Green Juice Fasting: Benefits and How To Do It Right

Green Juice Fasting:  Benefits and How To Do It

Green juice fasting is an incredible strategy to heal your body and improve your overall health. Green juices condense several servings of green vegetables, fruits, and other superfoods into one nutrient-packed drink. Fasting with green juices boosts their healing power.

Green juices contain high doses of vitamins, minerals, and live enzymes in their most bioavailable form. Juicing greens helps to remove the fibers and allows the body to consume micronutrients and enzymes without having to use any energy in the digestive process. Instead, this energy can be used for healing and cleansing.

When you fast with green juices, you boost the healing benefits. Green juice fasting can transform your health from the inside out.

What is Fasting?

Fasting is one of the most ancient and powerful healing strategies. With fasting, you go without solid foods for a certain length of time. The period for fasting can be 12 hours to several weeks, depending upon your health goals.

There are numerous health benefits to fasting. The top 12 benefits of fasting include:

• Reduces inflammation;
• Stimulates the development of stem cells;
• Improves genetic repair mechanisms;
• Reduces the risk of chronic disease;
• Stimulates cellular autophagy;
• Takes stress of the digestive system;
• Stimulates fat burning;
• Boosts energy levels;
• Improves insulin sensitivity;
• Enhanced mental health;
• Improved relationship with food; and,
• Spiritual growth and fine-tuned intuition.

There are different ways to incorporate fasting into your lifestyle. These include intermittent fasting, extended fasting, and other fasting strategies.  You can read all about the science behind these benefits in this article.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is fasting for a certain period during the day. Simple fasts, brunch fasts, cycle fasts, strong fasts, warrior fasts, and one day food fasts are examples of intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting been shown to have several health benefits (1).

Intermittent fasting is divided into the building or feeding window when you consume foods and the fasting or cleansing window when you are going without food. For example, with a simple fast, the building or feeding window is the 12 hours between breakfast and dinner. The fasting window is the 12 hours between dinner and breakfast the next day. This gives the liver a chance to complete its cycle.

The simple fast is the best way to start fasting. To develop metabolic flexibility and strengthen your body’s internal resistance to fasting, it is important to have a consistent pattern with intermittent fasting. For more information on the best intermittent fasting strategies and how to fast, read this article.

Extended Fasting

Extended fasts last for over 48 hours. Extended fasting yields greater health benefits than intermittent fasting. The body can heal and repair cells, tissues, and organs at a higher and deeper level (2).

Extended fasting is a powerful healing tool you can utilize for a quick health transformation. If you are interested in water fasting, this article will help you properly prepare for the fast.

Green Juicing and Other Fasting Approaches

There are other fasting approaches that include small amounts of certain calories sources such as green juices. With these other fasting approaches, the calorie load during the fast is ¼ of a person’s normal daily calorie intake. This can be a transition step for someone who is not ready for a more challenging fast.  You are simply fasting with food.

In addition to green juice fasting, bone broth fasting, fat fasting, keto fasting, and the fasting mimicking diet are examples of these approaches. Let’s look more closely at green juice fasting.

Benefits of Green Juice Fasting

A great way to fast is with green juices. With green juice fasting, you abstain from solid food and just consume green juices and water throughout the day. There are many benefits to fasting with green juices.

Boosts Energy

The nutrients in green juices provide your body with a boost in energy. Green juices are packed with high doses of key micronutrients. These micronutrients are critical for intracellular energy production.

Green juicing helps your body absorb nutrients from leafy greens and other green vegetables easier than when you chew these foods. With green juicing, the fibers are removed from the vegetables and fruits, making these foods easier to digest. The nutrients are immediately absorbed into the bloodstream so you benefit right away.

When fasting on green juices, our bodies become keto adapted and produce more energy and less oxidative stress. Ketones become the body’s source of energy rather than glucose. Ketones are a more efficient, cleaner source of energy.  This process helps our body create metabolic flexibility and energy efficiency.

Heals the Gut and Improves Digestion

Digesting solid foods creates significant stress on the digestive system, irritates the gut lining, and leads to inflammatory processes. With juices being easier to digest, our bodies can conserve the energy used in digesting, processing and assimilating solid foods. The body can use this energy instead on healing and detoxification.

With green juicing, you are getting an abundance of phytonutrients to help combat gut inflammation. Green juices also contain digestive enzymes and prebiotics which support overall digestion and nutrient assimilation.

Strengthens Your Immune System

Your immune system is the body’s first line of defense against foreign invaders such as toxins and pathogens. Your immune system can get overwhelmed and weakened over time with the high amount of internal and external toxins our bodies encounter every day.

The concentrated vitamins, minerals and enzymes in green juices give your immune system an amazing boost. Additionally, around 80% of your immune system is in your gut. By improving your digestive health, green juice fasting can strengthen your immune system.

Oxygenates Your Body

You can oxygenate your body through the foods you eat. Oxygen-rich blood cells are healthy blood cells. When cells are deprived of oxygen, they become susceptible to cancer and other diseases.

Raw, green vegetables are high in oxygen. They contain chlorophyll, the most abundant pigment in plants that gives them their green color.  Plants use chlorophyll to trap light needed for photosynthesis.

Chlorophyll is close in atomic structure to human blood. The chlorophyll in green vegetables allows blood to transport oxygen to cells. Chlorophyll protects against free radicals, and helps with intestinal regularity, detoxification, wound healing, and deodorization of the body (3).

Natural sources of chlorophyll are spinach, arugula, and other dark green, leafy vegetables. Parsley, garden cress, green beans, and leeks, spirulina and chlorella are rich in chlorophyll. These foods help to build new blood cells and purify the body. They are excellent additions to your green juices.

Improves Your Skin

Green juices are incredible for healthy skin. Greens are an incredibly rich source of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Green juices are very hydrating and full of antioxidants to help rid the body of toxins that can lead to acne or sun damage.

The vitamin A found in greens is crucial for cell growth and regeneration. It can help combat acne by slowing the production of sebum, help flush out toxins, and strengthen the skin’s protective tissue. Vitamin E protects skin cells from free radical damage.

The folate in greens is critical for DNA repair and helps produce and maintain new cells. Beta carotene helps to protect against sun damage and can review and repair the skin.

Greens also contain the powerful antioxidant lutein which boosts hydration levels and protects against sun damage. Juicing greens rich in these nutrients can significantly improve the health of your skin.

Protects Your Body from Disease

Fresh green juice is packed with antioxidants, compounds naturally found in green vegetables and other foods. Antioxidants help control oxidative stress in the body and prevent or delay cellular damage. Antioxidants protect your body from chronic disease by neutralizing and removing damaging free radicals from the body, modulating inflammatory processes, and boosting your immune system.

Polyphenols are a type of antioxidant found in plant foods. These active compounds help to regulate immunity and target multiple inflammatory pathways. Studies show that polyphenols play a beneficial role in preventing and slowing the progression of chronic diseases (4). Juicing greens rich in polyphenols can protect your body from disease.

Eliminates Toxins

Green juice fasting is a great way to eliminate toxins from the body. Our bodies are constantly bombarded with harmful toxins. Toxins are both produced by your body and obtained from the environment.

Internally-produced toxins are things like excess hormones, free radicals, bacteria and yeast. When these internal toxins accumulate in the body, they can cause chronic infections, allergic reactions, and other health issues.

We can also accumulate external toxins (or xenobiotics). These are substances such as pesticides in food, chemicals in personal care products and cleaners, heavy metals, mold exposure, prescription drugs, and outgassing from new furniture, carpet, paint and cars. Environmental pollution from smoke, smog or debris and contaminated water are external toxins.

Certain toxins are endocrine disruptors which can mimic naturally occurring hormones in the body. They interfere with the body’s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects (5). Unfortunately, they are found in everyday products such as plastic bottles, food cans, detergents, flame retardants, cosmetics, and pesticides.

While it is impossible to avoid toxins, we can take steps to cleanse them from our bodies. Green juicing helps to rid our bodies from these toxins by cleansing the blood, liver, digestive tract, and kidneys.  I like to use organifi green juice for this.

Helps You Lose Weight

Green juice fasting is a fantastic strategy for losing excess weight (6). There are several ways that green juice fasting supports weight loss. Green juices eliminate toxins that contribute to weight gain, meet your nutritional needs, reduce unhealthy cravings, and are a great substitute for less healthy snacks.

Toxins can interfere with your metabolism and cause weight gain (7). They affect the number and size of fat cells, cause blood sugar and hormonal imbalances, and alter brain function. Toxins in food can also lead to unhealthy cravings. Green juice fasting can help eliminate these weight-promoting toxins from your body.

Green juice fasting also helps to reduce excess weight by supplying the body with the nutrients it needs. Plant-based foods are packed with magnesium, a critical mineral for balancing blood sugar, regulating bowel movements, improving energy, and reducing sugar cravings.

Promotes Alkalinity

We live in an acidic world. Processed foods, conventional meat and dairy, stress, and environmental toxins make our bodies acidic. Chronic acidity results in the loss of energy and promotes chronic disease.

The proper pH (acid/alkaline) balance in the body is critical for overall health (8). This balance is the ratio of hydrogen (more acidic) to oxygen (more alkaline). Our blood stream is designed to be in a slightly alkaline state of 7.365. Green juices alkalize the body to help balance your body’s pH.

Improves Focus and Mental Clarity

Exposure to toxins is harmful to the brain. When the brain absorbs toxins such as solvents, chemicals, and heavy metals, the brain’s function is impaired. This can cause symptoms such as memory loss, inability to focus, depression, fatigue, seizures and more.

Over 200 chemicals are known to cause clinical neurotoxic effects in adults (9). Children are especially vulnerable to these chemicals. Eliminating these chemicals from the body with green juices will support healthy brain chemistry.

Additionally, fasting slightly increases norepinephrine levels just slightly which increases mental clarity. It can also reduce inflammation in the brain.

Anti-Aging

Green juice fasting has anti-aging benefits. Aging occurs when healthy cells become damaged and lose their ability to divide. As cells start dividing more slowly, they also occur more DNA damage. These damaged cells accumulate in the body and cause inflammation. The antioxidants in green juices protect you protect you from premature aging.

Toxins can damage DNA structures and healthy cells accelerating the effects of aging (10). Green juices help cleanse the body of toxins and protect you from premature aging.

Fasting has major effects on different causes of aging. Fasting decreases circulating insulin and glucose, as well as IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor), which are associated with aging. Fasting with green juices has incredible anti-aging benefits.

Best Foods to Include in Your Green Juice

Now that you know the many benefits of green juice fasting, let’s talk about what to include in your green juice. The base of your green juice should be hydrating vegetables. Leafy greens, herbs, spices like ginger and turmeric, and blue green algae are excellent additions to your green juice.

Use this image as a guide and I explain each of these categories and some of the best things to use in the narrative below.

Hydrating Vegetables

Hydrating vegetables should be the foundation of your green juice. Celery, bok choy, and cucumbers are rich in water and electrolytes.

Cucumbers: Cucumbers are great for the skin, joints, and tissues. They are rich in fluids and the trace mineral silica. Silica is the essential component of our connective tissue (skin, bones, muscles, cartilage and ligaments). Cucumbers are loaded with potassium, magnesium, and vitamin C, giving them an alkalizing effect on the body.

Bok Choy: This cruciferous vegetable is very hydrating. It has amazing healing properties and contains over 70 phenolic antioxidants and major electrolytes.

Celery: Celery is a great base for juicing and has a strong alkalizing effect on the body. It has unique antioxidant phenols and is rich in electrolytes. Celery also contains silica.

Dark Green Leafy Vegetables

You should include rich dark greens like spinach, collards, kale and watercress in your green juice. These greens are nutritional superstars and rich in chlorophyll.

In addition to chlorophyll, spinach is a powerful source of glycoglycerolipids that protect the digestive tract from inflammatory damage. It also contains copper, zinc, and selenium which boost immunity.

Kale has glucosinolates, such as sulfuraphane, and methyl cysteine sulfoxides. These super nutrients help to activate detoxifying enzymes in the liver which play a role in neutralizing carcinogenic substances.

Herbs

Parsley, cilantro, dandelion and other herbs can be included in your green juice. Bitter herbs help produce digestive enzymes and improve liver and gallbladder function. They also help cleanse the blood, digestive system, kidneys and urinary tract.

Ginger and turmeric are also great to include. Ginger helps to reduce intestinal gas, soothe the intestinal tract, and induce gut motility, and aid in the production of bile. Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory that also helps to detoxify the liver and boost glutathione levels.

Blue Green Algae

Spirulina and chlorella are blue green algae that are a great addition to any juice. They are full of chlorophyll and amino acids. Spirulina and chlorella have strong anti-microbial effects and act as powerful blood detoxifiers.

Low-Glycemic Fruits

Granny smith apples, lemons and limes are the best fruits to juice. These fruits are low-glycemic which means they have a lower blood sugar impact. They also have a strong alkalizing effect on the body.

Lemons and limes are rich in vitamin C and citrus bioflavonoids. They contain phytochemicals called limonoids which have a variety of health benefits. Limonoids have anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties.

Green apples contain acetic acid which is a natural anti-septic that reduces unwanted microbes in the body. Acetic acid also improves the function of the liver, gallbladder, and digestive system. Green apples also contain procydin, an antioxidant with anti-cancer benefits.

Tips for Green Juice Fasting

1. It is best to drink the juice immediately because juices have the most nutritional value when fresh. When juice sits, the nutrients oxidize and can be lost.
2. Always use organic ingredients. Otherwise, you will be exposed to concentrated amounts of pesticides, herbicides, and other toxins found on non-organic produce.
3. Be sure to find the freshest fruits and vegetables available. A local farmers market is a great source.
4. Avoid store-bought juices which are often high in sugar.
5. Drink your green juice from glass, not plastic. Plastics have toxic xenoestrogenic chemicals that can damage your body. These chemicals can leach into your juice.
6. An alternative to green juicing is to use a high-quality supergreens powder. Organic SuperGreens has organic and living superfoods, cleansing herbs, sprouts, probiotics, and enzymes.
7. You may feel weak during the first few days of a fast as your body cleanses and heals. Set aside extra rest time during the first few days.

Conclusion:

Green juice fasting is an amazing healing strategy. With green juice fasting, you consume green juices and water for a certain time.

Green juice fasting has many health benefits. It gives you an instant boost of energy due to the high doses of key micronutrients which are immediately absorbed into the blood stream. Green juice fasting gives your digestive system a break from the stressful process of digesting foods. This helps to heal the gut and improve digestion.

Green juice fasting strengthens your immune system, oxygenates your body, and promotes alkalinity. Green juices are rich in chlorophyll which has incredible healing benefits for our bodies.

Fasting with green juices eliminates toxins from the body, protects your body from disease, and has anti-aging benefits. Additional benefits of green juice fasting are weight loss and improved mental clarity and focus. Green juice fasting is one of the best strategies to heal and transform your body.

Sources for this Article Include:

1. Patterson R, Sears D, Metabolic Effects of Intermittent Fasting, 2017 Aug; Annual Review of Nutrition. Link here

2. Longo V, Mattson M, Fasting: Molecular Mechanismss and Clinical Applications, 2014 Feb; 19(2): 181-192. PMID: 24440038

3. Chlorophyll and Chlorophyllin, Oregon State Univ. Link here

4. Yahfoufi N, Alsadi N, Jambi M, Matar C, The Immunomodulatory and Anti-Inflammatory Role of Polyphenols. 2018 Nov; 10(11). PMID: 30400131

5. Endocrine Disruptors. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Link here

6. Johnstone A, Fasting for weight loss: an effective strategy or latest dieting trend? 2015 May; 39(5): 727-33. PMID: 25540982

7. Grun, F., Blumberg, B., Endocrine disruptors as obesogens. 2009 May. 304 (1-2): 19-29. PMID: PMC2713042

8. Schwalfenberg G, The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence that an Alkaline pH Diet Benefits Health? 2011 Oct, 727630. PMID: 22013455

9. Grandjean, P, Landrigan, P.J., Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals. The Lancet, 2006 November, Vol. 368, No. 9553, p.2167-2178. Link here

10. Sorrentino, J., Sanoff, H., Sharpless, N., Defining the toxicology of aging. Trends in Molecular Medicine, 2014 July. Link here