Juice Cleanse – The Band-Aid Solution

Juice Cleanse – The Band-Aid Solution

Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of juicing.  Not only do I love it, I have concocted a few magic elixirs that I share with friends and clients to accomplish specific objectives.  That said, I believe there are many misperceptions regarding this trend/practice, and if a person is looking to do a serious, deep full body cleanse that resets the system and to get on track with their health, a juice cleanse is simply a band-aid solution. 

Cleansing, like other practices and studies, is a science.  If one desires to clean out their system for a true fresh start physically, mentally and emotionally, a serious strategy needs to be put in place.  One critical aspect of this strategy includes the incorporation of specific herbs and supplementation in order to not only extract harmful substance, but to simultaneously rebuild and balance the system.  The combination and application of the herbs and supplements is important, and timing also comes into play.  A juice cleanse alone is not going to accomplish the ultimate objective.

Also, fasting and/or severe calorie restriction can not only be harmful to the body, but it is absolutely not necessary.  The body NEEDS a wide variety of nutrients to function.  When I say function, I am referring to brain activity, hormone balancing, energy levels, sleep patterns, mood stabilization — all of this is regulated by the metabolism which needs FOOD to be optimized.  There are 122 metabolites, none of which are provided by starvation.  This is why it is not uncommon to hear of people that experience organ damage or serious health concerns as a result of a fast.  Or you have those that gain every pound they lost plus more once the fast is over.  Years ago I did a 3 1/2 day juice cleanse and lost 8 lbs during, and 10 lbs more after!!  Lord knows I did not have 18 pounds to lose, but my body freaked out from the restriction.

Finally, drinking a juice a few times a day is not going to educate someone in how to make healthy nutrition choices, nor is it going to help them create actual changes in behavior.  While the amount of toxicity we are exposed to on a daily basis makes it essential to make cleansing an integral part of our lifestyle, the leading problem has do with human behavior and choices made on a day to day basis.  In order for someone to lead a healthy lifestyle, they must first know what to do, and then they must actually DO it.  In the beginning it may take discipline, but it gets easier and the new habit becomes part of daily living.  As new choices are made, the palate shifts and these choices become effortless.  The habits then create a lifestyle, and suddenly food becomes fuel, energy and nurturance and is something to be celebrated.  This experience will not be created by downing a beverage every few hours.  Once the juice cleanse is finished, one will go right back to what they were doing in the first place that led them to point of feeling weighed down, heavy, and down right toxic.

While juicing is an awesome practice, a juice cleanse is merely a band-aid solution for someone looking to clean out their body, hit the reset button, and get on track with their health.  The benefits will be short lived which will keep the average person on the emotional roller coast of self-sabotage and criticism as their weight fluctuates and their health deteriorates.  It takes a very strategic approach to completely cleanse the body and set the cleanser up for success once the program has ended, and unfortunately a juice fast is not going to achieve these results.