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The Master Cleanser/Lemon Detox Diet Testimonials?

Aloha all,

Ok, so lately I've been reading up on this "Lemon Detox Diet" thing and I have heard opinions from both sides of the fence, but I still feel that word of mouth and personal testimony is the best way to go.

Has anybody tried the Master Cleanse/Lemon Detox Diet? If so, I have a few questions for you:

1. When did you start it - When did you finish it? (How many days did you do it?)
2. How did you feel before, during, and after the cleanse?
3. Did you actually lose weight? If so, were you able to keep it off after the cleanse, or did you gain it right back (which is what I would assume would happen)?
4. How did you do it? Did you drink the tea, take the laxative AND the lemon/water/cayenne mix?

Anything else? Let me know! I want details, stories, how you felt, what the outcome was, why you did it, and if you were pleased with the results whether it be weight loss, better skin, more energy, whatever it was! =)

Thank you all.
Love and alohas
Ihilani

I did this a few years back. Lost weight, but not as much as I thought. (less than 10mpounds).  The first few days I felt sick and weak. I gained all the weight back in less than 2 months, so I think most of it was water weight.  Whatever you do do not do a salt wash.  It's the worst thing I have ever done in my life, and that includes giving birth without an epidural!! I would not do this diet again.  The cabbage soup diet was better and more liveable.  (Though I wouldn't do that again either)

cheers

heather

I really wouldn't recommend doing it, either.

I only lost under 10 lbs, too, like hlraphael, and I lacked energy pretty much the whole way through. After the first few days, I really wasn't craving much to eat at all but I ended up just feeling disgusted with just about everything every day and wanting to just go to bed.

I also hated the salt wash portion of the diet...it is aaaawful and I was never actually able to drink as much salt water as it said you should.

And I, too, gained back the weight I lost very quickly...but the weightloss was so unsubstantial to begin with that it didn't even really matter.

I have not done the Master Cleanse because I value my health. Don't do that gimmicky, unhealthy crap ok?

What is this salt wash thing? It sounds like a laxative.

Ummm...pills??  laxatives??  That should answer your question right there.  Not healthy!!  I know it's appealing to try these "miracle" things, but please don't.  Take it one day at a time making healthy choices, and you will get where you want to be!

mztenderheart02,

I've done the master cleanser a few times in my life, always with excellent results.  You must understand, this IS NOT a weight loss technique.  You should never do this thinking you will get thin.  The purpose of this fast is to improve your health by removing toxins that build up in your tissues (especially your liver).

If your motivation is to improve health, you should follow strictly the outline of the fast -- how to start, how to do it, how to end.  It is important that you do each phase correctly.

If, like me, you have a build up of toxins, you may experience a day or so of headache, nausea, weakness.  But overall, the fast never interfered with my work or anything else.  And there is something magical that can happen toward the end, when you feel really, really good.

But again, I would caution you very strictly do not do this to loose weight.  That is NOT what this is all about.  If you do it, please prepare properly.  It can be a great experience!  And if you are not into this, try something else, please.

Exactly what toxins get locked in your liver that won't come out?

I'll agree with hogue1...the Master Cleanse does definitely flush your system. If you choose to try it, you will be surprised and horrified by the waste you eliminate.

You definitely should not take this on as a weight loss method, though. Like I said, I only lost a few pounds but that wasn't the reason I chose to try it. I wanted to clean my system out and the Master Cleanse did that, but I just found the whole thing extremely unpleasant, to be honest.

The water, lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper mixture was sort of okay but I drank it for a while, I would start to feel the burn of the cayenne pepper in the back of my throat and that just made me feel sick.

The salt wash? I could barely stick with that part...I can hardly drink a whole glass of regular water as soon as I wake up let alone warm salt water...

The herbal laxative tea was the most tolerable of all of it.

I've heard of lots of people that felt rather weak the first few days but then found lots of energy the rest of the way through...but for me, personally, I felt very weak and tired the whole time and while it did seem to cleanse me of some stuff that's been lurking in the deep, dark depths (ew)...I would try another method before I ever do this again.

Thank you all for your replies. I never really intended on doing it, especially just for weight loss, for the simple fact that I know it's unhealthy and I'm too weak (physically and mentally) to go through with it successfully. I was just interested because I've seen pictures of the "toxins" and that shit looked NASTY as hell. I'd hate to have that shit built up in my system, but I definitely wouldn't do that as a weight loss solution.

Again, thank you all! =D
Love and alohas
ihilani

Gah, not this again? It was all the rage on the boards a while ago....

Toxins schmoxins....

Don't fall into the marketing trap.  Your liver and all other "filtering" parts of your body remove toxins.  It's thier job, and they do it well.

well whatever....i did it because i didnt believe it at all.
it made a great improvement in my health.

i was having vitamin absorb problems and extreme joint pain (red hot swollen)and sometimes i needed reading glasses.

you body does filter out toxins on its own. this is a speed dump to give your body a breath of fresh air to maximize its healing abilities. fasting is not for everyone. you should not do this on medications or with health issues. it detoxifies all the cells of the body not only the liver. 


1. When did you start it - When did you finish it? (How many days did you do it?)i only did it for 4 days: fasting beyond 48 hours is not safe unsupervised (medically)

2. How did you feel before, during, and after the cleanse?
before:
couldnt move, stiff all the time, couldnt use stairs well, migraines, huge poof tum, couldnt lose wt., anxiety and insomnia
during:
i did a precleanse diet so i didnt really feel sick except for a wave of it that would come right before you had to go to the restroom.
you can smell EVERYTHING. its terrible. and you start to smell and your skin breaks out. i didnt feel tired or anything. after the first two days i actually felt really good. i felt the same way when i was eating like a vegan. just calmer and more focused
after: no joint pain. NONE. this was pain that not even scripts worked on. got rid of fine face lines never to return. stopped stalling out in my wt loss. stomach stayed flatter. i am more regular. i tend to eat less junk. my hair and nails grow super fast now.

3. Did you actually lose weight? If so, were you able to keep it off after the cleanse, or did you gain it right back (which is what I would assume would happen)? yes|yes kept it off. but you do gain 5 pounds back right away when you eat again. its on the inside. no measurement changes. if you are not overweight you will not lose on this cleanse. it is stated in the book as a reduction diet for those who are overweight. if you add up the calories of the syrup you will see its about the same as a regular old diet.

4. How did you do it? Did you drink the tea, take the laxative AND the lemon/water/cayenne mix?
tea - no skip that - the tea is the laxative
saltwater - no - thats a method of suicide in some asian countries. i am a freshwater animal. lol
instead of those two i added pulp to my lemonades to keep my digestion awake and working, and to work as a natural laxative as the book suggests

i made the lemondade without the cayanne and i did it in a shot on the side. much more pleasant to have a shot of lemonade with all the cayenne in it and then a refreshing lemonade to follow. plus that shot makes you ZAP awake. its pretty neat.

my personal suggestion:
dont do it for 10 days
stick to 48 hours only post doc approval
dont do the saltwater or the senna - use pulp instead
precleanse diet for at least 2 weeks first
(animal free,caffine free, processed free)


heres your toxins:
http://www.ewg.org/health


its not a myth. and its damaging your body.
the thing about a fast is that you are putting less toxins it so your body can clean itself out more easily. its helping your body do what it does. its natural. you can do the same thing with an organic vegan diet and its a lot safer and does the same thing.
it happens slower..but you will see better skin and feel better at the end of it.

you could just do your calorie counting thing and detox by being vegan for a month. make sure you get your nutrients in though.

Wow... thank you curses_to_anathema, that's exactly the response I was looking for.

I know you want opinions from people who've done it.. but I think this is important.

The lead singer from 30 SECONDS TO MARS, Jared Leto did this and afterwards he got gout: "I've been fasting ever since. I've been doing this very strange, like, lemon and cayenne pepper and water fast. I didn't eat any food for 10 days straight; I think I lost 20 pounds that first 10 days." over here. I'm assuming the gout came because of that, I mean if losing 20LBS in 10 days isnt dramatic, then what is? :)

Hope that was helpful even if I didnt try this.

Is it possible over time, if you eat very healthfully, to just naturally and a tad slowly to detox?

One more thing... what is the cayanne pepper for?

I am a alternative healthcare practitioner and one of my specialties is weight management. I want to tell everybody here that the number on  your scale is not that important. Many people dwell on that number all the time. In healthy weight loss, when you step on the scale, your number wouldn't come down that much or that fast. But your body volume keeps dropping. That is a healthy way to lose weight. That is because if your weight drop too fast and too much, you would very likely bounce back to where you used to be or even worse. Have you heard of lose 10 gain 20? That is how people go yo-yoing. Many of my patients come into my clinic for treatment. Their main issue might not be weight problem. But because I use acupuncture and herbs to detox their body and smooth their "qi" (energy), they lose weight naturally. Healthy weight loss should be "detoxfying - rejuvenation - maintenance". I have never failed and in fact people feel so much healthier and their bad food cravings diminished. Certain methods do make you lose weight. But do you want to lose weight and be unhealthy or sick or do you want to lose weight and feel healthy and energetic? Your choice. 

You don't need a master cleanse to get the toxins out of your system... or lose weight. Your body is built to rid itself of its toxins all by itself. It doesn't need any help doing it's job. Also, I know a couple people who have tried this and both experienced horrible side effects and gained all the weight back shortly thereafter. I wouldn't suggest it.

Here's a simple explanation of how the human digestive tract works

From Wisegeek.com

Here's what the colon does

From Metropedia


The Mayo Clinic

 

You don't need a master cleanse to get the toxins out of your system... or lose weight. Your body is built to rid itself of its toxins all by itself. It doesn't need any help doing it's job. Also, I know a couple people who have tried this and both experienced horrible side effects and gained all the weight back shortly thereafter. I wouldn't suggest it.

I have tried logic and reasoning, but they won't listen. Apparently folks want to believe there are these hiding toxins (which by the way, I have never heard of what specific toxin has been found where). Here's what I found from a quick search:

quackwatch.org:

The detoxification theory can enable con artists to gain great power over their customers by diagnosing and curing "potentially fatal" (but nonexistent) illnesses. "They have to invent the idea of toxins," says Peter Fodor, president of the Lipoplasty Society of North America, "because that gives them something to pretend they can fix."

It can be terrifying to believe that one's body is being poisoned by toxins from within. But if this were true, the human race would not have survived, says Vincent F. Cordaro, M.D., an FDA medical officer. "A person who retained wastes and toxins would be very ill and could die if not treated. The whole concept is irrational and unscientific."

Wikipedia:

Certain approaches in alternative medicine claim to remove toxins from the body through herbal, electrical or electromagnetic treatments (such as the Aqua Detox treatment). Similar to diet detoxification, these toxins are undefined and have little scientific basis, making the validity of such techniques questionable. There is no evidence for toxic accumulation in these cases, as the liver and kidneys automatically detoxify and excrete many toxic materials including metabolic wastes. Under this theory if toxins are too rapidly released without being safely eliminated (such as burning fat that stores toxins) they can damage the body and cause malaise.