How a juice cleanse can help you lose weight and reset your body to usher in healthier eating habits – experts weigh in

A simple juice cleanse – not to be confused with therapeutic fasting or so-called detox products – generally lasts between two and five days, and no longer than a week.

“During this period, you only drink fruit and vegetable juices,” says Niklas Schwarz, an instructor at the German University of Applied Sciences for Prevention and Health Management in Saarbrücken, Germany.

You drink from three to six servings of juice per day, each a mixture of various types of fruits and vegetables. A serving contains 250 to 500 millilitres (8.4 to 16.8 ounces) of juice. “The total amount ranges from 1 to 1 1/2 litres,” Schwarz says.

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You can start immediately. Some people indulge in their favourite foods the day before, while others avoid foods such as meat and white flour products.

People with a pre-existing medical condition should consult their healthcare provider first, says Antje Gahl, a spokesperson for the German Nutrition Society.

“Women who are pregnant or nursing shouldn’t fast either,” Gahl says. “Nor is it suitable for the elderly and children, because they have a high nutrient requirement.”

A juice cleanse is straightforward for healthy people. Both Gahl and Schwarz say it can be the start of an overhaul of your eating habits.

“Then it’s a launch pad that makes changing your diet easier,” says Schwarz.

“The juices provide the body with many vitamins and secondary plant metabolites [substances that help plants survive, but that impart health benefits when consumed] along with minerals and fibre,” says Gahl, adding that the cleanses also lighten your bowels’ workload thanks to the juices’ easy digestibility.

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As to whether they make you feel better, she says it is purely subjective: “Establishing a direct connection is difficult.”

On the negative side, juice cleanses deprive your body of many nutrients, for example proteins and essential fatty acids. “So, in some respects, it’s an unbalanced diet,” she says.

This is why it is important to not do juice cleanses for longer than a week, and to spread the servings over the day rather than drinking everything at once.

A one-week juice cleanse usually results in a weight loss of one to 1.5 kilograms (2.2 to 3.3 pounds), and even as much as 3kg to 5kg, depending on your baseline, according to Schwarz.

“It’s not only fat though, but to a large extent the water that you always lose when you start a diet,” he explains. “The drop in digestive tract content reduces your weight too, and the lack of protein intake causes your muscles to break down some protein.”

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So the key to losing weight is to overhaul your diet after you have finished the juice cleanse.

“If you then resume your old eating habits, you’ll regain the weight in a week or two,” Schwarz says.