What to Eat After a Juice Cleanse
After a juice cleanse, return to food gradually. Start with simple, warm, easy-to-digest meals such as stewed fruit, miso, vegetable soup or dhal, then widen the menu over the next day or two as your appetite leads. The longer your cleanse, the more gently you can take the return.
Why the way you finish matters
Just as the way you enter a cleanse shapes the experience, the way you come out of one matters too. After a few days of a simpler rhythm it's tempting to celebrate with everything you've missed at once, but a large, rich meal can feel like a lot. Your first day back is a chance to extend the experience a little longer while your digestion adjusts.
And your first meal doesn't need to be virtuous. Make it beautiful. Sit down, eat slowly and notice flavour and texture again. After a few days of drinking your meals, the crunch of something green, warm soup or a bowl of perfectly cooked rice can feel remarkably good.
Your first day back: a gentle return
There's no need to remain on liquids, but it can feel good to let whole foods return gradually, beginning with meals that are simple, nourishing and relatively easy to digest.
Breakfast
- Stewed pear or apple with cinnamon and coconut yoghurt
- Chia pudding with berries
- Avocado and soft boiled eggs, if you're craving something savoury
Lunch
- A bowl of miso with tofu, greens and rice
- Simple vegetable soup with sourdough and avocado
- Roasted vegetables with quinoa, herbs, tahini and lemon
Dinner
- Vegetable dhal with rice and wilted greens
- A simple kitchari
- Baked sweet potato with greens and tahini
- Steamed fish with vegetables, herbs and a little rice
The days that follow
Over the next day or two, keep widening the menu as your appetite leads. Eggs, legumes, nuts and seeds, good-quality proteins and more substantial meals can all find their way back in.
- After a 1 day cleanse, keep breakfast and lunch simple, then return to your usual rhythm by dinner
- After a 3 day cleanse, keep your first day simple and warm, then widen the menu on day 2
- After a 5 day cleanse, allow two days of simple meals before richer foods, coffee and alcohol return
Pay attention to what you notice
Perhaps the most interesting part of coming out of a cleanse is the opportunity to experience familiar foods again with fresh eyes.
When you've stepped away from your usual eating patterns for a few days, appetite can feel different. Flavours may seem stronger, sweetness more obvious, and you may find yourself questioning whether you actually missed certain foods or simply missed the habit surrounding them.
Rather than rushing to put everything back, reintroduce things gradually and notice how you feel. This can be particularly useful with the things you consume most automatically, whether that's coffee first thing in the morning, something sweet in the afternoon or a glass of wine at the end of the day.
The point isn't to decide that any of these things are inherently good or bad. It's simply a rare opportunity to notice the relationship you have with them.
Hold onto what felt good
A cleanse exists outside normal life, and it isn't supposed to become normal life. Eventually there are dinners out, morning coffees, celebrations, busy days and all the other things that make up a full life.
But there may be parts of the experience worth carrying with you.
Perhaps you loved beginning the day more slowly, found yourself drinking more water, enjoyed having something warm in the evening or noticed how good it felt to eat earlier and give yourself more time before bed. Maybe it was simply the feeling of being a little more deliberate about what you were putting into your body.
These are often the more valuable things to take from a cleanse because they can live quite comfortably alongside everyday life. A few of them came from makers you'll find in the apothecary.
- Warm water with lemon on waking: the simplest ritual from your cleanse, and the easiest to keep
- A morning tonic: Sisuu Fire & Spice Tonic, the apple cider vinegar blend that wakes up Purify on Deep, taken in water before breakfast
- Mushrooms for the morning: Superfeast Cordyceps, blended into Yang on Vital, stirred into your smoothie or coffee
- Deep nourishment: Foraged For You Mother's Blend, the mineral-dense blend in Yin on Bloom that supports the demands of motherhood
- Fibre and cultures: The Gut Co. Feed, the prebiotic fibre in Green Lassi on Deep, designed to cultivate microbial balance and digestive ease
- An afternoon of hydration: The Beauty Chef Hydration Boost, the base of Recover on Vital, to bring a radiant, dewy complexion from within
- Something warm in the evening: Lovewell Dream in warm milk, the formulation that carries a nervous system reset in Blue Moon on Bloom, or a cup of Rough Rice Fire Tiger Vitality Broth
- Tea in place of a second coffee: Organic Hojicha Tea or Dandy Tea, for keeping the pause of a warm cup
Give yourself a runway out
There's no need to preserve some perfect post-cleanse state, just as there's no need to undo the experience the moment it finishes. Think of the transition out in much the same way as the transition in: gradually.
Let your first meals be simple, allow appetite to guide you and bring your usual foods and rituals back at a pace that feels good.
A cleanse is a pause, not a new set of rules. What matters is what you notice in that pause and what you choose to carry back with you.
The cleanse may be over, but perhaps the rhythm doesn't have to disappear entirely.
Your next pause
Many of our cleansers return every few months, often as the seasons change. When you're ready, choose the same cleanse or try another rhythm.
After your cleanse: common questions
What should I eat first after a juice cleanse?
Something simple, warm and easy to digest, such as stewed fruit, miso or a vegetable soup, eaten slowly. Widen the menu over the next day or two as your appetite returns.
When can I drink coffee again after a cleanse?
Whenever you like, though many people find a smaller cup taken with food sits better for the first day or two. Some find they didn't miss it as much as they expected.
When can I drink alcohol after a juice cleanse?
There's no rush to bring alcohol back. Many people notice they slept better, felt clearer or simply enjoyed the pause without it, and that's worth holding onto if it suits you. If you do choose to bring it back, ease in very gently after a day or two of regular meals; alongside food, rather than on its own, tends to sit more comfortably.
Is it normal to feel bloated after a juice cleanse?
Some people notice a little bloating as fibre and larger meals return. Smaller portions, eating slowly and warm, cooked food usually help. If discomfort continues, speak with your healthcare practitioner.
How often can I do a juice cleanse?
Many cleansers return every few months, often with the change of season.
