What Is A 3 Day Cleanse And Is it Useful?
By: Lei Mapindan
If you’re feeling lethargic, or you’re struggling to lose weight as quickly as you’d like, you might have considered trying a cleanse. Otherwise known as a “detox”, a cleanse is a kind of short-term diet intended to refresh your digestive system, clean out toxins, and generally boost your wellbeing overall.
However, while cleansing has become increasingly popular thanks to the number of celebrities and influencers sharing their experiences, many still don’t understand what a cleanse is or how it works.
Notably, it’s worth understanding there are many different kinds of cleanses out there, and some are more dangerous than others – particularly if you have pre-existing conditions.
Today, we’re going to provide a quick insight into one of the more common, and less dramatic cleansing options, known as the “3-day cleanse”.
What Is A Cleanse?
Introducing the Art of Cleansing
A cleanse, or detox diet, is a short-term diet designed to rid your body of anything which might be weighing it down or causing unwanted side effects. The idea is that by fasting, or reducing the amount you eat, you give your digestive system time to process food and residual debris still in your intestines and gut.
In many cases, a cleanse will include juices, herbs, and spices to help clean and refresh your internal systems. Though the amount of evidence surrounding cleanses and how effective they are is limited, many people swear that cleansing significantly improves their health and quality of life.
Usually, a cleanse involves:
● Reducing your intake of calories, or not eating at all
● Drinking only certain waters and fruit juices
● Changing your diet to restrict certain foods
● Using supplements, spices, herbs, and natural remedies
● Using enemas (usually for colon cleansing only)
● Sweating out toxins with exercises and saunas
A three day cleanse usually involves stopping eating, or changing your diet drastically for a period of three days. However, the total length of the cleanse can sometimes be longer, as there’s usually a stage before and after the three-day period where your body adjusts to the new schedule.
What Does A 3-Day Cleanse Look Like
While the concept of going several days without food might seem overwhelming, and even dangerous, studies show the human body can actually survive up to 21 days without food. In fact, when humans were still in the early stages of evolution and hunting for our food, they went several days without food regularly.
Learning how to live without food, however, even for a very short time, can be extremely difficult. It can cause a number of serious side effects, including dizziness, and nausea. This is why most people who do a cleanse will only fast for a maximum of 3 days.
While there are many different kinds of cleanses, including the “Master” cleanse, colon cleanses, and more, the most common type is the 3-day juice cleanse.
Although the 3 day juice cleanse only involves cutting food out of your diet drastically for three days, the full cleanse plan usually takes around 7 days in total. It might look something like this:
● Day one: During the first day of your cleanse, you start to remove more of the substances commonly associated with ill health from your diet. This would include foods like wheat, alcohol, sugar, and milk. You also start drinking more water.
● Day two: For the second day, you increase your fruit and vegetable intake, while eliminating more foods, including certain carbs.
● Day three: The third day is when you start to cut out as many foods as possible, switching almost entirely to fruits and vegetables only.
● Day four: On the fourth day, you switch your intake to various forms of carefully-chosen fruit juices, such as a mixture of beet, apple, and carrot juice to improve your mineral and vitamin intake. You might also drink vegetable broth.
● Day five: On day five, you still mostly live on juices but you can eat a small amount of salad with no dressing too, as well as small portions of vegetables with limited calories, like celery.
● Day six: You begin to add more fresh produce into your diet and start to go back to solid foods more completely.
● Day seven: During the seventh day, you gradually go back to eating as normal.
Should You Try a Juice Cleanse?
Compared to other cleanses, juice cleanses are generally seen as less dangerous, provided you use them correctly. Studies have also found that people feel genuinely better after a three-day fast. However, scientists aren’t fully sure what makes a juice cleanse successful.
The important thing to remember is that while juice cleanses can benefit some people, they won’t be right for everyone. It’s best to avoid cleansing if you’re suffering from various issues, like low blood sugar.