Master cleanse or major mistake?

coffeebreak28

My friend recently completed the 10-day master cleanse diet, drinking only: fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper mixed with water.  Does anyone know if this is a geniune detox cleanse, or simply a quick-fix diet "no-no"?

smilejenn

I'm personally not a fan of any cleanse or fad diet. I think the healthier approach would be to eat a clean diet and cut out all sodas, fried and processed foods.

HoneyBee973

Major mistake.   Take the advice from PP, and don't fall for any of the fad diets.

JoNi2010

That sounds gross, but then all these fad diets sound gross to me.  Why don't you just encourage your friend to change her diet - incorporating more fruits, veggies, whole grains and cutting out junk food?  In the long term, this will work better.

doglove

Major mistake.

MiniMugLinton

doglove:

Major mistake.

Yep!

HB's Girl

Was she a total B during this?  I can't even stand having lunch late, let alone surviving on spicy lemonade.

divap08

I am a fan of the master cleanse and have done it 2x. Its not as hard as it seems. I felt full, did not experience any side effects. You will lose at least 8-15lbs within 10 days! However you must maintain the weight loss by diet and exercise. If not you WILL gain it all back!

Flamingemu

What exactly are you cleansing? Your liver does a good job of cleansing your body of anything it does not need. Cleanses are a waste of money and hard on your body. They screw with your metabolism and can potentially do more harm than good.

AndysKandi

I will be completely honest at the risk of being flamed. It sounds ridiculous to me, just like every other fad diet, drug or cleanse out there. I do not deny that some of these approaches result in weight loss. Sometimes even fast weight loss! But long term maintenance success is pretty low and they do nothing to change a person's actual lifestyle, which is what needs to happen for the results to stick. Not only that, but weight is just a number...there are more important things than the number on the scale, like your overall health. And to me, this doesn't sound healthy, even if it does cause weight loss.

Like I said. Ridiculous. Just cut down on bad stuff and add in more good. Do more to be active. THAT is the magic pill. It's not easy, but its by far the most effective, especially long term. It is also the most rewarding, IMO. Getting results because you ate a healthy diet and worked hard makes one feel pretty proud. Getting results because you did nothing but drink lemon juice and other random crap...well...eh. Anyone can lose weight if they stop eating. Nothing to be proud of there.

~NB~

You are not "cleansing" anything, you are starving yourself. Let's call it what it is.

This "detox" fad is nothing other than severe calorie deprivation. You will lose weight because you are starving yourself. You are not removing any toxins. If your body was polluted with arsenic or lead or some other toxin, this diet would not help you.

As was stated previously, you have a liver and kidneys and an immune system to protect you. The whole concept of cleasing is misnamed, it is STARVATION, nothing else. All the purported 'benefits' are what happens in starvation.