THE MODIFIED LEMONADE DIET
Treatment For Intestinal Fungus, Yeast, Candida, And Parasite Infections By Intestinal Cleansing --
The Popular Lemonade Cleansing Diet
MODIFIED (SUGAR-FREE) LEMONADE DIET
AND BOOKS
Sections on this page:
OVERVIEW OF THE LEMONADE (MASTER CLEANSE) DIET
THE DANGER OF THE LEMONADE DIET
THE LEMONADE/MAPLE SYRUP DIET AND CANDIDA
THE LEMONADE/MAPLE SYRUP DIET AND DIABETES OR HYPOGLYCEMIA
THE MODIFIED (SUGAR-FREE) LEMONADE DIET
THE BOOKS BY BURROUGHS AND CLAPP
OVERVIEW OF THE LEMONADE ("MASTER CLEANSER") DIET
There are many resources on the web describing and promoting a bowel-cleansing diet (or fast) based on homemade lemonade. It is proposed as a general purpose intestinal treatment for clearing out old putrefactive debris, worms, parasites, pathogenic bacterial infections, and yeast overgrowth. Discussions of the lemonade diet appear frequently on Candidiasis forums. In these forums and in crawling the net on this topic, you will most often see references to Stanley Burroughs who has written a pamphlet describing his version of the diet -- see the link section below. A version of this diet called The Ultimate Fast is promoted by Dr. Larry Clapp, Ph.D., in his book Prostate Health in 90 Days Without Drugs or Surgery -- also see the link section below. Even though the focus of his book is regaining prostrate health for men, the Ultimate Fast concepts apply generally to people having difficulties of an intestinal or digestive origin.
The lemonade diet is a liquid fast that uses the grease and mucus-cutting power of lemon juice to free undesirable material from the bowel for elimination. You make your lemonade from fresh squeezed lemons and/or limes, sweetened so it is palatable, with a dash of cayenne pepper (red pepper) for a little extra intestinal agitation. The fasting period is of arbitrary length; depending on what you read, it might be 8, 10, or 14 days, or even longer. During this period you consume only your lemonade so that the mucous-cutting effect of the lemonade is not diluted with food.
The purging process may be supplemented with a daily laxative, and/or with a morning ‘salt water flush’. For this routine, drink a quart of salt water upon arising. In an hour or so it will stimulate the bowels sending you on several trips to the bathroom. The idea is that laxatives and the salt water flush further loosen debris in the intestines and help the removal process.
Larry Clapp further recommends taking at least four doses of bentonite and psyllium seed husk powder during the day. Bentonite is an adsorbent and psyllium is a fiber bulking agent; together they form a jelly-like substance which helps to glom up and carry away residue that has been freed from the intestinal walls. Bentonite is available as Sonne’s #7 (pronounced So-Nay’s); psyllium is available from many sources, including Sonne’s #9.
Larry Clapp also recommends taking one of a variety of available supplements targeted to kill pathogenic bacteria and parasites. After the fasting period, you gradually work your way back to normal eating.
Assuming that the intestinal tract needs cleansing, as in the case of candidiasis, the general scope of this diet seems sensible – we all know of the grease-cutting and cleansing power of lemon. The use of adsorbents, fiber, laxatives and emetics, and supplements to kill pathogens, are well-known, and widely used – and so it seems that augmenting the cleansing and removal process with these agents is reasonable.
THE DANGER OF THE LEMONADE DIET
However, while the overall concept may be reasonable, an essential element of the lemonade diet according to Stanley Burroughs is to sweeten the lemonade with maple syrup – one tablespoonful for each tablespoonful of lemon juice. Squeeze 16 ounces of lemon juice to make two quarts of lemonade (which is perhaps less than one day’s supply), and add to that 16 ounces of maple syrup (one whole large-size bottle). For diabetics, Burroughs recommends replacing maple syrup with molasses.
Now here’s the nasty facts. Both maple syrup and molasses are almost pure sugar. For ease in understanding the impact, consider that 16 ounces is one pint, and maple syrup, tablespoon for tablespoon, weighs about the same as water. Water weighs a pound a pint. So, every day you will be drinking one pound of pure sugar.
There are many resources on the net having information on sugars including maple syrup and molasses. Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s a web resource from a maple syrup farm in Maine that gives information on the vitamin, mineral, and caloric content of maple syrup (with a slight mention of molasses). The standard maple syrup serving is quoted at this resource (and others as well) as 60 ml (which is 1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons).
A more detailed description of sugars is provided by this web resource, which is written by the very respectable healthnotes.com. According to this resource, both maple syrup and molasses are primarily sucrose -- a disaccharide that breaks down into glucose and fructose and is quickly absorbed. (Glucose goes directly into the blood stream. The measure of blood sugar is the amount of glucose per unit volume of blood.)
One gram is defined as the weight of one cubic centimeter (cc) of water; one cc equals one milliliter. Therefore, one milliliter (ml) of water weighs one gram, and 60 ml of water weighs 60 grams. Since maple syrup weighs about the same as water per unit volume, the 60 ml serving also weighs about 60 grams. According to the preceding resource (and any others you care to check), 60 grams of maple syrup contain about 53 grams of sugar – almost pure sugar.
PUTTING IT IN PERSPECTIVE
- THE LEMONADE/MAPLE SYRUP DIET AND CANDIDA
Let’s see – the universal recommendation as a dietary treatment for Candidiasis is to eat a low carb, low sugar diet to starve the yeast. Instead, the lemonade diet is pure sugar. Do we see something wrong here???? (Maybe this diet introduces a new concept: feed them to death!) If you suffer from Candida overgrowth, the standard lemonade diet is like drinking poison. And even if you didn’t have a Candida problem before you started this diet, you may very likely have one by the time you finish. - THE LEMONADE/MAPLE SYRUP DIET AND DIABETES OR HYPOGLYCEMIA
The standard recommended diet for diabetics and hypoglycemics is to avoid sugars and carbohydrates to minimize blood sugar roller-coastering. For hypoglycemics, eating sugars causes an excessive production of insulin which drives the blood sugar to dangerously low levels. For diabetics, eating sugars causes blood sugar to rise to dangerously high levels because the insulin production system is “burnt out” and can’t respond. In both cases the objective is to avoid sugars and the negative impact that sugars have on the system. Recommending a pound of sugar a day for a diabetic or hypoglycemic is beyond naïve, it’s dangerous and irresponsible.
Larry Clapp comments that people on the lemonade diet have high energy. Of course they do – add caffeine and it’s the All American Coca-Cola diet. This is why so many of our kids have Attention Deficit Disorder – they eat Nut & Honey for breakfast, have a Coke, and then bounce off the classroom walls for the rest of the day.
THE MODIFIED (SUGAR-FREE) LEMONADE DIET
All the above leads us to the inescapable conclusion that if there is intrinsic value to the lemonade diet, the value can only be achieved without poisoning yourself with sugar. So, we have created a modified lemonade diet using sugar-free maple syrup. Although Stanley Burroughs runs on about the vitamins and minerals in maple syrup (it does have some – refer to this resource again), it is an insubstantial argument and an invalid justification for the use of maple syrup in this fashion.
We make the presumption that the sole purpose for the maple syrup is to sweeten the lemonade to make it palatable, and that the active agent in cleansing the intestines is lemon juice, aided by cayenne pepper. The maple syrup does add a nice flavor, by the way.
Here’s our SUGAR-FREE version:
- Juice about eight lemons or five lemons and five limes (the limes aren’t quite as tart). This makes about 16 ounces (one pint) of juice.
- Add about one ounce, maybe two, of sugar-free maple syrup. Some brands have “real maple syrup flavor” in addition to artificial flavor, and have a nice taste. Try Vermont brand Sugar Free, or Maple Grove Farms brand Cozy Cottage Sugar Free. Unfortunately, most of these "sugar-free" brands contain sugar alcohols like Sorbitol. They take longer to digest and aren't digested completely, so in the FDA view they aren't quite as bad as other sugars and hence these products can claim to be sugar-free. They have the nasty side-effect of causing diarrhea, so don't go and replace the same quantity of maple syrup with a "sugar-free" variety.
- Add four or five packets of Sweet’N Low, Equal, or other non-nutritive artificial sweetener. If you are one of those who doesn’t like the taste, just omit. Some Candida dieters use Stevia as a sweetener -- that would be fine.
- Add water (about 3 pints) to make about one-half gallon of lemonade.
- Add a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper. Careful – the real bite doesn’t show up until after you’ve drunk a half a glass, so a tiny taste test can be deceptive.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS
There are some rather extremist instructions about the lemonade diet from Clapp and Burroughs which you can probably safely ignore (only mix it as you drink it, not ahead of time; don’t take supplements or vitamins). Ditto for the salt water flush (only use sea salt; only use un-iodized salt; only use distilled or spring water, not tap water). (There may be a valid point about using un-iodized salt rather than iodized salt. There is an Ear Nose Throat specialist in NYC who recommends making a sinus spray with un-iodized salt because the iodized salt burns more. But, if the objective of the Salt Water Flush is to throw your intestines into a tizzy, why would that matter?) (There may be a valid point about using distilled or spring water in conjunction with taking probiotics -- Acidophilus -- since tap water usually contains chlorine which may kill the Acidophilus bacteria. However, if you are not taking probiotics during the lemonade fast, there is little reason for avoiding tap water.) Reasonableness and focus should be the guideposts. If you are trying to get rid of a tapeworm, does it really matter if the lemons are organically grown?
Larry Clapp makes the suggestion that hypoglycemics may wish to supplement the lemonade diet with powdered protein mixed into the lemonade to help stabilize the blood sugar. This may be helpful even with the sugar-free version of the diet.
HELPFUL HINTS
Some people prefer it at room temperature, so make up a jug and leave it out all day -- it'll be just fine.
A half gallon is 64 ounces, or eight 8-ounce glasses. You might want more than that per day (an 8-ounce glass isn’t very big) – maybe twice that much.
Since the objective is for the lemonade to loosen debris in the intestine, large glasses of lemonade at a time might work better than more frequent, smaller glasses. This will allow the lemonade more time to bathe a section of the intestine as it flows through. 
Proctor-Silex makes a very nice, small citrus juicer, the JUICIT, for about $25, which is perfect for the job of juicing lemons and limes (see the pic). It makes up to 16 ounces of juice at a time, which is just right. You will want a juicer for this project.
You'll get the most juice out of your lemons or limes if they are at room temperature, and if you roll them under firm pressure to soften them up before you juice them.
A note on mixing bentonite and psyllium -- this concoction turns into jelly in moments. You'll want to use a 10-12 ounce wide-mouth container with a fast screw cap (Tupperware and Rubbermaid both sell a product like this -- see the Rubbermaid pic). Fill three-quarters of the way with lemonade (it mixes better at room temperature) and add a couple tablespoons of bentonite. Then add two or three heaping teaspoons of psyllium, spin on the lid, shake violently for five seconds or so (maybe 15 shakes), spin off the lid and drink it down. If it starts to settle before you get it all down, pop the lid back on and give a couple of quick shakes, then finish it off.
The salt water cleanse may take as long as five hours -- it works much faster with warm water. You might make your first trip to the bathroom in 15-20 minutes and finish up in two hours.
LINKS OF INTEREST
Search on Google.com with the term “master cleanse cleanser” to find 4520 pages on this topic. Many sites offer snippets of the Burroughs text.
Like many of the “Master Cleanse” web sites, this site includes snips of the Burroughs text and also has a list of links at the bottom of the page.
Overview of Larry Clapp’s program at his web site.
Simple version of Larry Clapp’s Ultimate Colon Cleanse daily schedule.
Larry Clapp’s shopping list.
The Curezone.com – a site with extensive information on bowel cleansing.
This is a list of discussion forums at the Curezone. Among many others, there is a Candidiasis forum, a Fasting forum, and a Bowel Cleansing forum.
Sundance is another sugar and sweetener site with info on caloric content of all major sweeteners.
THE BOOKS
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