FARGO – On Day One of her 10-day “Master Cleanse,” my sister emailed me: “The cat food actually smells edible.”
By Day Five she was dreaming about food and planning her first post-cleanse meal (salmon with rice pilaf).
As a test of self-discipline, she made it through the detox on nothing but Master Cleanse “lemonade.”
The concoction consists of filtered water, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, lemons and sea salt.
(I took two sips of the liquid, and there’s no way I could drink it for 10 days, let alone for one day.)
My sister was taking in only 800-900 calories a day, almost entirely from the syrup.
When Kimberly Ough of Fargo tried a similar cleanse, she felt like she was starving herself.
“I remember licking the maple syrup out of the jar,” the 32-year-old said.
Men and women try juice diets, cleanses and detox programs in hopes of “purifying” their bodies, gaining energy or losing weight.
It’s bottoms up in the name of releasing toxins, though Sanford Health dietitian Kathy Olson said there’s no way to measure whether that actually occurs.
“There’s really no research to support that they’re beneficial,” Olson said. “In fact, there’s research showing that they aren’t.”
My sister (whose goal wasn’t to lose weight) said when people use the Master Cleanse as a crash diet they tend to regain the weight immediately, “since it is, after all, extreme deprivation.”
Besides, Olson said, fast weight loss may reflect water weight instead of actual body mass.
Yet she said people continue to try this or that new cleanse, or they create their own using bits and pieces from different programs and advice from others.
Olson said the word “cleanse” is misleading. “It’s just a new buzz term for restricting what a person’s consuming,” she said.
'It’s a commitment'
Ough, herself a Beachbody “coach” since 2009, will finish the 21-day Beachbody Ultimate Reset tomorrow.
Unlike the three-day program she attempted 10 years ago, the three-phase Reset is a “no-starvation cleanse.”
The program promises to “Reclaim your body’s natural balance, release the harmful materials you may be storing within you, and restore your system to its maximum health.”
While taking supplements, you slowly eliminate red meat and dairy the first week. In week two, you transition to a vegetarian, then a completely vegan diet.
Fitness instructor Katie Seier said on Day 10 of the Reset that the biggest benefit has been learning to work through her emotions instead of eating them.
“During this cleanse you have to focus on emotions and why they’re happening and why they’re making you ‘hungry,’ ” said the 20-year-old Minot State University senior.
Seier, also a Beachbody coach, said she felt satisfied but missed working out. You’re not supposed to exercise on the program.
Ough said your body’s going through such an “internal workout,” the company’s creators don’t want you to tax your muscles while you’re doing it.
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