Juice fasting

{{Short description|Fad diet in which only fruit and vegetable juices are consumed}}

File:Kale, Wheat Grass, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Carrot, Apple, Lemon Juice.jpg

File:Sweet lime juice.jpg

Juice fasting, also known as juice cleansing, is a fad diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices while abstaining from solid food consumption. It is often used for its presumed detoxification effects as part of an alternative medicine treatment, and is often part of detox diets. The diet can typically last from one to seven days and involve a number of fruits and vegetables and even spices that are not among the juices typically sold or consumed in the average Western diet. The diet is often promoted with implausible and unsubstantiated claims about its health benefits.{{R|"HuffPo"}}{{Cite web|date=2022|title=Common Questions About Diet, Activity, and Cancer Risk|url=https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/diet-physical-activity/acs-guidelines-nutrition-physical-activity-cancer-prevention/common-questions.html|website=American Cancer Society|language=en-GB|archive-date=March 27, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327154103/https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/diet-physical-activity/acs-guidelines-nutrition-physical-activity-cancer-prevention/common-questions.html|url-status=live}}

==History==

Juice fasting became a growing trend in the United States because of Norman W. Walker and Jay Kordich who worked to transform the juice drink into a diet.{{Cite web|last=Laskow|first=Sarah|date=2014-11-20|title=The Man Who First Juiced Vegetables|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/the-man-who-first-juiced/382586/|access-date=2020-10-31|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=New|first=Catherine|date=2013-05-20|title=Rebuilding A Juice Empire At Age 89|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/juiceman-jay-kordich-rise-and-fall_n_3232665.html|access-date=2020-10-31|website=HuffPost|language=en}} Walker is considered to be one of the founders of the juice cleanse trend because of his technological contributions to the juicing process and his promotions of a raw food diet. In 1936, Walker created the designs for the first mechanical juicer that he named the NorWalk. The modern Norwalk 280 version of his invention is still a high selling juicer, priced at US$2,495. In addition to this new technology, Walker also pioneered today's juicing cleanse through his many cookbooks that advocated for a raw, mostly liquid diet. Kordich rose to fame through his book, The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing which became a New York Times best seller.{{Cite news|last=Burros|first=Marian|date=1992-04-15|title=Eating Well (Published 1992)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/15/garden/eating-well.html|access-date=2020-10-31|issn=0362-4331}}  During the 1990s, Kordich worked as a TV spokesman who promoted the health benefits of a juice diet. Kordich also appeared in infomercials promoting his Juiceman Juicer that, according to Kordich, made over US$300 million in sales. Walker's and Kordich's contributions to juice fasting propelled the diet to today's current version.

In the twenty-first century, juice fasting has remained trendy with people continuing to believe that periodic juice cleanses can detoxify their bodies of unwanted chemicals. The ability for famous celebrities as well as other people to broadcast their juice diets on the internet has also popularized the lifestyle.{{Cite news|last=Newman|first=Judith|date=2010-10-27|title=The Juice Cleanse: A Strange and Green Journey (Published 2010)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/fashion/28Cleanse.html|access-date=2020-10-31|issn=0362-4331}}