Mastercleansing again

Well, so much for my last post all about moderation... I've just returned from a week in France where I ate LOADS of cooked food, including plenty of dairy and wheat- pizza, quiche, pasta etc!- and loads of wine and cheese. Hmmm. In my defence, it is pretty impossible to eat out raw in rural France- it's hard enough to get vegetarian meals, let alone vegan, everything has cheese in it! So I decided to just go with it for the week and reset myself when I got back. I did make a green smoothie for my breakfast every day while I was out there... oh, except for two days when I had croissants, ahem.

Now I'm back and my tummy has definitely expanded so I'm back on the mastercleanse. I've explained loads about this before in this blog, I journalled the last time I went on it, so do look at my other posts if you're interested in more details. So far I'm starving but it's only the first day! However I wasn't in work today, and now have a weekend ahead, so hopefully will be in the swing of things by the time I go back to work (which I am DREADING by the way...)

Also, need to get back into exercising. Too broke for Bikram this month so am going to start doing another 30 day challenge with the EA Active personal trainer on the Wii, starting in the morning. Wish me luck!

I also have another colonic booked for tomorrow. Not sure how that will go after a week of stuffing myself (oh, and I also had crisps, pretzels, biscuits and crackers in France... did I mention that?). But hopefully it will all help in resetting my system. Heaven knows I need a reboot!

Day 13 master cleanse

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to start including psyllium in my detox... well I have and it is producing great results. I've been having psyllium and bentonite shakes and you would not believe what is coming out of me! I was toying with putting a picture on here but decided that was probably one step too far! But suffice to say, A LOT of old stuff that has been clogging my intestines is being eliminated, which is great. I also just did a coffee enema which also brought out a load of stuff. I mean a LOAD of stuff! I apologise if you're eating or if you find all this talk of bowel movements revolting but I am finding it very interesting! Ok I won't go into any more detail... today anyway ;)

I should say, some master cleanse purists don't think you should do anything extra on the cleanse as you don't need to, e.g. Peter Glickman, who wrote Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days, Second Edition, which is a great book, the first master cleanse one I read. He feels that the salt flush and laxative tea along with the lemon drinks is enough to detox you fully. However, others feel that it is ok to add other processes for a deeper cleanse, such as Tom Woloshyn, who wrote The Complete Master Cleanse: A Step-by-Step Guide to Maximizing the Benefits of The Lemonade Diet which is also a brilliant book. Woloshyn studied with Stanley Burroughs and talks about various other techniques that can assist with the cleanse. I think that it's ok for me to do it now, as I've done the recommended full 10 days of the cleanse following the instructions to the letter, and now I'm carrying it on beyond 10 days I think it's fine to add further elements to help deepen the cleanse and rid myself of the stubborn toxins.

Coffee enemas are great for accelerating your liver's ability to detoxify, not just for the effect on the colon. You should only do them after a purification process is underway though. They have a clearing effect upon the liver and leave it in a much better state to continue with detoxifying. I learned about these and a lot of other excellent cleansing techniques from an amazing book which I really recommend, Cellular Awakening: How Your Body Holds and Creates Light. OK, that's enough book recommendations for one blog entry!

I am still feeling amazing, and have loads of energy. My mind also feels detoxed, I am feeling much more focussed and positive. My tongue has still not gone pink though it is starting to get better! And I am still eliminating plenty of unwanted matter. So the master cleanse continues!

Day 12 Master cleanse!

Well, I have decided to go on beyond the 10 days I originally intended as I am still definitely detoxing. I think days 8 and 9 were big detox days for me and on the morning of day 10 I knew it wasn't time to call it a day. My tongue has not gone back to a healthy looking pink yet (a sure sign that I'm not done detoxing), and I've also come out in a bit of a rash on the inside of my elbows and the nape of my neck, which means that toxins are still being released.

I'm still feeling really good though and have bags of energy, I'm not feeling tired or weak or hungry at all. I spent about 3 hours cleaning my flat today and also went on a long walk around the park to try and burn off some of my excess energy! That's not to say that I'm not looking forward to eating actual food again, because I REALLY am, but I'm not desperate... yet!

I've also introduced psyllium husk into the cleanse, as of yesterday, to help clear out more of the old stuff from my colon. And this morning I made a tea with some herbs that are supposed to help get rid of parasites- wormwood, cloves and pau d'arco- but it was REVOLTING! It tasted so bad I almost threw up! I won't be trying that again. They say at least 80% of adults have parasites in their intestines and I wanted to try and clear them out but there's no way I'm drinking that again. I think I'm going to get a zapper instead, they're supposed to work well. You can get a really cheap one on Kate Magic's site: Raw Living. They also do the Terminator, which is meant to be the best one, but they're more expensive.

Not sure how long I'm going to continue with this. I should think at least to 14 days, maybe 16, possibly 20. I'll see how my tongue is looking in a couple of days! I'm still losing pounds and inches too, and definitely feeling a lot trimmer and healthier. So I may as well carry on a bit while I'm finding it easy and it's still doing its job. Hopefully this will set me back on the right track to raw living. I'm so looking forward to making some raw foods when this is all over. I think I have properly re-set myself!

Anyway, going to make a peppermint tea now, I'll check in again soon. x

Day 6 Master cleanse

Well, my sixth day of the cleanse is coming to an end and it's still going remarkably well! I decided not to update this blog every day while I'm cleansing otherwise it will get ridiculously boring, but will check in now and again until it's over and I can start posting some more raw recipes again.

The salt flush has got so much easier. At the beginning it was revolting and I could barely keep it down without gagging, but now I can drink it easily and for some reason it doesn't taste so bad at all. And it certainly does the job with cleaning me out!

And I'm not feeling hungry at all yet, which is a surprise! Although I did have a couple of brief cravings today, for the first time. I woke up thinking about cheese on toast, then later it was grilled halloumi, then after that cottage cheese. So I would assume that my body is eliminating cheese today! But weirdly, I just thought about the food without having a desire go out and eat them.

I read another another really good master cleanse book,  The Complete Master Cleanse: A Step-by-Step Guide to Maximizing the Benefits of The Lemonade Diet which was great. Very different to the Peter Glickman one I read at the start of the cleanse, although that was good too. But this one explains a lot about the science behind the cleanse, the digestive system, how the cleanse actually works etc which I found really interesting, and it really helps with keeping focused.

Well, if I finish this after 10 days, I only have 4 days to go! However, you're meant to do it until your tongue goes pink- while on the cleanse it gets a very unattractive coating as the toxins are being expelled, and then goes back to clear pink when you are fully detoxed. So if my tongue is still not fully pink on day 10 I will probably go on until it is, if I feel like I can. Want to get fully cleansed! It's also not good to stop if you're having any major detox systems on the day- as then, obviously, you're still eliminating so should carry on until they have stopped. So I'll see how I feel on day 10.

Back to work tomorrow on Tuesday, unfortunately, so things might get a bit harder then. But I'm determined to keep going and see this thing through! Wish me luck!

Day 3 Master cleanse

Well, day 3 is almost over and it's been very good! I'm really surprised but I'm not feeling hungry at all this time around and haven't had any nasty detox symptoms as yet. Although it is only day 3 so plenty of time for that to kick in! The salt flush is still revolting but it it is still doing the business. I keep having to blow my nose too, though I don't have any other cold symptoms, I think a lot of mucous is being loosened from everywhere! (Did you want to know that? ;))

Still have plenty of energy too. In fact the last 2 nights I have found it really hard to get to sleep. Maybe because I had been getting used to the instant sleep brought on by a couple of glasses of wine in the evening that now I'm not having! But I was tossing and turning for a couple of hours after going to bed which doesn't usually happen to me. So I went into Brixton today and got some of the brilliant sleep tea from Brixton Whole Foods (I love that shop) which should do the trick. Although drinking that before bed, on top of a laxative tea, loads of water and all the lemon drinks I'll no doubt be waking up to pee in the night instead! I'm also putting lavender oil on my pillow and am about to have a hot bath- hopefully this will all work! I put a big handful of Himalayan crystal salt in the bath to help with the detoxifying process and weirdly really wanted to eat some, so I sucked and crunched a few crystals too (out of the packet, not out of the bath!)and it was good! Is that weird?

I've also been doing skin brushing in the mornings which is great for detoxifying- the skin is the largest organ in your body so a lot of toxins get eliminated through the skin, and brushing with a natural bristle brush really helps the process.

I've been increasing the amount of cayenne in my lemonade quite a bit too because as well as aiding with eliminating it has so many other great health benefits. And I love a bit of spice! Here's a good link for more cayenne info: http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/cayenne.htm

Oo oo I almost forgot, I got a Vitamix today! Well, it hasn't actually arrived yet, but I ordered it. SO excited, I've wanted one for so long. As I was channel hopping today I stumbled across "Vitamix special" on the Ideal World channel, where they were selling them with £50 off, plus you could pay in monthly installments... it was a sign that I had to get one... so I did! Can't wait to start using it when the cleanse is over. Really looking forward to getting back on the raw. Already feeling so much better for 3 days off SAD food.

Well, I'm off to soak in my hot bath now. Night x.

Detoxing with the master cleanse

Oops... it's been flippin ages since I blogged here! I did struggle a bit with staying raw when it was so cold, and fell off the raw wagon somewhat. So now I am back on the master cleanse to re-set myself and get myself back into the raw groove.

I'm drawing to the end of the second day and so far so good. It's a lot easier than last time I did it as I'm on holiday from work, which definitely helps. Also, the last time I only tried the morning salt water flush once and it didn't work at all so I didn't do it again ... however, this time, completely different story! I did it this morning, and yes, it's quite revolting to drink, but boy did it ever work! Last time, it just swished around inside me and nothing came back out, but this time I had several 'movements'  (tmi? hee hee) and definitely feel like the detox is working. I think it's because I've got a better quality salt- Maldon sea salt flakes, which have no additives and are non-iodised. I can' remember what I used last time. I put in two pretty generous teaspoons of salt to make sure it worked- I may not have used enough for my body last time.

This time I got Peter Glickman's master cleanse book (on my new Kindle, which I totally love, but that's another story) Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days, Second Edition, and reading it I learnt a lot more about the benefits of the cleanse and the process of cleansing the toxins from the colon, so I feel I am really detoxing, and not just looking at it as a weight loss thing. I definitely need to cleanse my system, I have been eating fairly unhealthily at times over the festive period, as well as drinking alcohol, which I know doesn't agree with me, so I really need to detoxify my liver and colon.

I had a massive burst of energy this evening- my bathroom has never been so sparkling- but I suspect this won't last as day 3 (tomorrow) is often the hardest day, detox sympton-wise, but I suppose that's a good thing in terms of cleansing (my body, not the bathroom). The hunger hasn't really kicked in yet either. But I have been peeing ridiculously, I'm in and out of the loo at the moment! I'm sure that's good too though, more stuff passing through me helping the cleansing process, and I am drinking a ton of water as well as the lemonade drinks and peppermint tea, so it's only to be expected.

I read in the book that if you get a craving for something specific it is most likely what your body is currently eliminating and the craving will probably be gone the next day after the morning 'elimination'. Someone said funghi on TV this morning and I suddenly wanted a mushroom pizza, so I suspect that is true! It's also imprtant to recognise the distinction between craving and hunger, which I am working on.

Well, I'm going to make my laxative tea and have an early night, but I will keep updating on my progress through the master cleanse if you're interested to read it. If not, I will be back on the raw food after this 10 days is over, so do check back then!

8 more days to go and then I can have fresh orange juice...mmmmmmm! x

The Master Cleanse and Sherry's salad

I haven't talked about it on here before, but just over a month ago I did the master cleanse. It's basically a full-on detox for 10 days, where you have no food, just a drink that you make from fresh lemon juice, grade B maple syrup (or madal bal tree syrup which I used as it contains more nutrients), cayenne pepper and water. It is hard but it is a really great detox. In them mornings you're meant to do a salt water flush- I tried this once, it was revolting, and didn't have the desired effect! It's meant to make you go to the loo and empty it all out of you, but it just stayed in my stomach, swishing around and gave me a massive bloated belly. So I switched to doing coffee enemas, which were really effective and a great cleansing/ detoxifying aid. In the evenings you have a herbal laxative tea. This whole process really cleanses your colon and bowel and I felt lighter and freer at the end of it. It sounds a bit wanky to say this but I really did feel detoxified mentally as well as physically at the end of it.

Then after the 10 days, you need to ease yourself back into food, so you do 2 days of just drinking fresh organic orange juice. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to orange juice that much, but I got a load of oranges and put them through my juicer and oh my days... it was the BEST orange juice I had ever tasted! After 10 days without food I felt like my taste buds were exploding! Then the next 2 days I just had a variety of different fruit and vegetable juices, to prepare my body for going back to solid food gradually. I made some delicious ones, including carrot, beetroot, apple and celery, and pear and ginger. Yum! But the most interesting thing about this 4 day period was that I started taking psyllium husk to finish off the cleansing process and clear out the remaining debris from my intestines. Oh my gosh, I won't go into detail here but it really does work, you wouldn't believe what starts coming out of you! If you're interested, do a google image search for mucoid plaque (if you're not eating!) and take a look! I have to say, it was quite satisfying! And now I'm fully back on food, my digestion has definitely improved. Probably shouldn't go into any further detail now, don't want to gross people out any more than I already have ;)

Anyway, the results of this were so great- I felt a million times better, really happy, light, healthy and positive, oh and I lost 13lbs (put 2 lbs back on when I started eating again and my colon started filling up again, but hey!) that I kept talking about it to my friends. And Sherry decided to give it a go herself. She'd been having some health issues which doing a good detox and eating more raw foods could really help. She did amazingly, even getting up at the crack of dawn to do the salt flush every morning (well done Sherry!). She's now completed the full cleanse, and is starting to eat raw foods. She made an amazing looking salad the other day which I have to share with you. See the picture below.

Sherry's salad

Liquid gold elixir

It has in it: lettuce, beetroot, cress, marinated courgette strips, grated carrot, marinated corn and red onion, red chili, enoki mushrooms, cashews and sesame seeds. Yum! She also made a dressing from Natalia Rose's Raw Food Detox Diet book, the liquid gold elixir, which she says is possibly the best thing she's ever tasted! That was one of the first raw books I bought, yet I never made that dressing but I am definitely going to make it after that recommendation! Sherry, you are inspiring me.

So,  I still haven't got round to making that chili but tonight that is definitely going to be my dinner. I will let you know how it turns out. It better be good after all my building it up! I'm sure it will, I love all Ani Phyo's recipes. So I'll do another post either later or tomorrow to let you know how the chili was. And I want to get some of those enoki mushrooms- apparently you can get them in Asda, but I reckon I've seen them in the little Japanese shop up the road so will be popping up there in my lunch break. I'll be having a big salad with taco nut meat and sour kream for lunch, and some more crackers (which I've already scoffed...) And I had a delicious green smoothie for breakfast. It's all good!