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Stanley Burroughs’ Master Cleanse Diet
The Master Cleanse is a 10-day fast that is used for detox and weight loss purposes. It has also been called the Master Cleanser Diet after the original book that described it, the Lemonade Diet, the Maple Syrup Diet, and the Cayenne Pepper Diet after some of the ingredients used, and the Beyoncé Diet after its most famous fan.
Although the Master Cleanse is often referred to as a fast, it’s not really a complete fast, in that up to 1,300 calories are consumed each day in the form of sugars from the ingredients in the beverage that Master Cleansers prepare and drink.
Background
The Master Cleanse was originally developed in 1940 as a stomach ulcer cure by alternative health practitioner Stanley Burroughs (1903-1991). In 1976 Burroughs presented his diet in a book, The Master Cleanser, by which time he was promoting the diet not only for ulcers, but for weight loss and “every kind of disease,” claiming it would lead to “the correction of all disorders.” The book is a disorganized, difficult-to-decipher jumble, and in 2004 a fan of the diet, Peter Glickman, published his more comprehensible version in the book Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days, dubbing it the “Lemonade Diet.” Glickman’s book revived the diet’s popularity.
Neither Burroughs nor Glickman was a physician or medical researcher. Burroughs promoted a number of alternative practices beyond the Master Cleanse, including light therapy, deep massage, and reflexology, and he was a practicing nudist and vegetarian. He was convicted of practicing medicine without a license and imprisoned, and he was convicted of second degree murder, later overturned, for his role in the death of a desperate leukemia patient, whose cancer Burroughs tried to cure with the Master Cleanse and other practices. Glickman is a software engineer / chiropractor who has promoted the medically rejected practice of chelation.
Among the celebrities who have been reported to have used the diet are Beyonce Knowles, who lost 20 pounds in two weeks for her role in the movie Dreamgirls, and Howard Stern sidekick Robin Quivers, who was quoted in People magazine that she heard about it from magician David Blaine and used it on three occasions while reducing her weight to 145 pounds from 218 pounds. Actor Jared Leto used the Master Cleanse to lose the 60 or so pounds that he had gained for his role as John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman. Singers Ashanti and Trina have also been connected with the diet. Moses and Jesus both reportedly underwent a pre-Burroughs 40-day version of the diet, not involving lemonade or laxatives.
Does it Work?
Does the diet work for weight loss? If you follow the instructions, it most certainly will work. Any fast will cause you to lose weight, because you aren’t eating food. The Master Cleanse in the strict sense is not a fast because you drink a considerable amount of sugar-containing lemonade, about 650 to 1,300 calories worth per day, depending on the number of glasses you drink. Thus you will have a daily calorie deficit: Most non-overweight people need from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day to maintain their weight (women will be on the lower end of that range). If you are overweight, you are probably consuming more than that to maintain your weight.
As an example, if you normally eat 2,150 calories, and you choose the extreme 650-calorie version of the Master Cleanse, you will have a 1,500-calorie deficit, losing three pounds of fat per week (and perhaps some water weight also). (There may be other factors that will affect this result.) Many reputable diets prescribe a two-pound per week loss, so in this sense the Master Cleanse is actually not that radical: it just substitutes lemonade for real food and adds the shock effect of constant colon cleansing.
Is is Dangerous?
Most medical authorities don’t believe that a few days of fasting will harm you (and the Master Cleanse is more of a low-calorie, nutrient deficient diet than a fast). But longer periods will begin to deplete muscle, and your heart is among the muscles that will suffer — not a good thing. In addition, longer fasts can damage your kidneys and liver. Where is the safe cut-off point? We can’t really say.
Less is known about the long-term effects of 10 days or more of salt-water laxative use.
About This Detox Stuff
Most people today, deep down, are interested in the Master Cleanse primarily for its get-skinny-quick aspect, although they rarely admit it. But there is also a detox component. What about detox?
There’s no evidence that our bodies contain excessive toxins of the sort Burroughs discusses, and there’s no evidence that detox diets flush out anything bad in your body. Many of our organs, including the liver, kidneys, lungs, and the intestines, are very efficient filters that expel toxins. There are toxins that may be trapped in fat cells or the lungs, but this sort of diet does not help with expelling those.
We’ve included some quotes from Stanley Burroughs at the end of this article so you can read for yourself how naive and outdated his medical theories were.
How to Do the Master Cleanse
In a nutshell, the Master Cleanse is this:
The lemonade is prepared by mixing the ingredients in this free recipe:
Things to Avoid at All Costs
Burroughs strongly counsels against the use of honey in the lemonade or the consumption at any time of honey, which he describes as predigested bee vomit, popular only among “gullible health foodists.”
<script type="text/javascript"> digg_url = 'http://digg.com/health/The_Master_Cleanse_Diet_and_Its_Nutty_Creator'; </script>
Burroughs also cautions against taking any kind of supplements or vitamin pills or using illicit drugs. Although Glickman wisely recommends against going off any prescription medications without your doctor’s approval, it’s unclear what Burroughs’ opinion was on this point. He reprints without comment an endorsement from a follower who relates how he quit his medications for blood pressure, nerves, and lack of energy during his fast. And Burroughs was generally against traditional medicine in general, discouraging a leukemia patient from getting a bone marrow transplant. And an alternative version of the Master Cleanse for diabetics described in the book recommends that the diabetic phase out insulin during the diet. In another context in the book Burroughs rails against “the unnatural action of drugs and antibiotics,” saying they store “poisons in the body.” But we’re with Glickman on this one.
You shouldn’t smoke or drink alcohol, coffee, tea, cola, but the good news is that your cravings for them will completely disappear, according to Burroughs. Burroughs allows the consumption of extra plain water and of mint tea.
No other food or drink should be consumed at all, say both Burroughs and Glickman.
The Colon Blaster
There are two preparations needed to induce colon cleansing.
During the Diet
To begin the diet you need to choose the minimum number of days that you are going to attempt, steel yourself for what is to come, and follow the following daily routine.
Day 0 (the day before beginning the diet):
Purchase lemons, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, laxative herbal tea, and sea salt in sufficient quantities to last the duration of your cleanse.
The night before beginning the diet, drink some laxative herbal tea, and retire for the evening.
Days 1 through 10 (and Beyond):
Post Diet: Breaking the Fast
When are you through with the diet? Either when you reach the number of days that you planned, or alternately, when your tongue goes from “coated and fuzzy” to a clear pink color.
Burroughs outlines a gentle approach for coming off the diet without upsetting your digestive system excessively. Although Burroughs recommends that you become a practicing raw foodist vegetarian after the diet to avoid recontamination with toxic dead animal flesh, he does provide an alternative transition plan for omnivores.
Vegetarian Transition Process
Ingredients:
Combine ingredients with 4 cups water, bring to a simmer, cook 20 minutes or until potatoes and beans are tender, adding water along the way if necessary.
Protein and the Master Cleanse
The Master Cleanse provides several hundred calories of carbohydrate per day in the form of lemon and maple sugar, and Burroughs’ recommended vegetarian diet excludes “toxic dead animal flesh.” What about protein? In the case of protein, Burroughs says that there is no need to worry: protein is simply nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. The air contains all these elements. Simple by breathing “we are able to assimilate and build the nitrogen also into our bodies as protein … by natural bacteria action….” But just to be on the safe side, Burroughs also recommends eating nuts and seeds after the Master Cleanse.
Beyond the Master Cleanse
In addition to promoting his lemonade concoction as being useful for detoxification, weight loss, and the cure of ulcers and leukemia, Burroughs also recommended it as a baby formula. Mother’s milk is best, but when not available Burroughs recommended feeding babies freshly prepared coconut milk, with the lemonade concoction given between coconut milk feedings, diluted a bit if the cayenne pepper upsets the baby. When the baby is weaned, it should be fed vegetarian foods like fruit, vegetables, berries, and seeds, sweetened with maple syrup.
Burroughs also writes of his 10- to 30-day treatment for dropsy (edema), which involves going on the Master Cleanse, and then being buried in 100-pounds of coarse rock salt purchased from a feed store, followed by steam baths.
article source: calorielab.com
The Master Cleanse is a 10-day fast that is used for detox and weight loss purposes. It has also been called the Master Cleanser Diet after the original book that described it, the Lemonade Diet, the Maple Syrup Diet, and the Cayenne Pepper Diet after some of the ingredients used, and the Beyoncé Diet after its most famous fan.
Although the Master Cleanse is often referred to as a fast, it’s not really a complete fast, in that up to 1,300 calories are consumed each day in the form of sugars from the ingredients in the beverage that Master Cleansers prepare and drink.
Background
The Master Cleanse was originally developed in 1940 as a stomach ulcer cure by alternative health practitioner Stanley Burroughs (1903-1991). In 1976 Burroughs presented his diet in a book, The Master Cleanser, by which time he was promoting the diet not only for ulcers, but for weight loss and “every kind of disease,” claiming it would lead to “the correction of all disorders.” The book is a disorganized, difficult-to-decipher jumble, and in 2004 a fan of the diet, Peter Glickman, published his more comprehensible version in the book Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days, dubbing it the “Lemonade Diet.” Glickman’s book revived the diet’s popularity.
Neither Burroughs nor Glickman was a physician or medical researcher. Burroughs promoted a number of alternative practices beyond the Master Cleanse, including light therapy, deep massage, and reflexology, and he was a practicing nudist and vegetarian. He was convicted of practicing medicine without a license and imprisoned, and he was convicted of second degree murder, later overturned, for his role in the death of a desperate leukemia patient, whose cancer Burroughs tried to cure with the Master Cleanse and other practices. Glickman is a software engineer / chiropractor who has promoted the medically rejected practice of chelation.
Among the celebrities who have been reported to have used the diet are Beyonce Knowles, who lost 20 pounds in two weeks for her role in the movie Dreamgirls, and Howard Stern sidekick Robin Quivers, who was quoted in People magazine that she heard about it from magician David Blaine and used it on three occasions while reducing her weight to 145 pounds from 218 pounds. Actor Jared Leto used the Master Cleanse to lose the 60 or so pounds that he had gained for his role as John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman. Singers Ashanti and Trina have also been connected with the diet. Moses and Jesus both reportedly underwent a pre-Burroughs 40-day version of the diet, not involving lemonade or laxatives.
Does it Work?
Does the diet work for weight loss? If you follow the instructions, it most certainly will work. Any fast will cause you to lose weight, because you aren’t eating food. The Master Cleanse in the strict sense is not a fast because you drink a considerable amount of sugar-containing lemonade, about 650 to 1,300 calories worth per day, depending on the number of glasses you drink. Thus you will have a daily calorie deficit: Most non-overweight people need from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day to maintain their weight (women will be on the lower end of that range). If you are overweight, you are probably consuming more than that to maintain your weight.
As an example, if you normally eat 2,150 calories, and you choose the extreme 650-calorie version of the Master Cleanse, you will have a 1,500-calorie deficit, losing three pounds of fat per week (and perhaps some water weight also). (There may be other factors that will affect this result.) Many reputable diets prescribe a two-pound per week loss, so in this sense the Master Cleanse is actually not that radical: it just substitutes lemonade for real food and adds the shock effect of constant colon cleansing.
Is is Dangerous?
Most medical authorities don’t believe that a few days of fasting will harm you (and the Master Cleanse is more of a low-calorie, nutrient deficient diet than a fast). But longer periods will begin to deplete muscle, and your heart is among the muscles that will suffer — not a good thing. In addition, longer fasts can damage your kidneys and liver. Where is the safe cut-off point? We can’t really say.
Less is known about the long-term effects of 10 days or more of salt-water laxative use.
About This Detox Stuff
Most people today, deep down, are interested in the Master Cleanse primarily for its get-skinny-quick aspect, although they rarely admit it. But there is also a detox component. What about detox?
There’s no evidence that our bodies contain excessive toxins of the sort Burroughs discusses, and there’s no evidence that detox diets flush out anything bad in your body. Many of our organs, including the liver, kidneys, lungs, and the intestines, are very efficient filters that expel toxins. There are toxins that may be trapped in fat cells or the lungs, but this sort of diet does not help with expelling those.
We’ve included some quotes from Stanley Burroughs at the end of this article so you can read for yourself how naive and outdated his medical theories were.
How to Do the Master Cleanse
In a nutshell, the Master Cleanse is this:
- The diet takes at least 10 days (up to 40 days, the period of time that Jesus fasted after his baptism, as Burroughs points out)
- The only nourishment that you take is a special lemonade concoction made from lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water, six to twelve glasses per day, each glass containing about 110 calories in sugar carbohydrates
- An herbal laxative tea is drunk at night and a quart of salt water is drunk first thing in the morning, resulting in several liquid bowel movements every day — you need to always be near a toilet when you do this diet, and you need to stock up on toilet paper
- You come off the diet by transitioning to solid food over a few days, ideally becoming a raw food vegetarian in Stanley Burroughs’ version of the diet
The lemonade is prepared by mixing the ingredients in this free recipe:
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. Burroughs recommends organic lemons, fresh, not bottled juice. Limes may be substituted. Lemon zest and pulp may be added, making sure that the lemons are organic and not artificially colored or treated with pesticides.
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. This must be pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup. Burroughs recommends the darker Grade B, which has more color and nutrients than Grade A, which is also acceptable. He goes into aspects of maple syrup production that would be difficult for the average person to investigate, such as whether formaldehyde or plastic tubing is used (not recommended by Burroughs).
- 1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Burroughs insists that cayenne chili pepper be used, but permits ramping up from a lesser amount if the taste needs getting used to.
- Water. Burroughs recommends a 10-ounce glass of medium hot water, but also allows cold water to be used. Some have interpreted “10-ounce glass” to mean 8 ounces of actual water. Since Burroughs also allows plain water to be drunk during the fast in addition to the lemonade, this doesn’t seem important.
Things to Avoid at All Costs
Burroughs strongly counsels against the use of honey in the lemonade or the consumption at any time of honey, which he describes as predigested bee vomit, popular only among “gullible health foodists.”
<script type="text/javascript"> digg_url = 'http://digg.com/health/The_Master_Cleanse_Diet_and_Its_Nutty_Creator'; </script>
Burroughs also cautions against taking any kind of supplements or vitamin pills or using illicit drugs. Although Glickman wisely recommends against going off any prescription medications without your doctor’s approval, it’s unclear what Burroughs’ opinion was on this point. He reprints without comment an endorsement from a follower who relates how he quit his medications for blood pressure, nerves, and lack of energy during his fast. And Burroughs was generally against traditional medicine in general, discouraging a leukemia patient from getting a bone marrow transplant. And an alternative version of the Master Cleanse for diabetics described in the book recommends that the diabetic phase out insulin during the diet. In another context in the book Burroughs rails against “the unnatural action of drugs and antibiotics,” saying they store “poisons in the body.” But we’re with Glickman on this one.
You shouldn’t smoke or drink alcohol, coffee, tea, cola, but the good news is that your cravings for them will completely disappear, according to Burroughs. Burroughs allows the consumption of extra plain water and of mint tea.
No other food or drink should be consumed at all, say both Burroughs and Glickman.
The Colon Blaster
There are two preparations needed to induce colon cleansing.
- Laxative herb tea. Although Burroughs is quite specific about types and amounts of lemons and maple syrup, on the subject of laxative herb teas he simply suggests without further elaboration that you should buy any good brand offered by your health food store.
- Internal salt water bathing solution. Dissolve two teaspoons of uniodized sea salt in a quart of lukewarm water.
During the Diet
To begin the diet you need to choose the minimum number of days that you are going to attempt, steel yourself for what is to come, and follow the following daily routine.
Day 0 (the day before beginning the diet):
Purchase lemons, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, laxative herbal tea, and sea salt in sufficient quantities to last the duration of your cleanse.
The night before beginning the diet, drink some laxative herbal tea, and retire for the evening.
Days 1 through 10 (and Beyond):
- In the morning before drinking any lemonade, drink a quart of salt water (remain near a toilet).
- During the day drink 6 to 12 glasses of the Master Cleanse lemonade concoction. The lower number of 6 glasses is recommended for those seeking weight loss. The higher number is fine for those interested mostly in detoxification.
- In the evening drink some herbal laxative tea.
- You may experience dizziness, vomiting, joint pain, and weakness. You will also be really hungry. After several days many Master Cleanse dieters report entering a state of bliss that is either the result of the continuing elimination of toxins, or else a state similar to the tranquil experience that people who are starving to death have shortly before dying.
Post Diet: Breaking the Fast
When are you through with the diet? Either when you reach the number of days that you planned, or alternately, when your tongue goes from “coated and fuzzy” to a clear pink color.
Burroughs outlines a gentle approach for coming off the diet without upsetting your digestive system excessively. Although Burroughs recommends that you become a practicing raw foodist vegetarian after the diet to avoid recontamination with toxic dead animal flesh, he does provide an alternative transition plan for omnivores.
Vegetarian Transition Process
- Days 1 and 2: Drink several 8-ounce glasses of orange juice, sipping slowly, diluting it if there is digestive distress.
- Day 3: Drink orange juice in the morning, eat raw fruit for lunch, and eat fruit or raw salad for dinner.
- Day 4: You may return to your normal diet.
- Day 1: Drink several 8-ounce glasses of orange juice, sipping slowly, diluting it if there is digestive distress.
- Day 2: Drink orange juice during the morning and afternoon. For dinner prepare a homemade vegetable soup (recipe below). Mostly sip the broth, and do not eat much of the vegetables.
- Day 3: Drink orange juice in the morning, have leftover vegetable soup for lunch with 4 rye crackers (no regular crackers or bread), and eat fresh raw vegetables, salad, and fruit for dinner. Do not yet eat meat, fish, eggs, bread, pastries or drink tea, coffee, or milk.
- Day 4 and beyond: You may return to your normal diet, but Burroughs recommends continuing to drink the lemonade concoction at breakfast on a permanent basis. And he really wants you to go vegetarian, if at all possible.
Ingredients:
- 2 varieties of beans, 1/2 cup each (kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans, or other)
- 1 medium potato, half-inch cubes
- 1 stalk celery, sliced
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1 small bunch turnip greens, spinach, mustard greens or other green
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 medium tomatoes
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1 zucchini, sliced
- 1/2 cup brown rice
- Other vegetables as desired
- No meat
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dry oregano
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- vegetarian soup powder or cube (optional)
Combine ingredients with 4 cups water, bring to a simmer, cook 20 minutes or until potatoes and beans are tender, adding water along the way if necessary.
Protein and the Master Cleanse
The Master Cleanse provides several hundred calories of carbohydrate per day in the form of lemon and maple sugar, and Burroughs’ recommended vegetarian diet excludes “toxic dead animal flesh.” What about protein? In the case of protein, Burroughs says that there is no need to worry: protein is simply nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. The air contains all these elements. Simple by breathing “we are able to assimilate and build the nitrogen also into our bodies as protein … by natural bacteria action….” But just to be on the safe side, Burroughs also recommends eating nuts and seeds after the Master Cleanse.
Beyond the Master Cleanse
In addition to promoting his lemonade concoction as being useful for detoxification, weight loss, and the cure of ulcers and leukemia, Burroughs also recommended it as a baby formula. Mother’s milk is best, but when not available Burroughs recommended feeding babies freshly prepared coconut milk, with the lemonade concoction given between coconut milk feedings, diluted a bit if the cayenne pepper upsets the baby. When the baby is weaned, it should be fed vegetarian foods like fruit, vegetables, berries, and seeds, sweetened with maple syrup.
Burroughs also writes of his 10- to 30-day treatment for dropsy (edema), which involves going on the Master Cleanse, and then being buried in 100-pounds of coarse rock salt purchased from a feed store, followed by steam baths.
article source: calorielab.com
