A couple days ago, I posted 5 Benefits to the Master Cleanse. Here is the final installment with 5 more benefits of the program. Enjoy!
1. Increased energy – After work I would go home, eat, and park it on the couch to watch tv, because that was all that I could do. I felt no energy to use the remainder of the day to get my personal stuff done. Six pm might as well have been midnight. Now, when I get out of that bed in the morning, I am charged. When I get home, I am still pretty charged. I can get things done for me and I feel good doing it.
2. Reworking eating habits - All of the trouble that you go to when you go through detox and seeing what comes out will definitely change some things. You will not want to put that same stuff back. I thought about the kinds of things that I would eat once the cleanse was finished, BEFORE the cleanse was over. Once I did that, I went through my kitchen and cleared it of the things that were not good for me and restocked with the good healthy foods. Most of the things that I no longer wanted I donated. I didn’t give myself a chance to go back to those old eating habits.
3. Getting in touch with the body – When you’re focusing on how you feel and symptoms from reactions that you are having while detoxing, you become a lot more sensitive to your body and it’s signals. You have a better sense of when you are hungry, when you’re getting sick, and of your emotions during this process. You appreciate how amazing the body truly is. It is so astounding how this vessel works for us and how well it works. You want to treat it better. You see and feel the connection between what you put in it and how well it does it’s job and you want it to be optimal. It’s pretty spiritual really.
4. Realizing your strength – There are so many things that go through your mind when you consider doing the cleanse. “Damn! Ten days is like forever. I can’t possibly last 10 days without eating. I would gnaw off my own hand. It’s impossible!” You decide to do it. You barely make it through day 1. Day 2 is tough, but not like the 1st day. Day 3 is much better. It almost feels like easy street. Then day 4 comes and goes and so on until day 10. You realize that both you and your body are stronger than you give credit for. If the impossible is clearly possible, then what else are you keeping yourself from doing?
5. Finding time – You notice how much food takes up space in your life. Since you can’t eat, you fill all of that time with activity, from going to the gym to weatherproofing your house. You find time that you never thought existed. My weekends fly by just like everyone’s does, but while doing the cleanse, they’ve felt like extended holidays. I’ve always had enough things to do, more than enough actually, but now I have the time and energy to do them.
I am sure that there are more things that I am not touching on. For those that decide to do it, I want to leave it up to you to experience these benefits and come up with some new ones. Please feel free to comment about it or comment on some of the other posts that I’ve written. Next post: Concerns and Myths of the Master Cleanse. I hope to see you back! 
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I did my first Master Cleanse in March earlier this year. At first, it was for 10 days, but it went so well that I decided to extend it for 5 days longer. Before I even started, I did my research. I read The Master Cleanser
By the end, I had lost 20 pounds, which I’ve been able to keep off through some lifestyle changes. The weight loss was pretty nice, but what was better were the positive changes that occurred. The cleanse was the catalyst for so many great things in my life. I’ve put together a list of the benefits that I’ve experienced.
1. Improved skin – It is clearer, smoother, and I don’t get nearly as many bumps as I did before. Toxins in your system can show up anywhere in and on the body through rashes, infections, acne, illnesses, etc. Detoxification helps clean you out, so that these outbreaks occur less frequently or not at all. To keep my skin clear, I’ve increased my water intake, which helps to keep me hydrated and regularly flushes impurities from the body.
2. Wonderful feeling - I felt lighter, like my body was in perfect working order. Certain foods still have no negative effect on me. The cleanse helped regulate things for me. No more excess gas and digestive issues for me. My stomach is even noticeably smaller, which is never a bad thing.
3. Craving for healthier foods - Before the cleanse, I wanted pretzels, gummi bears, and cookies. I had heard that the cleanse eliminates those types of cravings, but I didn’t believe it. By the middle, I could have drop kicked someone for an apple. lol I wanted more fruits, and vegetables. I was cool eating salad for lunch everyday. It sounds boring, but it left me satisifed.
4. Joint pain gone – I’ve had pain in my right knee for years. It was the most accurate predictor of rain. It could get pretty painful. I tried acupuncture to ease the pain, but that didn’t really work. After the cleanse, my knee felt much stronger. It no longer hurts when it rains. I actually have to rely on the weather forecast.
5. Craving for water - Everyday, I would drink 32 ounces of Propel Fitness Water. I hated water, but I knew that it was vital for my body, so I drank flavored waters instead. I felt that it was a good substitute. Granted, it is better than syrupy sodas, but nothing is a substitute for real H2O. Since the cleanse, I haven’t been able to bring myself to drink Propel. It doesn’t taste right to me anymore. I drink plain old water and I can feel the difference.
Check back tomorrow for even more benefits to the Master Cleanse. Feel free to comment in the meantime!
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Before you embark upon any program, diet, or system, it is important that you do your research. It’s how you determine the right way to do things and whether or not it will work for you. I’ve heard general feedback from people who have done the Master Cleanse before, but I wanted to know details. Do you need to live in or near the bathroom? How does the cleanse interfere with medicine? How does it affect the body? Do you get headaches? Are you constantly hungry? Is there anything else that I need to know that might be a game changer? These are just some of the questions I had and before I made the decision to start or not, I needed answers.
Through my travels far and beyond in cyberspace, I found a ton of information. A lot of it was a bunch of fluff, but I did find a few treasures. I present to you, my fave 4 great MC resources:
1. The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs – You can’t start any program without going to the source first. This book is a must for anyone thinking about doing the program.
2. Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days
3. The Master Cleanse / Raw Food Site – this is Peter Glickman’s site for all things MC. It’s a great resource. He even has a bullentin board with thousands of posts and responses, which you can find here:
4. For those that don’t want to drive to three or four stores looking for all the things you need to do the cleanse, Peter Glickman sells a MC ingredients kit. He also sells a 36 ounce bottle, which is great because most portable bottles only go up to 32 ounces. You can actually make three servings of the lemonade / limeade to take with you. You can purchase the items by clicking the pictures.
Master Cleanse Blog – The blog hasn’t been updated in a while, but there is great information, tips, and advice throughout the site. It’s worth a visit.
If there is anything else that you would like to add, please feel free. Youtube videos would be a great addition to the list.
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The Master Cleanse
I realize that so many people do the cleanse solely to lose weight. When Beyonce needed to lose weight for her role in Dreamgirls, she did the Master Cleanse and lost about 20 pounds. What people need to know is that the weight loss is temporary once you begin eating and drinking regularly unless healthy changes are made. When I did my first cleanse, I lost 20 pounds, but I’ve been able to keep most of it off through lifestyle changes.
- To allow my body time to detox – With the Standard American Diet (SAD), most of us tend to eat a lot of processed food, fast food, overcooked nutrient deficient food, and meat. It is a lot of work for our bodies to break down the food properly and as a result, many of us experience gastrointestinal issues such as excess gas, indigestion, heartburn, constipation, and other problems surrounding digestion. Giving your body a break from excessive digestion allows for it to flush out toxins and detox.
- To jumpstart a healthy eating program – It had been said that when you do this fast, your tastes change. Sugars and starches that you once craved turn into cravings for vegetables and fruit. For me and many others, this was true. It is definitely a great way to get started eating healthier. After my first fast, I realized just how sweet things are. Even now, almost 8 months afterwards, I still have to dilute fruit juices with water.
It is recommended that you do the cleanse for at least 10 days, but according to Burroughs, you can actually do it for up to 40 days. I started out doing the cleanse for 10 days, but the results were so astounding that I extended it to 15 days. When I tell people, they think I was starving and going out of my mind. I felt hungry in the beginning, but by the 3rd or 4th day, I felt fine. I went to a lunch meeting on the 14th day of the cleanse. We went to a Mediterranian restaurant. I drank water and felt just fine. I didn’t feel hungry at all.
When you do the cleanse, one of the benefits is that you learn how strong you really are and how amazing the body is. When you set yourself up to do the cleanse you think, “Damn! Ten days is a long time. There is just NO way that I can last 10 days without eating.” Then you make it through the 1st day, the 3rd day, the 8th day, and finally the 10th. By that time, you realize that the body can do a lot more than you thought it could. It’s definitely a shot of confidence.
Currently, I am on the 6th day of my third cleanse. Since the first one, I decided to do it once every quarter. I’ve already lost ten pounds. Most importantly, I feel great. I am looking forward to what is yet to come. Coming up: the benefits of doing the cleanse. Be on the lookout!
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. (More on that soon.)If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! Select any news reader service or email. Thank you!
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After my first fast, I’d made a decision to live a healthier lifestyle. I craved fresh fruit and vegetables, but my kitchen was full of junk, processed and fattening foods. I knew that I needed to make a drastic change. I felt differently in my heart, but if I left my kitchen as it was, there was a chance that I would go back to eating those things. So, I gutted my kitchen. I tossed all expired foods and donated everything else that I didn’t plan to eat. Even things that I thought were healthy, like certain low sodium soups, contained things that weren’t good. This is the reason that reading the ingredients is important. According to Dr. Oz. the first 5 ingredients in your food are probably the most important, because they make up most of what is in your food. That was an eye opener when I looked at some things I’d bought.
Now that the kitchen was bare, I needed to restock it with healthy options, but healthy and organic foods are so expensive. A heart attack in a bag is cheap and easy, but organics and healthy food can make you broke. Trader Joe’s doesn’t always cut it in the price department, but they have pretty good choices. Whole Foods might as well take your entire paycheck for 5 items. I decided to go to Booth Corners instead. Booth Corners is a local flea / farmer’s market that has been around forever. When I was little, my grandmother and grandfather would take my sister and I there to get fresh roasted peanuts, salt water taffy, and eat breakfast. It always smelled like a country kitchen and it still does to this day. It had been so long since I had been there. Great memories…
I went in and apparently not much has changed. They still had the salt water taffy, fresh produce, meats, cheeses, and freshly squeezed juices. From the time that I stepped foot in there, I knew that I would have a very long relationship with farmer’s markets, Booth Corner’s in particular. One of the best things about them is that the farmers are local. They tend not to use pesticides and other chemicals because they don’t need to preserve their produce longer for cross country trips. It takes a shorter time to get from the farm to where they sell their wares. Local farmers are also cheaper and by supporting farmer’s markets, you are supporting your local community.
The first place that I went was to purchase fruit and veggies. Two huge reusable Target bags full of produce came to less than $60. Besides the regular stuff, (apples, oranges, etc.), they had fresh whole pineapples, kiwis, mangoes, and more. With prices so low, I was able to afford to try something new. Next, I went off to the meat counter where I picked up some smoked maple turkey bacon, which had to be the BEST turkey bacon I’ve ever had. Across the aisle was the cheese counter where I picked up some goat cheese and cajun cream cheese with lobster and crabs. I also grabbed some almond butter, whole flaxseed, chia seed, jasmine and saffron rice, big bags of pretzel crisps, freshly squeezed orange and pineapple juice, and dried strawberries. I ate like a queen for weeks: steamed salmon and asparagus, smoothies and fresh fruit and vegetable juices, and healthy snacks. I have to say that I am forever a fan.
Do you go to farmer’s markets? Where are they and what kind of interesting things did you find there?
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I can feel it. It’s creeping up my spine, through my stomach, up to my heart and head. That feeling is back. It’s a feeling of discomfort. I’m hungry to fulfill my destiny; to do what I was put here to do. My purpose is not to sit at a desk doing menial administrative tasks. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than thankful for my job. I am thankful for the relationships that I have formed, skills that i have learned, and the financial needs that it has helped me fill. Being thankful and knowing that you aren’t fulfilled is not mutually exclusive. There comes a time, when the things that you hold on to for dear life are holding on to you, too; keeping you from getting to the next level. This could be a job, a position within a job, a significant other, friends, or personal characteristics or flaws.
What would it take to say, “____________ has served it’s purpose in my life, but now it is time to release it and move on to something new“? Are you ready to take the risk? Are you ready to succeed and fail? I ask that because there is a right way to do both.
At this point, I’m on my way to the ledge. The project that I work on will be up soon. When I first learned this, I was scared. I wasn’t ready to lose my job. I didn’t have enough money saved. I didn’t know my next step. Didn’t know if I had enough to live on. Just fearful. It’s still there, to be honest, but I am working on it. I prayed to keep the job for as long as I needed. I talked to the powers that be about what they planned for me after the project was over. I took on additional responsibilty in other departments to solidify the need to keep me.
I’ve been walking closer to the ledge, getting ready for the future, but I’m going back and forth since I am a thinker. In that sense, I would like to get a part time job or do something that requires less of my time so that I can use it to work on and build my businesses. In the meantime, I’ve been plotting, researching, and making plans. It makes me feel better, because I’m working out the kinks. I’m working with a friend on my expense list, so that I am 100% clear on what I need to maintain my modest and comfortable lifestyle. It’s not as bad as I thought, so it took away some of my worries.
Why am I telling you all of this? First, it is a part of getting to know me: transparency. Also, I want you to understand that Big Divas struggle with things sometimes, too! Sure, we are confident and positive, but we can make bad decisions and have issues that we need to work on, just like anyone else. We are human and life happens. It’s how you handle life that is the difference between a big girl and a Big Diva. A big girl runs away from major decisions. She doesn’t have faith in herself to do what she could and should do. She lets her fear of failure stop her from living. A big girl decides to remain comfortable, even when she is unhappy or not living up to her full potential. This may not lead to anything bad, but it does lead to missed opportunites that can limit you in terms of happiness or fulfillment. It’s unattainable if you sit it out. A Big Diva assesses the situation and then acts on what she feels is the best option. If she fails in the process, she acknowledges the failure, reassesses the situation, gets up, brushes herself off, and then tries again.
What are some opportunities that you’ve missed out on because of fear? What have you done to make sure that that doesn’t happen again?
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Arc de Triomphe at Night
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It’s a new month in a new season, so now is as good a time as any to get right. I was listening to a podcast interview on I-Tunes with Lisa Nichols, (most recognized by her appearance on The Secret), and one of the things that she said was how important it is to be grateful. Lisa starts every day in gratitude, saying out loud all of the things for which she is grateful. I’ve listened to at least a hundred podcast interviews with Lisa, John Assaraf, Jim Rohn, Oprah Winfrey, Les Brown, Jack Canfield, Rev. Michael Beckwith, Earl Nightingale, Joe Vitale, and many others. I’ve heard all of them say in one way or another how important it is to be grateful and how being grateful has made a difference in their lives. Oprah has even talked about her gratitude journal which she writes in on a regular basis. They’ve even said that gratitude for the bad things brings more good things into your life.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! Select any news reader service or email. Thank you!
