I decided to break the Master Cleanse yesterday, so I ended up doing a full 7 days on the cleanse. I did not cheat or break it once. To think that I did not eat food for more than a week and did not go crazy is absolutely amazing to me.
I'm one of these people who gets irritable if I don't have food on a regular basis - and I must have protein lest I ride the sugar rampage rollercoaster. So I didn't know if I could really do the cleanse. Now I know I can.
How did I do it?
I don't think of myself as having particularly ironclad willpower - but when I set my mind to something - I don't give up. I used my "baby steps technique. Each time I was hungry, I would make the drink. If I was still hungry, I made another drink. I made each drink one at time, and only once (when I had to go into the office) did I make a larger batch.
Each time I wanted to go off, I reminded myself that what I was feeling was a detox symptom and that I could go off any time - but let's just see if I can do this. Even when I was in a cafe or at a party where there was food - I didn't break it or cheat for one moment.
Why not the full 10 days?
I originally planned to do the full 10 days, breaking it on my birthday. When I planned this, I had a fairly open schedule. Two days into the cleanse I decided to do a lot of traveling. I'll be home maybe 3 weeks total from now until April 1st. That starts tomorrow. At first I thought I would just keep doing the cleanse while I traveled, but traveling and meeting with people often includes meals and cafes, in addition to the challenge of making the lemonade on the run.
It is suggested that you have only juice and liquids the first day off the cleanse and slowly add solid food back into your diet on the second and third days. So I was looking at another two days minimum of food restrictions. I didn't want to deal with them and traveling, so I went off yesterday and had my first full juice day. Today I'll have my favorite vice - coffee- and continue with juice and fruit. When I leave town tomorrow I will feel fully confident that I won't have any upsetting stomach issues. Of course I can only eat about a cup of food at a time - but that's a benefit.
What I got from the experience
First and foremost, I regained my confidence that I can do what I set my mind to. Second, I am amazed that my personal body can live for a week without real food. Third, I have reset my portion size, so I will be eating less quantity. Fourth, I very much love food and look forward to eating lightly all the things I love. Fifth, the detox experience. I'll write more about this later. Detox was a very intense experience.
All in all, I had a great experience doing the Master Cleanse and I plan to do a longer, 20 day, cleanse when I'm back from my travels and have a settled pace.
