Master Cleanse: Days 20 – 24

fry-should-i-stay2Day 20.

Fucking eh! 20 days! Twenty days! Imagine that! 20 whole days without food. 20 days fasting. 20 days on lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. That’s wild man! Wild! And! And…I’m doing this wildness whilst I’m working in the office. In an office full of arrogant-alpha-male-city-dudes! I am pretty amazed at myself. Having the strength to do this, take all the jip in the office, and still be able to continue. I must admit I am playing it very cool in the office. Very blasé:

“Yeah man, it’s easy. No problem.
“Nope, I’m not hungry at all.
“I am amazed too. Every day is just a normal day.
“The gunk seems to provide all the energy I need.
“Nope I’m not tired either. I have enough energy to go about the day.
“Everythings totally cool man.”

The only thing I don’t tell them is the difficult $hit. And yes there are difficult bits of the day: Today I went to stock-up on organic lemons. I bought 30. I get them from Planet Organic off Tottenham Court road. (Thanks Femka, cool recommendation. Awesome shop. We can do lunch there when I break the fast). Takes 45 minutes round trip including a two stop tube journey during my lunch break. I needed an emergency pit stop in a pub toilet to have a horrible, arse wrenching, stinger of a dump. Stomach cramps lasted 15 minutes. Not much fun, but it passed, as it always passes. And some toxic crud vacated my body which can only be a good thing.

At two o’clock in the morning last night I sat on the bog for 30 minutes.

So yeah, there are odd, uncomfortable moments during the fast. It’s not all easy peasy. But overall…it is easy peasy. Considering I have not eaten solid food, nor had a sold dump for 20 days…I’d say this fast has been a breeze so far. So I’m pushing on. No end in sight yet. I’m enjoying it. I feel like I am well into the detox zone. Old lost and forgotten toxins must be being removed. I am certainly having enough BM’s: 5-10 per day. I do feel better too. Skin feels very smooth today. My burning feet problem is gone. I just realised I have not had a burning feet issue for 10-15 days. That’s why I’m pushing on. It’s easy and it’s working.

Day 20 is done. Bring on day 21!

Day 21.

Passed without incident. Just another day at the office.

Day 22.

Slept badly last night. Woke up at 3.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I just lay there in that twilight zone of sleep/non-sleep. Made me tired for the rest of the day. My shoulder hurt too: a liver signal. Liver must be detoxing.

Weight has dropped to 63kg (139pounds) – that’s a loss of just 5kg(11 pounds) in 22 days. Not bad, not bad at all, very happy with that, but…but I am starting to feel skinny. I am conscious and aware of this and I don’t like it. If I lose too much weight I will have to stop the fast. I don’t want or like the office commenting. I don’t want to look like skelator: it reminds me of when I was ultra sick and at my worst.

Day 23.

Awoke with a headache. My second headache of the fast. Waterfalls of water kept the pain at bay, but it was a sheepish morning and afternoon so I took things well easy. By the afternoon headache was gone and things returned to normal. My mate Steven from Switzerland is over to visit and stay the night at SunshineTowers. Good to have a mercury toxic mate around to chat with. He helped dig up my crop of potatoes from my veggie garden. My biggest crop ever! I now have four bags of spuds stored in the garage! Nice!

My wife cooked a Sri Lankan coconut chicken curry for dinner with wild rice and runner beans from the garden: felt like torture smelling the beautiful fresh smells and not being able to eat it. How long will I continue the master cleanse?

Day 24. 8th September 2013

Weighed in at 62kg today. Ummmm. I have lost 6kg(13 pounds) so far. Considering I have not eaten anything for twenty four whole long days…6kg is a very small amount of weight loss. 24 days is a long time to go without food. Three and a half weeks!

When I was ultra sick I lost a lot of weight. I went down to 57kg. Back then I looked proper sick. I looked horrid: skinny, pale, weak, oily and, well just really fucked up.

In contrast to now, after having lost 6kg and down to 62kg, today I actually look healthy. I am obviously thin, but not unhealthily skinny. When I look in the mirror, my face is a normal shape. Sure it is thinner, but I don’t look sick. I have a healthy glow with no saggy or droopy bits. Well, I think so anyways. If I looked like $hit the lads in the office would have made a comment. They would have said something: they are not shy when it comes to taking the piss!

But 62kg is uncomfortably low for me. It is close to the cut off zone. I guess if I get down to 60kg I will seriously consider stopping the fast. Not sure I can handle the office comments. I know its sad: to consider breaking the fast just because of what other people might think/say, but such is life. It is my life and I have to lead it. 60kg may well be the signal to break the fast. We will see. Depends on how I look. How I feel.

The thing is, this fast still has a ways to go. I am detoxing all the time and it’s not stopped. It is not time to stop yet. My tongue remains furry, my mouth chalky. The headache shows crap is exiting my temple. And my BM’s! Oh yeah, I still have loads of crap coming out. Rich, thick and stinky.  No idea where it all comes from, but I still have toxins pouring out of me. The fast is working good.

The thing is, I know it will be difficult to restart another Master Cleanse. I have found this one easy. That means the second MC will be easier…and longer. Longer is difficult for work because I cannot entertain clients. I guess I will do another fast in January. January is acceptable to detox and I will be able to easily do the whole month. That’s the plan anyways.

So for now, I will try my hardest to continue for as long as possible. But when I get to 60kg, just 2kg away, I will have to take a view. My work is giant part of my life and I need to look the part.

BUT…my health takes precedence!!! So maybe I will just say; fuck it! Fuck’em all. This is me and my health and if I look a bit skinny for a couple more weeks…tough $hit. I know when I break the fast and restart eating I will regain all the weight I have lost. Yes, if I lose 6kg in 24 days, I will gain 6kg in 24 days when I restart eating again. All healthy grub, but the weight will return. It always has done on all the many other fasts I have done.

So, as you can see, I am in two minds: shall I stay or shall I go now?
Time will tell, but for today: I will continue.

Oh yeah, I have switched over to the salt water flush in the mornings. I get a better ‘clean through’ than the lax tea with no stomach cramps. I get up 15 minutes earlier @ 545am and that gives me enough time to unload and then get on the train to work. I have done the last 8 days with SWF in the mornings.

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

Master Cleanse – 18 days so far.

925b6a18ed82dc9d2ed584264d2829beDay 12.

It’s the 27th August today and I’m in the zone. The detox zone. Fast is motoring along just fine. First nine days were a breeze. Day 10 kicked off with some serious detoxing with that pounder of a headache. Days 11 and 12 have been fine, but not a breeze. I have passed some kind of detox crossroads and I am detoxing more that the first nine days. I am having a little more hassle now.

Today I needed more MC drink than usual and I started running low whilst at the office. I noticed early and started rationing myself. I didn’t want to run out in the office. I got a shakes a couple of times, bad too. Hand shook like a leaf. It stopped after I drank more drink, but it happened a couple of times. Went to the bank at lunchtime and felt particularly odd and needed to take some deep calming breath to steady myself.

But it’s all manageable. I consider myself a professional when it comes to managing detox side-effects! So no big deal. Just drink tons of water and chill. To be honest with myself, I kinda like the side-effects. Shows that the fast is working and that I’m getting rid of some old crap. First nine days were so easy I wondered if any serious detoxing was gonna happen, so kinda nice to know all the effort is worth it.

My weight has stabilised at 65.5kg (144 pounds). That’s down just 2.5kg (5.5 pounds). I am extremely happy about that. Serious weight loss would make me stop the fast. Looking like skelator is not fun. Getting odd looks and comments from people in the office is, well, is not ideal!!! I have a board meeting Friday and I need to look sharp.

Otherwise I am seriously enjoying and greatly appreciating my superb nose. Clear as a bell. No obstructions, sinus clear and nose breathing is once again the norm. It may sound odd, but it’s real nice to be able to breathe normally again. A significant plus.

Moved up to three minutes for the lax tea to brew. I did have mild stomach cramps, but it was mild and no problem. You will be pleased to learn I am suitably regular; 4-5 per day. Just what you wanted to know! But it is a fast and regularity is very important.

Cayenne pepper moved dose up 100pct and that didn’t work. Stinger! But at 50pct up caused no problems. So that’s 1.5 tbs when I make my big batch in the morning.

In other non-health related news, work on the house is drawing to a close. We been having the downstairs completely renovated for the last four months. We had no TV, no music, no sitting room and no kitchen for 12 weeks. All crammed upstairs in the guest room surround by a million boxes. My music room is finished with freshly painted plastered and painted walls and a new oak floor.

Everything looks stunning, but the mega bonus is the acoustics of the room have changed significantly for the better. My Hi Fi sounds completely different. About 50 times better. I guess that’s because the new floor is better insulated and the speakers can function better. I’m just listening to a Trentemoller CD and that base is booming the funk out me!!! Gosh it sounds wonderful.

Day 14 – 29th August 2013

Must have had 10 BM’s today.
I have not had a solid dump for 14 days.
My BM’s in the morning show that I still have masses of toxins coming out. Thick sludge every day. When will it end?
Keeping regular is not a problem.
Changed cayenne pepper brands and took too much. Stinger. Again.
Lax tea – 3 minutes steeping gives me stomach cramps. 2 minutes is ok.
In the evening I had my first real hunger pangs. Food was on my mind. The smell of the local curry house was intoxicating.
Felt a bit spaced and fluffy headed in the evening too. Did a meditation for 30 minutes and felt even more spaced. That’s why todays blog entry is just a list.
My nose and sinus’s are as clear and clean as a bell: lovely.

Still working. Two of boys in the office are seriously talking about doing it too. They are amateurs and I look forward to their reactions; if they ever actually do it. Each time I go for a dump they are having a sweepstake on how long I’m gonna be gone for. Tossers! LOL, but it’s all light-hearted. Lucky I have a thick skin. I am taking the grief like a man.

Otherwise…that’s two weeks under my belt. Pretty proud of that. It’s a pretty cool achievement. This weekend will be challenging!

Days 15-17

This weekend from Friday through to Sunday I went camping at Ben’s house just outside Poole on the south coast of England in Devon. He is turbo-loaded. Bought himself a mansion in the countryside with 22 acres of land. He keeps cattle. He has fields of barley. He has trees in his garden that must be a hundred years old they are so big. He has an orchard with 30 fruit tress: apples, pears, figs, plums and greengages. He has a large veggie garden. He has an asparagus patch. He has a gardener that tends to it! How the other half live!!

We camped on his front lawn, which is probably one or two acres large. In all there where nine families, all with kids: Ben, Leila, William, Benson, Poppy. Nick, Gill, Lola, Esmee. Andy, Sarah, Alfie. Nobby, Sarah. Jes, Anna, Daisy. Jessy. Lee. Caroline, Neil, Seb…and yes, I forgot some people too: I don’t know all the kids names. I have known this bunch of people most of my life. My friends.

We learn how to played croquet on his football pitch. Awesome game. Extremely competitive indeed! We chatted all day and basked in the sun on the lawn. Ben is in the meat trade and BBQ-ed all weekend with only the best cuts. A feast was had by all…

…except me of course! I was on this Master Cleanse! It is still easy too. No problemo. I mean, no big deal in terms of hunger. Drink the drink enough and you don’t feel hungry at all. But you do need to keep the drink ready at all times otherwise you feel the hunger coming up suddenly. I did sniff the freshly cooked food and enjoyed all the smells, but I did have to wander off when everyone was chowing down. Lovely smells!!!! I miss them. But…totally manageable, mostly.

I forget my lax tea. Ummmm. So I did the saltwater flush in the mornings instead. That worked fine. I have reclaimed full control over my bowels, so holding on a little for the one available toilet was cool. Hairy, but cool.

I had to get up four times a night to pee. That was annoying and cold.

Everyone had a wonderful time. I had a wonderful time too. The fast didn’t stop my enjoyment much, although the meat he BBQ-ed looked and smelt awesome. Ben is rearing veal on his farm. But veal the humane way. No cows force fed milk, locked in boxes unable to move. We all saw his open sheds with the bulls free to run around. They never go out into the fields, but they are in open barns with loads of fresh air. No one in our group really ate much veal before. Veal has a bad reputation over here, but after tasting his happy veal, everyone said they’d buy it and eat it. My wife said it was the best steak she’s had since we ate in the posh Bull Pen restaurant in our village.

Anyways…still fasting on the master cleanse. Everythings cool.

BP @ 1030pm : 143/89 p 54 and 2 minutes later: 136/91 p 51 – what the hell does that mean? I feel totally normal at the moment. That’s high!

Day 18. – 2nd September 2013

Had an annoying day today. Felt hunger pangs a bit. Not real hunger pangs really, more just a bit annoyed and fed up. I am starting to crave food, planning out what I’m gonna eat when I finish. I greatly look forward to going to Jamie’s Italian and eating his vegetarian platter. Yummm! I crave chillies too. I guess that’s all the cayenne pepper I am consuming. A veggie curry would be awesome too. I am gonna eat like a KING when I finish this up. And when I say KING, I mean a very healthy, food aware KING!

But my tongue remains white, day and night, so I will just have to continue as long as I can manage. I am doing this for my health, not for fun, not for a laugh, not to prove I can go 10 or 20 or 30 days. I am doing this for my health, and I need to do it properly. I don’t fast very often, so when I do fast…I should fast as long as I can comfortably handle and not pussy out because I am fed up for a day. My health takes precedence over everything.

I have today actually put a deadline in here: 20 days. That’s a nice round number. Lets see how I feel on day twenty before I break this fast.

Boys in the office are now actually quiet amazed with this adventure. They still take the piss, but they grudgingly admit it’s a pretty impressive feat to fast for 18 days. They are urging me to break the fast with 10 pints of Guinness and a BigMac!

I weighed in at 63.5kg this morning. I have lost 4.5kgs. That’s 10 pounds in 18 days. Not too much. Perfect. Don’t want to lose any weight. If I get down to 60kg I will defo finish the fast. That’s too low. I will look like skelator if I hit 60kg.

I have to admit, fasting for 18 days is pretty hardcore. Didn’t think I could go this long, but then again I didn’t know it would be this easy.

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

Master Cleanse – Day 1.

{DE015914-262B-40A7-AB34-205FFB5C8776}Img100Day one of the Master Cleanse and I go into this all pumped up. Really excited. I’m gonna go for it! Really try and last for as long as my body can handle. There is something exhilarating about grand adventures like this. Makes me feel like Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn. Not eating for 10 days! Not eating for 20 days! That’s just awesome. Will I have the mental strength to tough it out, or am I a pussy? I do so like a tough challenge.

In fact, this is not that tough compared to what some people do. My cousin Anthony, he is the real hardcore. He is a runner. He runs for fun. He just completed a 100 mile run. 100 miles. In one go! That’s almost four marathons in one run, without stopping. Yes, four! That’s what I call hardcore. And massive respect to him: he beat the course record by over an hour. He ran 100 miles in 16 hours…and lived to tell the tale! That’s hardcore. Fasting for a few weeks is a walk in the park compared to running for 16 hours. Respect mate.

I have two main concerns about fasting:

1) Losing too much weight. I don’t want to lose ANY weight at all. I can handle losing a little, because I know I will put it all back on afterwards, but I’m thin and this detox is NOT about losing weight, its about detoxing crap out of my temple!

2) Work. The office. I guess this is the most difficult thing for me: my clients and colleagues. Peer pressure. Fasting is not considered normal in the land of the Muggles. Normal people freak about fasting. Can’t get their head around it at all. And fasting for a long time, minimum 10 days, I cannot hide that from the office. It’s just too long. People notice. But on this occasion I just don’t care, will not care, sod’em! This time, today, now, I need to do this hardcore detox: so I’m doing it. It’s only a couple of weeks. I have loads of fasting experience, but I’ve always hid it previously, not told anyone. But this time, because I’m going to try and break my 10 day record, I told everyone in advance. Had a ‘last supper’ with the boys and made a big deal out of my last meal. Even had a few beers! NOT an ideal way to build up to the fast!!!! But it really was only a ‘few beers’; just a couple pints.

Anyways, Day 1, I have started and the first day was ‘OK’. The only thing I am now drinking is a concoction made of organic lemons, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper. No other food can pass my lips. I am allowed the occasional herbal tea and as much water as I can handle, but otherwise that’s it: lemons, maple syrup and pepper. This apparently supplies my body with all its energy needs. Odd eh! I read that I will not get hungry and that when I feel a little hungry to just drink the drink and I will be fine. I also to  lax tea at bedtime and first thing in the morning to keep me regular.

Instructions are to drink between 6 and 12 glasses of the drink spread throughout the day. On the first day I drank 22 tablespoons of lemon juice from 5.5 lemons. I also drank 24 tablespoons of maple syrup!!! Gulp, that’s a lot of maple syrup! And about 1 heaped teaspoon of cayenne pepper. That all works out to be 11 glasses of the drink, so I am within the limits.

First morning the lax tea did a job on me: I had stomach cramps and sat on the bog for a couple of hours. No big deal: $hit happens and it passed soon enough. Otherwise the day was all rather uneventful. I was not hungry at all. The drink did as advertised and there was no hunger. It did feel like I drank a lot of the drink. I had to drink every 1 to 1.5 hours. But really, I have nothing exciting to report. I drank about four litres of water in one day. That is on top of all the lemonade drinks. My tongue has gone a little furry…which is normal when fasting. In fact, the tongue is going to by my signal of success. I will try to keep fasting until my tongue goes pink and has no furry blanket on it. That’s the ideal scenario. Honestly I don’t think I will be able to go until the tongue is clean. Why? Because I guess it will take a long time to de-gunk me, and not sure I have the power to fast for a LONG time. People do this cleanse for a LONG time. 30 days. 30 days. 40 days. Holy cow! I can’t imagine fasting for such a long time. But, I will take one day at a time…just go for it and see what happens.

It is interesting to note I had no major detox hardships on the first day, (except the $hits because of the lax tea: but it was small fry). No headaches. No tiredness. No rashes. No dizziness. No fluffy heads. No nothing. That makes a pleasant change for my normal detoxing experiences! Let’s hope the rest of the fast is as straight forward as day 1. Also interesting and happy to note I did not lose any weight the first day: On the morning of day two I weighed in at the same 68kg (150lbs). Perfect!

That’s all folks!
Sunshine