Due to its high content of vitamin C, the lemon is popular especially for strengthening the immune system and as a natural remedy in use against colds. Also in cosmetics, for example, to care for the hair or as a remedy for pimples, the lemon is used. In the context of the lemon juice diet or lemon juice cure, however, the yellow fruit is also said to act as a quick aid against excess pounds and support weight loss. How does the diet work and what risks does it entail?
What is the lemon juice diet?
Drink lemon juice in quantities and lose weight from it as easy as a feather? The diet with lemon juice is said to be able to lead to losing several kilos in just a few days. The most famous variant is due to the healer Stanley Burroughs. The latter developed a lemon juice diet in the 1970s, which was actually intended to treat stomach ulcers. He called the method “Master Cleanse Diet”.
According to this methodology, the lemon juice diet is to completely abstain from solid food for a few days. This is replaced by a special mixture of lemon juice and water, which should save calories and boost fat burning in the body.
How does a lemon juice diet work?
A lemon juice diet according to the “Master Cleanse Method” classically begins with two relief days, during which little low-calorie food is eaten. During the diet phase itself, solid food is completely avoided. Only a mixture of the following ingredients is drunk:
- 250 milliliters of water (still or carbonated).
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- Juice of half a lemon
- A little cayenne pepper
For a maximum of ten days, drink one and a half liters of this mixture daily. After the ten days should be carefully switched back to a normal diet with light food, so as not to overload the circulation.
The mixture of these special ingredients should thereby get the metabolism going and promote digestion.
Effect of lemon juice
Lemon juice as a useful addition to a balanced diet is quite healthy. The following positive aspects can be associated with lemon juice:
- Strengthening of the immune system
- Essential oil of lemon has a mood-lifting effect
- Protection of the cells
- Acts disinfectant
- Neutralizes unpleasant odors
Nevertheless, the lemon juice diet has some risks, mainly related to the unilateral nature of the cure.
Risks of the lemon juice diet
Experts from the medicine as well as the nutrition science regard this kind of the Diät as critical and refer to the fact that it concerns nevertheless rather a radical kind of removing, than around a healthy and lasting Diät and/or method for weight reduction.
Above all the one-sidedness of the Diät can bring at worst clear negative consequences for the health with itself. If you consume only lemon juice and water for a long period of time, your body will quickly become deficient in the necessary fats, proteins, various vitamins and fiber.
The high acid content in the juice can also cause problems for a sensitive stomach. If stomach problems already exist, one should do without this form of the Diät thus better. Also with an existing eating disorder as well as depressions, liver or kidney illnesses the lemon juice cure should not be tried out.
In addition to these risks, there may be an undesirable yo-yo effect. If you eat normally again after the end of the cure, you will quickly regain the lost pounds.
Variation of the lemon juice cure
A gentler option of a diet with lemon juice can be a combination of a reduction as well as a change of diet. In this case, three main meals as well as two snacks for in between are combined with drinking lemon juice. Alternatively, one of the main meals can be replaced by the lemon juice drink for the specified period of ten days.
To decrease are to be recommended concluding a healthy change of the nutrition as well as sufficiently sport opposite more radical decrease methods. With the firm meals above all whole grain products, fruit, vegetables, lean meat as well as fish are permitted. Lemon juice in moderation can be used supportively as well as to strengthen the immune system.
