How effective are juice diets (juice cleanses) for detoxing?

For my patients who have inflammatory diseases or who suffer from allergy symptoms, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases or who even just feel fatigued and bloated, I sometimes will recommend about three days of juice fasting.

I prefer the juice to be from vegetables and the way I have my patients do the detox is to have them ease into it and out of it. Our body tends to respond easier to this with fewer symptoms during the three-day fast.

I recommend my patients switch to a vegan/vegetarian diet for about 2 to 3 days before the fast, and I usually recommend for patients to do the actual three-day fast over the weekend because you should not be doing strenuous activities during the fasting days. If you feel fatigued and want to rest, you should allow your body to do so. And if just drinking juice alone is too difficult, you can incorporate some organic vegetables or low sugar fruits to help you over the three-day juice fast period.

After the three-day fast, I ask that my patients go back to a vegan/vegetarian diet for another three days to ease out of the fast. Thereafter, they can slowly re-incorporate foods from their prior diet. Most patients will not want to go back to junk food or alcohol immediately after this regimen because the body feels good from being cleansed.

By allowing your body to enter into an anti-inflammatory state for about nine days, the overall health benefits should be noticeable. Also, by easing into and out of the fast, it is gentler on your body and less of a shock to the system.

Before you enter into doing fasts, you should always first clear it with your physician to make sure that you are not on any medications or don't have medical conditions (like diabetes) that would make juice fasting dangerous for you. Good luck with the fasting regimen and enjoy the healthy feeling afterwards!