Going Deeper With the Master Cleanse

 
Once I’d done one master cleanse, it was time to do another.

One of the best parts of fasting, cleansing and detoxing is that it’s like voyaging into the unknown–but once you’ve gone there once, you’ve learned something about yourself. You’ve expanded your horizons.

My first juice fast lasted three days.

I was wracked by cravings the whole time. (Didn’t help that I was working in a bustling organic grocery store at the time.)

Even though I clearly needed to build my willpower up quite a bit, I was also able to appreciate the fact that I’d done something I’d never done before–

I went completely without eating solid food for three straight days while maintaining a busy schedule.

And so, I wanted to do it again.

 
I aimed for 10 days, and a few months later, I was ready to dive back into the master cleanse.

 
Unlike my first juice fast, this time I had a better sense of what I was getting into.

I was still working at the organic health food store, so I knew temptation was going to be practically ever-present.

I also knew that cravings were going to be coming out of the woodwork during the fast.

However, I’d also picked up some tricks from my previous experience as well as all the books and websites I’d studied in the months between my first fast and my second.

And so, foolhardy, I dove back into the master cleanse.

 
The first three days of a fast tend to be the hardest.

Your body is used to a certain amount of calories coming in.

Even worse, your MIND is used to entertaining itself through the cycles of eating through which we munch each day.

I’ve grown amused by the way cravings come and go on a fast, but during my second fast, there was nothing amusing about it.

Foods healthy and unhealthy leapt off the shelves and begged me to eat them.

My solution was to increase the amount of maple syrup in my master cleanse lemonade and drink as much of it as I wanted whenever the hunger pangs started coming on.

My #1 recommendation to anyone doing any type or cleanse of fast is:
don’t talk about it with other people.

I had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Several people on staff with me at the food cooperative where I worked didn’t understand why I was doing this. They let me know in completely clear language.

What got me through was the fact that I had partnered up with one co-worker and we were helping each other through the tough moments.

 If you decide to do a cleanse with another person at some point, you need to be very aware of what that means.

Ideally, it means you have someone else holding you accountable to your commitment when the going gets tough.

But if you’re not careful who you fast with, you might find yourself falling off the fasting wagon together because you’re both susceptible to negative peer pressure in the same moment.

I’m generally a big fan of fasting with a partner, but just be clear that you need to use them as a pogo stick rather than a crutch–they can spur you forward deeper into the cleanse, but don’t expect them to be strong when you’re weak.

You’ll both be going through the roller coaster ride a cleanse can bring.

 
In a word: no.

Six days and I fell off the fast with my partner in hand.

However, given that we were living in New York City maintaining a full schedule including lots of physical labor, walking, biking, exercise and still maintaining an active social life, I considered the six days a nice success.

Six days was long enough to get through the initial three days of difficulty and into genuine cleansing territory.

I’ve read that it takes your body abut three days to realize that it can indeed shift completely into rest and repair mode.

Based on my personal experience, that feels about right.

Days four, five and six of this particular fast found me feeling lucid, clear, high and happy. I felt connected to my source.

I felt great right as I also felt hungry, tired, full of cravings and at times weak and irritable.

Fasting is just like life: everything at once fired from point-blank range.

However, the six day fast was a success.
 

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