Day 4 of the master cleanse has finally arrived and I am more excited about today than actually making it to day 10 or more. Day 4 is the actually the threshold and if you can make it through today, you have gotten passed the worst of it.

My overall feeling this morning is good and I slept soundly last night. I just finished a 3 mile run to see how my energy levels were testing….outside of some heavy breathing and sweating profusely…it was all good.

This is a video that is tough to swallow…

Today is the toughest day of all, but I feel mentally prepared for it. I had a little trouble falling asleep last night, but managed to get a good nights rest overall. Luckily it is Sunday so I am pretty much going to putter around the house and do some cleaning while my body does the funky chicken craving food. Hopefully the family takes off, as I recently realized that our lives are consumed with thoughts and discussions about food well over 50% of the time.

It’s actually very interesting to be looking from the outside-in at my life when food does not play a role on a hour by hour basis. While the first 3 days, especially now, are extremely difficult to listen to food conversations, I know by this time tomorrow I will have a whole other perspective. Today should be the last of the cranky days.

Day 2 of the Master Cleanse seems more difficult than the first time. I am much more irritable and seem a lot hungrier this cleanse. I was thinking to go longer this time around but I don’t know if I can go past 10 days. The purpose of exceeding the 10 days was to see how my body will react, however at this point I think I just want to reach the end. The first 3 days are the toughest, so I hope to change my mind after day 4.

Many of my friends have been asking why in the world I am doing the Master cleanse again in less than a year. Is it a ritual, spiritual, narcissistic? The answer is partially yes to all of the above, but mostly because my body now tells me when the toxins in my body have reached critical overload. Lately I am not sleeping soundly, I feel like eating badly or sometimes late at night, my allergies are extreme (over above the time of season) and the list goes on. Now that I am in tune with my body and its functions, it is so much easier to read what my internal organs need; more importantly, what the proactive things I can do before the cup runneth over and I get sick.

Today is day one of the Master Cleanse and I’ve promised some friends and enthusiasts that I would be more clear on what I am doing this time around. Due to the popularity of Video…and because its so much easier, I am video recording the master cleanse starting with Day 1. Please enjoy and remember, I am not a doctor and flush responsibly!

For any of my family, friends or readers wanting to try out the master cleanse in the future; click on this link for a simplified video of exactly what to buy and how to make it:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE-tLJy5Qcw 

A couple of things that worked better for me than what i’ve learned after doing it:

 1. how ever many lemons you squeeze to produce the lemon juice (single or daily serving); use an equal amount of maple syrup in your mix.

2. use two tablespoons of seasalt, not 2 teaspoons as the salt may just retain in your intestines rather than pass through.

 Just returned  from the Bellagio Saturday Tournament and took 6th place out of 50 players.  I played really well in my new skin, but just couldnt put anything together on the last leg of the tourney.  I mostly had vegetable juice every 3 hours (made from yesterday), but for dinner i decided to have an apple and walnut salad with some asparagus soup.  I didnt do any exercise today, but i do planning on going for a bike ride in the AM.

 I just ordered a ton of nutritional supplements, vitamins and something called Chlorella and Spirulina which is supposed to be an all encompassing super food that does many things for the body…I guess i’ll soon find out.  I checked around online and found a really great vitamin store with good prices and a wide variety of products plus free shipping; http://www.swansonvitamins.com/

Day 1 of the new improved and cleansed me have commensed and I’m feeling fantastic.  My day started out with an early morning meeting where i drank my first glass of (non-lemon) freshly squeezed orange juice at Panera.  It was heaven to taste something other than lemon and maple syrup water.  After the meeting I went to the gym to have my first work out in over a year with my new fitness and diet coach.  20 minutes in to the workout i felt like i hit the wall in a marathon and almost passed out.  Everything became increasingly bright and i felt like i was at an altitude of 25,000 feet, as my ears felt like they wanted to pop out.  I’m glad my trainer was with me as he guided me to a safe place to sit and brought me a banana and apple to chew on to get my glucose levels back up.  Within a few minutes i was fine and jumping back on the elliptical machine…what a rush.  It felt exactly like the old days of intense training in my triathlon days…my high and equivalent to what others call drugs…but O’ natural!  With the endorphins racing and my blood pumping we finished up the work out in about 4o minutes and i hit my next meeting for the day.  Note to self:  the banana and apple I mushed up and ate at the gym today was the best two pieces of fruit i have tasted in years, maybe ever.

I didnt eat much during the day and actually had my first liquid meal over at my friends place around 4:30, they have a juicer and all the cool tools for going raw.  This works out great as I enjoy spending time in the kitchen as much as i like going to the dentist for a root canal.  Squeezing lemons into a jug and adding maple syrup to water is about as domestic as I get and i was getting tired of that on day 7 of the cleanse. 

We liquified some cucumbers, parsley, radishes, celery, carrots and some red beets and poured it into a jar so i could have a glass every 3 hours (recommended eating intervals).  After enjoying my liquid dinner, i headed over the Go Raw Cafe to check out what else i would be eating during the next 14 days.  This place is great as it has all the things you need to eat healthly and learn about protein replacement and other tasty foods that most of us never heard of before, or at least i havent.  I picked up a carrot and tomato soup for my meal later in the evening and headed over to the new halloween store to play monster with my son.  Halloween is my son’s favorite holiday of the year by far as he can spend two hours a day in this scary theme park for the next two months and never get tired of it…i may have a stephen king on my hands.

Today is the last day and while i’m very happy with the results; keen senses, clarity, body tune, 12 pounds lost….i’m ready to get back into food.  This time around is going to be alot different though…with what i eat, how much and how often.

 Its officially the end of day 10 and I have successfully made it through the Master Cleanse.  The beginning of days 1 through 4 were extremely difficult to not think about food, while the last 6 days my body and mind adjusted.  Not to say i didnt think about food all day, but it wasnt hunger or starving thoughts; it was more like “wondering” thoughts about how things were going to taste after not eating for 10 days.  My senses have all increased with sensitivity and clarity so I am looking forward to enjoying food in a different way.

The next 14 days will be raw food in juice and soup form while i slowly introduce solids back into my system.  I’m going to be enjoying the tastes one morsel at a time.

With only a few days to go I am ready to get on my raw food diet following the Master Cleanse.  I’ve been getting hungry during the night, and havent been sleeping well at all, which i think is directly related to my body being undernourished and my internal organs and blood cells fighting and adjusting during the night (most active). 

I’m planning on drinking mostly raw juices for the next 14 days to give my body the fuel it needs without shocking it.  This should prove to be a good transition into healthy eating and restructure of my digestive system to eat more good food but less portions.

It’s almost midnight and I had cravings all day for food.  I guess its time to finish it up the master cleanse, tommorow being the last day.  I’ve been thinking about food all day today and cant wait to taste it again….for the very first time.  This sounds weird, but I’m actually more interested in smelling, looking and embracing food than ever before and will be concious of several things.  For example, i noticed the last 10 days i’ve had no sinus or throat congestion which is usually a contant for me.  It’s my guess at this point that there are some foods that my body is allergic to and i will be figuring them out one by one as i add them to my diet. 

This cleanse has given me the opportunity to really learn about my body and how great an instrument it really is.  I am going to make a juggeraut effort to not abuse it any longer.

I had a restless night of sleep and i’m not sure why.  It could of been that i strained my back yesterday putting up blinds in my office…or something going on with my body that i’m unaware of.  I slept late because of it….and felt groggy when i woke up this morning.

Many of my friends have been asking me about where to find info on the mastercleanse diet and the best two links i found are http://mastercleansesecrets.com/.  You dont need to buy the book if you sign up for the free newsletter, and it will provide you a free booklet with all the info you need to do the MC diet.  The other good reference is on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE-tLJy5Qcw, this a simple video that describes the diet well.

 This mornings salt water flush was easier than usual this morning, as i was actually able to chug the litre of saltwater.  I know i was supposed to do this from the beginning, but i just couldnt get around to chugging it, as i kept gagging the first 4 or 5 days and was forced to sip it.  The difference in chugging vs. sipping other than the fact that its very difficult to chug the first 5 days is that your b=movements are further apart and unpredictable, as compared to this morning where they were strung together every 30 seconds.  So depending on where you are, ie., work or home(i dont suggest going anywhere else during the morning flush for at least one hour) sipping or chugging can be done depending if you want to run back and forth to a restroom or just sit there and read a good book for 30 minutes.

Happy labor day to all the 9 to 5 workers bees of the world…you deserve a day off for dealing with the early mornings, fixed lunches and daily traffic. 

Today was an interesting day as i went to my friends BBQ at their house and watched a dozen people scharf down ribs, chicken, mushrooms, salad and beer….and I didnt blink twice.  Several people at the bbq kept asking if i wanted a plate, knowing i was on the cleanse, to see what I would do…and then laughed hard when i said…no, its ok, i’ll just sit here and smell it all in…so that’s what i did.  I actually surprized myself as it wasnt as hard as i thought it would be, to see and smell good food, but not eat it.  I did however have some inquisitive people ask me what the MC was all about and so i described the diet along with the experience of the first 7 days.  It was fun to discuss it with others, as i feel i’ve almost completed my mission and i’m even thinking about doing it for a few extra days; i might even go 14 days total…but i havent decided yet.  According to http://mastercleansesecrets.com/10daysmax.php its actually not a good idea to go longer than 10 days, yet i’ve been watching videos on YouTube of others who have videoblogged their experience, like itsTastyBacon(http://youtube.com/results?search_query=itstastybacon&search=Search) who actually did the MC diet for over 40 days.  I dont think i would go 40 days, but i’m seriously considering a few extra days just to make sure i’m cleansed, as i wont be doing this for at least another year. 

I’ve started looking at the raw diet which follows the MC, and there seems to be alot of info on it, even on Youtube.  I’m not really interested in becoming a vegetarian, which seems to be the direction and religion of the raw diet, but i will certainly try it out for a few weeks to allow my system to adjust and see what its all about.  I heard this other info about an olive oil and grapefruit flush that apparantly cleans out you’re gall bladder. The scary part about this detox is that you could upset some stones laying around in your system and force some to come out…having to pass some miniture golf ball stones through my system…not my idea of fun.  I’ll keep researching this olive oil cleanse to see the dangers.