The Lemonade Diet, also frequently known as one portion of the Master Cleanse Diet, is based around a modified form of juice fasting during which you consume nothing but a particular recipe of lemonade. While it is not overtly endorsed by its creators for weight loss efforts, it remains one of the primary goals that people have in mind when they decide to adopt it, however even the creators state that when you go back to your normal eating habits, about half of the weight lost will come back quickly.
The theory behind water fasting, as well as various liquid cleanses like the lemonade diet, revolves around the idea that toxins in the body are responsible for many of the diseases and medical disorders that plague modern life. It is believed that as the body consumes food and metabolizes, the toxins that are produced by the metabolic processed and consumed with food build up over time because the body is unable to destroy or remove them as quickly as they are being introduced into the body. The idea behind water fasting and cleanses such as the lemonade cleanse diet is that the only way to allow the body to eliminate these toxins is to fast, or discontinue eating so that the body’s natural systems remove the toxins and restore good health.
Basic Lemonade Diet Instructions
The lemonade diet is a hybrid between a typical water fast, during which nothing but water is consumed, and a juice fast, in which you drink mostly juice. In either case, no food will be consumed for the duration of the diet.
The lemonade diet recipe (per 10oz glass) is as follows:
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp organic, preferably grade B maple syrup
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper
Enough filtered or alkaline water to fill the glass
This lemonade will be your only source of nutrients during your cleanse, and you will supplement it with one to two glasses of water to for every glass of lemonade. The Master Cleanse also recommends drinking a laxative tea to make up for the lack of fiber being consumed, as well as a saline wash to replenish salt.
Lemonade Diet Side Effects
To put it bluntly, you cannot simply stop eating for an extended period of time and drink nothing but sugar water and expect there to be no side effects from doing so. These range from the pleasant to the dangerous depending on your perspective. You can expect to lose some weight due to the lack of food intake, but your metabolism will quickly slow down to compensate. This is why people are known to be able to fast for weeks or sometimes months at a time. As soon as you start eating again, most of the weight is going to quickly return.
Otherwise, you will probably notice quite a bit of abdominal cramping, intense hunger for the first several days, weakness, vomiting, light-headedness, joint pain, headaches, and frequent bowel movements.
Should I Use The Lemonade Diet?
That depends on what your intentions are when beginning the lemonade diet. Most people turn to fad diets in an attempt to find an effective weight loss method, but forget that it was not designed with that in mind and there are much healthier ways to lose weight than cleanses or starvation diets. The idea of toxins building up in the body and it needing to be cleansed of them periodically is debatable, and research has so far not proven this to be true.
Since the health benefits of the lemonade diet are debatable at best, especially when it comes to losing weight, the answer is a resounding no when it comes to whether or not you should try losing weight with the lemonade diet. Dangers common to starvation include weakness, irritability, pain, and a drastically impaired metabolism. If, however, you are looking at doing a water fast for spiritual or religious reasons, it is best to do so under a doctor’s supervision to ensure that your health is protected at all times.