|
10 days of anorexia
Because when life gives you lemons, maple syrup and pepper, it's time for some funky lemonade...
By Erin Darling
The Skinny
Could 10 days of lemon juice cleanse your body?
Photo:www.savvy-diets.com
|
One might have better luck on this kind of diet.
Photo: www.cartoonstock.com
|
They say curiosity killed the cat. I’ll be honest, it almost killed me too. The curiosity first struck when my friend, Lauren, told me she was thinking about doing the Master Cleanse. The name sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe it was because I have a lot of friends in the modeling industry, maybe it was because I live in a sorority house, maybe it was because I work in entertainment television. Regardless of the reason, I knew the Master Cleanse was a diet, and that Beyonce had lost weight after doing it.
After some research, I learned that the cleanse was a 10 day torture-fest that includes surviving on a concoction of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. In the morning you drink brackish water to stimulate bowel movements, and at night you drink a laxative tea. What kind of person would do such extreme things to their body in an effort to lose weight? I was immediately intrigued.
10 days seemed like a long time, but according to a large number of online reviews, you’re supposed to feel energetic, healthy and about 10 pounds lighter at the end of the process. The cleanse claims to flush out your entire body while you give your body a rest from digestion. Experts like “janjan793” and “loveroflemonade150” raved about glowing skin, shiny hair and the re-emergence of abdominal muscles that had disappeared after two kids and a full-time job.
How could something that sounded so terrible yield such promising results? We had no idea, but Lauren and I were willing to find out. We drove to Wild Oats Market for our gourmet maple syrup, pepper and overpriced, out of season lemons. We decided to start the Master Cleanse the following morning, excited to see what would happen, ecstatic to tote around water bottles with our funky lemonade, ready to face the 10 day challenge of a life with no food, ready to succeed!
Lauren lasted for four days on the Master Cleanse. I made it for about six hours. In retrospect, I couldn’t believe how I actually considered giving up food for ten straight days. Although I didn’t end the cleanse with shiny hair, perfect skin or weight loss, I emerged from this failed experience with a much better prize…wisdom and sanity. Because let’s be honest, who could say they aren't crazy after living off laxatives and spicy lemonade for a week and a half?
|
<
