This post contains affiliate links.
This is the fourth in a series of four related cleanse posts.
See the others here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
In addition, read this:
The Ultimate Guide To Doing a Juice Detox or Cleanse
from www.positivehealthwellness.com
Because you keep asking…Reboot/Juice Cleanse Final Conclusions!
So, what’s my final pronouncement/opinion about the Reboot with Joe, and similar juice cleanses? You keep asking, so here it is. Sorry for the delay, but I really wanted to make sure I had all the information I needed and time to think before attempting to guide others.
First, if you haven’t already read my previous posts about my own Reboot cleanse, you can read the first one here (my invitation to cleanse and a cleanse 101), my Day 1 post, and my Days 1-5 post.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The concept of the Reboot cleanse is to drink only fruit and vegetable juices for 3, 5, 10 or 15 days to reboot your system and start fresh and healthy. They do recommend adding a protein powder to your juice if you’re going to reboot longer than 15 days and also have plans that combine food (again, only fruits and vegetables) with juicing.
2. Juicing takes the fiber out of fruits and vegetables. Fiber helps keep us full and regular. Many people who go on juice fasts have problems with constipation. Smoothies, which contain fiber, will fill you up more than juice. However, it still doesn’t replace the chewing function that signals our brain that we’ve eaten.
3. My experience: I tried the 15 day fast that starts out with a combination of food and juicing and culminates in only juicing. I felt fantastic the second and third days. Then I started to get dizzy from a lack of protein. I added some nuts here and there and that helped. I lost 7.5 lbs in 10 days and then didn’t really keep to the cleanse for the last 5 days (although I continued to eat well and didn’t gain any weight). I missed food! I like chewing. I like enjoying my food! I also turned most of the juices into smoothies using my Vitamix (once you’ve bought a Vitamix, you’re not going to spend money on a juicer too!). I did strain some of them into juice to make them more palatable. I’ve cleansed eating only whole foods and lost the same amount of weight in a much more balanced and enjoyable manner. In fact, I’ll probably recommend a specific cleanse to you shortly.
4. Cleansing in an extreme Reboot manner can be appropriate for people who can’t trust themselves to eat only what they should if they even open up that door to chewing or eating anything other than fruits and vegetables. In addition, some people really need to give their digestion a rest. Juicing can help with this. In addition, for people who don’t like fruits and vegetables, gulping down a juice may be a helpful way for them to get those nutrients.
5. I don’t see any reason a person would need to (only) juice for more than three days. That’s a terrific reset time to get focused on eating mostly fruits and vegetables and realize how much snacking and recreational eating most of us do on a daily basis. When I realized how much food I’d be eating if I actually CHEWED the fruits and vegetables in the Reboot juices/smoothies, I realized that there was truly no reason to limit myself to juice, so I didn’t! If I want to eat well and feel better, I can do that eating mostly fruits and vegetables, with some seeds and nuts thrown in for protein and healthy fats. Of course we should all be eating this way most of the time!
It just so happens that today’s Washington Post featured an article by nutritionist Ellie Krieger, Why Chewing is Underrated. Check it out!
6. And finally, if you have a very hard time limiting what you actually eat, you can still give your digestion a rest through intermittent fasting. Click on the link for more information about how to lose weight without restricting your diet.
If you have a cleanse or juice fasting experience to tell us about, head on over to the Healthy Family, Healthy You Facebook page and share!