Whenever someone on Oprah recommends something, you know it’s going to get a lot of attention. The Master Cleanse Diet, also know as the Lemonade diet is no different.

Because Beyonce announced that she prepared for her role in Dreamgirls using this cleanse and lost twenty pounds the master cleanse has been popular.

Many of the claims about the Master Cleanse seem pretty outlandish. Beyond weight loss, advocates also say it’s good for increasing energy, improves mental clarity, alleviates any number of long term ailments (like arthritis) – in short good for just about anything.

Is it really that good?

You can find a longer commentary at:

The Master Cleanse Review

This is a quick evaluation.

To begin Oprah and Beyonce didn’t invent the Lemonade Diet.  It’s at least 30 years old and was written about in a book called The Master Cleanse.

The diet should probably be called a fast rather than a diet.   The cleansing program consists of having at a minimum eight glasses a day of the cleansing lemonade.

Here the recipe is if you want to mix a batch:

* 1 glass of water
* 2 tbsp lemon juice
* 2 tbsp organic maple syrup
* 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Drink sixty ounces of that a day. 

Most proponents of this colon cleanse also suggest non-caffeinated herbal tea in addition to the lemonade.

Because it is very calorie and nutrient deficient I don’t suggest using the master cleanse for the full 10 days. Some people recommend even longer periods.

Realize that with so few calories a lot of the weight loss beyond the first few days comes from muscle.

Putting aside the calorie restriction, main feature of the master cleanse is that it does on excellent job of colon cleansing. Because many of us eat a diet that is less that ideal these days, many health experts recommend periodic colon cleansing.

The master cleanse appears to not only support digestive function and increase energy, it also provides for live detoxification.

Commercial colon cleanse products are available, but you may want to try some of the other colon cleanse recipes you’ll find at:

Homemade Colon Cleanse Recipes

And a good site about all aspects of health and colon cleansing is:

Effective Colon Cleansing

Whether you use the lemonade diet or another technique, you really ought to add colon cleansing to your health regimen.