The Master Cleanse is a detoxification plan first put forth by Stanley Burroughs in the 1940s. The diet intends to cleanse your body of toxins and impurities, not to help you lose weight. It is essentially a two-week fast during which you subsist on a spicy lemonade-like drink. The only other things you consume during the detox are a laxative and a salt water wash. Daily, you are to drink up to six 10-oz glasses of the lemonade. Consult a physician before undertaking a fasting diet as extreme as the Master Cleanse as it does not supply adequate nutrition or calories for energy. The cleansing drink has just four ingredients.
Water
Use spring water as the basis for the drink rather than tap water, which may contain impurities. For one day's recipe, you'll need 60 oz. of water.
Maple Syrup
Add 12 tbsp. of organic, grade B maple syrup. Grade B syrup has a stronger flavor than lighter colored grade A varieties. Choose organic so you do not expose yourself to pesticides while trying to cleanse. Maple syrup is used over honey or another sweetener because it is an excellent source of the trace mineral manganese and the mineral zinc, notes the website The World's Healthiest Foods. These minerals support immunity, energy production and heart health.
Lemon Juice
Choose fresh lemons and squeeze 12 tbsp. to go into your daily lemonade. Lemon juice is a natural diuretic and in some natural healing applications may be used as a laxative and treatment for the common cold according to author Julia F. Morton in "Lemon, Fruits of Warm Climates."
Cayenne Pepper
The final ingredient in your day's worth of master cleanse lemonade is 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper. You can add more if you desire. Just 2 tsp. of cayenne pepper provides about 30 percent of your daily recommended allowance of vitamin A says The World's Healthiest Foods. It also provides vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese and dietary fiber. Cayenne, like other peppers, contains capsaicin which is used in folk and ayurvedic medicine to improve blood circulation, digestion and chronic pain.
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