Master Cleanse Wrapup

[errantember]

Sitting on the toilet enjoying my first large bowel movement seems like the ideal time to finish my Master Cleanse series for interested parties.

Day 5

I'm realizing now that it's definitely better to take notes the day of rather than trying to summarize later. However, Day 5 went fairly well. I still felt a little floaty, but less so than Day 4, possibly due to less being trapped in a hot metal box.

I met worldmegan at Daily Juice, where I sort-of cheated by having a shake containing hemp protein powder, among other things. This may explain the odd nature of later tongue action.

I attended the Austin Poetry Slam at The Scoot Inn, and was able to briefly check my sexual response due the the presence of spottedvasa. I took less lemonade with me than usual to ensure my ability to sneak in with it, and then unexpectedly went out to dinner afterward. At one point I realized I had left my lemonade in the car, and despite being at Starseeds Cafe, I felt this very visceral fear that Something Bad Might Happen if I didn't immediately run outside and claim it. I think it was my body realizing that taking sugar directly into the bloodstream doesn't leave a lot of slop room in terms of timing. You have to keep freebasing the lemonade or your body will run out of functioning calories quickly. A Cleaner out of lemonade could be in trouble pretty fast if a replacement were not readily available. It felt quite a bit like the first time I left my tent at Burning Man and I had this gut-level, genetic understanding that knowing the location of water was necessary to prevent my death due to the drastic drop in relative humidity. It felt like I could actually see the water being sucked out of my body into the air.

It was also observed that my tongue was almost completely green at this point. We did get a picture, but I haven't gotten it, yet. I'll post it later. I the noticed the rest of me seemed slightly greener than usual, and have to wonder if maybe it was the hemp protein, it being the *only* protein I'd had in five days.

Purge on Day 5 was the same watery, drawn-out toilet camping trip as most previous nights, with the same "Am I done yet?" features as before. The flavor of the salt water is actually pretty good to me, though consuming an entire liter in a few minutes when I'm already pretty hydrated is a little much.

We'll note that except during purge times, I did not fart for the 5 days of the lemonade diet at *all*. This definitely says something about the state of my innards, though evidently it says it quietly.

Day 6 - Step Out Day 1 - Juices and broth

I skipped the orange juice-with-less-syrup day because I'm not sufficiently convinced it's different enough from the normal lemonade to make a difference. Instead I moved directly to the "juice and broth" day.

At breakfast there was some mild panic involved in having to do something different, much the same as a lifelong Lutheran might experience after realizing there is no God, and, holy shit, now what? However, a huge batch of fruits and vegetables had been delivered to our home the day I started the fast, and among these were two massive watermelons! I made one of them the base of my new mix, which also included apricots, carrots, and apples. In consumption, I made more of an effort to eat "meals" rather than constantly bouncing between juice and water. I made four 12-ounce containers worth, anticipating taking several of them with me on my trip to visit my Mom in D/FW. Even with the minor increase in fiber, I could feel my innards grumbling back online slowly but steadily. I could picture the little gut-smurfs running tests and checking dials in anticipation of greater volumes to come. I felt more focused and less spacey after breakfast, probably because of the greater variety of vitamins and minerals in my whatever-I-can-find-that-fits-in-the-juicer creation, and also because the sugar wasn't quite as readily available as it had been for days. This continued for the rest of the day. The trip to D/FW went well, and I drank my polyjuice the whole way up. I baked two batches of shortbread for my Mom's thank-you party, and ate a few tiny pieces as I was cooking. Within minutes, I noticed that "pure sugar" tightness in my shoulders, and a little crick I had had a few weeks in the past was suddenly re-energized, and persisted on-and-off for the whole trip to D/FW. It was a very interesting and direct food-modifies-body result, and make me increasingly wary of eating processed sugar, particularly on an mostly empty stomach.

Day 7 - Step Out Day 2 - Solid Fruits and Veggies

Ate Whatever Mom Had On Hand, including carrots, watermelon (whole this time) and apples. My hunger reaction was now fully online, but not fully powered. I would get hungry after not eating for an hour or so, at which time I would snack on something else. I felt more normal overall, and it was nice to actually chew things again, but I still wasn't nearly as emotionally involved with my food as before the fast. I also had my first tiny poops today, which required a little straining but overall were ok. It was nice to see things were moving along the whole pipeline, and nothing had seized up!

I did a lot of baking and cooking of desserts today.

Just before bed, I indulged in a piece of my shortbread, which was so orgasmically fantastic I almost fell down. I was also *very* aware of it's affects on the rest of my body, but they weren't as quick or powerful as when I was still on only juice. Presumably the other food in my stomach slowed it down a bit.

Day 8 - Back to Normal

Today we had my Mom's thank you party for all the people who helped her during her surgical recovery. I had eggs and bacon for breakfast, which were good. I felt myself slowly fading into a "food is normal" mindset, but I was still more aware than usual of the eating experience. I made an effort to think about where my food came from eat time before I ate. At least, that is, until dinner.

Dinner was at Saviannos, a totally excellent Italian restaurant, better than any I'm aware of in Austin, that Euless, Texas does *not* deserve. Besides chewing thoroughly and not *totally* stuffing myself, I went hog-wild, eating fried cheese raviolis, a Capri salad, a full dinner salad, several garlic rolls, all of my meat lasagna, and a few samples from others' plates. Afterward I mostlyhosted the party, where I had a small glass of champagne, shortbread, puff pastries with chocolate mouse, chocolate with poprocks, and both whole raspberries and raspberry coulis, most of which I had prepared myself, sometimes with the help of my Mom, generally undoing the entire Cleanse in a single meal.

My body seemed up to this amazing and sudden challenge, costing me only a general feeling of fatigue as my guts spun up into high gear. I would have expected a much more robust negative response to the many food allergy generating items I ate tonight, so that part is good. I'll see what happens tomorrow as things move through my system.

Finally, I had my first Big Poop, and everything seems to be fine.

Comments

[silverize.livejournal.com]

Congrats on finishing the cleanse! And yes, food is seriously orgasmically good when you start eating it again!

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was quite an experience, and I intend to do it again if my body starts feeling the need. When I get my income situation sorted out, I should be able to do it for a full ten days. I may also add some trivial flavoring to the lemonade, like strawberry or raspberry, for variety.

[double00range.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! Congrats on reaching your goal.

"generally undoing the entire Cleanse in a single meal."

LOL

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I've definitely noticed my sensitivity to food allergies has gone down drastically, which was my main goal. I was also more aware of my snacking tendencies on the trip back to Austin, but I snacked anyway. :)