With the holiday season right around the corner, it is also the time when we tend to obsess about overeating and ask ourselves how we are going to “detox” from all those holiday pies in our system.
By detoxing, we mean going on a juice cleanse. Juice cleanses have become very popular in the health and fitness world, as “health” brands such as Pressed Juicery, Juice Press, Blue Print and more promote the practice. They make promises that drinking their juices are guaranteed to clear your system. In the past we believed these claims that hooked us from the very start with the mindset that all we have to do is slug a few green juices and our bodies will be back to normal. No, No, No. Not true.
According to the New York Times‘ article, “Fancy Juice Doesn’t Cleanse the Body of Toxins”, it is confirmed that the claims presented by juice brands that these drinks can cleanse your body are actually a myth. To prove this, The Times consulted doctors to uncover the truth.
In the article, Dr. James H. Grendell, the chief of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. states, “I’ve yet to find someone who has specified a toxin they were hoping to be spared.” The human body is designed to get rid of waste and your organs play a part in it, with the kidneys and liver doing most of the removing. To put it in simpler words, we do not need to starve ourselves or put our bodies through the horrors of a juice cleanse because our bodies already do this naturally.
This is not to say that these juices aren’t good for you at all. Some juices and cleanse drinks do provide nutrients we may be lacking in our daily diet, but do thorough research before sipping on them as some are loaded with sugar!
Check out this video of more juice misconceptions via SciShow
Instead of juice cleansing try this Survival Guide for the Holiday Season!
