As of 2010, the national obesity rate in the United States is 33.9 percent, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a study that physically measures the height and weight of the respondents. As the focus sharpens on the consequences of an obesity epidemic, non-traditional dieting methods gain popularity, as evidenced by the proliferation of websites and books promoting the lemon juice diet, or master cleanse.
Stanley Burroughs
Stanley Burroughs was born in 1903 and died in 1991. He was an alternative health practitioner who developed the master cleanse in 1940 as a treatment for a patient named Bob Norman who had stomach ulcers, but Burroughs later hailed its efficacy as a cure for virtually any ailment which later got Burroughs into trouble with the law.
He was twice convicted of practicing medicine without a license, including a case involving a patient who died while under Burroughs' care. The patient, stricken with cancer, was undergoing light therapy, abdominal massage and using the Master Cleanse when he succumbed to his illness. A jury in the case found Burroughs guilty of second-degree murder due to the felonious charge of practicing medicine without a license, but that conviction was later overturned in the California Supreme Court.
Ingredients
Burroughs claims in his book that lemons are the "richest source of minerals and vitamins of any food or foods known to man," which is how he first settled on them as an ingredient in the Cleanse. Modern proponents, like singer Beyonce Knowles, insist that the lemons must be organically grown. The maple syrup in the mixture must be grade "B," as grade "A" maple syrup is further refined and lacks the minerals and complex sugars of the less refined grade "B." Cayenne pepper is meant to help force toxins out through the pores, but it is considered an optional ingredient if the person doing the Cleanse is sensitive to spice. Finally, the water must be free of impurities. Bottled spring water or water filtered with activated charcoal at home will suffice.
Recipe
Begin with 2 tbsp of fresh-squeezed lemon. Bottled lemon juice won't do. Add 2 tbsp of grade "B" maple syrup and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Finish with 8 oz of pure water, and mix well. A minimum of six glasses per day is recommended. While making large enough batch for a day's worth of lemon mixture is okay, it is not recommended to leave it overnight.
Duration
Burroughs recommends a minimum of 10 days on the cleanse, but advocates a regimen lasting as long as 40 days. At the end of the cleansing period, Dr. Burroughs insists that dieters spend one full day drinking nothing but orange juice followed by two days of orange juice and vegetable soup. On the fourth day after the cleanse, dieters can resume normal eating.
Expert Insight
Modern doctors, like Ed Zimney, M.D., editor of Everyday Health, allows that a few days on the Master Cleanse won't hurt, but it won't do any good, either. More than a few days will put the body into starvation mode, even though there are between 600 and 1,200 calories provided by the syrup. The American Dietetic Association, or ADA, warns dieters to avoid fads like the Master Cleanse all together. Some warning signs that a diet is a fad, according to the ADA, are promises of rapid weight loss, unlimited allowed quantities of specific ingredients and no call to exercise.
Dr. Zimney's also contends that there is nothing about the individual ingredients that will detoxify the body, as the natural physiological processes that handle basic filtering are quite efficient.
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