The Master Cleanse is a diet plan developed by Stanley Burroughs and originally published in 1976 in the book "The Master Cleanser and Healing for the Age of Enlightenment." The Master Cleanse diet program drastically limits your food consumption in an attempt to detoxify your body. Speak with a medical professional prior to starting any diet plan including the Master Cleanse diet.
Master Cleanse Overview
The Master Cleanse is a 10-day fast that claims to detoxify your body and help you lose weight. Specifically, the Master Cleanse requires you to drink six to 12 glasses of a purifying solution made with of water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper each day. Each glass provides approximately 110 calories of sugar carbohydrates. Additionally, the diet requires you to take an herbal laxative tea at night and a saltwater laxative in the morning. The Master Cleanse does not allow you to consume any other foods during the 10-day period.
Ingredients of Master Cleanse
Each ingredient in the Master Cleanse has a specific purpose. The lemon juice helps your body to dissolve waste in your large intestine. Cayenne pepper helps your body get rid of mucus, and maple syrup provides you with energy. The herbal tea laxative supports the elimination process, and the saltwater laxative acts as a colonic flush. Burroughs recommends following the diet for a minimum of 10 days and a maximum of 40 days.
What You Can Eat
During the Master Cleanse, you can only consume the lemon, maple syrup cayenne solution, the laxatives and as much water as you want. You cannot consume any solid foods or any supplements during the cleanse period. Once you have finished the Master Cleanse, you will slowly start to eat solid foods.
Ease-In and Ease-Out Diet
Before starting the Master Cleanse, you should eliminate processed foods, meat and dairy from your diet and start eating fresh vegetables and fruits low in sugar. After successfully removing these foods, you should transition into liquid foods such as soups and juices. Finally, a couple of days before starting the Master Cleanse you should limit your food consumption to two liters of orange juice per day. After the Master Cleanse, you will start to eat a transition diet. During this four-day period you will reverse the ease-in diet. Therefore, you will start with orange juice, transition to liquid foods and then reintroduce whole foods to your diet.
References
- "The Complete Master Cleanse"; Tom Woloshyn; 2007
- "Lose Weight, Have More Energy and Be Happier in 10 Days"; Peter Glickman and M.D. Carlos M. Garcia; 2011
- "The Master Cleanser"; Stanley Burroughs; 1976
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