Master Cleanse DEBATE

It is like the title says.

WELCOME TO THE MASTER CLEANSE DEBATE!!!!

Is it real? Unreal? Surreal? Fake? Phony? Fabulous?

 

It's your opinion, share it!

 

 

How it works for weight loss? It doesn't.

I have done the Master Cleanse. But as other will tell you, it is not a good tool for loosing weight. You are supposed to spend 11 days only drinking this lemonade mixture with fresh lemons, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water. You are also supposed to drink a sea salt and water mixture, and you can drink a laxative tea to help you go to the bathroom.

I did it to help me quit smoking, as well as give up a coffee addiction. I felt really sick over the weekend that I started it. It got easier as time went on. I calculated the amount of calories I was consuming with this mixture and it was about 1100 - 1300 a day. I lost weight, but it was mostly water weight, and since I wasn't consuming food, it was also waste weight. When I was done I had all sorts of food cravings, and even starting to eat slowly with the recommended raw foods diet to work my way back to cooked foods I gained most of the weight back.

I don't recommend doing this to loose weight, because chances are you won't do anything that is sustaining.

Omigod!!! You did it to help you quit smoking? Did it work? I'm also trying to quit! How does it work to help you quit smoking?

I do reccomend it, i loved it. I had been exercising and dieting for 2 months and dropped only 2lbs, out of frustration i thought id do the lemonade thing, turned out so much better than i expected. I know everyone says it is a cleanse not a diet, but hey i lost weight and feel great. I lost 10lbs in 10 days which showed dramatically to all my friends and my  clothes dropped a dress size. I also dont believe you will gain it all back, unless you return to eating loads crap. I came off it few weeks ago, went on holiday and now am only 2lbs heavier than when i finished. I would say the trick is make sure you prepare the juice well and have a days supply on hand, that way you can sip all day and not have the urge to reach for a snack. Drink as much as you like its only lemon juice and a bit of syrup (about 450 cals a day). I didnt do the enemas, tried the salt water flush the first day and it was so disgusting i didnt make it past a few sips.

The first day or 2 are the hardest as you worry that youll be hungry or light headed, but you really dont feel like that. Your sugar levels should remain constant as long as you drink regually.

I love my food and the idea of not eating anything for a week scared me but it felt so empowering to suddenly be in control of what i was putting in my body and ive now realised im not dependant on food to make me feel good, and when i finished i ate much healthier.

Give yourself a week on it and i promise you will be so excited when you step on the scales and see a lbs drop each day, i literally jumped out of bed each morning (and occassional in the middle of the night) just so i could see the scales drop.

Really good time to do it now as you could drop 5-10lbs before the christmas parties start, and then be able to relax and enjoy the food. Use it as a kick start to your diet or to break a platue but its definately not a long term thing as you will need other minerals and nutritents.

I made the mixture up at night, kept it in the fridge and took it to work with me, either in a large bottle dilluted with water or left concentrated and mixed it with a glass oif water in the office.

5 lemons squeezed

150ml Maple syrup (must be good quality maple not corn syrup mix etc)

pinch of caynne pepper (a little gives it a nice tang too much makes it taste terible and burns your throat - yuck)

1.5-2litres of water

It should make a pale yellow colour and tates quite nice.

The bad news is my tounge started to taste bad after a few days and seemed a bit yucky but was perfect again afterwards.There were a few blogs by people on it and some guy on you tube did a daily video.

Buy the book.

That wasn't the experience I had chelseagirl.  It was many years ago (this lemonade formula thing has been around for a while).  I got very sick to my stomach on the second day but stuck it out.  I was dizzy and sick the entire time, probably from dehydration from the runny bowels. 

The day I ate  something, the weight was back - yep in one day - 5 pounds.  Seems all I'd lost was the contents of my digestive tract and water.   As soon as I was hydrated and fed I felt better, but it took my insides nearly a week to recover.

And before you think it - no, I didn't eat crap - I'd been on Weight Watchers and sticking to it strictly for months and went right back to it.  That didn't work either.  Turns out I wasn't eating enough to get out of starvation mode.

That stuff is poison as far as I'm concerned.  I'll stick to my successful calorie counting and super healthy diet, and gradual weight loss for life, thank you.

I have done the master cleanse fast.  It is NOT a weight loss tool.  It is a cleanse.  Do not use it to lose weight.  It is for detoxifing from environmental and nutritional pollutants.  If you lose weight during this fast, it will come right back. 

The master cleanse is not actually a starvation diet although that's what it appears to be. You do get the 1200-1500 calories a day, so as far as calories goes there is no benefit. As far as nutrition goes, I think it's a major loss. If you have some reason for doing it other than weight loss, spend a bit of time researching it.

The drastic weight loss is typically part water and part who knows what. How do you know that the 40lb person didn't chug a bunch of water before the first weigh in and didn't actually spend a month on it. Or that they weren't already extremely heavy to begin with. There are stories all over CC about people who were very heavy to begin with and lost a substantial amount of weight as they first started their new diet (my 320lb coworker has lost in a month the same amount that I lost in 6 months). I have yet to see one of these things where they do a full physical work up before and after including blood tests to see what effect they actually have on your health.

If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. 

 

How does this promote a healthy lifestyle? We aren't meant to drink lemon juice as substance, it doesn't provide your body with the fuel or nutrients you need. Do this, go ask some doctors of dieticians if they recomend this....

Master Cleanse is a stupid gimmick. I'm sorry if that sounds offensive but that's what it is. There is no such thing as "detoxing". If your body couldn't get rid of toxins, you'd be dead. End of story. Don't do this.

Also, you can lose weight just drinking water for a week or even sipping cyanide but I wouldn't do that, either.

It works, but it doesn't. :)

This is a double-edged sword. First, you must understand that your body needs a certain amount of calories for everyday activities (thinking, breathing, digesting, etc). If you exercise or are active in any way above the sedentary level, that amount increases. If the number of calories you eat in a day is LESS than this amount, you lose weight. If you eat MORE, you gain weight. Losing weight all comes down to plain and simple math. Calories in vs. calories out.

Enter: The Master Cleanse. Because it creates such a huge calorie defect than what most people are accustomed to, most people lose weight. You basically starve yourself. Although I have to say, having done it myself, you never FEEL like you're starving because of what's in the drink itself.

However, the Master Cleanse is a losing battle. Why?

The body has been designed over eons to fight starvation. When food is in short supply, the body slows its metabolism, heart rate, and other processes in response to conserve energy. Metabolizing fat is one of these processes. (And that's really what you want to do, right? Lose fat, not just weight?)

The calorie cut on the Master Cleanse is so severe that this natural "starvation response" gets triggered. After about 3 days of this, your body's metabolism slows to a crawl, yet your body weight (not body FAT) may continue to drop, due to losses in water and muscle tissue.

What most people end up doing after losing this weight is resuming their pre-cleanse eating habits. And since their metabolisms are much slower than what they were before, most people gain ALL (if not more) of the weight back.

So it works, but it doesn't. :)

My advice would be to avoid soda, fried foods, and "stuffing yourself," but exercise 4-5 times a week for 45 minutes. The only real, safe, effective, and PERMANENT way to lose fat (and change the way your body looks) is through consistent exercise, weights, and having support from your friends & family. Not from miracle pills, detoxes, or cleanses.

Wow so many people are happy to slap down an idea just because it isnt what they would do.

Spirochete, you seem to have a major problem with detoxs, whenever someone posts about a detox you jump down their throat telling them, "I'm sorry if that sounds offensive but that's what it is. There is no such thing as "detoxing". If your body couldn't get rid of toxins, you'd be dead. End of story. Don't do this."  Funny that that isnt always the case i was suffering from bad exzema and really sore bloated tummy, my doctor diagonised an allergy to wheat, dairy and corn. Guess my body didnt rid itself of the toxins, instead they distroyed my skin and gave me occassional stomach ulcers. I came off those foods which helped a little but it wasnt until i did the cleanse that my skin completely healed and now looks amazing.

I lost 10lbs with it down to 133, and this morning nearly month later (and having been on holiday) i weigh 134.4. Guess i did gain back when i put food into my body but that still leaves a 8.6lb deficit, so im pretty happy with the results.

I didnt have any side effects (no runs like clairelane), i didnt feel dizzy or ill, i was drinking constantly and theres enough sugar in the mapel to keep your blood sugar levels constant as long as you drink regularly. I went to the gym everyday and my perfromance wasnt hindered at all.

I think it needs to be a personal choice, it will work for some people, and for others eating 1800cals will help them lose but that wasnt working for me. Do it if you want to but make sure you keep yourself healthy. Prehaps just try 5 days to start with and then build up next time you do it. However once you make it past the second day it gets easy and you could happily go on for a week or two.

i've never done any major master clenase or whatever, but I do a 3 day water/juice fast every fortnight, and it keeps my weight steady.

once i've done a 14 day water fast, I drank water only, and lost 16lbs, but that was waaaay too much for me.

Someone on this forum claiming to have had no ill effects spoke differently when she was actually doing the cleanse. On approximately day two, she said something to the effect of "I feel awful, but no more sick than what's to be expected." Selective memory?

How is it within posting guidelines to promote 450 calories a day?

Spirochete - you're dead on. "If your body couldn't get rid of toxins, you'd be dead. End of story. Don't do this." Some people just don't get it!

Chelseagirl - the reason there are so many people ready to slap it down is because it is harmful to your health and this type of extreme starvation diet is dangerous.

Lemonade and maple syrup.... so you're basically subsisting on nothing but sugar. What about protein? Your body needs amino acids for basic functioning. Guess where it's going to find those? It's going to breakdown your muscles on this fast.

Chelsea - I will say that it sounds like you definetly had some food allergies. To me, that isn't the same as "toxins" but there is some evidence suggesting a fast can be helpful before an elimination diet to figure out food allergies. The idea is to fast for a few days and then slowly reintroduce foods one at a time, watching for return of symptoms. This should be done under medical supervision.

I would worry, for example, that the Master Cleanse - being nothing but straight sugar - would be highly problematic for someone with insulin resistance, since it's straight sugar. And as Claire mentioned, the laxative part is also problematic due to dehydration and potential eloctroylte imbalances (which can result in sudden death). EDIT: It would probably be safer to go on a Slim-Fast diet or something similar - at least then you are getting balanced nutrition instead of straight sugar and no fat or protein.

Chelsea, if your tongue tasted bad, you were probably in ketosis. This is when the body burns protein for the amino acids it needs. Was your breathe horrible?

Anyone: please tell me, specifically, what "environmental and nutritional pollutants" the master cleanse remedies. Please provide specific chemical names and the mechanism by which lemon juice and starvation will draw them out of my body.

This is not sarcasm. If you can show me a credible medical source (not a promotional web site or testimonial), I'd be really interested to read it.

chelseagirl you can stomp your feet all you want, that doesn't change the fact that there is NO SUCH THING AS DETOXING. You can eat better, change your diet and those things will make you feel a lot better.

If you had a food allergy and you stopped eating those foods, it's not magical detoxing that made you feel better. It's not subjecting your body to things it can't process.

I'm not beating down an idea just because I wouldn't do it, but because it's a very bad idea. I bet you'd lose weight if you cut off your leg and it would probably be permanent weight loss as well. Would you do that?

Spirochete - that was a truley grown up comment about removing a leg, a very mature approach to expressing your opinion. Thank fully i didnt lose a leg instead 10lbs of fat from all over my body, which im far more happy with than taking the slightly drastic action of removing a limb, which would in inhibit me from the gym. My aim is to lose fat not weight, id happily weigh the same if my BF went down from 24%-19% and i fitted my 26" jeans that i used to fit. So got to say you really did just make yourself sound rather stupid with that comment.

I agree with everyone that this is not a long term diet and should not replace healthy eating. You need a balance of fat, carbs and protien. I know that, which is why ive always eaten healthy, never been over weight and so sport 5 days a week. Please dont preech at me about health and fittness. Yes its just lemon and maple but that should be enough to cut your appetite and keep your sugar levels constant. On a 10 day detox you are not going to become malnourished or suffer from a lack of vitamins or protein etc. In fact many poeople who eat 4000cals a day of junk food are malnourished!

I used this as a kick start to dieting as i wanted to drop 15lbs and my body was so used to just eating healthy food that i couldnt loose weight by changing my diet, there wasnt much crap to cut out.

I did the detox for 10 days, i felt great and afterwards i looked great. Result is im happy. I will do another 10 days or so now and hopefully have the same success. if im not successful or i dont feel good i will stop, my body is more important to me than a few extra pounds.

When ive done the 10 days i will be back to eating fresh veg, fruits, carbs and protien and will happily eat at maintaince levels, ill even induldge at christmas and not have a hint of guilt as i know ill be in the gym or doing some sport every other day.

As i said its personal choice, please stop attacking people because they want to try something different. We should all offer our opinions and experience to help each other, but being diet nazis is just going to scare us from being able to share info.

Chelseagirl, it is extremely unlikely that all 10 lbs was fat. I'm pretty certain you sacrificed a lot of muscle.

No one here is attacking people, we're attacking the cleansing fad because it hurts people, whether they realise it or not. It is all hype designed to make you feel like there are dirty things inside you that need to be washed out. The goal is to sell books/kits/videos to people who will sacrifice their well-being to see a temporary drop in their weight. There are no shortcuts to healthy weight loss.

fledtheflock - I'm sorry for my part in hijacking your thread. I hope you reconsider cleansing. There are no benefits that anyone can support scientifically to my knowledge.