This diet known as “The Master Cleanse” is said to be used by celebrities as famous as Beyonce & Gwyneth Paltrow, which means it must be good right!? Oh & this means it must be healthy yes?
This diet unfortunately is far from the healthy diet these celebrities would have you believe, which at the end of the day are just endorsing a product & its diet! Also if you are looking for lasting weight loss, which is what this diet promotes then I would not bother either!
The diet consists of a liquid containing three items: a lemonade-like beverage, a salt-water drink & an herbal laxative.
This diet claims: In 10 days (or more) you will shed pounds, “detox” yourdigestive system & feel energetic, healthy, full of vitality & happy. It also claims will reduce cravings for unhealthy foods.
For the first 10 days you are only allowed to drink the salt-water drink, the “lemonade” & the herbal laxative tea. You cannot have any food or alcohol.
After 10 days you can gradually add foods back into the diet, but only juices & soups at first. Then you can start to add raw fruits & vegetables. Going forwards you cannot eat any dairy & very little meat.
Does It Work?
Well it is no rocket science here that as you are ingesting so little calories you will probably lose weight. This works by the simple method of calories in & calories out, but as you are effectively in starvation mode, as you are eating a lot less calories than you are expending you will also be losing muscle, bone & water. This means you are likely to gain the weight you lost as quickly as you lost it or more, as your body will want to cling on to every calorie you eat & store it as fat in case of starvation again!
There is little scientific proof that detoxing can lead to long-term weight loss. Plus, you don’t need to do severe detoxes like this to your body under any circumstances, your liver can detox more effectively when it has a healthy balanced diet that consists of fruits, vegetables, whole grains & good qualityproteins like fish, chicken, turkey or eggs & healthy fats like olive oil.
Here are the five important reasons not to do this diet:
1. The problem on this diet is you will lose muscle mass. This diet also puts you at risk for nutritional deficiencies too & you will probably gain the weight back straight after you start eating normally due to the reason of starvation mode mentioned above.
2. You will likely struggle on a diet as strict as this. Not only are you sure to be hungry on such a low amount of calories, the “Mater Cleanse” website also mentions you should expect “detox symptoms” such as headaches, tiredness & boredom, as fat cells store toxins & when you begin to lose weight so quickly these toxins are released into the blood stream to be detoxed & you could end up feeling rather unwell, which contradicts how they said you would feel. Hmmmmm something doesn’t add up here?!
3. Also according to the website, the diet will not work unless you follow it exactly & it can leave you feeling sick, achy & with extreme cravings- because you are not eating anything I would assume, wouldn’t you?
4. You will be extremely irritable & emotional on a diet like this, as your blood sugar will be dangerously low, as your cells are not getting the nutrients they need to keep it stable, which can also lead to severe dizziness & even passing out in some susceptible people! Not a good side effect!
5. More importantly it can be dangerous to lose weight so quickly for someone who is clinically obese, as this can put a strain on the heart & may possibly lead to a heart attack! As this is the type of diet that would mostly attract people of the overweight or obese category it is a good idea to give this diet a miss for this reason!