What to Eat After A Juice Cleanse (and What to Avoid)

After a juice cleanse, you've given your digestive system the opportunity to remove debris and particles left over from an unhealthy diet. It's not always an easy process, but you should feel good about your body right now. With this cleansed digestive system, you need to consider what to eat after a juice detox to give your body the fuel it needs without causing additional problems.

First Ensure You Have a Quality Cleanse

Take a closer look at what you've used during your juice cleanse. If you've used products from Arden's Garden, such as any of the cold pressed juices available, you have used a nutrient-dense product. These are designed specifically to provide a wide range of nutrients the body needs without toxins that cause health problems or low energy symptoms.

You don't have to give up these products. You could continue to use them as a way to supplement your diet with highly nutritious food. When you consider what the best foods to eat after a juice cleanse are, it's clear that nutrient-dense foods are a priority. Use these for breakfast or lunch if you would like to do so.

If you used other juices for your detox, be careful about continuing their use. You may find some have too much sugar in them or may not offer enough nutrition to benefit your body long-term.

The Best Foods to Eat After a Juice Cleanse

A few days of a juice cleanse is enough for most people. At this point, you may be ready to add some normal foods into your diet. Yet, this is the perfect time to make some adjustments to give your body the fuel it needs. Here are some things to consider:

Stick to whole foods

A good starting point is to only eat whole foods. That means it should be organic products that you can easily identify any ingredients in them. When possible, stick with true whole foods – fruits and vegetables, nuts, and beans. The key here is to keep things as natural as possible.

Focus on foods you prepare

It's also a good idea to choose foods you prepare rather than fast food or restaurant meals. While it may be tempting to pick up something quick to eat, these products are loaded with preservatives and natural flavors. They even have a high amount of sodium that complicates health. Instead, choose foods you prepare yourself, even if they are light meals of roasted veggies and simply wraps. When you control what goes into your meals, you can feel good about it.

Load up on the veggies

There's no limit on the number of veggies (and most fruits) you take in. Make this a big part of your meals, especially on the days right after a juice cleanse. Your body is already enjoying all of those ingredients from the cold pressed juice cleanse you consumed. You don't want to slow it down with unhealthy added calories or a heavy protein diet.

Incorporate raw snacks

For those ready to get the very best experience, it's critical to focus heavily on raw foods. Raw foods have the highest amount of nutrition possible, especially when they come from a reliable source and are organic. Check out our raw vegan snacks. These contain nutrient-dense foods that are still fun to eat. They are also great when you want to have something easy to take with you while you are on the go.

Water

Don't let yourself get dehydrated. During your juice cleanse, your body was taking in a significant amount of fluid packed with nutrition. It's used to having that water content to aid in the digestion process. You can drink hot and cold water with lemon and even herbal teas. This can help to ease your digestive system back to working properly.

What Not to Eat After a Juice Cleanse

While focusing on what to eat is important, you also want to be careful about what to skip, too. Here are a few things you do not want to eat after a juice cleanse.

Skip foods with added preservatives

After a juice cleanse, you don't want to put chemicals into your body. Look to include just organic foods and non-GMO products when you can do so. Any processed foods are going to contain a lot of these ingredients. You don’t want to limit your success.

Avoid caffeine as much as possible

As you work to improve your diet, it is very important to get rid of caffeine. That means limiting the amount of coffee you use. It's particularly important to do this if you are drinking coffee with added sugars and other flavorings – remember, if it is not natural, your body does not want it!

Sugar itself

Limit your sugar intake. When possible, eliminate it. In either situation, your body is going to have a harder time transitioning out of the juice cleanse if you add in a lot of sugar, especially right away. You don't want to consume foods with sugar alcohols either. These are likely to cause digestive problems for you.

Alcohol

In the days after a juice cleanse, you don't want to consume alcohol. That's important because of all of the hard work your liver has been doing up until this point. The liver has worked hard in the last few days to remove all of the toxins from the foods you've eaten. Give it a break, at least for a few days, if not a week, from any type of alcohol.

Make It a Point to Keep It Simple

Choosing what to eat after a juice detox can be difficult. After a juice cleanse, the best practice is to keep meals as simple as you can. Eat three smaller meals each day that are mostly veggie-based. As you add in new foods, do so slowly and with careful attention to how your body reacts to them. Arden's Garden offers a wide range of cold pressed juices that can complement your diet (and the juice cleanses you need as well).