Has anyone ever done the Master Cleanse before?- Page 2

[Kad]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:19pm

It's no more illogical than saying "The people against MC are drug-pushers who are making money by secretly poisoning you."

Just because something is "all natural" doesn't mean it's healthy and just because something is a chemical doesn't mean it's going to kill you if you take it.

It's made out to be a panacea, when in fact it's not. Ulcers cured! Wrinkles vanish! Skin rejuvenates! But it's controlled starvation, pure and simple. The human body was not designed to live off of syrup, pepper, and lemon juice for an extended period of time.

Want to look good and live healthily? Eat right and exercise. No one dares argue that, because it's irrefutable. But people want a shortcut- be it fad diets or these silly cleanses.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:31pm

or, you could shove a garden hose up your ass and turn the water on full force.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 3:14pm

That's addictive too.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 3:34pm

"or, you could shove a garden hose up your ass and turn the water on full force."

Whatever happened to Ronaldo?

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 4:17pm

Misquoting doesn't become you, Kad.

Calvin, if you want to know more about it, google it like I did when I was interested and learn.

To the OP who sought anecdotal information, I've provided it to you and some knowledge, which is a thankless task here, so I will remove the info and let you all google the info then you can all learn and read for yourselves instead.
Updated On: 7/28/11 at 04:17 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 5:05pm

I wasn't quoting you. I was, however, summing up EXACTLY what you implied. It's a pity I can't prove it, seeing as how you've removed all your responses in this post.

You've provided anecdotal evidence. But some of the "information" you've provided is simply not true. Dispersing it as fact is irresponsible.

If you can't take your claims being analyzed, you shouldn't be posting them in the first place.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 5:18pm

Hear, hear.

[Calvin]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 5:33pm

I've never found googling health information to be very useful, as it's not often easy to tell whether the information you're seeing is credible. Most of what I've seen cites anecdotal evidence, studies that I can't find anywhere and is attached to selling kits or other products. I've yet to see solid data from an actual nutritionist or diet expert that validate the multitude of benefits listed by it or that your body needs any help eliminating toxins so long as your liver and kidneys are functioning properly.

I"m not trying to be mean or ornery. I'm asking in earnest -- are there credible studies that back up the health claims of this? I never mind being proven wrong.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 6:07pm

There is no solid data. And to ask for a rigorous scientific investigation of the outlandish claims of the health benefits of cayenne pepper and specific (and only specific!) grades of maple syrup, is to be dismissed as a tool of big pharma.

The only data there is says anorexia is not healthy. And it is not.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 6:45pm

I knew a girl who Googled health information once.

And then she died.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 7:01pm

^ You've been warned.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 7:07pm

This whole master cleanse thing sounds a lot like what happened to me when I got my tonsils out this past December. My diet was extremely limited--I had a lot of jello and not a whole lot else as it was really hard to swallow for the first week. After two weeks, when I had basically recovered, I had lost 15 pounds, and felt great when I started eating normal food again. I gained back the weight faster than I lost it and it really did nothing. That's what it seems like this thing is, basically. Why do something with such temporary results? It doesn't sound very fun to starve yourself.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 7:22pm

Oh Danny, you did it wrong. While starving yourself because you couldn't swallow, you were supposed to make plans to change your eating habits from thereon out. The horse hooves and ligaments that go into the Jell-O have specific qualities that clean out your kidneys, scrub the white of your eyes as if with OxyClean, and help you create and stick to a new food plan.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 8:25pm

Namo, you never fail to make me laugh (well, sometimes you do, but I'm laughing right now). I couldn't imagine doing something like that for the "good feeling" that comes from it. I mean, at least when I got my tonsils out, my instance of strep throat was greatly reduced...

[Kad]

Posted: 7/29/11 at 12:14am

Nomdeplume, before packing up all their marbles and going home, posted links to the details of several lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for life-threatening side-effects. And now all that's left is "do your own research". Well, I did.

While it IS true there is a lot to complain about in terms of pharmaceutical companies, the whole "big pharma is trying to keep master cleanse down" thing is ridiculous.

But guess what? There were numerous CONVICTIONS against Stanley Burroughs, the guy who invented the damn thing in the 1940s. Convicted of second-degree felony murder for his treatments leading to a man's death (later reversed, but still held as a possible involuntary manslaughter), felony practicing medicine without a license, unlawful sale of cancer treatments...

Great pedigree for someone whose master cleanse "treatment" is widely used and praised by ill-informed people lacking basic understanding of human biology.

The elimination of these nonspecified "toxins", the promise of curing ulcers and restoring skin beauty, the removal of bacteria from the gut... all ridiculous (except perhaps the latter, in which case that is something you would actually want to AVOID. No, most diseases do not originate from the GI tract, as nomdeplume said one of the now-eliminated posts. The GI tract is in reality one of the most ineffective means of a pathogen to infect a person. The stomach acid is very effective in its power to destroy. You would have to ingest a great number of pathogens to worry- typically through contaminated food. And then, those pathogens have to compete with our own intestinal flora- not an easy feat, considering there's hundreds of millions. Unless the intestinal flora were compromised, it's extremely difficult for an infection to originate in the GI tract. This is why many people suffer diarrhea after taking antibiotics- it is often a bloom of harmful bacteria taking advantage of the now decreased flora population).


The master cleanse diet denies the human body of the majority of basic vitamins, minerals, proteins, fiber, and so forth.

The weight-loss effects will only ever be temporary, as your body will go into starvation recovery mode once you begin eating again.

The lack of adequate nutrition is detrimental to virtually all bodily systems, from the immune to the nervous.


Doing it once certainly won't KILL you. But I doubt it'll make you stronger.
Doing it repeatedly is just completely unwise unless you have an excellent health regimen otherwise.

Some spicy lemonade isn't a cure-all and isn't what our bodies were made to ingest. The human body doesn't need to be flushed like a toilet.
http://law.justia.com/cases/california/cal3d/35/824.html

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/29/11 at 2:54pm

"The horse hooves and ligaments that go into the Jell-O"

There are no horse hooves in Jell-O. Everyone knows horses go to the glue factory. It's cow hooves that go into Jell-O.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/29/11 at 3:35pm

Is that Obamas fault?

[Leia947]

Posted: 7/29/11 at 3:39pm

Marry me, Kad.

(BTW, the link isn't working.)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/29/11 at 8:06pm

Here's Kad's link:

http://law.justia.com/cases/california/cal3d/35/824.html

[Leia947]

Posted: 7/29/11 at 10:55pm

Thanks, P.J. Was really curious to what the courts said.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/29/11 at 11:37pm

I love the part where it calls him a self-styled "healer." Because I have known many people in my life like nom de plume, who are self-styled "suckers" for guys like that.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/30/11 at 12:08am

Sorry about the link issue- I may have switched the link and the link title.


But yes- self-styled healer is exactly what this guy was. He hocked a book, and his alternative methods led to at least one death. And yet the master cleanse is still practiced today, as if it was some ancient secret that kept people alive forever and not the invention of some huckster 60 years ago.

I have no doubt that there is alternative medicine that may be effective- many medications used today, after all, are derived from natural sources. And yes, pharmaceutical companies do prostitute cures, stop producing cures that aren't profitable, and produce medications that hurt as much as they heal. But it's illogical to think alternative medicine is any better. The shelves and shelves of bottles of supplements in any drug store are proof enough that there's a good deal of money to be had in it.

But for the love of god- exercise common sense when told that mixing lemon juice, cayenne pepper, "B Grade" maple syrup, and water and consuming nothing but that for over a week (aside from salt water or broth or laxative tea- just what your body needs when it's being starved) will somehow rejuvenate you.

Or you can just not eat anything at all and suck on a cube of cheese when you're about to pass out, as suggested in The Devil Wears Prada.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/30/11 at 12:21am

But Kad, I'm confused. Superstar Beyonce swears by the cleanse. Are you calling Beyonce a liar?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/30/11 at 10:06am

There's a difference between being a liar and not the brightest bulb. Beyonce has a native intelligence but doesn't come across as what you might call "book smart." See also nom de plume.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/30/11 at 11:15am

I'm sure Beyonce is under a great deal of pressure to be at a certain weight for certain events (which is a whole other issue right there). I'm also sure she's got a ton of people on her payroll that make sure she's able/forced to bounce back and recover from it- nutritionists and trainers and doctors and whatever.

She's got enough money and clout to assure that she's not doing too much damage to herself. Regular people who read about the master cleanse on the internet and decide "I can totally do it" don't.