FIN

It was only 4 days, but it might as well been a month.

Yes internet world, after 4 (loooooong) days on the Master Cleanse, I've decided to quit. THAT'S RIGHT QUIT! I'm not embarrassed or ashamed at all. Okay maybe at first I felt like a failure. I did make a promise to people that I would do the full 10 days...then I chickened out and said 5...and now I've really pussy'd out and up and quit the whole damn thing. So I'm sorry to those who were looking forward to me giving great advice about the Master Cleanse, reporting about my 10 pound weight loss, seeing my skin clear up, having more energy blah blah BLAH. iFail.

But one good thing about this? I CAN EAT AGAIN! Seriously, today was the WORST of all the days. I couldn't concentrate at work at all. All I was thinking about was how much I wanted to EAT something. So as instructed, I would down a glass of the lemonade drink. But alas, the hunger monster returned with a vengeance. I literally was going out of my mind crazy. I knew I had to make a choice: either sit at work for what seemed like an eternity, go home and have a crappy night, then repeat the cycle for another 7 days OR eat something, get some of my sanity back, and just take what I learned from the short cleanse and apply it to a healthier diet and lifestyle. I decided on the latter.

So what did I learn from my 4 days of torture? Well for one thing, I really do have strong will power. I know, I know, I didn't do the full 10 days. But guess what, i did FOUR. Yes that's right FOUR. That's FOUR entire days of NOT EATING ANYTHING. So if I can go four days without eating (in addition to almost 8 years of being a vegetarian, as some may point out), I surely can so many more great things - as long as I know in my heart it's good for me or the environment.

Another thing I can take away from this experience is the fact that people really DO have a pretty crappy diet. I cannot even fathom how people can go to McDonald's everyday, or drink sugary drinks everyday, or even eat things like pop tarts and fruit roll-ups! For me the problem wasn't what I ate, it was how MUCH I ate. I did eat when I wasn't hungry. I was simply bored. Now knowing that I can go for so long without eating and NOT dying, I'm sure my servings and overall caloric intake will be cut down and I'll likely still maintain some weight loss. Also, since I haven't eaten anything at all, my stomach has most definitely shrunk in size. I drank about a half a cup of soup and was stuffed. So I guess it's bye-bye to all-you-can-eat-buffets. Good riddance I say.

Day 4 of the Master Cleanse: WTH am I doing?!

So today was a pretty crappy day. I've been in a crabby mood and I have been having serious food cravings. I've also been kind of gassy and bloated. I'm kind of regretting not doing the Salt Water Flush last night.

I just ran to the library on my break and took a looksie at the Master Cleanse book. According to that, I've been doing a few things "wrong." First of all, I'm not drinking grade B maple syrup. I'm actually not quite sure if my syrup has a grade, and if it does I'm sure I picked A. Second, I thought I had a choice of doing the herbal lax tea OR the salt water flush, but apparently you have to do both! And I skipped last night, which probably explains the bloating and cranky mood.

Now I'm just really feeling like I want to end it now, especially if I'm not following the instructions to a T - I wouldn't want to harm my body in any way. But then again I'm also thinking about how I've already invested so many days on it, it would just be a waste to end it now. I could probably go on and just finish the last 7 days by doing it the right way, but I'm feeling really antsy. I'm overcome with this crazy food craving and emotionally I think I'm going a little insane.

I'm starting to think to myself, "Hey, maybe I'm not cut out for this cleanse. Maybe I should just adopt a new diet like the raw food diet or veganism! At least then I can eat...." Ahhhhh I don't know what to do. I almost feel like a failure because I jumped into this thing without being FULLY prepared. But then again I would probably be even more of a FAIL if I kept doing it the wrong way and didn't admit to my mistakes and somehow end up dying or something.

So I don't know........what I might do is hold off on the cleanse now, do more research, and then try again next week. Plenty of people have given up halfway through and tried again and succeeded. Nothing wrong with that, right?!

Day 3 of the Master Cleanse: Video blog!

Has it really only been 2 days of no eating? It feels much MUCH longer! I got a haircut today so I decided to do a video update :)

Enjoy!

Day 2 of the Master Clease: Am I really doing this?

Today is my first full day of the Master Cleanse detox, i.e. NO FOOD! Here's an hourly update of the cleanse as my day goes on:

4:30am Getting ready to go to work. I'm feeling good from my pre-detox diet the day before. I'm not feeling too hungry, but I take a swig of water before heading out.

5:20am I get to work and start to feel that familiar hunger pang - my stomach is calling out for FOOD. So I mix up my first glass of the lemonade drink.

6:10am I realize I only brought 1 large lemon, which is good for only 2 drinks. I'm going to have to run to the market to get more, otherwise I won't be able to get the minimum 6 drinks today - unless I want to stay up all night peeing.

7:30am Starting to get really hungry. I'm drinking so much water to ease the hunger, that I'm peeing every half hour or so!

8:30am When my stomach makes a growl, I take a swig of the lemonade. It kinda helps. I'm almost done with the first drink and all the cayenne pepper is at the bottom of the bottle so the drink is kind of spicy. At least that gets my mind off food for a bit.

9:20am I think I'm over this wave of hunger. My stomach isn't growling and I don't have an urge to eat anything. Guess this is the first hump I'm over. Let's see how long this will last...

10:10am Mmmmm, someone's eating a chocolate chip cookie and I can smell it. Didn't I read somewhere that you can overcome a craving for something simply by smelling it?

11:05am Oh no, it's LUNCH TIME! The smell of people's food wafting from the kitchen to my nose is making my stomach cry out for some food. I think it's time I take a break and go get my lemons.

12:45pm I'm actually feeling quite full believe it or not. I drank so much water and lemonade drink that I can't even think about making another glass. And I *just* went out and got some lemons too! Waaaaaste!

2:30pm Just got home from work. Stopped by Trader Joe's for some sea salt for the Salt Water Flush that I'm totally NOT looking forward to. I have to do it on an empty stomach so I'm gonna take my afternoon nap, and do the flush in a few hours. Oh by the way, I hoped on the scale just to see where I'm at and according to it I lost 2 pounds! I should probably check my weight at the same time everyday for a more accurate reading.

5:30pm Took a nice nap and now drinking my third glass. I need to force myself to drink more in order to get the minimum 6 glasses in. I don't want to lose like 20 pounds (if that's even possible), and I don't want to faint from no nutrients. In a couple hours I'll do the Salt Water Flush and brace myself for what's to come after that........

7:00pm Just downed a quart of salt water. NOT EASY. I just had to tell myself I've taken shots of worse things. I literally had to look at myself in the mirror and tell myself not to throw up. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to be able to drink that every day for 10 days!!! It was pretty disgusting. I just hope it works and that I will get to "flush" out toxins in a few hours. In case you're wondering why the hell I just drank salt water, it's for an extra "flush" of toxins. It's either this or taking laxatives, and I figure if I'm cleansing my body of toxins, why the hell would I take laxatives that contain ingredients I can't even pronounce?!

8:30pm An hour and a half later, and I've successfully "flushed" my body a few times, and probably will a few times more. But after posting a status update on Facebook on my salt water flush, some people raised concerns. So I googled the flush along with the word "dangers" and found a few unpleasant articles. So even though I really was "flushed" I think I might skip that part of the cleanse. But then that makes me wonder if I should even do the cleanse anymore. Hmm, I guess I'll give it a few more days.

Total pounds lost: 1 or 2

Day 1 of the Master Cleanse: Cut the crap

Today I took my first step towards the Master Cleanse! Before even starting the MC there is an optional 3 day "Ease-in" diet that sort of helps you prepare for 10 days of no eating. I decided to combine the last two in one day since I'm anxious to start.

So last night I squeezed few bottles of orange juice in preparation for today. I also gathered some fruits and vegetables to nosh on. No meat, no dairy, and nothing processed was allowed. When I got to work I was feeling a little hungry so I drank a lot of OJ. My stomach started to growl for food so I ate a banana. Then for lunch I ate some carrots and an avocado - and more fresh OJ. The rest of the day I lived on lots of water and OJ. It actually wasn't that bad. I didn't have any serious hunger pangs or a strong desire to run across the street and get a cheesecake. It was pretty easy.

I wanted to get a taste of the actual Master Cleanse lemonade drink so tonight I mixed a glass up and drank it. It consists of water, fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. I think I put a little too much pepper in it because it was spicy (imagine that, a spicy drank!) But other than that, it isn't as bad as it sounds. The maple syrup and lemon definitely helps give it flavor. I just hope I don't start to get sick of it like four days in...

It's the (dun dun duuuuun!) MASTER CLEANSE!!!

So after many weeks of consideration, I've decided to tackle this thing called DETOX, more specifically the Master Cleanse. I'm sure a lot of people have heard of the cleanse and probably have their own formed opinions about it, so I thought I'd explain the reasons WHY I've decided to do the cleanse right here!

Now I'm sure the FIRST thing that comes to everyone's mind is "why the eff do YOU need to detox??!" (Or that's what I'm hoping your first thought is haha) Yes, I may be a vegetarian BUT keep in mind, animal style fries from In-n-Out and Cool Ranch Doritos are considered "vegetarian." I also admit that I am in NO way fat or obese and may not even need to lose weight, but I must stress that the MC is not a diet, it's a detox - two very different things. So don't fret, this isn't a cover-up for anorexia!

So now onto the reasons why I'm doing this. First of all, I've had an interesting relationship with food for a long while now. I'm what people like Dr. Phil and those diet experts on The Biggest Loser call an "emotional eater." Basically, I eat when I'm bored or when I'm emotional. So that leads to me taking in more calories (and more often that not the BAD calories) than I really truly need. So that's my first reason: mental control over the food that goes into my body.

Second, I'll admit, the idea of losing a few pounds is enticing, since I know that I CAN be a smaller size and become less "jiggly." So my second reason for doing the MC is purely for vanity reasons. (I'll chronicle each day here along with pound(s) lost ::crosses fingers::)

My final reason for doing the MC is, of course, the reason why people SHOULD do it: to DETOX. I just watched Food Inc. the other day (which will likely turn into a future post) and I am just grossed out by what I saw. It really got me thinking about the food we are presented in restaurants and markets and just where EXACTLY it all comes from. Like many people say, our body is our temple and we need to take care of it! So this MC will essentially allow me to cleanse my body of all those toxins and processed crap that I've ingested these 22 years and basically start over.

Wish me luck!