Lemonade Diet Weight Loss

When it comes to weight loss scams of the 21st century, topping the most popular list is the Lemonade Diet, which goes by numerous names, including the Master Cleanse, Maple Syrup Diet, Lemon Detox Diet, and Lemonade Cleanse. While it's possible to lose weight extremely fast on the Lemonade Diet, this method of weight control is extremely unhealthy--and often dangerous when used long term.

Lemonade Diet History

The Lemonade Diet began in the 1950s, when other liquid weight loss fads, such as the Cabbage Soup Diet, were becoming popular. Stanley Burroughs, who called himself a physician but had no medical license, created the Lemonade Diet as part of one of many unorthodox treatment methods used to treat gullible patients. Despite the popularity of his lemonade fast, which was described in his booklet "The Master Cleanser," Burroughs spent a lifetime fending off legal problems. In 1984, the state of California charged Burroughs with second-degree felony murder of a terminal cancer patient he treated with his lemonade diet. He was twice brought before the California courts for practicing medicine without a license. Despite the findings of the court, Burroughs' followers continued to believe in the Lemonade Diet. Since its inception, the Lemonade Diet has been interwoven into the fabric of American fad diets, along with the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Rice Diet and the Vinegar Diet.

Other Lemonade Diet Weight Loss Claims

In "The Master Cleanse," Burroughs claims that dieters can lose two pounds of fat per day on the Lemonade Diet--and indeed, most fad dieters use the Lemonade Diet for the express purpose of losing weight quickly. However, Burroughs' writings could also be responsible for the rash of "detox" fad diets and the misbegotten notion that toxins form in the body, which are, according the Burroughs, the sole cause of all diseases and ailments. Burroughs, who claimed that all bacteria and viruses were innately benign as long as a dieter was properly "detoxed," attached mythical properties to the Lemonade Diet--it cured cancer, alcohol and drug addiction, impotence, infertility, resulted in smoking cessation and increased mental health. In "The Master Cleanse," Burroughs wrote of disease: "The basic cause is the habits of improper diet, inadequate exercise, negative mental attitudes and lack of spiritual attunement, which combine to produce toxic conditions."

The Lemonade Diet

The Lemonade Diet, as taken from the pages of its creator's book, "The Master Cleanse," is as follows:

"2 Tablespoons lemon or limejuice (sic) (approx. lemon)
2 Tablespoons genuine maple syrup (Not maple flavored sugar syrup)
1/10 Teaspoon cayenne pepper (red pepper) or to taste
8 oz water, room temperature
Combine the juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper in a 10 oz glass jar w/lid and fill with the water. Shake it up and drink. (Cold water may be used if preferred.) Use fresh (organic) lemons or limes only, never canned lemon or limejuice (sic) nor frozen lemonade or frozen juice."

Burroughs stressed that only maple syrup must be used, as it contained "positive and negative sugars," advised against the consumption of honey, and warned dieters not to take vitamins because their lymphatic glands were too "clogged" with toxins to process them. On the Lemonade Diet and even afterward, dieters are not permitted to ingest any type of protein; Burroughs claims that humans get their protein from breathing in oxygen.

Internal Saltwater Bathing

A second component to the Lemonade Diet weight loss plan is the salt water flush, which involves dieters consuming an inordinate amount of water mixed with sea salt. Drinking salt water is an ages-old folk remedy for constipation, and those who fall prey to the Lemonade Diet attest that drinking salt water results in excessive and chronic diarrhea. To further along weight loss and "cleansing" on the Lemonade Diet, Burroughs advises drinking copious amounts of laxative tea. Disturbingly, the original text of "The Master Cleanse" also advises mothers to use the Lemonade Diet on newborn infants (see Resources).

Lemonade Diet Debunked

Disturbed at the media attention given to this fad diet, Dr. Ed Zimney was one of the first physicians to debunk the Lemonade Diet on his web blog, "Master Cleanse = Master Scam." According to Zimney, the diet works only because it is essentially a water fast, with the maple syrup accounting for a nominal number of daily calories (around 600) that prevents lemonade dieters from outright starvation. The lemon juice serves no practical purpose, and the cayenne pepper is added to irritate the bowels, resulting in the holistic equivalent of laxative abuse. Zimney thoroughly and accurately discredits the notion of the diet's "detoxification" properties--that's a job that the liver and kidneys naturally perform. Long-term use of the diet will result in malnutrition and possible malfunction of vital organs, including the kidneys, liver and heart. Deprived of caloric intake, dieters will experience temporary weight loss on the Lemonade Diet--it just won't be permanent.