The Master Cleanse--Spring Cleaning for Your Body

As I have struggled with Lyme disease, the times I have felt completely healthy have been during and following a Master Cleanse. I can vouch it is awesome. I lost weight that hadn't been budging and kept it off without any other work (but that's not a promise for everyone!) In fact, I weigh as little now as I have since I was in my teens (and I can't even do cardiovascular exercise right now.) After the fast, I had more energy and felt great! Actually by the 3rd or 4th day I felt great, with very short exceptions.

Think fasting is radical? Remember, it was the norm to fast 2 days a week in Jesus' day. (Though I wonder if it was a full fast or not.) If you study how the body repairs itself during fasts, it's as if it were created to work that way and we just never give it the chance! Hmmm.... Just think how you lose your appetite at times when you are sick. It's almost intuitive.

With that said, I should warn you, don't try a Master Cleanse (10 days!) until you are comfortable with shorter fasts. I had some 3-day fasting experience plus a major determination when I first tried it. But fasting is something anyone can do. And it's an incredible health tool.

Jordan Rubin recommends fasting one day a week--just breakfast and lunch. This is a great thing to try if fasting is new to you. In fact, it's a great lifestyle that's really not too hard after the first few weeks. Just think of the money you save on food AND health. Your never too broke to try this health tip--especially if you count the money you save when you don't have to go to the doctor! I feel so much better when I'm doing a weekly fast 1/2 day fast.

Here's some basic fasting tips:
-Don't eat a heavy "last-chance for food" supper--it just makes it worse.
-Drink TONS of water or juice
-Make sure the juice is not pasteurized or "clear"--meaning it's over-processed. Fresh juice is best.
-Come off the fast gradually--eat things like raw fruits and veggies and homemade chicken broth, but no heavy meats or pasteurized dairy (that can hurt your stomach)
-Understand your body is cleaning out--so you may experience weakness, headaches, sinus drainage, or even strong specific food craving. These are signs of the junk your body is detoxing. Remember it will either get cleaned out sometime or it can be stored and cause bigger problems later. "Pay me now or pay me later."


Now about the Master Cleanse. The basic program is fasting 10 days on what I call "spicy lemonade." Count on another day of juice fasting and then a day of eating light.

Drink several glasses a day. Here's the recipe. :
-Juice from 1/2 organic lemon (2 Tbsp.)--I used limes when I couldn't find lemons, though I don't think it's as good. Fresh is best.
-2 Tbsp. organic Grade B (or C) Maple Syrup
-1/8 tsp. (non-irradiated) cayenne pepper (start with a pinch and work your way up)

Add 8 oz. water to make a 10 oz glass and stir. You may want to stir occasionally to keep the cayenne from settling to the bottom.

Yes, organic is essential--you can't add toxins to your body and expect it to clean itself out. The price is not an issue--it's less than the food you eat in a normal day. I confess I thought it would taste bad, but it basically tastes like lemonade with a spicy aftertaste. It helps if you start slow on the cayenne. Make sure you keep it pretty well mixed so you don't get all the cayenne pepper in the last swallow! Drink it every time you are hungry and don't get dehydrated.

Actually, the program also calls for drinking salt water in the morning and a laxative tea at night. I can't handle salt water, so I just did the tea, but if I drink more than half a glass--well, let's just say, it's too effective! There really is a lot to this, but this is already long. The Dr. that created this wrote a whole book on it: The Master Cleanser. You can even find a forum on the Master Cleanse: http://www.therawfoodsite.com/forum/ There's lots of info on library or in books.

Hopefully, you'll consider giving you digestive system a vacation soon! It works hard for you so give it a break and it will thank you. You don't have to do it all today. BUT before you go spend tons of money on the latest health thing, try a simple, ancient secret: FAST!

It's white again!--more tips on cleaning.

Since my last cleaning article was quite a hit, I thought I'd share more: a story, a tip, and a link.

I just have to share how I shocked my husband. You see after juicing some carrots, I was cleaning our juicer (a Juiceman Jr. ). Carrot juice is like a dye and never really comes totally off (I thought) and so after years of use, the juicer was a nice orange/brown instead of off-white. BUT suddenly it hit me--try baking soda. (Do you think God whispers about cleaning a juicer?) So I sprinkled some on and continued washing with my soapy sponge and VOILA. The stain was gone. When I went after the clear cover of the juicer, well, we will just say it's clear again! My husband wanted to know what I did to it. It looked like I had bleached it!

Several years ago, I found that lemon juice takes stains off my stainless steel pan in almost the same way. So, for that white-ish stuff on you pans, squeeze a little lemon juice (fresh or the bottle) watch the magic.

This week I found a great new website: http://www.clean-things.com/. If you like detailed instructions, you'll love all the picture and step by step directions for cleaning with vinegar, baking soda, and other natural things. Check on the toilet or sink cleaning tips. The writers are motivated by helping the environment, which is a good thing. But remember that you are also greatly affected by the personal environment you create in your home. Indoor air pollution is worse than outdoor air pollution! So, make your home a safe place, and then watch how a little good health can affet the world around you.

Cleaning up the world--one home at a time!

Would you like sugar on your sandwich?

My standards for eating out/eating with others are definitely lower than eating at home. The other day, I was fixing a tuna sandwich for my daughter(not at home) and was shocked that I couldn't get around the SUGAR!!! Mayonaise has sugar (I looked at 3 different bottles). Of course most bread has HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP--which is worse than sugar. The relish was of course sweet relish--with sugar! The actual tuna was sugar-free. What do you know! One out of 4 parts of the meal are ok! (Let's not get into mercury in fish, ok!)

The average American consumes 149 lbs/ year of sugar (all sucrose and fructose combined). We are approaching .5 lbs. /day! It's almost 20% of our calories! Of course cutting out soft drink helps, but a lot of people already do that and the AVERAGE is way too high. So, what's the real problem?

PROCESSED FOODS! You see, processed food (including fast food) doesn't natually taste good. Ever noticed how you just can't freeze some things? Then add all the things machines do to the food to make it. And of course, we want a "value", so they make as cheap by picking the cheapest ingredients available. Doesn't come out tasting great, so they add manufactured (read, toxic) salt, high fructose corn syrup or sugar, and manufactured flavorings to make it taste right again. All those things like the gums in the ingredients give it the texture it is lacking. Most of our food is sweet and salty b/c it doesn't have much of it's natural flavor any more. But with the magic of tiny portions of toxic things we create almost any other flavor. Voila, it's almost like real food again! But it won't give you real health, like the food you were created to eat.

Moral of the story: read ingredients and give your mom (or wife or husband) a hug everytime they fix you a home-cooked, unprocessed meal.

Overcome cravings by feeding them!

I am a believer in self-control, but self control shouldn't HAVE to be a main part of every meal. The problem is our bodies have too much food and too little nourishment. If I go out to eat, I am totally unsatisfied with my meal if it has white flour/white sugar in it. So, I skip the bread and I don't really need self-control to avoid overeating.

My favorite trick for cutting my cravings is honey-sweetened almond butter. Especially when the almond butter is raw. I just stir a little almond butter and honey in a cup (sometimes I add a couple berries to make it interesting) and eat it with a spoon. So, it's odd, but it works. The combo of fat and sweet always seems to satisfy and keeps me away from bad stuff. Anyway, I just recently came across a list of "what your really craving." I'd been convinced that cravings are you bodies communication, but I didn't always know what it meant, so I'm very excited to get this info. I had heard before how important fermented/good-bacteria-foods are for you when you are pregnant--thus the sour cravings. But here's a few more ideas to try next time you crave something:


http://www.naturopathyworks.com/pages/cravings.php

I know since I started eating whole foods, I have a lot let cravings and feel satisfied with my food a lot more. Just one more reason to make those diet changes--one step at a time.

The Spice of Health

Somehow, someone tricked a lot of us into thinking healthy food shouldn't taste good!!! So I wanted to list a few things I use to keep my food from being bland. (Organic is best for all.)

-RealSalt

-Garlic Salt from RealSalt

-Organic Tamari Sauce (made from soy--must say organic or at least non-GMO)

-Butter (organic--I like cultured butter)

-Honey or Maple Syrup (should not use too much, but sometimes we need it sweet!)

-Cinnamon (I love to sprinkle on toast or pancakes and then add honey)

-Salsa (buy a good quality, pref. organic, and make sure to read the ingredient list or make your own and ferment it!)

-Mayonaise (Do like the Germans do--Ketchup and Mayonaise on french fries, if you can find ones without sugar or bad oils)

-Extra virgin Coconut oil on cooked food. Extra Virgin Olive oil on uncooked.

-Homemade salad dressing: Olive oil, apple cider vinegar, tamari sauce, and honey. Mix with these ingredients in the proportion you like (Think lots of oil, and maybe a third as much vinegar and a bit of tamari and honey) and add spice as you like.

-Your favorite spice (non-irradiated spices can be medicinal! Just watch the mixes that they don't have sugar or regular table salt or MSG.)

Add these as freely as you like and remember it's healthy!! (Ok, the sweet stuff, maybe you need to check yourself, and the butter is not perfect unless it's made fresh by a local farmer, but the rest are on the "A" list!)