Gee, Think.

It’s master cleanse eve at the Wilkin household!  Tomorrow I embark, once again, upon the master cleanse!  This time I will have a trusty companion, who will at this time remain anonymous!  I just re-read my previous post about eating right, and I’m happy to say that I have maintained my body weight since the last post.  I just weighed myself on our new digital scale and I’m coming in at 178.2 pounds.  I hope to maintain this weight throughout the cleanse.  Looking at my body I can see that there are slight fat reserves, but I cant really imagine that its much more than 5 lbs.  I definitely don’t want to see my weight fall below 170, at all.  This will be an interesting test of the master cleanse.  In my reading of the theory, only ‘waste’ or ‘excess’ tissue should be shed during the cleanse.  Now that I know my starting weight, I should be able to gauge that more accurately.  When I last did the master cleanse I would guess that I was around 185 pounds and had a little fat to lose.  Now the pickens are getting slim!

It is my goal to go for the full 10 days on lemonade, with a 3 day cool-down to return to solid foods.  I have the remnants of a cold that gave me some trouble.  It’s 90% gone now and I think the cleanse will knock it right out of me

Here’s to cleansing!  Mmmm Senna Tea!

It’s been 3 weeks since I started to come off Master Cleanse which I did for 7 days.  As with each cleanse I’ve done, the experience offered a new perspective on health and my relationship with food.  Since cleansing, my food choices have been vegan with few exceptions.  I am pleased with this transition.  The cleanse was a good way to mark a new beginning.  I could write a whole entry just on the topic of a vegan coming out, and I think I will.

Now I’d like to say a few things about the return to solid foods.  First of all, for all you cleansers out there, return to solids slowly!  My morning routine includes drinking a large fruit smoothie.  Before the cleanse, this was easily 40 ounces or more.  The smoothie also varies in consistency and thickness from day to day as I have a varied bunch of ingredients that I include.  On my first smoothie day after the cleanse, I drank my first glassful and felt quite full.  However I had another ‘glass’ to drink.  I use the term ‘glass’ loosely here because they hold more than a pint of liquid; roughly 2.5 cups.  So because I felt full I waited 40 minutes or so before drinking the rest of the smoothie.  I couldn’t stand to just pour it out.  I would have been wasting the most nutritious ‘meal’ that I make all day!   Drinking this second portion was against my better judgement, and I felt so sluggish afterward.  I felt ‘full’ in a whole new way.  I think that my body was not ready to digest or process so much food at one time, even though it was in liquid form.  The feeling of sluggishness lasted for an hour or more.

This is one example of the way that common food habits are brought into a new light after the cleansing process.  Since the cleanse I have reduced the amount of smoothie that I’ll drink in the morning from 5+ cups to 3.5 cups.  I think this is a better balance of both my need for high caloric intake and my body’s digestive comfort zone.

Return Schedule

In Tom Woloshyn’s book, which has been my primary guide to this cleanse, he has two schedules for coming off the cleanse.  They are 4 and 3 days in duration.  The four day schedule is more gradual and probably more ideal, but I’ve gone with the 3 day plan in order to be back to eating solid food on Saturday which is our first parade for Chinese New Year.  Abiding by the schedule, yesterday was a day of oranges, orange juice, and more oranges. Today I am drinking orange juice all day, with the privilege of a vegetable broth for lunch and, oh yes, vegetable soup for dinner!

Anticipating Solid Foods

I can’t describe the excitement and anticipation with which I await fresh steamed vegetables and brown rice for tomorrow’s dinner.  Even tonight’s dinner will be amazing:  vegetable soup with whole vegetables!  I can’t wait to bite into them and feel the texture of the food in my mouth.  Not to mention the feeling of fullness that comes from fiber instead of liquid.  Today I have the ultimate privilege and honor of drinking a homemade vegetable broth with a few vegetables for lunch.  Wow.  Here’s one guy that is beside himself with joy.

Mood & Emotion

Yesterday for the vast majority of the day my mood was ebullient.  I was having a great time, and so happy to be drinking my orange juice.  I have to admit that by the end of the day, I was feeling a bit frustrated and grumpy.  I’m not sure exactly how to place this, but I think part of it I will assign to hunger.  It seems that I am great about maintaining my ‘food’ intake during the day, but the end of day transition from the office to home is where I lose it.  I tend to let myself go a little too long and then I turn a bit sour.  But, this was nothing that a few oranges and a little mindfulness couldn’t rememdy.  It wasn’t long before I was once again counting my many blessings with gratitude.

I also gave myself a pat on the back for completing 7 days of the master cleanse.  The minimum recommended duration is 10 days, and so I have a little bit of remorse for not ‘going the distance’ there.  That feeling is compounded a bit by reading the testimonials of the people in the back of the book who were able to run 7 miles a day while on the cleanse.  That information really makes me curious about the limits of my own ability to subsist on the cleanse.

But the true and lasting feeling that I have is gratitude that this experience came into my life.  I think of this as the 3rd of many cleanses to come.  The Master Cleanse, all in all, was a rewarding and pleasant experience.  I think that later in the spring I will set my sights on the 10 day goal once more.  Perhaps at that time I will document the intensity and type of exercise which I complete each day as well.

I would imagine that exercise would assist in the body’s cleansing activities.  I know that physical activity, by elevating heart rate, moving the lymph, increasing respiration and perspiration greatly helps in eliminating toxins from the body.  I believe it also eliminates toxic thoughts from the mind.

Yesterday’s Totals

• 6 big glasses half and half OJ
• 2 cups half and half OJ
• 4 oranges
• 1 glass hot water
• 1 cup chamomile mint tea