Weight Loss, Dieting & Obesity

Silly Fad Diets :
The Lemonade Diet (a.k.a. The Lemon Diet, The Maple Syrup Diet, The Lemon Detox Diet & The Lemon Juice Diet) - Comments and Review.

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The Lemonade Diet or Lemon Detox Diet has been touted in various forms for many years, though it has gained enormous momentum in more recent times. There's nothing quite like a famous celebrity spruiking a quick-fix diet fad for the lemming-like gullible to jump on the bandwagon, and for that Beyonce Knowles can take a bow.

Once known as The Maple Syrup Diet, time has seen this fad receive a minor makeover and a new name to make it sound healthy. Oh, and let's not forget that it now also comes with a ridiculously high priced "special" ingredient (at about $50 a litre) that in reality is little more than just another form of sugar-water. After all, would anyone in the health conscious new millennium really believe that "the maple syrup diet" would even work, much less be healthy for you? We all know what maple syrup is and as tasty as it may be, claiming health benefits from it, much less weight loss prowess, is utterly beyond comprehension.

The current commercially marketed version of the Lemon Detox Diet, or Lemonade Diet, or the Lemon Diet (or even "The Lemon Juice Diet" as the title of a published promotional book calls it) as it is variously known consists of using the concoction as a total meal replacement for up to fourteen consecutive days. Other than for the concoction, you are fasting.

Ask yourself: Does this sound sensible? Does this sound healthy? Does this sound sustainable? (If you answered with three straight "No!" answers, please go to the top of the class.)

In brief, this silly fad diet consists of four (4) ingredients: Madal Bal Syrup, Lemon juice, Cayenne Pepper and (purified) Water. (Some versions also add a pinch of Sea Salt.)

Take particular note of the marketing deception right from the get-go: Despite the modern marketing incarnations of this silly fad diet calling it a "Lemon" diet, that is not the major ingredient. The major ingredient in Madal Bal Syrup. Let's look at these ingredients and the logic and criticism of them:

Madal Bal Syrup: As exotic as the name may sound, it is just a trade name for a very expensive mix of two sources of high fructose syrup -- Palm Syrup from South East Asia and Maple Syrup from Canada. Give this a fancy exotic-sounding name and sell it to gullible desperate dieters for fifty dollars and more per litre (and that's only for a five day supply).

The promoters profess that this magic potion gives you "energy". Please understand that in the language of weight loss shams, "energy" is simply a marketer's euphemism for "calories". These calories come from the natural sugars found in the sap/syrup of palm and maple trees and is predominantly fructose. Are you ever warned by the shysters of this expensive lolly water that plenty of published, peer reviewed scientific research papers have been published in highly respected international medical journals in recent years confirming that high fructose concentrations are one of the biggest killers and disease causes in the western world today? No, they don't warn you of that. They don't warn you that high fructose concentrates cause "NAFLD" - Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (so named because it is essentially the same liver disease contracted by alcoholics, though from fructose instead of alcohol). They don't warn you that it also induces Metabolic Syndrome, a.k.a. Insulin Resistance Syndrome, which in addition to enhancing weight gain and making your body's natural weight management processes far less efficient also greatly multiplies your risk of cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Let's not forget that Metabolic Syndrome is also the precursor disease to Type Two Diabetes.

Do you still think a diet which makes this syrup-sourced high fructose concentrate the primary ingredient is a good idea?

If you do, maybe you should read the small print, the disclaimers, that comes directly from the purveyors of this silly fad diet sham:

Clauses
(a) The Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup™ is a food product. It is not a slimming food and does not have any weight reducing properties.

(b) We do not make any therapeutic claims regarding the Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup™ itself. The Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup™ is a key component of the Lemon Detox program which provides nourishment and energy on the program in the form of natural carbohydrates.

(c) The Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup™ has no claims towards curing or healing of any disease or medical condition.

Source: http://www.lemondetox.com.au/contentsofsyrup.php

Lemon Juice: No doubt, lemons do have medicinal properties when used in moderation. They are rich in Vitamin C, for example. They are known to act as a digestive aid. They contain several antioxidants including quercetin. Pectin is a fibre with useful nutritional properties - though the best concentrations of pectin in a lemon are found in the seeds and skin, rather than the juice.

That said, large quantities of lemon juice (such as the regular multi-daily consumption required by the Lemonade Diet) may well endanger your health in several ways. Lemon juice is strongly acidic. It damages tooth enamel at the source. Additionally, by significantly lowering your body's pH level, your body seeks to offset the acidity naturally by "releasing" alkali sources from elsewhere in your body. Let no-one deceive you. Using a strong acid to "alkalise" your body (apart from being counter-intuitive and almost oxymoronic) is sometimes touted as a good thing, but in reality it means that your bones are giving up calcium to neutralise the acidity. Do you really want to have weak bones and induce osteoporosis? No? Then don't overdo lemon juice or any other acids. (As a side note, it is the very same acid damaging effects caused by soda drinks.)

Cayenne Pepper: Although no scientific research has conclusively proven it, Cayenne Pepper has a long-held reputation as a stimulator of your metabolism. I don't wish to contradict that reputation, other than to proffer that such stimulation is most likely of very short duration. Think of that hot flush you get when you eat peppers or chilli, and how that flush dissipates within minutes. Cayenne Pepper is also a known good source of Vitamins A and C, though the small quantity used in this silly fad diet at just half-a-pinch per glass means minimal nutritional benefit. 

The promoters make the claim that Cayenne Pepper also "stimulates circulation, helping the blood reach remote areas of the body". Think about it. If your blood wasn't already reaching every remote part of your body, then that body part would be dead already and probably ready to drop off altogether. Don't fall for such nonsensical hype.

Perhaps the only meaningful "plus" to the inclusion of half-a-pinch of Cayenne pepper to your high fructose lemon flavoured lolly-water is the promoter's pitch that "Cayenne pepper also adds a nice zing to the drink."

Water: The purveyors state: "The use of clean, pure water carries all of the ingredients through the body, giving the body an internal bath and carries away all of the released wastes and toxins. It also keeps the body hydrated during the detox." Well, I can't argue with that. We all need water everyday for exactly these reasons, whether we are dieting or detoxing or not. But you really don't need some special silly fad diet to tell you the obvious. It's water, after all.

The Bottom Line:

By whichever name it is known, whether the Maple Syrup Diet, the Lemon Detox Diet, the Lemonade Diet, the Lemon Diet or the Lemon Juice Diet, being a two week fast with an unsustainably low calorie, nutritionally unbalanced meal replacement potion, you can be guaranteed headaches, fatigue, exhaustion and even nausea in the duration. If you follow it to the letter you can be assured of weight loss. It won't however, be body fat loss. The lack of balanced nutrition and particularly being totally devoid of any protein source means that your weight loss will be predominantly of fluids and muscle tissue, not body fat.

Accordingly, it also means that weight rebound is guaranteed and almost certainly to a worse state than when you started. The loss of muscle tissue means your metabolic rate will be reduced, promoting faster weight gain. This silly fad diet also promotes absolutely no ongoing lifestyle changes to prevent future weight gain, but rather that dream commercially inclined marketing pitch that if (if???) weight creeps back on, just fork out more ridiculous amounts of money on overpriced high fructose concentrate and do it all over again. Yes, dear readers, it is the marketer's dream: A recipe for repeat business.

PS -- If you really want to look like Beyonce Knowles, don't bother with The Lemonade Diet. Rather, take up her exercise regime. Five hours of vigorous dance routine practice every day will see you lose the pounds / kilos in a healthy way and be back in great shape quick smart.