Staying On The Master Cleanse Diet

What do I eat or drink on the Master Cleanse?

On the Master Cleanse you're supposed to drink six to ten glasses of this lemonade drink with the lemon, and the cayenne pepper, and the maple syrup. Depending on if you want to lose weight, it's six glasses. If you just want to get healthy, it's ten glasses. That will help you to detox according to the diet, and you also take a laxative.

What side effects will I experience on the Master Cleanse?

Some of the side effects of the Master Cleanse are nausea, bloating, irritability, fatigue, headaches, and general malaise because you're just not getting enough calories. It is a fast, and in a fast your body is going into starvation mode. When your body goes into starvation mode, it does something called ketosis, where you start to break down fats to use as energy in the absence of carbohydrates.

What is 'ketosis'?

Carbohydrate is what our brains need to operate. It is the preferred source of energy for the body. In the absence of carbohydrate, we have got to use something else. First, the body goes to our lean tissue, our protein tissue, and can convert a certain amount of that to glucose carbohydrate for our brain. However, if our body continued to do that, we would die within ten days. As a defense mechanism, ketosis sets in and we start using these fat fragments, these ketone bodies for energy for our brain. It is not an efficient process, and in the meantime, we are still breaking down muscle tissue and our metabolism is slowing down.

Why am I so tired on the Master Cleanse?

Many people experience general lethargy or fatigue when they are on the Master Cleanse because they are just not getting enough calories, they are not getting the energy that their body needs and so they slow down to accommodate that.

How does bowel function change on Master Cleanse?

Your bowel function can change once you end the Master Cleanse because for ten days, all you're consuming is liquid. And your gastrointestinal tract needs food to keep it exercised, to keep it strong. When it doesn't get food, solid food, it weakens, the muscles in your gastrointestinal tract atrophy. So afterwards, you might experience constipation, you might experience pain when eating, you might experience other gastrointestinal problems, you know, more bloating. So you're actually doing a disfavour to your gut when you go on something like the Master Cleanse.