Master Cleanse Forum - Master Cleanser Lemonade Diet

this is my third cleanse, and i plan to stay on it for 14 days. yesterday was supposed to be day one - and it was going really well until the migraine started at about 3pm. i managed to stay out the rest of my work day, but by about 9, i was experiencing some of the worst pain i've ever had! (i'm a marathon runner so that's saying a lot.) the last time i remember having that much head pain was during a severe sinus infection. and then, i had the luxury of being able to take pain pills, so i called the doctor and he was merciful to write me a prescription for some heavy duty tylenol with codeine.

last night, i had no such luck. when it got to the point where i was about to throw up, i decided to throw in the towel. i heated up some vegetable broth and sipped on it and chewed a few carrot slices and unsalted peanuts. i took two extra-strength tylenol and felt better within an hour. my husband asked me if i was going to continue - i really wasn't in any place to make a plan. i'd been spending hours meditating and concentrating on pain management. i just needed sleep.

so today i'm giving it another go! i had already taken the tea last night, so i did my swf again this morning (wow it was intensely salty tasting compared to yesterday) and experienced some really great results from that. so now i'm feeling pretty good. thank goodness it's the weekend - i will never plan to start a fast on a work day again! i walked my dog this morning, watered the lawn, and went back to sleep for a while. now i'm sipping on my lemonade and some water. i'm so proud of myself for keeping on - i figured if i was going to go through so much agony yesterday, i didn't want it to go for nothing you know?

it's back on day one, but i'm only a day behind, not a big deal. and even though i did eat a little bit last night, i hope that by mostly fasting i'll have a lot of the detox unpleasantless behind me, but i'm prepared for more struggles.

i'm keeping my sights on day five - day five is usually a dreamy, clear day for me on the cleanse.

checking in - now officially at the end of day 2 (i'm not adding friday to my count, but i still think i will reap benefits from friday, since i fasted for most of the day).

i'm keeping up with the cleanse, and am so proud of myself for keeping on despite my slip on friday. the headaches have mostly subsided, but i spent a lot of today exhausted and in a state of emotional upheaval. (just to warn you, the next sentence might be tmi...) after the swf, i passed a lot of green liquid, which i'm guessing must be bile. bile lives in the gall bladder and liver - two centers of your body that store rage. something serious was going on for sure! i slept a lot today, but i also took a 3 and a half mile walk and did a lot of cleaning and laundry. i got a couple of delicious, fruity herbal teas to enjoy. i'm a big coffee drinker, so i need yummy hot beverages to replace that. i love the mint tea, but it's nice to have some variety.

tomorrow i have to go back to work - i'm really worried that it's going to be a rough week. i love my job, but it's very stressful, and i don't want to fail. i suppose i will have to take the next five days like i did the weekend: one day at a time. i think that will be the trick for me this time. i'm a marathoner, and have learned in those long long runs to take it one mile at a time when it's tough. i can do this!

so i'm at the end of day 3, and i'm retaining water big time! as of this morning, i had lost a total of 4 pounds, but i'm considering avoiding the scale for the next couple of days. i think it's a combination of a huge amount of toxins in my body waiting to be flushed, and the fact that my tea last night was a bit weak. my eliminations today were definitely successful, but i'm used to waking up to the urgent need to visit the restroom due to the tea. i would do another swf, but it's kind of late.

the fatigue wasn't as bad as i thought it would be at all. headaches were a minimum, and the hunger wasn't bad. i expected to need to make another batch of lemonade when i got home, but it looks like i'll be fine with 6 glasses.

At the end of day 5 (6 total days, day 1 not counting). Yesterday and today I have had so much energy - I can't even compare it to the first few days! I've lost a total of 5 pounds so far, and my desire for food has, for the most part, gone away. I miss the routine of eating at this point. I'm trying to replace the comfort of foods with other comforts. For example, now that I have the energy to exercise, I'm replacing that immediate rush to food when I get home from work with exercise. I want to start craving a walk with my dog over a bite of food. While I was walking Seamus tonight, I felt really content in our companionship. I concentrated on letting nature feed me - the clean air, the birds chirping, and the pattering of my dog's feet on the pavement. I felt very harmonious.

I can't remember the last time I've felt this good. I don't think I felt this good the first time I cleansed, but I really don't remember. I'm more focused at work, I can't even describe how well I'm sleeping, and my mood is improving. I have my moments of irritability, but they pass with a few gulps of lemonade.

Even the swf this time around isn't so bad - it's mind over matter. I imagine myself chugging my favorite beer and it goes by quickly. I will need to remind myself that beer won't be allowed very often from now on, but if it helps me get down a quart of salt water, I'm going to do what I need to do. I make my lemonade while I'm drinking the swf, and leave the tablespoon with the syrup residue as my "treat" for when I finish the salt water. It immediately settles my stomach, can't believe I never thought of doing that before.

I've had lots of dreams that I'm eating. Last night I dreamed that I ate a bunch of doughnuts but they had no taste - it was like eating dust. I'm hoping that moving forward I never eat a doughnut ever again - that's a lofty but really good goal I think!

At the end of day 7... Today was so hard for me. There was a company lunch BBQ, and one of the guys in my office brought in cake for everyone and left it sitting there in our area - I could smell the cake from across the room! I lit a candle to distract myself from the scent but it was hard. I was ravenous all morning and had to keep my lemonade close by. The BBQ lunch was almost unbearable, watching everyone eat. I'm a vegetarian and kept reminding myself that normally I wouldn't want any of that junk, until I saw the fruit salad. That was truly tempting.

But I'm proud to say that I made it the whole day without eating a bite. I was looking forward to a quiet, easy weekend with a few plans, but my father has decided to make a surprise, last-minute visit. Agh! I told him that I'm fasting and I think he will be cool about it, but I'm really nervous. I know that I'm a different person while I'm fasting, and I wasn't prepared to share that side of myself with anyone but my co-workers and my husband. Normally I would insist that I not have any visitors, but he's been sick all Summer. I haven't seen him since Father's Day. The fact that he wants to come for a weekend visit is such a wonderful surprise I can't say no! I'll just take it one day (or one hour if necessary) at a time. The good thing is, his presence here will make my life bearable.

Since I'm officially over the halfway mark of my cleanse, it's really hard not to start thinking that I'm on the home stretch. I'm counting down the number of lax teas I have to drink and the number of salt water baths. It's probably a little bit premature, and I'm worried that I might stop early. As good as Tuesday-Thursday were, I'm disappointed in myself for having doubts, especially after resisting so much temptation today.

I suppose the plan now is one lemon, one hour, one day at a time and I will get there to day 14.

Day 8 - I'm happy to say that today is going much better than yesterday.

It started out poorly - my husband and I saw an improv show last night and didn't get to bed until late, but I had to be up at 6:30 to take my car in for service. I rushed through the swf and managed to get to the dealership and back before it ran its course. I was so grumpy and emotional! I was needy for my husband, cramping because my "Aunt Sally" decided to visit early, and feeling discouraged by how many days I have left to go. We cleaned up the house for my father's arrival and I took an hour nap. When I woke up from my nap, I felt like a different person! I felt like that little hour of sleep had scrubbed away all the negativity and I was ready to start fresh.

I planned ahead this week and booked a deep tissue massage at my favorite sports medicine place - they treated a muscle injury I had a year ago and they're fantastic. The massage felt divine, and I think it's helped with the detox. I've had two solid eliminations since then - which I never have during the day - and have made sure to drink plenty of water. I know the general rule is not to have more water than lemonade, but I don't want to be too sore or even sick from the massage.

My father and step mother are very cool with the fast, although it's hard for them to understand that I'm not eating anything at all. Right now they're napping upstairs so I can relax! I'm cuddled up in a sweater and house shoes (so cold all the time!) fragrant with tiger balm and I have a cup of India Spice hot tea. Today I'm happy to say I've experienced very little hunger and weakness. And after today, I have only six days left. It doesn't seem that long to me at all now.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going on a 7-mile run with my father. I'll be interested to see how that goes... and I need to figure out when to do my swf. I guess I'll do it later, when we get home. Supposedly you can take the swf at any time, so I don't think that will hurt anything. It might actually be more beneficial to flush after the run, because the run will certainly stir up some toxins!

Day 9 - It feels very strange to be drinking my lemonade so early, but I'm trying to pound through 2 or 3 glasses before my run. I also have a glass prepared in a water bottle to carry during the run, so I should have enough nutrients to make it through 7 miles. These four glasses of lemonade are going to be in addition to my normal 6 glasses with the hope of staving off any weakness or undue fatigue.

We have a relaxing day planned ahead for after the run - breakfast with dad at Whole Foods (which means herbal tea and electrolyte enhanced water for me), naps, and watching Allison in Wonderland later. Tonight we'll probably do a Wii Fit Tournament, as my step mother has called a snowball fight competition!

I've lost a total of 9 pounds. Weight loss is more of a perk for me with the cleanse than anything else. While I want to get down to a goal weight (only five pounds to go now!), the real goal is to be healthier. I can lose weight with a low-calorie, healthy diet. I was having a really hard time sticking to healthy options. Lately I'm only craving the healthy stuff. We went to an interior Mexican restaurant last night (fresher options than Tex-Mex), and instead of craving cheese and chips, I was craving healthy stuff: the fresh cut fruit, guacamole, and salsa. My husband made the interesting observation that those are all fruit derived dishes. Fortunately I was happy to sip iced tea and leave it at that. For my first restaurant trip since starting the fast, I did really well.

Last night, of course, I was craving avocado. I've decided to add that to my post-cleanse diet regimen. Yesterday I gathered together a few of my favorite vegan soup and stew recipes, and I'm going to put together a go-to packet of the things I'll eat for the month after my cleanse. Hopefully I can keep off the weight and stay healthy that way.

The last time I cleansed I was so impatient on day 9. All I could think about was that I only had one more day until I could eat again. This time it's so different. I know that tomorrow is day 10 and after that I'll be on the home stretch with four days to go. While of course I'm looking forward to eating again, I don't resent the fact that I can't have food. I'm perfectly fine with my two post-cleanse days on a liquid diet. I am, however, looking forward to seeing my tongue clear up (hopefully before I break the fast), and to no more senna tea or salt water flushes.

The run was successful! Not my best time, but it was very far from my worst time. At Whole Foods, I visited the juice bar to see if they could prepare the cleanse lemonade for me. Turns out they don't have the supplies stocked behind bar, but the guy recommended a concoction of kale, celery, carrots, and cucumber with just a teensy bit of apple. It sounded so good, I caved and had it.

So I made a mistake, I cheated, and I don't know whether it will interrupt the detox process or not. I know a couple of people at work who had a green drink or two while on the cleanse to recover from a hard workout and they didn't experience any negative side effects. My guess is that my body needed the greens badly for recovery assimilated the foods within moments, and that it will not affect the cleanse. I could be wrong and there could be consequences - but it was worth it to run with my father. I made a choice and I'll deal with the results. Plus - I felt fantastic after the run. I highly recommend a hard workout to any of you looking for a good way to detox. Just make sure to take lemonade for the road, as sips every 10-20 minutes seem to be crucial.

So far, it seems like I'm still well on the detox path. My tongue is still coated, I still have a ninja sense of smell, and my feet are freezing. I did my swf when I got home and was extremely pleased with the results.