The Master Cleanse - Day Five

I had the weirdest craving today - fried garlic. I wonder what my body is trying to tell me.
My sense of smell has also gotten really sensitive and I would smell french fries a mile away.
But what I miss most is the sensation of chewing food. I am getting tired of just drinking that lemon drink ALL day.
Energy level was great today.

Today, however, will be the last day of this cleanse. I am cutting it short by 5 days because I just found out that we'll be going out to eat for Mother's Day with the family. And it's a sin to not eat at a buffet. Not to mention, agonizing to watch.
In a way, I feel relieved and happy, and I just can't wait to eat this, this, this and this. But I'm also feeling disappointed for not getting the full results of the detox. Maybe next time.

Tomorrow, I'll start to break the cleanse by drinking a glass of orange juice in the morning and clear vegetable broth for lunch/dinner. No solid foods yet. The next day, it'll be vegetable broth again, and maybe some celery & tomato juice. And one small piece of watermelon.
According to the message board, it'll take a few days for your body to adjust fully to eating normal foods, and I want to give myself a head start so that I'll be able to enjoy some food at the buffet this Sunday.

So far, I've lost 5 lbs but I'm sure I'll put it all back again (or maybe more) because I'm just dying for a bucket of KFC drumsticks!

The Master Cleanse - Day Four

My energy level is the highest in the mornings, which is really rare for me because I am in no way a morning person. So I find this change quite intriguing.

This afternoon, I just started coughing for no reason for a good 30 seconds and it stopped just like that. And I had to blow the mucus out of my nose. I told myself that I'm just detoxing.

Today, I decided to test my strength and perseverance by cooking dinner for the husband. I actually miss stirring over the stove and throwing stuff into a pot. So I made some penne with shrimp + ham in sundried tomato alfredo sauce. It was hard not to try and lick the spoon or eat the crumbs off the chopping board. But I survived that ordeal. Ofcourse I made sure I drank a whole glass of that lemon drink before I started cooking.

I'm going to try and make good use of the time I spend instead of eating and thinking about food to do something useful. So I'm reading the manual for the sewing machine that just arrived. And maybe try out something new. WhoopTDoo!

The Master Cleanse - Day Three

The annoying headache finally went away this morning. Strangely, I had to go to the bathroom even before the salt water flush. (Readers, you can just skip to the next paragraph. Am noting this for personal future reference) I guess my body started its detoxification process coz what came out was mucus-like and yellow. No stools.

Salt water flush was easier today.

I wasn't hungry at all like the past two days. But I made the mistake of going too long between the lemon drink because of a one hour meeting this afternoon and felt really hungry and a little nauseous. But the lemon drink fixed that. So it's best to drink that lemon drink every 20-30 minutes so the hunger pangs won't get you.

And a spoonful of that maple syrup will really help to boost your energy level. I hope I won't get addicted to it.

Note : the lemon drink tastes better if you put it in the fridge.

The Master Cleanse - Day Two

Getting up early on weekends has always been difficult. But today, I got up early and felt energized although I was woken up twice in the middle of the night with a blocked and bloody nose, which has been a norm for me for the past 2 months or so. Another reason I am doing this cleanse.

Did the Salt Water flush and stayed in the bathroom for 50 minutes!!!
I felt really hungry after that and drank my lemon drink in one long gulp. Not advisable as the tartness of the lemon tickles your throat and got me choking and snorting lemon up my nose.

While my energy level was still high, I took the opportunity to scrub the bathroom and do laundry.

Anyways, today has been tougher for me because Jason decided to quit last night and since then, I have been fighting off temptation. The house is constantly filled with tantalizing aromas of every darn thing that I am not supposed to eat. But I can only hope this will make me even stronger. Right now, I am craving for a fried egg so bad.

I havent had the need to stay close to the bathroom so that's good. Went to Walmart and stopped by to look at the Model home in our neighborhood. I'll put the floorplans under my pillow so we can dream of our dreamhouse :)

We spent the evening with the in-laws and Summer, the latest addition to the family, kept me occupied while everyone else had dinner. She's a sweetheart. I miss having a dog.

Now, I'm trying to fight off a headache so I'll call it a night. Energy level has dropped to zero.

The Chronicles of the Master Cleanse - Day 1

I had a few errands to run this morning and I was afraid the Salt Water Flush would make me be toilet-ridden. So I did all those errands first (a trip to the Post-Office, fed the neighbor's cats) and came home to prepare myself for the flush.

The Salt Water drink wasn't as bad as I thought. I've read about the horrible after-effects that could happen to you after drinking this. So I made sure I measured the salt and water correctly. And waited for my body to tell me that it's "time". It took about 15 minutes and I had to run to the toilet. And sat in there for atleast 30 minutes which felt like forever. Salt water came out. Lots of it. Next time, I'm bringing a book with me.
My tummy made weird sounds I've never heard before. Like the sound of ripping a packing tape.

Then I made the lemon drink. Love it!

I'm feeling hungry all the time. And am drinking that lemon drink constantly.
Also made one glass of peppermint tea.

Even feeding Trouble those cat treats was a challenge. I had to talk myself out of putting the cat treat in my mouth. Yes, I was that hungry.

The day seemed to go by sooo slowly. Funny how much time in our daily lives actually revolves around food. Now that we're not cooking nor eating, we have so much time in our hands.


Side note :
The husband surprised me by volunteering to do this with me. I know it's going to be a whole lot tougher on him. He said he might quit after Day 3 but it's looking like he'll quit tonight. So we'll see. But I am feeling really proud of him to even want to give this a try!

Embarking on the Master Cleanse journey

I've been thinking of doing this for some months now. But could never commit to it or find the right time to do it because there was always some thing going on. Today is the day I will say goodbye to solid food for the next 10 days. Just the thought of it makes me want to cry. Because I love food. And I love watching the Food Network.

So why, pray tell am I doing this?
For several personal reasons. It's a personal challenge. Sometimes, your body just tells you "Ok, it's time to flush out those toxins". Emotionally, mentally, physically. Toxins caused by stress of whether I will ever conceive, negativity, putting up with all that crap at work, allergies, anxiety of whether I will ever sell any of my wares on my website. (Incidently, I've sold 4 scrubbies within the last two weeks :)), frustrations, feeling grumpy for no reason and lack of exercise. It is also about renewing and soul-searching and overcoming mental blocks.

I'm going to record my progress here to keep me accountable and also for future reference incase I have this insane idea of wanting to do this again.

Basically, my day will start out with the salt water flush which is made from 1 quart (4 cups) of water with 2 teaspoons of uniodized sea salt. (Very important to get uniodized and not iodize sea salt).

Throughout the day, I will be drinking 6 - 12 8 oz glass of this lemonade drink :
8oz water
2 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice (organic lemons if possible)
2 tbs grade B organic maple syrup
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper

And the occasional peppermint tea.

Optional : 1 glass of herbal laxative tea at night.
I've decided not to do this as I think the salt water flush in the morning is sufficient (or torture enough).

Also, try to use natural spring water if possible.