As people everywhere vow to shed pounds and begin eating better for the new year, some will inevitably look to the latest crash diet or quick fix. The cabbage soup and grapefruit diets may have run their courses and fallen to the wayside by now, but one particular diet — or cleanse rather — keeps coming around.
The Master Cleanse, also known as the lemonade diet, is not really a diet at all. Instead, a person fasts for 10 or more days and drinks a special cocktail of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, Grade B organic maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water. While many people either love or hate this type of diet because of its supposed ability to drop pounds quickly, proponents of the Master Cleanse say it’s not about losing weight at all — it’s about eliminating toxins from the body which have built up over time.
“You can’t go into it expecting to lose weight because not everyone does,” said Christina Kenney, an international relations and park, recreation and tourism resources senior who tried the Master Cleanse for 10 days in August. “Maybe I lost 5 pounds but that wasn’t what I was looking for.”
Olin Health Center nutritionist Ronda Bokram said the experience sounds harmful, especially because of the stronger focus on weight loss today compared to 40 years ago.
“This diet is nothing special, you’re hardly eating any calories,” Bokram said. “People go to extremes because of numbers and calories — if you put a weight-loss program out there, people will buy it.”
Kenney said she first learned about the Master Cleanse from her mother who did it years ago. The concept was created by nutritionist Stanley Burroughs in the 1940s and became popular in the ’70s when he published his book, “The Master Cleanser.”
Many people — especially celebrities — still flock to the Master Cleanse to lose weight. Beyoncé Knowles appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where she attributed her rapid 20-pound weight loss for a movie role to the Master Cleanse. Denzel Washington, Renée Zellweger and Billy Bob Thornton are all rumored to have tried the Master Cleanse.
Bokram said one problem with celebrities popularizing fad diets is the hype, since everyone is looking for a quick fix. The lemon juice mixture doesn’t contain all of the essential nutrients, protein, carbohydrates and fats, she said.
But Michelle Norkowski, a veterinary technology senior who did the Master Cleanse for eight days, learned about it from friends who had successfully tried it. She tried several fresh juice fasts before the Master Cleanse, but the longest she made it on one was four days. She heard people who do the cleanse don’t get sick for a while afterward, and since she was stressed and sick after a semester at MSU, she decided to try it.
“I’m not an expert, but I experienced it myself,” she said. “I didn’t get sick for almost two years. I was working out the whole time, I never felt fatigued, I had more energy. I felt really good.”
Norkowski said the mixture tasted like lemonade since only a small, variable amount of cayenne pepper is added. She liked it so much she sometimes drank the mixture after finishing the fast. However, Kenney said the taste took longer time to get used to. She chose to take cayenne pepper pills instead of adding the pepper directly to the drink.
Both Kenney and Norkowski said one of the hardest parts of the fast was dealing with questions and assumptions from friends who worried about them and their choice to not eat.
“People have a really hard time digesting that you are choosing not to eat,” Norkowski said. “There were a number of times I had to convince people I wasn’t doing it to lose weight.”
Bokram said those concerned about their health should talk to people who aren’t trying to get money from selling an idea.
“Why would you choose to starve yourself for 10 days?” she said.
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