"Listen to your body" has now become an overused cliche/mantra that folks use as a rationalization for quiting. Having done over a dozen 40 day MCs I can tell you that it's very unlikely that most folks have enough experience and/or "self" knowledge to either have experienced "real" hunger or know themselves well enough to interpret what real hunger is or for that matter what any of the symptoms experienced on a fast represent.
I mean really, if any of us was "enlightened" enough to be able to interpret a good portion of our body signals we would have never eaten those glazed donuts and other crap that brought us here in the 1st place. Add that that most likely none of us has ever experienced "real hunger".
One thing that will give you some insights on the sequence of event that occur while fasting is to read the Detox Stages in the FAQs at the top of the page. If I'm going through all the trouble and in many cases social isolation since many of our interactions with other revolve around food, I'm just gonna go for broke and reap some real cleansing benefits at the cellular level which only begin to happen after around 2 weeks when the body has expelled the causative agents and the system starts scouring the cells for damaged tissue, In short for me I consider 21 days the minimum worth doing though I really push the envelope and do the 40 days anyways.
You know to be honest I could not come up with what determines the end time for me on the MC. One guide that I've observed is that the cleansing cycles appear to go by in 7 days increments. What I will tell you is that personally I've never experienced what I would interpret as "real hunger" in my dozen+ 40 day fasts. For the last 3 or so fasts I have switched things around a bit. I will do no less than 21 days MC by the book then I switch to veggie juice for the remaining 29 days +/-. This "Switch" was something that came about more by accidental circunstance than anything I consciously planned. It came about cause I was on a deadline job and left the house one day somewhere around day 30 I left the house and forgot my lemonade. I figured, no big deal, one day on water would be fine. As the jobs pressures and activities wore on by mid afternoon I started getting a bit wonky and I just had to be able to carry on so with much trepidation I went to a local juice bar and had a green juice. I drank it real slow worrying that after 30 days +/- it might make me sick but much to my delight I got this great feeling of well being and energy so I finished out the fast on veggie juices and have done same for the last coupla fasts.
It simply makes good logical sense to me that you do a good 21 days getting the crap out of the system and then with the veggie juice you are infusing your system readily assimilable mega nutrition, live enzymes, vitamins, minerals etc. In addition since the system is pretty clean from the MC it will really be able to absorb all this great nutrition provided by the veggie juice. Of course they system will also continue to detox with the veggie juice.
I don't know that being advanced or more experienced has a lot to do with it. I fell into the veggie juice switch thing quite by accidental circunstances. My best advice if you're thinking of switching to juice at some point would be to let the MC works its mojo for at least 2 weeks, 3 if you are rocking and rolling and are able to function in your everyday life then give the veggie juice a whirl and see how it does for you. The second part is to strain any pulp from the juices so you're not getting any fiber which would crank up the digestive system and peristatic action both of which will make you hungry.
On intuition I went for green juices which are very cleansing on the system because of the chlorophyl content. My staple is cucumber, celery, cilantro, parley, apple, ginger. This combo is quite tasty and I do it on a regular basis sometimes daily in my normal life. There are tons of other combo recipes posted on the net for you to play and experiment with.
If you don't have a juicer I would recomend you get one. It will prolly be the single best investment you can make towards your health. The best juicers are the auger types cause then can do both hard roots veggies, soft fruits and they get the most from leafy greens and even wheat grass. The centrifugals are the cheapest but are the least desireable since they don't do leafy green very well or extract the most juice. Having said this the bottom like is the best juicer is the one you have and will use.
You're just "over thinking" the whole thing which is also rationalizing quiting or adding this or that. Simply put don't make a big deal out of ANY of it. It's gonna be what it's gonna be for you this time, the end. You are NOT going to figure it out. There is NOTHING to figure out and next time you do the cleanse it will be totally different. All you are doing is feeding your frustration by whining about it here or worse of all talking about it to yourself. Just divert those thoughts anyway that works for you whether it's reading, talking a walk, exercising, whatevah
It you add juice by using a blender you would be adding a mess'o fiber which will trigger digestion and it will only make matters worse
Yeah the enthusiasm thing is pretty catchy when folks around you see your transformation. One of the things a girlfriend noticed was how smooth and silky my skin felt. When I first began this cleansing journey I went at it full force including all the other cleanses ( liver,parasite, colon etc) plus a breakneck gym schedule at least five days a week. Also eating a pristine diet. In a 2-3 month period that transformation was so radical that I would walk by casual acquaintances and they would not recognize me. A number of my friends also got excited and started cleansing. There is no better tool to teach or share info in a meaninful way than walking the walk and teaching/sharing by example.
Besides the physical thing a very exciting aspect for me is the mental aspect. There is no specific way this can be described other that each individual will follow their own procelvities. For me I am a pragmatic realist so it was a great time for self observation which was not only on a physical level but also intellectually. Many with religious/spiritual leanings will put a spiritual/religious spin on the experience.
Use that enthusiasm constructively and get yourself a juicer. Start investigating the other cleanses. The one point I want to really emphasize is that the real make or break of any benefits you reap from the cleanse is not so much the cleanse but what you do after. The MC is the "easy" part where you don't hafta think and everything is all worked out for you. This is why I emphazise not to make a big deal out of ANY of it. The part that will take your effort and daily decision making comes after the fast. If you go back to your old habits all benefits will disapear pretty quickly and more so if weightloss is part of your goal. All forms of fasting slow the metabolism and if you are not very judicious about what you eat and get some form of regular exercise happening to bring the metabolism back up, the weight will come back gangbusters and you'll put on even more weight than you lost in a really short time. Start researching balanced nutrition and if not already join a gym or aerobics class. Just anything that will get your heart rate up so you'll bring the metabolism back up to speed. It can take as long as 6 to 8 weeks to get it back up and this is particularly more crucial in the longer fasts.
We all start somewhere and using our own intution is always the first recourse. Our intuition should be tempered by information we can gather by reading but mostly from others with experience in forums like this. That is also a double edged sword cause there is also a lot of crap that gets posted by folks that have no clue. Welcome to the internet........;+D Besides using common sense one thing that I find very useful on Curezone is that at the bottom of each post you can check out the persons posting history and that will give you more detailed insights on the persons experience/knowledge.