Master Cleanse - Day 1
I've officially started day one of my (hopefully) 20 day journey to weight loss and better health. For those who haven't heard of the Master Cleanse, here's what it entails:
- morning "saline wash" of 2 tsp non-iodized sea-sale with 32 oz of spring water
- 6-12 8 oz glasses of "lemonade," each glass a mixture of 8 oz spring water, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 2 tbsp grade B organic maple syrup, and 1/10 tsp of cayenne pepper
- evening cup of senna combo herb tea
The idea is that the lemon juice breaks down mucus and other junk lining your intestines (which in my case have been building up for almost 28 years), the maple syrup provides sugar calories and some minerals, and the cayenne pepper dialates blood vessels, provides more vitamins and minerals, and also fights hunger.
The purpose of the saline wash and herbal tea are to flush out everything the lemonade mixture mobilizes, from mucus to parasites to toxins stored in fat cells. The herb tea is a laxitive tea, which is also supposed to keep intestinal muscles from getting lazy due to lack of solid food. But the lack of solid food is also supposed to give intestinal linings time to rest and heal after, in my case, 27 years of abuse on the Standard American diet.
Fair warning... from this point on, posts may be more graphic than some people care to read. The whole point of the cleanse is "detoxification and elimination," so yes, I will be reporting on both the topics of detoxing AND eliminating. =)
So far today I've done the saline wash, though I probably won't have any lemonade until lunch time. The herb tea I took last evening had no effect, but I had just eaten a whole lot of carbs so it probably all got absorbed. The morning saline wash is supposed to work within an hour of taking it, but it took two hours for me. I expect it will start working faster once I've rid my system of solid matter. I've been eating hugely for the last week since I had visitors in town, so I'll probably have solid stuff in my system until tomorrow.
At the moment, I'm starting to get hungry. Hopefully my "lunch" lemonade will make that go away, though my biggest concerns are for day 2 and day 3 when I no longer have solid stuff in my system. I keep reading that days 2 and 3 are the worst... coating of the tongue, massive hunger and cravings, grumpiness, headaches if coming off caffeine, lack of energy, flu-like symptoms. By day 4 all of that is supposed to go away, but we'll see.
The ONLY reason I decided to start this during a work week is a) Brandon is out of town, so he won't be around to give me a hard time until I'm well into the cleanse, and b) my hairdresser, who spends her entire day on her feet, was doing the cleanse the last time I saw her and having no problems with working a normal day. That was encouraging. =)
End of Day 1:
I am so effing TIRED! Part of the problem was working a 10 hour day while eating nothing solid, but I really am worn down. I didn't get through my "daytime" portion of the lemonade, so I only drank the equivalent of 4 glasses, which isn't enough. I just didn't have the energy to prepare an evening batch, and instead crashed out in front of the TV for an hour and a half. It's 8:45 now, and I'm headed to bed. I may just be one of those types who has to "take is easy."