There are many things you can do to spice things up in your life. You may decide to travel. You may decide to go skydiving in a safe body of water around you. You may decide to do the juice fast.
Juice fast, what’s that?
Well, it is one of the ways many people go about changing their diet. They might call it juice cleansing and it is aimed at improving the health of the person. Why this is fun on the surface, there are many things to know before you join those involved. Even as you think about it, you should ask yourself what are the cons of juicing.
What does juice fast look like?
In juice fast, which is also referred to as detox or cleanse, you are going to consume homemade or DIY juices that are produced from herbs, vegetables, and fruit. In some cases, you may decide to use nut milk especially cashew milk. The final mixture is usually spiced with tea, some water and occasionally, clear broth.
You are using a juicing process, which is the extraction of juice contents from fruits. This is not the same as blending which combines the juice, pulp, and fibrous content into one mixture. The result is that the contents from juicing are richer, having a higher amount of minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals, especially if you compare it with a smoothie.
The duration for the juice to last is between a day and 10 days. it is all up to you.
What are the benefits?
You are asking what are the cons of juicing? You truly want to know if it is safe to juice fast so that you can head on or back out. Here, you go.
Many have expressed that the benefits of a juice fast are many. They mention that it includes a clearer skin, health improvement, promotion of weight loss, reducing the number of toxins in the body. This is a lot of positives in one simple activity. The sad news is that there is no tangible proof to back any of these up.
A study has investigated the benefits though and it is the only one till now. The result of that study shows that when people practice the juice fast (under specific instructions) they experience a persistent weight loss over the duration of the juice fast. This is probably due to the changes in the people’s gut microbiota. But that is just a probability. Their persisted weight loss might be because they consume a lower amount of calories generally over the period. The change in gut microbiota may be because people consume more fruits in their diets within those days.
Although there is little doubt, the good news is that there is a positive outlook from the study. So it means it is safe to juice fast and that there is a potential for health benefits if you put some other things in place.
What are the side effects?
Here, we have come to those who want to know what are the cons of juicing?
It turns out that many doctors and dieticians do not recommend juice fasting to people. There a few negative points which make it difficult to recommend. This is possible especially if you are making juice that has its source from fruits alone.
Headache and fatigue: juice generally has a greater amount of sugar and less amount of fiber than eating whole food. This can result in dips in the amount of blood sugar or possible spikes. Some believe that having a headache when juice fasting is a sign that toxins are leaving the body. But in reality, when the amount of blood sugar fluctuates, and you reduce the amount of energy consumption due to lack of protein and fat (not present in juices), you are liable to have fatigue and headache.
It is expensive to maintain: aside from the fact that you may have a headache, it will cost you a certain amount of money to maintain a juice fast for about 10 days. For just 3 days, you may have to spend between $99 and $195. That’s a lot of money if you are going grocery shopping.
Social isolation: during a juice fast, you are planning to change your diet. And this can be as long as ten days depending on how long you want to go about it. This means you will be left out when co-workers are going shopping or you won’t be accepting dinner invitations for this period. You can only drink water if you accept it.
To conclude, it is wise to always ask, what are the cons of juicing or juice fast before you dive in?
