Today is day 12 of the Master cleanse. I decided to wait until a couple of weeks into it before I posted my latest blog because it seemed like a wacky thing to do and I didn’t want my doctor friends trying to talk me out of it. Although I have continued to exercise regularly at the pool and eat well, it just felt like something needed to be cleared out of me. I don't have a scientific basis for this; all I have is intuition. Some gut feeling that my gut needed emptying.
Of all the products and ideas out there for cleansing the innards of the body, the Master Cleanse seemed to be the most appropriate. First of all it was developed in the 1940s and has been used by thousands of people since then. Despite various opinions and results from many different people, I haven’t found any evidence that it has hurt anyone. Second, nobody is selling anything other than groceries readily available at the store. To me, this was the most attractive thing about the cleanse, because you know unconditionally what is in the recipe and there is no phony claim made up by a marketing department of how amazing it works.
I purchased the book called The Complete Master Cleanse by Tom Woloshyn and read it cover to cover a couple of times. I couldn't convince myself to go on the cleanse for a few days, but I read, researched, bought the ingredients, and prepared myself. A couple of weeks ago, on the 26th of August, my heart went into atral fibrulation again, and given my experience on this last time, I figured that any time the heart goes into A-fib it meant a trip to the emergency room.
Turns out my heart was beating normally otherwise and my blood pressure was good, so the cardiologist said I could go home and take care of it on my own. He recommended I take aspirin every day, and I made a follow-up visit to cardiologist for the possibility of some electrophysiology (EP) work up.
I was mad when I came home from the first doctor's visit on the 27th. I was mad because I have enough to deal with and I don’t need my heart going in and out of rhythm all the time. In a bit of a fit, I decided at 1:00 on the 27th to go on the Master Cleanse. It took a couple of days to begin to clear out, but when it did, it cleared up quickly. Days 1 through 4 were stay at home days and there were a number of toilet visits. I eliminated a great deal of volume and as mentioned in the book, it began to liquefy. Days 4 through 8 were sinus draining days and my breathing seemed to get deeper and my sleep was more complete. I really enjoyed that. Days 8 through 12 have been fairly stagnant or stable, nothing out of the ordinary has come out of me, though this morning I feel another massive sinus draining coming along and I've already used a box of Kleenex to empty nose. No, it's not a cold. My head is clear and I feel good.
My tongue has been a nasty whitish yellow for most of the week, thought I see it is beginning to turn more pinkish now. This is reportedly supposed to happen when the toxins begin to move out.
Energy wise, I have maintained a level of exercise and energy throughout. Some people apparently report better energy over normal, however my energy essentially feels normal, perhaps a little bit elevated. This is still surprising given only 800 calories of consumption a day in the form of the maple syrup. My stools have been completely liquid throughout with the exception of the last two days when, through my inability to obtain ingredients, I had soup and some fruit for dinner.
My weight is approximately 238 pounds this morning, which is the same as it has been for about 4 days. This is approximately 10-15 pounds less than the weight I was hovering at for the past several months, so clearly there has been some loss. My stomach is flatter, my love handles have shrunken, and in general I look a little bit more slender (Remember, I played baseball at 240-250, so this is probably where I belong).
And my heart? 2 hours of PVC’s (premature ventricular contractions) twice. Both times from not having enough of the drink and trying to get through a hot Las Vegas afternoon without out it. Both times the PVC’s went away as soon as I drank water and the lemonade. Overall, my heart has been regular and able to perform well in the pool when I swim my tail off. I haven’t missed a swim since the diet began, and my trip to the cardiologist proved the Cayenne Pepper has a thinning effect on the blood like aspirin and he told me it was fine as long as it was working.
Overall, this has been a real positive experience for me. I had no headaches as I had already been through that on my first detox last November and have been eating well and juicing since. I have cleared out more garbage from my stomach and intestines, I feel strong and I am swimming faster too. There are all kinds of claims on what type of health benefits may result from a Master Cleanse, and I am not sure at this point what it's going to do for my MS. I am going to stick with the cleanse for another week or so, and will then continue following with my normal juicing and enzyme regimen. I plan to do a cleanse twice a year for maintenance.
As the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Business has been difficult of late, and the real estate market continues to stay weak. We haven't done any deals for over a year, and many of our tenants are struggling to pay their rent as a result of higher gas and food prices. Our vacancy is gone from about 8% to 30-40%, and cash flow is difficult. More to the point, my irregular heart was really bothering me. It seems ironic that the lemonade diet came into my world at a time when life was passing out the lemons…….
