Today is the last day. I have not eaten anything solid for 10 days...except ice at the restaurant last week. At around noon today I will finish this master cleanse and start breaking the fast.
It's at this point that I should have some great insights that I should share.
They are not great...but here are some of the things that I learned.
1. Don't expect too much. In other words, do not expect to gain great insights into life, be throughly cleansed and lose 25 lbs. It doesn't happen. I feel no differently, think no differently now than I did 10 days ago. I don't have a greater appreciation for food, eating right/wrong, or for the poor and starving. I just want to get back to eating...perhaps a wee bit more healthily.
2. The numbers don't add up. It's a lie if someone tells you they don't want to lose weight doing this. I wanted to. But, it didn't happen. And that's a puzzle. It's not like I did NOT have weight to lose. I started out at 214 and I ended up at 206. Eight pounds in 10 days of consuming a 1000 calories/day while maintaining my regular life style, including exercising...I should have shed more...maybe. Unless....I calculate 2500 calories/day short x 10 days = 25,000/3500 (cal/lb) = 7lbs lost. Maybe the numbers add up after all.
3. Don't expect to be completely cleansed. Do NOT expect to be cleansed of all the evils that you have consumed in life. Am I exceptionally dirty? I don't think so. I eat mostly Japanese and Chinese food...Japanese style and Chinese style, NOT, American style. I have been fit most of my life, completing many triathlons and having run more than a 100 miles in a day. Still, ten days running and this morning there was still some crud coming out after last night's tea and this mornings salt water flush. Very very little, but it is still coming out. The option, to do this for a few more days. That is what I should do...but, no, thanks. I'm tired of being tired and hungry.
4. It's possible to live without food. I was skeptical. I thought I would be much more irritable, have much stronger hunger pangs than I did. Nope...just hungry, and usually the drink satisfied those feelings very shortly thereafter. I did not experience any cravings, just loneliness and emptiness...something missing in my daily life, no chance to enjoy a meal with my wife or friends.
5. Life is good. I knew this before the master cleanse. I suppose I know it a bit more strongly now. It is good to have a body that can defend itself, protect itself, even cleanse itself if given a chance. Food is good if taken properly. We do appreciate things more once we have been deprived of them. So, it is good to say thank you, to the Creator, to our loved ones, to our friends, for our blessings BEFORE we lose them.
Well...maybe I did learn a few things after all.
What did you learn on your Master Cleanse experience?
Originally posted at bill belew.com
Doing a fast or cleanse should be primarily for cleaning out the body and your blood stream. It is a great way to give your organs a rest and as a side effect you may lose some pounds but your focus should be on starting a new healthy regiment. Kicking off a new lifestyle is easier when you have done a cleansing fast because you have emptied out a lot of garbage in the system. If you have seen the documentary "Super Size me" you might remember how after awhile eating all that McDonalds food his body craved it and needed the next meal of crap for a fix just to feel better. Bad food will create a dependency for more bad food. So I say get it out and keep it out. If you would like to research more on the Master Cleanser here is a good source of information in the form of "Frequently Asked Questions". http://www.humblebeehealth.com/frequently-asked-questions-master-cleanse-related/
Posted by: Humble Bee | September 13, 2007 10:09 AM | Permalink to Comment