As you've probably noticed, myriad methods to cleanse and detoxify your body are for sale on the market. There are fruit and vegetable juice fasts, pureed food cleanses, soup cleanses and even baby food cleanses all over the Internet. One that has remained most popular since the 1970s is the cleanse that uses lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. It is essentially the same concoction designed and marketed by Naturopath Stanley Burroughs as the Master Cleanse.
Purpose
The cleanse claims to work by eliminating toxins from your kidneys and digestive system. Supposedly, your digestive and elimination systems become polluted, and when reset via cleansing, they can function optimally. Once those systems are functioning well, you will become thinner and healthier. Doctors and nutritionists take issue with this idea, since healthy gut, liver and kidneys should not require external help. Joy Bauer, of Joy Bauer Nutrition considers it a "quick fix" form of starvation.
Concerns
Retention of lean muscle mass is crucial when dieting. That is because muscle burns more calories than fat and also displaces fat for a toned appearance. Subsisting solely on juice for any extended period of time can not only cause loss of lean muscle but also nutrient deficiencies. As Dr. Samuel Klein, Director for the Center of Human Nutrition at Washington University states, "Fasting for too long can deplete muscle tissue, including your heart muscle, and it can reduce the size and functioning of organs like the kidney and liver."
Lemon Juice
The Master Cleanse literature claims that lemon juice is used because of its high mineral content and because the citric acid it contains breaks down calcification in the kidneys. The pectin in the lemon peel and the acidity of the fruit are also purported to suppress your appetite. Clinical research is reluctant to support either claim, but lemon juice is listed as a possible alternative remedy for kidney stone reduction in conjunction with regular medicine on the Mayo Clinic website. More importantly, the Vitamin C in lemons can help your immune system, which may become weakened from not eating.
Cayenne Pepper
Cayenne pepper is a member of the capsicum family and it brings the heat to the lemonade mixture. Two Canadian studies in the Physical Activity Sciences Laboratory of Laval University describe positive thermogenic and appetite suppressive activity in diets which include red pepper. Thermogenesis refers to the increased heart rate that increases your body's fat-burning power. The amount of pepper you use will determine how much fat-burning power will be provided.
Maple Syrup
Dieting can leave you feeling fatigued, and a diet drink of only lemon juice, water and cayenne pepper would be virtually energy-free and incapable of sustaining you through a single day. That is why the maple syrup might be the most important ingredient in this cleanse because it provides you with the essential calories you will need to stay with the program.
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