lemon cleanse: 5 things about the lemonade master cleanse you need to know before starting

The Lemon Cleanse itself is pretty simple (though few would find it 'easy' to follow exactly). It basically consists of drinking nothing but lemonade for three days, and taking one of two natural laxatives every evening. The lemonade itself is actually pretty good, and the cayenne is surprisingly mild when diluted that much.

Making the Lemonade:
60oz. Daily Serving:
* 60 ounces of filtered water
* 12 Tablespoons of organic grade B maple syrup
* 12 Tablespoons of organic lemon juice
* 1/2 Teaspoon cayenne pepper powder

You can use non-organic lemons, but stay away from the bottled lemon juice. The maple syrup doesn't have to be grade B (hard to find in Europe) just stay away from any brand name commercial stuff, as long as it's 100% natural, you'll be alright. DON'T use tap water, the reasons why can make a whole article in itself, but there's all sorts of ways to get pure water... do it.

The measurements above are for a whole day's worth... divide by 5 to make single servings, but don't make two or three day's worth at once. You're supposed to drink at least that much, but you can drink more in a day if you like.

The laxatives:
there's two choices here. The better of the two is to mix a teaspoon of unrefined, non-iodized sea salt (important which salt you use) with about 30 ounces of water, and drink the whole thing... once a day. It's not as terrible as it sounds, but...

for a more palatable but less effective option, you can get laxative tea from most grocery stores... there's a few different brands, but they're mostly equivalent. The idea is to take one (or both) once or twice a day... I did it once at night, which seemed to work fine. Make sure you take it when you'll be home for a few hours though. Without getting into too much detail, you'll regret it if you don't follow that advice.

Simple, yeah? Well, make sure you understand the next 5 tips before you try it.

There's immense benefits to doing it, I felt amazingly better afterwords, much more energy... and a few chronic things I'd been struggling with were gone. There's all kinds of benefits to going on the diet, the most notable of which probably is clearing out all the horrible gunk in your digestive system right now.

It's... really, really gross what most people carry around with them. You're basically poisoning yourself every second of every day, cleaning that stuff out /really/ is a good idea... and this particular method is a good way of doing it.

But, what about going on this diet to lose weight? Well... you'll lose as much as 10 to 15 pounds in the 10 days, but you'll gain at least half of it back afterwords... and /any/ time you're trying to lose weight, you're WAY better off making long term changes than going on a crash diet. Unless you change how you live all the time, you'll always end up back where you started. If you're looking from some relatively cheap advice on how to set up the perfect day-to-day eating pattern for YOU... something you enjoy and can lose weight on, check out Strip That Fat. Most of the info in there can be figured out from what's available for free online and with some common sense, but it was extremely helpful to me at least to get the leg up with the step by step... it's pretty affordable, and it'll definitely get you there if weight loss is your goal.

With that being said! The lemon cleanse can help with weight loss actually... for a number of reasons (better absorption of nutrients, more energy, etc.) going on this first will help with future weight loss issues actually...

So in short:

The Lemon Cleanse is good to do to help before starting a diet, but don't use it to lose weight fast.. that's not what it's for.

Anytime you're losing weight faster than 2 pounds a week or so (unless you're very overweight, then it's more like 5 pounds a week) you're losing it too fast, and for a number of reasons you won't keep it off.

So, you made it! (theoretically) tough ten days alright... about time for that hamburger, yeah? Seriously... don't do it. I can't stress this enough... you will SERIOUSLY regret it. No worries, the lemon cleanse is completely safe, but you won't believe the cramps if you go straight off of it to a normal diet.

Anytime you're breaking a fast, take it slow. Vegetable broth for a day, fruits and veggies for a second day (stay away from the potatoes, seriously... starchy stuff is bad) then by the third day you should be fine to eat like normal... though please, don't go tracking mud in after mopping the floor, yeah? Though no one'll blame you if you splurge a little;). I may or may not have the occasional... deep seated need for certain deep fried indian snacks... I don't know what hardly any of it's called, but good Lord that stuff's tasty. Just try and keep things reasonably clean, yeah? This is the start of the new you after all! Not a temporary break... right?

There's all kinds of things you can do... make a list of all the things you hope for! Even if the weight loss isn't all permanent, some of it is going to be, and there are MANY benefits to going on this... to the point where I've recommended it to everyone I know, whether they need to lose weight or not.

Clean out your kitchen... you'll thank yourself for it later. Even if that just means storing all your food at a friend's house for a week, it helps.

Make a sponsor... it helps in AA, why not here? Find a friend, so much the better if it's a friend that's wanting to do it too. But someone you can call at any time when you're feeling weak... it can help out. Most people aren't used to needing this kind of self control, so a few external aides can go a long ways in helping out.

it needs to be repeated. This is a DETOX diet. Something everyone should do at least once a year in this culture, due to the high levels of toxins and parasites most people carry around with them all the time... but if you're interested in getting healthy, this is only the beginning.

So figure out what you're going to do afterwords... even if it's just to cut out soda and McDonald's or something, whatever short term benefits you're hoping for, you'll be MUCH better off with long term changes for the better. The benefits of a clean slate when you start are huge though, still very much worth it to try out the Lemon Cleanse and see if you can do it. If you've got the self control to manage, I'd really recommend it.

eh. I hate plugs, and to be perfectly honest... you're better off if you do this strictly (at least I feel that's the case). But! If you want to know how to get through this the easiest way possible, and you want to know how to cheat with food a bit without hurting the effects...

Then you might want to check out Master Cleanse Secrets. Comes with 3 bonus guides too, though I only found one of them to be particularly noteworthy. Anyway, with a fair amount of will power, you can strong arm your way through this lemon cleanse for like... $20, or however much the maple syrup and lemons cost where you're at, (the instructions on this page are seriously all you really need to know) but if this is your first time trying the lemon cleanse, then it might not be a bad idea... there's too many good tips in there for one article, and the book's pretty cheap. There's some tips in there that helped me at least, though I ignored the 'acceptable foods' tips, just because I wanted to be a purist about it.

So! That's all... I could tell you more about my personal experience on the diet I suppose, but really... it's doable, and isn't it better to find out first hand how much better you'll feel?