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Why do they call it a 'fast' when it feels so 'slooooow?'
So I just started a new cleanse.
I've done it before but unlike previous attempts that lasted for a maximum of ten days, this one I'm keeping open-ended. If I feel like it, and if I feel good, I'm going to keep going.
I first discovered the Master Cleanse in 1997 at the age of 29.
It was a drug-addict who introduced me to it. She has unsuccessfully tried the cleanse to kick her drug habit but could only last a couple of days.
For my first attempt, I did it with a couple of buddies. We lasted the whole ten days. It was a wild experience. I'd never done anything like it before and it helped me to quit smoking cigarettes.
During 1998, at the age of 30, I did the cleanse three times, each time for ten days. I think that year was the healthiest I'd ever been as an adult. I was cigarette free, drug free, alcohol free, coffee free and I exercised five days a week at the gym. I never had so much as a sniffle.
Alas, I never kept up with such a sensible lifestyle.
As my thirties progressed, my bad habits crept back and while I've dabbled in the cleanse sporadically over the years, I've never gotten back on track like in '98.
I finally gave up the cigarettes five years ago, but replaced the habit with a terrible diet and gained a massive amount of weight in the process. I ballooned from 205 lbs to 260 within 18 months and I've been holding steady at that weight ever since. (And truthfully, I was probably 20 lbs overweight to begin with!)
I've done the cleanse twice since then, lost loads of weight, but the weight simply came back.
I also developed a chronic condition called 'blepharitis' which basically causes a series of painful sties to erupt along my upper eye lids. I tried everything the doctor gave me: antibiotic cream, drops....etc but nothing worked.
When I last did the cleanse at the beginning of this year, my blepharitis flared up terribly. I wasn't alarmed because it's not unusual for underlying conditions to worsen on the fast, it's often part of the healing process.
Following the fast, I never had a flare up of the blepharitis for over 7 months! Prior to the fast, I was in a constant cycle of flare-ups.
So that was proof positive to me of the beneficial aspects of the master cleanse. It helped give me some long term relief from what is a chronic condition.
Anyway, the bleph is back (still not as bad as before) so I'm embarking upon another fast.
BUT - this one is going to be different.
First of all, my hope is not to simply get relief from the blepharitis, but I want this cleanse to be the beginning of a new lifestyle, based on a sensible, healthy diet and exercise.
I'm also leaving it open. I may go longer than ten days if I can handle it. I may also go on a hardcore diet following the fast.
And the other thing that's unusual about this cleanse, is that I'm doing it in conjunction with juicing. Along with my lemonade drinks, I'm going to drink about 1 or 2 glasses of fresh juice a day. I'm not following a specific plan here but I have a juicing book and I'm going to experiment and modify my approach as I go.
Anyway, I am about to embark upon day three.
It took me a while to psyche myself up for this (which is usually the case with me.) I was supposed to start a week ago but I keep procrastinating and messing around and breaking down at some point during the day.
But what I did do was I quit coffee a good week before I started the fast.
I have a terrible coffee habit. I drink buckets of it, loaded with cream and sugar. And as anyone knows who's tried to quit a serious coffee habit, the withdrawal can be horrible.
In fact, I used the fast once to quit coffee cold turkey and I was incapacitated for the first two days, with a chronic headache, and an overall feeling of uneasiness and nausea.
But this time, I weaned myself off the coffee before starting the fast.
So....
Saturday, Oct. 17th - Day 1. 260 lbs.
Along with my lemonade drinks, I made one glass of fresh juice: (Beet, Carrot, Apple).
I didn't do the salt water or the laxative tea. I find that it's best not to do either of those for the first two days. There's still too much solid waste in your system that will work itself out naturally. In fact, doing the salt water on the first day is a nasty business. It's much better to wait until your system is empty, then you'll reap the rewards of the salt water cleanse and the tea.
Sunday, Oct 18th - Day 2 255 lbs.
Great news when I weighed myself. I was 255 lbs!
I'd lost 5 lbs since gearing up for the cleanse (I previously weighed myself about a week earlier.)
Along with the lemonade, I made two glasses of fresh juice: (Beets, Carrot, Apple, Ginger.)
I have to say, that juice is delicious!
And I had plenty of bowel movements today. I think I emptied myself out today. I'll probably do my first salt water on day four.
Today, I plan to hit the gym for the first time since the fast began. I've been dabbling with it on and off leading up to the fast but I plan to go regularly during the cleanse.
I had a few hunger pangs this evening for the first time on the cleanse. Not so much hunger 'pangs' but rather, 'ideas' about food. I actually weaned myself off food gradually before the fast began. I had only one meal on Friday so by Saturday, I was halfway in the mode.
Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good right now. I feel like I've settled in for the ride and I'm just going to focus on the experience of the cleanse, not worry about hitting a specific end date, and I'm going to use this time to plan out a new lifestyle for myself.
Wish me luck!
Last edited by Billy Shears on Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:25 am, edited 14 times in total.
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