Springtime Master Cleanse

Yesterday was the first day of Spring. You wouldn’t know it in my neck of the woods as apparently this is going to be the Winter that never ends. We still have heaps of icy, dirty snow lining the sidewalks and don’t get me started on the massive,  ten-foot high piles of black, filthy snow in parking lots all around the city. I’m officially over it.

However, I had planned a while back to revisit the Master Cleanse and picked March 20th, first day of Spring as my start day. I’ve read that springtime is an excellent time for a cleanse and my body is ready for it. I wish Mother nature was ready as well! 😉

Regardless of the weather, I’m raring to go on my second Master Cleanse. My first experience really positive and I have been strangely looking forward to doing it again. This has been received with quizzical looks from some who I have mentioned it to. “You won’t be eating? I could never do that.” etc., etc. Ironically, even though I won’t be eating (solid foods, that is), I don’t think of it that way. I do these cleanses as a way to detox my body, give the digestive system a break, and generally clean myself out. Usually a few pounds are shed, but that isn’t my main goal. I want to feel amazing and help rid my body of anything that shouldn’t be there.

My first experience, I did a three day ease in period, followed by three days on the actual cleanse, then three days to ease out. This go around I will do the ease in and ease out but I plan to do ten days on the cleanse.

I started my ease in period on Monday with a simple, clean day of eating. No animal products, dairy or wheat. I started the day with a Green Smoothie and had my Lentil Marinara with Spaghetti Squash (sans cheese) for dinner.

The next day was liquids. I had the Detox Smoothie again and sipped homemade veggie broth the rest of the day.

When I made the broth I used up the remainder of a head of red cabbage from the crisper and it turned my broth a lovely purple hue. 🙂

Wednesday was orange juice day. Nothing but fresh squeezed OJ all day long. Joe did the cleanse with me last time and he loved orange juice day. This time he’s decided not to do it (boo-urns!) but I think he secretly was a little jealous of my OJ. 😉

Yesterday was the first official day on the Master Cleanse where I drank the combo of maple syrup, fresh lemon juice, cayenne pepper and filtered water. I had a very busy day so I was prepared with drinks premade in mason jars, bagged and ready to take with me on the road.

Being prepared is key to a successful cleanse. Don’t think you can read this and jump into it tomorrow. Plan ahead, figure out what you will eat for your ease in/out days. Buy lots of lemons, get your maple syrup, try to find a friend to experience it with you. Set yourself up for success! I recommend buying the original book by Stanley Burroughs and reading it thoroughly before starting. It’s only 50 pages so it won’t take long.

Needless to say I won’t be posting any recipes for the next week or so but I will check in with updates on how the cleanse is going. So far, one day in, so good! See you soon. 🙂