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Master Cleanse
by
Ron
Lagerquist
The most obvious question is: does the Master Cleanse do a better job in
healing and detoxifying than juice fasting?
 In
2006, Beyonce announced on Oprah that she had successfully lost 20 pounds
while preparing for her upcoming movie, Dreamgirls. She did this by
incorporating a 60-year-old fasting program called the Master Cleanse. The
much-publicized weight loss resulted in a flurry of flash bulb photo ops for
the attractive recording artist, but the unexpected spinoff was a
resurrected interest in Stanley Burroughs’ small 30-page book, The Master
Cleanser, published in 1941. Thanks to Beyonce’s success, Freedomyou
also has received many emails inquiring about this now repopularized
approach to detoxification and weight loss.
After reading
enthusiastic testimonies on the Freedomyou Bulletin Board from people who
have benefited from even a ten-day Master Cleanse, it’s clear that there is
something to this
very focused fast. I do not find it at all surprising that people who have
spent years living off the standard North American diet would profit from
fasting on diluted lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper,
while performing colon cleansing. However, the most obvious question that needs to be answered
is: does the Master Cleanse do a better job in healing and detoxifying than
juice fasting? The question is important; after all, why not maximize your return on a such a substantial investment of time and effort.
Master Cleanse Program at a Glance
First, let’s take a closer look at what the Master Cleanse involves. Even
though there have been various modifications made to Stanley Burroughs’
original lemonade fast, the following will represent a summary of his book
The Master Cleanser, hence the dated and somewhat unscientific
terminology.
Advantages:
Often detoxification programs can be complicated and very
expensive. The main advantage of Stanley Burroughs Master Cleanse is it is a
simple, inexpensive program, with ingredients readily available to anyone.
Purpose:
-dissolve and remove build-up toxins
-reduce and eliminate mucus congestion throughout the body
-cleanse kidneys and digestive system
-purify cells and glands
-dissolve hardened material in joints and muscles
-reduce irritation and pressure in arteries, nerves and blood vessels
-maintain youth and elasticity
When to Cleanse?
-sickness
-chronic conditions
-excess weight
-to improve digestion
-building of healthy body tissue
Length of Fast:
- minimum of 10 days, up to 40 days
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice (organic, if possible)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (grade B recommended)
- 1/10 tsp cayenne pepper
- 10 oz medium-hot water
Simply mix and
drink. It is recommended that you drink 6 to 12 glasses a day; each glass
contains about 110 sugar calories.
Recommended Colon
Cleansers
- laxative herb tea, first thing in the morning and last
thing in the evening
- salt water flush. Add two level teaspoons of sea salt to a quart of
lukewarm water and drink first thing in the morning.
Master Cleanse as
a Weight Loss Program
Beyonce demonstrated that the Master Cleanse is a powerful
and quick way to lose body fat. On this program you will be reducing your
daily caloric intake to between 660 and 1320 calories (6 to 12 glasses a
day), forcing the body to cannibalize on stored fat. This would be very
similar to the calories of a typical juice fast; therefore, weight loss
results will be comparable.
As stated in my article, “Fasting For Weight Loss,” there is
no question that fasting is an effective way to lose weight, but fasting as
a form of weight management is the wrong focus and can result in
disappointment—or worse, an unhealthy binge/purge cycle. Beyonce is quoted
in an interview with The Belfast Telegraph as saying “...the second I looked
at a donut, it came back! I gained back all the weight, even the weight I
didn't want to come back!” (The
Belfast Telegraph, August 25, 2006)
This is what most people experience when approaching any type of fasting
just for weight loss. In fact, fasting can lower your metabolism, which can
result in regaining all the weight back, as was Beyonce’s experience.
If you are thinking of fasting for weight loss, first read the article,
Fasting for Weight
Loss.
Master Cleanse versus Juice Fasting
Pros
Simplicity:
The most frequent question Freedomyou receives is, “How much juice should I
can drink?” in spite of answering this question numerous times throughout
the articles. (I will answer it here again, as much as you want) The second
most common question deals with when and what type of juice to drink.
Uncertainty is one of the quickest ways to permanently shut a fast down,
especially for first-time fasters. People want to be sure they are doing it
right. Where the Master Cleanse shines is in its simplicity. At the
beginning of each day, you mix about a gallon jug of juice and go, no
questions asked.
Ease of use:
Juice fasting involves a certain amount of daily preparation and cleanup.
There is chopping, juicing and straining the juice. Add to that washing the
cutting board, juicer and counter. This can require an hour a day if
preparing all your juice ahead of time. The only cutting required for the
Master Cleanse is lemons, and preparation can be as little as 15 minutes a
day. For some people, this will be the difference between success and
failure.
Cons
Limited spectrum of nutrients:
The Master Cleanse dramatically reduces the wider spectrum of
nutrients found in a juice fast. This is precisely the reason I have never
traded a juice fast for the Master Cleanse. I cannot imagine giving up the
concentrated nutrients found in freshly juiced carrots, celery, spinach,
garlic, cantaloupes, and blueberries, to name only a few, for the nutrients
in a single fruit. In the 1940s, Burroughs simply did not have at his
disposal the vast nutritional information we now have available today;
information that is growing on a daily basis. In the early part of the 20th
century, there was no data regarding antioxidants or phytochemicals from a
biological perspective.
In saying this, it makes it all the more remarkable that
Burroughs and others like Arnold Ehret, who authored the Mucusless Diet
Healing System in1922, pioneered a controversial holistic approach to health
and healing that ran completely crossway to the mainstream medical machine
that treated the disease and not the human body. The modern alternative
health movement, including Freedomyou, must pay homage to visionary men and
women like Burroughs who reintroduced thousands of years of natural medicine
to a society becoming increasingly sick due to the modernization of food.
While millions were blithely gobbling up the new fashion foods, Burroughs
was writing: “White bread has always seemed like a sickly looking mess to
me. Surely there is a reason for the bulk and other things being there
originally. Perhaps they figured God made a mistake so man must correct it.”
Burroughs’ far-sightedness is incredible in its historical context,
and is as relevant today as it was in 1941.
Studies continue to reveal the remarkable healing,
detoxification and protective power of plant foods. My recommendation is to
invest the extra time and employ as many different plant sources as possible
during a fast, flooding your living cells with the widest spectrum of
nutrients during your fast. I believe if Stanley Burroughs were alive today,
with the body of nutritional information we now have available, he too would
include the cornucopia of plant foods in his Master Cleanse.
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detoxification, healing, colon