The Recipe

The Master Cleanse Diet

The Master Cleanse Recipe

2 Tbs Fresh Sqeezed Organic Lemon or Lime Juice – squeeze it yourself not the little plastic lemon and lime shaped deals from the produce section, fresh squeezed.

2 Tbs Organic Grade B Maple Syrup – Grade B is important it has the vitamins and nutrients that you need

¼ tsp Cayene Pepper – I use a little less – generally I take the othe end of a spoon and put a small amount on the spoon and then mix it in.

8 oz Distilled water. You want the water to have nothing in it. You are detoxing and most water has chemicals of one kind or another

I make 10 servings at a time in a large glass container. (We avoid plastic whenever possible, toxins leaching and the taste)

I also use small Perrier bottles to have several single servings available to take the spicy lemonade with me.

6-12 servings per day. Anytime you feel hungry drink a spicy lemonade. I tried drink on every 1 -1 ½ hours when awake. (its hard to drink while you are sleeping). I found that staying ahead of hunger made it easier for me.

The Master Cleanse Process

For me day 3-5 were the hardest. After day 4 or day 5 you have to do a liquid diet before eating regular food. The reason for this is after 3-5 days without food your digestive system shuts down.

Digestion requires the use of lots of energy from your body. Once you digestive system shuts down, you have plenty of energy. I found that exercising actually became easier when on the master cleanse.
I live in the Tampa Bay area. It is hot here pretty much year round. I place several ice cubes in and then fill my sports bottle with spicy lemonade.

I did also drink water when on the cleanse. Some people think yes some no. I drink mostly spicy lemonade, but also water as a tasty break. I never thought of water as a tasty break until on the cleanse. You also, can drink 1 cup of herbal mint tea at night. I tried to limit this to my really hard days. The tea is a nice reward. No sugar, just tea. You will be amazed how wonderful it actually tastes.

Each morning you need to flush your system before you drink any water or any spicy lemonade. I use the salt water flush. 2 tbs sea salt and 24 ounces of warm water. Drink it quickly. It tastes bad. You will feel like you are going to throw up. I did throw up once. I then drank the rest. This will be followed up by a flushing of your bowel system.
For me it usually took about 20 minutes. Once it took an hour to start. If you feel like you are going to pass gas, hold it and sit on the toilet first. It is not gas. It is the cleanse.

At night you can drink Smooth Move Tea. I got it at Publix Supermarket. It is an all natural laxative tea that works very well. The package says it takes 6+ hours to kick in. it takes about 3 for me, but I am extremely regular. Even severely constipated people that I know that think this will never work for them get movement from smooth move. It actually has a rather pleasant taste as well.

The Oddities of the Master Cleanse

You tongue will probably swell one day. This happens to most people. The first cleanse I did, my tongue swelled so much on day 4 talking became a little labored.

The tongue is one of the bodies greatest indicators of health. Your toungue will become white and fuzzy/creamy. It is really gross. No one told me this but, scrub your tongue at least once daily. I usually used a washcloth to remove the funk. It smells like wet white bread. This is toxins leaving your body.

I also got rashes on different parts of my body. Some of them itched like poison ivy. This also is how toxins are leaving your body. Rashes on different parts of the body indicate which part of your body is detoxing.

The cleanse takes a minimum of 10 days. When your body is done detoxing, your tongue will not get white and fuzzy anymore. That is why you want to make certain to scrub it daily. I also, felt a change in my body and my energy levels when it was time to stop.

My first cleanse was 18 days my second was 10.

I always like to start on Mondays in order to only have one weekend on the cleanse.

Quit caffeine 2 weeks before starting the cleanse. Caffeine is a powerful drug and having a migraine while drinking only spicy lemonade is miserable. When I do drink caffeine I tend to consume too much per day. When I quit caffeine I am nearly worthless for 24-48 hours as I have migraines so powerful I vomit at least once.

Breaking The Master Cleanse

When coming off the cleanse, you have to ease off of it. If you do not ease off the cleanse, you will probably get very sick and have to go to the hospital. Your digestive system has to be restarted.

1st day off the cleanse. Fresh squeezed organic orange juice. If you can, squeeze it yourself. For me it is easy in January / February as I can simply visit the neighbors trees for my oranges. I have bought the juice already squeezed from Whole Foods other times of the year.
No matter how you get your juice, it will be an amazing sensation. It felt like lightning was shooting throughout my body. My taste buds went into overdrive. The most delicious taste I could remember.
Day 2 off the cleanse is vegetable broth day. I used 3-4 types of beans, okra, red potatoes, water and whatever other fresh organic vegetable that I can find that I have been craving. You do not need salt. You have flushed the salt out of your system. You wil actually taste the natural salts and flavors of the vegetables.

You do not have to cook the vegetables for a long time as this eliminates much of the nutritional value of the vegetables. I like them soft and some of them crunchy. I add the potatoes first as I like them softer and add the beans and okra based on how I like the texture.

The texture will be amazing to you as well. You have only have liquid for 10+ days. Your taste buds and mouth sensory are heightened.
The night of day 2 I eat a small cup of vegetable soup. DELICIOUS!

Day 3 off the cleanse is vegetable soup day. I start the day with fresh squeezed OJ. A 10 am cup of vegetable soup will blow your mind. Day 3 I have a homemade organic bean burrito.

Day 4 I continue with a vegetarian diet. I usually wait several weeks before consuming meat. I feel this helps me keep the weight off that I have lost.

Obviously, avoid fried food. While delicious, it is sooooo bad for you.

Exercise While on the Master Cleanse

I exercised almost everyday on the cleanse. The natural sugars from the maple syrup provides plenty of energy. Also, once the digestive system is shut down, I actually found I had excess energy and require less sleep as well.

My shortest night of sleep on the cleanse was 20 minutes. Surprisingly, I was fresh and sharp that day. The next night I slept around 3 hours. Sharp and fresh the next morning as well.

I went on 20 mile bike rides. I lifted weights. I swam in the Gulf of Mexico. I had additional energy during exercise amazingly.

Find someone or several someones to help support you. I also recommend the first book I read about the Master Cleanse, The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs. It is his diet from the 1970’s.

His book explains the ins and outs from a scientific perspective. There are also books that help motivation as well that are more current such as this one —> Master Cleanse Diet