Demystifying the juice detox cure

The truth is not so juicy when it comes to going through a juice detox cureDo not drink anything but juice for a few days and  presto! You are healthier. This is the promise that many juice selling companies promote, and many of them pay good money to keep up with this trend of detoxifying one’s body. But these promises that are bottled and advertised, what they are really doing is exhausting your brain , altering your metabolism and muscle tone, creating difficulties in its operation at optimal levels (in life or in the gym). It seems that high prices are not the only cost of purification.Promise: your mental clarity will improve and you will adjust your concentration.Fact: It will install a state of mental confusion and a touch of irritation.Nothing happens metabolically if someone keeps a diet based only on juice to increase their mental clarity, says Melinda Johnson, assistant professor and Director at Didactic Program in Dietetics, Arizona State University. Your brain needs protein and fat to function optimally and without these, your concentration and mood can suffer. Depending on the type of detox based juice, a person can go into ketosis state, which can cause the effect of blurred mind and may have an impact on the mood, adds Johnson. Moreover, drastic diets can cause food obsessive thoughts (I Need Chocolate NOW!) and can make almost impossible to achieve high levels in the gym.Promise: You lose weight.Fact: Limiting calories intake for your body can expose you to put some extra weight again. Yes, you will remove water from your body and since most detox cures offer only half of your caloric needs, you might get off half a kilo or a kilo  at first. But without an adequate source of protein, your body starts to lose hardly obtained muscle mass, which can affect your metabolism. Any weight loss occurring during a liquid cleanse almost certainly will be followed by an increase in weight, says Michelle Babb, MS, RD, nutritionist in Seattle.Related articles:Good carbohydrates and bad carbohydratesAbout Alkaline DietCombine Food CorrectlyPromise: You remove toxins from the body.Fact: Your body does not need a deprivation diet for detoxification.Juice manufacturing companies say that the removal of solids from the equation gives our body the chance to remove toxins stored over the years. However, it is not scientifically proven that your body really needs detoxification or that during a detoxification diet something extra is released. A healthy diet consisting of fruits, legumes, seeds, whole lean protein, dairy, low-fat, healthy fats and a minimum consumption of extra processed food is the most wonderful detox cure you can have says Jennifer Neily, MS RDN, registered dietitian at Dallas.Promise: Detoxification juice is like injecting nutrients.Fact: Along with the nutrients from the juice a lot of sugar enters your body. Juice provides a strong dose of antioxidants that help supporting the immune system, but is a temporary dose and it might not be so good for people who have trouble managing blood sugar levels, Babb says. This is because detoxifying juices are higher in sugar than youd think: a popular juice detox cure contains a tremendous amount of 180 grams of sugar in one day  this means seven times more than the recommended daily dose. In the long term, too much sugar could adversely affect your brain and it can damage your memory, you might trigger diabetes or even get cancer. You need a more balanced approach in terms of macronutrients to feed your workouts.Promise: Your energy levels will explode.Fact: Limiting calories may limit energy level. Depending on how long the juice detox cure lasts, your body can go into starvation mode, when is trying to conserve energy by slowing things down  making us feel we lack energy, says Johnson. An inadequate intake of fat and protein can attack energy levels even more, not to mention the sugar crash juice can cause a rapid increase in the sugar blood level, followed by a sudden drop, which leaves you with a feeling of fatigue and hunger, said Babb. Remember that as an active person you need food to fuel your busy life and demanding workouts. The best option is to make healthy nutritional choices and not follow too fast the path of the herd toward starvation.Recommendations:4 Offers: Fat Burning Kitchen, 101 Anti-aging Foods, Truth about absMetabolic Cooking  Fat Loss CookbookAnabolic Cooking  Muscle Building CookbookTHE 3 Week DietRelated