My juice diet made my belly bulge. Recently I started a fruit-and-veggie juice diet to lose about 25 pounds fast. But I had to stop after just three days—I had the worst headaches and was so constipated and bloated. Then I got on the scale and saw that I was 2 pounds heavier! What did I do wrong?
A simple tweak to your juice diet can get you results without the side effects: Add more fiber to your blends. Juices are low in roughage (the insoluble fiber left behind in the juicer), so a juice-only diet doesn’t create the bulk that speeds colonic contents out of the body. This can cause constipation that ups the number on the scale. Plus, stagnant waste is packed with toxins that can trigger headaches, bloat, mood swings and other unpleasantries. To bulk up your juices, stir 2 Tbs. of ground chia seeds into every glass. (The consistency will be similar to ground flax.) This provides 8 grams of fiber per drink, plus omega-3 fatty acids (which help the liver burn body fat) and all the essential amino acids (which stabilize blood sugar for faster fat loss). You can find chia seeds at UNI KEY Health.
