In recent years, there’s been a healthy amount of debate over one particular approach to dieting and nutrition. If you’ve ever been curious, a new report suggests that juicing may be a powerful way to slim down and even maintain your weight loss goals in some cases.
It makes sense that a liquid diet might help you shed pounds fast, but there’s even cooler science behind why juicing could actually help you lose weight.
For various reasons, some nutrition pros aren’t huge proponents of juice fasts. This type of fast delivers power-packed vitamins and antioxidants from plants, but juicing alone lacks certain key dietary elements, including protein and a healthy amount of fat.
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Always ask a healthcare professional before you begin any type of fast. If you do get the green light, here’s some pretty juicy information. The Beet just reported that juicing “can positively impact your gut’s balance of micro-organisms, which make up your microbiome, to switch it over toward healthy bacteria–which feed on vegetables, fruit, and the fiber they contain.”
It was a 2017 study that led to this finding, in which a team of nutrition researchers at UCLA collected blood and stool samples from 20 healthy study participants before they began a three-day juicing diet in which they consumed 1,300 calories from juice a day. On day four, the participants switched back to their “customary diet,” and blood and stool samples were collected from each of them again on days four and 17. The Beet translates what the researchers discovered:
“On day 4 we observed a significant decrease in weight and body mass index, which was maintained until day 17. On day four the proportion of the phylum Firmicutes and Proteobacteria [bad bacteria] in stool was significantly decreased and Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria [good bacteria] was increased compared to baseline and was partially reversed on day 17.”
Overall, they said, “a three-day juice-based diet altered the intestinal microbiota associated with weight loss.” They also reported that participants maintained this weight loss up until day 17 (when the study ended).
Even if you’re not chasing weight loss goals, the occasional all-natural juice drink is a fresh way to add more nutrients to your diet—just don’t overdo it. Might we suggest our 5 Best Juices to Drink to Maximize Weight Loss, According to Science.
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