Well folks, despite what Gwyneth Paltrow might have told you, juicing and juice cleanses have official bit the bullet.
After more than 20 years of listening to celebrities and health fanatics tout the joys of kale juice, juicing for health has (thankfully) finally come to an end.
It wasn’t the fact that Paltrow, who claimed anyone could eat healthy, even those on food stamps, (her video of which was a complete disaster) was consuming $500 juice drinks for her breakfast (like everyone else on the planet), it wasn’t that Doug Evans, the Raw Food Priest, convinced investors that American’s would buy his $700 juicer (they didn’t). It’s hard to say what the actual reason was, but could it be that, over time, people just woke up to the truth.
Juice is healthy, but it isn’t everything. It won’t detox your body, it won’t keep you from becoming sick, and it won’t stop you from dying. In fact, extreme juicing is downright dangerous.
Regardless of what juicing companies will try to tell you (keep in mind that they have something to sell you, friends) the truth is that your body, just the way you are, does an excellent job of removing waste and toxic elements. Juice won’t do a damn thing; except for tasting good, causing diarrhea, and giving you nutrients without the benefit of fiber.
As a matter of survival, your body comes equipped to remove toxins all on its own. Your detox system involves the liver, the kidneys, and the colon. This trio of organs removes toxins, such as lead, pesticides, or something as dangerous as antifreeze, without any help from other foods or drinks.
Oh, those weren’t the toxins you had in mind? Which were you thinking of? Overuse of medications, such as Tylenol? Or one of the biggest toxins around…alcohol; was that the one you had in mind? Again, your liver will do this for you without any effort on your part.
If your liver quits working, you need to see a doctor ASAP. Juice will not regenerate your liver. No, not even if it has kale in it.
Now we aren’t down on juice. We like it. We drink it. We just don’t drink a gallon of it each day and believe that it is somehow doing anything more than giving us vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. By the way, has anyone told you that your body is not a bank? You can fill a bank with money, add money to it every day and the money will pile up inside! Your body, however, only takes what it wants for the day or for that moment. Any extra nutrients (other than tiny amounts) are simply removed from the body. So, in essence, you are literally pissing your money away by drinking tons of juice every day, all day.
While drinking juice is all well and fine, selling people expensive juice mixes or juicing machines and misleading them into thinking that they are somehow cleansing their body is not only ridiculous, it borders on fraud.
You might have read that drinking only juice for a set number of days “allows the stomach or digestive system to rest”. Whoever said your stomach got tired? Your eyes work every day as well, but no one is suggesting that you cover your eyes for 3 to 14 days so they can rest.
Another popular claim is that juice does not need as much stomach acid to digest. OK. And? What is the point of that? Who said that your stomach needs to make fewer enzymes in order for your body to be healthy?
The last point we would like to make here is that whomever is telling you that the body needs to remove “excess” waste from the colon, and that juice cleanses are somehow the answer to that, is nothing more than a snake oil salesperson.
Feces, as gross as it is, are a natural part of the body and are actually GOOD for the colon. In case you haven’t heard it yet, people who suffer from digestive problems might be on the verge of having those problems solved as scientists have found that transplanting healthy feces to those with digestive problems (including weight problems) actually helps!
We find poop disgusting, so to the human mind, it must be akin to poison and it must be removed. This simply isn’t the case.
A couple of glasses of juice each day is a good thing. Eating the whole fruit is preferable, but if juice is your thing, by all means, enjoy it! We are not denying that a glass of fresh juice is better for you than those Frappuccinos. Just don’t think that drinking juice will save you from the grave or save you from grave illness.
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