Master Cleanse - Day 10

Day 10! I never thought I would get to this day! I feel quieted and a bit serene, not bursting with energy, just peaceful. Hubby thinks it has damaged my brain. Perhaps it has because I plan on doing this Cleanse every 3 months, making that 4 times a year.

I have lost 4 kgs in weight, 2" off each of my chest, tummy and each thigh.

On waking this morning, I blearily stared down the bottle of Salt Water Flush, chugged it down in 3 phases then bade it a fond farewell! I have found that by taking a big deep breath, drinking deeply to the count of 10 big gulps, stopping for a breather, then repeating this twice more broke it down into manageable portions and helped me to empty the litre bottle. Making the stuff stay down was a mission for me but the strange nauseous feeling passes quite quickly as it works its way down through the colon.

Within a half hour I am desperately thirsty and the freshly made Lemonade is very welcoming indeed. Today I will drink the Lemonade to the last drop and then bid that goodbye too because I can. Tonight will be my first bit of sustenance other than the Lemonade and I will juice some orange and grapefruit diluted with a bit of mineral water. Tomorrow morning, the first day off the Cleanse will start out with the diluted orange and grapefruit juice, a simple vegetable (maybe just cucumber, tomato, celery and carrot) juice for lunch and by suppertime I will be able, I am sure to tolerate a bigger selection of veggies in my juice and then a salad. (I am desperate for something to chew on! Not hungry at all, I just want/need to chew!)

The Salt Water Flush is not a step to be missed out because it is such an important part of the whole Cleanse. Remember I said that the Herbal Senna Tea was like the agitator of your washing machine, with the Salt Water being the Rinse Cycle. This morning, with the Salt Water Flush behind me (pun), I was reminded of a funny little incident involving my 4 year old grandson Joshua:
One day, just before his 4Th birthday, I asked him (the way Nanas do) who he would be inviting to his upcoming birthday party. His reply was an emphatic "NO girls!"
Prompting him a bit, and reminding him that his favourite cousin Hannah was a girl, and his good friend Mackenzie was a girl, and even pointed out that Nana was a girl. Did that mean we all couldn't come to his party as well?
He capitulated and his little face softened - of course we could come, but just not Lucy (named changed because they have since made friends).
Pushing him further, I tried to find out why not Lucy?
He was absolutely adamant and his chest enfolded itself inside his arms as they folded nearly halfway round his little body, thus clutched, his eyes closed for dramatic effect and he articulated slowly as if I was a little slow to catch on:
"Because I just don't like her! She is not pleasant to me (pleasant? where does a 4 years old get words like that?), so she is NOT coming to my party." And for emphasis added: "NO, she's NOT!"
I felt like saying that to the bottle of salt water this morning but I knew that even though it wasn't pleasant to me, the effects were that I was 4kg shy of my normal weight and I couldn't fault that. Nor could I fault the 2 inch loss around various strategic parts of my body!

I must say that I have been thinking about those Vietnamese Raw Spring Rolls with dipping sauce, a lot. Maybe that's what I'll make for supper tomorrow night. But I will keep the posts going, especially since this is to be a predominently Raw Food experience.

Master Cleanse - Day 8

With the end in sight, okay through a telescope, but in sight just the same, I type triumphantly knowing that I am not going to fall through the cracks! I am not going to be on the side of the "couldn't do its". Rather, as I approach the final days, I can hear that flag song playing in my ears, waving me on...

Talking about the Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet/Fast. I won't tell lies, it wasn't easy, but then, it wasn't that difficult either. You actually don't need skills, you can do it. The next one I do will be with Maple Syrup I have managed to import by the gallon! Going through those little bottles at the rate of 1 bottle every 2 days makes it an expensive local purchase but I will share a little secret with you..Pick n Pay sells the exact same thing as the Health Shop for half the price! Only bought one bottle right at the end, because Wednesday will be the last day - DAY 10!

The weekend breezed by with Hubby and me taking a trip to Uvongo where we visited a very nicely stocked Bonsai Nursery. He settled on a Baobab (so cute, but immature and needing a bit of work and obviously a lot of time), a Karoo Boer Boon tree and a sweeping Juniper. He bagged some clever ideas on how to bonsai a bougainvillea (but purchasing that was Sunday's excursion). On the way home he decided he was feeling hungry and wouldn't make it home to fire up the braai in time to fortify himself, so we forced an emergency pitstop, making an unhealthy detour and stocked up on some Steers 'burgers and chips. I, on the other hand, tried hard to keep the self-righteous expression from my face as I downed the last of my packed "lemonade" and chased it down with a mineral water, stoutly refusing kind offers my way. I sauntered casually away from the outside table while Hubby scoffed his 'burger and chips to explore the usual basket ware, bead work and tablecloths on offer, alongside butter avos and bananas.

Did you know you can freeze bananas and then blend them into smoothies once you have run them under water just to get the white frost off to facilitate easy peeling. A blender or smoothie maker is a wonderful gadget, especially if you haven't the time to "juice" fruits in the morning. I like to plonk paw paw or papaya into the jug, add a couple of frozen bananas, a handful of strawberries and a pear, then whizz that up to creamy consistency. A little added cold filtered water makes it very drinkable! Fruit, fruit juice or fruit smoothies are imperative first thing in the morning up to lunchtime (not recommended after lunch because the fruit on a tummy filled with proteins or even salads will just sit there and putrefy). Why? Well in the early hours of the morning, and up to midday, your body is in elimination mode. Fruit aids elimination. Thereafter, you need to fortify and supplement with FOOD or veggie juices. But then, I'm sure you know this.

It's been so wonderful to cut up little morsels of organic veg which my garden offers up every now and then. Not in vast quantities, mind, but enough for salads, cut up and attractively arranged, a snippet of some chard, some frilly red lettuce, tiny slivers of spring onions, my own little tomatoes (yellow rosa and red ones), garnished with fresh herbs such as oregano, basil and artistically finished with thin spikes of garlic chive. Add some olives, some pickled mushrooms (I sliced up a punnet of ordinary mushrooms last week and crammed them into a jar, mixed up some vinegar, a dash of olive oil, mustard seeds, salt and honey to taste and poured this dressing over before tightly closing the lid and replacing in the 'fridge). Pickled mushrooms are quick to make and make a lovely salad enhancement. Leftover braaied chicken from the weekend will be sliced over the top of this salad and Voila! Tonight's repast for Hubby and Mom.

Me? I'm just drinking Lemonade and when that's finished, then herbal laxative tea - through my teeth, because it isn't pleasant. Not by a long shot. Tomorrow..tomorrow is Tuesday - Day 9 but I am still waiting for that 'Walkin' on Sunshine' feeling. Hasn't happened yet, but I am poised in anticipation.

The Master Cleanse - Day 5 The Halfway Mark

Oh bliss! Today is Friday and that means it's the 5th Day of the Lemonade Cleanse.
Drinking the tea last night was a pleasant experience, simply because we had a friend over for dinner. His late wife was a very dear friend of mine and although I wasn't eating, it was a pleasure to cook for the two men. Mom's dinner was an organic butternut and sweet potato soup with small selection of dinner rolls, which she was more than happy with as she really doesn't enjoy pasta, and, being 85 I don't make a big issue if there are things she honestly isn't happy with.

I tossed fresh pasta with basil pesto, added the tiniest and cutest little Roma tomatoes I have ever seen, roughly sliced 3 buttery avos, lightly steamed and chilled prawns and served this with a gratings of fresh Parmesan and black pepper. They had a warm roll selection and ate with gusto, their conversation so animated and intense that they did not even notice when I removed the large serving bowl from between them (after they had helped themselves to thirds!) and quietly replaced it with a cheese platter accompanand by little garlic and rosemary crostini and a confit of figs in light syrup.

Illy plunger coffee and little puddings with cherry preserve on top and hidden inside, dusted with a light shower of chocolate, brought the evening to a warm and convivial close as we bowed heads and thanked the Lord for all the new things He has planned for our friend. I sipped peppermint tea and then the herbal laxative tea and really and truly, apart from feeling a little tempted, felt quite comfortable chatting and sipping my herbal brew. It's easy to forget for instance when your fingers are sticky with chocolate, or you are slicing avos, that you can't taste and lick. Not even to see if there is enough salt in the pasta dish.

This morning the salt water went down the way it always does - with claws, dragging and kicking till the last drop. Well, not really, I never get to the last drop, I sort of leave about 1/2 cupful of salt water in the bottle, because it stubbornly refuses to get past the back of my tongue. Ack!

I feel good, not great, just good. I have energy and plan to shampoo carpets this afternoon instead of having a nap (that's a good sign isn't it?). Halfway to 10 Days and with the weekend in sight, that's enough reason to be upbeat. Sadly I won't be able to share my Hubby's Birthday Dinner with him tonight, but I sure will cook that Peri-Peri Calamari with Chourico Lemon and Parsley from the recipe he proudly sent a couple of days ago. I can do this, I can sip my herb brew and flash-fry marinated baby calimari tubes into hot Verlaque Bird's Eye Chili oil and butter and watch as the butter foams and curls it brown at the edges. I can do this because I have watched the Tooth Fairy!

The Master Cleanse - Day 3

Day 3 elimination stage over, i.e. the Salt Water Flush. I managed the dreaded stuff only leaving a tiny bit at the bottom of the litre bottle, but it sure feels wonderful to wake up to no nausea and no headache. I even had a fitful night's sleep last night. The MSM powder just under the tongue trick is too wonderful and I resorted to doing that at least 3 times yesterday (Day 2) for the pain. Just the tip of a tsp, mind, because it is not only a pain-reliever but it is also a powerful detoxifier in its own right. Did I mention that if you place it directly under the tongue, it is absorbed straight into the bloodstream bypassing the gut, and hits the spot far more quickly than just swallowing it with some water.

I can even face the Lemonade drink today and have polished off 3 glasses already and its only mid-morning. On Day 2 I could hardly get the stuff down and had to dispose of at least 2 glasses down the sink.

This morning, I commented that it was a beautiful, sunny day and Hubby cautioned: "No walking!" He must have read my mind because that was exactly what I was planning, but he is right. Tomorrow I will probably be feeling more up to it and will tackle a bit of my old route and see how I go.

Last night's supper options were "freezer specials" for the family and Hubby chose Chili Con Carne with buttered rye bread and for Mom it was Veggie Soup with buttered rye bread. Both were more than happy and I disappeared for a long hot soak in the bath with a cup of organic peppermint tea. I must say that my food thoughts are leaning more and more toward the raw spring rolls with dipping sauce I made some nights ago (you'll find the recipes on a previous blog if you page back). Hubby emailed me a recipe for Peri-Peri Calamari With Chouriço, Parsley and Preserved Lemon with a small hopeful note: Mmmmh...sounds like supper? I replied, not likely, sounds like hard work and specially since I have to sniff up all those smells - maybe tomorrow.

I know its early days still, but the whites of my eyes seem whiter and brighter and the white coating (something to expect) on my tongue is only in the middle, surrounded by pink again. From what I have read, an indication that your body is returning to a normal (non-toxic state) is that the colour of the tongue should be a nice healthy pink colour, all over.

Smiling again, I lift my glass of Lemonade and drink it down. I must say, I do quite like it!

Roll on this evening because tomorrow will be Day 4 and then I am "over the hump" so to speak. I believe that it just gets better from here on, physically I mean. Boredom and food cravings are the next hurdles to overcome. Oh well, I can always chew on the pages of the Rawlicious Cookbook if I promise not to swallow any paper.
By pre-tearing it into tiny even shreds, or making torn paper patterns, that should alleviate some of the boredom at the same time.

Master Cleanse Day 2

Second day today and it is really scary how I feel. If it wasn't for the fact that I KNOW that keeping up to the end will yield the results I want, I would have stopped it last night! My head is pumping and joints are aching, and I feel sluggish and very tired. Slept lightly throughout the night and battled with nausea, so drinking the Salt Water Flush this morning was a real struggle. In fact, I didn't finish the whole litre, probably left a small glassful in the bottle, but I understand that it does get easier, so probably by tomorrow (the 3rd day) it will fine.

Here are some excerpts from Peter Glickman's book "Taking Charge of your Health with the Master Cleanse":

"Detox symptoms are what you feel when toxins are mobilized, but
not yet eliminated. They are a double-edged sword. Detox symptoms
are a milestone in the detoxifying process. They indicate you are
mobilizing and eliminating toxins. Unfortunately, they do not make
you feel good."

"It is important for someone on the Master Cleanse to know what
detox symptoms are and that they typically go away after the next
morning’s eliminations. It is next to impossible to go through ten
consecutive days of cravings or tiredness with no relief in sight, but
when you know those feelings will be gone with tomorrow’s
eliminations, anyone can make it through the Master Cleanse."

On the headaches, he writes:

"Headaches and other aches. Very few people on the Master
Cleanse get headaches or other aches: in my experience perhaps
5% or less. Those who get headaches have heavy caffeine habits (that's me thank you! Cappuccino addict!)
before going cold turkey on the Master Cleanse. These headaches
lasted three to five days. Other people may have aches and pains
from previous illnesses for a few days before these aches and
pains disappear a few days later. A friend had very severe
hemorrhoids previous to the Master Cleanse. They appeared a
few days after he started and went away a few days later. It was
his impression that they would not be back.

Funnily enough, my one rib began to ache last night from an old injury when I fell off my bike a while ago. It hasn't bugged me since it healed, but apparently there must still be some unfinished toxic business around the soft tissue. Well, hopefully this will dissipate as Peter G says it should in a couple of days!

One important point to note here - my headache was so bad all night that this morning I placed a small amount (tip of a teaspoon) of MSM powder under my tongue and in virtually no time at all, the stinging behind my right eye had gone. MSM is an organic sulfur which is produced in the body naturally and is responsible for just about every cell in the body. It is also a known natural pain reliever.

Other than that, apart from extreme tiredness (I must be very toxic - all the more reason to continue to the end), I am moving on slowly. Family dinner last night was shamefully a bought vegetable curry and rice from the local Supermarket for Mom, but Hubby decided to have a salad with springbok carpaccio (which we had in the snack drawer of the 'fridge - so that was handy), sprinkled with Bragg's liquid aminos, a little organic olive oil and finished with a grinding of pepper. I had bought a fresh loaf of rye and onion bread from the local baker and this was appreciated by both of them.

I will have to think about tonight's repast, but thankfully Hubby is fully supportive of this Cleanse, so will understand and step in if I ask nicely. Mom on the other hand can't for the life of her see why someone would deliberately make themselves feel ill. "Just stop it for goodness sake and eat a nice sandwich or something!"

Master Cleanse Day 1

Monday mornings are always a little on the blue side, but this particular one had navy streaks written all across it!

6:00 am and the wind is howling, lifting white licks of foam across the ocean. My backyard lawn is sporting the neighbours' trampolene, upside down, just having narrowly missed my lovely little veggie garden. The monstrosity must have flown right over their wall, clearing our line of palm trees to land where it did!

After weighing myself (being the start of this Cleanse) and measuring tummy, hips and chest, I eyed my litre of salt water blearily and downed it. No, not all in one go, I sort of closed the back of my throat (?) and poured it down; checked the level in the bottle, heart-sinkingly noticing that it wasn't even past the halfway mark. I just couldn't do it - it was not the best, first thing in the morning but I swallowed on. The stuff threatened to come back up again and I suddenly felt sick, but I finished it, every last drop.

Well, they say don't move too far from the loo in the first 1/2 hour and they are right. A short while later, I managed to freshly squeeze my lemons, measure out 2 Tbsp per glass, multiply that by 10 (because I planned on having 10 glasses during the rest of the day), then I did the same for the maple syrup. Adding that to my large bottle of chilled mineral water, I tossed in 1 level tsp of Organic Cayenne Pepper (luckily I like this taste) and gave the whole mixture a good shake. The first glass tasted really pleasant and I knew I was going to be okay.

Feeling a bit fluey, complete with sniffy nose (which I understand is normal, and will probably get worse before it clears completely), I went for a quiet lie down and had a light sleep for about an hour. It wasn't really necessary as I have not felt depleted at all, but I normally go for a brisk walk on a Monday morning and as the weather was so inclement, I couldn't do that, so I gave in and tucked back up in bed. Throughout the day I drank glasses of the "lemonade", knowing that if I ran out I could always make a bit more, but the 10 glass quantity was quite sufficient for me.

This evening, after having a long hot soak in the bath, I drank a cup of Senna Herbal Tea and made up the Salt Water Flush for tomorrow morning (oh joy!) and, after having watched Australia's Master Chef competition on telly, it's time to turn in. Gosh, that Crochenbouche with praline and creme patisserie looked so good! I can't say at this stage what I would like to eat once off this Cleanse, but no doubt visions of many types of Sugar Plums will dance around in my head before the time is up, but hopefully I will start craving carrot and beetroot spirals by that time.

Night night.

Master Cleanse - Just Before The Start

Reading through my recently purchased book entitled 'Rawlicious' by Peter and Beryn Daniel, I have been amused, entertained and enlightened. According to Peter: "There is a big difference between information and knowledge. What you are reading now is simply information. If you test out these concepts and practice the principles, you will have personal experience, which is knowledge."

Knowledge is what I am after, not just information, so being results focussed, this inspirational observation, I decided, would be the motivator for me to take those first steps to make those better fundamental food choices and thus help toward building a healthier lifestyle; one which would pay off in the long term and hopefully serve as a motivation for my family and friends along the way.

The Master Cleanse or "Lemonade Diet" made sense to me and having spent most of the past weekend reading many of the success stories posted on various forums across the web, as well as reading of other people's struggles, learning from their questions and the answers to those questions and their ultimate "victories" as each one successfully completed their own particular journey, whether it be for 3 days or 40. I have decided that 10 days on the Master Cleanse would be the most beneficial for me personally to start out with, with an extra 2 days afterwards to come off the Cleanse properly, according to the book gently weaning the body back onto solids (hopefully wiser choices here and not just straight back into old bad eating habits).

I purchased Canadian Maple Syrup (250g) from the local Health Shop at around R145 (ouch!) This is not going to be enough to go the whole 10 days as I will be needing at least 2.36 kg to be sufficient to make up at least 8 - 10 glasses a day at 60 grams per glass. I need to buy this stuff online but because I wanted to get on with the Cleanse without waiting, I will "bite the bullet" and bear the extra expense this time round. Hopefully I can bring in enough next time to be able to pass the extra savings on to friends and family.

Tonight just before bedtime, I have to drink a cup of Herbal Laxative Tea, preferably one with Senna. Nothing else added - no sweetener, no honey, just as is. By my bedside I will have ready 1 litre of pure water (filtered or pure spring water or bottled mineral water) to which I have added 2 tsp of grey Celtic Sea Salt. (Could not find the Celtic Sea Salt but will use the Himalayan Pink Salt until I find the salt I need). The reason for the Celtic Sea Salt is that it contains huge levels of minerals and trace elements which the body will need. The salt water acts as a Flush and the Herbal Laxative Tea is the Agitator (like a washing machine). Oh boy! I am so looking forward to downing one whole glass of salt water first thing in the morning - doesn't it sound yummy? Then, half an hour later will be my first sip of "Lemonade", which I am sure will be known from that moment on as my Best Friend. The only nourishment to see me through the dark, lonely, hungry hours...and days.

For One glass of Lemonade:
1 glass of mineral water
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemons (or lime). Interestingly enough, you can juice the whole thing, pith, peel the lot BUT only if they are ORGANIC, otherwise they are to be squeezed
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
1/8th tsp (just the tip) or more if you can tolerate it Organic Cayenne Pepper

Night Night!