A detox diet is that diet which speeds up the natural detoxification process inside one’s body. With the help of a juice diet, one can easily get rid of all the toxins and harmful chemicals accumulated in the body. Flushing out toxins from the body would let one enjoy a refreshing change.
Juice Detox Diet
Juices or ‘slurpy delights’ are healthy drinks which can offer sufficient energy. They can cleanse one’s body of the toxins and harmful substances. Fruits and vegetable are packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals and hence, fruit juices or vegetable juices are nutritious enough to replace one’s meals. One may follow this diet for one week or for two weeks. Despite the name, it’s not a liquid diet and one can consume certain low-calorie foods while on this diet. Moreover, it is easy to follow this diet. A number of juice diet recipes are available on the Internet. Here is a sample weekly diet plan of this diet.
Weekly Diet Plan
First Day: On the very first day of this diet, one may have fruit or vegetable juice every four hours. One is not allowed to eat any solid foods on the first day. Further, one may have herbal teas and may drink plenty of water. However, one is supposed to avoid caffeine and sugar.
Second Day: One is supposed to drink fruit and vegetable juices every four hours. If one feels hungry, one may eat up to three bananas and one pound of grapes during the day. Furthermore, one is expected to continue this routine till the seventh day.
Third Day: Along with fruit and vegetable juices and bananas and grapes, one may have a serving of fruit and a serving of raw vegetables. Enjoy the fruits and vegetables of one’s own choice.
Remaining Days: For the last four days, one can enjoy a healthy menu consisting of whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. Taking into consideration, a list of filling low-calorie foods, one may choose the food items. One can also continue the consumption of same foods that one ate in the previous three days. Just make sure that one is getting all the nutrition that is needed.
Juice Fast
This is a type of detox diet which involves the intake of raw vegetables and fruit juices and water only. It lasts for one to three days. Spring is considered as the best time for juice fasting. A liquid diet is naturally a low-calorie diet which helps one lose weight while cleansing the body of toxins. However, the weight loss may be temporary.
Diet Tips
A week or about ten days before the diet, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, sugar, fatty foods, animal meat, fish, and eggs are typically reduced or eliminated from the diet. It is better that one consumes only organic fruits, vegetables, beans, and healthy food items. One should try to avoid processed foods and junk foods, and consume only homemade food as far as possible.
One is expected to follow a healthy diet after following a detox diet for a week. One may include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, low-fat dairy products, and lean protein in their daily diet. One should avoid high-fat foods, junk foods, refined sugar, and too much caffeine or alcohol. This would ensure that the effect of the juice detox would last longer, because one would be putting fewer toxins back into the body. Considering a juice detox diet to lose weight, is not a bad idea, but whatever temporary weight loss is experienced might be difficult to maintain. In order to lose weight permanently, one would need to follow a balanced low-calorie diet over a longer period of time and one would also need to increase his/her physical activities.
A juice-based detox diet is primarily designed for detoxification of the body. One should consult the doctor before opting for any detox diet. He/she might provide information on its implications if one has any medical conditions. Further, the health care provider might suggest some changes to make the juice diet more appropriate. Thus, the diet would be safer and more sensible. This diet shouldn’t lead to any nutritional deficiency, if one follows it for one week. It is also important to remember that some people may not be able to follow the juice fast diet at a stretch of 7 to 10 days, as their body may not be able to adjust to it. In such cases, one can follow this diet for a short period of time (3-4 days) at regular intervals.
