Once a week, senior Maya Simkin wakes up an hour earlier than usual to put fruits and vegetables in a juicer. She then goes about her day drinking 32 ounces of juice composed of produce including kale, lettuce, celery and carrots for every meal.

Simkin said she forgoes solid foods once a week in order to measure her self control and be aware of her food consumption.

“I like to be conscious of what I eat once a week because the other six days a week, I eat complete garbage,” Simkin said.

According to Simkin, “juicing” has had significant positive effects on her health, including making her feel more energetic in the morning. She said she hopes to soon increase her juice cleanse diet to more than once a week.

Senior Erica Fox also participated in a juice cleanse to detoxify and clear out the unhealthy food she ate over winter break. Unlike Simkin, she was unable to continue after one day.

“It was too spicy and tasted so gross,” said Fox. “I couldn’t even make it through the whole school day and ended up eating lunch.”

Whitney Fitzgerald, owner of True Juice in Winnetka, said she believes “juicing” is a great way to obtain nutrients that you may not receive otherwise by eating solids. She said she does not, however, believe that bodies can live on juice alone.

Registered dietitian Lara Field said that juice can provide large amounts of vitamins and minerals that people may not receive if they do not consume the solid vegetables. She also said, however, that simply drinking the juice of the vegetable is not the best way to receive nutrition.

“The act of digesting food provides us with a lot of nutritional benefit,” Field said.

According to Field, juice cleanses are not a good idea in general because they typically contain a high quantity of sugar. She said juice cleanses are unnecessary because they may put your body at a calorie deficit for awhile, which could lead to decreasing one’s metabolism.

“You have a liver to take away any toxins you put in your body,” Field said.

Fitzgerald said she drinks juices to help overcome the “vicious cycle” of processed foods and sugars.

“The biggest benefit from juicing is that you overcome food cravings,” said Fitzgerald. “When I start juicing, it starts to take the cravings of the sugar away.”