yes and No. I think a fresh green juice full of dark leafy greens and veggies like cucumber and celery are extremely beneficial because you are getting a nice dose of minerals. However, just making one juice is enough to last you the week, because you should NOT drink all of the juice in one sitting!!

It tastes great (sometimes) and is beneficial for getting an energy boost and dose of minerals. However, do I think you need to a juice cleanse in order to be healthy? Hell no! in fact, I think you need to buy a bunch of veggies, properly prepare them and EAT them throughout the week. You need all of the veggies in order for it to make a difference, not just the juice because you are missing out on a ton of extra nutrients involved. Look up recipes that are veggie to make it interesting and enjoyable.

Do You Need a juicer?

Again, this is where a scam could be put into play when juicing. you do NOT need a juicer BUT, you do need a high powered blender of some sort. I did buy a juicer because I thought I needed it to make juice. However, if you get a blender over a juicer, you can make juices, smoothies, sauces, puddings, and so much more with it than you can a juicer which limits to just juice. To make a juice using a blender, you need a Nut Milk bag to filter the pulp and voila, you have a very great juice. however, if you want a juicer then get one. I still use mine when I want to make a lot of juice.

This the juicer I have: Breville Cold Press Juicer

This is the blender that I have (works AMAZINGGGGG): Vitamix Explorian 64 oz Blender

The Nut milk bag I use (it is strong, durable and it still going strong after 2 years: Ellies Nut Milk Bag

As always, let me know, have you tried juicing? Did you feel the need to buy a juicer just to be healthy?