Gwyneth Paltrow raves about it on her blog. Sarah Jessica Parker does it. Salma Hayek even created her own line. The latest proof that you truly care for your health is to carry around bottles filled with a colorful, viscous liquid and tell everyone that you can’t possibly go to lunch — you’re on a juice cleanse. The theory is that by drinking only raw fruit and vegetable juices over a certain period of time, you’ll rid your body of toxins and cleanse your digestive system, dropping a few pounds in the process.
The benefits of a juice cleanse are clarity, energy, prevention (and even reversal) of disease, according to Denise Mari, founder and executive director of Organic Avenue, which offers five different juice cleanses ranging from $350 to $500 for a five-day supply. “You get everything from the basic weight loss to getting more in tune with your goals and ambitions,” said Mari. “Once you have that kind of energy, life is so much more enjoyable. When you’re fully vibrant and nourished, life becomes a game.”
Organic Avenue has six locations, with plans to open two more stores this summer. The menu includes raw solid foods like zucchini pasta and a Portobello wrap, but it’s best known for its popular LOVE cleanse (an acronym for “Live, Organic, Vegan Experience”), a liquid diet that can be delivered to the New York City or Greenwich, Conn., area.
“It’s food in the most natural state,” said Mari. “It’s all organic, fresh, ripe, raw ingredients. With a cleanse, you don’t have to think about what you’re eating and your body gets pure nutrition.”
Yet several experts say that doing a juice cleanse is not a good idea. “There are safer and more sustainable ways to keep your body healthy and lose weight,” said Sari Greaves, a registered dietician and spokewoman for the American Dietetic Association. “A lot of these types of diets appeal to people because they hear the words ‘cleanse,’ ‘detox,’ and ‘weight loss.’ You’re basically drinking juices from whole fruits and vegetables, with the goal of resting the digestive tract. But there’s no scientific evidence that you need to do this.”
Greaves allowed that a juice cleanse might benefit someone trying to make a dramatic lifestyle modification, a point which Mari also made. “In my experience, cleansing can be a jump-start to a healthier way of being,” said Mari. “It’s a period of time where you devote and commit yourself to health, and it ramps you up. You’re going to leave that five-day experience and maybe drink a green juice every day thereafter. You have to listen to your body.”
At BluePrintCleanse, customers choose which cleanse they’d like to do, with choices like Renovation, Foundation, or Excavation, and how long they like to do it. During the cleanse, six bottles of juice are delivered daily, with names like Spicy Lemonade and Cashew Milk, along with instructions on when to drink each. Costs range from $60 to $85 per day, depending on the delivery method chosen.
Each cleanse provides between 900 to 1,100 calories a day. “We try to communicate that this is about nourishing your body and not about deprivation,” said Zoe Sakoutis, who co-founded BluePrintCleanse with Erica Huss. “You’re probably getting more nutrients and vitamins in one day than you would typically consume in the standard American diet.”
The FAQ section of BluePrintCleanse’s website encourages juicers not to focus on the calorie count, stating that 500 calories of live juice can’t compare to 500 calories from a bagel with cream cheese. Not so, according to Greaves. “Let me put it this way, whether one prefers wine, beer, or a vodka martini at a dinner party, your body just recognizes it as alcohol,” said Greaves. “Similarly, when it comes to weight management, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, regardless of the source,” adding that no one should dip below 1,200 calories a day for weight loss.
And there’s no need to do a juice cleanse in order to rid your body of toxins. “We have an organ called the liver that cleanses everything,” said Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietician, spokeswoman for the ADA and a clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University. “A lot of these cleansing diets are based upon the belief that there are toxic elements in the body that need to be removed. But assuming the liver is doing its job, there’s no need. Everything has to go through the liver anyway, whether it’s everyday food or a cleanse. There’s nothing magical about this.”
Huss and Sakoutis counter that in an ideal world with an ideal diet, the body can clean itself out, but most people are consuming processed foods that didn’t exist when the digestive system was developed. “Our lifestyle has shifted and we’re consuming a lot of things that our bodies don’t digest well and don’t read as food,” said Zakoutis.
Many products claim to eliminate toxins, but fail to mention which toxins are being removed and don’t provide any scientific evidence to support their claims, according to Dr. Brent Bauer, the director of the complementary and integrative medicine program at the Mayo Clinic. “Certainly, if the choice is between a sugary drink with no nutritional value and a fruit or vegetable juice, the answer is clear,” said Bauer. “Just watch out for hyperbole and hype when making a decision about whether or not to include raw juices in your nutrition plan.”
“In a way, if you want to cleanse on a daily basis, just eat a plant-based diet that’s rich in whole grains and fruit and vegetables,” said Salge Blake. “Do that, and you’ll be moving along just fine.”
The benefits of a juice cleanse are clarity, energy, prevention (and even reversal) of disease, according to Denise Mari, founder and executive director of Organic Avenue, which offers five different juice cleanses ranging from $350 to $500 for a five-day supply. “You get everything from the basic weight loss to getting more in tune with your goals and ambitions,” said Mari. “Once you have that kind of energy, life is so much more enjoyable. When you’re fully vibrant and nourished, life becomes a game.”
Organic Avenue has six locations, with plans to open two more stores this summer. The menu includes raw solid foods like zucchini pasta and a Portobello wrap, but it’s best known for its popular LOVE cleanse (an acronym for “Live, Organic, Vegan Experience”), a liquid diet that can be delivered to the New York City or Greenwich, Conn., area.
“It’s food in the most natural state,” said Mari. “It’s all organic, fresh, ripe, raw ingredients. With a cleanse, you don’t have to think about what you’re eating and your body gets pure nutrition.”
Yet several experts say that doing a juice cleanse is not a good idea. “There are safer and more sustainable ways to keep your body healthy and lose weight,” said Sari Greaves, a registered dietician and spokewoman for the American Dietetic Association. “A lot of these types of diets appeal to people because they hear the words ‘cleanse,’ ‘detox,’ and ‘weight loss.’ You’re basically drinking juices from whole fruits and vegetables, with the goal of resting the digestive tract. But there’s no scientific evidence that you need to do this.”
Greaves allowed that a juice cleanse might benefit someone trying to make a dramatic lifestyle modification, a point which Mari also made. “In my experience, cleansing can be a jump-start to a healthier way of being,” said Mari. “It’s a period of time where you devote and commit yourself to health, and it ramps you up. You’re going to leave that five-day experience and maybe drink a green juice every day thereafter. You have to listen to your body.”
At BluePrintCleanse, customers choose which cleanse they’d like to do, with choices like Renovation, Foundation, or Excavation, and how long they like to do it. During the cleanse, six bottles of juice are delivered daily, with names like Spicy Lemonade and Cashew Milk, along with instructions on when to drink each. Costs range from $60 to $85 per day, depending on the delivery method chosen.
Each cleanse provides between 900 to 1,100 calories a day. “We try to communicate that this is about nourishing your body and not about deprivation,” said Zoe Sakoutis, who co-founded BluePrintCleanse with Erica Huss. “You’re probably getting more nutrients and vitamins in one day than you would typically consume in the standard American diet.”
The FAQ section of BluePrintCleanse’s website encourages juicers not to focus on the calorie count, stating that 500 calories of live juice can’t compare to 500 calories from a bagel with cream cheese. Not so, according to Greaves. “Let me put it this way, whether one prefers wine, beer, or a vodka martini at a dinner party, your body just recognizes it as alcohol,” said Greaves. “Similarly, when it comes to weight management, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, regardless of the source,” adding that no one should dip below 1,200 calories a day for weight loss.
And there’s no need to do a juice cleanse in order to rid your body of toxins. “We have an organ called the liver that cleanses everything,” said Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietician, spokeswoman for the ADA and a clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University. “A lot of these cleansing diets are based upon the belief that there are toxic elements in the body that need to be removed. But assuming the liver is doing its job, there’s no need. Everything has to go through the liver anyway, whether it’s everyday food or a cleanse. There’s nothing magical about this.”
Huss and Sakoutis counter that in an ideal world with an ideal diet, the body can clean itself out, but most people are consuming processed foods that didn’t exist when the digestive system was developed. “Our lifestyle has shifted and we’re consuming a lot of things that our bodies don’t digest well and don’t read as food,” said Zakoutis.
Many products claim to eliminate toxins, but fail to mention which toxins are being removed and don’t provide any scientific evidence to support their claims, according to Dr. Brent Bauer, the director of the complementary and integrative medicine program at the Mayo Clinic. “Certainly, if the choice is between a sugary drink with no nutritional value and a fruit or vegetable juice, the answer is clear,” said Bauer. “Just watch out for hyperbole and hype when making a decision about whether or not to include raw juices in your nutrition plan.”
“In a way, if you want to cleanse on a daily basis, just eat a plant-based diet that’s rich in whole grains and fruit and vegetables,” said Salge Blake. “Do that, and you’ll be moving along just fine.”
