Lemon/Maple Syrup/Cayenne Thing...

[curiousponda]

I just recently heard of this cleansing diet...
so what's the deal?
Can anyone tell me if this actually works or not?

[cedarblue]

who knows, never heard of it.

if you try it let us know

[Poison Ivy]

I gather it's the one featured in this thread - no idea if it works, but I vaguely recall it's popular with celebs

[JC]

Beyonce made it famous when she lost like 2 stone or something in 2 weeks for her film 'dreamgirls'. for 2 weeks, instead of meals and snacks, she substituted a drink of this expensive maple syrup stuff, lemon juice, cayenne pepper (or ginger) and hot or cold water. i'm going to try it soon, after my exams, but i'm just going to use normal maple syrup because the stuff she used is like £30 a bottle! i'll let you know if it works. x

[Mahk]

“A little bit of maple syrup now and then on a whole wheat pancake would be just fine. (But) drinking maple syrup regularly is a terrible idea nutritionally. It is really no different than sugar or refined starch metabolically,” said Dr. Walter Willett, chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health

Source: More Crazy Diets to Avoid

Nutritionally this is a sugar water diet. There's no difference with what flavor you want to make it. Use any flavor you want and plain sugar water will be identical in results. Severe diarrhea, hunger pangs, mood swings and a weight loss you'll put right back on once you quit (which you had better because the total lack of protein and other important nutrients means staying on this diet would cause death.)

Beyonce has renounced the diet, and gained back all the weight.

[Mr Flibble]

Just a completely crazy idea here: surely you need exercise more and to eat better if you're overweight, rather than drink maple syrup?

[RubyDuby]

I don't think it was originally intended as a weightloss plan so much as a detox.

[Mr Flibble]

I see; I was going on the forum it was posted in (Weight), the original poster used the word diet and because 'Master Cleanse' seems to be aimed at people who wish to loose weight.

[youtube]cK0IhixTDsY[/youtube]

[RubyDuby]

I don't think it was originally intended as a weightloss plan so much as a detox.

[Roxy]

I don't much like the sound of it either. Beyonce is a fur hag anyway.

[missbettie]

It is intended as a Cleanse not a way to lose weight. For every detox though there are going to be people doing it to try to lose weight unfortunately they don't realize that they most likely will gain it back. There are certain elements in all 3 of the ingrediants that are essential to the cleanse that is why they are there. ALSO another name for it is the Lemonade Diet, just because it is called a diet doesn't mean its there to lose weight, just like we ALL eat a Vegan Diet, but we don't eat that way to lose weight we do it because its a good way of living.

I tried it, for 3 days, it made me feel a little better but you have to have a lot of self control not to eat!

[Mahk]

The theory that we can rid our bodies of "toxins" by switching temporarily to a diet of fancy sugar water makes no sense to me. As vegans we don't consume the junk that omnis do, anyway. Meat going rancid in the alimentary canal simply does not occur when there is no meat! OK, say we drink alcohol, which has no real nutritional value other than empty calories. Our bodies do need to rid that poison but its done in the blood stream by the liver and kidneys (I believe) not in the alimentary canal. We rid that poison regardless of the content of the alimentary canal the next day or week. The only thing that would make sense to me is if they started to market dialysis clinics so people could go in and have their blood filtered. [Wasn't there a rumor some of the Rolling Stones did this to rid heroine addiction?] Not that I would, but at least there is some logic to it.

The theory that occasional periods of starvation are beneficial to us makes about as much sense to me as occasional periods of oxygen deprivation would help cleanse our lungs of air pollution.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=64306

[missbettie]

I agree Mahk and I don't think that this is for everyone but if you feel you need to detox you should do it, I would think that the water detox or fast would probably be the best way to go though. Just make sure you research things throughly before you go through with them.

[Roxy]

there are going to be people doing it to try to lose weight unfortunately they don't realize that they most likely will gain it back.

Yes, I have heard that the quicker you lose weight, the more likely you are to gain it all back, plus some.

[tipsy]

i did it for fourteen days once as a detox. i didnt loose much wieght at all (i wasnt trying to).

i felt great the whole time.

i dont know wether its a sham or not, no harm done either way.

[JC]

i'm not convinced that the maple syrup actually does anything to aid detox. surely the lemon juice and cayenne pepper would do the job better without it. of course, doing that for 2 weeks may be a little difficult!!

[veganpixie]

Hi CuriousPonda,
I just saw your post and I thought I'd share my own knowledge. My husband, a friend or 2, and I call this drink "the great healer remedy" or "the great master cleanser". It's a very powerful healing elixir for whatever ails you and throws your body's immune system off balance. It's a drink, it's not a "diet" or anything else other than a healing medicinal drink. Fresh lemon juice is anti-microbial, cayenne is anti-microbial and is very healing for the heart, and maple syrup or sucanat or fructose is a nice tasty sweetener that you add to the drink to make it taste good. The combination of these 3 things is incredible and very healing and effective. This and E-mergen-C are awesome, healing, and very powerful.

[JC]

so how do you use it, veganpixie? do you do the whole replacing your meals thing, or do you just have it as a drink or in place of a snack?

[RitaB]

One thing to keep in mind with this, is that it is a SHORT term detox. It's intent is to break down the toxins and move them out of your system while still giving your body the number of calories it needs to sustain not eating. It's meant to sort of "re-boot" your system...you can feel yucky during the first few days followed by feeling wonderful. The only problem with it is that you're potentially not actually ridding your system of toxins long-term. Any weight-loss you might experience is from the toxins leaving your system. If you're serious about doing it, you will need to do a bit more research, as there are a couple other things you need to do besides just drink the lemon-ceyenne-pepper-maple-syrup. You do need the Grade B maple syrup, by the way, as the sugar isn't quite as refined and has more base nutrients than the Grade A that we usually put on pancakes (sorry, that means the more expensive kind!). It is also recommended that during the fast, you drink a glass of warm salt water first thing in the morning, and drink a laxative-type tea at night. This keeps the toxins moving out of your system. I did this fast a couple of years ago for 10 days, lost 15 pounds of toxins (getting rid of all the yucky stuff in my system)...and kept the weight off as I used it as a platform to improve my eating habits. I couldn't do the salt water drink in the morning, though...there's a reason why hospitals use saline to help people vomit out the bad stuff in their stomachs! The first four days were absolutely miserable...headache, felt like I was starving...then I seemed to adjust to it nicely. However, by 10 days, my body was protesting alot and the first cup of broth I had tasted better than anything I've ever had in my life! You just have to be careful, research the whole plan, and follow the instructions to a T...otherwise you're setting yourself up for failure and your body to take a nose-dive in its normal processing methods. There are many other good detox systems out there that don't leave you starving, that aren't just a "short-term" fix...so just choose wisely and don't jump on the "fad" wagon without being fully informed.

[absentmindedfan]

Or...you could not put your health at risk and instead eat a wholefoods diet with no refined grains or sugars, plenty of fruit and veg and exercise.

Quick fixes only work in the short term. If you want to change you need a lifestyle change.

[bryzee86]

i'm going to throw this out there: this is ridiculous, and I can't believe anyone in their right mind would consider this, even for a day.

That is all.

[Sluggie]

Seconded.

[Holly78]

Thirded! I once did a Gillian McKeith type detox for a month - I wasn't vegan at the time (veggie though) and interestingly it basically was following a vegan diet, but without any sugar (other than naturally occuring fructose) caffeine, alcohol or wheat. It was the wheat (ok and wine ) I missed most actually!

[Jessicake]

My boss' wife told me she went on it one time and she said she felt awful and she had the worst headache ever and I've also only heard terrible things from other people as well.

[angelamc]

My omni friend did this detox diet (master cleanse). She lost a little bit of weight but was much more impressed with all of the crap that came out of her system! Her tongue changed colors and even after doing the lemonade diet strictly for several days, she pooped out all kinds of weird, yucky stuff!! (this was definitely not regular poo!!) There was tons of gross stuff clogging up her large intestine, which is why she did the diet in the first place. She was having a lot of gastrointestinal pain before the diet and felt much better afterward.
Unfortunately, she doesn't eat a very healthy diet so I don't see the effects of the diet lasting as long as they might if she were a vegan.
I can't do the lemonade detox because I'm diabetic and my blood sugar levels can't handle it, but I had a similar detox experience with a less drastic diet (I used Thistlyn Cleanse and a raw foods-no wheat-no nuts-diet). I recommend 'detoxing' for health reasons (from my own, personal experience), but not for weight loss. You mostly just lose water weight and then gain it right back as soon as your done. And ofcourse, it's not safe to do it for an extended period of time.
Angela

[anula]

i tried this as recommended in one of the text books i have for the nutrition college whose work i follow. Basically it is short term and one of the theories of the college is that detox can take place only when we remove things and open the pathways to elimination. so maybe bare in mind that if you do this cleanse you need to be able to RELEASE the toxins. if you are totally congested then you will just re-absorb toxins. If this cleanse is taking place for more than a couple of days then colon cleansing is required. It is always best to take profession guidance on such matters. These techniques are powerful and should not be done as a lazy way or a short cut to loose weight.

if people are using them irresponsibly then there can be many dangers to these kinds of programmes. certianly anyone fasting to loose weight will find themselves upon comencing food, WITH STRONG cravings and a tendency to overeat and put that weight that was lost rapidly back on.

personally i felt great after this detox, which i did for 3 days and i was very impressed with how quickly my body was able to expel toxins. but i did really overeat drastically in the days after i ceased fasting. WE shoudl also be aware of our own constitutions and tendancies with food, or whether tryign to use it to loose weight and know that this is not recommended for everyone.

[Mahk]

This MD summarizes my views quite nicely, all of which I held before reading his thoughts on the matter, I might add:

Master Cleanse = Master Scam

[Sluggie]

...after doing the lemonade diet strictly for several days, she pooped out all kinds of weird, yucky stuff!! (this was definitely not regular poo!!)

Hmm, couldn't have been a combination of maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne pepper by any chance?

[Risker]

Hmm, couldn't have been a combination of maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne pepper by any chance?

Or possibly bentonite

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4083

[Mahk]

Excellent article Risker! I think this answers your question in that other thread, "What are these toxins?". You will never get a specific answer from these voodoo practitioners because as soon as a specific compound is named it then can be tested and proved that the remedy is bogus, or the reduction of the "toxin" was simply by the passage of time, waiting for the liver to metabolize it out from the blood stream as it continually does on its own anyways.

All these cleansing programs remind me of a modern day demon exorcism: Have a bad day at work or cursed when you stubbed your toe? Maybe you are possessed by a demon! Here, read my book, take this magic potion, and put these magnets in your shoes and it will be exorcised for good! Only 19.95 while supplies last, act now.

[buttons]

No! Nutrients! No! Kidney! No!

Um, sorry. Isn't that combo you just described essentially spicy pancake topping?

[Enchantress]

Isn't that combo you just described essentially spicy pancake topping?

Haha .

[Inkjunkie]

You can buy the book online. It's called The Master Cleanse.

[Risker]

Yeah but don't though, eh?

[Sarah_]

A friend of mine did this. She said she wasn't doing it to lose weight, just that she'd been eating a lot of crap and felt bad. She's also a vegan. She went about 3 days and she said she felt really good afterwards.

[loveganism]

I did this for a week (I think). At first it's great, but the 'lemonade' became very sickly tasting. My skin glowed though. I also lost a few pounds (which came straight back afterwards). It was easier to do than a juice fast, but now I've developed a wall against the taste of the stuff, I don't think I could ever do it again.

Also, you have to use decent quality maple syrup. Not cheap. Just by drinking more water than usual you could probably get the same 'glow'.