A juice fast, also known as a cleanse or detox, usually entails drinking DIY or premade juices made from vegetables, herbs, and fruit (and occasionally nut milk, like cashew milk, containing whole blended cashews) in addition to ample water, tea, and sometimes clear broths.

Juicing fruits and vegetables is different from blending because it isolates the liquid of the produce from the pulp and fibrous portion. Therefore, fruit and vegetable juices will have a more concentrated amount of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals but less fiber when compared to something like a smoothie. Juice fasts can be as short as 24 hours or as long as 10 days. More of that in this article

• Can You Drink Homemade Juice The Next Day?
• How Many Times a Week Should I Juice Cleanse?
• What Are The Benefits of Juice Fasting?
• What Are The Challenges of Juice Fasting?
• How Can I do a Juice Fast?
• Is it Cheaper to Make Your Own Juice Cleanse?
• Who Should NOT Try a Juice Fast or Cleanse?
• How Long Should You Wait Between Juice Cleanse?
• How Long Can You Keep Juice After Juicing?
• What Does a 1-day Juice Cleanse do?
• Is it Cheaper to Juice Your Own Juice?
• Is it Safe to do a 3 day Juice Cleanse?
• How Long Can Homemade Juice Stay in Fridge?
• How Long Does it Take to See Results From Juicing?
• Is Making Your Own Juice Worth it?
• Is a 3 Day Juice Cleanse Long Enough?
• Is it Worth Doing a Juice Cleanse?
• What Are Some Healthy Alternatives to Juice Cleansing
• How Much Does it Cost to Start a Juicing Business?

Can You Drink Homemade Juice The Next Day?

Fresh juice can be stored for up to 24 to 72 hours at most but for the most effective health benefits, you should drink it within 20 minutes.

The difference in the hours to last is brought about by the following reasons.

• Type of juicer used
• Fruits and vegetables used to juice
• Oxidation levels
• Storage method

Although it is possible to store fresh juice for a while, keeping it for a long makes it fairly useless since the vitamins and enzymes degrade over time, and lose their nutritional value.

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To store the juice, it should be bottled and then put in the fridge or freezer. The material quality ensures more shelf life of the juice in the fridge. Low-quality plastic bottles cause rapid oxidation. Glass bottles are better for storing fresh juice and reducing oxidation levels.

Using quality Mason jars can help you to store your fresh juice for later drinking. It is recommended to pour the juice immediately into the storage bottles and refrigerate instantly.

Mason jars are better for the storage of juice than plastic bottles because glass does not contain toxins like low-quality plastics can. Juice is often acidic, which makes it much more likely to leach those potential toxins out of the plastic. Glass is not subject to this leaching like plastic can be.

Juice can last up to two days in a Mason jar or any other glass container. This is because the Mason jar has a rubber seal to tighten the lid and keep out oxygen. You have to put the Mason jar inside the fridge to last longer.

How Many Times a Week Should I Juice Cleanse?

One or two days can help you get back on track if you had an overindulgent weekend or after holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. Three or four days is great for a first-time cleanse, great for someone wanting to start a healthy lifestyle. Some people talk about eating healthy, while we would just suggest a juice cleanse.

It is best to start juicing for a few days to get your body used to what you are doing. Once you start, your body will crave the juice. It knows how to process fresh healthy juice, and you will feel healthier. Many people experience increased energy as a result of a cleanse. This positive experience will energize you to keep juicing.

A five or more day juice cleanse is for the experienced juicer who really wants to thoroughly overhaul their eating habits. Extended cleanses like five or more days is long enough to detoxify and start healing any damage.

It is best to do a three-day juice cleanse when you feel your eating habits need to be cleansed. If you are feeling lethargic, bloated, or not like yourself, it’s a good indicator that you should do a cleanse.

Some people do a cleanse every Monday to reset their bodies from the weekend. Others do a longer cleanse when the seasons change, or even once a year. Be in tune with your own body and what you feel is best based on how you feel.

What Are The Benefits of Juice Fasting?

Juice fasting has many touted benefits that include reducing inflammation, improving sleep, clearing skin, promoting weight loss, ridding the body of toxins, and reducing sugar cravings. But are these juices really worth the hype? 

Most of these claims are unsubstantiated and anecdotal rather than science-based, but there may be some positives to note from short-term juice fasting.  

Only one study to date has investigated the effects of a juice fast on health. This study looked at how a three-day fruit and vegetable juice fast affected the gut microbiota, weight loss, and body composition of 20 healthy people.

During the fasting period, people drank six 16-ounce bottles of juices that were a mixture of leafy green vegetables, roots, citrus, cayenne, and vanilla almond, totaling around 1,310 calories per day. After the fast, people could then resume their normal diet for two weeks. 

The results showed that people lost a significant amount of weight during the juice fast, and that weight loss persisted over the following two weeks (potentially due to changes in their gut microbiota).

However, the weight loss may have resulted from lower calorie intake in general rather than from the juice specifically, and beneficial changes in people’s gut microbiota may have been due to the overall increase of fruits and vegetables in the diet for those three days.  

So basically, this study shows that a juice fast of this composition and calorie count for up to three days is safe and can be somewhat beneficial. But those benefits can’t necessarily be fully attributed to the juice itself. 

What Are The Challenges of Juice Fasting?

There are quite a few downsides to and side effects of juice fasting and cleansing, which is why many health professionals like dietitians and doctors don’t recommend it—especially if a cleanse consists of fruit-only juices.

• You may experience headaches and fatigue: Juices are higher in sugar and lower in fiber than whole foods, leading to a greater likelihood of spikes and dips in blood sugar. Some people say that headaches from juice fasting are due to the toxins leaving your body, but fluctuating blood sugar, in addition to the lower energy intake from the lack of protein and fat in the juices, are actually the root causes of headaches and fatigue.
• You may feel socially isolated: Think about it; if you’re wanting to do a longer juice cleanse of 10 days or so, that’s 10 days when you’ll be going to lunch with co-workers and won’t be able to eat. That could be multiple dinners out when you can only sip on water. 
• They can be seriously expensive: Juice fasts can be quite expensive, especially if you buy a pre-formulated cleanse. A three-day juice cleanse will often run you anywhere between $99 and $195. That would probably buy you two weeks’ worth of groceries!
• They can be difficult to maintain: All of these factors make juice fasts hard to maintain, even for just a day. And for some people, juice fasts can encourage a type of restrictive eating that may promote an unhealthy relationship with food.   

How Can I do a Juice Fast?

Here are some tips we will recommend for before, during, and after your juice fast to minimize side effects and maximize benefits:

Before your juice fast.

Before you start a juice fast, take a moment to think about why you are doing this and set realistic expectations. Is it to lose weight? Curb sugar cravings? Reset your digestive system? Whatever your goal is, a juice fast may be a step in helping to reach that goal (depending on what your current eating habits are like), but it is not a fast track to wellness. Making sustained changes to your health and well-being takes time. 

Additionally, you’ll want to think through when works best in your schedule to actually start a juice fast. My advice: Plan it for a low-key weekend at home, where you can run to the bathroom as often as you need to (you will be peeing a lot!). Juice fasts require you to drink a lot of juice that is perishable, so it may not be best to juice fast when you’re traveling either.

During your juice fast:

1. Aim to drink this much juice per day.

During a juice fast, you should aim to drink at least six 16-ounce servings of juice. That works out to one serving of juice every two hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can also drink as much water and herbal tea as you want throughout the day.

Adding one or two more servings per day is OK if you feel like you need more sustenance. This amount of juice is necessary to get enough calories so you are still meeting (or close to meeting) your body’s basic energy requirements.   

2. Make your juice with mostly veggies.

Aim to make most juices 80% veggies. That means 13 out of 16 ounces (or at least 1.5 out of 2 cups) of juice should be from vegetables.

• Good veggies to include: spinach, kale, cucumber, zucchini, carrots, beets, and celery.
• Good fruits to include: lemons, limes, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, dark cherries, and kiwis. These fruits have lower sugar content and are loaded with anti-inflammatory antioxidants. 
• For a boost of flavor, also consider adding in nutrient-packed herbs such as ginger root, turmeric root, basil, parsley, cilantro, and mint.

3. Don’t feel bad if you have to add in some solids.

For a little more staying power, some people like to add in something with a bit of fat and/or protein. If you find yourself super hungry, consider including one serving of homemade cashew milk per day of your cleanse. You can also make one of your juices a smoothie instead or include a serving of celery and nut butter. There’s nothing wrong with adapting your juice fast to meet your needs.

4. Avoid strenuous physical activity.

It would be a good idea to not participate in any strenuous physical activity during a juice fast, as you could become dizzy and fatigued more easily. And if you are constantly feeling tired, loopy, unable to concentrate, or your hunger pangs are taking over, it may be a sign that your juice fast is doing more harm than good. At this point, consider returning to a whole food diet.

5. Consider stopping after three days.

Research shows that it is completely safe for healthy people to participate in a juice fast for up to three days and then return to a regular diet. Doing a juice fast for a longer period of time can increase the likelihood of experiencing the negative side effects of juicing such as headaches, hunger, and blood sugar swings, and there is no proof of the benefit of increased “detoxification” with a longer fast. 

After your juice fast.

The first day after a cleanse, try eating smaller meals and snacks throughout the day, as a large meal might make you feel nauseated and uncomfortable. Salads, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and whole fruits could help ease you back into solid foods again, but if you don’t have a sensitive stomach, you may be able to resume eating your normal diet right away. 

After this short introductory period back to solid foods, it is important to incorporate high-quality nutritious foods back into the diet. Whole fruits and vegetables will add more fiber back into your diet. Whole grains like brown rice and quinoa, and protein-rich foods like lentils, legumes, and high-quality meats and poultry should also be added back to meals and snacks.

Is it Cheaper to Make Your Own Juice Cleanse?

Not only will juicing at home save you time, but it will also save you money.  Buying juice at a juice bar or at the grocery store isn’t cheap, and subscription cleanses programs can break the bank. Juicing at home is a great way to avoid the costs of those pre-made drinks and save some money while you’re at it.

Here are a few tips from the Test Kitchen to ensure you have a successful juicing experience at home. For more information, watch the video above.

Tips for Juicing at home:

• Buy produce in bulk at the start of the week.
• Pre-wash (and cut, if necessary) produce and store in the refrigerator ahead of time. This will save on time when you start juicing.  
• Line the pulp bin with a grocery bag for easy cleanup.
• Invest in containers or bottles (you can find lots of different varieties online) for easy storage and to keep the juice fresh longer.
• Use the Hamilton Beach® Easy Sweep cleaning tool for easy cleanup

Here’s how the prices broke down:

Balanced Green Juice – $3.80 per serving

• 1 medium cucumber – $1
• 4 medium kale leaves – $1.28
• 1 cup cilantro – $1
• 1 large apple (Fuji) – $1.59
• 1 1/2-inch piece ginger – $0.48
• 2 limes – $1.60
• 3 celery stalks – $0.66

Greens 3 Juice – $5.17 per serving

• 3 kale leaves – $0.95
• Handful of spinach – $0.20
• 1 head romaine – $3
• 2 celery stalks – $0.44
• 2 small cucumbers – $1
• 1 bunch parsley – $2
• 1 Fuji apple – $1.59
• 1/2 lemon – $0.99
• 1/2-inch ginger $0.16

Who Should NOT Try a Juice Fast or Cleanse?

There are several groups of people who should not participate in juice fasting. Children, adolescents, and pregnant and breastfeeding women need adequate amounts of energy and protein for growth, and juice fasting would not meet those needs.

Elite and competitive athletes also have very high-calorie needs, and juice fasting would not support that high energy expenditure or contain the nutrients necessary for optimal recovery.

Lastly, people with diabetes, kidney disease, or liver disease should steer clear of juice fasting because of having an altered physiological response to food.

How Long Should You Wait Between Juice Cleanse?

This is a very common question and an important and excellent one! How long should you cleanse for depends on what you want from your juice cleanse? This is a very personal thing!

Common benefits seen are improved skin appearance, weight loss, clearer thoughts, improved moods, better digestion, improved sleep, optimal energy levels, and reduced cravings. These health benefits are often seen very quickly during a juice cleanse in combination with the preparation period.

1. Short cleanses of 1-3 days are excellent for budging a small amount of weight off to start the process of weight loss by following a healthy eating plan in combination with daily juices. This time frame is also beneficial to reduce bloating and cravings for all the wrong foods to help the success of a healthier new eating plan post cleanse.

Once we are nourishing our bodies with a high intake of phytonutrients, our body then remembers how to crave the right stuff. Avoiding all those addictive foods such as MSG, sugar, salt, refined carbohydrates, soft drinks, caffeine, alcohol and fried foods for those 5 days in preparation combined with the 1-3 days of juice fasting and you will be right back on track to a healthier new you.

2. 3 days of juice cleansing may also support improved energy levels, clearer thoughts, improved digestion, better moods and deeper more restful sleep.
3. Moderate cleanses of 4-6 days are suitable to move along more unwanted weight combined with the above results to a greater extent, plus additional health improvements with various health concerns such as arthritic discomfort, trickier skin ailments, improved energy, reflux and digestive health concerns to name a few.

It is important to note that these results may differ for some individuals completing this cleanse. If you have not experienced these results it is important to make sure you are consuming the right amount of fluids in combination with the set menu plan. Don’t skip anything!!

The more chronic a health concern the longer it may take to start seeing results, the juice cleanse and preparation period will start to move things along but you may need to extend this period combined with a more permanent health plan.

Reversing disease and improving one’s health is like peeling an onion, one layer at a time. Just 1 improvement at a time will certainly see you moving in the right direction. The rule of thumb in chronic health conditions is the longer a health concern has been present and the more severe the condition the longer it will take to improve.

If you have more long-standing health concerns then a longer cleanse may be suggested. People can comfortably cleanse for up to 30 days or more under the guidance of a health care professional.

It is also important to remember that the preparation period is also a big part of your cleanse. By preparing yourself as suggested you are more likely to get the very best results quickly and successfully.

For long-term health benefits, it is highly advisable to include regular juices in your diet on a permanent basis. In clinic and over the years I have seen vast health improvements with clients that aim to drink 1-2 juices per day in combination with a healthy well-balanced diet.

How often can I cleanse?

Here is a general guideline to follow for the frequency of your juice cleanses. It is also important to keep in mind that people are different and these recommendations may not suit everyone.

• 1 day juice cleanse – once a week
• 3 days juice cleanse – once a month
• 6 days juice cleanse – once every 2 months
• 7-10 days juice cleanse – once every 3 months

Please note: If you are taking medications and/or have a health condition if is advisable to check with your health care professional or speak with one of our Naturopaths.

How Long Can You Keep Juice After Juicing?

Juicing offers such an array of health benefits with the main one being its efficient way to absorb immune-boosting nutrients naturally found in fruits and veggies into your body.

The body is able to gain access to digestive enzymes that are typically locked away in the fiber of whole fruits and vegetables. I’ll put a huge emphasis on FRESH JUICE! Most of the commercial juices are processed with additives and lack nutrition. Always opt for a FRESH JUICE if you are wanting a good boost of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

In a perfect world, we recommend drinking your juice straight away but if you can’t enjoy your juice straight away there are a few tips to ensure it stays fresher for longer.

How long will my juice last for in the fridge? This really depends on a few factors and the type of juicer you are using.

If you are using a Centrifugal Juicer your juice will last up to 24 hours (1 Day). If you are using a Masticating Juicer your juice will last up to 48 hours (2 Days). If you are using a Twin Gear Juicer such as the Greenstar Elite your juice may last up to 4-5 days. In twin gear juicers the entire extraction process protects against oxidation, which means that you get fresh juice that stays fresh longer.

Always make sure you store your juice in the fridge. The colder the better! If you don’t refrigerate your juice, you encourage bacteria to grow which can make you very sick. Remember keep it COLD COLD COLD!

What Does a 1-day Juice Cleanse do?

A one-day juice cleanse is a quick and easy way to reset your digestive system and boost your vitamin and mineral intake. The idea is to only consume cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juices and avoid consuming caffeine, alcohol, and any solid foods to give your body a break and maximize results.

During a one-day juice cleanse, you can expect to drink a juice every 2-3 hours, for a total of 5 juices in one day. It’s also recommended to drink plenty of water and herbal tea to keep you hydrated and alert (and to boost the detoxification process!).

Since it’s only one day, there is a greater chance you can complete it without cheating (like eating snacks or meals or drinking caffeine), so you can feel good about doing something great for your body!

It’s the perfect way to take the first step into the world of cleansing and get on track to a healthier, happier body, or to maintain the awesome benefits between longer cleanses.

Even a short, one-day juice cleanse can help you achieve some awesome results. These may include:

1. Improved Hydration
2. Gives Your Digestive System A Rest
3. Improved Nutrition
4. Feeling Refreshed And Energized
5. Improved Quality Of Sleep After The Cleanse
6. Reduced Food Cravings
7. Reduced Bloat
8. Improved Mental Clarity

Is it Cheaper to Juice Your Own Juice?

In the past, we had a standalone juicer that we used several times after we first acquired it, then sat to the side simply because the cleanup was quite a lot of work for just a few cups of juice.

Instead, today we just use a blender. We take the raw fruit, toss in a little bit of ice, and blend until you have a liquid. Toss the pieces in the dishwasher and you’re good to go.

So, why didn’t we continue using the juicer? We tried two different models over the years and found that both required approximately 10 minutes of cleanup for each batch of juice that we made. The only way we could make juice efficiently using it was by making a lot of juice at once. There was also the prep time, which involved the cleaning and peeling of the fruits and vegetables that we used.

So, for example, if we were to juice a bushel of apples, we would have the initial cost of the apples – about $20. After juicing, this would make us roughly twelve quarts of apple juice (about three gallons).

Cleaning and slicing the apples took about twenty minutes – doubling that time if we chose to peel the apples first (so that we could use the pulp for applesauce).

Juicing the apples took about ten minutes, as we’d have to stop to remove pulp and clear out clogs at least a few times.

Cleanup would take another ten minutes.

This would mean that for three gallons of fresh apple juice with a juicer, we’d have to use $20 worth of apples and forty minutes of time. There’s also the additional (small) cost of a portion of the cost of the juicer itself, plus the cost of the electricity, totaling perhaps another dollar. Of course, this is fresh, high-quality apple juice.

The only comparable apple juice I could find at the store would be fresh apple cider, which would cost around $8 per gallon. This would have a total cost of $24 for three gallons.

Now, it’s worth noting that I consider my homemade juice to be substantially better than anything from the store. The homemade juice is significantly better than the $8 per gallon juice from the store.

Of course, if you’re comparing this procedure to the cost of the juice that Liora is buying ($3.44 for a 16 oz. cup, meaning $27.52 per gallon), then making her own juice is a tremendous bargain.

Still, if you’re in a situation where you’re buying juice from a juice stand, you’re far better off buying yourself an insulated cup and buying high-quality juice from your local grocer. Then, just fill up that cup each morning before you go and enjoy the juice when and where it’s convenient for you. That will still be less expensive than the juice stand if the juice stand is anything like the one that Liora visits.

Making your own juice (or at least bottling it yourself) saves dollars, not pennies, over repeatedly buying it at a juice stand.

Is it Safe to do a 3 day Juice Cleanse?

Check out this day-by-day snapshot of what you can expect to encounter, and decide for yourself. (And BTW, you can eat clean without obsessing over it.)

Day 1 of a Three-Day Juice Cleanse

“Right off the bat, you may notice you’re thinking about what you could be eating, should be eating, and want to be eating, so cravings can occur right away,” says Dr. Chutkan. Blame habit — meals are ingrained in your daily life — and the lack of chewing food may be throwing you for a loop. These distracting thoughts and cravings usually subside as you complete the day, she adds.

If you’re a low-carb eater, you could experience hypoglycemia while juicing since your body isn’t used to all the sugar. “Each juice floods your system with simple sugars, which requires your body to produce more insulin more quickly,” says Jo Ann Carson, Ph.D., R.D., a professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “If your body sends out more insulin than is needed, your blood sugar could drop too low, and you may be faint or light-headed.”

Low-carb or not, by the end of the day, your energy may be low. Each day on a cleanse provides approximately 900 to 1,000 calories compared to the 1,500 to 2,000 calories you’re probably eating most days. “When you restrict calories, your brain isn’t getting as much glucose, which is its main energy source, so you may feel sluggish and grouchy,” says Carson.

If you typically exercise later in the day, plan to do a lower-intensity activity such as yoga, walking, or swimming, and go to bed early. (And FYI, it takes 24 to 72 hours for food to travel through your GI, so expect to have a normal bowel movement on day one since it’s the by-product of what you ate the day or so before.)

Day 2 of a Three-Day Juice Cleanse

Welcome to the honeymoon day of your three-day juice cleanse. “You wake up feeling lighter since your digestive tract isn’t as full as when you’re eating solid foods,” says Dr. Chutkan. You could also have more energy.

“Digestion is a very active process and takes lots of resources from the body, such as blood flow and energy to break down food,” she explains. “Even though you’re taking in fewer calories, your body isn’t doing this work, so that energy is available to be used elsewhere.”

Another component to the juicing “high” could simply be an undiagnosed food allergy. During a three-day juice cleanse, you’re eliminating nearly every major food group other than fruits and vegetables. “Allergies to soy, corn, eggs, nuts, wheat, dairy, and artificial sweeteners are so common in the U.S.,” says Dr. Chutkan.

Take these things out, and you may feel less bloated and puffy, and you may experience fewer headaches or achiness within 48 hours if you have an allergy, don’t know it, and that food is now eliminated, she says. If you feel dramatically better, it’s worth investigating further to identify what your trigger might be. (Keep in mind that if you’re allergic or intolerant to gluten, it could take four to six weeks of being gluten-free before symptoms improve.)

On the other hand, if you’re a caffeine drinker (one to two cups daily), withdrawal may rear its ugly head since you have to cut out coffee, tea, soda, and chocolate during a cleanse. Caffeine is a stimulant to the central nervous system, and regular consumption causes some degree of dependence on it. “Without caffeine, blood vessels in the brain can dilate, causing headaches,” says Dr. Chutkan.

You may also experience central nervous system depression, which is like the opposite of stimulation and comes with a hefty dose of drowsiness and fatigue. (Heavy caffeine drinkers — those who drink four or more 8-ounce cups per day — may notice signs as early as the first day of a three-day juice cleanse.)

Be prepared for a few extra trips to the bathroom on day two. Without fiber or protein to slow absorption, the sugar in each juice draws fluid into your digestive tract, resulting in softer, more frequent bowel movements, says Carson.

This literally gives your body a “cleansing” feeling. Your bottles of juice aren’t enough to replace these lost fluids, so be sure to chug plenty of water throughout the day to prevent dehydration.

At night, you may find yourself counting sheep (or steak) while you sleep. “If you feel hungry, it can be really difficult to sleep because your body is trying to tell you that you should eat,” says Carson. “Plus the combination of a low-calorie diet and the lack of solid foods may confuse your GI tract, so you could wake up at night needing to have a bowel movement.”

Day 3 of a Three-Day Juice Cleanse

“On the third day you’re coming down from the high of day two,” says Dr. Chutkan. “Some people experience stronger cravings because the end is in sight, and they find themselves planning exactly what they’re going to eat the next day.”

Despite what you may have heard, your metabolism is unlikely to stall in just three days since you’re still taking in calories, carbohydrates, and vitamins and minerals. “It’s really the digestive system that slows, simply because there’s less to digest,” says Dr. Chutkan. However, it’s a temporary change that will return to normal once you start eating normally again.

“As much as people like to think they’re getting so many nutrients on a juice cleanse, you’re missing out on macronutrients like protein and fat that your cells need to function,” says Dr. Chutkan.

Doing a cleanse for more than three days could make you feel the effects of omitting these nutrients and possibly lead to loss of muscle, decreased brain function (since the brain needs fat to operate), and disruptions in neurotransmitters and hormones, which rely on protein and control multiple crucial bodily functions from menstruation to your mood.

One surprising perk you may enjoy by the end of a three-day juice cleanse, however, is an increased libido. “Patients are often surprised when I ask them in a consultation how things are in the bedroom,” says Dr. Chutkan. “Many people don’t realize that the rectum and sigmoid colon are located directly behind the pelvis.”

When you’re bloated, you don’t want to have sex because gas could slip through or the pressure during sex feels uncomfortable. By the final day of a three-day juice cleanse, though, bloating should be way down and your digestive system is pretty empty — especially if you experienced the Drano effect the day before.

How Long Can Homemade Juice Stay in Fridge?

There’s a short answer to this common question: it depends. That’s probably not the answer you’re looking for, but when it comes to storage, shelf life is really defined by what’s in your juice, how you extracted the juice, and how you store it. Fortunately, you can follow some easy strategies to extend your juice’s life while it’s in storage.

It’s best to consume your fresh juice immediately after juicing it, but if you’re trying to save time in your busy schedule, refrigeration is crucial. A cup of fresh juice will only be stable for about four hours at room temperature before it begins to spoil. If you put it in the fridge, though, you can expect to extend its life to about 24 hours.

As stated above, this also depends on your juicer. A centrifugal juicer will give you a shorter lifespan than a cold press juicer. To extend your juice’s fridge life, add lemon juice or other antioxidant-rich juices to fight off the oxidation process. Removing or eliminating air from the container will keep it fresher longer, as well.

How Long Does it Take to See Results From Juicing?

When you first start juicing, you may not feel as amazing as you thought you would, but this should be temporary. In other words, you may feel worse before you feel better. This is important to note because many people may start juicing and only last a few days because they don’t feel well. They give up and think “this just isn’t for me.”

However, this concept is similar to giving up a caffeinated beverage (like coffee or soda), where you may initially get headaches or feel sleepy, but if you keep pushing through those withdrawal symptoms, you’ll eventually start to feel better. Same with juicing.

When you begin, you are feeding your body a vast amount of nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables. Your body (liver and kidney especially) will kick into overdrive to remove toxins, and also start to build newer, healthier tissues.

You may experience low energy levels, headaches, and even joint pain. Your body is in detox mode and, if you are doing a longer cleanse, for a short time you might be a little hungry feeling. But just wait it out! Soon the effects of cleansing and eating right will actually give you more energy and you will probably start waking up feeling younger and refreshed!

If you are still feeling low for more than a couple days, a full juicing cleanse may not be for you for a few different reasons. Do your research and consult your doctor if you need additional information or advice.

Is Making Your Own Juice Worth it?

Juicing is no healthier than eating whole fruits and vegetables.

Juicing extracts the juice from fresh fruits or vegetables. The liquid contains most of the vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals (phytonutrients) found in the fruit. However, whole fruits and vegetables also have healthy fiber, which is lost during most juicing.

Some believe that juicing is better than eating whole fruits and vegetables because your body can absorb the nutrients better and it gives your digestive system a rest from digesting fiber. They say juicing can reduce your risk of cancer, boost your immune system, remove toxins from your body, aid digestion and help you lose weight.

However, there’s no scientific evidence that extracted juices are healthier than the juice you get by eating the fruit or vegetable itself.

But if you don’t enjoy eating fruits and vegetables, juicing may be a way to add them to your diet or to try fruits and vegetables you might not eat.

Consider blending instead of juicing. Blending the edible parts of fruits and vegetables produces a drink that contains more healthy phytonutrients and fiber. Fiber can help you feel full.

If you try juicing, make only as much juice as you can drink at once; harmful bacteria can grow quickly in freshly squeezed juice. If you buy commercially produced fresh juice, select a pasteurized product.

Is a 3 Day Juice Cleanse Long Enough?

A 3-day juice cleanse is just long enough to provide benefits like improved digestion and kicking unhealthy cravings to the curb, but short enough that beginners can tackle it on the first try.

When picking the length of your juice cleanse, there are a few key things you need to evaluate and understand first:

• Your personal needs and goals
• The benefits each length of cleanse offers

To set yourself up for maximum success, you will need to make sure your needs and goals align with the cleanse you want to do!

• Goals

A big consideration when choosing the length of time to cleanse is your main health goal. Trying to reset after a wild night out? A one-day juice cleanse might be all you need. Looking to shed a few pounds or improve your quality of sleep? A longer juice cleanse is best to maximize results. Take a step back and evaluate the main reason why you want to cleanse before diving in head-first.

• Juicing experience

If you’re brand new to the world of juicing, it’s best to start small and work your way up to longer cleanses. You’ll need to get your body used to the idea of juicing and make sure it’s something you can stick to. On the other hand, if you have a few juice cleanses under you’re belt, you can definitely challenge yourself with a longer cleanse.

• Commitment level

Take a glance at your calendar and gauge how busy you will be during your cleanse. If you have lots on your plate, committing to a longer juice cleanse might be tough and you run the risk of disappointment or feelings of guilt if you can’t complete it (although it’s completely possible to survive a juice cleanse while working!). Set yourself up for success and only commit to a juice cleanse that suits your schedule.

• Lifestyle

Your lifestyle will play a big part in the length of cleanse you should pick. If you’re a very active person (like a runner or cyclist), a long juice cleanse might not be the best option for you—unless you’re willing to commit to some (likely) much needed R&R. When working out intensely, your body needs enough calories and energy to perform.

If your lifestyle is in need of some improvement (like unhealthy food cravings or high alcohol or caffeine consumption), a longer cleanse can help you build better habits.

Is it Worth Doing a Juice Cleanse?

Whether you’re considering turning to a juice cleanse to lose weight or because your body needs to “detoxify,” it’s important to first weigh the pros and cons of this short, but restrictive diet trend.

“Juice cleansing is a diet where a person almost exclusively drinks fruit and vegetable juices for as long as 10 days or as short as just a day or two,” says Amanda Beaver, wellness dietitian at Houston Methodist. “While it might sound healthy, it’s best to look at what the science says about juice cleanses before giving into the hype.”

Beaver breaks down the benefits and risks of juice cleansing, whether it actually helps with weight loss and detoxifying, and offers advice about what you should do instead.

The positive side of juice cleansing is probably pretty obvious — you’re consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables, which we know should make up half of our plate.

“Studies have shown that fruit and vegetable juices can boost levels of important vitamins and antioxidants, including folate, vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene,” says Beaver. So, in theory, a juice cleanse is helpful for people who find it hard to eat enough fruits and vegetables. But, as the old saying goes: Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Juice cleansing comes with health risks

In reality, juice cleansing isn’t particularly healthy, and many juice cleansing companies actually downplay the health risks of restricting your diet to just juice.

According to Beaver, there are major downsides to juice cleansing:

• The resulting nutrient deficiencies. Fruit and vegetable juice is almost completely devoid of protein, healthful fats and certain vitamins (like B12) — all of which are vital to health.
• Fiber is stripped out of fruits and vegetables during the juicing process. Fiber is important for ‘feeding’ the healthy bacteria in our gut — helping us feel full, keeping blood sugar from going up too quickly and preventing constipation.
• It causes undesirable side effects. The low calorie content of most juices can elicit fatigue, headaches, cravings and dizziness.
• It may lead to muscle and bone loss. Because juice contains limited amount of protein, your muscles and bones can be affected.

There are even bigger health concerns for some individuals, such as those with kidney issues.

“Anyone with kidney disease should not undergo a juice cleanse,” warns Beaver. “The kidneys are responsible for removing oxalate, which can be found in high levels in some juices.”

What Are Some Healthy Alternatives to Juice Cleansing

There are quite a few downsides to juice cleanses. Rather than signing up for a week of juice, or opting for a juice instead of a meal, Beaver recommends blending your fruits and vegetables (rather than juicing them) and eating whole fruits and/or vegetables along with a protein source.

“One delicious way to get the potential benefits of juicing, plus the natural fiber from these foods, is to enjoy fruits and veggies in smoothie form,” explains Beaver. “This is a great way to get in your recommended daily servings of fruits and veggies.”

Beaver recommends trying to blend your favorite fruits and veggies with some Greek yogurt or soy milk for protein. For a green smoothie, pair kale or spinach with a frozen banana. For a beautiful pink smoothie, pair berries with a little bit of frozen cauliflower.

Even better, though, is eating your fruits and veggies whole — which also helps you feel fuller longer after a meal.

“One easy way to get your veggies in is to stir-fry your favorites and add a protein source like chicken or edamame,” suggests Beaver.

In the end, it’s important to know that while juices themselves can be healthy, they’re not nutritionally balanced and shouldn’t be used as meal replacements. So, this year, skip the juice cleanse and enjoy whole fruits and veggies as a part of your meals and snacks, or blend them to make a delicious smoothie.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Juicing Business?

Here are the 7 steps to Starting a Juicing Business:

1. Setup the Business.

A juicing business is fairly inexpensive to begin. Just like any other business, it will need a name. Once you’ve settled on a name for your business, you should register the business with your government so you’re going into it legally.

The cost of registration for a business name in Nigeria, for example, is about  N15,000. The next item to spend on would be a cold press juicer, for a start. This would set you back about N100,000. The rest can go into packaging, containers, and plastics e.t.c

On average, you should be able to start your juicing business with as little as N250,000 (Roughly $670) assuming that you intend to start the business from home saving you the cost of having to rent a space.

2. Design your Menu

Designing your menu is a very easy step that you can have a little fun with. Here are some tried and tested fruit combinations you can get started with. 

First, know that there are 5 main categories of ingredients that make up your Juicing Menu:

1. Sweet Fruits e.g  Orange, Apple, Pineapple
2. Acidic e.g Lime or Lemon.
3. Spices e.g Tumeric, Ginger, Cayenne Pepper
4. Root Vegetables e.g Cucumber, Carrots, Beetroot
5. Greens e.g Spinach, Celery, Kelp.

Here are some suggested combinations to get started with:

1. Sweet Fruits + Spices: Any fruit from the sweet fruit category goes very well with any of the spices and can together form a menu item.
2. Sweet Fruits + Spices + Root Vegetables: Any fruit which classifies as a sweet fruit goes very well with any of the spices. You can also add an ingredient from the Root Vegetable category for a healthier option.
3. Root Vegetables + Sweet Fruits + Greens +  Acidic: Any fruit which classifies as a sweet fruit goes very well with the addition of a member of the root vegetable category, some green and an acidic like lime or lemon to give it a kick can form a menu item. You can combine Greens and Root Vegetables to come up with a really rich menu. Adding a fruit from the Sweet Fruit category would act as a sweetener and adding lime or lemon from the acidic category would give a nice kick to the recipe.

These are just some ideas on how to get started with your menu. Be sure to go ahead and try experimenting with your fruit and other ingredient combinations and see what you can come up with. There are no limits to how creative you can be with your recipes.

3. Get your Pricing Right

It is very important to get the unit economics for your business right from the beginning. Every ingredient in your recipe needs to add up to a price point without assumptions. Estimate the unit cost for the least measurement for all of the ingredients in your recipe.

For example; the price of a scoop of watermelon can be estimated by counting the number of scoops that can be gotten from an entire watermelon and dividing the total cost of that watermelon by that number.

After getting the unit costs of your ingredients, you should add your profit margin to get what the product will be priced. A healthy margin is from 50%, depending on other costs you may incur. Therefore the formula for pricing becomes;

Product Price = The Unit Cost of Production + Profit Margin 

4. Make your Products Look good!

It’s very important that your product packaging is of good quality. People are first attracted by what they see and when your customers see that your product is packaged right, they are more likely to make a purchase, and if it tastes good, they will return to your business.

As regards photography and digital content, It is advisable that you take your photos in natural light. Your social media pages are a great representation of the quality of your product, so it’s important to put in the effort in looking good after so much has been done to make your products taste good.

Aside from selling online, partnering with complementary businesses can be a great way to reach more people, especially in the early days when you have no space of your own. More on that in the next step.

5. Choose a Profitable Customer Segment & Revenue Model

Rather than trying to sell to individuals i.e Young adults and Adults, you may want to explore other customer segments that would be more profitable. See some examples below:

Children: Popsicles are a great way to package your menu such that it appeals to children. Partnering with schools to enable you to offer your products to the students during lunch or after school, would be a great way to start this off.

Hospitals/Health Centres: Partnership with health institutions is a great idea. The great thing about your business is that it is a healthy living choice, so the marketing opportunities are endless. People care about their health and care about what they’re putting into their bodies. People will be very willing to products that they’re assured will help them lead better and healthier lives. Products that they’re assured are beneficial to their body’s health. You would be juicing for health. Juicing for Health- This business strategy involves creating recipes that are required by people with specific health conditions or health goals as the case may be. For example; you could have clients who have health conditions that would require certain dietary needs for a period of time. You can design the menu to address these conditions and have a subscription pricing plan for the duration of the patient’s needs to recover.

Read Also: What Are The High Earning Categories For Affiliate Marketing?

Other customer segments include customers at the  Gym/Yoga/Workout/Dance centres as well as those at corporate offices, and just generally places that are a constant part of people’s lifestyle. Partnering is a great way to get your business seen and also provide a constant source of customers for your business.

6. Find a Local Supplier

Another very important way to make money off juices is to sell exotic fruits. Finding the fruits that aren’t readily available on the market, buying them in bulk, and reselling them is a great way to make a reasonable profit from juicing and fruits.

The Ijora market of Lagos, Nigeria is a great place to find fresh fruits for people who live in Lagos. The suppliers should also teach you the preservation methods for each fruit as you buy. More on preservation in the next step.

7. Learning Techniques for Preservation

Due to the perishable nature of your product, fruit preservation methods are something you need to pay a lot of attention to in order not to run into a loss that could cost you a lot of money. You need to find an effective method to keep your juices fresh and edible and also your raw materials. Each fruit has its own preservation method(s) 

Some general tips include keeping away from direct sunlight and as much as possible keeping the optimal temperature of the fruit constant.
For bananas, wrapping up the stem slows down the ripening process. Separating the unripe banana from the slightly ripe ones and also wrapping up the stem would preserve them for longer.

Apples should be kept cool for them to last longer.

Final Words

Juice fasting and cleansing are essentially trendy, fad diets, and most of the reported health benefits of juice fasting are not backed by science. There are better and safer alternatives to juice fasting, like just adding more fruits and vegetables to your daily diet.

But if you really want to try a juice fast or cleanse, keep the tips above in mind to minimize the potential side effects.