It's not for everyone, but it works for me!
I've done the Master Cleanse several times, and every time it has been a wonderful way to get my body back to a normal pH state, which really affects damn near everything about the human body.
The main thing about this diet is to follow the instructions absolutely. 10 days minimum to achieve great results, then listen to you body from there. If you have the gumption to continue, keep going. The longest I did was 14 days, after that my body was simply telling me I was ready for food again.
Consume consume consume- the recommendations he offers for serving sizes are right on, but you may want to experiment with the frequency of drinking. 1 lemon should create two 10 ounce drinks which can be used at once, and that will fill you up like you wouldn't believe. Just be sure to drink enough. I think he suggest 8-10 glasses per day for my body weight (~170) but I always drink about 14 per day as a base, and if I'm more active I need more.
A good rule of thumb is: if you don't feel wholly optimal you need to drink another glass. Hunger, thirst, headache, malaise, ill-temper are all immediately remedied by drinking another glass.
Always use the highest quality ingredients you can find since it's all you're putting into your body for over a week. That means organic everything, plus good grade B syrup.
The effects I felt were/are amazing. The first three days of not eating food are like the first three days not smoking cigarettes, or coming off an addictive substance. Actually, that is how I came to regard most "food" items following my initial cleanse- purely addictive.
Once you get past those few days, your body and brain adjust to not needing to chew to feel sustained, which is an entirely mental association we have with our food, and rightfully so- but it is only an association, not a necessity.
I also experienced a bit of an upset stomache for a few days, to which marijuana can be used to very successfully combat any discomfort- and I'd recommend vaporizing to minimize the ill-effects of smoking while doing the cleanse.
Another very important thing about this cleanse is to follow the instructions about how to resume eating whole foods again after so long on a liquid diet. The idea is the re-establish peristalsis optimally, with the correct foods at the right times (it is covered in book), and to re-establish probiotic colonies in your system, one of the most important factors.
After my first cleanse my body was a new machine. I'd smoked cigarettes for years, and no longer had cravings. I didn't crave sugar or excess salt, and food with chemical flavor agents actually tasted like chemicals instead of the food it is supposed to imitate. I began to crave different types of nuts and vegetables and legumes I'd always turned away from because of my childhood associations of how they taste.
The main thing it did was to create a new perspective on what I put in my body. While I do thoroughly enjoy food, the act of eating for pleasure is no longer among my modus operandi. Food became fuel in my mind, and my body doesn't feel optimal unless I put the best fuel in it.
Which is something this cleanse really does- it helps you get in tune with just how your body feels when you put any little thing into it, which makes it simple to stick to a healthy diet following the cleanse. It makes you conscious of your body and how you help or hinder it in it's function.
I no longer smoke cigarettes, I no longer crave the foods I used to eat, etc. And an added benefit is that my eczema has disappeared now that my pH is normal, and I no longer have the chemical sludge in my gut that came out as a product of this simple mixture.
I've done 4 cleanses in the last 3 years, and every one feels as though I'm doing my body a great service.
Love & Light