The Juice Cleanse Reset Diet (13 page)

The excellent news is that throughout the Juice Cleanse Reset Diet, your body was flooded with enzymes and reset to crave more of them. This means you’re already on the right path!

Now, take the money you’re tempted to spend on creams, treatments, and injections, and put it toward the highest-quality, fresh, organic, raw fruits and vegetables and enzyme supplements that you can get your hands on. Dark green vegetables contain collagen-producing agents. Collagen is the main structural protein found in your connective tissue that keeps your skin firm, tight, and youthful. Eating kale, spinach, collards, and asparagus delivers key enzymes and nutrients that help strengthen your body’s ability to manufacture and utilize collagen effectively. If you aren’t consuming sufficient enzymes, you’re left feeling hungry, lethargic, and undernourished, and your appearance is sure to reflect this situation. Increasing your enzyme intake will improve your beauty from the inside out.

While you should aim to satisfy your nutrition needs mostly through your food, in today’s busy world, it’s not always possible. If you travel frequently, often eat meals away from home, or simply wish to increase your nutrient intake, smart supplementation may offer you a good solution.

Before you read the rest of this section, it’s important for us to clarify that supplements cannot make up for a poor diet. Supplements are great for filling in the gaps and enhancing a healthy diet. If you’re fulfilling your new healthy cravings post-reset, you’re already including many more antioxidant-, vitamin-, and enzyme-rich foods in your diet than you were before you embarked on the Juice Cleanse Reset Diet.

The supplement suggestions we include in this section are the ones that our clients have most commonly needed and that have created significant changes in their digestive health, energy levels, and overall well-being. Please note that all of us have unique individual needs. You may only benefit from a few of the following suggestions or perhaps none. The recommended daily dosage and optimal time of consumption for each of these supplements is typically stated on the container and will vary based on the concentration and potency of each brand. We’ve given you a few of our preferred brands for each supplement we recommend. If you select a supplement that is outside of our suggestions, there are a few ingredients you should be careful to avoid.

Remember to listen to your body and to check with your doctor before beginning any supplement program.

If you don’t consume fermented foods at least a few times per week, have been on antibiotics for any length of time, or have suffered from digestive issues, you’ll likely benefit from probiotic supplementation. Probiotics help your body assimilate food better, meaning that you’ll retain more nutrients from all of the foods that you eat! Just as free radicals are everywhere and antioxidants are our defense mechanism, the ecology of our food system is such that bacteria are everywhere and probiotics are our first line of defense. Probiotics are especially beneficial for anyone who suffers from gut-damaging food sensitivities. After identifying and removing an offending food from your diet, the next step is to repair any damage that resulted from your history of consuming this food.

Good digestive health is critical to your overall health and happiness. Did you know that 75 percent of your immune system lives in your colon and small intestine? We have worked with countless clients who have suffered from chronic constipation for as long as they can remember, which causes discomfort and a host of other issues brought on by a sluggish bowel. Some of these clients, despite eating loads of fiber or even cycling on and off of laxatives, were still disappointed by the lack of action in the restroom. After adding a daily probiotic regimen, everything changed. Things began to move through and out with awesome regularity. Brands we love:

The easier you can make your body’s massive job of breaking down the food you eat, the more energy you’ll have. Part of the reason the Juice Cleanse Reset Diet left you feeling energized was your insides were not working overtime to break down food. Living a processed food–free life puts you a giant leap ahead of where you were pre-reset. You can take even more of the burden off your digestive system’s daily load by including digestive enzymes with your meals. Digestive enzymes come in extra handy for those meals that contain animal products like meat and dairy, which require extra work by your digestive system in order to break down properly. Brands we love:

When you’re not cleansing, experiment with enhancing your smoothies with high-quality protein powder. This is a great way to increase your daily protein intake while giving your smoothie staying power. We suggest a plant protein (sprouted brown rice, hemp, or pea) or an organic, grass-fed, whey protein. A well-constructed smoothie—which includes a combination of greens for enzymes,
fruit for fiber, and good-quality protein for amino acids—will keep you satisfied for four-plus hours. Brands we love:

It’s been estimated that about one billion people around the globe suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D production is stimulated by sun exposure. If you spend very little time outdoors, live in northern latitudes, or slather every inch of your body in sunscreen before stepping outside, it’s possible you’re deficient in vitamin D. The time you spend in your car does not count toward outdoor time because the sun does not stimulate vitamin D production when it’s filtered through glass.

Unlike other vitamins, vitamin D is produced by your body in small quantities. Your body’s ability to produce vitamin D makes it more like a hormone rather than a vitamin. Because your body self-regulates its vitamin D production, there’s no chance of getting too much vitamin D from the sun! However, if your lifestyle lacks sufficient sun exposure, it is possible that you lack sufficient vitamin D. Moral of the story: get outside, and while you’re out there, do something active. Twenty minutes of unprotected sun exposure is suggested for most people. With your beauty in mind, you can still protect your face, but leave some other parts exposed. Request a simple blood test from your doctor to see if your vitamin D levels are low. Brands we love:

There are two types of essential—“essential” because your body does not produce them on its own—omega fats: omega-3 and omega-6. Both types are necessary for proper brain function, for healthy skin and hair, and for regulating your metabolism. Lately, omega-6s have been getting a bad rap because the standard American diet results in high levels of omega-6s and is often deficient in omega-3s. This off-balance ratio has been linked to various health problems, including heart disease. Unfortunately, this is not one of your body’s self-regulating systems. You’re responsible for striking the right balance between the two. The excellent news is that if you follow the Juice Cleanse Reset Diet, you’re consuming a diet free from processed foods and this dramatically decreases your risk of consuming too many omega-6 fats. Instead, you can focus on ensuring that you are consuming enough omega-3s.

You can supplement with omega-3 from algae if you are a vegan. If you aren’t, in addition to enjoying oily wild-caught fish weekly (think salmon and black cod), it’s a good idea to take a high-quality omega-3 supplement that contains both EPA and DHA.

These powerful omegas have potent anti-inflammatory properties and contribute to heart health, joint health, increased brain function, and mood regulation. Choose a supplement brand that has been independently tested and is guaranteed to be free of heavy metals, such as mercury and lead, and other environmental toxins, including polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs. Brands we love:

There are many different types of sugar and every nutrition expert has an opinion on which one is best. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has taken the brunt of negativity in the war against sugar. While many experts argue that your body’s biological response to HFCS may not be different than its response to any other sweetener, the chemically engineered sweetener represents the downside of processed foods in general. HFCS has made its way into about 80 percent of the processed foods that line the supermarket shelves, and most of it is genetically engineered. Good news: because you no longer consume processed foods, your intake of HFCS should be almost nonexistent.

In response to the consumer backlash against high-fructose corn syrup, soda companies are now beginning to change recipes and stamp their packaging with “Made with real sugar.” Beware of emerging labels on food that are calling out their use of sugar as a good thing. Real sugar does not make soda a health food. Don’t fall into this trap! Remember what we talked about in
chapter 2
: if a food label tells you how natural it is, chances are high that you’re better off not eating it.

Regardless of its form, too much added sugar intake (meaning sugar that is not naturally occurring in the food) increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, and high blood pressure. A 2010 study from Emory University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that added sweeteners appear to raise triglycerides and lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. Here is a brief explanation of some of the nonsugar options available. Whichever you decide to make your go-to source, use it in moderation!