Anyone done the Master Cleanse?

[Dianne-TX]

I am planning on doing it soon. I would like to hear your experience and any tips you might have. I've read the book and known of a few people who have done it. I need to cleanse after having my baby 12 weeks ago. (Not nursing, so no worries there.) I haven't gotten rid of the swelling and my joints hurt and I just feel yuck. A cleanse is in order. Share with me please. Thanks.

[Dianne-TX]

I am planning on doing it soon. I would like to hear your experience and any tips you might have. I've read the book and known of a few people who have done it. I need to cleanse after having my baby 12 weeks ago. (Not nursing, so no worries there.) I haven't gotten rid of the swelling and my joints hurt and I just feel yuck. A cleanse is in order. Share with me please. Thanks.

 

Sorry about the multiple posts. My browser told me it had a problem and went to an error page. It never showed that it posted, so I re-posted. Sorry.

[Peela]

Good luck- is that the lemon juice one?

It doesnt appeal to me because I like gentle....but if you feel inspired, it has obivously done great things for many people!

[tex-mex]

I'm going to regret asking this... but how bad is a cleanse? :confused: Do you... um... need to be near a potty at all times?? :leaving:

[Pamela H in Texas]

You DO need to be near a potty for the first few days. And you're gonna be absolutely miserable too. The headache was the worst and of course it wouldn't make much sense to take tylenol or something (nor did it seem to work when desperate anyway).

 

But it's not a bad cleanse to do past these two issues. And I really did feel better. I thought of doing it again myself as a jumpstart to Eat to Live (many people do it as a jump start to raw which is how I even really learned about raw), but I just can't while starting a new job.

 

BTW, I do not think it's necessary or best to do either. It may be easier, especially on a new mother, to juice fast or go low fat vegan or something of that nature. Those things would be gentler and more natural, but still work fairly quickly.

[Blessedfamily]

I am considering it, and am interested in opinions too.

[Jenn in Mo]

I did it about a year ago. The first night, I had a killer headache that knocked me over. By the next day I was feeling much, much better. One day of detox symptoms wasn't bad at all! I had no cravings. The juice left me feeling satisfied every time. In fact, I had to work to remember to drink every serving some days. I had to stay near a toilet every day for the entire thing. No warning. None. The tea was not nearly so gentle as they describe. I couldn't drink the whole thing. About 4-5 days in, my face broke out in hundreds of teeny tiny bumps that took a week to go away. No idea what that was all about. On day 7, I woke up feeling hungry. The book recommends asking yourself if a salad would sound half as appetizing as whatever you were craving. If a plain salad sounded heavenly, you were truly hungry and it was time to break the fast. I WANTED a salad desperately. I continued the cleanse one more day and then broke the fast when the hunger didn't disappear. I had nothing left but water to, um, cleanse and I was feeling great. I broke the fast with veggie broth for one day and then jumped back into my regular eating. My stomach handled it fine.

 

My bowels took several days to begin working right though. This concerned me because I've never had trouble in this area. I worried that I was dependent on the tea and ended up getting uncomfortable before things finally found a balance. I couldn't find any info on this, so it worried me; this is why I mention it. Everything was fine though, within a week.

 

Detox-wise, it worked great. Metabolism-wise, I've had to wonder if it didn't mess with mine. I didn't really struggle with weight before, just wanted a detox. I had about 5 lbs I wouldn't mind losing at the time and it came off with the cleanse. Now, though, I have to be very careful what I eat because I gain quickly and no amount of exercise is helping me take off the 10 extra lbs I now have. Kind of discouraging. Quite possibly unrelated. I'm curious to hear others' experiences with this.

[Dianne-TX]

I did it about a year ago. The first night, I had a killer headache that knocked me over. By the next day I was feeling much, much better. One day of detox symptoms wasn't bad at all! I had no cravings. The juice left me feeling satisfied every time. In fact, I had to work to remember to drink every serving some days. I had to stay near a toilet every day for the entire thing. No warning. None. The tea was not nearly so gentle as they describe. I couldn't drink the whole thing. About 4-5 days in, my face broke out in hundreds of teeny tiny bumps that took a week to go away. No idea what that was all about. On day 7, I woke up feeling hungry. The book recommends asking yourself if a salad would sound half as appetizing as whatever you were craving. If a plain salad sounded heavenly, you were truly hungry and it was time to break the fast. I WANTED a salad desperately. I continued the cleanse one more day and then broke the fast when the hunger didn't disappear. I had nothing left but water to, um, cleanse and I was feeling great. I broke the fast with veggie broth for one day and then jumped back into my regular eating. My stomach handled it fine.

 

My bowels took several days to begin working right though. This concerned me because I've never had trouble in this area. I worried that I was dependent on the tea and ended up getting uncomfortable before things finally found a balance. I couldn't find any info on this, so it worried me; this is why I mention it. Everything was fine though, within a week.

 

Detox-wise, it worked great. Metabolism-wise, I've had to wonder if it didn't mess with mine. I didn't really struggle with weight before, just wanted a detox. I had about 5 lbs I wouldn't mind losing at the time and it came off with the cleanse. Now, though, I have to be very careful what I eat because I gain quickly and no amount of exercise is helping me take off the 10 extra lbs I now have. Kind of discouraging. Quite possibly unrelated. I'm curious to hear others' experiences with this.

 

Two questions:

 

1) Are you saying just the lemonade drink alone made you go to the bathroom a lot?

 

2) Did you use a salt flush or just the herbal tea? Which herbal tea did you use?

 

Thanks!

[Dianne-TX]

You can also YouTube "master cleanse" and there are a number of videos on there. One is a guy showing you how to make the lemonade and just general info. regarding it. I haven't looked at the others yet.

[Dianne-TX]

You DO need to be near a potty for the first few days. And you're gonna be absolutely miserable too. The headache was the worst and of course it wouldn't make much sense to take tylenol or something (nor did it seem to work when desperate anyway).

 

But it's not a bad cleanse to do past these two issues. And I really did feel better. I thought of doing it again myself as a jumpstart to Eat to Live (many people do it as a jump start to raw which is how I even really learned about raw), but I just can't while starting a new job.

 

BTW, I do not think it's necessary or best to do either. It may be easier, especially on a new mother, to juice fast or go low fat vegan or something of that nature. Those things would be gentler and more natural, but still work fairly quickly.

 

Thanks for the headache warning. I'll wait and see what happens with me.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Honestly, if you can stomach it, do the salt water flush. Doing the tea makes the pottying issue better in one way but worse in another. I just use Dieter's Tea for potty issues, cinnamon doesn't require any sweetening. There is now a chocolate one.

[Dianne-TX]

I'm on day 1 of the cleanse. So far, nothing different than any other day, just hungry at times. I drink it when I feel hungry and it helps. I'm drinking water too. I didn't do the salt flush or tea last night or this a.m. I'll start that tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes. I'm not looking forward to the taste or the amount you have to drink. It's basically 2 water bottles and I never drink that much water in a sitting, especially not salted. But, I was pleasantly surprised with the lemonade. It's actually good. The cayenne gives you a little burn in the throat, but not bad and I don't mind it.

[HRAAB]

I've done this twice. I always planned it when I knew I wouldn't need to be gone from home much other than dropping kids or quick trip to the grocery store. The most important time for me to be home was for a couple hours after drinking the salt water (yuck - use a straw and drink fast). The headache was worst on day 2 and by day 4 no headache. I plan on doing it again this year but am trying to get dh to do it also since he's not working right now. Having a buddy would be helpful, I think. Good luck. I felt great after finishing it.

[susankenny]

I love the master cleanse! The best support I found was watching youtube journals of people sharing their day-to-day experience with it. I actually love the lemonade & think it's really yummy!

 

It's not that hard after you get through the first couple of days. Be sure to do it for a minimum of 10 days & no longer than 40 :)

 

Susan

[Jenn in Mo]

Two questions:

 

1) Are you saying just the lemonade drink alone made you go to the bathroom a lot?

 

2) Did you use a salt flush or just the herbal tea? Which herbal tea did you use?

 

Thanks!

 

I used a dieter's tea, I think the main ingredient was senna? It tasted naturally sweet and I liked it, but never drank the recommended amount. I did the saltwater flush for a few mornings, but didn't need to continue it. The purpose for both is to keep your bowels moving since you don't have any food going through. The tea alone was plenty to keep me running to the bathroom. Even though I only drank a half-cup at night, I had no warning throughout the entire next day.

 

I'm on day 1 of the cleanse. So far, nothing different than any other day, just hungry at times. I drink it when I feel hungry and it helps. I'm drinking water too. I didn't do the salt flush or tea last night or this a.m. I'll start that tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes. I'm not looking forward to the taste or the amount you have to drink. It's basically 2 water bottles and I never drink that much water in a sitting, especially not salted. But, I was pleasantly surprised with the lemonade. It's actually good. The cayenne gives you a little burn in the throat, but not bad and I don't mind it.

 

I hated the saltwater at first until I created a nice mental picture of a hot mug of chicken broth. When I thought of it as a comfort food, it tasted amazingly better. The power of the mind. :D

 

That cayenne starts by burning your throat. By day 5, it will be burning the exit more than the entrance. NOT fun.