I’m not eating.

I’ve decided to try The Master Cleanse (created by Stanley Burroughs in 1941) in an attempt to cleanse my body of all the nasty toxins that currently reside in my innards with the hopes of invigorating my system and leading a healthier life. I was inspired by Jan (who did a week fast in Thailand last year), Ed (who has done The Cleanse two or three times already), and various stories I’ve read on the internet. Here is the gist of the program:

The Master Cleanse is a liquid mono-diet that cleanses and detoxifies the body as it stimulates healthy tissue growth. It consists of fresh lime or lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper mixed with water and drunk 6-12 times a day. A herbal laxative tea is taken at night followed by a salt water flush in the morning, and no other food is consumed.

This regimen that can be followed for 10 days, and may also be safely extended to 40 or more days, depending upon a persons physical condition.

You can read The Master Cleanse here [PDF]

So there you go. I’ve bought all the ingredients from the local health food store and have already made enough of the “lemonade” for three or four days. I was surprised at how expensive the maple syrup was. This is genuine organic grade B maple syrup. I’m not talking about Aunt Jamima or Log Cabin here. A one liter bottle cost me about 35 euros! That should probably last me four days. I also need about 20 lemons for those four days. It took me a while to convert all of the measurements to the metric system and then calculate proportions to fill up large bottles. Once I start to run out, I’ll head to the store and pick up more to last me the projected 10 days.

Before I started the program yesterday, I prepared myself by only eating raw fruit and vegetables for the two days prior. That was rough. The maple syrup is supposed to have all the vitamins and nutrients that the body needs, but carrots and bananas are probably lacking in something. At least that’s what my body was telling me after two whole days.

First impressions? The lemonade tastes… interesting. It smells like really sweet iced tea but that’s only because you can’t smell the cayenne pepper. I don’t think I worked out the proportions quite right because my first bottle of lemonade was HOT! I got used to it after a while but I’m gonna make sure the next bottle is a little more palatable. I was also concerned about losing too much weight. Basically, I don’t want to lose any. The book says that all I have to do is add extra syrup to the lemonade and I shouldn’t lose weight. I’m not sure if I believe them. After 10 days of not eating, I’m bound to lose at least a couple kilos. We’ll see. If I do lose any weight, I’m sure I’ll be able to put it back on once I start eating again.

So how am I feeling now? After one whole day of only drinking the lemonade I was hungry. Or at least I thought I was. I couldn’t stop thinking about all sorts of delicious foods. I guess Jan ordering Chinese take-out for dinner didn’t help. But I survived. The first two days are famously the most difficult and I’m looking forward to day three. That’ll be Monday. It’ll probably be a little weird since I’ll be at work all day. At least I’ll make some extra money out of this since I won’t have to take any time off for a lunch break!