THE SCIENCE BEHIND A JUICE CLEANSE

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Now that everyone from A-list stars to your Uncle Ned is joining the juice cleanse craze, it might be time for you to learn how they work.

Maybe you’re planning on a cleanse in order to lose weight. Or maybe you’re trying to rid your body of toxins. Either way, here’s what’s really taking place in your body during the typical three-day juice cleanse.

DAY ONE: THINKING ABOUT FOOD

Immediately, within hours of starting your juice cleanse, you will notice one thing: cravings! Your lifelong routine of three square meals a day doesn’t just melt away from your consciousness once you start cleansing. Prepare to be distracted for a while by thoughts of what you could be eating.

Luckily, for most, the cravings and thoughts start to fade by the end of day one.

As for what’s happening on the physiological side of things, think about this: every time you drink juice during your cleanse, you are flooding your system with a lot of simple sugars. That requires your body to produce insulin and lots of it… quickly.

What does that do?

If you are already a healthy low-carb dieter, your body will not be accustomed to so much sugar all at once. You may feel the effects of hypoglycemia during your cleanse if your body sends out too much insulin. That causes your blood sugar to drop below normal levels. The result? Feeling a bit light-headed.

On top of that, anyone — carb eaters included — will have low energy after their first day on a cleanse. That’s simply a natural result of consuming only about 1000 calories as opposed to the average 1,500 to 2,000 per day.

DAY TWO: WAKE UP FEELING LIGHTER

Since you spent Day One avoiding processed foods, fats, and other gut-stuffing foods, your body will already be feeling lighter on Day Two.

Here’s why. Usually, during the night while you’re getting your beauty sleep, your digestive system is pulling the night shift, working hard to digest the food you’ve eaten.

It’s normally a very active process.  But now that you’re cleansing and only having to process a light liquid diet, that overnight digestive process suddenly gets a whole lot easier. Therefore, when you wake up, your body may even feel refreshed.

Secondly, if you have any food allergies, there’s a very good chance that you’ve just had your first allergen-free day in a long while.

In fact, the juice cleanse is very similar to a method used by doctors to identify food allergies. Their method is called the ‘elimination diet’ and consists of eliminating all foods from the diet, then adding them back in, one by one to see what triggers your allergy.

For both these reasons, you’ll undoubtedly be feeling better in the AM after your first day of cleansing.

DAY THREE: FEELIN’ CONFIDENT

Psychologically, you may see a return of those cravings from Day One. That’s because you’re already anticipating what you’ll eat once you’re off the cleanse.

Some people experience increased libido on Day Three. There’s a scientific reason for this, too. The sigmoid colon is found very close to the pelvis in your body. Normally, most people are in a state of bloat that causes pressure on the colon. That can make sex uncomfortable. By Day Three of a juice cleanse, that bloating has gone way down, removing any worries you might have about gas.

Finally, your libido may go up for a psychological reason, too. You feel confident because you’ve made it through all three days of your cleanse! Great timing, since can you think of a better way to celebrate the completion of your cleanse challenge?

Knowing what’s going on in your body while you deprive it of protein and calories for days on end can help you get through your next cleanse. On the other hand, you may also decide it’s just not for you (or your body). Either way, now that you know what’s occurring during your self-imposed starvation regimen, you can make a better decision about whether it’s right for you.

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