The wrong diet, too little exercise and too much stress have a massive impact on the body. Deposits of toxins and waste products are the result and the entire organism is overloaded. The pollutants are no longer reliably excreted. If they remain in the body, they are a breeding ground for various diseases. But the lemon juice cure can help here.

The aim is to rid the body of toxins in order to make it more robust and stronger against disease. A positive side effect is undoubtedly that you also lose weight with the cure. Strict fasting during the cure means that no food is consumed. Weight loss is definitely pre-programmed.

With the lemon juice cure, also known as the Master Cleanse diet, the body can be detoxified within 10 days.

The Master Cleanse diet

The Master Cleanse diet, MC fasting, lemon detox or lemonade diet, was developed in the 1940s by Stanley Burroughs (1903-1991) – originally for the somewhat unusual treatment of stomach ulcers. Stanley Burroughs was an American naturopath who tested the cure on one of his patients suffering from stomach ulcers. It was so successful that the patient was completely cured after just eleven days.

In 1976, Burroughs published a book entitled “The Master Cleanser”, in which he promoted his lemon juice cure as a remedy for stomach problems, but also as a cure for other illnesses and for losing weight – because anyone who did it automatically lost excess weight.

Ingredients of the lemon juice cure

Lemon:

Due to its high natural vitamin C content, lemons have always been considered a remedy. Just 100 ml of lemon juice covers half the daily requirement of vitamin C. In addition, 100 ml of lemon juice also contains 170 mg of potassium, which supports the function of the nerves, heart and muscles.

Lemon juice has an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, digestive, fat-dissolving and fat-reducing effect. Lemons have been shown to detoxify the body and their high potassium content contributes to this. It promotes urine production, which significantly increases the excretion of harmful substances. The increase also accelerates the flushing out of excess body water by the kidneys.

Maple syrup:

Maple syrup is usually the thickened sap of the sugar maple(Acer saccharum) . In addition to water, the natural sweetener contains mainly sucrose and fructose, but also some minerals. This combination makes maple syrup an interesting ingredient in a detox diet. It provides carbohydrates that keep the circulation and metabolism going and also supplies a certain amount of minerals.

Cayenne pepper:

A secondary plant substance called capsaicin is responsible for the spiciness of cayenne pepper. Capsaicin protects the liver from being overloaded by toxins that can be released during the cure. Capsaicin promotes digestion, improves blood circulation and stimulates the metabolism, which in turn helps to improve the elimination of toxins and waste products. During a study at Maastricht University, researchers discovered that the active ingredient capsaicin can significantly boost fat burning during and even after a diet.

Water:

Not forgetting the most important food of all. The body can only function properly and, in this case, detoxify, if there is sufficient fluid intake. The water as the base ingredient for the lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.

The original recipe for the lemon juice cure/Master Cleanse Diet

Ingredients for 1 portion:

• 2 tbsp lemon or lime juice (organic and freshly squeezed)
  -2 tbsp real maple syrup
  -1/10 tsp cayenne pepper
  -300 ml water (warm or cold, but not hot)

Preparation and application:

• Always prepare the lemon juice fresh.
• Mix the ingredients together.
• Drink at least six to twelve 200 ml glasses of this mixture throughout the day.
• Drink the mix whenever you feel hungry.
• In “The Master Cleanser”, it is recommended that the lemon juice treatment be carried out for a minimum of ten days in order to achieve noticeable and visible results.
• Do not start the cure unprepared, as both preparatory and follow-up measures are required

ATTENTION:
As the citric acid and sugar from the maple syrup cause the pH value of the saliva to drop sharply and can therefore attack the tooth enamel, the mouth should be rinsed with water after each glass of lemon juice and then slowly followed by a glass of water.

During the lemon cure, nothing but lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water enters the stomach over a period of 10 days.

Purification and detoxification are two central elements of the lemon juice cure. Slags and toxins are metabolic waste or end products that constantly accumulate in the body and are normally excreted completely. Is the metabolism working too slowly or incompletely, or are the elimination organs temporarily overtaxed? More waste products then accumulate than can be eliminated by the body. These waste products are called slags.

The waste products are stored in the fatty and connective tissue, as well as in the tendons, capsules, muscles and organs. This increasingly impairs the supply of oxygen and nutrients to these organs and tissues and increases the risk of disease.

Effect:

The effect of the lemon juice cure is to stimulate the metabolism as well as digestion and kidney function. As a result, the elimination of toxins and waste products via the intestines and kidneys is also accelerated.

As no food arrives, the entire digestive and detoxification system of the body (including the liver) is greatly relieved and can now devote itself entirely to the elimination of toxins and waste products.

In order to strengthen the body’s own detoxification capacity during the lemon juice cure and to avoid possible re-intoxication by the waste products in the intestines, the cure should be preceded by an intestinal cleansing and two days of relaxation to prepare the body and mind for the cure.

The days after the lemon juice cure

First day: Drink several glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice throughout the day.

Second day: In the morning and afternoon, drink freshly squeezed orange juice, which can be enriched with rice or lupin protein. In the evening there is a home-made vegetable soup or a vegetable broth.

Third day: Drink orange juice in the morning, eat oat porridge or vegetable soup with 2 to 4 rice cakes for lunch and easily digestible vegetables such as soft-cooked carrots, zucchinis or potatoes in the evening. You should avoid meat, fish, eggs, bread, pastries, coffee, tea and milk.

From the fourth day, theoretically everything can be eaten again.

Variation of the lemon juice diet

Although this recipe is the original recipe for the diet, there are many different ways to follow the diet. Instead of giving up food completely, you can continue to eat normally or pay attention to a particularly healthy diet. You should mainly eat fruit and vegetables and avoid sweets. Fish and meat should also only be consumed in small quantities.

Purification: From the perspective of conventional medicine

Since conventional medical diagnostic techniques are still unable to detect the stored waste products and toxins, the majority of conventional physicians deny their existence for the sake of simplicity and therefore consider a healing detoxification to be impossible from the outset. However, numerous studies speak against this. These include those of specialized fasting clinics, which point to a clear and relevant therapeutic effect of fasting on chronic pain disorders of the musculoskeletal system.

Another tried and tested method for detoxifying and cleansing the body, mind and soul, which has been practiced for thousands of years, is therapeutic fasting. Read here how exactly this works and what advantages it offers…