How Does the 21-Day Juice Cleanse Declare to Work?
Look on-line and also you’ll doubtless discover a wide range of tips for a 21-day juice quick.
“Some 21-day plans (often these promoted by juice firms) suggest fruit and vegetable juices just for 21 days,” says Scottsdale, Arizona-based Anne Danahy, RDN. “Nonetheless, most plans recommend juices for as much as one week, adopted by every week of vegetable soups and smoothies, adopted by uncooked meals, however no meats or animal meals, to progressively get your digestive tract working once more.”
Individuals might select to undertake a 21-day juice quick for various causes.
For a lot of, it’s a instrument for weight reduction, since consuming solely juice (and uncooked, gentle meals in later phases of the food regimen) cuts energy considerably. For others, a 21-day juice quick is meant to “detox” the physique of heavy metals and different dangerous substances. And a few use a 21-day juice quick as a part of a religious follow, looking for the psychological readability that will come from fasting.
What Can You Eat on the 21-Day Juice Quick Food regimen?
Once more, the parameters of a 21-day juice quick are fairly variable. It’s largely as much as you to find out what you’ll eat at totally different phases of the food regimen. That stated, many plans contain the next:
- A seven-day section of consuming solely freshly made fruit and vegetable juices and water. Selfmade juices are really helpful, since commercially made juices might comprise added sugar or different elements. Some folks dilute their juice with equal components juice and filtered water. Others drink 8 ounces (oz) of juice adopted by 8 oz of water.
- A second section of “gentle” consuming: This section usually includes three to seven days of consuming low-calorie, plant-based meals like soups, salads, and smoothies. It is supposed to permit your physique to readjust to stable meals after every week of a liquid food regimen.
- A 3rd section of “uncooked” consuming through which about 75 p.c of your consumption comes from contemporary, uncooked meals: The remaining 25 p.c can come from cooked meals. Meat and poultry are often discouraged, as are cooking strategies like frying and breading.
Meals to Embody
Through the juices-only section of the quick, you’ll be able to drink juices with the next elements:
- Apples
- Bananas
- Bell peppers
- Berries
- Carrots
- Celery
- Citrus fruits
- Cruciferous greens like broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts
- Cucumber
- Recent herbs
- Kiwi
- Leafy greens like kale, spinach, and chard
- Lemon juice
- Pineapple
- Pomegranate
- Watermelon
- Zucchini
Meals to Keep away from
In the meantime, the next meals are restricted:
- Added fat like cooking oils, salad dressings, and mayonnaise
- Alcohol
- Beans and legumes
- Dairy meals like cheese, milk, and yogurt
- Grains like bread, pasta, rice, oats, and quinoa
- Meats, together with rooster, pork, beef, and lamb
- Nuts and seeds
- Sugar-sweetened drinks
Potential Advantages of the 21-Day Juice Quick Food regimen (and Why They Might Not Final)
By consuming solely juice for every week (and really gentle meals for 2 extra weeks), you’ll trim your calorie consumption significantly. For that reason, weight reduction is probably going throughout a 21-day juice quick, in keeping with Houston Methodist.
Nonetheless, Danahy cautions that juice fasting isn’t a wholesome or sustainable path to long-term weight reduction.
“Fruit and vegetable juices have nearly no protein, and are very low in energy,” she says. “Whereas that may promote weight reduction, it’s primarily since you’re shedding water and muscle.” If you resume your normal consuming habits, you’re more likely to regain weight misplaced throughout a short-term quick, in keeping with Mayo Clinic.
Danahy says the declare {that a} three-week juice quick will “detox” your physique additionally doesn’t maintain water. “There isn’t any scientific proof {that a} juice food regimen helps you detox,” says Danahy.
Based on the College of Rochester Medical Heart, your kidneys and liver do this job 24/7, so the easiest way to take away toxins is to assist these organs with a wholesome, balanced food regimen excessive in entire fruits, greens, and different high-fiber meals, and low in salt and added sugar, particularly in ultra-processed meals and alcohol.
As for the psychological and religious readability purported to come back from fasting, extra scientific proof is required. In a small research revealed in 2023, males who did a water-only quick for eight days skilled no adjustments to their psychological well-being.
Nonetheless, one other small research that checked out 52 younger girls who fasted for 18 hours discovered they reported a wide range of emotional impacts, from elevated optimistic emotions of feat, reward, satisfaction, and management to elevated irritability.
Whereas neither of those research regarded particularly at 21-day juice fasts, they recommend that every individual might have a singular psychological, emotional, and religious response to fasting.
Potential Dangers of a 21-Day Juice Quick
Happening a 21-day juice quick isn’t with out dangers, together with:
- Nutrient Deficiencies Although fruit and veggies have a lot of essential vitamins, they’re notably missing in protein, fats, and sure micronutrients like vitamin B12, in keeping with Houston Methodist. Going with out these vitamins for too lengthy may result in deficiencies.
- Elevated Blood Sugar Fruit juice could be very excessive in sugar, which may trigger excessive blood sugar in somebody with diabetes or prediabetes, in keeping with Diabetes.co.uk.
- Undesirable Adjustments from Low Fiber A research revealed in 2025 discovered that juice diets missing in fiber induced dangerous adjustments to oral and intestine micro organism after simply three days. In the meantime, low fiber consumption may decelerate your digestion, inflicting constipation.
- Unsustainable Weight Loss Speedy weight reduction isn’t often lasting weight reduction, in keeping with Mayo Clinic. Although a juice quick may soften away kilos shortly, it’s not a long-term answer, and it may result in an unhealthy cycle of yo-yo weight-reduction plan.
- Lack of Scientific Proof Scientific proof doesn’t assist juicing’s declare to detoxify the physique or particular person organs.
- Social Isolation The restrictive nature of a 21-day juice quick may imply three weeks of issue socializing over meals. Throughout this time, it’s possible you’ll lose out on the pleasure of having fun with meals with others.
Is the 21-Day Juice Quick Food regimen Proper for You?
Simply because a juice quick is touted by an influencer you admire doesn’t make this fad a wholesome alternative.
“Everytime you examine diets or well being info on-line or on social media, it’s important to contemplate the supply,” says Danahy. “No authentic medical authorities promote juice diets for detox — that ought to give shoppers a giant clue about their effectiveness.”
As a substitute, a credentialed skilled like your physician or a registered dietitian can provide you tailor-made dietary steerage for weight reduction or different well being objectives based mostly in your particular wants.
