My Master Cleanse Experience

About 40Lemons.com

2008-06-09T19:52:00Z

What is the point of this website?
I tried the master cleanse for 10 days, i lost 18 pounds, i feel better, i'm now eating better and i haven't had any digestion pains since doing this. Naturally many of my friends and family wanted to know more about what i had done so i made this website that way i didn't have to keep emailing everyone.

What is the Master Cleanse?
The Master Cleanse (also known as the lemonade diet, the beyonce diet, and the master cleanser) is a detoxification program that aids in the removal of harmful toxins from within the body. It's typically followed for 10 days. A common side effect is weight loss, typically around 1 pound per day. During the 10 days you do not eat any solid foods, you only drink the special lemonade. Naturally at first everyone thought i was crazy for trying it but now a lot of those same people want to try it.

What made me try the Master Cleanse?
I was up late one night and saw an infomercial for Kinoki detox foot pads on tv. The foot pads sounded like a scam so i figured i'd go online to hear what people were saying. Many people pointed that it was indeed a scam and one poster stated 'If you want to try a real detox system, do the master cleanse'.

So , before i decided to try this diet, which is more of a fast then a diet, i did lots of research. I mean lots. The truth is the master cleanse sounds like a hippie/new age scam when you first read it. However the more research i did, the more personal stories and blogs i found scattered across the internet. After reading the numerous personal success stories i figured i'd try it.

So i created 40lemons.com to share my story, or my diary, while i was doing this. What i hope to do with this site eventually is to collect stories from multiple people so there is a central location for all these journals instead of having to search all over the net. Also, in the midst of all the journals you find online, you'll find all kinds of debates online about whether or not this thing is good. Many doctors are against yet, and many are for it. In the end, i just recommend you do your research and if nothing else I hope my story and the stories of others will make your decision easier.

Why the name "40 Lemons"?
I used about 4 lemons a day for 10 days (40 lemons total) while on the master cleanse.

My complete story is coming soon!

Master Cleanse - Ingredients and recipe

2008-06-09T19:51:00Z

The Master Cleanse Recipe

Single Serving - 10oz:
(100 Calories)

2 Tablespoons of organic lemon Juice (about 1/2 a Lemon)
2 Tablespoons of Organic grade B maple syrup (not the commercial maple flavored syrup you use on pancakes)
1/10 Teaspoon Cayenne pepper powder
Ten ounces of filtered water

Daily Serving - 60oz:

60 ounces of filtered water
12 Tablespoons of organic grade B maple syrup
12 Tablespoons of organic lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
1/2 Teaspoon cayenne pepper powder

You're supposed to drink between 6 and 12 servings a day. I highly suggest you make the 60oz every morning. For one it's much easier to make it once a day rather than multiple times and it also helps you control your intake. During the start and the end of the diet you may be inclined to drink too few servings or too many. By making 60oz you know that you need to drink the whole thing by the end of the day, if not more. What i did was make the 60 ounces and then pour them into 6 previously used water bottles.

The recipe for the Master Cleanse comes from a book that was written in the 70s, this isn't something i made up. You can find it published online for free at many websites or it can be purchased online.

Main Ingredients for the Master Cleanse Recipe

Pure Filtered Water
Grade B Organic Maple Syrup, Formaldehyde free
Organic Cayenne Pepper
Organic Lemons
Sea salt - Unrefined, (Not iodized) or Epsom Salt
Laxative tea

Optional ingredients:

Natural Herbal Tea, decaffeinated (I used peppermint)

Important details about the Ingredients
The bottom line is, if you're going to attempt the Master Cleanse, do it right. Don't mess around and don't customize the recipe. These ingredients are there for a reason and people have been following this recipe for years. If you want more details about the importance of each ingredient please go read the original book by Stanley Burroughs. I followed the recipe exactly, used the exact ingredients and had great results.

Grade B Organic Maple Syrup - It's important to find "GRADE B"and you can not find this in most grocery stores. I had to go to Whole Foods and Central market to find grade b. Most stores carry Grade A which is what you use on pancakes, and it contains a lot of artificial things that are not suitable to sustain you for 10+ days. And since I was at Whole Foods i just ended up buying all the other ingredients there as well to make it easy.

Pure filtered water - The bottom line is, don't use tap water. The whole point is to cleanse your system and to avoid chemicals for 10 days and unless you live in a rain forest your tap water probably is not very pure. Also keep in mind that even a lot of bottled water is actually just tap water, so read the label. I recommend just buying a few 2.5 gallon jugs of the best spring water you can find/justify the price of. I personally just went to Whole Foods and bought their 365 spring water. I'm sure there's 'cleaner' water out there.

Organic Lemons - Are "organic" lemons truly necessary? I did use them for my diet but to be honest i'm not sure how much it matters if they're organic or not. However the organic ones were larger than most of ones i usually find so it made juicing them easier and took less lemons. One thing you definitely don't wanna do is use concentrated lemon juice because it's filled with sugar and preservatives.

2 months later

2008-06-09T19:45:00Z

I'm still eating smaller meals then before since i get full faster ever since being on the cleanse. Also i've remained the same weight since getting off the diet. I weigh 149, which is about 17 pounds lighter then before i started. During day 13 i was 3 pounds less but a few did come back after resuming normal eating.

Just thought this was pretty cool though b/c i was under the impression i'd gain it all back, and quite quickly, but here it is 2 months later and that's not the case.

3 weeks later....

2008-05-03T06:06:00Z

So it's been 3 weeks since i ended the lemonade diet.

Weight: 159

So the good news is that so far i've been able to maintain my weight. I go up or down a pound depending on the day but i think i've been able to sustain the weight loss so far b/c my eating habits have changed as a result of this diet. For breakfast i typically just have a glass of orange juice. For lunch i'm having what i call a "school bag lunch". Just a sandwhich (lunch meat or tunafish), chips, and a juice box. Or maybe a small salad and slice of pizza. Or maybe just soup. I'll have a snack later in the afternoon...maybe a granola bar, an apple, or celery sticks. For dinner i'm eating much smaller portions then i used to but i'm typically eating what i normally did.

So far i haven't had the desire to drink nearly as much soda as i did before and i've avoided coffee all together since ending the diet. I just don't feel that i need to subject my body to coffee. Plus even though i was previously having a least a cup or two a day i never liked how the coffee smell would later come through my pores when i sweat or through my pee. I think this occurs with everyone but i'm pretty convinced that if you smoke your sense of smell is not sensitive enough to smell the coffee side effects. Anyway, to each their own but i'm glad that i've been able to avoid coffee....not to mention it can become expensive if you buy it by the cup.

Day 13 - Soup and Salad

2008-04-12T13:20:00Z

8am - Scale 2: 152

This means i've lost almost 15 pounds. Truth be told i probably would have stayed on the diet a few days longer because i felt great and my tongue still had a white coating. However, i had some things coming up that required strenous activity and also my birthday party later in the week in which i'll be required to partake in the food that everyone is preparing.

Today i'll be having OJ for breakfast, leftover soup from yesterday for lunch and probably a salad tonight like the book says.

THIRD DAY:
Drink orange juice in the morning. At noon have more soup: enough may be made the night before and
put in the refrigerator. For the evening meal eat whatever is desired in the form of vegetables, salads, or
fruit. No meat, fish, or eggs; no bread, pastries, tea coffee, or milk. Milk is highly mucus forming and
tends to develop toxins throughout the body.

Day 12 - Soup

2008-04-11T13:58:00Z

Like the book says to do i drank orange juice all day and for dinner i made soup but ate mainly the broth with only a few vegtables. I followed the the recipe below. It should be noted that i never cook but even i could do this. Also, it makes a LOT of soup so i'll be good for a few days. Yesterday i felt slight more hungry then usual but the soup broth quickly filled me.

Binary Blonde’s Veggie Soup Recipe

1 large white onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
4 red potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 1/2 cups of kidney beans*
3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
5 organic vegan vegetable bouillon cubes**
10 cups of water
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Prepare the broth:

Pour water into separate pot and bring to boil. Continue boiling and add bouillon cubes to water. Slowly stir cubes until they fully dissolve into a broth. Remove from heat.

Prepare the soup:

Warm olive oil in stock-pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook until tender but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, along with potatoes and beans. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, about 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes or until all the veggies are tender. Serve hot.

Let soup cool before storing in fridge. Soup can be easily reheated in smaller batches, as needed. To freeze, ladle into smaller containers and seal.

Day 11 - Orange Juice

2008-04-10T18:57:00Z

8:30 - Today is my first day off the cleanse but as you probably know...it doesn't mean i can eat food. Today is an orange juice today. I just bought some regular tropicana OJ and mixed it equally with water. Made out 60oz like i would with lemonade.

Scale: 153.0 (lost 13.5 pounds)

Day 10 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-10T13:56:00Z

Today was the last day for the Salt Water Flush....thank god. It definitely got more tolerable as time went on but it was never a good experience. I recently read somewhere that if you drink it with a straw it's not as bad b/c you don't taste it as much.....wish i had read that earlier.

11pm - I've lost 12 pounds

Day 9 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-10T13:40:00Z

Day 9 flew by with out anything significant to talk about. The whole diet and SWF have been very routine and easy. I did crave food more and more but more for the taste and texture than anything else. A lot of people that i know are starting to inquire more and more about the diet now that i'm on day 9 and they're seeing the results

Day 8 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-07T12:20:00Z

Weight - 157.5

7:20am - It's become very routine now however i'm looking forward to eating again. Not so much because i feel like i need to but while you're on the master cleanse you start to realize how much life and social activities revolve around food. However i've also learned that sometimes food is just a habit even though not always 100% necessary.

7:20pm - Pretty ordinary day. I did find my myself fantasizing about food though once and awhile....not really b/c i was hungry but just for the taste. Fries from Chili's sound good right now.

Day 7 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-06T18:19:00Z

12:20pm - Woke up today with a headache and feeling a tad week. Not sure if this is cause of the diet or b/c i was up late hanging out in smoky environment. Salt water time...

1:20pm - A portion of the the SWF has already run through me. In your're interested to know, i haven't had anything solid come out since day 1. Mainly just all dirty, sticky, liquid.

Day 6 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-05T14:30:00Z

9:30am - I just took the Salt Water Flush. It's still the worst thing about the Master Cleanser. In fact, i'm not sure most people could even do it, it's really hard, but i do highly recommend it as the tea doesn't seem to really do much for me. Also, from other stories i've read the SWF goes through you within a couple hours as where the tea could strike you at any part of the day.

Today is Saturday so it's the first day on the diet that i won't be at work. I'm curious to see if it's any harder. Luckily i have plenty of things in my life to keep me busy.

Day 5 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-05T00:19:00Z

7:00am - Salt water time

8:45am - I've been in and out of the bathroom about 5 times now. Just brown liquid for the most part. The first few days i was able to output the salt water in one sitting. Now it's taking multiple attempts.

9:15am - I just shit my pants. Well, not quite. It was more like i pissed myself, but it came out of my butt. So i guess you could say i "sissed" my pants. Lesson learned is that you must always go to the bathroom if you think you have to fart if it's within 3 hours of drinking the salt water. I'm sure not everyone wanted to hear those details but i think it's very important to know!

7:19pm - Each day keeps getting easier. I still get hungry but i'm learning that i need to grab some lemonade as soon as i feel the slightest hunger as the feeling gets stronger quickly.

Day 4 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-03T12:30:00Z

Weight - 160.2 (down from 166.5)

Although i may have dropped 5 pounds after 3 days, i don't consider that much only b/c my body does that normally throughout the course of a week or two. I go up 5 pounds and then go down. It'll be interesting to see how much more i loose beyond this. (Update: What's interesting is that now i'm off the diet my weight does not fluctuate like it used it. It stays within a 2 pound difference at most)

7am - Took the salt water flush. Definitely getting more used to it. And i definitely recommend drinking it first thing in the morning, right after you get up, and before you've had too much time to think about it. Definitely don't drink regular water first, even though you may feel the need. The one day i did that the salt water was VERY hard to drink.

11:10am - Feeling lightheaded today although i'm no more or less tired than normal.

4pm - In general i've been less hungry today than previous days. Currently drinking an organic caffeine free peppermint tea like yesterday and it is a good change of pace. I'm still thinking about food every 3-8 seconds though....just out of habit, not out of hunger.

Day 3 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-02T13:29:00Z

6:45am - The salt water flush (SWF) wasn't as bad today. Yesterday i had drank a cup of normal water when i first woke up b/c i was thristy. I didn't do that on day 1 or today so maybe drinking the regular water before the salt water made my body want to throw up the salt water yesterday. Therefore i highly recommend drinking the SWF as soon as you wake up and before you do anything else, even before you're fully awake that way you're body doesn't want to revolt as much.

7:15am - The SWF already hit me. THe first day it took 3 hours, now it took 45mins...much like the book implies. I bought a juicer yesterday which makes things much easier than juicing by hand. Although it still takes about 4 lemons instead of 3 to make a day's supply. (6oz)

8:35am - Had my first lemonade. The diet seems to be getting easier to stick with. We'll see how today goes.

3pm - Had some organic peppermint tea. Definetly a good change of pace. It even soothed my hunger for a bit.

End of day - Felt hungry throughout the day but it's been the easiest day so far. The worst part is that it's just unnatural to go days without eating something. Even though my energy level is no more or less than normal, i'm constantly thinking about what to eat and then i have to quickly stop myself. Mentally this requires a lot of control. This diet is definetly not for everyone.

Day 2 - Master Cleanse

2008-04-01T16:11:00Z

Day 1 was truly horrible. I don't think i drank enough lemonade (only drank 4 instead of 6) and so i got a major headache. I was moderately to severly hungry all day and kept wanting to snack.

Day 2
6:45am - Woke up, still with a headache, and drank the salt mixture. I almost vomited 3 times. It's really hard to get down. I finished all but a little bit. (BTW i'm doing 32oz of water with 2 teaspoons of salt as in the original book.) I then went back to sleep.

8:30am - I woke up and my body was ready to release. Again...muddy water.

9:30am - I felt much better after a little more sleep and even my headache was gone.

11am - Having my first lemonade of the day. It doesn't taste bad but the pepper taste surprises me every sip.

4:20pm - I'm chewing some gum. I figured it can't have that much affect on the cleanse.The stale taste in my mouth was killing me.

11:53pm - This evening has been much easier than last night. Last night i had a headache and felt like dying. Tonight i feel fairly normal and just a bit hungry. Time for the tea.

midnight - i tried making the tea using the lemonade instead of water. the lemonade tasted thick after heating it up and i didn't like it at all.

Day 1 - Master Cleanse

2008-03-31T05:42:00Z

Beyonce did it, Jared Leto did it and people have been doing it for 50 years....so what the hell. I took the laxative tea at midnight......let it begin.

If you have no idea what i'm talking about just do a google search for "master cleanser" or "lemonade diet" or "beyonce diet".

Weight:
166.5