One of our best sellers, the Madal Bal tree syrup is the main ingredient of the famous Lemon Detox Diet. The whole point of a detox is to give your body a rest and catch up on the backlog of work, especially after a period of over-indulgence such as Christmas. Rich foods, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods – if we put them into our body faster than the liver can deal with them, then the excess toxins do not get broken down properly, but instead just get stored in fat tissue, which is a big empty cupboard as far as the liver is concerned. Stuff gets put into it with a promise “I’ll get around to that when I have time”. A detox is all about giving the liver and digestion this time. It is not really about anything you do, but more about what you don’t do.

Most detox programs rely on a very simple food source to keep you going while you body gets on with having a good old tidy up. It could be brown rice, or grapes, or juice. The madal bal tree syrup is the ultimate version of all of these – it is made from crude palm syrup and maple syrup, which contain enough energy to keep you going, as well as wide range of minerals to make sure you are getting essential nutrients, but it is so easy to digest that the whole of the digestive tract has almost nothing to do.

The syrup gets mixed with hot water, lemon juice and a little cayenne pepper, although I always prefer ginger. The lemon juice keeps up your vitamin C intake and is also a good liver stimulant, while the cayenne or ginger stimulate circulation, help to keep you warm and also make it easier for the body to mobilise and move stored toxins. Around eight glasses of this drink a day will keep you going quite nicely, with no food or drink other than some herbal teas if you fancy it. You can carry this on for 3 days, 7 days or 10 days depending on how hard core you are. I would advise doing it for at least 7, as in the first couple of days it is not uncommon to get caffeine withdrawals and headaches, but by the 4th day you generally start to feel good, and can enjoy the process. Honest.