Today is my first day on the Master Cleanse fast (I know people call it a diet, but it's a fast dammit). I've been planning it for a while... it's been years since I fasted for more than a day, but I've worked up to this one with light meals the last several days, and I think I'll do okay! I know there've been tons of threads on this subject but I was hoping for some feedback about the biggest hurdle I expect to run across - cooking! I've been vegan for 8 or 9 months now. My husband just recently decided to follow suit and has cut cairy from his diet. Now, for a long time I've normally cooked most of the meals around here, but I know how he's feeling right now and I promised to keep cooking at least 1 good meal for him every day. I guess I should mention also part of the reason for timing my cleanse right now - I've planned on doing it for quite a while, but didn't really know when to. since I went vegan I've been doing really well, eating super healthy, etc. and I lost a lot of weight. During this time, DH continued on his usual track of frozen veg food, french fries, mac&cheese, etc. But since I've been trying to cook vegan meals for both of us that he would find appetizing, I've found a lot more things to tempt me! I think the cleanse will be a good way to get myself back in-line, practice self-control and discipline, etc. Also to flush out of my system some of the more refined or processed things I've eaten in the last few weeks that I normally wouldn't have. Blah, sorry for going on like that, it's a habit! Have any of you done the Master Cleanse, or any fast for that matter, and continued cooking for your family the whole time? Any words of support you can offer would be appreciated!
Nothin', eh? Well, I'm beginning day 4 and doing well so far! I think I could do the full ten days without trouble, but I expect to run out of maple syrup on day 5 or 6. That stuff's expensive, and my beloved husband is getting mighty concerned, even though I researched everything and shared it with him ahead of time he can't get past the "you're STILL not eating?"... So all things considered, I think I'll keep going until I run out of syrup and break the fast next morning. I feel good, I've kept my daily routine essentially the same, and kept working and everything - just at a slightly slower pace for safety's sake. In the three nights I've fasted so far I've cooked four delicious vegan meals (boca burger w/salad and fries, chili w/rice, falafel wrap with road's end mac and chreese, and more chili) for Ian. Cooking has been a really interesting experience, I must say. One thing I have done differently is following instructions PRECISELY. Normally, since I'm a fairly good cook, I'll play around and add/subtract ingredients as I see fit, according to taste. But since I'm not tasting (which is difficult - it's a reflex I already have when I'm cooking at all, and ten times as much a reflex when my stomach is empty of food!) I've been following the directions carefully to make sure I end up with a tasty product in the end. It certainly adds a little additional perspective about consumption.
sorry i didn't see this. I dealt with cooking for my spouse (I'm fasting for Yom Kippur) and frankly, aside from the onions, nothing triggered me. now, when I go a long stretch w/o feeling hungry, cooking onions, even if I did the lazy order pizza routine, makes me ravenous. I have a few hours yet to go, and it's been an easy one. I guess hyperloading caffeine with fatty food at dinner yesterday did the trick.
What a coincidence! I'm planning a fast in the next few days, and today I'm trying to eat light to work up to it (I wanna start on tuesday). But I have to ask...I'm a little frightened by herbal laxitive tea and the saltwater flush...does it really make you go uncontrolably? How many times a day are you going? One more question....I take pills twice a day for anti-rejection (I had a liver transplant) so I have to keep taking them. Does anyone know if this will be a problem when I fast?
Well, as I planned I broke the fast today after a five-day run. I feel good about it, and I didn't have the maple syrup to last another day anyway. I've been doing O.J. (diluted 50/50 this morning and slightly stronger throughout the day), ate a chunk of mango this afternoon, and I just had a small bowl of a light brothy soup with onion, carrot, potato, and zucchini. I feel good so far! I didn't do the laxative in the evenings, but did do the saltwater flush in the mornings. I found that it didn't really kick in for me for an hour or so, and at that point I had to be within easy stride of the toilet for another hour or so. :& I don't know how many times, but I didn't seem to flush MUCH out of my system besides the salt water, it was honestly mostly liquid. (sorry if tmi but you asked!) Please, PLEASE ask your doc about the anti-rejection pills. I don't know if the different balance of acids and enzymes, etc in your gut (depending on how long you plan to fast) will affect how they are processed and absorbed to your system. I take a chickweed tincture every morning (for ovarian cysts), usually in my green tea, and kept doing it during the fast but took it in water instead, and several hours later in the day when the saltwater was well through me. I felt good about this fast, the whole process of it was good, all the way into preparing food for others because that made me more thoughtful about what I was doing. I will say though - breaking a fast is a much harder step for me. It seemed to take ages to acclimate myself to drinking the diluted oj this morning, but once my system started waking back up it's taken more self control to be MODERATE today than it has taken the last five days to abstain completely. Tomorrow I plan on more juice and fruit, probably what's left of today's soup around mid-day, and if I'm feeling good I might do a baked potato and/or salad tomorrow night.
