Liquid Diet: Guide, Benefits, and Risk Factors

A type of diet in which a person eats no solid foods and only consumes liquids, such as soups, juices, and liquid smoothies, is known as a liquid diet. Usually, people follow the liquid diet for 1 and 3 days, but in many cases, people stretch their liquid diet to a week or more as per doctors’ recommendations or to lose more weight.

Liquid Diet

This diet is not a long-term nutritional strategy as it works for a temporary measure. 

There are 2 type’s of liquid diet

 1. Full Liquid diet

 2. Clear liquid diet. 

Full liquid diets are the opposite of the clear liquid diet. A clear liquid diet includes meals such as Water, tea, and coffee. Complete liquid diets offer more nutritional value and great flavours. A person will be able to eat their favourite food as a refined version in the form of thicker liquids. For instance:- Tomato soup, Banana shake, Oats with water, etc. 

Want to know more about the liquid diet’s Read this entire article, and you will have a clear vision of the Liquid diet.

A person should eat the liquid diet as per their nutritional needs or their doctor’s recommendations. 

In a liquid diet, a person will be able to eat meals such as:- 

•  fruit juices 
•  lemonade
•  Soups
•  Tea
•  coffee
•  Milk or Milkshakes
•  strained Oatmeal
•  Baby food like cerelac etc
•  Cream of wheat
•  Smoothies
•  Protein drinks and other liquid Nutritional Supplements 
•  Ice cream ( If they are not following any diet plan) 
•  Milkshakes and Smoothies

It will be difficult for a person to meet the protein and caloric requirements of the body, especially if they are following a liquid diet plan for a more extended period of time as the nutritional value of the liquid diet is lesser than the solid or whole food.

Why may you need to follow the idea of a Liquid Diet?

  In many cases, doctors prescribe these kinds of diets before specific medical tests or procedures. Except they may prescribe you these kinds of diets before the surgeries like Gallbladder removal etc. It will be good to follow these diet ideas before the surgery as it will give a clear picture of your system and help avoid other problems during surgery. 

While in some cases the Gym trainers recommend these types of diet ideas to shed fat or lose weight in a very short period .

Benefits of liquid diets

•  Liquid diet is an effective way to prepare your stomach for a medical test or surgery as it will cleanse all the toxins and waste from your body to give a better picture of what is going inside your body.
• This eating pattern helps to boost the metabolism if applied once or twice a week. This diet can train your body to work more effectively with a reduced level of calories.
• Liquid diet eating pattern helps to recover fast and effectively after a surgery or medical procedures faster.
• Without giving much investment in healthy weight loss foods, you can follow a strict liquid diet for weight loss in the short term.
• It helps in improving digestion and prevents the problems like vomiting 
• Liquid diet helps you to hydrate properly and keeps you nourished.
• After eating solid foods, The Body tries to eliminate the toxins and puts so much effort into dissolving solid foods. 
• A liquid diet helps detoxify the organs of the body and allows the system to cleanse. The More of the liquid diet helps to flush the kidneys and bladder and eliminate stored toxins.
• While being on a liquid diet, it is essential to drink/eat vegetable and fruit juices as it provides abundant nutrients, Vitamins, and minerals.
•  As we all know, everything has its pros and cons on the other side.

Cons of the liquid diet

• So as we know from the article mentioned above that the Fruit juices and smoothies are a vital part of the liquid diet, but we also know that these things lack nutritional value, so it’s a drawback of following this type of diet as it doesn’t match the nutritional requirements of the Body.
• We have to stick to calorie-dense foods as lowering the body’s calories restricts us to act more energetically and smartly. You will feel more tired by doing a small amount of work.
•  As per the recent survey, the lost weight with the help of the liquid diet is regained as soon as you start eating back normally. However, sticking to a healthy diet can help you maintain the lost weight with the help of a liquid diet.
•  As we know that the juice’s and vegetables help cleanse the toxins of the body, there is very limited research showing that it helps in detoxifying toxins of the body or cleanse the system.
• So many people doubt their heads that  ‘Can I drink coke while following the liquid Diet.’
• The answer is yes, and you can go with the Diet Coke or Pulp juices as you are already running in a calorie deficit.

Is it safe to follow a liquid diet?

Yes, it is safe to follow the liquid diet for some period of time or before the surgeries. Following these diets to a longer extent will make you feel weak and tired, and your body will not be able to work as hard as it was doing before.