The Raw Route

Just got back from visiting my children in Stellenbosch and their darling children - Joshua and Tyler. I wanted to spend some time browsing the organic markets in Cape Town with the family but two "littles", aged 4 and a half and 1 and a bit are so not into food shopping. We took it in turns to browse the "Slow Food Market" in Stellenbosch on the Saturday morning, keeping a watchful eye on the children at the same time. Its a gorgeous venue, lots of room to picnic away from the crowds, after having purchased your repast from the hundreds of choices on offer. Baked goods, cheeses, organic veggies, wraps, curries,beverages of all kinds and tarts and pastries decadent enough to make one weep. I could easily have hoovered my way through one whole row of tables offering a smorgasbord of choices, but settled uneasily on a slow-cooked oxtail in red wine pasty (huge, this thing was!) and sampled the chicken in white wine with thyme pasty, intended for the grandchildren.

However, health benefits being paramount in the forefront of my mind, this is after all about RAW food and the forays into all that this subject has to offer, so I guiltily wiped the (cooked/baked) crumbs from my chin and turned my sights toward the freshest raw stands.

I am definitely of the opinion that before going the raw route, it would be advantageous to try one of the cleansing/detox programmes, just to flush the system of clogging toxins, and to re-awaken the taste buds once again. Mine, I would imagine, are a jangled mass of electric neurons behaving like shameless hussies on a disco dance floor at the mere whiff of fried onions/curry/baked pastry/hot baked bread and the list goes on. I have submitted my tongue to so many flavours over the years, my mouth begins to water at the mere glance at some foodie magazine. Over-indulged, its hard to now train this errant mob in my mouth to now appreciate clean, fresh tastes and choose a crisp salad over a hot-buttered chocolate croissant!
But I digress..

After looking at various detoxes over the Internet, I liked the Master Cleanse where you basically start your day off by drinking one glass of Celtic Salt in water (Salt Water Flush) which helps with the flushing out of the toxins from your digestive tract. Then, throughout the day, drink 6 - 12 glasses (depending on how hungry you may feel) of the Master Cleanse Lemonade, which is basically:

• 10 oz. warm water (distilled or pure mineral - not tap water)
  
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice (freshly squeezed NOT bottled)
  
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup (the real deal, organic and not the flavoured syrup kind)
  
• 1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper

At bedtime, drink a cup of Herbal Laxative Tea.

That's it fluffy! This cleanse can be done over a period of 10 - 40 days. It has been recommended that we purchase the book in order to read all about how to prepare for this fast, how to stick to it and lastly what to expect when its time to come off it.

According to the newsletter about the Master Cleanse: .."it simply flushes out the internal waste that's putting a huge burden on every organ in your body.

This internal waste does more then just clog up your colon. As you're about to discover in the quote from Dr Bernard Jensen below internal waste poisons your entire body:

"The heavy mucus coating in the colon thickens and becomes a host of putrefaction. The blood capillaries to the colon begin to pick up the toxins, poisons and noxious debris as it seeps through the bowel wall. All tissues and organs of the body are now taking on toxic substances. Here is the beginning of true autointoxication (when your body becomes so polluted that you slowly begin to poison yourself from the inside) on a physiological level."

Thankfully the Master Cleanse can eliminate waste in just 10 days, and reverse a lot of the damage its caused to your body.

~ Dr Bernard Jensen, DC, ND, Ph.D.

Eww, just reading that decided it for me. I AM going to do this and will report back on a daily basis as to exactly what I did, how I felt and what you can expect, should you decide to do it at any stage as well.

As with most things, I plan to embark on this 10 day journey firstly by publicly committing to it (shew!) and then journaling the details every pm and am on a daily basis. Having sealed that, have a wonderful long weekend (if you live in South Africa) and I look forward to starting first thing on Monday morning.