Lemonade Diet

Elton and I have been on the Lemonade diet or what is also called the Master Cleanser cleanse your intestinal tract. Since I was on the track of becoming a raw foodist earlier in the year, I've read two books that say that we should do a detoxification of our bodies about 4 times a year for about 10-14 days to clean out our intestines from all the junk that gets built up from all the food we eat. So when Elton suggested we try going on a 10 day lemonade diet, I eagerly said yes. I figured fad or not, a good detox is always good for the long run of my health. And did I forget to mention this is the first time I've ever dieted in my life? Yes, I love food that much.

the only utensils, cutlery and dishware we've used for the last 10 days

Basically, it's taking 6-10 8oz glasses of lemonade everyday. That's it. The lemonade recipe is 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and a dash of cayenne pepper. To maintain all its quality, the lemon juice must be freshly squeezed and not premixed or prepared earlier. More maple syrup can be added for those to want to maintain their weight. I drank a cup approximately every 2-3 hours. Elton had his with an extra tablespoon of maple syrup. There's also a whole process of coming off the diet so as ease our system back into eating cooked foods again or you could hurt your digestive system.

Our breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner and supper 'meal' for the last 10 days

The 'Lemonade diet' Master Cleanser

In addition to the diet, we had to take a laxative tea at night before bed and salt water mix of 2 teaspoon of non-iodized salt to a quart of water to flush out our system. That gave us both diarrhea and I must say that was the only real part of the liquid fast that we were not too fond of, especially after the 3rd day when there's really nothing else in our bodies but continuous liquid flushing through us. Not to mention feeling the pinch of the cayenne pepper spice coming out the other way each time!


I enjoyed the first few days of the fast and looked forward to every meal because I honestly thought it was delicious! It was nice not to have to think about what to cook for every meal and to spend all that time preparing the food or going somewhere to get food everyday. My days suddenly increase by about 3 hours more each day. I could do so much more with my time! In that sense, it was ironically freeing. After the 7th day, we both felt a deeper level of clarity somehow. It's hard to explain. We really began to see the real things we're addicted to and see through the actual things that bother us. Call it reaching higher self awareness or something. In retrospect, this diet would have benefited us more in a psychological sense had we planned to go beyond 10 days. Perhaps we will do that next time. It's pretty mind blowing.


The hardest day was perhaps the 7th day. Elton and I had a similar process. We started craving for something to munch on in the afternoon. It didn't matter if it was sweet or savory. We just really missed biting on food and chewing. Later that night, we decided perhaps we can continue living a better lifestyle by eating better like going vegetarian. But we didn't want to compromise tastiness in our food. So we started looking at Indian recipes we could learn to make. This is when we really started craving eating tasty food again. It was torture. But it wasn't because we were hungry! I know. Weird. Like I said, you learn things about yourself.


The most bizarre day was the 8th day when we just totally lost our liking for lemonade. Unlike the earlier days where we looked forward to our liquid breakfast, lunch and dinner, we lost our appetite for lemonade all together. It's a weird feeling to feel hungry but not have an appetite. Still, we plugged along with our lemonade every 2 or 3 hours to keep up with the detoxification.

Day 9 was very trying. We were both cranky and just wanted this fast to be over. Interesting enough, it wasn't because we were hungry. We just really missed eating! Having something in our mouths; biting into something instead of just drinking. And that put us in a bad mood. We discovered we were addicted to eating! It's not about wanting junk food, it's about wanting to enjoy the pleasures of tasting food. Mine was worse than Elton's. He helped me deal with it better by talking me through the fact that I was fighting my addiction to food! I'd never have known it if I never attempted this diet. The bizarre thing is that his craving for smoking this entire time had completely dissipated. This was in fact one of the advantages spoken about this diet. The fact that alcoholics, smokers and other addicts (soda, tea, coffee drinkers etc) will benefit from the chemical changes the body goes through on this diet as it cleanses. Thus the desire for unnatural types of stimulants and depressants disappears. 


Today is our last day and I have to say, I am so happy it's almost over. Over the last 10 days, I've lost 6lbs. That is nice but it wasn't really my main purpose for the diet. I wanted a good inner cleansing. Despite what critics may say, I swear I haven't felt tired or fatigued at all during the entire liquid fast. I can't even believe it myself. If anything, my energy level was heightened. I didn't feel what I call the 'food coma'  I usually suffer from after each meal. But more importantly, I have a new appreciation for the pure taste of foods in their most natural form. It's like my taste buds have gone through a refresh kick start. I've craved the pure taste of a boiled sweet potato. Or just to bite into a raw bell pepper and taste the sweet juices in its purest flavor when biting into a tomato. One thing I will not miss is the salt water purge. For the next three days, we have to eat only certain foods before we can eat normally again. Still, I'm looking forward to regular food again. Will definitely be doing this liquid diet again in a couple months though. It's an education in health. One of those things in life where you would rather not attempt but after that, you're glad you did and learnt so another life secret you never thought you would. I highly recommend getting this book if you're ready to do this diet: The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs.