Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Out With The Old

Image from "Another Day In Paradise Postcards" by Ann Taintor

As I begin the new year and try to live up to my promise, I am taking some steps to improve my health. The first of which is a cleansing juice fast which I started a few days ago. As I begin Day 5 I am feeling less toxic already!

Do not fear for The Husband's ability to provide for his own food as indicated in my image above - he is pretty self sufficient! Although when he jokingly asks when I am going to make his dinner I have thoughtfully offered him up some of my "special potion"! Surprisingly he has declined? Hmmm.... Perhaps he would not find the combination of fresh squeezed lemon, organic grade B maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and purified water as tasty as I do?

The particular cleanse I have been using is the Master Cleanse. It was developed in the 1970's by Stanley Borroughs and has been used successfully by countless people looking to free themselves of toxins and improve their health. I did it first for ten days last April. It really did have an amazing effect on me.

I discontinued my oral asthma medication when I started that time (don't worry - I kept my inhaler handy just in case) and found that when I came off the fast I no longer needed it. I admit that recently in times of some extreme stress situations, I have used my inhaler but rather than go back for another prescription for the daily pill, I will first try the cleanse again. I am a firm believer in scientific research and the further development of modern medicine - but we must understand that with every drug we take there are risks. The only difference between a poison and a cure is the dosage. Common sense and caution must be taken into consideration. I am well aware that if I continue to take my asthma medication to prevent symptoms it will shorten my life. Of course the symptoms of asthma will also shorten my life - breathing being kinda vital and all that... But if I can eliminate the need for the medication all together why not do it? I am anxious to see what other chronic problems I can eliminate from my life with this round to cleansing.

There are of course critics out there who pooh, pooh the whole cleanse thing but as I have seen first hand what it did for me. If you are curious about it, I encourage you to read the data found on a message board developed by Peter Glickman, a proponent of the Master Cleanse and raw food diet. It details important information and research done to demonstrate the effectiveness of the process. His website, "The Raw Food Site" overall is a wealth of instruction and resources.

Although it is not the main reason I am completing the cleanse, a very nice byproduct of the process is that weight loss is involved. If one sticks to the healthful eating after breaking the fast virtually all of the weight should stay off; Maybe even further weight loss as the body continues to cleanse itself naturally on mainly raw foods.

Because of this, I will not go back to all of my bad habits once I break my fast. That was my problem last time when I let poor judgement cloud my thinking. Caffeine is already banished, but I think that refined sugars are gonna have to go as well. Maybe even most of the meats I eat. I'm not ready to go 100% raw vegan or anything - but changes will be made. As I study on it, I'll keep you posted!

...as I like to say these days, "May your day be easy, peasey, lemon squeezey!"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you heard of Gardein?? It was on Oprah yesterday. They have a web site. Sounded like a good sub for chicken. Maybe even the boys would eat it. Deb

Tracy DeLuca said...

I'm not sure if I could fast liek that. Is it difficult? DO you just CRAVE food all the time? DH and I have both wanted to do a cleansing but havent really done a lot of research yet.