The Master Cleanse

The Master Cleanse is a minimum 10-day fast that is used for detox and weight loss purposes. It has also been called the Master Cleanser Diet after the original book that described it, the Lemonade Diet, the Maple Syrup Diet, and the Cayenne Pepper Diet after some of the ingredients used, and the Beyoncé Diet after its most famous fan.

Although the Master Cleanse is often referred to as a fast, it’s not really a complete fast, in that up to 1,300 calories are consumed each day in the form of sugars from the ingredients in the beverage that Master Cleansers prepare and drink.

Background

The Master Cleanse was originally developed in 1940 by Stanley Burroughs (1903-1991as a stomach ulcer cure. In 1976 Burroughs presented his diet in a book, The Master Cleanser, by which time he was promoting the diet not only for ulcers, but for weight loss and “every kind of disease,” claiming it would lead to “the correction of all disorders.”

Burroughs promoted a number of alternative practices beyond the Master Cleanse, including light therapy, deep massage, and reflexology, and he was a practicing nudist and vegetarian. He was convicted of practicing medicine without a license and imprisoned, and he was convicted of second degree murder, later overturned, for his role in the death of a desperate leukemia patient, whose cancer Burroughs tried to cure with the Master Cleanse and other practices.

Among the celebrities who have been reported to have used the diet are Beyonce Knowles, who lost 20 pounds in two weeks for her role in the movie Dreamgirls, and Howard Stern sidekick Robin Quivers, who was quoted in People magazine that she heard about it from magician David Blaine and used it on three occasions while reducing her weight to 145 pounds from 218 pounds. Actor Jared Leto used the Master Cleanse to lose the 60 or so pounds that he had gained for his role as John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman. Singers Ashanti and Trina have also been connected with the diet. Moses and Jesus both reportedly underwent a pre-Burroughs 40-day version of the diet, not involving lemonade or laxatives.

Does it Work?

Does the diet work for weight loss? If you follow the instructions, it most certainly will work. Any fast will cause you to lose weight, because you aren’t eating food. The Master Cleanse in the strict sense is not a fast because you drink a considerable amount of sugar-containing lemonade, about 650 to 1,300 calories worth per day, depending on the number of glasses you drink. Thus you will have a daily calorie deficit: Most non-overweight people need from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day to maintain their weight (women will be on the lower end of that range).

As an example, if you normally eat 2,150 calories, and you choose the extreme 650-calorie version of the Master Cleanse, you will have a 1,500-calorie deficit, losing three pounds of fat per week (and perhaps some water weight ). (There may be other factors that will affect this result.) Many reputable diets prescribe a two-pound per week loss, so in this sense the Master Cleanse is actually not that radical: it just substitutes lemonade for real food and adds the shock effect of constant colon cleansing.

Is is Dangerous?

Most medical authorities don’t believe that a few days of fasting will harm you (and the Master Cleanse is more of a low-calorie, nutrient deficient diet than a fast). But longer periods will begin to deplete muscle, and your heart is among the muscles that will suffer — not a good thing. In addition, longer fasts can damage your kidneys and liver. Where is the safe cut-off point? We can’t really say.

Less is known about the long-term effects of 10 days or more of salt-water laxative use. Burroughs himself recommands in case of diseases fasting up to 40 days. In this case the survey of a doctor would be helpful.

About Detox Stuff

Most people today, deep down, are interested in the Master Cleanse primarily for its weight loss aspect, although they rarely admit it. But there is also a detox component. What about detox?

There’s no evidence that our bodies contain excessive toxins and there’s no evidence that detox diets flush out anything bad in your body. Many of our organs, including the liver, kidneys, lungs, and the intestines, are very efficient filters that expel toxins. There are toxins that may be trapped in fat cells or the lungs, but this sort of diet does not help with expelling those.

How to Do the Master Cleanse

The Master Cleanse is this:

• The diet takes at least 10 days (up to 40 days)

• The only nourishment that you take is a special lemonade concoction made from lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water, six to twelve glasses per day, each glass containing about 110 calories in sugar carbohydrates

• An herbal laxative tea is drunk at night and a quart of salt water is drunk first thing in the morning, resulting in several liquid bowel movements every day — you need to always be near a toilet when you do this diet, and you need to stock up on toilet paper

• You come off the diet by transitioning to solid food over a few days, ideally becoming a vegetarian or at least reducing meat.

You can buy all ingredients yourself. Sea salt, Cayenne Pepper, tea and lemons are easy to find. Maple syrup Grade B is harder to find, but you can investigate in the Internet.

The Master Cleanse Lemonade

The lemonade is prepared by mixing the ingredients in this recipe:

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. Burroughs recommends organic lemons, fresh, not bottled juice. Limes may be substituted. Lemon zest and pulp may be added, making sure that the lemons are organic and not artificially colored or treated with pesticides.

2 tablespoons of maple syrup. This must be pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup. Burroughs recommends the darker Grade B, which has more color and nutrients than Grade A, which is also acceptable. He goes into aspects of maple syrup production that would be difficult for the average person to investigate, such as whether formaldehyde or plastic tubing is used (not recommended).

1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Burroughs insists that cayenne chili pepper be used, but permits ramping up from a lesser amount if the taste needs getting used to. Cayenne pepper is rich in vitamin C and transports nutrition in every cell of the body.

Water. Burroughs recommends a 10-ounce glass of medium hot water, but also allows cold water to be used. Some have interpreted “10-ounce glass” to mean 8 ounces of actual water. Since Burroughs also allows plain water to be drunk during the fast in addition to the lemonade, this doesn’t seem important.

Things to Avoid

Burroughs strongly counsels against the use of honey in the lemonade or the consumption at any time of honey, which he describes as predigested bee vomit, popular only among “gullible health foodists.”

Burroughs also cautions against taking any kind of supplements or vitamin pills during the diet. You shouldn’t smoke or drink alcohol, coffee, tea, cola, but the good news is that your cravings for them will completely disappear, according to Burroughs. Burroughs allows the consumption of extra plain water and of mint tea. No other food or drink should be consumed at all.

The Colon Blaster

There are two preparations needed to induce colon cleansing.

• Laxative herb tea. Although Burroughs is quite specific about types and amounts of lemons and maple syrup, on the subject of laxative herb teas he simply suggests without further elaboration that you should buy any good brand offered by your health food store.

• Internal salt water bathing solution. Dissolve two teaspoons of uniodized sea salt in a quart of lukewarm water.

The laxative herb tea and the salt water are the one-two punch that will keep your colon in full-time Old Faithful mode during the diet, cleansing it completely.

During the Diet

To begin the diet you need to choose the minimum number of days that you are going to attempt, steel yourself for what is to come, and follow the following daily routine.

Day 0 - Before Starting:

Purchase lemons, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, laxative herbal tea, and sea salt in sufficient quantities to last the duration of your cleanse.

The night before beginning the diet, drink some laxative herbal tea, and retire for the evening.

Days 1 through 10 (and beyond):

In the morning before drinking any lemonade, drink a quart of salt water (remain near a toilet).

During the day drink 6 to 12 glasses of the Master Cleanse lemonade concoction. The lower number of 6 glasses is recommended for those seeking weight loss. The higher number is fine for those interested mostly in detoxification.

In the evening drink some herbal laxative tea.

You may experience dizziness, vomiting, joint pain, and weakness. You will also be really hungry. After several days many Master Cleanse dieters report entering a state of bliss that is the result of the continuing elimination of toxins and a general lost of weight.

Breaking the Fast

When are you through with the diet? Either when you reach the number of days that you planned, or alternately, when your tongue goes from coated  to a clear pink color.

Burroughs outlines a gentle approach for coming off the diet without upsetting your digestive system excessively. Although Burroughs recommends that you become a practicing  vegetarian after the diet to avoid recontamination with toxic dead animal flesh, he does provide an alternative transition plan for omnivores.

Vegetarian Transition Process

• Days 1 and 2: Drink several 8-ounce glasses of orange juice, sipping slowly, diluting it if there is digestive distress.

• Day 3: Drink orange juice in the morning, eat raw fruit for lunch, and eat fruit or raw salad for dinner.

• Day 4: You may return to your normal diet.

Omnivore Transition Process

• Day 1: Drink several 8-ounce glasses of orange juice, sipping slowly, diluting it if there is digestive distress.

• Day 2: Drink orange juice during the morning and afternoon. For dinner prepare a homemade vegetable soup (recipe below). Mostly sip the broth, and do not eat much of the vegetables.

• Day 3: Drink orange juice in the morning, have leftover vegetable soup for lunch with 4 rye crackers (no regular crackers or bread), and eat fresh raw vegetables, salad, and fruit for dinner. Do not yet eat meat, fish, eggs, bread, pastries or drink tea, coffee, or milk.

• Day 4 and beyond: You may return to your normal diet, but Burroughs recommends continuing to drink the lemonade concoction at breakfast on a permanent basis. And he really wants you to go vegetarian, if at all possible.

The Omnivore Vegetarian Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 varieties of beans, 1/2 cup each (kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans, or other)
• 1 medium potato, half-inch cubes
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 small bunch turnip greens, spinach, mustard greens or other green
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• other vegetables as desired
• no meat
• 1 teaspoon cumin   
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• 1 teaspoon curry powder   
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• vegetarian soup powder or cube (optional)

Preparation:

Combine ingredients with 4 cups water, bring to a simmer, cook 20 minutes or until potatoes and beans are tender, adding water along the way if necessary.

Protein and the Master Cleanse

The Master Cleanse provides several hundred calories of carbohydrate per day in the form of lemon and maple sugar, and Burroughs’ recommended vegetarian diet excludes “toxic dead animal flesh.” What about protein? In the case of protein, Burroughs says that there is no need to worry: protein is simply nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. The air contains all these elements. Simple by breathing “we are able to assimilate and build the nitrogen also into our bodies as protein … by natural bacteria action….” But just to be on the safe side, Burroughs also recommends eating nuts and seeds after the Master Cleanse.

Beyond the Master Cleanse

In addition to promoting his lemonade concoction as being useful for detoxification, weight loss, and the cure of ulcers and leukemia, Burroughs also recommended it as a baby formula. Mother’s milk is best, but when not available Burroughs recommended feeding babies freshly prepared coconut milk, with the lemonade concoction given between coconut milk feedings, diluted a bit if the cayenne pepper upsets the baby. When the baby is weaned, it should be fed vegetarian foods like fruit, vegetables, berries, and seeds, sweetened with maple syrup.

Quotations from Stanley Burroughs

“In recent times it has been believed that these many diseases are contagious and that germs have spread them….

“Disease, old age, and death are the result of accumulated poisons and congestion throughout the entire body. These toxins become crystallized and hardened, settling around the joints, in the muscles, and throughout the billions of cells all through the body … Lumps and growths are formed all over the body as storage spots for unusable and accumulated wast products … These growths and lumps appear to us as forms of fungi….

“When we stop feeding this fungi and cleanse our system … they dissolve or break up and pass from the body…. Germs and viruses do not and cannot cause any of our diseases … Germs and viruses are in the body to help break down waste material and can do no harm to healthy tissues….

“Basically, all of our diseases are created by ourselves because we have never taken the time to discover the true foods meant for man’s use.

“Since germs do not cause our disorders, there must be another logical reason for the triggering of an epidemic. This is a matter of simple ‘vibration.’ The better the physical and mental condition a person is in, the higher becomes his vibration, but as he steadily becomes clogged with more and more waste matter, his vibration goes constantly downward….”

On his imprisonment for practicing medicine without a license:

“After dedicating a goodly share of my past life in perfecting and simplifying a system of healing that is completely free from error and side effects, at a very low cost, I was forced to overcome many difficult obstacles that often threatened to stop me, but I persisted in spite of the medical and legal attacks. I was told in each case I was doing too much good, and to keep me from giving the help that solved their health problems I was sent to prison so I couldn’t help anyone any more. But … many of the guards, nurses and even doctors [in prison] came to me for help that no other system could [offer]. In prison I was not competing with their medical rackets, but on the outside I hurt their con games. If my system was made legal, the medical system would be of no further need.”
Stanley Burroughs: 1903-1991

Stanley Burroughs passed away in Newcastle, California, on June 16, 1991, at the age of 87, after a two-week battle against acute pneumonia.

I make this diet on a regular basis at least once a year for 10 or 15 days. I have no symptoms of lack or illness while doing so. In contrary, I feel just great and full of energy!