I’ve been learning so much working through my Functional Nutritionist course from NutraPhoria’s School of Holistic Nutrition. Recently I completed the section in my textbook on Detoxing and Fasting which really piqued my interest due to all the potential health benefits I could get if I were to complete one. A detox might be just what the doctor ordered if you’re no match for your sugar cravings, if you’re feeling tired and sluggish all the time, you can’t sleep, your skin and hair are less than lustrous and you have inflammation in your body.
The break you give your digestive tract and your detox organs (kidneys, liver and skin) which have to work overtime every time you ingest food that your body has difficulty processing, allows your body time to divert its energy resources to healing damage done by said foods and working through what toxic waste may already have accumulated in the body, without having to stretch its resources trying to process new incoming food.
DETOXING ISN’T A THING….OR IS IT?
I know people in both the medical and fitness industry who will tell you that there is no such thing as “detoxing” and that the notion of giving your liver, kidney and intestines a break is as silly as giving your lungs and heart a break. Those people usually feel that simply switching to a healthy diet is enough to get the benefits to the ailments I listed in the first paragraph. Which may be true for some people, but many others may still greatly benefit from also doing a detox. I felt that I was one of those people. After 2 months of eating healthy, and by healthy eating I mean a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, lean protein, nuts seeds, whole grains and lots of water, practicing intermittent fasting, meditating and regular fitness training, I still couldn’t shake serious sugar cravings, often times indulging even when I didn’t really want to. Which basically meant that I was not in control of myself. I was also having inflammation issues in my joints and poor sleep quality. I needed a detox. Yes, it is true that the kidney and liver are meant to cleanse and purify the body, just as the heart is designed to pump blood and your lungs are meant to deliver oxygen. Many believe that because those are the functions of those organs that the idea of them needing a “break” is silly. But a break obviously doesn’t mean for those organs to stop working completely, it means creating the conditions where they can begin to work optimally. A short term fast can create the conditions for optimal healing to occur within the body, especially when you follow up a fast with a healthy eating lifestyle.
Giving the digestive system, liver and kidneys a break during a detox by restricting the intake of food, is like giving your heart a break by shedding excess fat if you’re overweight or giving your lungs a break by quitting smoking. I feel like a detox or fast is even more beneficial to those who have food intolerances but aren’t sure what foods are causing the distress. Once you complete the fast you can start eating an elimination diet which is a diet that excludes foods that are common allergens such as eggs, dairy, gluten, shellfish, nuts, nightshades etc. You then slowly re-introduce those foods one at a time back into your diet to see which ones negatively affect your well-being. I’d been thinking about doing a detox for a long time but just never followed through. You know how the story goes. I wake up one Tuesday morning and say to myself “I should really do a detox, I’d feel so much better afterwards”. But I quickly remind myself that no-one starts ANYTHING on a Tuesday, so I promise myself I’ll start the following Monday. Once I’ve convinced myself that I will soon be starting a
detox I then feel entitled to indulge as much as I want until I start the cleanse. Yes, that’s right folks, I already felt entitled to “reward” myself for a fast that I had not even started yet. Then Monday rolls around, and I’m so bloated and tired, with my sugar receptors on full alert and impatiently waiting for their next dose due to the previous week of sugar and carb overload that I am not in a strong mental or physical state to be able to undertake such a willpower intensive endeavor as a 10 day fast. So, I put off the idea of a detox until another time.
This time around though, I was ready to complete the detox because my motivation was on a different level than it normally is. This motivation was coming from the fact that I have been reading about health and nutrition almost daily thanks to the functional nutritionist course that I’m enrolled in. Consistently taking in information in the form of books, articles, Youtube videos etc on the things you want to achieve can greatly increase your chances of following through, because not only does it keep the topic at the forefront of your mind it also trains your subconscious on what is important to you which will make the actions you take towards what is important to you seem easier. Compared to let’s say trying to embark on a 10 day fast after spending the last 5 years reinforcing to your subconscious that what is important to you is Netflix and junk food, of course in this scenario the actions required to start and complete a the 10 day fast will seem VERY difficult. Actions become effortless when the they match with your predominant thoughts, beliefs and actions. When they are in opposition everything feels like a struggle.
I knew that a detox would make me feel better because I had done the Master Cleanse over a decade ago with great results, so while there are many options for detoxes and fasts and cleansese I decided to try the Master Cleanse once again because it was familiar.
WHAT IS THE MASTER CLEANSE?The Master Cleanse falls more into the category of a “juice fast” because you’re still consuming calories from the lemon water concoction you drink. The detox was developed by dietician Stanley Burroughs in the 1940s who had great success using this detox on himself and his clients. I want to give full disclosure here so you can come to your own conclusions, but I’ve read that Stanley Burroughs claimed the Master Cleanse diet could even CURE cancer patients. Perhaps he thought that because he had helped cancer patients in the past that he could cure anyone, but all it took was for one person to pass away due to following the advice that Burroughs gave him, for many to doubt not only his credibility, but the efficacy of the Master Cleanse in general. For that reason, I recommend you consult your physician before starting a detox or a fast especially if you are on medication or have pre-existing conditions whatever they may be. I also don’t think the unfortunate death of the man who tried to cure his cancer using the Master Cleanse means the cleanse doesn’t work at all. I believe that the Master Cleanse does help people, I know it has helped me and I know that to this day there are people who still follow the Master Cleanse with varying degrees of results. Sure, it’s possible that Stanley Burroughs was overcome by a God complex after helping so many people that he overestimated the potential of the cleanse and truly believed he could cure cancer. But before you write him off as a complete quack trust that there are PLENTY of practicing medical doctors who are misdiagnosing, unnecessarily suggesting invasive surgeries and prescribing pills with horrendous side effects daily without reproach. Medical malpractice is the THIRD leading cause of death in the USA after heart disease and cancer so I don’t think it’s fair to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the benefit of the Master Cleanse just because Burroughs failed at trying to cure someone of cancer using the Master Cleanse. Anyone can still pass away from cancer or complications after going through traditional medical cancer treatments. I also feel that unless you have an AMAZING doctor many of them don’t understand health and prevention, they understand pain and symptom management. All this to say the Master Cleanse is generally safe for healthy people but consult with your physician before starting anyway.
It is recommended that you stay on the Master Cleanse for at least 10 days. During those 10 days you will drink 8-12 glasses of the following lemon juice drink: 8oz of filtered water, 1 tbs of organic fresh lemon juice, 1 tbs of organic maple syrup, 1/10 of a tsp of cayenne pepper all mixed together. You start each morning with a saltwater flush which consists of almost a litre (a gallon) of room temperature filtered water mixed with sea salt. You end each night with a laxative tea (I used Smooth Move by Traditional Medicinals).
You can continue doing light exercise such as yoga, pilates, stretching, biking, walking, jogging while on the cleanse. Lifting heavy weights is not advised as you will be breaking down muscles tissue with no protein in your diet to rebuild the muscles. You may find yourself lacking the energy to perform intense workouts anyway.
MY EXPERIENCE ON THE MASTER CLEANSE
Most of the promotion for the master cleanse online is sadly about weight loss. Although you will most likely lose weight most of it will come back as soon as you start eating again, and if you don’t start eating healthy after the cleanse then you will no doubt gain back ALL of the weight and then some. Weight loss was not my goal on the Master Cleanse but for those who want to know, on the last day of the cleanse I was down 9lbs, but would say really I lost a true 5lbs after reweighing myself 3 weeks later. My motive for doing the Master Cleanse was to eliminate sugar cravings, sleep better, and get rid of inflammation I had in my joints.
Day 1
The first day was easy, I think that’s because as I mentioned before I was already doing intermittent fasting, so it wasn’t that much of a stretch to completely fast for the day. My sleep improved from the first day on the cleanse.
Day 2-3
I read that these are actually the hardest days and that I may experience “detox” symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, irritability. I watched many YouTube videos of people following the cleanse who said they experienced those detox symptoms. I didn’t…Thankfully. I was concerned though because from what I read I should have been having bowel movements 3-4 times a day but I was only going twice at most.
Day 4-5
By day 4 the bowel movements had begun full force (sorry to get gross). I was having 4+ bowel movements a day. I would feel cramping in my abdomens in the morning, but the cramps would pass and I would feel fine by the 3rd for 4th bowel movement. By this time I was sleeping better and feeling more clear headed and alert, bye bye brain fog. Still no detox symptoms. Cravings were gone from my mind except for direct triggers such as smelling food or seeing food. Whereas before, at any time of day, whether in the presence of a trigger or not I’d be wanting sweets, or salty, or snacks in general.
Day 6-7
By day 6 I started having ups and downs emotionally, one-minute feeling on top of the world with my joints feeling more mobile, considerably less brain fog, and improved sleep. The next minute feeling like I want to just stop the cleanse and EAT! One-minute feeling like the time is flying by and the next minute feeling like 7 days was already an eternity. I used the time to really be mindful of my feelings, my cravings, my habits, my thoughts. I learned a lot about myself and how I view food during the cleanse.
Day 8-9
I can now walk down any junk food aisle in a store and not be tempted to buy anything which feels like freedom, certain smells such as bacon still triggered a strong craving but for the most part I just felt free of constantly thinking about food. This cleanse showed me how much energy gets devoted to thinking about and craving food. By this time I was physically feeling really good, all I was missing was intense training sessions. Mentally I was having anxiety about returning to eating, because I didn’t want to stop feeling good. Which is irrational, I know, because food does not make us feel bad, bad foods, and food that we are allergic to, and poor food combinations make us feel bad. But I’m just being honest about how I felt.
Day 10
I was feeling proud of myself for completing the cleanse, especially because the first time I did the Master Cleanse I caved in after day 5 (and still saw results). By day 10 I was feeling great physically and got the results I wanted, better sleep, less inflammation, and reduced cravings for sugar and salt. Day 10 was a mix of anxiety about eating food again and excitement about being able to ingest something other than lemonade.
Once I completed the Master Cleanse I continued NOT eating, dairy, animal products and processed sugar and gluten for the following 30 days. My training sessions were AMAZING, I felt strong, mobile and light. I just recently reintroduced animal products into my diet again.
All in all I’m happy with the results and the benefits on both my physical and mental wellbeing. It also helped that this time around I went on and came off the cleanse properly because binge eating right up until you start a cleanse is NOT the way to go, and neither is ordering a pizza on the stroke of midnight of the 11th day. There is a way to start and end a cleanse safely which I can tell you all about if you need help or guidance starting and sticking to and getting maximum benefits after the Master Cleanse. I think I will do another cleanse in the fall, although I will try something other than the Master Cleanse. Ill keep you posted. Until then happy detoxing!
