You are on a roll. You are embracing a healthy lifestyle and cleansing your body of harmful toxins. Accordingly, you embark on a juice cleanse to lose weight, rest your digestive system, and essentially rejuvenate your body. As you cut ties with processed foods and replace them with fruits, vegetables, and supplements on your plate, should it be okay to exercise?
The good news is you can cleanse and exercise at the same time. Physical activities help in the natural release of toxins through sweating and breathing. Appropriate exercises can also aid digestion and change the gut microbes.
Juice cleanses or restrictive detox diets, for that matter, won’t necessarily deter you from stretching your limbs, especially if you have a pretty active lifestyle. However, you have to be more mindful and extra careful this time.
From the items that go into your juicer to the actual exercises, take a step back, and work out several details prior to pulling off the detox-and-exercise routine. Here are helpful pointers.
- Be Kind to Your Body
Juicing results in lower levels of fibers from fruits and vegetables, helping the body digest and absorb the nutrients faster and better. However, drinking juices only and fasting won’t give you the optimal energy to exercise with intensity and power. Your best option is to take things easier and move within your body’s limits.
- Take Stock of Energy-Rich Fruits
Be strategic in your juice cleanse to include items that can help you carry out your usual activities, including light physical workout. For example, bananas have been hailed to boost energy and combat fatigue. Green juice, taken as is or part of a cleanse, can be an excellent alternative to coffee with ingredients like spinach, kale, and celery.
- Stay Out of Muscle-Building Exercises
A juice-only diet lacks protein, a macronutrient that’s made of amino acids and needed to build and maintain muscle. Protein is also essential after your workout. Until you complete your cleanse, refrain from muscle-building activities or routines that rely on protein, along with other food groups, to gain muscle mass.
- Shorten Time to Exercise
Thirty minutes every day is about the right amount of time to exercise, The Seasonal Diet recommends. You can use it for brisk walking or yoga and meditation. You don’t have to cut off running while on detox completely; you just have to cut down on the duration.
- Do It with Less Intensity
Calories are essential to engage in a certain level of physical activity, taking into account age and sex. As juice cleanses contain low calories (that’s why they are a hit for weight loss), you should exercise with care.
High-intensity interval training is out; low-impact exercises are right on the list. Swimming is an example of a physical activity that is easy on the body, particularly the joints.
- First Thing in the Morning
Many reasons point to mornings as the best time to exercise. Your body has recovered from sleep and in the best possible condition for a quick run.
Exercising stimulates your brain and gives you a good head start for the day. If you have snacked on carbs the night before, mornings are made to burn and convert them to energy.
- Moderation Is Key
Exercise can complement your detox goals as you help your body rest and expel the bad stuff. It’s enough that you are giving your heart a reason to beat slightly faster and for your blood circulation to improve.
That being said, it’s not the opportune time to engage in strenuous activities that can lead to muscle strain or pain. If you are familiar with kinesiology tape, it’s one way to relieve discomfort. Athletes and fitness enthusiasts use these specialty tapes in their day-to-day activities.
Another Kind of Cleansing
As a philosopher would say, one’s choices dictate one’s life, but there is always room for change. You may have taken substances that can affect your prospects, such as your career. But you have an option to come clean, purge toxins out of your system, and start anew.
Although this drink is for a different kind of cleansing, the formula still holds: consume lots of water, rest, and avoid the toxins. And if you can, sweat it out.
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