This is easily one of the top questions I get when it comes to juicing. Not a week goes by without someone asking me, “Can I exercise while on a juice fast?”
The short answer? Yes. But when do I ever give y’all a short answer?
I covered this topic in the blog post, “The Best Exercise for Juicing“…which is, in my opinion, walking (click the post title to learn more about why). However any light exercise will do ya good during a juice fast. It’s just the folks who want to do a kettle bell workout and follow it up with a marathon run while consuming only green juice that give me pause.
Someone recently asked me if it was okay to fast while doing Beach Body’s “Insanity” program. Uh…no. In my opinion, absolutely not. “Insanity” is VERY intense, and your body needs the proper fuel to recover from the daily workout. With a juice fast, you’re not taking in enough calories to sustain that level of intensity, and your body gets confused as to whether it should be cleaning out your intestines or rebuilding your muscles. Fasting is intended to give your body a rest and allow deep cleansing to take place. HIIT training doesn’t equal rest, y’all, and can wait until you’ve transitioned back to solid foods.
For those of you (and me) who are using juicing to lose weight, my suggestion is to let the JUICE lead the way. Trust me when I say that your body is going to shed the pounds (and the toxins, and the fat, and the “spackle” in the intestines, etc) with just the juice running through you. Exercise is a wonderful thing, but not “necessary” to increase your weight loss during the fast. I am not saying NOT to exercise…I’m saying that intense, strenuous exercise should wait until after your cleanse is complete.
