Holistic medicine advocate Stanley Burroughs wrote "The Master Cleanser," a plan for the lemonade diet and salt water flush, in the 1940s. The lemonade diet has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity for its purported ability to cleanse the body of toxins. To ensure your health and safety, discuss your lemonade diet plans with a doctor before beginning the cleanse.
Cleansing Claims
Cleanse proponents claim that a lemonade diet and salt water flush improve a number of health problems. This cleanse plan is based in the theory that pollutants, pesticides, food additives and preservatives, tobacco products, caffeine, alcohol and other chemicals accumulate in your cells, causing ill health. Symptoms of toxin accumulation include bloating, skin problems, chronic pain, weight gain, headaches and general malaise. Drinking a special lemonade beverage supposedly detoxifies your cells, improving medical problems.
Lemonade Diet
Dieters prepare for the lemonade diet by forgoing processed, high-calorie foods two or three days before they begin. A typical lemonade diet cleanse lasts 10 days, although some people choose to extend the diet for several weeks. For the duration of the lemonade cleanse, dieters avoid all solid food. They drink a beverage made from organic ground cayenne pepper, organic maple syrup, freshly squeezed lemons and purified water. Lemonade diet practitioners recommend drinking six to eight glasses of this lemonade beverage each day.
Salt Water Flush
The salt water flush clears your digestive tract of waste, which purportedly cleanses your system of toxic chemicals. To perform a salt water flush, dieters dissolve sea salt into 2 quarts of warm water. They drink this salt water beverage in one sitting and wait 30 to 60 minutes for bowel movements to begin. The salt water flush acts as a laxative, promoting numerous bowel movements. Dieters typically perform a salt water flush each morning for the first week of the lemonade diet. After one week, they decrease the frequency of the salt water flush to every other day.
Warning
The medical claims of lemonade cleanse proponents sound tempting, but no scientific evidence supports the use of the lemonade diet or salt water flush to improve health. In fact, following this cleanse plan may cause serious health problems. According to Juliette Kellow, a dietitian from the United Kingdom, detoxification diets such as the lemonade diet do not provide your body with adequate nutrients. The diet may cause your metabolism to slow or cause vitamin deficiencies. Additionally, your liver, kidneys and other organs naturally remove dangerous toxins from your body, making the lemonade diet and salt water flush unnecessary. Before beginning this diet plan, ask your doctor for more information about its safety.
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