The trendy concoction of organic lemon juice, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper that's been extolled by celebrities and cleansing gurus is known as the "Master Cleanse." Proponents claim that subsisting on nothing but this homemade beverage for 10 days reduces your weight and purges your body of toxins, but the science isn't there. Excess weight is not caused by toxins but by extra calories. While essentially fasting for 10 days eliminates most of your calories, the program sets you up for failure by essentially guaranteeing that the weight will come back and may be much more difficult to lose again.
The Plan
You are allowed to drink as much of the lemon-syrup-pepper concoction as you'd like, but you are encouraged to take a laxative twice daily. You also have the option of replacing your morning laxative with a glass of saltwater. You are not allowed to eat solid food at all for the duration of the program, and only decaffeinated tea and water are acceptable to drink. Adherents claim that you soon overcome the "psychological" need to eat and that the laxatives flush the toxins out of your body, resulting in weight loss. This is also the reason behind the use of organic ingredients: detoxing makes no sense if you continue to ingest pesticides daily.
Ingredients
Increasing your water intake is always a good idea, but the addition of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper is unnecessary. While it's known that people with a vitamin C deficiency tend to be heavier, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables prevents this more effectively than a squirt of lemon juice. The maple syrup is there to keep your blood sugar up and reduce symptoms of hypoglycemia like weakness, dizziness and confusion, but it does not trigger weight loss. There is scant evidence to suggest that cayenne pepper may slightly increase the amount of calories your body burns, but it's not been proven as effective as diet and exercise. As for the importance of organic ingredients, both lemons and maple syrup are protected from chemical exposure by the tough outer skin or bark, making contamination highly unlikely.
Results
On the Master Cleanse, you lose water weight from the increased fluid intake and twice-daily laxative combined with a 10-day starvation diet, but you are likely to regain the weight. Once the diet is over, the water weight returns as soon as you begin eating solid food. Because you've been essentially starving yourself for 10 days, your body has become used to operating on fewer calories, so returning to your old calorie intake results in fat gain. The calorie restriction forced your body to feed off muscle mass, which is more accessible than stored fat, so your metabolism is slower. Getting back that valuable calorie-burning muscle is much harder than regaining the fat; it takes hard work in the gym, not an impulsive slice of pizza.
Dangers
There are two major dangers with the Master Cleanse: starvation and laxative abuse. Going 10 days without food gives you ample opportunity to suffer from low blood sugar; true hunger is a physical need, not a psychological need. The miserable "brain fog" feeling that results from starvation is your body trying to conserve energy, not the feeling of toxins leaving your body, which proponents claim. Twice-daily laxative use may lead to laxative dependency, a situation in which your overstimulated colon forgets how to initiate peristalsis by itself, so you cannot have a bowel movement without laxatives. This can lead to permanent intestinal damage. If you still wish to try the Master Cleanse, consult your doctor first.
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