There are enough weight loss diets out there to confuse people wanting to shed those extra pounds. The craze about some fad diets comes and goes, but the principles of 'healthy eating' have been the same forever. One of these fad diets is the Lemonade diet, which is also known as the Master Cleanse or the Maple Syrup Diet. The diet has been gaining traction across the globe, thanks to celebrities like Beyoncé, who has personally endorsed the 'results' of the Lemonade diet. The diet has been believed to lead to quick weight loss and also naturally 'detox' the body.
The 10-day 'cleansing' diet involves the use of just four ingredients: cayenne pepper, lemon juice, maple syrup and water. The diet is a very strict one and doesn't allow the consumption of solid food at all. From Jared Leto who claimed to have lost over 27Kg in a period of 10 days to Angelina Jolie, the lemonade diet has been believed to get quick results in a short period of time.
What Is A Lemonade Diet?
The Lemonade diet is basically a juice cleanse, which was developed by Stanley Burroughs who popularised it in the 1940s and revived the diet in 1976 in his books The Master Cleanser and Healing for the Age of Enlightenment. The diet was believed to have cleansing benefits for the body, including ridding the body of all harmful toxins, especially in the colon region. The lemonade diet is obviously a quite extreme form of weight loss program and different people follow the diet program for varying amounts of time.
The Lemonade diet is basically a juice cleanse
However, the only thing that is uniform is the ban on solid food throughout the duration of the diet. Most people ease into it by slowly letting go of food. This means that light eating is allowed at the beginning and the end of the diet. There are three phases of the diet:
Phase 1: Eliminate all unhealthy foods like junk foods and fried snacks from your diet and have only citrus fruits and the special lemonade detox drink. In the way of carbs, just one toast is allowed with breakfast.
Phase 2: The toughest phase of the lemonade diet is the second phase and it lasts the longest. During this phase, only the detox drink is consumed throughout the day, six times every day.
Phase 3: The third phase is when solid food is re-introduced into the daily diet. The starting is small and it begins with as little as a cup of yogurt and just handful of almonds. This gradually goes onto include vegetable salad and vegetable sandwich.
The third phase is when solid food is re-introduced into the daily dietHow To Make The Special Lemonade Detox Drink
Central to the lemonade diet is the special lemonade detox drink that is prepared using freshly squeezed lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. All the ingredients are mixed in designated proportions with water to prepare the lemonade detox drink. Lemon is rich in vitamin C, which has been proven to have antioxidant properties. It also aids digestion and promotes weight loss. Natural maple syrup is also rich in antioxidants and has a low glycaemic index. Cayenne pepper is known for its detoxification properties and may aid weight loss.
Does Lemonade Diet Lead To Weight Loss?
Since the lemonade diet drastically reduces the daily intake of calories, it is bound to lead to weight loss in the short-term. During the diet, people are only allowed to consume as many as 600 calories, as compared to the normal recommended calorie intake of 1600 calories for women and 2500 calories for men. The way our body functions is that it utilises the carbohydrates from the food we eat to provide energy to us for daily functions. In the absence of these carbs, the body starts burning fat stored in our body to release energy, leading to weight loss. The benefits of lemonade are aplenty.
During the diet, people are only allowed to consume as many as 600 calories
The diet may also work because of the elimination of unhealthy fats and trans fats that are present in salty and greasy junk foods and snacks. The diet may hold merit because it can replace unhealthy foods with fresh raw fruits and vegetables. The diet plan allows only very little meat and no dairy at all. However, one cannot eat any fruit or vegetable that one feels like. The diet must be followed exactly as is prescribed by Stanley Burrough. Fruits like mangoes, dates, plums, apricots even papayas are not allowed in the diet. Even nuts like cashews and peanuts are a big no-no.
Benefits Of Lemonade Diet
Lemonade diet obviously leads to weight loss due to radical reduction of daily calorie intake. So, you may say that this is one obvious benefit of the lemonade diet - quick weight loss. Moreover, since the diet includes a fair amount of citrus fruits which contain vitamin C, the lemonade diet may result in an improvement in the quality of your skin. Detoxification is also a possible benefit of the lemonade diet, since both lemon juice and cayenne pepper have detox properties. If you wish to reap the benefits of this lemonade diet, it is imperative to have a balanced diet as well.
Side Effects Of Lemonade Diet
Although the lemonade diet may lead to a lot of weight loss in a short period of time, it may have a number of side effects. Just some of the short-term side effects include nausea, fatigue, dizziness brought on from the starvation. There is also a risk of drastic loss of muscle mass in the long-term. Moreover, the diet is very impractical, as it needs the person practising it to keep their levels of physical activity to a minimum. So, if you have busy schedule and a lot of work to manage on an everyday basis, the lemonade diet may be impossible to manage.
Lemonade diet may cause starvation, dizziness and headacheThis is because the program effectively starves you of carbohydrates, so your energy levels are always running low during the period of the 10 or 15 days that you are on a diet. This obviously means that you will not be able to work out or engage in any kind of sports or outdoor recreational activities. The diet also deprives you of certain essential minerals and vitamins, as is true in the case of any diet that takes away complete food groups from your daily meals. The diet is certainly not recommended for people whose goal is a healthy weight loss. It is always advisable to consult your physician or dietitian before following any kind of diet.