Do you secretly cringe when you see a detox program that’s based entirely on juicing for 3+ days? I know I do! There is no way I would survive on a juice-only diet for 3 or more days. I’m hungry ALL the time when I eat normal food! There’s a reason why celebrities market juice cleanses as a great way to slim down fast – you’re essentially starving yourself for a few days and dropping a lot of water weight.
Juicing is great – if you do it right. Juicing as a liver detox, though, is just not the right way to go.
Why not, you ask? Let me give you some background! The liver is an incredible organ that performs over 500 functions that help keep you healthy and alive. But, because it’s where all the ‘stuff’ from what we eat and put on our skin and breathe in goes via the blood for cleansing, extra toxin exposure can really put a load on that little guy! Plus, if our digestion is not great, our livers don’t get the many nutrients it needs to do its jobs effectively.
So here we have a two-fold problem: our modern world exposes us to a lot of toxins every day, and our North American diet, stress levels and sub-optimal eating habits all work to grate on our digestive systems. Even if you eat the healthiest diet in the world, if your digestion is not working as it should, your body won’t be getting the nutrients it needs to the organs that really need it!
If you do have sub-optimal digestion, juices can be a great way to get nutrients into your body because the fruits and vegetables have been broken down so they’re easier to digest and assimilate. However, juicing typically removes the fiber, which is needed to help eliminate waste material, and doesn’t have protein, which is required by the liver and immune system to detoxify toxins and eliminate them from the body.
If you love fresh pressed juices, I applaud you! Don’t ever give up that great habit. But, don’t make them your entire day’s diet either. If you do drink a lot of juice, make sure to have some high-quality protein (either from food or protein powders) and have a smoothie (smoothies generally don’t extract the fiber).
And, if you really want to give your liver some love, you need to eliminate the bad stuff first and then support it with real, whole foods from ALL food groups! Green leafy vegetables, fresh fruit, ground flaxseed, hemp seed, chia, organic chicken, sweet potatoes…these are just some of the delicious foods you can enjoy on a liver detox. The liver and other detoxification organs need the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals in order to perform their roles, and elimination of these toxins is just as vital so we need good amounts of both soluble and insoluble fiber to help keep things moving.
Need some motivation and inspiration? Why not join me and immerse yourself in my 21-Day Total Body Reset program. You’ll eat real food for all 10 days and it’s guaranteed to help you sleep better, get clear and glowing skin and improve your overall detoxification system!
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/detox-cleanse-diets
