10:00 AM: Feeling really sluggish today. Could just be a case of the Mondays, but i’m hoping for some productive eliminations tonight…
Later: As the day went on, i continued to feel more and more weary and exhausted. I suppose this is probably to be expected during a fast, but quite frankly i’m too busy to be slowed down mentally, right now.
Eliminations actually yielded some pretty good results. I expelled some pretty serious demons, and i definitely found that i had a lot more energy afterwards. This is in step with the results i’m supposed to see, so that pleased me greatly (still being a skeptic myself.)
Socially, we’re being met with unreasonable bias and anger. It’s so strange. People whom i’ve known for a long time and whom i would normally say have no problem what anyone else does with their bodies are suddenly persecuting us as though we are standing on their doorstep, telling them that they have to change their view of nutrition and health, OR ELSE. Clearly this is not the case.
These are also people that i would have said are pretty bright about doing their research, or at least realize that i do mine (vigorously.) Yet, the types of things they say show no sign of having looked beyond the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, which is pretty unforgiving, to say the least.
To me, though, these social lessons are exactly the kind of thing that i set out to learn when i resolved to do this. There’s a strange irony here: that their bitching and moaning about this fast being bunk are actually validating the fast for me. Of course, most of them don’t even realize it actually is a fast, and they attack the lemonade as if i’m somehow worshiping the stuff as a miracle drug that precludes medicine and a healthy diet. (As a comical aside, i started calling my juice “jenkem“, because it’s really damn funny.)
Today was a tough one! This morning i woke up with serious hunger, so Cara and i went to making our daily dose of juice immediately. A nice trick is to lick the spoon after adding the lemon and syrup. It gets your ravenous stomach craving the stuff, so you welcome it. And sure enough, after only drinking a little of it, the hunger was gone.
But then we had to take a trip to Peachtree City (45 minute drive) to visit Cara’s mom for Mother’s Day. Cara’s mom the amazing cook. At lunch time. Surely they know to hide the food, right? No, her father is in the middle of his lunch when we arrive, eating something Cara called “pepperoni bread”. But luckily we brought our juice and pushed through. Really, the hunger stays controlled with it, you just have to get your portions right to last you the day.
Once we got home, I only had about an hour to prepare before leaving to go to my investment club meeting, which was being held way outside the perimeter this month (another 45 minute drive.) The club usually eats dinner before the meeting, which would have been easy to avoid. But this time, the plan was to grill out hamburgers and tater tots at the meeting location, so avoidance was impossible.
I’ve already sworn off of red meat (it truly is poison for your body), so i didn’t expect much trouble, but the SMELL, my god. It’s easy enough not to look at it, but i couldn’t stop my nose from its evil ways, sending my stomach all the messages that i desperately wanted it not to receive.
When the host offered me a burger, i plainly said “No thanks, i’m fasting right now.” I thought for sure i was heading down a slippery slope with that one, but i got off with just a strange glance or two and no further comment. Perhaps they assumed it was a religious thing or something. (i guess it kind of is?)
When i got home, i was really exhausted. This cleanse is supposed to keep you at mostly full energy, but driving in the car can take a lot out of you, and i spent 3 hours in the car today, all told. Hopefully a good night’s sleep tonight will see the end of it. The weakness i’m feeling isn’t too out of the ordinary, though, just an active Sunday (the worst kind of Sunday!)
Nothing notable about the saltwater baths, so far. I just chug a liter of saltwater, and then pass a liter of saltwater about an hour later. I’m hoping for more productive “eliminations” in the next few days, where i fully expect some of my dormant toxins to become aroused for the first time.
Now i’m winding down, and expect to have no problems passing out. Which is good, because sitting up late, bored and sleepless (like usual) is a terrible way to avoid thinking about eating.
Today marks the first day of a 10-day fast that my lovely girlfriend and i are embarking on together. It isn’t exactly a fast, though: It is a liquid diet consisting entirely of water, organic lemons, organic maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. The ingredients may sound strange or a bit silly, but each serves an important purpose during the fast, mostly dealing with basic nutrients and energy.
You may not be a stranger to this fast, as it has been around for nearly 70 years and has attracted no small amount of criticism (and hyperbole.) It is called The Master Cleanse, created by Stanley Burroughs in 1941. I’ll talk more about the system itself later, when i have more experience. For now, i just wanted to begin blogging the process for posterity.
Today, we left the house and went shopping for our ingredients. We spent about $100 at the local organic food grocery, Sevananda. We bought almost 20 organic lemons, 64 ounces of organic syrup, a container of sea salt (for a part i haven’t mentioned yet), a hand juicer for the lemons, and liter bottles for bringing our “juice” with us. We got home, mixed up 2 liters of the stuff, and went about our business for the day!
So far, there has been no hunger to speak of, the last thing i ate being a snack around 1am this morning. The juice has done a magnificent job of warding off real hunger, today, but i’m still skeptical of just how long that can last.
The second part of the cleanse is what is called the “saltwater bath”, a nice way of saying “clean your ass out from the inside.” You mix a couple of table spoons of sea salt in with a liter of lukewarm water, and chug the entire thing all at once. Apparently, on an empty stomach, such a concoction will go straight through your stomach and colon, and acts as a natural colonic (sounds a lot better than the ways people are paid to do this for you.)
The saltwater bath is really important during the cleanse, because without solid foods going through the body it is possible that the colon will cease all function altogether (this would be bad.) Of course, the purpose of this program is removing impurities, so getting a colonic along the way seems pretty fitting.
As i write this, i have imbibed the sea salt concoction and am awaiting my first movement. You are supposed to hold off as long as you can (and no passing gas, because you will draw mud!) When you can no longer stand it, you get to do the deed. It takes sometime between 30 minutes and an hour before it should begin, so i figured “Let’s go write that blog post!
I expect the next few days to be the most painful, and the final stretch to be full of enlightenment and changing viewpoints. Stay tuned!
I published a new video on Youtube (a SnowCast!) today with an accompanying blog post on the company blog. You should head over there for the full thing: