Maybe you feel like you’ve overdone it a little! For many, the beginning of August means the end of summer … and with it often comes a sudden surge in travel, parties, food and drink. This is why a juice regimen – an increasingly popular “solution” to eradicating all of this damage – can seem like such a relief. However, says one liver expert, juice cleanings are actually unnecessary to your system; and can even increase the damage earlier unhealthy choices can cause.
At the end of a meal-filled vacation or social weekend, it’s natural when the only thing you crave is a way to reverse the sugar, fat, cholesterol, and alcohol you’ve been consuming. Squeezed juices made from fresh fruits, vegetables, and some other natural foods often seem like an attractive “detox” method, but California gastroenterologist Kaveh Hoda, MD says cleaning often comes with a few dirty little secrets.
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On a recent episode of Jen Gunter, MD’s Body Stuff podcast (via Insider), Hoda commented in response to whether our bodies need to be “cleansed” by “pulling out” the bad with tactics like juice cleansing. “[It] probably sounds like more sugar than you need, probably not the kind of thing we’d recommend, “Hoda said.
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Hoda addressed other shortcomings of the “cleanses” diet, such as the body’s need for a broader balance of nutrients than juices alone can provide, and that some of the more acidic juices “can actually irritate the gastrointestinal tract”, he said. In particular, he pointed to a relatively well-known lemon-cayenne-pepper mixture.
So juice cleansing alone isn’t the perfect solution to making up for those summer mistakes – but there are healthier ways out there. Do some research on the one drink you should be drinking to cleanse your body, according to a registered nutritionist. Also read on:
