24 Apr The Benefits of Detoxing and How to do it Without Losing Your Mind

You’ve heard of it before. And chances are, you’ve even tried it before. For decades, people have been trying to figure out how to detox the right way. If you want maximum results with minimal headaches, your best bet is to learn how to detox your body before you actually begin a cleanse.

One of the best ways to detox is to switch to a cold-pressed juice diet for a few days (typically 3 days). Cold-pressed juice is raw, unprocessed juice from fresh fruits and vegetables. When you cold press, you retain the nutrients and enzymes in the juice. On the other hand, when you juice with other methods, you heat and oxidize the fruits and veggies. As a result, you change the nutritional value of them.

Detoxing with a cold-pressed juice cleanse is ideal. Unfortunately, it can leave you feeling tired and irritable if you don’t do it the right way.

How to Detox with Cold-Pressed Juice

Here’s the thing: your body is always detoxing itself. Your liver and kidneys work hard every day to remove toxins from the blood and cells through bowel movements and urination. If you are healthy limit your exposure to environmental toxins, your body most likely already does an awesome job at removing harmful things from your system every day.

Also, if you’re going to the gym on a regular basis and sweating a lot, you’re already doing a bit of detox. When your body sweats, it releases toxins through the skin. And if you exfoliate and drink a lot of water, you are effectively detoxing.

Sometimes, though, your body needs a little boost to remove toxins. The body can only do so much on its own if it’s constantly being exposed and overwhelmed with toxic food, water, and air.

The Top 5 Benefits of Detoxing with Cold-Pressed Juices

The only way to detox well is to give your body a break from food and water containing toxins. This is exactly why people turn to juice cleanses. During a juice cleanse, you avoid processed foods and drinks, sugar, and chemicals. And in their place, you add raw, organic (very important) fruit and vegetable juices. The reason you drink juice, rather than just eat the fruits and veggies, is so that you can give your system gets a chance to empty out and rinse it, so to speak.

You probably know that detoxes aren’t magic wands that totally change your body in a week. At the same time, they’re beneficial and good for the body every now and then. Before you start thinking about how to detox the right way, take a look at these 6 amazing benefits of cold-pressed juice cleanses.

1. Pinpoint allergies caused by processed foods

A day or so after you start a juice cleanse, you may feel better. Sometimes, it’s not the juice that is making you feel better. You may have allergies to the foods you’ve cut out that you normally eat every day, such as wheat, eggs, milk, or even dyes or preservatives. If you feel better very soon into a juice cleanse, that’s good, but you should talk to your doctor and get an allergy screening to identify what was making you feel bad before the cleanse.

2. Introduce new fruits and veggies to your diet

How often do you eat beets, lemongrass or coconuts? Probably not that often. Drinking cold-press juice is a great way to try a variety of fruits, veggies, and herbs. As a result, you actually get nutrients you normally wouldn’t unless you supplement your diet. You don’t even have to be on a detox diet to enjoy this benefit.

3. Pack in nutrients that you normally miss

According to Dr. Axe, juice cleanses are beneficial in some ways. Through juicing, your body can “easily absorb vitamins, minerals, and enzymes the juice has to offer.” He says that, basically, juicing is like drinking a multi-vitamin. This is another benefit of cold-pressed juice that is beyond the detox.

4. Give your body a break

Your body works hard to break down food, process it, extract nutrients from it, and flush the waste. Every day, you actually burn about 10% of the calories you eat, just by digesting them. When you detox with a cold-pressed juice plan, you give your body a chance to empty itself out, and to take a break from the hard work of digestion.

 5. Give your body a clean slate

One final benefit of detoxing with cold-pressed juicing is simply this: you restart your system. If you’re able to cleanse effectively, it’s like sending your body back to START and you can have a fresh chance to eat the way you should, commit to a healthier lifestyle, and not have a bunch of gunk stored up in your system, slowing you down. A short cold-pressed juice detox is ideal for kick-starting a clean eating lifestyle, too.

How to detox without getting hangry

All of those benefits sound great, right? Here’s the thing: your mind is not going to love being on a cleanse as much as your body will. One of the biggest complaints people have about cleanses is that they get tired, easily annoyed, and hungry. As soon as your brain realizes it’s not getting what it wants, expect to become irritable, tired, and even demotivated.

Here’s how to detox properly so that you don’t get hangry or overly tired. These are simple but effective tips to ease into and stick with your detox.

1. Get more rest before you start. Now is the time to sleep 8+ hours a night or take naps during the day, so you’ll go into the detox already well-rested. Also, start cutting out junk food, whole grains, and meat a few days before the cleanse.
2. Drink tons of water. The juice cleanse could potentially dehydrate you (as it cleanses and causes more urination) so you have to replenish with water.
3. Switch to low-impact exercises. During the detox, you’re probably going to be more tired than usual. Choose activities like swimming and walking that keep you moving but don’t require as much as energy.
4. Add almond milk to your juices. Almond milk has a little bit of protein, which will help give you some much needed energy throughout the cleanse.

Bonus: Find a gym with a great juice bar

Finding a gym with a juice bar that does cold-pressed juicing on site is a goldmine, whether you’re detoxing or just want to add juicing to your fitness regime. If you don’t have a cold-presser at home, you’ll have to buy your juice from a store or juice bar. So, having a juice bar in your local gym creates one less trip to the store for you while you’re detoxing. It’s also nice to be able to get cold-pressed juice whenever you need it and to make it a regular part of your diet.

Conclusion

A detox isn’t a magic wand, but it can definitely be a reset button. Keep in mind that your body is always detoxing, so you don’t need to overdo it. Every now and then, though, a detox with cold-pressed juice can boost your immune system, recharge your batteries, and ultimately make your fitness regimen more effective.

If you’re looking for a juice bar in Manhattan, CompleteBody Gym‘s location at 10 Hanover Street in NYC features a fully staffed, in-house bar with a wide range of options for you to choose from. There are 8 cold-pressed juice options, plus a ton of other items including frozen yogurt, other fresh juices, smoothies, and elixirs. See the menu here.