master cleanse

“Our bodies are our gardens… Our wills, our gardeners.” – William Shakespeare

Today feels like the last mile of a marathon; My mind is already finished, my body just needs to catch up. I whispered to my body yesterday that this was the last day, so if it has anything else it wants to get rid of, now is the time. Amazingly, I woke up this morning at 5am and pooped more than I have the whole time so far. It was awesome. I had a meeting until 10, so I just got done with the salt water flush and it went through clear (tinted light yellow but no solids), and VERY fast, I had to go about 5 minutes after I was done chugging. I take all that as an excellent sign that my system is fairly clear of debris at this point.

I had my first food dream last night and woke up thinking I had cheated the cleanse, and to my releif it was just a dream. I didn’t feel too upset that I quit though, just confused that I sabotaged with so little left to finish. I quit dipping tobacco 4 years ago and for the next year after that I had sporadic dreams of using it which were much more emotional. Same with completely quitting drinking 2 years ago. (Man, how my health has changed in such a short time…) I guess the dreams are just a natural expression of our subconscious fears of failure, giving in to mindless desire, etc.

I feel excellent. People have been commenting that I look pale, too thin, etc. I feel OK though. Maybe it is all in their heads, they know what I am doing and maybe they are scrutinizing me for changes that aren’t there, looking for reasons not to do it themselves, etc. Or maybe I am really pale… I don’t see it :)

The desire for food is completely gone at this point. I don’t think about it and honestly, I’m not really excited to start eating again. I could probably look at a buffet of my (formerly?) favorite foods with indifference right now.

I weigh 177.0 today, a loss of 13 lbs. I’m really excited that this is the last day, this is shaping up to be a tremendous accomplishment in the advancement of my health and strengthening of my willpower, among other things.

“People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.
So give as much care to the end as to the beginning;
Then there will be no failure.” – Lao Tsu

I opened the Tao Te Ching last night and that was there…

Everything is still going very well. Yesterday my mind was very clear and calm, and for several hours in the late afternoon I was in a completely blissful state I have not felt in at least 8 months.

Other stuff: Weight is 178.5, loss of 11.5. Some pimples came out on my nose. I had B.O. really bad yesterday. I fell asleep and skipped the tea last night but still had a little bit come out this morning, now I’m waiting for the flush to go through. It only takes about 10 minutes now… OK see ya!
Have a blessed day.

It is cool to see so many people doing this… looks like three postings of people starting today. This seems to be a very positive experience for a lot of people. But it is a process and you have to honor where in that process you happen to be. (I know… Easy for me to say when I’m feeling good and a couple days away from victory!!) I see it like boot camp. You suffer through it, but you come out much stronger and in the end, cherish the memory and the accomplishment, and make powerful connections with the people you shared it with.

I am still in the same zone I was yesterday, feeling very good. The cravings are really dying down to the point I don’t really think about food, and I am becoming quite comfortable with the whole routine: Salt Water in the morning, tea at night, lemonade and water in between. I can’t beleive how easy the past two days have been compared to the days before that.

I took a nice nap yesterday afternoon and enjoyed some preseason football. Also went for a 3-mile run, but ran out of steam after 2.5, which isn’t normal. Could have been the blazing sun and not just lack of food. Things seem to be going very smoothly. I am looking leaner and feeling “less toxic” all the time. I’ve eliminted some strange and nasty, mucousy stuff in the past two days. Weighed 179.0 this morning.

Kick ass everybody, especially the newcomers… get ready for an empowering adventure… enjoy your Sundays.

To satisfy my curiosity, I did a ketosis test on my urine this morning and it was completely negative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis

This morning, something “clicked.” I’m feeling really good, light, clean, and peaceful. Moreso than any day so far during the cleanse, and with a few exceptions, more than during the months before I started.

I have still been eliminating solid waste. I didn’t have much on days 3 and 4, but the past 3 mornings, I’ve had substantial poo both before and after the salt water flush. I have tried to explain it by saying it is the lemon pulp, or solid waste from the maple syrup, but there is just too much solid waste for that. It is clear that I am getting rid of waste that has been clogged up in my system.

I weighed in at 179.5 this morning, a loss of 10.5. I feel much lighter overall and I look very lean, but maybe not quite as lean as I have looked when at this weight in the past, like when training for marathons last year. It is possible that much of the current weight loss is waste removal from my organs and cells rather than just bodyfat loss such as in normal diet / exercise routines. Also, my digestive tract is empty whereas I would guess it normally has 3-5 pounds of food waiting to be eliminated. Using that line of thought, I might expect to gain around 5 pounds of food/waste stored in my system when I start eating normally again.

My tongue is heavily coated white with brown in the center and lumps on the back. It feels dry and sticky. Today it is coated much more heavily than any other day, with the possible exception of Day 2.

I think a part of this positive feeling is my body becoming physically regulated to the cleanse routine and experiencing the benefits of waste removal, but it also has to do with the fact that I got some things done yesterday that have been weighing on my mind, and then really let myself relax and de-stress in the afternoon and evening. At around 11am, I told myself, “Boosh, you’re not allowed to stress out today.” That put me deep into a yogic trance when I realized for the thousandth time that I never have to feel stressed out about anything if I choose not to.

Sorry for the length of the post, I like shorter posts myself, but I didn’t want to leave anything out for those lurking and I like the idea of having this to reflect back on if I decide to do the flush again in the future.

Today was by far the easiest. No major aches, pains, or discomfort. I even kept a pretty good attitude all day without going into crazy-low-blood-sugar-mode in the afternoon. The main complaint I have is that I MISS FOOD!!! I’m amazed how attached I am to it in so many ways. I am especially finding myself a little bored and fidgety around mealtimes, looking for something comforting to fill up the empty space. I guess that’s what happens when you do something several times daily for your whole life.

I weighed 181.5 this morning (loss of 8.5). I have done at least 20 minutes of cardio exercise every morning since day 3, and it has felt great. Usually I do at least 30 minutes, but I don’t want to push myself too hard. The quick weight loss is a welcome effect, and probably is a bigger reason of why I am doing this than I give it credit for. There’s something very appealing about getting rid of some excess weight so quickly.

I keep rationalizing quitting the cleanse even though I had a good day. About 50% of my thoughts center around food instead of the normal 20%. (Maybe I’m just more aware of my thoughts overall). I just really want to eat so I can get back into my normal comfort zone again. I’m going to work on accepting being outside my comfort zone for a prolonged time and making the most of it. I still haven’t made a 100% commitment to stick this through until the end; But I’ve come so far that I’m pretty sure I’ll finish. Maybe this would be easier and without those pesky rationalizations if I put my will in 100%.

Hard to believe it… tomorrow it will be a full week… WOO!

Today had its ups and downs. The morning was nice and I got a lot done, but in the afternoon my body was very uncomfortable as I described in another post. The discomfort passed by evening (after drinking a lot of water) and I’ve felt good since. There is a part of me that wants to persevere and finish this no matter what happens, but at one point today I had to think rationally about what is really best for me and understand that although it would be nice to finish what I set out to do, I have to set boundaries and not hurt myself.

I am really not feeling good right now. My whole system feels very acidic, like everything is burning (in a different way than the cayenne pepper hot kind of burning – more like I need to take a Tums for my whole body), and I feel like I have a urinary track infection because I constantly have to pee and nothing or very little comes out. This has been going for a couple hours now. I’ll definitely stick it out until at least tomorrow morning to see if it improves, but this isn’t fun.

Today was easier than the first three. The salt water flush was smooth – I drank it very hot and that seemed to soothe my stomach. I did a lot of good things for myself today: Got a massage, cleaned off my desk, and took a lot of time to thoroughly clean my body and especially my mouth. I also gave in to the thought that has been nagging me for a few days and shaved my head.

I ran a couple of miles and it felt really good to get out and sweat. The energy wasn’t a problem. In fact, I felt light and strong the whole way. I’m going to continue with the short runs through the rest of the cleanse.

I have been feeling strong urges to clean and get rid of things I don’t need around the house. Several times I’ve suddenly found myself cleaning or doing chores that I normally need to force myself to make time for and do. Tomorrow I’m going to put a hold on everything else going on and spend the whole morning just taking care of little messes that have been there for too long.

I have still had some issues with hunger and low energy / crankiness (they all go hand-in-hand for me), mainly in the late afternoon / evening, but today wasn’t so bad.

I have also been experiencing some polarities with my state of mind. For a few hours, mainly in the morning, I will feel very calm, aware, and connected, and then as the day progresses, I will start feeling stress and get into my own head about being hungry and wanting to quit the cleanse and go eat junk. (Today the forbidden fruit took the form of microwave burritos). I don’t know what I can do to maintain the peaceful condition, but I’ll try taking a nap and meditating or something relaxing tomorrow afternoon, because stressing out and being cranky sucks, especially when you were experiencing the total opposite just a little while ago.

Day 5, here I come.

Going to bed… done. Overall a positive day. Lots of food cravings and hunger today. Lots of nasty sludge that smelled absolutely terrible came out with the flush this morning. Weighed 183.5 this morning before the flush. (lost 6.5) Went to a yoga class and it felt AWESOME. My lower back has been aching, which is unusual. Drank a lot of water today as well as the lemonade, maybe I’m putting too much stress on my kidneys.

The online support group is really helping me get through it. Tea and Goodnight.