New to Juicing for Weight Loss

Q: I am reading all your information about juicing. It's very informative. My question is, as a beginner, should I do the detox first if I'm going to do juicing to lose weight? And do you need to add a fiber substitute? If so, what works best? Also, does a protein substitute need to be added as well?

Thanks,
Shawna

A: Hi Shawna, Welcome to the world of juicing! Regarding your question of detoxing first, that's really up to you. If you're new to juicing, detoxing with just juice might be more challenging if you've never done it before. I'm assuming you were talking about a juice fast detox program.

If I were new to juicing and wanted to lose weight, I would just increase the whole, pure, raw foods in my daily diet, and combine juices and smoothies for breakfast. You could have a juice in place of your breakfast or lunch meal. This is a common way many people lose weight with juicing.

Then, if you feel comfortable doing an all juice detox to lose weight, you could easily slip into that...

You don't need to add protein or fiber to your juices, however some people like to. It depends on your body and your needs, always best to check with a health practitioner or doctor.

If you are concerned about fiber and protein, they work best when added to smoothies, as you don't taste it much that way (ground flax or chia seed for fiber and lots of greens in smoothies for protein).

Most people find that juicing helps the bowels along naturally so usually fiber is not needed. And if you are doing a short detox or just supplementing a meal with a glass of juice, I wouldn't worry about adding too much fiber or protein. However, it's never a bad thing, it just depends on your body and preference.

Good luck on losing weight!