Juice Based Diet In Singapore

What Is a Juice Based Diet?

Juice based diet or what is commonly known as juicing. Juicing is used for cleansing or detoxification and has been gaining popularity as a weight loss dietary regime and a process for detoxification. However, the question remains, does squeezing the essence of all those whole fruits and vegetables into a glass really bring about health benefits?  

Let’s discuss below.

How Does Juice based Diet Work

 As mentioned by the mayo clinic, juicing involves the extraction of juice from fresh fruits and vegetables. While most of the nutrients and minerals from these sources are retained in the liquified form, however, the beneficial fiber from these sources are destroyed in the juicing process. [1]

Typically, a strict juicing diet routine is done over a short time span, 3 to 5 days, anything over that period can be hard to sustain and potentially harmful to the body.

Pros 

• Convenience – easy to get nutrients from an array of vegetables and fruits into a glass
• Supports weight loss during the period of juicing intake.

Cons

• Sugar loaded – typically a glass of orange juice needs about 4 to 5 whole fruits to produce, as such, one glass would contain 4 to 5 times the amount of sugar if one were to just consume one orange at a time. 
• Lack of fiber – juicing takes away a big part of the fiber content from fruits and vegetables. These fiber is beneficial and better to be consumed from the whole foods instead.
• Little scientific evidence that juicing is good for detoxification. Our body naturally detoxifies through the liver, kidney, lungs, guts and skin.[2]
• Weight rebound – High chance of weight gain after the juicing diet phase, as the body begins its regular meals intake again. 
• Juicing does not contain essential protein for muscle growth and recovery.

Can you lose weight by drinking only juice? 

The short answer is yes. However, it is not sustainable and not recommended. As discussed by Healthline, a juice diet regimen typically restricts the individual to 800 to 1000 Calories per day, which might be too little to last through the day. [3]

With such a massive calorie deficit, weight loss will definitely occur within the few days of the diet plan, but in the long run, the loss will gradually plateau. This is because the metabolic rate of the body will slow down, which means the body (in a calorie deficit environment) will tend to store as much fats as possible by slowing down the fat burning process.  

The best way for weight loss will still be to consume whole foods that are nutritionally balanced, avoid processed foods such as processed meats and refine sugar and exercise!

Also read our article on Keto Diet in Singapore.