People will always argue with me on the benefits of fasting and detoxing.  

 

I believe in believing in your body.  Your body naturally detoxifies itself; otherwise you'd be dead. 

 

However, depending on what things are going on in your life, you may be reaching for toxic things to imbibe or creating habits that are not healthy for you to continue to follow.  

 

Stress, emotions, they play a part in our decisions to 'have another' or 'just this once'.  Those decisions add up and can deter you from making positive choices the next time and the next time. 

 

I believe the cleaner the things you take into your body, the clearer you will be in your life. 

 

I believe the cleaner you are in the body, the more natural it is for good things to come towards you and into your life. 

 

Case in point.  I said last year that you would have to pay me big bucks to go through the master cleanse again.  It's extreme.  That said, I think my resisting it was the reason I roped myself back into it again.  Sometimes those things you resist are exactly the things you should be doing. 

 

The Master Cleanse is the lemonade, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup detox.  That's all you take in for 10 days or more to rid the body of toxins and dis-ease and dis-comfort. 

 

It got a bad rap when celebs were using it to lose weight.  That's not the purpose of the cleanse although it can be a benefit if you need to reduce.  Chances are, when you return to eating, you will gain most of it back if you go back to your old habits.  If you do the cleanse correctly, return to a new, cleaner way of living, you might gain a couple pounds back but probably retain your new improved weightless. 

I'm speaking from experience, a formerly overweight person who continues to struggle with weight balance.  So there. 

If you return to a diet filled with processed foods and junk, then, yes, you will gain it all back. 

 

I've done the Master Cleanse now for three years.  I guess it's my thing now.  

 

I remember how hard it was the last two times.  This isn't an exception but it wasn't nearly as traumatic the first two times around. 

I started each cleanse during the transition from fall to winter and winter to spring.  

I noticed I adopted some over indulging habits or cravings I wanted to dispel so the master cleanse was a good cure for me. 

 

It really resets your metabolism and allows me the opportunity to slow down, take some days off from intense exercise, draw my energy inwards, reflect and contemplate. 

 

Every time I do it, it is difficult but always worth it. It's tough, but when I get to the end, I miss it a little.  It's like being on vacation (without the colorful cocktails).  You start getting nervous about being thrown back into the craziness of the real world. You aren't ready to get back to a faster pace. 

 

This time around, I really didn't think I would do 'The Master Cleanse'.  I decided on a more gentle cleanse of Kitchadi, which is a basic staple in the Indian culture diet.  It's rice, beans and spices.  It’s very savory and delicious and easy to digest.  I thought this, coupled with herbs and tea, might be just the mild cleanse I need to reset and restart my system. 

 

I did this for 4 days and began to feel great.  I detoxed from caffeine, animal products and other unmentionables.  The lethargy was gone. But, I still felt like I needed something more.  I then switched to the Master Cleanse.  Had I thought of this before, I would have done it the last few years.  I highly recommend fasting the way I did this time around.  The ten days, although difficult, were nowhere near as extreme because I was eating for the first few days of real withdrawal of habits and toxins.  Once I was through that, the 10 days of lemonade was easy. 

 

The hardest part was just the idea of food, missing it and getting tired early in the day.  The cleanse is permission to say no, let go and slow down. 

 

That's a tough one for me. 

 

The first couple of days with the lemonade, I had the achy joints and muscles, the sign that toxins are leaving the deeper layers of the body. 

 

I had that weird sense of euphoria, peacefulness and clarity.  This can also be called starvation. 

 

I felt giddy, happy and almost drunk like, then crash hard like I just had three red bull and want to tear my hair out. I would go to bed early and wake up without an alarm clock.  

 

I woke up one morning and actually said out loud to myself, there you are.  I've missed you.  I felt like I had returned to myself.  And this was only on day 7 of the total cleanse. 

 

There weren't extreme headaches this time around or shaking.  I transitioned from the mono diet of kitchadi to the master cleanse and that made the whole process seamless. 

 

Now I'm on day 12.  4 days kitchari, 8 days Master Cleanse.  

My body is saying, it's time.  I'm kind of over this now.  You are a busy girl and I need a little more energy to get things done. 

 

It's difficult to do this without taking some time off.  I'm on the road a lot, teaching a lot and very social and active.  I do need a little bit more than just lemonade to get me through. 

 

It's nice to get to the finish line, but even better to listen to what your body is telling you. 

 

Sometimes it knows more than your mind.  

 

I'm going to see how I feel today and if I'm getting the same messages, transition slowly back into real life.

 

Every time I do this, I get bombarded by people asking me about cleansing and fasting. Ask anyone who fasts and you will get a myriad of opinions.  Sit with the idea of any or all of them and go with your guy, literally. 

 

Best idea is to go with a mono diet, simple greens, kitchari, juices (green or fruit).  Go for 1-3 days.  Do a fast where you eliminate caffeine first, processed foods next, animal products then dairy.  Your body will know what to do.  If you are overweight or suffering from high blood pressure or high cholesterol, chat with your doc first before starting any kind of fast or cleanse.  There are also 'pre-packaged' detoxes available at your local health food store.  I don't have much experience with them, but put the word out to those you know.  Ask around to people who have fasted, do your research, take into account your schedule and work load and decide in advance how much time you would like to commit to the fast and commit. 

 

2  more days and I'll keep you posted. 

Hungry but happy, 

Laurie