Spoiler alert: Juice cleanses are kind of bullshit. Thanks, SCIENCE.
Before you spend a lot of energy (and probably money) doing a fancy juice cleanse to keep your New Year's resolution, watch SciShow's Hank Green break down three common misconceptions about juicing.
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Misconception #1: You need to flush out your ~TOXINS~ and juice is the best way to do that.
Hank explains, "It's rare to find a juice fast program that explains what they mean by "toxins," or specifies what any of them are." Merriam-Webster defines "toxin" as "A poisonous substance and especially one that is produced by a living thing."
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Drinking a lot of juice isn't going to help your vital organs flush out those toxins.
Yes, your body already has a way of shutting that mess down, and it's called your liver and kidneys. If they are not filtering out the harmful stuff like ammonia (which comes out in your urine), Hank explains, "that's what we call liver or kidney failure."
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Misconception #2: There's a bunch of "extra gunk" just hanging on to your intestines and you need to get rid of it by giving yourself diarrhea.
While it's not the goal of many cleanses, diarrhea is a fairly common side-effect.
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