Deciding to Take on The Master Cleanse

Deciding to take on the Master Cleanse was somewhat sudden. I stumbled upon someone’s blog, and among Sayward's posts of homemade deodorant and vegan cooking was also the documentation of her first Master Cleanse. I read the whole thing in the time I was waiting to be picked up for a thrift store venture. I’m glad my friend was late.

I hemmed and hawed over whether or not I thought I’d be able to pull it off. I mean ten days. No food. Conceptually for anyone I think that is intimidating, but also, I make no secret about my love of food. Cooking, reading food blogs, going out to eat and of course, eating are in my top hobbies, but reading over the alleged benefits of the Master Cleanse was alluring. Alluring, while also sounding physiologically disgusting... but it's in that grossly fascinating kind of way. Learning what my body has been storing and now what it could potentially expel? Sign me up. I need an experiment and I want the poison out.

At this time in my life, I've currently got nothing but time on my hands. To me, this is a spectacular time to mentally and physically test and improve upon my own self-discipline.

In addition to harnessing some self-control, the primary goal in all of this is to wipe the slate clean. Cleanse my body, listen to it throughout this process and reintroduce myself to a new way of eating. Going on a ten day fast (hopefully) means you don’t leap back into mindless eating, emotional eating and boredom eating. The time out from food means time to map out the role food should play in my life. I’m excited about it. I’m also hoping for the other byproducts that accompany the Master Cleanse which include weight loss, increased energy, clearer skin, relief of minor body pains, a better palate, etc.

Post-cleanse I'm hoping to guide this toward being a food blog. I think it's only a matter of time before an aspiring foodie and cooking enthusiast puts fingers to the keyboard and goes for it. We'll see how it all develops.

(originally written 8/9/09)