"Hey, that's not fair! I've tried everything, and nothing has worked. This is all I have left". That's a lovely song, fat boy, but it's way off-key. You may have tried everything, but you haven't tried it long, smart, or hard enough. Just for fun though, let's say you have tried everything, and the enigmatic juice cleansing diet is all you have left. Will consuming nothing but water and blended fruits and vegetables for a month really do the trick?
"Yeh, it worked for my sister's friend, Mary, and she lost 40 pounds in 30 days." Of freaking course she did! She starved herself. Did she also mention that she experienced heart arrhythmia, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, and kidney damage?
"Well yeh, but you see the same risks and warnings on a bottle of aspirin". Um, alright - going skydiving with or without a parachute presents the same ultimate risk - hitting the ground at 300 mph. However, when you jump out of a plane using the latter method, the risk gets a bit riskier. By practicing juice fasting, you're robbing your body of everything but a few vitamins and antioxidants - pretty sure aspirin doesn't do that.
There's an existing claim that coming off of juice diets actually increases your freshly cleansed body's metabolism, also giving you higher energy levels, and feeling fuller sooner at the dinner table. I really have no idea if this is true - it's a moot point regardless. There are plenty of other ways to cleanse your body, increase your metabolism, raise your energy levels, and prevent going back for fourths. I'm talking about exercising, drinking water, taking vitamins, sleeping regularly, and not eating when you're not legitimately hungry.
"But I don't have the self discipline for that...". Then do you really think you're going to have the self discipline to make it through more than a day of a juice diet? Even if you make it through a week or two of this insane plan, you're going to have a mother of a time fighting off the urge to go on a grease bender when you're done. I don't care how much a juicing diet increases you're metabolism, a couple good binges will be sure to wipe out all of your "hard work".
Let's say after all this, you still don't heed my advice. You'd better educate yourself before you even think about it. If you don't, forget about getting fat, you can easily and seriously damage yourself. Juice fasting participants should not be pregnant, not have liver, kidney, heart, or blood sugar problems, diabetes...they shouldn't be malnourished, underweight, epileptic, addicted to anything, or terminally ill. If you pass that initial inspection, make sure that you don't partake in any juice diets during hot months (kind of sucks since most of you are considering this to burn off fat enough to fit into a bathing suit), and that you get your physicians expert opinion (good luck there).
Wow, he actually gave you permission? Ok, let's get started then...just go ahead and drink 32 to 64 ounces of both blended fruits and vegetables throughout the day, but make sure you stay away from the good ones! That's right - no oranges, lemons, grapefruits, or tangerines...citrus juice is off the menu. Keep this up for a couple of weeks, and you'll be magically cleansed, and in magazine cover shape.
Folks, all the juice diet does is takes avoiding proper diet and exercise to a dangerous level. There may be a handful of people in the world, who under the strict guidance of their doctor, could benefit from one of these cleansing juice diets...I'm willing to bet that you're not one of them. Hit the gym, eat your meat and veggies, get a good night sleep, and stay the heck away from juice diets - there's my non expert advice that you didn't want to hear. Thanks for listening.
