Beyoncé's "Magic" Weight Loss

.

I have yet to see Dreamgirls, but I'm very enticed due to the glamorous trailers that I keep seeing on TV. That being said, Beyoncé Knowles looks very different in the film, and the main reason is because she dropped 20 pounds to play the role.

According to the January 07 issue of InStyle:

Beyoncé started with a Rocky-worthy workout, sprinting up 50 flights of stairs every day and doing hour-and-a-half sessions of cardio and light weights five days a week. That was the easy part. The fun continued with a two-week fast "to get the toxins out of my system, because I was eating a lot of bad food - French fries, messy snacks," she says. "Boy, was I cranky!" she says laughing. "I don't recommend quick fixes to anyone."


She's been very vocal in interviews about the methods she took to lose the 20 pounds in TWO weeks, called the Master Cleanse Diet. It's not what I'd consider safe, but the changes in her body were quite obvious, so it must work, if only for short-term. I found the recipe for the diet, and allow me to say this, I'm not recommending it, but for those curious about how Beyoncé dropped the pounds, this is the goo she drank for 14 days.

The Maple Syrup Diet, also known as the Lemon Cleansing Diet, the Lemonade Diet or the Master Cleanse which can supposedly be used for 3-10 days safely. This diet isn't new. The naturopath, Stanley Borroughs, developed it back in the 1950's. Be forewarned: a "cleansing reaction" is often noticed in the first two days. (That's diarrhea to you and me.)

Take a clean one-gallon jug and pour in the following:

• 3 Quarts of Water

• 1 Cup Lemon Juice

• 1 Cup Pure Maple Syrup (not maple flavored, but the REAL stuff) or molasses - Beyoncé reportedly used Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup, a blend of maple and palm syrups, in her cleanse.
  

• 1 Teaspoon Cayenne

Shake it all up and drink 8-12 glasses a day.

Warning: You will experience cravings, aches, pains, mental irritability and fatigue. These are symptoms of your body's detoxification.

If you really want to flush your system, proponents of the Master Cleanse recommend doing the following:

1. Go to your local health food store and get an herbal laxative tea that contains senna. While you're there purchase about 1 cup of non-iodized sea salt.

2. Every morning, before your lemonade, mix two teaspoons of the sea salt with a quart of water and chug. Make sure you are near a toilet and have about an hour to spare. You'll need it.

3. Every night, drink a cup of your laxative tea.

This fast should not be used for more than 10 days and you should wait at least four weeks before repeating it. Supposedly this fast dissolves toxins and is great for breaking up mucous. (That much lemon and cayenne will clear anybody's sinuses!)

Whatever you do, do not go directly back to a rich diet after your time on this fast. In fact, the best thing to do during a fast like this is to start setting your mind to healthy eating so that when you go off the fast you can start fresh on a healthy nutrition plan that will keep you body clean and strong. To ease out of the fast, do the following:

On the first day after your fast, drink unsweetened fruit juices.

On the second day, you can begin to eat fruit.

On the third day you may begin to eat light foods. Whatever you do, do not "wake up" your digestive system with high fat foods. It could be a very painful awakening.

If you try this, please leave a comment below to let me know how it worked.