Day 21 - Mastercleanse - 13th December 2004

It's now 11 days since we quit the diet/detox/prayer vigil. How are we different? Julie reports that she has not been so hungry since we finished. I agree with this. I think your stomach gets used to being less full and therefore you feel more complete with less food. At the same time you are perhaps more cleansed and able to digest more efficiently. Therefore you would not require so much food to obtain the same energy.

This sounds like a good idea but is probably rubbish.

My digestion is certainly different and I am suffering with some constipation most probably because we used laxatives for so long the body has adjusted to this level of elimination. I must drink more.

Talking of drinking; I had gone for 15 days without a drop of alchohol. Then we had a lunch time engagement with some friends at a local restaurant. Julie and our friends got there first and Julie ordered a beer for me! Can't believe she did that. Perhaps what is worse is that I drank it! That of course was the start again. Since then I have actually gone out and bought some wine and beer. Only, of course, because my Mum was coming over. But I certainly don't crave a beer like I used to. I can take it or leave it. I have developed a taste for orange juice and cloudy apple juice.

I have put back about half of the weight I lost (16 pounds). Julie had done the same but she only lost about 12 pounds during the diet.

All round, we would both say that we have developed a greater understanding of our relationship with food. It is no longer something we consume without thought. I believe that the whole process was very nourishing to us both (if I can use that word?). It was something that we did together and there are actually very few things we do together. It was something that we supported each other in and encouraged each other. And it was something we were both pleased to have completed.

I don't think we would have maintained it for the 10 days if we had not been using it as an opportunity to pray. Diverting the feeling of hunger and the longing for food in this manner (not manna) not only made the sensations bareable but gave the whole excercise a purpose. For without this I am not sure we could not have dreamed up a good reason to do it. That we may have benefitted in the long run is simply a bonus.

If you want the book go here: Mastercleanse Book. I haven't got it and never read it so I can't comment. Other than a friend who said it should be taken with a pinch of salt (not literally though).

Day 11 - Mastercleanse - 2nd December

Back into full time eating today. But it isn't the same. We are far more conscious of our portions, eating far less than before. Obviously this is early days as far as eating is concerned. It feels like a honeymoon period has begun. Food tastes great and little is required to feel replete. I guess as you go on and your stomach stretches, you require more food to generate the same feeling (sounds like I'm talking about herion!).

I definitely feel crisper (whatever that's supposed to describe?). My taste buds, sense of smell, alertness, physical awareness of my body are all running at a higher level than before. I also feel that this kind of diet/cleanse is something I could repeat. It's like I have a new weapon. Food has, ever so slightly, less of a hold on me than it had before. I have a new relationship with it. More repect for it and less fear of not having it.

One thing hasn't changed. I thought that if I gave my stomach and intestines a good clean out it would help. I thought if I was careful with what I ate after our detox it would be better. I thought that if I wasn't drinking beer (I still haven't had a beer or indeed any alchohol for 11 days) it would eliminate the problem altogether. It doesn't - I still get wind! It started almost immediately. Julie always said it was beer. Now I know it isn't.

Julie got indegestion for the first time in years today. She is putting it down to eating too much. She feels that she has much more energy than she got from just the lemonade. Generally she feels well. She did have a piece of chocolate today but it was not like it was what she had been craving. Far from it.

Day 10 - Matercleanse - 1st December

It feels decidedly strange waking up knowing that we will be ending our fast today. We had already discussed how we would do it. We would keep going on the orange juice for breakfast, then do some lemonade and finally have some soup for lunch.

By all recommendations the food part of this was somewhat premature, but we thought we were better than all the recommendations.

I was fine this morning. The orange juice tasted great and we drank loads. I took a bottle of lemonade to school with me in the car. But it was finished in the 10 minutes it took to get there. I think I will forever enjoy this drink, like I enjoy meeting with an old friend.

Julie had had enough of the lemonade by now and only drank the juice. We both felt fine and were comfortable with the idea of breaking the fast at lunch. For me I felt like I had quit smoking for 10 days. I felt very pleased with myself and better for having done it. But I also felt something like guilt as you would if you had taken a secret cigarette and ruined your record for quitting.

Lunch finally arrived. Homemade chicken and vegetable soup. And it was delicious. We both had a small bowl with some bread and I had the added luxury of a 2" square of cheese. We both felt we had eaten like kings. And we felt completely satisfied, not bloated just satisfied. The feeling stayed with us for the rest of the day.

At supper time we sat with the boys and had a little vegetarian shepherds pie and salad. Julie couldn't finish her small portion. Perhaps only the second or third time I had ever wittnessed her not finishing a meal. Again it was beautiful to taste and savour. Julie felt that even though she had eaten only a little, it may still have been too much with the lunch we had also had. She felt full for several hours afterwards.

I felt full and replete for the rest of the day and even managed a mince pie at house group tonight. After all Julie had made them!

Well we did it. I don't know and I suppose we never will know, if it has done us any good. We have used the whole thing as a excerise in partnership (we actually each do different things most of the time), we have used the hunger pangs to remind us of who were are as living creatures, to gain a greater appreciation of what we eat and to be thankful to our Lord and Creator for the blessings we are given everyday of or lives.

Give me some more soup, please and roll on the bacon and eggs!

Day 9 - Mastercleanse - 30th November

Day started again pretty well for both of us. We both went straight onto the lemonade when we woke but decided that we had probably been purged enough and delcined the laxative tea. I collected our friend from the airport and Julie did some baking. Neither of us had any movements today.

For me the day was the least painful. I was full of vigor, I had no headaches and the small hunger pangs I felt were easily subdued by the lemonade. I think my body was now in the stride of it all and I had a sense that I could probably keep on this thing for as long as was necessary.

Julie was still feeling pretty wiped out and was finding it difficult to consume more that 4 lemonade drinks per day. I think 6 must be the minimum to supply you with the energy you need. So she's in a losing battle.

We decided at the end of the day (around 7:00pm) that we should start the orange juice tonight. Our friend had just arrived and we were expected to a party on Friday night and a pot-luck supper on Sunday night. So we needed, in any case, to be ready to eat by then.

So we had some fresh orange juice. Just half a cup each to start with.

Now I haven't had orange juice for about 10 years, considering it to be far to acidic for my constitution. Well, what we know about our constitutions is zip. We all have ideas about ourselves I'm sure and I'm sure we don't know what we are talking about in the main. I'm convinced (because of what people tell me) that I have a wheat intolerance, a necessity to have a certain amount of fat everyday, I have candida (this one was very popular some years back - do you remember everyone had it for a while), intolerance to dairy products, acid stomach that produces an acid reflux and terrible bad breath if I don't eat regularly (Julie will testify to this one), a very ichy scalp due to some other intolerance, an underperforming liver and others I won't go into. But in reality I don't suppose any of these is anything like what I really have. All I can say is that the orange juice was absolutely gorgeous. Julie had 3 glasses and I must have had 4 or 5. Apparently it is the best thing for you at this time of the diet because it forms an alkali base and lining for the stomach. Who cares; it was great.

We went to bed well satisfied.