There are so many different health cleanses out there these days. And unfortunately a lot of them do more harm than good. A kombucha cleanse however, is different than most of the other cleanses out there and is a safe and healthy way to quickly improve your digestive and overall health. But what exactly is a kombucha cleanse?
A kombucha cleanse is a week or two long period of drinking at least one bottle (16oz) of kombucha a day in order quickly get the health benefits of kombucha, such as improved digestive and immune function, lowered risk of certain cancers, and increased weight loss, affecting the body quickly.
So what is the difference between a juice cleanse and a kombucha cleanse? And why is a kombucha cleanse healthy? In this article I'll answer these questions and more to help get you everything you need to know before starting a kombucha cleanse. Let's get going!
What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a probiotic drink made from fermented tea that has become quite popular in recent years due to its great taste and many health benefits such as improved digestion and gut health, detoxification, and immune system strengthening.
What is a Kombucha Cleanse?
In a juice cleanse, you completely replace your diet with juice, a practice that is generally considered to not have any long term benefits and leaves you at the end of it feeling more miserable than refreshed.
A kombucha cleanse is different from a regular juice cleanse in that it doesn't replace your normal diet with kombucha, but instead just adds kombucha and its benefits on top of the diet you already have.
Drinking kombucha regularly seems to have a lot of potential health benefits. The idea behind a kombucha cleanse is to get all these benefits affecting your body quickly. It’s sort of a kickstart to get your body full of kombucha's probiotics and antioxidants quickly, which can then be maintained in a less intense routine after.
Let’s get into some of the reasons why a kombucha cleanse and kombucha in general can be great for your health.
The Health Benefits of Kombucha
Probiotics
Kombucha is best known for the beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, that it contains. It’s these living bacteria that ferment sweet tea into bitter and tasty kombucha. Probiotics are found in a lot of other fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchi, and some cheeses.
Your body, especially your gut, is filled with good and bad bacteria. And it’s believed that the modern western diet which is so full of sugar and processed foods harms these good bacteria in your gut. This is bad because a lack of beneficial bacteria in the body can lead to digestive problems, diarrhea, and infections like candida.
Fermented foods with probiotics, like kombucha, replace and replenish these beneficial bacteria in your gut and may
Benefits of Tea Because kombucha is made from tea, you can get all the benefits that you normally get from drinking tea when you drink kombucha.
Most store bought booch is made with a combination of green and black tea, which according to Healthline.com may:
Lower the risk of breast prostate, and colorectal cancer.
Have antioxidant properties
Kombucha is a Subsitute for Sugary Drinks
Another way kombucha can improve your health is by serving as a substitute for sugary drinks such as soda and juice, which are one of the most fattening parts of the modern diet.
The reason that sugary drinks are so bad for you is because they are mostly empty calories, or calories without many nutrients. These calories do not contribute to you feeling full, so they are usually extra calories added on top of your normal diet.
Kombucha can be used as a healthier, lower sugar, lower calorie substitute to sugary drinks such as soda because kombucha tastes really sweet, but most bottles only have around 10g of sugar, almost 4x less than a can of coke (39g).
I’ve found that when I am craving a soda, kombucha can satisfy that craving because its sweet, acidic, and fizzy taste really closely resembles soda.
Simply substituting a kombucha for a sugary drink will will significantly lower your sugar and caloric intake on top of giving you all the awesome probiotic and antioxidant benefits.
How to do a Kombucha Cleanse
So how is a kombucha cleanse done? Well there are a lot of different ways to do it, but the main idea is to be consistently drinking kombucha for a week or two.
I would recommend drinking one bottle (12-16oz) of kombucha , half in the morning and the other half in the evening, every day for 2 weeks.
How to Do a Store Bought Kombucha Cleanse
The quickest and easiest way to get the kombucha for your cleanse is to buy it at your local grocery store. However this can be a difficult task for new kombucha drinkers because of how many different brands and flavors of kombucha there are to choose from.
Fortunately, the process of making this website and writing dozens of articles about booch has led me to learn a lot about kombucha and different kombucha brands. If right now I had to pick what brands I think are the healthiest and best for a kombucha cleanse (low in sugar, high in probiotics, tasty) I would choose Humm Kombucha, Brew Dr. Kombucha, and Health-Ade Kombucha.
Each of these brands sell dozens of flavors, so I recommend choosing a few different ones to see what you like. Eventually, when you buy the kombucha for the cleanse, you’ll need 14 bottles. One for every day for 2 weeks. You could buy all these individually at the store, or in bulk from Amazon.
Amazon sells Brew Dr. in variety packs of 3 different flavors, Wildberry Ginger, Island Mango, and Watermelon. It’s slightly more expensive than in store, but at the same time you probably won’t be able to find these same flavors in store. If you're interested you can find Brew Dr. on Amazon here.
You can also get Health-Ade on Amazon. They sell variety packs of 12 with the 3 flavors Pink Lady Apple, Bubbly Rose, and Pomegranate which you can find on Amazon here.
And if you’re interested in Humm Kombucha, you can check out their 12 and 24 packs of Pomegranate Lemonade, Mango Passionfruit, and Hopped Grapefruit flavored kombucha on Amazon here.
Health-Ade also has a special cayenne cleanse kombucha. This booch is made with millions of probiotics specifically for those looking to improve their gut health, and has a spicy combination of ginger, lime, and cayenne that will boost your metabolism. If you can’t find this one at your local supermarket, you can get it straight from Health-Ade’s website here.
How to Do a Home Brew Kombucha Cleanse
The biggest con to buying the kombucha for your kombucha cleanse at the store is that it's expensive. At around $4.00 a bottle, a 2 week cleanse is going to cost you about $56.00 to do.
If you know you're going to continue to regularly drink kombucha post cleanse, brewing it yourself could be a great way to save a lot of money, and learn a fun new hobby.
If you've never home brewed kombucha before and want to learn, you can check out my article "How to Make Kombucha in 5 Easy Steps - The Ultimate Home Brewing Guide" here.
If I were going to home brew kombucha specifically for a cleanse I would use green tea instead of black because of its high amount of antioxidants and other great health benefits, and then I would flavor it with herbs, roots, and spices rather than fruit.
Fruit flavorings taste great and are fun to make, but at the same time they're high in sugar and don’t provide a ton of health benefits. Since the whole point of a kombucha cleanse is improved health, using the healthiest flavorings possible is a good idea.
One of my favorite healthy kombucha flavoring combos is ginger turmeric. Ginger is a superfood that can treat indigestion, lower cholesterol levels, improve brain function, and fight against infection. Plus the spicy flavor it adds to kombucha is really yummy.
Turmeric is a natural anti inflammatory and antioxidant that may prevent heart disease, alzheimer's, depression, and some cancers.
These two superfoods together add some awesome health benefits to an already probiotic and antioxidant full green tea kombucha.
The only con to making your own kombucha for a cleanse is that a batch of kombucha takes a couple of weeks to make. So if you’re trying to start your cleanse within the next week or so, you may have to open up your wallet and buy the kombucha from the store.
Who Shouldn't Do a Kombucha Cleanse
As with anything health related, there are risks for people with certain preexisting conditions.
Kombucha can Be Dangerous for Pregnant and Nursing Women
Kombucha contains a small amount of alcohol that results naturally from the fermentation process used to make it. The alcohol content in all store bought kombucha is required to be less than 0.5% in order for it to be sold and marketed to minors according to federal regulations.
Although this amount of alcohol is about the same as that in a ripe banana, I would still recommend pregnant women avoid drinking kombucha.
In the past there have been lawsuits against kombucha brands because their booch was found at times to have over 0.5% alcohol due to improper storage. And home brewed kombucha can get up to a 3% alcohol content very easily.
I don’t think it’s worth it for pregnant women to risk the health of their baby on the promise of one of these kombucha brands that their drink is below a certain alcohol level, especially since they've been wrong in the past.
If you’re pregnant or nursing and still want to enjoy kombucha, there are non alcoholic kombucha options. My favorite non-alcoholic booch is made by a brand called Humm Kombucha. I reviewed Humm in my Top 5 Best Kombuchas on Amazon article if you’d like to learn more about it. Or, you can check it out for yourself on Amazon here
Kombucha can Cause Stomach Aches and Nausea
The probiotics and acids in kombucha are normally really good for your gut health and digestion. However some people, especially when they’re new to the drink, can get stomach aches or nausea from drinking it.
Kombucha stomach aches are usually from the acidity, yeast, and carbonation of kombucha., and are more likely to happen after drinking it too fast, or when someone is new to the drink and their body has a hard time processing it.
If you’re new to kombucha and are getting bloated, stomach aches, or nausea, try slowing down and only drinking a quarter of a bottle the next time you have it to allow your body to acclimate. You can then move to drinking half a bottle when comfortable, and after that a full bottle.
Kombucha can be Dangerous for People with Weak Immune Systems
If you have HIV, AIDS, are on chemotherapy, are taking immunosuppressants, or have any other condition that weakens your immune system, your body could be vulnerable to infection from the bacteria and yeast in kombucha and you should probably check with your doctor before drinking it or doing a kombucha cleanse.
Other Popular Digestive Cleanses
If you’re someone who can’t drink kombucha, or maybe just doesn't want to, here are a few other possible drink mixes for you to use to improve digestive health.
Orange Carrot and Ginger Smoothie
Cucumber and Mint Water
Honey Lemon Ginger Tea
Coconut Water with Lemon and Mint
Lemonade and Mint Water
Final Thoughts
Kombucha is a really powerful and tasty aid to digestive health, especially when combined with anti inflammatory and antioxidant herbs, roots, and spices.
Doing a kombucha cleanse by drinking a bottle of kombucha throughout the day, everyday, for 2 weeks can be a good way to kick start its health effects in your body, especially if you're someone who doesn't normally drink it.
I would recommend a kombucha cleanse to almost everyone. Even if you don’t want to make the 2 week commitment, drinking a bottle of kombucha every once in a while could be a great way to improve your health.
If you want to learn more about kombucha, its health benefits, and how to brew it yourself, be sure check out the rest of my website!