Whew...we made it through Day 1! (long)

My hubby and I started the Master-Cleanse today. I did a 14-dayer back in May, and my husband was so impressed, he wanted to try it. He is in it for the weightloss - 6'3", 237 pounds (all belly). Me, on the other hand, I am in it for the health and spiritual aspect. I felt so good after my 14-dayer that I really wanted to go at it again, so HERE I AM!

I sent my hubby off to work this morning with a gallon jug of Master-Cleanse cocktail and a ziplock baggie containing a jar of cayenne and a 1/8 tsp. The closest fridge to his desk is in a conference room and little did he know that all the bosses were going to be closed into an all day meeting!!! He didn't get his first lemonade until around 11:30 and for whatever reason (I still haven't figured out the logic), he put the lemonade BACK in the fridge in the conference room instead of taking it to another fridge on a different floor. So, then he was without it again until about 4:45! I have to give him credit for not cheating. He drank lots of water throughout the day and loaded up on Master-Cleanse this evening. I didn't think he'd make it through day one, and he may have done something that I couldn't have done myself.

I believe that having done this before, I sort of knew what to expect. Since my last cleanse, I've been eating a mostly raw (75-80%) diet, very little meat and dairy, and almost no processed foods - I still need to work on my addiction to Cheez-It crackers... Hopefully, this is why my first day seemed so easy. Last cleanse, I craved cheese constantly! I can't really say that I craved anything today. I felt hungry so I had some water, then if I still felt hungry I had some lemonade. Day 1 is down and I drank 7 cocktails and had my tea.

In case anyone is wondering...I'm 5'2", 113 pounds. I lost 7 pounds during my 14-dayer and another 6 during my breaking session. Over the course of 1 month, I have only gained back 3 pounds, so from a weight-loss aspect I am happy. But the more amazing to me are the results that can't be seen - I am sleeping better, my skin glows and doesn't feel dry and itchy all the time, my incontinance problem has disappeared, my sinuses don't drain constantly like they used to, I have more energy, and my overall attitude is much more bubbly.

Three things I learned during my first cleanse:

1.) juicing lemons has definitely gone to my head. For the first cleanse, I bought a 1.50 hand citrus juicer. After 2 days my arm was sore from all the manual labor (yes, I probably need to exercise more). About 10 days in, I was wondering through the aisles of Walmart and found a $25 juicer that would do all sorts of vegetables and fruits. The "good" of this new juicer is that it didn't kill my arm. The "bad" was that the lemons had to be peeled before they could be juiced and this took longer than doing it by hand. I since saw a post about a little electric citrus juicer - it looks like the manual one except the "pointy part" that you stick the lemon/orange/lime/etc. onto spins. So, today I went and bought one. It works great and it was only $10!

2.) There is a definite difference between Grade A and Grade B maple syrup. I couldn't find Grade B where I live, so I bought Grade A. I didn't realize it right away, but it was not fulfilling my nutritional needs. I would get dizzy and light-headed in the evenings, and then I would feel miserable and tired. This time around, I found some Grade B on the internet and stocked up!!

3.) All cayenne is not the same! I had a bottle of McCormick's cayenne pepper for most of my first cleanse. Toward the end, I ran out and then bought some organic at the health food store. With the McCormick's I was to a point where I could dump a ton into my drink...I had to start over with 1/10 of a teaspoon with the organic stuff. And it really wasn't that much more expensive than the McCormick's. You can get organic cayenne by the pound if you search the internet.

Happy Cleansing everyone!

Tiffany