There
are a few nasty side effects to
juicing of which you should be
aware. You know that saying about
pain being weakness leaving the
body? Well, that’s kind of the same
principle here. The side effects of
cleansing are literally caused by
poisons leaving your body, but after
your system is cleared, you’re going
to feel incredible. Once all of the
toxins are gone, and your digestive
tract is free from years of
accumulated junk, you’ll feel like a
new person — we promise!
Nausea and Vomiting
Since you’re not slowing down the
digestive absorption process with
fiber, your body will get a huge
burst of nutrients all at once. If it
isn’t used to fresh juice, the rush of
nutrients may make you feel sick
until you get used to this. It may
help to dilute your juices by mixing
them with an equal amount of
water, at least for the first few
days.
Headaches
It’s likely that you’ll experience a
headache in the first few days of a
cleanse, especially if you didn’t
wean yourself completely off
chemical addictions such as
caffeine. A headache is the main
symptom of caffeine withdrawal but
will go away after a couple days.
Breakouts, Bad Breath, and
Body Odor
Your body has only so many means
of releasing toxins, and your skin
and the respiration process are two
of the main channels. On the
positive side, when you start to
notice breakouts and bad breath,
you’ll know that your cleanse is
working; on the negative side, all of
the people around you will notice,
too. Since it can actually get pretty
bad during the first few days, you
may want to take some time off
from work or start your cleanse at
the beginning of a three-day
weekend.
Diarrhea or Constipation
Since you’re not eating solid foods
and don’t have the fiber to slow
things down, you may experience
diarrhea until your body flushes all
of the toxins out. If it gets too bad,
add a bit of fiber back into your diet
by eating some celery or a
cucumber for a few days, as you
don’t want to become dehydrated.
On the other hand, the general
absence of fiber during the cleanse
may cause you to go the other
direction and experience some
constipation. If so, try adding some
prune juice or another natural
laxative into your juice.
Lethargy
It’s pretty typical to experience a
sudden lag in energy for the first
couple days of a fast, because
you’re not eating solid
carbohydrates, sugars, caffeine, and
other junk. The carbs that you’re
getting from juice are rapidly
absorbed and used, so spikes of
energy followed by crashes are also
common. You should be fine after a
few days though, once you’ve
adjusted to the juice and the toxins
have left your body.
