Day 10– this is the hardest day for me

POST #738
It’s Day 10.  It’s 8:30 pm.  I almost feel like I am out of control.  Day 10 is always hard for me, because it feels like I could just quit and get food, but I know I should make it through the night unsullied.

For the past 2 days, I have seriously thought about what I want to eat tomorrow.  I know what the rules are (fruit juice), but I always disobey them.  All of the cravings have been crowding around (pizza at Quintessence –do they still have pizza? I stopped going there when they started serving cooked food, steak and lobster!!!! at Red Lobsters – I’m just saying – these are cravings)  This morning I woke up knowing that what I really really want is a banana.  So, I have decided that I will have a banana blended in a protein shake, and I will take a banana along with me to eat for lunch.

I went up to Fairway and got some food for the week (my refrigerator was empty, save a couple of giant lemons).  I had to be a)frugal, and b)mindful of what can be done on a candida elimination diet.   I found a 1-lb bag of chopped kale for less than a 1-lb bunch of kale..  I grabbed a cabbage (slaw, more sauerkraut – for some reason I am worried about this batch that will be ready tomorrow night),  two shiny jalapenos (the scotch bonnets were awfully pretty, but I don’t know how they would work out in sauerkraut), some campari tomatoes, and a nice big bunch of basil (boy was I the popular one on the subway train home – everyone around me was sniffing and staring at my bag), oh! and, of course, the bananas.

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DAY 3 MASTER CLEANSE

POST #735
Sorry for the delay: I was trying to post links to books I’ve been reading, but that has been difficult.

Here’s what happened:

I’m now mostly through Day 3 of Master Cleanse. I’m feeling really good this time, because I am doing the whole program (my dirty secret last time was that I never did the salt cleanse, and I have noticed the difference since the first day. Yes, the salt cleanse is a pain – you have to get up an hour earlier than normal, and you have to do all the running to the bathroom—but it is so worth the effort, because you are going to be clean, clean, clean—I am assuming you do not want the dark and dirty exact facts. Trust me, you will know what I mean if you do it. It is amazing. )
Today, at school, there were all sorts of food smells going on around me. Yummy ones, not so yummy ones, but I just had a sip of my lemonade and I was good. The students were eating all kinds of food around me on the break, but I was fine.
One place I read online suggested that Master Cleanse lemonade could be mixed with vodka! Oh my! I think I will wait, but I can see that it might well be a good mixer.
Everybody keeps wondering out loud how I can go so long without eating. It is probably because I am doing the Master Cleanse properly, and I know that it can be done.
One of my students said she had thrown up when she drank the salt water cleanse. I questioned her closely, because that has never happened to me, and I learned that she had drunk the full quart down in 5 minutes (I suppose I might throw up, too, if I tried that). I do make my salt water with hot water – it goes down about like if you are drinking a bouillon—the salt is about the same density as a bouillon would be, so it almost seems tasty. One website I read suggested that hot water goes through your system faster, so you’ll be done running sooner. That makes sense to me, as the concept of the cleanse is that the salt water is the same weight as blood – if it is close to the temperature of blood, would that not be an assist?

LAST 2010 WINTER SHARE: What we got

The farm said we would get carrots, watermelon radishes, rutabagas, and greens.

We got all those things (the greens in my box were arugula – yuck!), and we got some little baby beets.

Now, it is time to sign up for the summer share!

After this food is gone (probably mid next week), I am going to start a Master Cleanse.  My initial goal is 10 days, but I would like to go further if that is possible (this time, I have warned the room-mate that no amount of histrionics will get me to stop this time.)

I am looking forward to this Master Cleanse.  It should fall right around the Spring Equinox.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION: Start the New Year with Master Cleanse

Right now, at this moment, today, I am planning to start a Master Cleanse in the New Year.  I qualify it so because I may start before. My start day could be this Saturday, i.e., two days from now.  My start time depends on my my room-mate’s departure. She is leaving tomorrow for Japan. I could start on Saturday, but I like Mondays or Sundays for starts.  At the latest, I will start on January 1, which, although it is not a Monday, is a very special start date.

I am doing a Master Cleanse now for a number of reasons.

I started one a while back but I had to stop because my roommate had stopped eating.

I need to do a Master Cleanse.

I need to lose 15 lbs.

I want to clean up my act.

BREAKING MY MASTER CLEANSE

I had to break my Master Cleanse fast at day 15 (I had planned to go on for 40 days, and I was doing well), because of a “family” problem:  I realized that my room-mate had  not been eating (real food) during the time that I was fasting.  The realization came slowly…. one day I started noticing that there were no dishes in the drainer, and the only garbage was my lemon peels….  I talked to her, and found she was having problems (I think they might well have been related to a lack of protein, vitamins, and Omega 3s). The day after we talked, and after she had said that she would start eating properly, when I asked, she told me that she had eaten a bagel (I know that she will have eaten more than that… she does not count cookies, crackers, cakes, pies, doughnuts, and so on, as eating), so I told her that I was going to break my fast and that, for a while, we would be eating together again, i.e., I am responsible for preparing food 2 days a week, and she is responsible the other 2 days.  the days she cooks, I usually have to prepare something for myself, because, although she does make a very good salad, she is on the SAD side of the dietary equation for the most part.

I broke my fast mostly by just doing the lemonade for two more days knowing that I was breaking the fast (Burroughs says to drink orange juice, but I cannot).  Then I drank some more lemonade on the third day, and ate a blended salad/soup for dinner.

I’m back to eating solids.  As soon as I get my room-mate eating normally again, I will start a Master Cleanse again.

I LIED: There are more vegetables in my refrigerator

A post or two ago, I said that I had taken care of all the vegetables. It wasn’t exactly true. I went through the refrigerator and found a ton of carrots, or maybe 10 lbs., lying around doing nothing. Then I found a pile of turnips and another pile of beets. Where did they come from? Who knows. They were still working, still alive, so….oh! and then there were the turnips. I completely forgot about the apples from my last CSA share! I had almost forgotten about them…. anyway, the beets, carrots, and turnips are done, and the apples are in the dehydrator. I still have to do the parsnips I got last Thursday — that will be tomorrow.

The fun thing, for me right now at this time in my life, so to speak, is that I am able to do all this work, hanging out with these vegetables that I happen to love, while I am doing my Master Cleanse.

Actually, to tell the truth, I was feeling hungry this afternoon. I was marking a bunch of ESL student essays, and my stomach started complaining (now I know it was desperation). I decided to take a break and do the apples, and… voila! Hunger gone!!!! Yes, of course, they smelled good, but I just was not hungry. Cool!!!!

I found some organic lemons at Whole Foods for $4.99 for a bag of 12. I thought it was a great deal, until I started to measure out the juice and realized that I was getting more juice out of the lemons at the local market where the lemons were 4 for $2.00. I did not really save any money and I have to work harder. C’est la vie.

For some reason, this time, I am noticing how much Master Cleanse costs (it could be that I don’t get paid until Thursday). Lemons do not seem as cheap as they were before. I am going on my second jug of maple syrup. Perhaps it is just that I am noticing. Maybe it has always been this way.

MASTER CLEANSE ISSUES: You wouldn’t expect these!!!

I am doing very well on my Master Cleanse (fast), but, this time, I am running into a challenge I never expected — I have to go to bed earlier!!!!

On the Master Cleanse, you need to get up about 1-1/2 hours earlier than usual, to allow yourself enough time (after you drink the salt water cleanse, you need to wait until it goes through your system, and that takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour the first day, and then less time thereafter, but you need to figure in a couple of bathroom visits, so you need about 1-1/2 hours in the morning to “get through the protocol”, so to speak.

As a result, I have to go to bed earlier. This is a problem, because most of the TV shows I watch come on at 10pm.

Since I work online while I am watching my shows, this is a big crimp in my lifestyle that I did not expect this time (when I have done the Master Cleanse prevously, I did not have to be at work as early as I do now.). I am missing my shows, and I am missing my on-line time at the same time (I watch TV and work on-line at the same time)

If you are considering doing Master Cleanse, do figure in your sleep time, since you will have to wake up earlier, to make your lemonade for the day, and to to your business.