I've been exposed to a lot of different peoples "takes" on fasting and the amount of time you can safly spend on the master cleanse. While most people stick to the 10 day rule, there are some who say that it's okay to stay on the diet for 30 or more days. This is not good for you.

Your body needs nourishment, and that comes from food. Now, the master cleanse gives your body a much needed rest which is good. And by only consuming the lemonade your body can take a break from the usual digesting, detoxing, filtering, and other activities it endures when you are eating your normal diet.

This allows your body to turn its attention on the internal impurities, and work at getting rid of them -- which in the 10 days on the lemonade diet it will.

Why it could be dangerous to stay on the master cleanse longer then 10 Days

Our body is a wonderful device. Beyond our conscious awareness there are millions of processes going on every second of the day. Things like.

• Breathing
• Circulation
• Digestion
• Thinking

Of course there are many more, but you get the point. Your body also has the amazing ability to adapt to certain conditions. For example if you're hot you will sweat to cool off.

Another thing your body can adapt to is lack of nourishment.

Let me give you an example -- Lets say in order for your body to operate at 100% it requires 2000 calories a day. Now this will vary from person to person, but this is just to illustrate my point.

So 2000 calories fuels all your physical and mental activities.

Now if you drop down to 700 calories for an extended period of time, say 15 days or more your body will adapt because it doesn't know your doing this for health purposes, all it knows is that there is a sustained lack of food, and that it needs to adjust to this new 700 calorie day intake.

So the first thing that happens is your metabolism slows down. If you've ever tried to lose weight by going on a starvation diet the first thing happens when you go back to normal eating is you gain back all the weight and then some. That's because your body is not burning as many calories as it was before you went on the diet.

Your energy levels will also drop. Food is fuel, and your body thinking it needs to conserve all the energy it can because it doesn't know the difference between a voluntary fast and starvation, will cut back on energy expenditures. This will result in:

• Fatigue
• Lack of concentration
• Irritability
• And decreased mental function.

So it's not good to stay on the lemonade diet for more than 10 days. What I recommend is giving yourself at least 45 days of normal eating after going off the diet so that your body can normalize, and then going back on if you feel it's necessary.

Another mistake some people make is they jump right back into fast food and pizza after they finish the Master Cleanse. Going from fasting to fast food is ping ponging between 2 extremes, and won't provide you with sustained health.

After you finish the cleanse it's best to work into a long term healthy diet. You can go on a raw food diet, Mediterranean diet, or any other type of healthy eating plan. Just make sure you are giving your body the proper nourishment it needs to run at 100% efficiency.

The Master Cleanse can undo many years of damaging habits in one fale swoop, but for good health all year around it's going to take healthy habits all year around.

If You Really Want to Understand Weight Loss I Recommend "Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle"

During my struggle with being overweight I tried many weight loss products, went on almost every diet, and took every supplement. I was one of those people that fell for the "quick fix" hype, and it wasn't until I understood the facts about dieting and nutrition that my body started to change. I learned this from fitness expert Tom Venuto, and his book "Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle" This is the best source of information on healthy, hype free weight loss that I've come across.

I'm a coach & advocate for quick, natural solutions to health problems. My Master Cleanse Book has been enjoyed by over 56,000 readers and was recently updated with special cleanses for beauty & weight loss. However, I am not a doctor. I care about your safety and encourage you to make sure you're in good health before following the advice on this site. You can learn more about me here.

- Raylen Sterling, author, publisher