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On Fasting & the Master Cleanse

Cassy - do you ever fast or do the Master Cleanse? How do you feel afterward?

I will say, I have had success with this cleansing program. My parents have been doing this 3-4 times a year since the mid nineties… For years I was always afraid, thinking NO way. I claimed I had blood sugar issues, that i would starve, etc. They are in thier 60s…so I finally realized I couldn’t make any more excuses. Back in 2003 I began a high raw diet, all of which was designed to work up to doing the MC for the full 10 days. I was in a country where you can’t get lemons, so I used limes. It was tasty too. I used raw cane juice, and the cayanne. I loved it.

Now, since then I have repeated this sucess several times, although I seem to get difficulty around day 5. Not hunger persay, but more like a desire to have something to chew on…You are supposed to make sure no pulp gets in the drink, but at one point I was squeezing the lemons and dropping the rind into the container. Then I would find myself fishing them out to suck on the pulp…! It wasn’t hunger, it was like I missed the chewing action. It is almost like I was obsessed with finding something to knaw on. Wierd?
The cleanse is also a great thing to do if you are working with occasional constipation,or problem bowels…i read Jenson’s “Tissue cleanseing thru bowel management” and though I was horrified at what I might find, I figured the MC would help expel some stuff. Last spring when I did the MC I used a mineral laxative and saw some —graphic— stuff on day 3-5 that I know had to be clear mucoid plaque. And that was without doing the P & B shakes jenson recommended! So, I really think this one works…

Just be prepared for the emotional stuff that comes up when you can’t eat with others around you. I heard all sorts of things at work, like that is sugar water, what about protein, etc. But since I am a nutritionist, and mostly raw, I guess they just figure I am “batty” anyway, so I ignore it.

My DH also has done the MC, only I joke with him, since he broke it at 11 days, and had a sandwhich…crazy, but he said it didn’t even bother his belly!

On working & doing the Master Cleanse:

Ever since my first experience with the MC I have had a day job which meant I had to premix the drink. I know Burroughs said drink it fresh as optimal, but I don’t have that option these days. So, what I do is to take a gallon container, pour in the fresh juice of 6 medium lemons or juicy limes, add about 5-7oz of maple syrup (depending on what size jar I buy, and how long I need it to last) add a few shakes of cayene, and then fill about 75% full with fresh filtered water. I drink this throughout the day at work while MCing.

I have also been known to mix the juice and pepper and syrup in a small container, and stir a bit into large glasses of water. (This makes it less obvious at work, where well meaning people can misunderstand.)

I drink lots of water between each glass. HEre is one thing I have noticed. IF I don’t drink enought syrup, (at least 5 oz) I will start getting low bp, and dizzy when I stand up. THis is likely due to already low bp normally. HOwever, it is just something I notice around day three pretty much everytime.

Hope that helps.

Cassy

oh~don’t be concerned with the quantity of sugar, calories, etc unless you are diabetic. I promise you, I once looked up the calories in a full gallon of the stuff, and it was less than 1000 calories. In the MC book, Burroughs details suggestions for diabetics, as I recall it meant using molasses instead.

On whether the ’salt water flush’ is ok, and why did the author of the Master Cleanse speak negatively about colonics and enemas?

The reason Stanley was against your run of the mill enema or colon hydrotherapy is because he was a Hygeniest. They believe that enemas are unnatural, and that when doing the MC, you were to take the oral enema (salt water) and let nature take its course.

So, it is simply how close to the letter of his word that you want to follow. Personally I used the mineral flush by doing magnesium powder..tastes better, and you can also get this in pill form. My parents on the other hand do the sea salt flush. The first time I did the MC I was in a foreign country and couldn’t't get quality sea salt, so I kind of began doing it my way instead…The main thing is to make sure those bowels are movin’. Why? Because typically when you fast, you have decreased peristalsis, the muscular action in the intestine which moves waste through. If there is no fiber coming in, then you’ll begin to notice that things are ’sitting still’ down there. The Burroughs book also encourages the use of laxative tea, again, that’s to keep your system moving the waste out, NOT to purge. If you are able to eliminate without help, then there is no need to use them.

This may be TMI, but look at it this way, many people fail to eliminate properly, and constipation is rampant in this country. Although I DON’T believe that we have pounds and pounds of rotting waste in there, it is not uncommon to have excess mucus which traps pathogenic bacteria and some undigested food and waste. It is this that a fast or juicing will help you ’soak’ off, if that makes sense. Also, just like getting proper sleep at night helps your body’s repair mechanisms function optimally, a brief period of fasting can give your bowels a rest as well.

Many people undertake fasting periods for health or spiritual reasons. My feeling is that the Master Cleanse, like juice fasting is a great option, because unlike water fasting which should be done with strict practitioner observation and physiological rest, generally speaking a person is getting enough calories to function, even if in an abbreviated way.

Here are some great resources for more information on the Master Cleanse:

If you do a search on my blog, you’ll find a few entries when I documented my experience. I recall March of 2006 and February of 2005 have a few such entries.  I’ve recently added a special section and journal about juice fasting where I talk more on this subject. It is a subpage of this one, so if you’d like to read it, just follow the links on the right hand side bar.

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