Does juicing really "rinse" our insides and pull unnecessary additives from our blood?
To put it bluntly, no. The best current mechanisms of detoxification are found in our liver and kidneys, as these organs have evolved to literally remove toxins from our body. Replacing our food intake with one of strictly fruit juice does not necessarily remove anything harmful from our blood. So if we aren’t squeezing nastiness out, what is a juice cleanse? Why are they helpful?
Dr. Joel Furhman puts it well, saying “[colorful fruits and vegetables] drive the production of enzymes that enable the excretion of carcinogens and other potentially harmful compounds. This detoxification system counteracts oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA damage.
Eating right, in itself, enables valuable detoxification mechanisms”. So while a juice cleanse will not pull toxins out of your blood, it may allow your kidneys and liver to do their job more efficiently. Plus, because fruits and veggies are super calorically sparse, they fill you up and satisfy hunger. That means less eating, which has a direct positive effect on our body function. Dr. Furhman comments on this: “Adding periodic calorie restriction to an already nutrient-rich diet could intensify the body’s ability to heal and repair by extending the amount of time in the fasting repair mode and reducing growth-related signal”.
When our body isn’t actively processing food into energy, it can focus on repair, recovery and more specifically the natural detoxification methods of our liver and kidneys.