Does a Juice Diet Really Work? Well, I Went on One to Find Out!

Just went on a Juice Diet/Juice Cleanse to find out if it really works! Read on to find out.

If you really believe that a diet of special juices worth Rs 1,600 a day will help you lose weight and put you on a path of eating clean, then you must also believe in the healing powers of crystals and vitality bestowing magnets? 

(Photo: iStock)

Advertising: The thing that will make a bald person buy a comb. That is what made me reach out to a cold-pressed juice site. Those little blurbs on social media sites, “Try a beauty cleanse for glowing skin and smoother hair!”, “Detox your way to a healthier body and better sleep” got the best of me. I just had to try it. Would it really help me sleep better? Not that I don’t sleep well already. But smoother skin and hair? Flushing out the toxins from my body? Hells bells, sign me up!

I ordered a one-day cleanse from a certain name brand, whose adverts I kept seeing. Cold-pressed juices have taken over the market. The technique they use to extract juice by masticating and grinding the produce without spinning blades or heat ensures no nutrients and live enzymes die out.

The one-day juice cleanse involved 6 juices, 410 ml each. It also contained one shot of wheatgrass juice. These were a mix of fruit and vegetables juices. For example: tangerines, carrots and ginger made up one of the juices.

So there I was. With seven bottles of cold-pressed juices and a whole day in front of me. Right. It started off well, mainly because I slept in. I woke up, had the first juice and went back to sleep until it was time for the second juice, which was about 11:30 am. All was good. Then rolled in 2 pm. That’s when hunger hit, but nothing that wouldn’t be taken care by the 3rd juice, and then the 4th and so on. I was not hungry and feeling pretty good about myself...

...that’s till I chatted with a nutrition expert.

Does a Juice Cleanse Really Work?

According to nutritionists, they do not. First, when you have a fruit, you take in the sugar content of only that fruit. If you drink a 450 ml bottle of say orange juice, it can have as much as 26 grams of sugar. According to American Heart Association, a daily intake of added sugar for an average woman should not be more than 25 grams!

There I sat, heartbroken, when I spoke to a certified nutritionist who informed me that juice cleanses don’t even work in theory. The whole notion of getting rid of toxins with a one-day cleanse is ludicrous.

Juice cleanses don’t really work, but if you really want to go on one, I would advice only vegetable juices. But please don’t be misguided to think you can get rid of any toxins in a day. 

Naini Setalvad, Obesity, Lifestyle & Disease Consultant

So, at the end of the day, what did I feel?

I felt a bit stupid for having put myself through an entire day of drinking cold juices in hopes of waking up healthier, with clearer skin and softer hair. There was really no change in my sleeping pattern, and the next day I felt the same as any other day.

If you are a healthy person, you really don’t need a juice cleanse. Sure, you can integrate a glass of juice into your diet, but you really need not go on a juice diet or a juice cleanse. Sorry folks, just another fad diet that doesn’t work.