Stanley Burroughs’ Master Cleanse Diet
The Master Cleanse is a 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.
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 as a stomach ulcer cure
by alternative health practitioner Stanley Burroughs (1903-1991). 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.” The book is
a disorganized, difficult-to-decipher jumble, and in 2004 a fan of the diet, Peter Glickman, published
his more comprehensible version in the book Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days, dubbing
it the “Lemonade Diet.” Glickman’s book revived the diet’s popularity.
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). If you are overweight, you are probably consuming more than that to maintain your weight.
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
also). (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?
Master Cleanse Dangers
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.
How to Do the Master Cleanse
In a nutshell, the Master Cleanse is
this:
- The diet takes at least 10 days.
- The
only nourishment that you take is a special lemonade concoction made from the Master Cleanse ingredients:
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,
which can be harsh on the body. The water in the body rushes to eliminate the excess salt.
- You
come off the diet by transitioning to solid food over a few days.
