Many people worried about the chemicals found in everyday foods, cleaning supplies and other products turn to detoxifying diets to improve their health. The Master Cleanse is a popular detox diet developed by holistic medicine advocate Stanley Burroughs in the 1940s. Although a typical Master Cleanse diet lasts 10 days, an abbreviated five-day diet may help you lose weight and feel better. Because the health claims of Master Cleanse proponents are controversial, talk to your doctor before beginning this detox diet.
Purpose
Conventional farming practices include the use of pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, genetically modified organisms and other non-natural products. Alternative medicine advocates believe that these products, food additives and environmental pollutants enter your body and accumulate in your cells. Nutrients from the Master Cleanse ingredients purportedly enter your cells, neutralize these toxins and cleanse your entire body.
Ingredients
A five-day Master Cleanse diet requires you to drink a lemonade beverage and forgo all solid foods. The lemonade beverage contains four ingredients: lemons, water, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. Dieters drink the beverage whenever they feel hungry or thirsty throughout the day. At least eight glasses of lemonade should be consumed for five consecutive days.
Cleanse advocates claim that purchasing high quality ingredients improves the detoxifying effects of the Master Cleanse. The Master Cleanse Guide website recommends purchasing fresh, organic lemons. During a five-day cleanse, a dieter may use up to 25 lemons. Rather than using tap water, cleanse practitioners use filtered water to avoid ingesting toxins. Organic ground cayenne pepper and grade B maple syrup allegedly cleanse your body better than non-organic or artificial versions of these ingredients.
Salt Water Flush
In addition to drinking the Master Cleanse lemonade beverage, dieters perform a salt water flush to rid their bodies of toxic chemicals. The salt water flush consists of one quart of warm, purified water with 2 Tbsp. sea salt added. To complete a five-day Master Cleanse, dieters drink one quart of salt water each morning. This induces bowel movements that clear the intestines of accumulated fecal waste.
Health Concerns
Master Cleanse practitioners claim that the diet helps you lose weight, improve your energy, boost immune system functioning and experience other positive health effects. According to dietitian Karen Crawford, a nutrition educator in Gwinnett County, Georgia, little scientific evidence supports the use of the Master Cleanse for weight loss or detoxification purposes. The cleanse plan significantly restricts your caloric intake, which may cause dizziness, nausea or other ill effects. Talk to your doctor before starting a five-day Master Cleanse to make sure it is safe for you.
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