The lemon-honey diet, by any other name --- and there are several --- is a drastic pound-shedding plan. Most popularly known as the Master Cleanse, the diet prohibits all food and restricts beverages to spicy lemonade, laxative teas and water. You may lose 20 lbs. in two weeks following the diet, but will likely regain the weight just as quickly. Consult your health care practitioner before beginning a lemon honey diet.
History
Despite persistent panning by doctors and nutritionists, the lemon-honey diet --- also called the lemonade diet and lemon water diet --- has endured for several decades. The diet is based on a book, "The Master Cleanser," by Stanley Burroughs. Burroughs, a self-proclaimed nutritionist, introduced the diet in the 1940s as a way to treat ulcers and marketed it to health-conscious people in the 1970s as a way to rid their bodies of food additives and pesticides. Somewhere along the way, the diet became a fad favorite for rapid weight loss.
Why You Lose Weight
The diet promises weight loss in two ways: by drastically reducing calories and by purging your colon. If you follow the lemon-honey diet for 21 days --- the maximum time recommended --- you could lose 7.2 lbs. of fat. The calories in the spicy lemonade total 800 for a day's supply. If you're a woman needing 2,000 calories a day to maintain your current weight, the 1,200-calorie-a-day deficit in the lemon-honey diet would yield a 1 lb. drop in weight every three days. Additional weight loss would come from shedding fecal matter and water. This weight-loss estimate is based on the formula of 3,500 calories equaling 1 lb.
Lemon Honey Recipe
The lemon-honey diet requires you to drink six or more servings of lemonade per day. Each serving contains 2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 tbsp. maple syrup, 1/10 tsp. cayenne pepper powder and 10 oz. water. Burroughs' original recipe specified using grade B organic maple syrup because of its superior nutritional value, and the Internet is filled with panicky stories from dieters that couldn't find the right syrup. The nutritional difference between grades of maple syrup, and the grading system, has changed since the recipe was created and is too slight to make a difference. Maple syrup is basically sugar with a few trace minerals, primarily calcium and potassium. If you find the lemonade too spicy, you can take the cayenne pepper in capsule form.
Additional Beverages Required
You drink three other liquids on the Lemon Honey Diet: a salt water flush, herbal laxative tea and water. Each morning, before drinking your lemonade, you drink 25 to 35 oz. of warm water mixed with 1 tsp. sea salt. Every evening, you drink an herbal beverage such as senna tea. Throughout the day, you drink water to avoid becoming dehydrated from the purging effect of the cleanse. According to Burroughs, the lemon in the diet purifies your blood, the cayenne pepper helps circulate your blood and supplies vitamins B and C, and the maple syrup provides energy and minerals. The sea salt and laxative teas speed the removal of toxins and wastes.
Results Temporary
Extreme calorie diets and colon cleanses --- the lemon-honey diet is both --- provide temporary weight loss. The lost water weight will return almost immediately after you discontinue the diet, and any actual fat lost may return soon after. An extreme diet is essentially a starvation diet, and your body attempts to protect itself by slowing your metabolism and hoarding any remaining fat. When you resume normal eating, your metabolism doesn't immediately catch up and fat accumulates. You might even gain more than you lost because your body wants to protect itself from any future starvation attempts, according to a 2010 article in the "Sunday Telegraph." Some celebrities, including Beyonce, praised the Lemon Honey Diet when they first tried it, but later voices discouragement when their results didn't last," according to a 2010 report in "The Mirror."
References
- "The New York Times"; I Heard It Through the Diet Grapevine; Lola Ogunnaike; Dec. 10, 2006
- Master Cleanse: What Is the Master Cleanse?
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Maple Syrup
- The Master Cleanse: Master Cleanse Recipe
- "Sunday Telegraph"; Celebrity Diet Dangers; Liz Walsh; July 25, 2010
- "The Mirror"; Demi's Deep Clean Diet; Caroline Jones; Aug. 31, 2010
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