Helfinger's Husband here - my woman strong-armed me into finally writing this thing. You know what they say, if your wife ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, so here goes -
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I am a 30 year old male living in Northeast OH. I have been supporting my wife through the IP protocol and have been inspired by the success and education that it has brought us. Watching her juice fast for many days while doing the Bowel Cleanse was quite educational. The fact that she was continuing to evacuate all kinds of "unhappy" matter even though she had not had any form of solid food for many days was unreal. I had been under the impression that I understood at least how my bowels worked at basic, you eat food, digest, and excrete??? However watching the way the Bowel Cleanse worked seemed to shed further light into this theory. I came to the conclusion that... It doesn't all come out!!! Well if it doesn't come out where does it go?? Watching my wife, I determined that it doesn't leave your body that same day and that she was able to clean out a lot of this "junk" by doing this bowel cleanse. She was putting no solid matter in, but for weeks and months, continued to get solid matter out.

I watched this for a while, quite inspired, but not really feeling comfortable enough to engage this kind of cleanse while working 45hrs week, commuting 10, and going to school online another 20-40, as well as the rest of life packed in there somewhere... Yes I have been called insane by many people for most of my life, but I have always been a hard worker and it has probably been almost a decade since I have worked under 70hrs a week. Even though my schedule was well filled, I realized that I didn't know when the next time I would have that I could actually try this bowel cleanse, and not worry about having to keep up with my life situation. I decided to try taking IF2 in the morning right after I got to work. I didn't really notice any change in anything, but I still figured that even if I was taking something, it was way better than nothing. For several months I worked on creating a pattern at work that took little effort for me to consistently take my IF2 in the morning. I was able to make a schedule for myself where I was able to drink 50oz of water on the way to work, get to work and immediately take IF1 and IF2 in the amount of time it took me to heat water for a bowel of oatmeal. So basically I found a way during the first 3min at work to get my initial Bowel Cleanse in me. I would also try and make sure that I would drink at least another 50oz of water during my shift. To be honest, I have a hard time keeping up with eating, or drinking when I am at work, that is why I focused keeping up with the basic cleanse elements during commutes and at the beginning and ending of my shifts. After several weeks of making sure that I was getting at 100-150oz of water and 1-dose of IF1 and IF2 by the time I got home from work. I was pretty proud that I was able to keep it up and really found that the way I implemented my version of the cleanse over time and without stress, I was able to make it a part of my life that was not bothersome or tedious at all. This keyed me up to wanting to increase my cleanse process. I eventually moved up and began taking another dose of IF1 and IF2 right at the end of my shift every day too. Then shortly after that added a 3rd dose in the evening when I was at home. By increasing the amount at a pace I could identify with my body, I was able to begin to understand how the herbs worked with my system. I learned to read my body to tell me how much and when to continue dosing myself. As I added in the 3rd dose of the day, my body starting craving the Cayenne/Habanero/Bird Pepper mixture that the wife was taking on the IP. I had previously definitely put her in the "Awesome-yet-crazy" box for taking 1/2tsp shots of this stuff directly into her mouth with some water, but something in my internal doctoring ordered myself to the prescription. I will have to say that it wasn't quite at all like I though it would be. Yes it was spicy for a minute, but really opened up my body and made me feel really good. Interestingly, my body craved it in a way that I was up to taking almost 1-tsp in under a week. Several days after taking the cayenne is when I became officially committed to this cleanse. I began to evacuate things that I definitely had not ingested (recently....). The process of getting out mucoid plaque very much reminded me of cleaning out the inside of your sink drain when it clogs and that black rubbery like sludge that comes out that is totally gross. Once I saw this stuff coming out of my body, and I am not talking a little bit, at some points an entire Bowel Movement was all Black stuff! It only took a few days of seeing that and I became committed to cleansing my bowel until things start coming out like the clockwork process that they should. It was extremely educational to see how my digestion works and formulate opinions of ones diet based on how your digestive track handles it. Watching what comes out (or doesn't) especially with wheat products furthered my inspiration.

The point is that cleansing can be done in any situation in any life environment should you be so motivated to pursue it. It really just takes us to drop some of our human laziness for a minute and actually do for oneself. I rationalized that fact that I am meticulous about keeping the oil in my car changed every 3000 miles. Why would I not treat my "body vehicle" any differently. Going to a doctor for a checkup is no form of regular maintenance, that is a diagnostic. I prefer to eat healthy and cleanse my body regularly as to "maintain" my health as opposed to "insuring" it. Why only focus on a backup plan when you can actually keep yourself in a place where you will never need it? I just had to bring some of that mind of matter mentality that we use ever day in society and apply it to my personal health and longevity. Was/Is it worth it? Was/Is it worth it to keep your shiny new car maintained? I choose to treat my body and health not only as a gift, but an investment that requires maintenance for it to mature to fruition.

The keys to this really working for me, were the following.
1. Make sure that I am dosing IF1 and IF2 at least 3 times a day.

2. Add cayenne pepper mix 3 times a day with it - this was the rosetta stone for me to move mucoid plaque. It didn't come to fruition until the 3x-day dosing with Cayenne added.

3. Add and subtract from your cleanse amounts in gradual steps. Drastic steps seemed to produce drastic results. Not that drastic results are bad, but for some people when you cannot dedicate your day to cleansing and being near a toilet a compromise must be made.

4. CONSISTENTLY LISTEN to your body (internal doctor). Pay attention to the way you feel, with and without cleansing. You will be surprised that if you learn to listen your intuition can help guide you into making the best decisions for your body. This is the way that I learned to understand my body's specific timing and reactions to the cleanse, and I was able to feel confident that I was cleansing using herbs, and not the herbs cleansing me.