FInal Thoughts: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Instead, it will happen in your mind and your colon.

I WILL be doing this cleanse again. I loved my experience on it. I learned a lot about the power of my mind and it's relationship to food. I've become a raw food fan. And am thoroughly loving fruits and vegetables more. Yes, I have eaten junkie foods like pizza and even had tequila recently! But I'm more aware of how food affects my body and am more cognizant of what I put in it.

I even got some relatives and friends to start the cleanse already.

Reccomendations for those of you thinking about the cleanse:

- Dedicate your fast to make it meaningful and to keep you mindful about other things than your ego.
- Drink the right amount of fluids
- Do not do this solely for weight loss! It is a detox. This is not a crash diet, homies. You will lose weight but you will gain at least some of it back.
- DON'T FART.
- Read other people's blogs and forums.
- Eat raw after! You'll feel fabulous.

That is all. Until my next cleanse...

Breaking the Fast Day 3/4

YESTERDAY:

Brekkie: 1 nectarine
Lunch: Pesto "Pizza", 1 spring roll, and a few sips of new coconut milk from Que SeRaw SeRaw
Snack: 1 gala apple
Dinner: Asparagus and Mushroom Fajita (no tortillas) from Chevy's (barf.)

TODAY:
Brekkie: 1 gala apple
Lunch: "Lasagna" and themost delicious almond milk drink with banana from Que SeRaw SeRaw
Dinner: TBD (it's only 2 o'clock)

Delicious. Especially the pizza! I was surprised. I couldn't finish it because I felt full. The food from Chevy's, however, was way too oily for me. And all I ate was asparagus and mushrooms brushed with butter. I felt nauseous and I got a slight headache.

I haven't had a bowel movement since Day 1 of breaking the fast, which I hear is normal as my body gets used to solids again. I am going to try and eat more and hydrate myself as much as possible to get things moving.

I am determined to keep good eating habits as a result of the cleanse. I would really like to continue feeling good. I think I'm pretty much back to eating "normally" now. Except that "normal" for me is eating healthier. So I think I'll cut way back on alcohol, caffeine, and cheese. I barely ate meat before doing the Master Cleanse, anyway. I'll definitely still eat junk food once in awhile. I know myself too well.

Weight Loss: I lost weight. Again, no idea how much. But people have been telling me that I look thinner. I'll gain at least some of it back though for sure because I'm eating again.

Breaking the Fast Day 2

Foods consumed today: 3 nectarines, 1 leaf of lettuce sprinkled with sea salt and cayenne.

I had a nectarine for brekkie. It took me four hours to eat the whole thing. Four. Hours.

I chewed the hell out of each bite to tell my body "Hey, I'm eating again. Get ready!" . I probably took a bite every half hour. I just wasn't hungry. If you know me, THAT IS NOT HOW I USUALLY EAT. I just wanted to make sure I didn't feel too full. I've read some horrendous stories on blogs where people ate themselves into vomiting and cramping after breaking their fast too, uh, fast. I wanted to steer clear from that.

So far so good.

For a "snack" I decided to change it up a bit. I have been craving raw foods and my sense of smell is at superhuman levels now, so even lettuce looks appealing. I grabbed a leaf from the lettuce head in the fridge. Washed it. Dried it. Bit it.

Bitter.

I sprinkled it with my old familiar friends: Sea Salt and Cayenne. It was delicious. I'm not kidding.

My appetite is starting to pick up. Tommorrow I am going to a raw food takeout place in Burlingame with a friend. I can't wait. I am also going to meet some friends at Chevy's for dinner. I have no idea what I'll be ordering from there. I'd like to eat as much raw food as possible to keep my body clean. Chevy's doesn't offer much in that arena. So we'll see.

Technically, tommorrow is the last day before I can begin eating "regularly" again. Then I can stuff myself with Chalupas and cheese pizzas and curly fries all I want!

Just kidding.

Breaking the Fast Day 1

Orange Jizznuice. All day.

I am so tired of it already. I was drinking nothing but lemonade for 12 days and never got sick of it.

Interesting.

It was 1) too sweet for my taste buds and 2) really thick tasting. I actually would have preferred my lemonade! Other than that, no upset stomach or cramps or anything of that nature.

I tempted fate today and went out to dinner with two of my friends. We met up at Polker's, another burger joint in SF. I just ordered orange juice. I made them enact food porn for me by describing to me what their juicy looking burgers tasted like.

"Tastes like sh*t."

"Not good."

Thanks guys.

Amazingly, my cravings weren't as bad as they were when I went to Barney's last week. I almost didn't notice the food. Then we went to a dessert spot where they ordered creme brulee and some chocolate thing. I didn't crave those at all. I just ordered green tea. I couldn't bear to order orange juice again.

All in all breaking the fast today was pretty similar to the other days except that I didn't have to squeeze lemons. I feel fine today. No fatigue. No weird bloating. I still have a coated tongue though. And my breath is still not back to normal. Ew.

Eliminations. Let's talk about them. Well, I did my salt water flush this morning. And it worked. I only went twice today. I won't be doing the Salt Water Flush tommorrow or the tea tonight.

I'm going to try and eat some juicy fruits in the morning. Tommorrow is the local farmer's market so I'm going to go and pick up something I can finally chew!! I read today that chewing signals the body and the mind to get the digestive system in gear again. One yogi I consulted a few years back recommended eating watery juicy fruits to break the fast as well.
Most of the other bloggers move on to veggie broth after the OJ but I like the idea of chewing something. Finally.

Master Cleanse: Day 12 (last day)

It's already here. I'm a little sad to be breaking the fast. This has been a tremendous experience. I love the way I feel. But nothing in life is permanent so I'm happy to be ending it on a good note. The reason I'm ending my fast is because I had only intended on going for 10 days. Also, there's a big party I'm going to on friday, an all day affair. I want to be able to taste things, you know what I'm saying? The next time I do this, I'll go for the elusive "pink tongue". The coating on my tongue is noticeably thinner, but it's still present.

I'll let you know how the breaking in period goes.

Master Cleanse: Day 11 (extended!)

You heard me. I extended my fast to Day 11.

Why?

After I posted my blog on Day 10, I had a "creeper" elimination in the evening. And it was crazy. My elimination had mucus. I was looking for the mucus in my eliminations previously but never had any. It is a typical waste product from the colon meaning you are getting towards the lining of the colon and past the impactd waste. Some deep cleansing. Some people see it, some people don't. It was a small amount and I was definitely pleased to see it outta there. Some people see it as early as Day 2-3. I figured I just had a great colon.

Yeah right.

I wanted to see if I get more out so I'm extending day by day to see if I get more "results". I'll let you know.

Feeling great and energetic still!

Master Cleanse: Day 10

Day 10 has come.

And gone.

It's sort of anticlimactic. I felt great today. I'm a tired right now though (10:32 pm) and want to head to bed asap.

I have the desire to extend my fast because I still don't have the pink tongue that everyone says indicates a complete removal of toxins. But I think 10 days is good for a first run on this cleanse.

Did all the usual today. I had more eliminations today than yesterday (5). I feel wonderful and light. I wonder how that will change when I begin to introduce solids. I want to try to stick to as much raw food as possible. But we'll see. I want a quesadilla so badly.

I went to a family party today and discovered that some of my aunts did this cleanse in the 70's and 80's! Now everyone in my fam wants to do this cleanse. Ha. WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Gonna sleep. so tired. But I'll leave you with a picture of my tongue as it is on Day 10:

If you think this looks pink, look in the mirror at your own tongue.

See? It's not pink.












Catch ya'll tommorrow from the other side of the fence.

Master Cleanse: Day 9

My brother brought this delicious Coffee Crunch Cake home tonight:



The cake is from a place called Yasukochi in Japantown, San Francisco. Yelp it. They're famous for this cake. Kyle loved it. Buddy, his girlfriend, loved it. Mika, my cousin, loved it. Daryl, Mika's boyfriend and my college friend, loved it. I...smelled it.

Thanks Kyle.

It smelled so good. Like toffee and marshmellows and coffee and yellow and good. I stood my ground, though, and just made some lemonade:



Easy Friday night. Watched Dave Chapelle's Block Party on DVD and had some lemonade. And smelled Coffee Crunch Cake. And pooped something very very hot. Today was a good day.

That's right. I pooped something hot this evening. I had the usual this morning. I never usually go at night.

Except tonight.

It was around 9:30 pm. Mika and Daryl just got to my place. I was on the couch and I felt the system stirring. I ran to the bathroom and dropped off something different and interesting. I didn't have the yellow liquid that usually accompanies my "movements". It was dark and semi-solid and HOT. Not spicy hot but temperature hot. I believe that this is a good sign. Hot is supposed to be an indication that there are a lot of toxins in that bad boy. I had no idea I had so much stuff inside me. Grody. Day 9 and still there's stuff. Wow.

Anyway, still feeling good! I had a tired few hours today but I'm back to my good energy. Same old, same old. Still have the coat. Still have the bad breath. Still thinking about extending my fast. I was leaning towards just ending it on Day 10 but after I had that hot elimination, I am now wondering how much of that stuff is still in there. I definitely want it out. I haven't made up my mind yet. I guess we'll all find out tommorrow.

Master Cleanse: Day 8 (what!)

I made it! To day 8, that is. This actually hasn't been that hard of a journey. It's gone much smoother than expected given some of the experiences I've read on other blogs. I haven't had any significant "healing events" in my body which have lasted throughout the fast. If I exhibit any symptoms, they seem to pass within a half hour or so. For example, this morning I woke up and my heart was racing This usually happens when I drink alcohol the night before and it's usually an indicator of an impending day of hanging over. Obviously I haven't had any drinks in at least 8 days so it must have been some sort of detox going on. It passed before I even had my (dreaded) Salt Water Flush. I also experienced a slight headache today which lasted literally for, like, 5 minutes. I did have some ringing in my ears when I was driving my car today. That may have been due to the fact that I upped the volume for the Amy Winehouse CD that I finally burned.

I'm scanning my body right now to see if I have any other pains/aches/symptoms. I was out in the sun today so I have a bit of a sunburn. Shoot. I hope this doesn't slow my healing process down. Other than that, nothing to report.

My mental state is great today. I almost feel high. A little euphoric even. But it has been peppered with some slight moments of anxiety. The worry stems from the fact that I am constantly monitoring my body looking for unhealthy symptoms. I am always asking myself "Is this normal?" and then I run to the internet to check to see if it is. So far it's always been "Yes."

I just got back from Chevy's and I have to say that again, cravings were going wild. The great thing is, though, that I can't give in to any cravings at this point because I would make myself sick. So I can't cheat! Even if I wanted to. It's only the mental torture of watching everyone eat what you want to eat, which lasts only as long as dinner lasts. 2 hours. Eh. I can deal.

Eliminations. 2 times today. Um. This morning it was darker than usual. I didn't drink the Senna Tea last night (Bad Cleanser! Bad Cleanser!) because I was too lazy to go make it. So that may have something to do with it. I also read that the most impacted parts of the colon begin to loosen at this stage. That may have been what was being flushed out then. Good riddance.

I've also been sleeping less. I've been hitting the hay around 1 am consistently and usually wake up at about 6:30. I try to go back to sleep but it usually doesn't work out. And yet, I don't feel tired during the day. I have to say that this state of being is qute different form the energy I get from caffeine. Coffee gives me this really crazy adrenaline high which eventually ends in a crash. What I am feeling now is a calm steady stream of energy. I wonder if this is what really healthy people must feel like all the time.

I'm toying with the idea of possibly extending my cleanse to 14 days to get deep healing in. We'll see. That Chevy's experience really got my cravings going for real food.

Master Cleanse: Day 7

Hot. Like. Fire. At least my bowels were. I added a little more cayenne pepper to the mix today. Spicy going in. Spicy going out. Suprised that there's anything going out at this point. But there is. And it's oddly satisfying. If anyone's counting, I went three times today. Everyone always asks me what it looks like. And to be honest, that's what I wanted to know when I first started reading other people's blogs. So I'll go into detail once more. Again - if you can't handle things like this, don't read the next paragraph:

In the mornings before I have my Salt Water Flush, it's really golden with tiny brown bits. After I do the flush, however, things get more, uh, slippery. Everything's definitely more liquid, even all liquid sometimes. Towards the end of the day, if I am still eliminating, it's usually just golden and all liquid. When I urinate, it's all clear.

There you have it. Let's change subjects now, shall we?

My stomach's a little upset. It's also been gurgling a lot. I don't know exactly why but I have a theory: I got a lot of pulp into my lemonade today, trying to get as much juice in. Maybe my insides can't deal with the solid stuff.

Other than that, it's Day 7 and I feel fantastic. Feeling this light is great. I really do have an all pervading sense of well being during the day. Peaceful, in fact. It almost makes me sad to think I have to put heavy solid foods into this body soon.

I said almost.

Last night I dreamt that I took a piece of yellow cake and put it in my mouth, swished it around, and then got a paper towel and spit it out because I remembered that I was on this cleanse. It must be related to yesterday's blog.

I still get cravings. I saw a Taco Bell driving home today and wanted a Chalupa. Usually, I think Taco Bell is gross but it's no holds barred on my cravings during this fast. Mostly though, I want raw food dishes. It's because I know I'll still maintain a sense of lightness after eating only raw and I also really want to taste simple flavors. I'm definitely going to hit up Que seRaw seRaw in my old town of Burlingame, Cali when I'm done. And ALIVE! in SF. Yum. I read their Yelp reviews today (against the advice of my friends Marky and Julie, who did the same thing when they cleansed). I should have known better. It just made me want to eat. You are all invited to come. Can't wait.

I haven't talked about the condition of my tongue as of late. It's still got a coat on it but considerably lighter from the beginning of the fast. Good sign. My breath, however, is another thing entirely. I think it's gotten worse. I can smell it without trying to smell it. Disgusting.

I do notice that I've been losing weight on this fast. No idea how much but I can see it. I like it but I'm not going to get attached to it because at least some of it has to come back when I start eating again. I always read that people do the Master Cleanse to lose weight. I think I would hate it if I did because it's so temporary! Unless people do it to jumpstart a new way of eating. This cleanse is great for reorienting your taste buds and cravings. You actually want to eat healthy!

Master Cleanse: Day 6

Senna Tea.

Potent stuff.

I had to get up at 5am this morning for some good fun in the bathroom. My stomach was cramping. Today was a day of elimination. I think I visited the bathroom 4 or 5 times by noon. Toxins are not welcome here. And by here, I mean my glorious self cleansing body. Good job, body.

I made it to 50oz of lemonade. Milestone, baby. Tommorrow I'm sure I can get to 60oz.

This is cake. I didn't realize it would get this comfortable to live without solids. No food? Cake. Can't chew? Cake. Cravings? MMMM. . . cake sounds good. OK. So cravings are still part of my mental obstacles on this fast but they're definitely diminishing by the day.

I feel lighter and can see how food can make one feel heavy, thereby affecting one's emotions. And I'm talking about good foods like veggies and fruits. Overprocessed, sugary, or greasy foods would do a number on me right now. This light feeling is something new for me. It's subtle but I notice the difference.

I like it.

Master Cleanse: Day 5

I love Day 5. My reasons are fivefold:

(in no particular order of importance)

1) My mind is calm and relaxed today. I practice meditation and found that I had a really good sesh today which carried over into the rest of the day. OM MANI PADME HUNG.

1) I feel great physically speaking. I have really good energy and am seeing a difference in my skin and hair. Both seem softer. My tongue is beginning to lose that white coat. It's become much thinner. I also didn't have any strong cravings today. I am not craving that pizza or burger anymore. I did have an urge to have sprouts on wheat bread though. Odd. At least the cravings are getting healthier. I would have never craved that before this fast. Trust me.

2) Today I found out some good friends already went on a cleansing fast in April (which I did not know about) and are giving me encouragement and great information about it. So happy to have them around to consult and for moral support! Woot. Before them, I didn't know anyone personally who had done this.

3) I had a facial and massage this evening by my sister. So awesome. It's recommended to get a massage during a detox cleanse because it helps to loosen toxins in the muscles, lymphatic system, and organs. She told me my back was really tight so I may have to get into yoga again after this fast. I feel so relaaaaaxed. Best masseuse and esthetician. Ever. You guys should see her. She's really good.

4) I am really grateful for those of you who have been really supportive of this endeavor. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I first started. It's been so great to hear words of encouragement and support and keeps me going. Thanks so much.

5) I think I'm past that hump where you feel lousy (i.e. the "healing events"). I couldn't see past the end of the day on Days 2 and 3. Now I feel like I could extend this fast if I wanted to.

__

My eliminations (I guess that's what I'm going to be calling them) were pretty similar to what they were yesterday although I did notice a different smell today. And I'm not talking roses. I don't know if it's the tea or if its the smell of old putrefied you know what, but I am very glad it's leaving me. So the tea and salt water flushes are working. I still can't do the 32oz of salt water. I think I'll be sticking to the 20oz. for the rest of the fast.

I also can't seem to get past the 40oz mark on the Lemonade. Not sure exactly why. Oh. I just remembered. I started drinking my second bottle (every bottle is 20 oz) and I felt a little bloated after drinking some so I didn't feel like drinking anymore. Don't know why I got bloated. My stomach has also been gurgling all day. That's it. I'm going to make a real effort to get to 60 oz. tommorrow.

Master Cleanse: Day 4

Today is Day 4 and I feel great. I didn’t plan to do much today because I was feeling so tired yesterday. I wanted to give myself some space to rest. But I didn’t need it. I have tons of energy today. Shew.

I took the laxative Senna tea last night. I only drank half of the cup because I didn’t really enjoy the taste. I guess it was adequate because I had to eliminate right when I got up this morning. It was the same, uh, consistency and color that I mentioned in my first post. I then drank 20 oz of the Salt Water Flush (still can’t do 32 oz.) and an hour later, I had another elimination... and then another one a half an hour after that. Additionally, a couple of times when I went to urinate today, even more came out when I didn’t necessary feel the urge to eliminate. A surprise, if you will. Nothing really solid riding down the tube, though.

The last few days I’ve only been drinking about 40 oz of the Lemonade (60 oz is the minimum recommended) so today I tried to get to 50 oz at least. Just made it to 40 oz. Ah well. Tommorrow.

My cravings were definitely not as strong as they were yesterday. My sister ate some of that beef stew that she cooked a couple of days ago and again my superhuman sense of smell detected it from far away. I thought I was going to start craving it again but all I did was get up close to it and smell it… and that was enough!

I was talking to a friend about my cleansing fast today and he suggested I dedicate this fasting practice to something other than myself. I thought that was actually a great idea. A lot of people go on political fasts (ex: Ghandi), religious fasts, etc. I think I may have a tendency to become really self absorbed during these 10 days because I'm focusing so much on my body, myself, and now - my blog about myself. I think I'm going to keep what I dedicate this practice to private but I'm glad my friend brought that point up. Thanks buddy.

Master Cleanse: Day 3 update

Can I just say...my cravings are outta control. Went to a deluxe burger joint called Barney's in SF today with some girlfriends. Just wanted to meet up and have some fun without eating. But damn. Those curly fries smelled crazy good. I put myself on baby duty, watching one of my friend's sons for distraction, while they ate BBQ bacon burgers, garden burgers, turkey burgers. It all smelled so good. Even the sprouts from my friend's burger smelled intoxicating. My nose is very sensitive now. I even smelled my sister's dinner tonight from across the living room into to kitchen. Her boyfriend was halfway between us and he couldn't smell a thing.

Going to drink my laxative Senna Tea tonight and see what happens.

I'm not so tired this evening as I was this afternoon. I feel good. My tongue still has that coat though. Yuck.

Right now I am craving: juicy burger, pizza, and curly fries. I read somewhere you will crave all these toxic foods because those are the things that are being eliminated from your system. I don't know. I'm pretty sure I'm craving these things because I spent a couple of hours with it in my face and couldn't touch it.

Master Cleanse: Day 1-3

I'm doing the "Master Cleanse". I've been wanting to do a fast for awhile now. I bought a juicer about a year ago thinking I was going to go on juice fast but I never did. Fast forward to July 2007 when my sister announces "I'm doing the Master Cleanse on Thursday. Do you want to do it?" Yes. Yes I do.

Usually when I get into something, I research the hell out of it (Thank you Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube) but for some reason I decided to just jump right in and trust my sister's research. She's an R.N. so hey, she should know more than me, right?

So for those of you interested in my Master Cleanse Experience, here we go:

DAY 1
That was the most difficult day for me simply because I had so many cravings. I didn't have any weird reactions beyond some occasional and very slight hunger pangs, which I combatted with swigs of the Lemon Ade concoction. I didn't even really know what was in the drink because my sister whipped up the batch for both of us. It tastes like a spicy lemonade. Later on in the evening she tells me she's quitting the fast until she can go 10 days straight. Apparently, there's a wedding she's attending in the middle of the 10 days that she remembered. It was a little disheartening not to have a buddy through this but I decided to keep going.

DAY 2
Ok. So I wake up with cotton mouth. My tongue has a wierd white coating which I have read is normal. I also got really tired around 2pm after walking around shopping for a couple hours. I went home and took a nap for about an hour, which I usually don't do. I woke up even more exhausted! But the exhaustion actually faded away after getting up and moving around a bit. My sister cooked beef stew and I noticed that my sense of smell was heightened. I could smell all the ingredients: carrots, onions, beef broth, garlic. So interesting! AND HORRIBLE. I had a huge craving to eat the stew but satisfied myself with more Lemon Ade. It's odd. I went mostly vegetarian in January and I haven't had a craving for meat in awhile but the smell of the stew combined with not eating really magnified my desire for some good beef. Glad I stuck to my guns though. I had another huge craving when I went to the movies with a friend later on. She got a slice of pizza afterwards and I was imagining the taste and texture of it in my mouth. Yum. But I drank my drink and got over it. I'm not much of a foodie but I can see myself really enjoying all the aspects of food after this fast. I find myself contemplating about the taste, texture, color, and smell of food and really enjoy the imaginary sensations.

I also decided to do more research on the Master Cleanse since my sister wouldn't be doing it with me anymore. Apparently, I was supposed to be drinking a laxative tea every night and doing a Salt Water Flush in the morning to help "eliminate" the toxins via bowel movements. I'm also not drinking as much as I should be.

Oops.

DAY 3
I woke up feeling tired today again. My heart was beating fast and I also got dizzy easily. I must be in the throws of detoxifying as my body is ridding itself of all the gunk in there. It's not too bad though. I also have an ache in my lower back which is also not bad at all. My tongue is still white, although not as bad as yesterday. I don't have that cotton mouth feel anymore. Shew. My head feels a little cloudy as well today. These are all symptoms that I hear are normal in the first 2-3 days of doing the cleanse (or any fast for that matter). And I'm willing to go through it if it means it will be gone from my body soon!

I made the Salt Water Flush drink this morning (32 oz of warm water with 2 TBSP Sea Salt). I was supposed to drink 32 oz but could only stomach about 20 oz. It worked, though. Not one hour after having the drink did I have my first "elimination". Don't read the next paragraph if you're sqeamish. I'm going to go into detail:

Think Niagra.

I went to the bathroom twice. The first time was 90% liquid and it was golden...and brown. Gross, I know. But that's the truth. I also had a little bit of solid waste. Wasn't expecting that but glad to be rid of it. My stomach started making some funny noises after going the first time and about 15 minutes later I went again. Same thing. Mostly liquid,

OK. YOU CAN READ AGAIN. GROSS PARTS OVER.

The only thing I don't enjoy is feeling weak. I was supposed to go to a BBQ today bit didn't feel up to it. So I'm doing this blog instead. I also made some more juice. I think I put too much cayenne pepper. It burns my throat. But it's supposed to be really good in breaking up the fat, where the toxins are stored. So I'll do it.

One more thing. I know people might be wondering about weight loss. I actually don't own a scale so I have no idea bow much weight I've lost. I'm not really doing this to lose weight but I'm sure I've lost a few pounds so far. I bet right now it's mostly water weight. If I notice a significant change in the way my clothes fit, I'll let you know.