Lemonade Detox Is Toxic

Beyonce’s done it, so it must be ok, right? Absolutely, as long as you don’t mind the risk of death.

Beyonce was reported to have lived on the extra-extreme lemonade detox fast made popular two decades ago. The details are far too easy to find online – I won’t do it here. She reported, “I lived on water, cayenne pepper and maple syrup for 14 days. It was tough; everyone was eating and I was dying.”

This is not a diet – it’s a body starvation approach. A whole host of problems can accompany this diet, including dizziness and, in severe cases, even vomiting. But the diet claims that this is not due to any lack of vitamins, as the lemonade provides everything that the body needs. The diet was created in 1941, and has been debunked by thousands of doctors.

The idea of detox is an appealing one. The problem is, it also cleans out the healthy bacteria in the body that you need to keep your immune system strong. Plus, users don’t often mention the runny bowel movements that keep them running back and forth to the bathroom all day long, the sore bottom and the occasional accident. Now that’s classy. What’s not sexy about needing a diaper?