You only need a few ingredients for the Master Cleanse.

Preparing the lemonade is easy, but it's important to use the exact products I'm going to tell you about, and don't make any substitutions.

Unlike other diets, the Master Cleanse doesn't require any exotic or expensive ingredients.

It just might be the most cost-effective diet in history!

After we talk about how to make the Master Cleanse lemonade I want to share a common misconception people have about the Master Cleanse.

Many think you drink lemonade and take a laxative for 10 days and a miraculous transformation will happen.

Unfortunately, there's a little more to it than that...

After we go over the recipe I want to show you how to avoid some common mistakes people make.

A lot of people find the Master Cleanse challenging because they don't know all the steps involved.

The original Master Cleanse book written almost 70 years ago by Stanley Burroughs didn't cover these details - these are things I've personally developed while helping thousands of people around the world complete the Master Cleanse.

If you start the Master Cleanse wrong you can experience nasty side effects such as hunger and headaches.

If the main reason you're doing the Master Cleanse is for quick weight loss, you'll want to stick around til' the end because I've got a few tidbits about that you'll want to check out.

But first, let's go over the recipe...

Main Ingredients for the Master Cleanse Recipe:

• Pure Filtered Water
• Grade A Dark Color Robust Taste maple syrup*
• Organic Cayenne Pepper
• Organic Lemons
• Sea salt - Unrefined, (Not iodized) or Epsom Salt
  

* Note about the maple syrup: The old Master Cleanse recipe called for "organic grade B maple syrup." The maple syrup grading system changed and grade B maple syrup became grade A dark color robust taste maple syrup. They're the same syrup, just with a different name.

Optional Ingredients:

• Laxative tea
• Natural Herbal Tea (decaffeinated)
  

Let's Talk About The Main Ingredients You'll Need For The Master Cleanse Recipe

The first one (pure filtered water) is probably the most overlooked step in the Master Cleanse, but it's important if you want to cleanse your body.

I know people who won't go near non-organic fruits and vegetables, but they'll drink and cook with unfiltered tap water.

That's crazy.

Your local water treatment facility does not do an adequate job of providing you with clean, safe drinking water.

The standard water treatment practice is to dump chlorine into the water to kill off the bacteria, and viruses.

Chlorine is a poison, and has been linked to cancer. It's not good to consume on a daily basis.

There's also the risk of chemicals from corporate waste, and farm runoff - as well as the sediment and toxic metals that are found in the pipes that bring water into your home.

Bottled Water is Not a Good Choice Either

In addition to being very expensive, the manufacturing processes for bottled water are not tightly regulated.

A lot of times, the bottled water you buy is not any better than city tap water - and sometimes it is just plain city water!

To make sure you get all the detoxing benefits, you should make the lemonade with filtered water.

You can find filtered water at most grocery stores, but a more convenient option is to own you're own home water filter.

I recommend Aquasana water filters.

After looking at many brands I found the Aquasana performed better than all of them. It also cost a lot less.

Aot of filters don't do a good job of filtering out the contaminations found in today's drinking water, and some strip your water of beneficial minerals, which is especially bad for growing children.

Aquasana water filters use a combination of carbon filtration, ion exchange, and sub-micron filtration to filter out chlorine, lead, VOC's, MTBE, and Cysts (chlorine resistant parasites), and leaves in the natural trace minerals.

Okay, I went off on a bit of a tangent there about filtered water.

It's just that water is such a crucial element for good health.

As for the other main ingredients they're pretty standard fare and can be found at most grocery stores.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Use organic ingredients. The goal of the Master Cleanse is to remove toxic substances from your body, so stay away from ingredients that have been sprayed with pesticides
• Don't use concentrated lemon juice. If you have to, you can use non-organic lemons, but you cannot use concentrated lemon juice because it's filled with sugar and preservatives.
• Make sure the sea salt is Unrefined or Not iodized. If salt intake is a problem for you I'll show you another type of laxative in the Optional Ingredients below

Optional Ingredients:

The first of the optional ingredients, laxative tea, can be used in place of, or in addition to the sea salt flush.

The purpose of both of these items is to increase eliminations.

Of the two, the sea salt is more effective, but the laxative tea will work fine. The tea can be found in most grocery stores and is sold under different brand names.

The two I use are "Smooth Move" and "Laxative Tea"

The other optional ingredient can add some flavor to the Master Cleanse.

The beauty of the Master Cleanse is its simplicity. By going on this diet you allow your body to use the energy it normally spends on breaking down, digesting, and assimilating food to cleanse itself.

You can't add much to the Master Cleanse without taking away from its effectiveness.

But you can use herbal teas (decaffeinated) to help break the redundancy of drinking lemonade all day long.

These teas come in an assortment of flavors and you can drink them hot or cold.

Herbal tea can be found at your local grocery store.

How To Make The Master Cleanse Lemonade

The recipe is fairly simple.

You should drink a minimum of 60 oz of lemonade a day but can drink more if you like. You can also drink as much water as you want.

I suggest you consume your body weight in ounces of water.

Below are two different recipes. The first is for a single serving of the Master Cleanse lemonade. The second will make 6 servings

Single Serving of Master Cleanse Lemonade Recipe:

• 2 Tablespoons of organic lemon Juice (about 1/2 a Lemon)
• 2 Tablespoons of Organic Grade A Dark Color Robust Taste maple syrup
• 1/10 Teaspoon Cayenne pepper powder
• Ten ounces of filtered water

60oz Serving of Master Cleanse Lemonade Recipe:

• 60 ounces of filtered water
• 12 Tablespoons of organic Grade A Dark Color Robust Taste maple syrup
• 12 Tablespoons of organic lemon juice
• 1/2 Teaspoon cayenne pepper powder

Recipe For A Gallon Of Master Cleanse Lemonade:

• 12 ounces of fresh lemon juice (a cup and half)
• 12 ounces of Grade A Dark Color Robust Taste maple syrup (a cup and half)
• Just a little over 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• A gallon of water

More about preparing one gallon of Master Cleanse lemonade

There are a couple important things to remember when preparing the lemonade.

For one, the lemon juice used must be fresh squeezed.

This cannot be emphasized enough. It is necessary to use fresh produce. Canned juice won't work.

Also, the maple syrup must be Grade A Dark Color Robust Taste maple syrup, not the processed syrup (which is usually high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavoring) that is used at the breakfast table.

The cayenne pepper might seem unnecessary, but it's very important.

Not only does it add a bit of a kick, but the pepper helps to break up mucus and increases healthy blood flow.

It's also a good source of B and C vitamins, commonly referred to as Super Vitamins due to their many benefits for the body.

Mixing teas with the recipe is one way to help break the monotony of the Master Cleanse. Just make sure It's decaffeinated tea because caffeine can restrict blood vessels and we want to keep your body passages as open as possible.

Adding A Natural Laxative To Help Flush Out Your System

Taking a laxative will speed up the detoxing process, and help your body eliminate waste.

I prefer ingestible laxatives like sea salts and herbal tea. These are ideal methods for cleaning the colonic tract without the harmful effects of enemas.

Drinking 1 teaspoon of unrefined non-iodized sea salt mixed with 25-35 ounces of water will flush out your system.

It's best to use either of these laxatives (or both of them) 2 times a day.

I've found it best to take them in the morning and before I go to bed.

Also, I advise you to give yourself about one hour before you go out when you do this.

These laxatives will work fast, and you will discover why you should probably be at home near a bathroom when you use them.

Okay, you know the Master Cleanse recipe and you're probably excited to round up your supplies and get started.

As a someone who has been helping people use the Master Cleanse to look and feel better for more than a decade there a few more things you need to know if you want to make your 10-day journey on the Master Cleanse as easy and as comfortable as possible.

Master Cleanse Directions

Knowing how to do the Master Cleanse takes more than just understanding how to prepare the lemonade.

You have to know how to get your body ready.

If it's your first time doing the Master Cleanse this part is crucial - you want to ease into the Master Cleanse for up to 3-days.

You do this by replacing one meal a day with Master Cleanse lemonade. Then two meals. Then finally transitioning to the full Master Cleanse.

Doing this allows your body to adjust to the detoxing process and will reduce side effects like hunger and headaches.

Exiting the Master Cleanse is also where a lot of people mess up.

You shouldn't go cold turkey. It's best to ease out of the cleanse by slowly introducing solid food back into your diet over the course of 3-days.

Using The Master Cleanse For Weight Loss

If dropping a large amount of weight in a hurry is the reason you're doing the Master Cleanse there are a few things you need to know.

Weight loss is the main reason people come to me for help and it's an area a lot of people are confused about.

Most of you will lose weight on the Master Cleanse. In some cases a tremendous amount.

A lot of that weight is internal waste.

The real weight loss benefits you'll get from doing the Master Cleanse come from the reduced hunger you experience after you finish the cleanse, and reduce junk food cravings.

The Master Cleanse is like a reset button that erases old eating habits and allows you to eat less food and eat healthier food without willpower.

Next, I'll show you how to succeed when you do the Master Cleanse

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