Smoothies Vs. Juices series.

Alright, now on to the bonus installment of

our Smoothies Vs. Juices series.

(from Kevin Gianni, The Renegade Health Show)

What is better for cleansing and removing toxins:

An all smoothie cleanse or a juice fast?

To start, the premise of cleansing is to allow

your body to heal itself and remove toxins

naturally.

So first off, both smoothies and juices, as long

as they're organic (and even if they're not),

are both very effective for cleansing on the

short term. (Let's say short term is 3-10 days.)

Why?

Because they give your body a break from the

more difficult foods to digest.

It's about what you leave out of your diet

that is most important.

So when it comes to cleansing, they both do

work.

I prefer a smoothie cleanse (like the one we

have in the Raw Food Challenge) for the simple

fact that you can do it for longer.

I'm not a fan of long term juice fasting and

in some cases long term juice feasting.

First off it's an irregular eating pattern, so

this can create disordered eating.

I know plenty of people who juice fast about

once a month, but binge the rest of the time.

As you know this is extremely unhealthy for

your metabolism.

It seems like they use juice fasting or juice

feasting as a traditional "diet" or as a

punishment for being bad, or to release the

"toxins" they have accumulated in the last

few weeks.

When you do a smoothie cleanse, you are much

closer to eating real food so it doesn't cause

as many disordered eating patterns AND you're

getting much more calories.

Remember, we can't subscribe to the calorie

restriction diet, until we know exactly what

it is. It does NOT mean we are supposed to

eat less calories than our body needs.

It means that we're to be smart about our

portion sizes. The scientists in these studies

"restrict" the calories of the animals. They

don't starve them. "Restriction" only means

there is enough food, but not too much.

Anyway, with smoothies your chances of getting

more calories are increased dramatically so

you're able to maintain the cleanse longer.

On a juice fast, with little apple or carrot

juice, you'd be lucky to get 500 calories

a day. With a smoothie cleanse you can get

upwards of 2000-2500.

And here's what's great... is that since many

of the nutrients in the smoothie cleanse are

simple sugars, vitamins and minerals, your

body will start to cleanse and detoxify naturally.

This doesn't mean a juice fast isn't good.

We just did one in Costa Rica.

And if you're medically instructed to do one,

don't listen to me! :-)

I just prefet the smoothie cleanse for the

majority of people's needs. Which is to get

a litte more energy, maybe lose some weight

and to jump start their healthy diet.

One last thing on a smoothie cleanse vs. juice

fast...

For weight loss, I think a smoothie cleanse

is better as well.

I think creating long term good eating habits

is best overall, but for the short term smoothie

take the cake (he he)...

Why?

Because you can lose weight more gradually.

In all my work as a trainer and health coash,

I've seen many diets and how they work with

my clients.

First and foremost, if you lose weight too

fast (with very few exceptions) you're poised

to gain it back and more.

A juice fast will cause to you lose a lost of

weight fast and when you're done, most people

will gain it back and more in a short period

of time.

I lost 9 pounds on our Costa Rica fast (I really

didn't care to lose any!).

But it was back in no time.

For me that was a plus, because I didn't want

to be so thin, but I didn't try to gain the

weight back. It just came back quickly.

So imagine if you were trying to lose weight,

you did, then you gained it right back in a

short time like that. (Plus more)

Not very comforting.

With smoothies, at least you can give your

body some time to adjust and lose weight a

little more gradually.

It still may be fast, but your chances of

creating a healthy habit with something that

you can maintain, such as a smoothie every

day, is much higher than with juices.

I'm sure there will be plenty of opinions

and thoughts about this and I welcome them.

Just remember the most effective things to

do for cleansing and detoxifying is to remove

toxins from your diet in the first place.

Your body will clear up some of the rest

when you eat clean.

So these arguments are maybe even a little too

detailed than anyone needs.

But it's fun to explain and maybe it will help

you decide which way is best for you!