Strolling into a Whole Foods Market yesterday, I am hit front and center. A large display shelf of seemingly random items stares me down: lemons, maple syrup jugs, cayenne pepper and liters of water. I quickly put the clues together before noticing the dead-giveaway item: a stack of thin, yellow booklets with polite green typography stating: Master Cleanse.

Wow — when did this little-known fasting practice become a household name?