Liquid Diet Detox

Water and juice fasts are popular methods of detoxing. These fasts, as the name suggests, eliminate all solid foods from your diet for a limited time and replace them with fluids. The elimination of food from your system is said to give your body time to focus on ridding the body of toxins while not being continually overloaded with food to process. A high liquid intake furthers this process by helping to flush out the liver, the kidneys and the bowel.

More liquid for Optimal Body Function

We have all been warned about the dangers of dehydration, being told to consume at least 2 liters of water a day. But how does this help the detoxing process? Well, when the body doesn’t have enough water it can’t properly hydrate the cells. Thus the cells panic and draw water from the bloodstream. This keeps the blood from flowing at its ideal rate and the dehydration even prevents the kidneys from adequately purifying the blood. And in a domino like effect when one organ is not functioning optimally other organs step in to try and relieve some of the burden. This puts unnecessary stress on the body resulting in many minor and chronic health problems such as constipation, bloating, dry skin, acne, urinary tract infections, headaches etc.

Flooding your body with liquids prevents this dehydrating effect from happening. The large quantity of water being introduced into your system immediately stimulates the kidney, liver and digestive system function that in turn accelerates toxin and fat elimination.

Water versus Juice

Whether to choose a strictly water fast or to include juices as well is a strictly personal choice.

A water fast is definitely the more difficult of the two methods, as it means that your body is receiving no calories, hence no energy. Yet water is the body’s ultimate natural detox tool and provides many benefits when people have the determination to stick to it. With no added calories nor harmful toxins your body will aggressively begin to rid itself of toxins. Often this means unpleasant side effects such as headaches or dizziness that are perhaps not as pronounced when incorporating food or even juice to your detox regime.

Thus, juice fasting, on the other hand, is a little bit easier as your body has a steady intake of fresh vegetable and fruit juices. In fact, according to Laura McCarthy, author of Holding Fast, juice is often preferred to water because it requires minimal digestion; it helps stabilize blood sugar levels; is easily absorbed by the body; and supplies nutrients and calories to keep energy level while clearing body waste.

Precautions

It is important to limit the length of the liquid detox diet, as it severely limits caloric intake, and provides virtually no protein or fat. A strictly water fast should not be done for longer than 48 hours, unless medically supervised, and juice fasts are also not recommended for more than a week or two.

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