Rationale
The rationale for an apple juice and fasting diet is often to lose weight and detoxify your body, according to MayoClinic.com. You may feel as though you are jump starting your weight loss plan by eliminating all foods, while experiencing a feeling of being more energetic while you drink only apple juice. An apple juice and fasting diet falls under the definition of a fad diet, according to the National Institutes of Health, because the diet does not encourage healthy eating, but rather recommends extreme eating behaviors.
Apple Juice Calories
Apple juice is not a calorie-free beverage, making it a poor choice for a weight loss diet. You may feel as though you are not consuming many calories by drinking only apple juice, but an 8 oz. cup of unsweetened apple juice with added vitamin C has 114 calories, 31 more than a glass of skim milk and 30 more calories than a 6 oz. glass of white table wine. If you drink eight glasses a day, you will consume slightly more than 900 calories. The NIH recommends a healthy weight loss caloric intake, including beverages, of 1,200 for females and 1,600 for men.
Sugar and Nutrients
Unsweetened apple juice has 24 g of sugar, a trace of protein and fat and 28 g of carbohydrates. Apple juice also has 95 mg of vitamin C, 250 mg of potassium and a trace of sodium. Although the unsweetened apple juice has naturally occurring sugars, the majority of the calories in the juice come from sugar. Drinking apple juice may make you hungrier than eating food, according to a study published in the March 2009 issue of the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association." The study found that participants who drank apple juice were much hungrier and more likely to eat sooner than the participants who consumed solid or semi-solid food.
Healthier Alternatives
Rather than risking dehydration, an upset stomach or the diarrhea that may come with drinking large amounts of apple juice and consuming no food, use apple juice as part of your weight loss program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture advocates that healthy weight loss involves understanding that you need to eat the right number of servings and calories from the grains, fruit, vegetable, dairy and meat food groups. If you create a calorie deficit of 250 to 500 calories a day, and burn 250 calories each day through exercise, you can lose between 1 to 2 lbs. per week, while eating healthy food and not just drinking apple juice.
