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Lemon Detox Diet Recipe  |  Lemon Detox Diet Health Risks

How the Lemon Detox Diet Works

The basis behind the diet is that it is meant to release your body of poisonous toxins. These toxins supposedly build up in your body as a result of chemicals it is exposed to through diet and environment. These toxins can then lead to a deterioration in quality of life through lack of energy, tiredness, disease and other conditions. 

While on the diet your only intake throughout the day is the lemon detox drink which consists of lemon, tree syrup, cayenne pepper, salt, herbal tea and water. Many of these ingredients are recognised as releasing toxins in the body. All the ingredients play different roles in the detoxifying process. 

• Lemon juice - Is meant to flush waste through the body, in particular through the blood stream, putting less strain on the digestive system.
• Cayenne pepper - speeds up the metabolism which helps promote the cleansing process.
• Salt/Herbal tea -  helps stimulate bowl movement which give the toxins a path out of the body.
• Water - Keeps the body hydrated and aides the cleansing process. 
• Tree syrup - Contains nutrients and calories to keep the body functioning during the diet. It is also claimed that the quality of this tree syrup is pertinent for the success of the diet and justifies the hefty price for otherwise cheap ingredients. 

These ingredients are mixed together to form and drink and the diet consists of having 6 - 10 of these drinks each day. 

Lemon Detox under the microscope.

Each drink has roughly 60 calories, so by restricting your diet to only 600 calories a day you will lose weight, however it is not catch free. Given the average person requires around 2000 calories each day this diet creates a large calorie deficit. This causes the body to go into starvation mode, slowing your metabolism down. When your body shuts down like this you tend to feel tired and lethargic, and the body converts what little calories it gets into fat and preferentially breaks down muscle. The net effect of this is after short term weight loss, the body puts weight back on  quickly, and in most cases the muscle lost will be replaced with fat.