Lemonade Diet Detox
The Original is Still the Greatest

Among the assortment of detoxification diet plans on the internet and cable television, the original lemonade diet detox or “Master Cleanse” remains the best-known and by far the most popular.  Because it combines powerful cleansers, antioxidants, stimulants, and nutrients, the original lemonade diet detox also remains, arguably, the most effective homeopathic weight loss remedy.  Used properly and carefully for at least ten days and up to forty days, the time-honored clean-it-up and clear-it-up formula helps users lose two-to-three pounds per day, giving them more energy, greater concentration, and considerably more energy. 

This program follows the fundamental rule of homeopathy: a remedy that would make a well person sick has the power to make a sick person well.  For the sake of detoxification, “sick” does not and cannot mean seriously diseased, because the program does stress the body’s vital systems and organs.  Instead, “sick” means constant sluggishness, chronic ennui, perpetual bloated feelings, and clear-eyed recognition that Body Mass Index has risen significantly beyond the normal range.  In this discussion, “sick” also may show in psychological symptoms—low-self esteem, inchoate depression, and persistent melancholy.  For the first few days, most lemonade diet detoxers feel certain that the cure does more damage than the disease; but as the body eliminates toxins, pathogens, parasites, and free radicals, restoring its optimal functions and natural equilibrium, dedicated lemonade detoxers begin to see and feel the program’s benefits.  Extra pounds seem to melt away, melancholy lifts, and self-confidence begins a come-back.

Also consistent with the fundamentals of homeopathy, Stanley Burroughs, the original master cleanser, regarded obesity, physical impairment, and depression as symptoms rather than causes; and he traced the symptoms’ etiology to dangerous accumulations of toxins and metabolic wastes in patients’ livers, kidneys, and intestines.  Burroughs found that all kinds of virulent bacteria and latent viruses can live indefinitely in the intestines, and he found that many carcinogens bind to intestinal walls, posing constant threats to patients’ health.  The active ingredients in Burroughs’s potent potion neutralize and wash away or eliminate a wide array of life-threatening chemicals and micro-organisms.

Among the legions of lemonade diet detox devotees, “natural” and “organic” represent far more than advertising or promotional terms; they are the key signifiers of continued good health.  Recent salmonella scares have called public attention to the dangers of lax food-handling practices; but some of the most common food processing practices suggest the immanent dangers hidden in most of our favorite foods.  Everything that makes packaged food look tantalizing and taste delicious is potentially hazardous to our health.  The cheeseburger you devoured at lunch today probably was packed with steroids, antibiotics, preservatives, red and yellow dyes, bacteria, viruses, high fructose corn syrup, raw sugar, insecticides, and chemical fertilizers.  Naturopaths would recommend that, after a good cleansing, you should focus on the lettuce, tomato, and maybe the pickle in your burger, letting go of all the rest.  Even the pickle is a little sketchy.

Advocates of the lemonade diet detox express little surprise at the system’s sudden popularity, wondering instead, “What took them so long?”  Homeopaths, naturopaths, and environmental researchers express common alarm at the thousands of environmental toxins and dangerous chemicals to which we are exposed every day.  We eat all kinds of hazardous materials, and hundreds more caustic and toxic agents penetrate our pores.  Some of our favorite “beauty” products contain lead, acetone, and petroleum distillates; the little plastic bottle from which we sip ostensibly healthy purified water is, in fact, more toxic than anything we might have picked-up in regular tap water.  Experts advocate routine cleansing with increasing urgency, emphasizing that the more we have polluted our environment, the more we have poisoned ourselves.