Just a Quick Hello

Hello again everybody! I hope you had a good day. I'm going to keep this as brief as I can, since I'm up against a deadline with some of my creative writing and I'm also very tired; I'm submitting an anthology of work from this year, which was supposed to be inspired by the poetry of 1950's America... and which ended up as a Victorian Gothic Romance poem. Oh well, I'm sure I can fashion a tenuous link or two for my explanatory essay. See, I start of saying I'll keep it short, and then go off on a tangent that has nothing to do with the Master Cleanse. Sorry! Today I found my food much easier to manage, perhaps because I kept myself a little busier. I had a fruit breakfast and didn't eat again until lunch, when I had carrot and coriander soup with a vinegar salad. I think I'm eating much more slowly on the Ease-Out than I did before the Ease-In. The result is, of course, that I feel more satisfied by my meals; the brain takes around 25 minutes to realise you've had enough food, which of course means that if you're eating fast, you're likely to eat too much. As it is, I waited for my soup to cool, enjoyed my greens by eating them s.l.o.w.l.y., and then patted myself on the back for being a good little cleanser. In the afternoon, I got a few cravings for something sweet, so I dipped into a fruit portion from my Graze box and also ate a banana. I had dinner (soup again!) at around 5, and tempered any cravings thereafter with plenty of water and a handful of grapes. I also had a small success today when I went to the bathroom for the first time during Ease-Out without having used a laxative. My bowel movement this morning was the result of last night's laxative tea (my final one), and was dense and rope like. But then (woohoo!) at 2 in the afternoon, I managed to go again of my own volition. I was a little worried about how my system would cope with the reintroduction of solids, but it seems that by keeping up my fibre intake and hydration I'm negotiating the pitfalls pretty successfully. Right now it's just gone midnight, which I suppose means I'm technically writing this on Ease-Out Day 4, and I can feel my insides brewing up a bowel movement once again. I just thought I'd share that in case anyone was wondering what it was like to go back to normal, unaided pooing. I certainly wondered before I started, but then maybe I'm just weird. Tomorrow I can look forward to more of the same type of diet; salads, broths and fresh fruit are all making an appearance on the menu. I'm seriously craving some garlic and cheese, so maybe I can find a way to facilitate that come lunchtime? I hadn't planned on introducing dairy until Ease-Out Day 5 was over, but since I seem to be managing the rest OK, I'm wondering whether to bend my own rule and do as some people do, returning to dairy as a food group as early as Day 4. We'll see. It seems a shame to give in now, when I've been doing so well. But then again, I have a pack of Boursin in the fridge, and it seems a shame to leave that unattended, too.

Mmmmmmmmmm... 

Right, I will see you in the morning with a menu and a recipe for Ease-Out Day 4, an update on the cheese and garlic situation, and no doubt some grossly indelicate account of my experience in the bathroom. Good night everybody! Sweet dreams!!

Ease-Out: Day 3 Menu (Detoxifying Vegetable Soup)

Ease-Out Day 3 is the almost-identical twin of Day 2; in fact, for me it probably will be the same, since I'm living alone and have still got a lot of yesterday's soup to eat up. For those of you cleansing in groups, or cooking for your families as well as for your Ease-Out needs, I've included a tasty detox recipe to try for the middle of the post-Master Cleanse process.

BREAKFAST: light, soft fruit and fresh fruit juice

LUNCH: soup or broth with raw vegetables and a vinegar dressing

DINNER: soup or broth with raw vegetables and a vinegar dressing and chilli

DESSERT: light, soft fruit, served fresh, frozen or stewed

(Drink plenty of water, herbal tea and fresh fruit juice throughout the day)

Breakfast will be much the same as yesterday. Remember to keep it interesting by trying new and exotic fruits, and try to get as much different-coloured produce into your day as possible; I will be having green grapes, strawberries and blueberries, with a glass of fresh orange and lemon juice and a peppermint tea to aid digestion. It's best to eat your breakfast within 30 minutes to an hour of waking up. When you are able to freely consume a more varied diet, you might consider eating a portion of fruit first, followed by a source of protein to help keep you fuller for longer. Fruit is high in fibre, so begin drinking water as soon as you've had your breakfast; without proper hydration, high fibre foods, however nutritious, can make you constipated, and this is never more true than when you are easing out of the Master Cleanse.

Accompany your broths or soups at lunch at dinner with a salad of raw vegetables, served with vinegar and/or fresh, spicy chillis if you enjoy them. Both vinegar and chilli peppers stimulate the metabolism, and so are a good choice when your digestive system is unaccustomed to solid food. If, like many people, you find your stomach has shrunk during the Master Cleanse, you might like to enjoy these salads between your meals instead of with them. Fruit might fill you up quickly, but leave you hungry again by mid-morning. Make a wise food choice and eat metabolism-boosting, fibrous and nutritious raw vegetables whenever you feel this hunger slump. It will help retrain your body's capacity for food without compromising the success of Ease-Out.

This light soup will be easy on the digestive system and can help remove any lingering post-cleanse toxins from the body.

Detoxifying Green Vegetable Soup:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a supermarket-sized bunch of spring onions
• 1 small white onion
• 1 tbsp cooking oil (I use Carotino)
• 1 large potato 
• 500ml vegetable stock
• salt, pepper, and other seasoning, to taste
• 140g fresh mixed salad: watercress, spinach and rocket, shredded

1. heat the oil in a large pan and cook the spring onions and white onions for 5 minutes, stirring consistently as they brown and soften. If the onions start to stick and catch the sides of the pan, add a dash of water
2. add the diced potato and cook on a medium heat for 2 minutes as you continue stirring
3. pour in the vegetable stock and seasoning, simmering until the potato is tender
4. when the potato is ready, add the leafy salad, stirring gently for 2 minutes
5. remove from the heat and serve

This recipe goes very well with a salad of raw carrots, peppers, chilli and salad leaves, served with vinegar and spice for a punchier flavour. If you don't feel ready for the solidity of raw vegetables, either because your digestive system is making you uncomfortable or because your stomach doesn't have the capacity, you can leave them for another day. Pay close attention to your own needs and don't force yourself to speed through Ease-Out just because you think you should. If you feel very uncomfortable after the consumption of food, you might consider returning to the Master Cleanse's liquid diet for another 2 days, and then reattempting the transition.

For dessert, I will have a fresh half of grapefruit and some red grapes. Try putting grapes in the freezer in a freezer bag, then taking out 10 or so for a sweet but healthy snack after tea. Bon Appetit everybody! Good luck with Day 3! I feel pretty comfortable today, so I'm hoping that my post this evening will be full of good news. See you later, have a nice day!

Feeling Better

Hello again! I'm feeling a little happier today, as promised, since I have enough energy to function! This morning I got up at 5 and cooked my home-made soup, and ate my fruit-based breakfast. Although the ideal breakfast would contain fruit and a little protein to keep me full, I'm still on the ease-out, so a couple of portions of strawberries, grapes and blackberries had to do it. This doesn't fill you up very much, but since I'm straight off a liquid diet, I'm guessing this is easier than it would have been 10 days ago. Even so, I wasn't sustained, so to fight the mid-morning slump, I had a little salad with vinegar. Vinegar kick-starts the metabolism, which is crucial when your digestive system's learning the ropes again, and it also makes the greens taste nicer. I had soup for lunch and dinner, with plenty of water in between. It's been tough, and I have to confess, I had to have a sachet of Options instant hot chocolate with water to get me through the afternoon. Well, I didn't have to, I suppose, but I felt it was a lesser evil, when I still have an unopened box of Thorntons on my bed. All in all, although my brain seems to be finding it a little hard to adjust, I think I'm fairing pretty well with my new, healthier regime. Of course, my fear of real illness if I eat too soon after the Master Cleanse doesn't hurt. This morning, as soon as I woke up, I had a large bowel movement which was a lot more solid than anything I've had in the past ten days. It actually felt like I was going to the bathroom, not peeing out of the wrong orifice like most of my liquid diet expulsions. Anyway, sorry to be gross, but I had to mention how things were going in that area. Much as I am determined to love my new diet, it seems that someone on my floor isn't too pleased with me. We have three fridges between 18 of us, two large ones and one small, domestic sized one. The latter is right outside my bedroom door. Now, since I hardly ever cook at uni (or used to...) I haven't laid a claim to either fridge, but apparently, I'm supposed to. I put my freshly made soup in a lunchbox in the little fridge at 6 this morning, and by 12, there was a note on the door saying "THIS FRIDGE IS NOT JUST A COMMUNAL FRIDGE. FOR SOME OF US THIS IS THE ONLY FRIDGE SPACE WE HAVE." But the thing is, a) there are almost 2 shelves empty in said fridge, b) the other 2 fridges are full and close to other people's rooms, and c) I don't have a place in either fridge. I'm trying to find a way to point this out in as un-twattish a way as possible in a reply note, since the message was anonymous. Perhaps something like "This is a communal fridge. I never used to eat, now I do. Surely there's enough room for my lunchbox and some yogurt. x Rachel xx". Aaah, the pleasures of corridor living. If anybody has any idea for how to word my note, by the way, feel free to make suggestions. I genuinely had no idea, until today, that I'd missed the boat when it came to fridge space allocation. But, you know, now I guess I don't have a right to fresh food??? Hmmm, this post might be livelier than yesterday's, but I'm not sure I've kept the promise with "happier"...moanier, maybe... aah, well, tomorrow I might be onto raw vegetables. I don't think the salad was completely kosher for today, technically speaking, but since I can manage raw fruit, I think soft raw vegetables must be OK. Touch wood my readjustment to digestion seems to be going pretty well. I did wonder whether my illness yesterday was to do with a shift onto different food; maybe it was a bit of a shock to the system? That would make sense, since I still feel the edges of that illness today, but I'm taking things pretty slowly, so hopefully I'm managing ease-out pretty well. I read a couple of critical reports by people who had used the cleanse purely for weight loss, where they moaned that it didn't work... then they went on to say that they hit the cookies at 12:01 am on the first day of ease-out!! I was doing the Master Cleanse for a more spiritual and psychological experience, but even so, I don't see any sense in abandoning caution so quickly after 10 days of success. I don't doubt that next week, I'll be eating chocolate dessert with some of my meals, but as I said, I don't want to get ill from indulging too soon. Right, see you tomorrow morning, where I'll be adding another menu plan and (rebel rebel...) perhaps even nibbling some raw carrot. And they say punk is dead... in that frame of mind, I'm off to get a sharpie and compose a return fridge-note. Bye!!!!

Talking Tongues

Ooh! By the way, although my tongue isn't exactly pink and perfect this morning, it's no longer white and furry. I forgot to mention it in my post because- well, it's not that noticeable any more! Isn't that cool? I'll let you know if it eventually goes 'back' to pink, but today I'd say it's the best it's been in a long time, Master Cleanse or otherwise! Catch you later!!

Ease-Out: Day 2 Menu (Carrot and Coriander Soup)

Day 2's pretty basic by normal standards, but if you've just finished the Master Cleanse (without cheating!) this will be your first contact with food in at least 10 days. Make sure you take it slowly and make eating a mindful process; this is important both because your stomach is smaller than usual, and because you need to take this chance to change your relationship with eating. Without further ado, it's ease-out day 2!:

BREAKFAST: light, soft fruit and fresh fruit juice

LUNCH: soup or broth

DINNER: soup or broth

(Drink plenty of water, herbal tea, and fresh fruit juice throughout the day)

If you want to make fruit even easier on the digestive system, you can give it a whizz in a blender. Add some ice to make a smoothie-type drink, but whatever you do, don't add dairy products like you might with a normal smoothie. The term 'soft fruit' is pretty self explanatory. Berries are especially good, as they're high in antioxidants and relatively easy to digest. Fresh fruit is best at this stage, but later on, you can stew apples in water or freeze grapes to make them into a more interesting treat.

The soups need to be pretty smooth and light at this stage of the cleanse. Although tinned or packet soup is more convenient, it would be better to set aside time to make your own, out of preferably organic ingredients. If you don't have time or are a hopeless cook, opt for soups from the refrigerated section of your supermarket; they are fresher and will have a greater nutritional value than canned or dried versions. Today, I'm opting for carrot and coriander, a light and nutritious soup (and one of my personal favourites!). At home, I would be able to give it a whizz with a hand blender, but since I don't have one at uni, I've chosen this recipe especially because the vegetables are still soft and easily digestible in the finished product:

Carrot and Coriander Soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion
• 450g carrots
• 1 tbsp cooking oil (I use Carotino)
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 handful fresh coriander (only if using a blender)
• 1 sweet potato
• 1.2l vegetable stock

1. heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion for 5 minutes, stirring continuously
2. stir in the ground coriander and the sweet potato, cooking for a further 1 minute
3. pour in the stock and the carrots. Bring the soup to the boil, then reduce the heat and cover
4. cook for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Serve straight away, freeze, or keep refrigerated for 3-5 days
5. (if using a blender) chop the fresh coriander and add to the soup. Blend until smooth, then return to the pan to reheat for serving

Bon Appetit! This soup will last me a couple of days post-cleansing, and is a great low calorie option with plenty of nutrition. I've used sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes because they contain more beneficial ingredients, but if you've only got normal ones, they taste just as good in the soup! 

So, this is what I'm eating for the second day of my ease-out process. In fact, since I'm only cooking for myself at uni, it's what I'm probably going to be eating for the next couple of days! I hope you enjoy the recipe and find it a useful way to introduce your intestines to eating again. See you later, when I'll let you know how my willpower's holding up!

The Sweetest Taste!

I just sank my teeth into a strawberry. Oh. My. God. I had to share this. My first bite to eat after what has really been an 12 day fast... I ate it in front of the mirror so I could really savour it. You know, a lot of people say that food isn't all that amazing when you're allowed to go back to it, but I swear to God, that's going down in my memory as the best strawberry I've ever tasted. And what's more- hey! the first thing I ate was soft fruit, not a chocolate bar! I'm following the rules!!!

To anybody about to embark on the Master Cleanse, I have to say it's worth it just to get this food experience back; the sheer enjoyment of a simple, natural food pleasure after a fast is so much more rewarding than quick-fix modern day addictions. Go on! You can do it!!

The Importance of Probiotics

During the Master Cleanse you can expect to flush a lot of stuff out of your digestive system. Most of it is stuff that you don't want to be there: age-old food waste, toxins, mucous... But there are some things you'll lose that you can't afford to miss. Laxative teas and salt water won't discriminate when it comes to flushing out good bacteria. It's very important that you begin to replenish the 'friendly' cultures in your gut as soon as you come off the cleanse; whilst probiotic yogurts and dairy drinks can be tasty, it's better that you do this in tablet form, especially as dairy is one of the main food groups you need to focus on slowly easing back into. I've been to my local health food store and picked up some Seven Seas' Multibionita Vitality. It was the cheapest probiotic there (£6.49) and has 28 tablets, with a dosage of one-a-day. So, I'll be on a course of probiotics for a month, and then I'll stop taking them.

These tablets seem like a pretty good choice for post-cleansers on more than just the probiotic front. They also contain 'complete multivtamins', so they should help to fend off the beginnings of any deficiencies that the Master Cleanse might have prompted, especially if you've cleansed for longer that 10 days. Each daily tablet contains 10 million cultures to replace the ones you've flushed away, and they're specially coated so you know they'll make it to the right part of your system without being dissolved. They're available on Amazon if you don't have a health food store nearby, as are many other, similar products. Although some people opt to skip this stage of post-cleansing, I'd recommend sticking it out for around a month at least. Refilling your body with the right kind of bacteria is very important, and will be the finishing touch to your new, cleaner digestive system!