Day 7: Staying determined

You know what? Forget about all that smack I said about giving up. I woke up this morning (at of course, bright and early at 5:30) and realized that I got this far and I should be damn proud of myself. I've been complaining about how difficult this detox has been and it definitely has been a bumpy one but I should be happy that I've been able to get this far.

My nose is still a little clogged and I'm going to stick with my sister's advice that it's probably my body detoxing. Usually, when your body detoxes, the parts of your body that need the detox get bad before it gets better. So I'll take yesterday's allergy attack as that. Plus, on this cleanse, people usually really start detoxing around day 7... I guess I just got mine early.

So last night, I watched Gabe eat his dinner. He had a chicken burger with cheddar cheese, grilled onions and tomatoes with a side southwest salad from Trader Joe's. MMMMMMMMM! It looked really good. After that meal, I was aching for food. Instead of the usual sniff of food to get my fix, I decided to cruise online for a perfect post-fast recipe that can be made in my favorite kitchen tool: the crock pot. I know I'm going to have soup the first day, so I found this yummy looking recipe that has my favorite weird veggie: okra. It says to add canned and frozen stuff but I'll put fresh produce instead. None of that processed, frozen, preservative stuff.

Oh, one more thing. I forgot to mention my favorite part of day 6: Gabe got me a massage and that shiz was AWESOME!!!

Day 6.9

Almost to day 7 and it's been a pretty difficult ride. I've been cleaning more lately. I think I do it so I can keep my mind off food.

I've been getting more stomach aches. Never a head ache but sometimes a tummy problem. I'm tired. Going to watch the rest of the 60 minutes I taped last night. G'nite.

Day 6: Very close to quitting

I'm starting to have a really bad reaction to this cleanse and I don't know if it's working for me... Although I'm not denouncing the Master Cleanse - it changed my life last year. But the whole reason I wanted to do this was to clear out my allergies and find the root of it, which I thought was caused by food.

Then how come I'm sneezing, stuffy nosed and teary eyed? This sucks and leaves me at a crossroads. Should I wait to see if the allergies go away? Should I wait it out? But even if I do wait it out, doesn't that mean food may not even be the reason for these allergies? I mean... I haven't eaten in 6 days! Unless I'm allergic to lemons/limes/cayenne pepper/grade B maple syrup/salt water. Nah, I would have had the reaction from day 1.

This sucks. Off to blow my nose...

Half done

Since I'm in the morning of my fifth day, I'm more like at a medium rare right now. But who's really counting here? The glass is half full, baby!

I went on a cleaning and organizing rampage yesterday. My house looks so good! That's the good side of things.

The bad? As I was saying, my body is feeling fine. Hmm, actually I take that back. Well, you know how I have to do the salt water flush in the morning? I've been waking up before I have to do that and I go to the bathroom anyway - even before the flush. And this may be TMI but whatever. If I gross you out, I gross you out. But I've been feeling like I have to puke in the morning as well. That's a whole new feeling, definitely didn't feel like that last time.

Overall, this time has been a lot more difficult for me. I think my experience before was TOO positive and I psyched myself up for the same feeling here.

My mind is just screwing with me! I'll be watching TV and usually (even when I'm not on the cleanse) I'll see fast food commercials and I'll be disgusted and not tempted at all. But now when I see them I want to be all over it! I was watching Clerks 2 yesterday and I even wanted a burger from Mooby's. Ugh. I think of fruit and vegetables right now and I don't want to have to do with any of it.

I'm hoping and praying to the cleansing gods that I will not crave this stuff when I'm off the cleanse.

Day 4: Staying busy!

It's a new day and it's beautiful outside. Last night was pretty tough for me. Like I said in my earlier post, I really wanted to give up. I wanted to say SCREW IT, I'm eating! But I realized that I'm not even hungry anymore. I'm starting to get that high feeling again. Don't know if that's just me being lightheaded but I definitely feel some sort of high.

I was going to hang with a couple of work buddies today in SF but decided not to go because I really want to take it easy today. I started on Wednesday and worked the first three days on the cleanse. Sorry for those of you I was supposed to meet up with :(

Like the last cleanse, I'm finding myself with a whole lot of free time. I thought that I'd veg out today but I felt disgusting just laying around the house watching TV. So, I talked to an old friend on the phone for a few, got my booty off the couch and cleaned my pigsty of a closet.

Cross your fingers guys! It's gonna be a long weekend for me...

I feel like giving up

Yes, it's true. For all of you who've said they admire me for being able to do this - I actually feel like giving up. I'm not sure if I was this discouraged so early in the game when I did the cleanse the first time.

I was telling my friend, Katie that my experience this time is a lot different. Last time, I used to notice everyone's consumption and was pretty disgusted at how much crap everyone consumes. This time, I think... Ooooh. I want that!

People say that once you get over day three you're all good. I'm nearing the close of that day and it's a bit discouraging to think that I still have a whole week left. GAH!

I'm going to try my hardest to stay on this. My body feels fine. Definitely don't feel like Kelly Kapoor from the Office in last night's hilarious season premiere. But my mind is really getting to me.

Can I smell your lunch? Day 3

Seriously. I want to smell your food and no, it doesn't make it worse for me. I can't describe the feeling well but smelling other people's food is comforting to me. I guess I like to self inflict pain.

I can smell, smell, smell like crazy right now. I was on the BART yesterday and I swear this woman wreaked of onions. I smell B.O. more often and I can just smell everything around me a lot better.

I've also been reading the Master Cleanse bulletin board and it's been very helpful to read about so many people's different experiences.

I'm just so glad it's Friday and that I'll be able to actually sleep in tomorrow. Yay!

Do I have to do the salt water flush?

Yes, you should. If you do decide to do the Master Cleanse, you should do the salt water flush - every day. That's basically why this is called a cleanse. This is the actual part that "cleanses" you. My sister has a good analogy: Doing the Master Cleanse without the salt water flush is like brushing your teeth and not spitting.

More questions you may have been thinking...

Can you drink? Smoke?
No, that negates the whole process! If you're doing this to detox, then no.

So you really can't eat ANYTHING?
Yes, you just drink what I wrote in my last post - the spicy lemonade diet, laxative tea, lots of water and the salt water flush. No foods, no other drinks, just that. Snacking or drinking anything different will cause you to be even more hungry. Remember, eventually, the hunger stops, usually after day three.

Can you exercise?
Last time I did this, I tried running and that was a bad idea - I felt very sick afterward. I've heard that some people have exercised but the best thing to do is listen to your body. Most physical work I'll do in the next few days will probably be brisk walks.

Are you tired?
For the first few days, I'll be tired. My body is in shock right now. But eventually I expect that to go away and I'll have energy throughout the day and sleep well at night. The theory here is that your body usually takes up a lot of energy to digest food. I mean, think about it. Think about all the organs that are involved in just breaking down your food and how much work it takes to do so. Now that your body isn't using that energy to digest food, you'll have this unused energy...

You're surprisingly in an OK mood. How come you're not in a worse mood?
I went into this understanding that I'd be hungry and I was prepared to not feel good for the first few days. I believe that a big part of succeeding and finishing this cleanse is all in your head. If you believe you can do it, you will. If I had too many doubts, I probably would have quit yesterday.

Got any more questions? Let me know.

Day 2 and the Master Cleanse recipe

It's 5:57 a.m. and I've been up for almost an hour. Geh. Every morning I must do a salt water flush. I won't get into great detail with you about this but it's what it sounds like. I must down four cups of water with two teaspoons of salt so that it can run through my body and flush itself out. Because of this daily process, I need to plan accordingly in the morning so that I can be near a bathroom. And since I ride BART every morning, I'd rather not be in transit when I need the ladies room readily available.

Anyway, I know that some of you are interested in participating in this little 10 day exercise. First of all, I really recommend you check out the creator's site and read his book before even starting. The book is a very short read and can be finished in less than a day. The Master Cleanse creator, Stanley Burroughs wrote the original, "The Master Cleanser" and another popular book about the cleanse, "Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days" are both on sale here. If you want to do this, I suggest you read, research and make a fully educated decision before jumping in and starting with ignorance. It'll be much more difficult for you to complete if you go in blind.

Here's the recipe and a few tips from my own experience:

Ingredients
*LOTS of lemons and/or limes, preferably organic
*At least 80 fluid ounces of grade B maple syrup
*1/2 pound of non-iodized sea salt, light gray saltic sea salt
*Cayenne pepper, powdered (organic preferred)
*Box of herbal laxative tea (smooth move)
*Peppermint tea (use
*5 gallons purified water with no fluoride
*3 gallons extra

Recipe
*2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemons or lime juice
*2 tablespoons of grade B organic maple syrup
*1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or 1/8 tspoon)
*8 ounces purified spring water
***Drink at least 6 of these a day

Make sure to CONSTANTLY drink water throughout the day. One good tip... every time you drink the spicy lemonade, drink twice as much water right after. The lemon juice actually tears away at the enamel of your teeth so drinking water right after will help wash your mouth out. Another way to prevent the teeth issue is to drink out of a straw.

2 more wise tips: 1) If you're going to store the pure lemon juice or your drink, don't let it sit in a plastic container that can wear away and put in god knows what kind of plastic chemicals in your drink. 2) The cayenne pepper gets spicier the longer it sits. You might want to add the pepper right before you drink a serving(s).

Every night (including the night before you start it), drink smooth move, laxative tea (1 cup)

*Next morning, drink quart (four cups) of water with 2 teaspoons of salt (drink all in one sitting) – experiment with temp of water to your liking, mix water until salt completely dissolves
Please note: The salt water drink is very difficult to consume. Try to drink it as fast as you can and all in one sitting. You'll have the "urge" soon after. This is really the staple to this detox... This actually CLEANSES you.
Very important: ½ hour to hour, stay near a toilet for the next one hour to half hour – plan day accordingly

Oh no, lunch time! And why I'm doing the cleanse again

Just about an hour ago, I was working at my office desk and thinking "where should I go for lunch?" Then a little tear dripped down from my face. Although I'd really like to eat this I've been gulping down my lemon-maplesyrup-cayennepepper martini. Hold on the olives please.

I've been feeling really reluctant about the cleanse this time. It's almost as if there's this little hungry man in the back of my mind telling me "yo lady! you won't complete it this time around!"

Anyway, to get another perspective on the Master Cleanse, here's this woman's experience: http://www.yestheyrefake.net/lemonade_diet_cleanse_journal.htm

She has before and after pictures. I considered doing that but I'm not doing it this time around to lose weight. As you can tell with my nasaly voice, I have chronic allergies and lately, they've been really bad. When I did the cleanse last year, it was a breath of fresh air. Literally. For the first time in years, I was able to breathe easily out of my nose.

Maybe I can take before and after shots of my nostrils for you :) Eh, that might be weird.

Pre-cleanse

I just ate the last meal before my 2nd annual detox fast, also known as the Master Cleanse. As you know, this will be my second cleanse and I'm actually looking forward to it.

If you were wondering, I didn't think too long and hard about deciphering my last meal. It's like choosing what meal you're going to eat before death row... to a way lesser degree, of course. Anyway, I just ate leftover Indian food from one of my favorite places in Rockridge, Khana Peena on College. Their chicken tikka masala rocks my socks off.

Sorry about the tangent, after all, those chunks of lamb and chicken will be my last chewables for the next 10 days (assuming that I'll make it that far)! So if you're wondering about all the hype, an LA Times blogger wrote an interesting piece and included one bit of information that I thought was quite interesting: "Master Cleanse" was the most searched recipe in 2007 on Google.com.

Off to drink my smooth move tea, stay tuned for more and I'll be sharing the recipe with ya'll tomorrow.

Peace out, homies.