Tera Warner

Is It Safe To Juice Feast, Cleanse or Detox While Breastfeeding?

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juice cleanse during breast feedingIs It Safe To Juice Feast, Cleanse or Detox While Breastfeeding?

~ by Caroline Cain

There are many health conscious breastfeeding mamas out there wanting to Juice Feast, but not sure about what this means with regards to the release of toxins into their breast milk.

First of all, cutting out the typical SAD offenders – processed foods, refined sugars, a diet based on gluten, meat and dairy products and switching to a cleaner, organic, largely plant based diet with daily juices can only be of benefit by cutting out many of the avenues that actually lead to the accumulation of toxic waste. As well as boosting vital nutrients for both you and baby, adding in daily juices, more specifically greens, will help to replenish the building blocks that your liver needs for optimal cleansing. This will help ensure that toxins leave your body as efficiently as possible. Many mothers report that adding in green juices and smoothies greatly improves the quality of their milk and makes for healthy babies!

The question is not whether or not one can add in juices and smoothies while breastfeeding, but how much. What it essentially comes down to is your current state of health.

Why Wouldn’t A Breastfeeding Mama Want to Detox?

Why Wouldn’t A Breastfeeding Mama Want to Detox?You’ll find a plethora of articles on the internet, some proclaiming that breast milk is a collecting pot for toxins, others saying that the amount of toxins in breast milk is minimal. What has been agreed upon is that heavy metals are present in breast milk, just as they were present in your body while you were pregnant. The amount of other toxins present in breast milk is debatable and (other than excessive/unusual exposure to heavy metals) should not be of concern considering the huge benefits of breastfeeding.

It’s a fact that any form of detox helps to draw toxins out of the cells, into the bloodstream and around the body to be eliminated. Cutting out solid foods and adding in greens precipitates this by facilitating their release as well as their elimination.

We want these toxins out of the body. What we don’t want is a sudden release of toxins to overload the body leading to unpleasant ‘die-off’ symptoms which could impact breast milk quality and quantity.

So What’s a Breastfeeding Mama To Do?

Why Wouldn’t a Breastfeeding Mama Want to Detox?For mamas who have been living on a raw foods diet and detoxing for some years already, doing a semi juice feast might work well for you. For everyone else, whether living off a SAD diet or even a ‘quite healthy’ diet, the advice is to go slowly.

Add juices preferably in the morning when they’re more easily assimilated by the body and, depending on your current diet, you can also dilute them with pure water to begin with.

However, it is generally not recommended for anyone to start a full on liquid diet while breastfeeding, as you want to ensure that you are taking in the range of necessary nutrients, including adequate amounts of fat, protein and carbohydrates.

Detox & Cleansing for Breastfeeding Mamas

Any form of detox greatly benefits from the addition of naturopathic techniques to help elimination. These alternative detox and cleansing techniques are perfectly safe to use while breastfeeding and advised to ensure you’re eliminating any toxic waste that is released from the cells:

  • Dry skin body brushing (this must only be used if the bowels are eliminating efficiently to avoid simply moving toxins around the body to the major lymph Glands, including those around the mammary glands)
  • Enemas and colonics, which ensure that waste leaves the body rather than stagnating there
  • Visits to the sauna and exercise will help with elimination through sweating.

The bottom line: Any dietary improvement by cutting out SAD foods and adding in fruit and vegetables in the form of juices, smoothies and whole will make for more nutritious milk and healthier babies. Just remember that balance and pace are key when adding in such pure shots of nutrients as provided by juices.

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