A Juice Cleanse – The ultimate guide

 A juice cleanse is a type of diet that involves consuming only juices from vegetables and fruits in an attempt to lose weight and detoxify the body. 

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Recently, I went on a juice cleanse, I tend to go on those juice cleanses for 1-5 days when my body feels heavy  or after a holiday or when I know I have been eating junk and my meal plan was messed up by some external factors. Juice cleanses are awesome they have a lot of  benefits and are  known to be rejuvenating for the body,mind and soul. I wont bore you with all the benefits on here! Instead, I will recommend you check out those two articles below. 

1.https://www.thejuicetruck.ca/blogs/news/the-science-behind-the-benefits-of-doing-a-juice-cleanse

2.https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323136.php

What you need to know before going on a juice cleanse  

Just like everything in life you should take it in baby steps! Don’t dive right in, start small. My first cleanse was one day, it was very tiring, which is very normal as you are sending your body in to a shock state. The week after I went  for  a two day cleanse and I sort of worked my way up. My most recent juice cleanse was 5 days. 

You will crave everything and I mean everything. This is due to the fact you are abstaining from solid food. Detoxification involves drinking large amounts of liquids to aid your body with the toxin removal. During a cleanse, your body can crave the foods you are denying it, especially if you regularly ingest caffeine, sugar, and refined white flour.

How do I curb those cravings 

There is no one way to stop yourself from craving certain food,  however you  can  push those cravings away. First tip, which  by  the  way  proved most  effective is to drink  a lot of water. Lemon  infused  water will be your best friend during  those  cleansing  days. Keep a bottle by  your side at all  times and just keep drinking water. 

Second tip is one that  is  very commonly forgotten during juice cleanses and detoxification diets. You can have soups! vegetable clear soups that have a kick of ginger  or chili pepper for flavoring  can be  a great way to increase your low sodium levels.  Most cravings are based on your sodium to sugar ratio. Hence, many people that focus on having fruits juices tend to crave salty food and vise  versa. 

Last tip would be to find distractions! towards  the 4th and 5th day of a juice cleanse  you  are  ready to kill  someone for  food so opt for  distractions. I would avoid  movie/  tv series style distractions as they  put you in a snacky mood and that usually ends  up in you  being cranky . During my detox I went  for puzzles , it took my mind off of food and I was fully in my thinking zone, trust me nothing can require all your attention or challenge your mind like a 1000 piece puzzle. 

Calories intake if you are doing it for weight loss 

Yes you are only  having fruits and vegetables nonetheless, you won’t lose weight if you are having  excessive amounts of  fruits and vegetables you  might not necessarily lose weight. My advice try to pick juices that 80 percent of their ingredients are veggies, while only 20 percent are fruits. Limiting the fruit in your drink can help keep insulin levels steady and ward off hunger. Thus you will consume  less  calories and end up losing weight. 

Side note though, I wouldn’t recommend you use the juice cleanse style diet to lose weight. Yes, it is effective if you hit a plateau on your weightless journey  but almost 90% of the time weight lost via this way is water weight that can be gained easily back. 

Preparations for the juice cleanse – The shopping list 

Fruits	Vegetables	Flavoring	Frozen ingredients	Healthy Fats
Seasonal fruits are a must. You can visit your local store and get fresh local grown fruits. Try new exotic fruits. My advice be colorful and get fruits that you never heard of before!	Please don’t limit yourself to cucumbers and kale! Many people think juice cleanses are mainly based on fruits, that is not true. Tomato juice is delicious for instance. My advice here, get all the veggies that you can eat raw, they all make good juices. If you will be making soups then get various different veggies but avoid starchy ones like potatoes.	Ginger,lemon, herb, prunes, guava etc There are certain fruits and veggies that can be used for flavoring your juices and giving them that extra kick. Make sure you invest in them as they will elevate the taste of your drinks.	Frozens are a great way to stay pocket friendly. You can find a vast selection of fruits and veggies that aren’t in season in the frozen sections.	A grey area for many but if you are spending more than three days on a juice detox adding some healthy fats would be a good thing. I for example added avocados on the fifth day to one of my juices

The  difference between a Juicer and a Nutri-blender

The Nutri blender system produces drinks with pulp or drinks that are simply called smoothies. While Juicers on the other hand removes 90% of the fiber from fruits and vegetables.

A Juicer	A Nutri-blender
It extracts almost all of the enzymes and separates the Pulp of your veggies easily.In addition to that it provides the best taste since it’s just water and the after taste of Veggies.	It includes all the fiber from fruits and vegetables, helping you feel Full and satiated after drinking a smoothie.

Although they are very different I think both are equally good. The juicer brings out a more liquid like juice whilst the Nutri blender gives you a smoothie like juice.

10 of my favorite detox juice recipes 

Below I share 10 of my favorite juices to drink during a detox, feel free to look through them and obviously alter the recipes to suit you. There is no right or wrong recipe, add whatever fruits or vegetables you like. In addition to that certain recipes may need more or less water depending on the consistency of the juice that you like.

#1 The Green Monster Detox Juice Ingredients:

• 1 green apple, cut in half
• 1 stalks celery
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 cup of Kale
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 piece fresh ginger

#2 A spin off on the classical carrot & orange Juice Ingredients:

• 1 large carrots
• 1 orange
• 1 piece of ginger

#3 Berries heaven Juice Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of blueberries
• 1/4 cup of raspberries
• 1/4 cup of blackberries
• 1/4 cup of water

#4 Wake up and energize Juice Ingredients:

• 1 large banana
• 1 pear
• 1 mango
• 1/2 cup of spinach or kale

#5 Tropical fruit Juice Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 1/4 cup of pineapple
• 1/4 cup of coconut
• 1/4 cup of berries

#6 A virgin skimmed bloody mary Juice Ingredients:

• 1 tomato
• 1 celery stick
• 1 lemon
• 2 pieces fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup of cilantro

#7 A sweet Green Detox Juice Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup grapes
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 1 apple

#8 Guava special Detox Juice Ingredients:

• 2 guavas
• 1 apple
• 1/2 cup of water

#9 An Immune Boosting Detox Juice Ingredients:

• 1 beet
• 1 carrot
• 1 lemon
• 1 ginger piece
• 1 apple

#10 Pick Me Up Detox Juice Ingredients:

• 1 avocado
• 1 banana
• 1 cup grapes
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1 apple

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A small video that I made of my 5 day juice cleanse

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Until next time, crave the dish…

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