Using Juice Cleanse Recipes For Your First Cleanse

A juicing cleanse is a hot topic, but whether you are choosing to do one for your own health, you want to see if it’s really worth all the hype, or you just want to try out some of those juice cleanse recipes to see if they really do taste good, there are a few things you should probably know. You only get one “first” cleanse, so you need to make sure you know everything you need to know before you get started.

What Juices Really Mean
If you are planning to just head to the grocery store and stock up on several different flavors of juices, don’t. A true juicing cleanse requires specific juices, and every single one of them is raw. Raw juices are those that are made from raw vegetables and fruits, and they don’t contain the pulp, which is essentially the ‘skin” or “meat” of the vegetables. Instead, you are drinking the water content of the vegetables and fruits.

If this sounds kind of strange, don’t sweat it – it’s actually quite simple. Juices that are extracted from the rest of the fruit give you tons of vitamins, minerals, and other healthy goodness, while losing most of the fiber content. While fiber is important for you, when you’re doing a cleanse your goal is to give your body the healthy nutrients it needs, and for it to go straight to your bloodstream and system quickly. You are trying to help your body heal with juice cleanse recipes, and the fiber is unnecessary at this point. It should be known that fiber after a cleanse is very important and although it won’t be contained in juices, eating a diet based on whole foods will give you plenty of it.

Store Bought or Made at Home
You will need to decide whether you are going to go to your local raw foods store, juice bar, or make your juices at home. Cost and convenience are major considerations here. A juicer that you can use at home, depending on the juicer can be expensive, but it is well worth the money, especially if you’re going to use it. To be clear a juicer is not a blender. It will clearly state that it is a juicer. If you are willing to spend a bit more, there are options available that can handle both juicing and blending, and this can be a great addition after your first cleanse is behind you. Then, you will have the option to include smoothies with your juices to create a wider variety of yummy, healthy beverages.

You also have the option of buying your juices. However, if you purchase your juices you have to make sure there are absolutely no other unwanted ingredients in them. This means there can’t be any types of preservatives, flavorings, colorings, or the actual pulp in the liquid. These are also rather expensive, and they don’t stay fresh very long, so you will need to consider whether running out to the health store makes sense for you or not.

Making Your Own Juice Cleanse Recipes

If you opt for making your own juices, congrats – if you were willing to pay a little extra money for the juicer, you are obviously serious about changing your eating habits after the cleanse. Making your own juices is actually kind of fun, especially after you become more familiar with some of the tastes of the vegetables, and how they work together. When you are in the beginning stages, and you are just gearing up for your first dip into juicing, your best bet will be to look for juice cleanse recipes that are designed for a cleanse. These will provide you with the best combinations of vegetables that will give your body the precious vitamins, minerals, and nutrients it needs to help you get rid of the damage caused by all those years of eating unhealthy processed foods.

Organic Really Does Matter
While you might think all those recipes that call for organic vegetables are just trying to make you buy veggies that are more expensive, that is not the case. The entire point of your first cleanse is to get rid of all those toxins that are floating around in there and making your body feel horrible. When you purchase organic produce, you are ensuring that they are free from pesticides and other chemicals that will just add to those already in your body. You are doing this cleanse to clear out the junk, and to give your body a rest. If you use non-organic foods, you are just adding even more to the toxins you are trying to get rid of.

Watch Those Fruits
Fruits taste yummy, and they can really alter the taste of some of those green juices. But, they should not be a major part of your juice cleanse recipes. This is because fruits also have a ton of natural sugars, and – you guessed it – you don’t need to add all the additional sugar during your first cleanse. Afterwards, you can always add a few fruits sparingly, just keep in mind that since you are drinking the juices without the fiber, that sugar will make its way into your blood stream much faster. If you aren’t careful, that can lead to blood sugar spikes that certainly won’t make you feel all that great later on.

Just as an FYI, some of the fruits with the highest sugar content are strawberries, cherries, bananas, pomegranates, grapes, and figs. While every one of these are absolutely wonderful in your juices, you have to make sure you don’t overuse them – especially if you are doing this juicing thing to lose weight and get your health under control. As long as you keep in mind that a little goes a long way, you should have no problems adding a fruit to your favorite recipes later on when you’ve made it past the cleanse.

Hang in There
Your first juice cleanse will probably seem a little strange, especially when you start downing those juices that have such a beautiful green color. Just follow your juice cleanse recipes, and those three days or so will be over before you know it, and your body will truly feel like it is really getting a fresh, clean start – making it the perfect time to really embrace the juicing lifestyle.