Observations on the master cleanse

The master cleanse is a 10-day regimen where you drink lots of water and a special lemonade made with lemons, grade-B maple syrup and cayenne pepper powder. It also requires you to take a laxative at night and a salt water flush in the morning. The theory is that there are a lot of toxins stored in your body, that are clinging to the intestines and colon thereby preventing food to be digested properly. The 10-day process will enable the body to flush out the toxins and make it more of the food burning machine it was designed to be.

We tried the master cleanse and we must say that it was beneficial to us. My wife and I lost 8 to 14 pounds each on the cleanse. We have kids and we were scared about doing the cleanse together. However, we did it together as we needed the support from each other. We also talked to others who have done it and got their input. Finally, the fact that Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness before he began his ministry convinced us that we should give it a try.

Here are the benefits of the master cleanse:
1) it cleans out your system of all the toxins and waste that have been built up on the inside
2) it helps your metabolism so that the food you eat is converted into more energy
3) it also cleanses your colon and intestines and the blood vessels.
4) in the process you lose weight anywhere from 8 pounds to 18 pounds. I lost 15 pounds and my wife lost 10 pounds. I attribute it to me taking psyllium husk every day for the last 5 days of the cleanse.

Other benefits of doing the cleanse included a change in eating habits, especially after you see the black stuff that you pass in your bowel movement after the first 3 days. We are now including more vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, and legumes in our diet. It has also made us reduce intake of processed foods, white flour, sugar, etc.

The key is to view the master cleanse as a mechanism to clean up from the inside and a way to increase your metabolism. Weight loss is an added benefit, though a lot of celebrities use this for weight loss. The master cleanse is not for everybody, so check with your doctor before you start this.

The master cleanse was written by Stanley Burroughs. Here are some resources for information about the master cleanse.
Information about the master cleanse: http://www.mastercleanser.com/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Cleanse

It may be difficult to do the master cleanse the way it was originally written by Stanley Burroughs. Here is a helpful resource that will help you.
http://themastercleanse.org/

The secrets of the master cleanse is also a good resource to follow where they give some useful tips to cheat and also helps you to do the cleanse.
MasterCleanseSecrets.com

Here is the recipe, if you are curious about it.
For a single or a glass of the master cleanse, the recipe requires that you use 10 ounces of filtered water, two table spoons of grade-B organic maple syrup, two tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice and 1/10 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. If you wish to make a daily serving of 60 ounces, then you will need 60 ounces of filtered water, 12 tablespoon of maple syrup, 12 tablespoon of lemon juice and ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

You alternate between water and the lemonade throughout the day. You also have to do a salt water flush - 2 teaspoons of sea salt in 12 to 16 oz glass of filtered water, the first thing in the morning. Don't go out for about 2 hours after you drink this unless you have had a bowel movement. At bedtime, you need to drink a laxative like SmoothMove or 2 teaspoons of psyllium husk in 10 to 12 oz. of water.

Simple, but the resources above give details about how to ease into the master cleanse and also what you do after the cleanse. Easing back to normal diet after completing the cleanse is very important as otherwise it may be dangerous.

In conclusion, we are happy we did the cleanse and we plan to do a mini-cleanse of 3 days on the diet every 3 months. We normally fast once a month, drinking only water. We will do the lemonade diet now for the monthly one-days fasts as well.