THE MASTER CLEANSE MEME

Lemonade enthusiasts seem to consistently fail to explore the reasoning, let-alone science, behind a diet confined to water, lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, salt, and herbal laxatives. There are few calories present in these ingredients, so there's no question a person subsisting on this will lose weight during their fast. But is it fat or muscle they're losing? They take it for granted the claims of detoxification are valid, anecdotally supported by excessive mucous in both their mouths and in their waste. But why suppose this is a built up “toxin” rather than, say, a by-product of the laxative or their cayenne-irritated organs? People seem to blindly accept the methods, and also seem genuinely surprised by the weight loss resulting from their malnutrition: as though it were confirmation that this is the correct way to starve. It takes a heroic lack of curiosity not to wonder how this motley hodgepodge of kitchen detritus had ever been assembled. Personally, I'm waiting for an updated version involving canned pumpkin pie filling, cigarette butts, yellow mustard and baking soda.

Instructions for practicing this radical starvation diet are freely available on the Internet, and it's perhaps to the meme's benefit that it is so thoroughly bastardized by its proponents. Few practitioners seem to question the validity or know the origin and rationale of the lemonade diet, and one wonders whether they would take to it so readily if they did.

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EXCERPTS FROM “THE MASTER CLEANSE” BY STANLEY BURROUGHS
ORIGIN OF THE LEMONADE DIET/MASTER CLEANSE

“Asking God to bless the food before a meal [...] has been thought by some to promote better nutrition and healing by raising the vibration of the food. [...] Blame not God for the many illnesses and diseases you have created (they are not “Acts of God”!). Better that you ask God for His blessings and forgiveness—and to give strength and wisdom to properly
apply the knowledge of His simple laws.” p2, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“At last the basic cause of disease is no longer a mystery. The basic cause is the habits of improper diet, inadequate exercise, negative mental attitudes, and lack of spiritual attunement, which combine to produce toxic conditions and malfunction of our bodies.” p3, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“A WORD ABOUT “EPIDEMICS” AND “GERM-CAUSED” DISEASES [...]
In recent times it has been believed that these many diseases are contagious and that germs have spread them. [...]Yet, in spite of massive research, manufacturing, and wide use of these items, mankind still goes on suffering from an ever-increasing variety of disease and disorders with no let up in sight. Disease, old age, and death are the result of accumulated poisons and congestion throughout the entire body. These toxins become crystallized and hardened, settling around the joints, in the muscles, and throughout the billions of cells all over the body. [...]Lumps and growths are formed all over the body as storage spots for unusable and accumulated waste products, especially in the lymphatic glands. [...] These growths and lumps appear to us as forms of fungi. [...] Fungi absorb the poisons and try to take the inferior material from the organs. This is a part of Nature’s plan to rid the body of our diseases. When we stop feeding these fungi and cleanse our system, we stop their development and spread; then they dissolve or break up and pass from the body. They will not feed on healthy tissue. [...]” p6, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“All types of infections are the result of these vast accumulations of poisons being dissolved and burned
or oxidized to produce further cleansing of the body. [...] Infections are not “caught,” they are created by Nature to
assist in burning our surplus wastes.” p9, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“These germs are our friends, there are no bad ones, and if given a chance will break up and consume these large amounts of waste matter and assist us in eliminating them from the body. These germs and viruses exist in excess only when we provide a breeding ground in which they can multiply. Germs and viruses are in the body to help break down waste material and can do no harm to healthy tissues.” p7, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“Basically, ourselves create all of our diseases because we have never taken the time to discover the true
foods meant for man’s use. We can create healthy bodies by using the right foods and eliminating highly
toxic and mucus-forming foods.” p7, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“Since germs do not cause our disorders, there must be another logical reason for the triggering of an epidemic. This is a matter of simple “vibration.” The better the physical and mental condition a person is in, the higher becomes his vibration, but as he steadily becomes clogged with more and more waste matter, his vibration goes constantly downward until he is ready and in need of a change.” p8, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“THE ORIGIN OF THE LEMON JUICE DIET [...]
It may be used with complete safety for every known type of disease. Lemons and limes are the richest source of minerals and vitamins of any food or foods known to man [...]” p8, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“IS THE LEMONADE DIET ALSO A REDUCING DIET?
As a reducing diet it is superior in every way to any other system because it dissolves and eliminates all types of fatty tissue. Fat melts away at the rate of about two pounds a day for most persons—and without any harmful side effects.” p9, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“Follow the diet for a minimum of 10 days or more—up to 40 days and beyond may be safely followed for extremely serious cases. The diet has all the nutrition needed during this time. Three to four times a year will do wonders for keeping the body in a normal healthy condition. The diet may be undertaken more frequently for serious conditions.” p10, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“HOW TO MAKE IT?
2 Tablespoons lemon or limejuice (approx. ½ lemon)
2 Tablespoons genuine maple syrup (Not maple flavored sugar syrup)
1/10 Teaspoon cayenne pepper (red pepper) or to taste
8 oz water, room temperature
Combine the juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper in a 10 oz glass jar w/lid and fill with the water.
Shake it up and drink. (Cold water may be used if preferred.)
Use fresh (organic) lemons or limes only, never canned lemon or limejuice nor frozen lemonade or
frozen juice.” p10, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“The maple syrup is a balanced form of positive and negative sugar and must be used, not some
“substitute.” [...]The maple syrup has a large variety of minerals and vitamins. [...] These are the minerals found in average samples of syrup from Vermont: Sodium; Potassium; Calcium; Magnesium; Manganese; Iron; Copper; Chlorine and Silicon. Vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, Nicotinic acid and Pantothenic Acid are also present in the syrup. Information on the need and effect of these properties will be found in the Biochemistry in the back of the book, “Healing for the Age of Enlightenment.”” p11, THE MASTER CLEANSE
[Trader Joe's Organic Maple Syrup Grade B - Nutrition Facts]
[Coomb's Maple Syrup, Premium Grade B - Nutrition Facts]

“Honey must not be used at any time internally. [...] According to one authority, honey is “a magical and mystical word in “Healthfoodland”. It is one of the most over promoted, overpriced products being sold to gullible health food advocates. [...]”” p11, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“Take from six to twelve glasses of the lemonade daily during the waking period. As you get hungry just have another glass of lemonade. [...] As this is a complete balance of minerals and vitamins, one does not suffer the pangs of hunger. Do not use vitamin pills.” p12, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“For those underweight, more maple syrup may be taken. For those who are underweight and worried about losing more weight,
REMEMBER, the only things you can possible lose are mucus; waste, and disease. Healthy tissue will not be eliminated. Many people who need to gain weight actually do so near the end of the diet period.” p12, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“A LAXATIVE HERB TEA is found to be the best helper for most persons. It is a good practice to take a good laxative herb tea right from the beginning— the last thing at night and first thing in the morning. There are several good laxative teas. They are best taken in a liquid form. Buy them in your health food store.” p13, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“As it is necessary to bathe the outside of our bodies, so it is with the inside. [...]Prepare a full quart of lukewarm water and add two level teaspoons of sea salt. [...] Drink the entire quart of salt and water first thing in the morning. This must be taken on an empty stomach. The salt and water will not separate but will stay intact and quickly and thoroughly wash the entire tract in about one hour. [...] The colon needs a good washing, but do it the natural way—the salt water way. [...]” p13, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“In the cleansing process, some people experience a tremendous stirring up and may even feel worse for several days. It is not the lemonade that causes the trouble, but what the lemonade stirs up in the system that causes our dizziness and other disturbances. [...]If weakness develops at any time, it is the result of poisons circulating through the blood stream rather than a lack of food or vitamins. This diet gives a person all the vitamins, food, and energy necessary for the full ten days or longer in a liquid form. [...]” p14, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“HOW DO I GET MY PROTEIN?
[...] The need is highly exaggerated, as only 16% of our body is protein. [...] protein is primarily nitrogen, with oxygen, hydrogen and some carbon. We all know we get a large share of our oxygen and hydrogen needs from the air along with some
carbon. [...] From the combination of the best of foods and clean air we are able to create our own amino acids, just
as well as the animals do. [...]” p17, THE MASTER CLEANSE

“Special formula for eye drops [...]
Formula: 5 parts (measures) distilled water
2 parts best grade of honey
1 part pure apple cider vinegar” p26, THE MASTER CLEANSE

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I don't know whether this information is accurate, but it's one of the few mentions of this diet that tries to explore the specific claims of the diet.

“WARNING! Several major claims are false!, December 6, 2004
Reviewer: K. Ross (Boston, MA, USA)

First off, let me start by saying that I have not yet tried this diet, and I am not writing this review to claim either way whether it has the intended effects or not.

My main point is to warn future readers of this book on some of the serious ommissions or errors in some of the claims that this book makes on the body's physiology.

Mainly there are two points:

1) The author claims that this diet is effective as a “reduction“ (or weight-loss) diet. While it is very true that you WILL lose a lot of weight from this diet, be warned that at half, if not more, of the weight lost during the diet will be muscle and water. You are only consuming at most 1200 calories per day from this diet, and this includes no dietary fat or protein. In its natural state, the body will enter a catabolic state, and muscle WILL breakdown in order to help provide the energy you need from day to day. Because of the high carbohydrate content in the lemonade, the body will never enter ketosis (the state where the body attempts to spare protein when nutrition is insufficient.) In the long term, this is not an effective way to lose weight, as once the diet is ended most of the fat lost will eventually be regained because of the diminished metabolism induced by the diet.

2) On pages 27-28, the author goes into a short discussion defending his diet's complete lack of protein. Please believe me when I say that this is completely unscientific and wrong. While there are animals that can sustain it's protein requirement without consuming protein, we are not one of them. There is a list of “essential“ amino acids, such as tryptophan, lysine, and histidine, which the human body cannot create, and must be consumed from food.

Overall, I would not recommend that anyone be on this diet for more than 2-3 weeks at a time at most. The diet is very seriously lacking in some essential macro and micro-nutrients.

Once again, please recognize that I am not debating the claimed benefits of this diet, but I am only trying to warn readers that the claims the author makes must be taken with a grain of salt and that caution should be used in following the author's recommendations outside of the actual diet.”
From Amazon.com review of THE MASTER CLEANSE

“Not to be used for weight reduction!, July 4, 2005
Reviewer: Cheeseboy (Tacoma, Washington)
I can't complain about the Master Cleanser as a Cleansing agent, but it's ridiculous to claim that it is superior as a reducing diet (page 13).

The Master Cleanser strategy is not safe for long term fasting. On a water only fast, the body enters ketosis on the 2nd or 3rd day. After this time, muscle loss is minimized, while the body burns fat at an accelerated pace.

But with the 400 - 600 calories per day of Maple syrup, the “Master Cleanser“ method never allows the body to enter ketosis, and as a result, the body primarily burns muscle tissue, and leaves the fat alone. Don't forget... your heart is a muscle! You don't want to be sacrificing muscle tissue on an extended fast - especially not the duration that Mr. Burroughs recommends (from 10 to 40 days!).

I tried the Master Cleanser fast for 5 days, and lost 9 lbs of muscle mass and only 1 lb of fat (using impedence method testing). After going back on a careful vegetarian diet, I gained all the weight back within 5 days.

I found Dr. Joel Fuhrman's 'water only' plan to be superior as a safe fasting method (minimal lean tissue loss). However, in my experience, NO fasting method works well for permanent weight loss. The best results are attained through careful diet and exercise. I highly recommend Dr. Joel Fuhrman's 'Eat to Live' book in conjunction with his fasting book.”
From Amazon.com review of THE MASTER CLEANSE

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“Reading her blog, or rather, the comments on her blog, was discouraging. People kept saying how crazy it sounded and why not just eat healthy and drink more water instead, and the Master Cleanse has been debunked many times anyway, etc.

I did a Google search and didn't find anything 'debunking' the Master Cleanse. Because there's nothing to debunk, really. It's not claiming to cure cancer or anything. It's just a simple detox.” Amber's Master Cleanse

“The California Supreme Court case People v. Burroughs, 35 Cal.3d 824, (1984) gives some indication of Burroughs' legal problems. After trial in Califonia, Burroughs was convicted of a form of felony murder for causing a death of a terminally ill patient via Burroughs' holistic treatments (massage and color light therapy for a leukemia patient). The criminal conviction was a form of practicing medicine without a license leading to death. Burrough's conviction was eventually overturned by the California Supreme Court (Rose Bird), and he was released from prison after spending a number of years incarcerated.
People v. Burroughs is frequently described as a case involving a “self-styled 'healer'“ who provided “'deep' abdominal massages“ to a leukemic who thereafter died of a massive abdominal hemorrhage. The court opinion describes in detail Burrough's dubious “treatment“ of his patient. The significance of the case is that Burroughs had not “intended“ to commit homicide, and the case is frequently cited for situations involving alternative faith or health practices. The case also notes in a footnote to the majority opinion that Burroughs “had been convicted of practicing medicine without a license in 1960.”” Stanley Burroughs - Wikipedia
[People v. Burroughs (1984) 35 C3d 824]

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Master Cleanse - Wikipedia
Dr. Z's Medical Report - HealthTalk » Master Cleanse Diet = Master Scam
Stanley Burroughs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MASTER CLEANSE ON TELEVISION
The Real World Hawaii
L.A. Ink