I am now back to eating solid foods. Wednesday evening, the 8th of July after 10 days of lemonade, I broke the fast with some fresh juice prepared with a juicer: apple, kale, and celery. After your body has not been digesting for a while it takes some conditioning for it to get back in gear and if one were to throw some whole foods straight in they would feel the pain. Even easing into it with juice I had some pains, actually beginning to eat again was the most painful part this time around.
Days 8,9 & 10 were not that notable I still had plenty of energy, was not hungry and felt really well. I was, however, incredibly bored with the lemonade. I began scouring my various detox books for recipes, reading the recipes and planning for eating helped me stay the course towards the light I could see at the end of the tunnel.
For about a day you should consume juices, then for another day eat only steamed or sauted veggies. As you begin to introduce foods go slow and relish in the flavors that are bursting in your mouth. This has got to be one of my favorite results: a bunch of Kale sauteed with garlic and a touch of salt and pepper was so wonderful and satisfying that I had to eat it three meals in a row. Now I LOVE veggies, but not as much as sweets; post cleanse I would rather have the veggies, the flavor is that good. Then on day three start introducing some cooked gluten-free grains (e.g., amaranth, quinoa, teff, buckwheat, and millet) and legumes (e.g., beans & lentils)… initially stay away from peanuts. On day four introduce other proteins.
For myself, the Master Cleanse has been a wonderful reset to my body and mind. I have never been officially diagnosed, but I am fairly certain that I have some candida overgrowth in my intestines. Candid is a yeast that naturally occurs in the body that can become pathogenic through improper diet, over use of antibiotics, and other lifestyle factors. While my core diet has been very healthy for a few years now, I still over indulge on sweets that directly feed candida. I have not taken antibiotics in 8 years now; however, I pretty much took them like a nutritional supplement when I was younger. And I have to admit that my diet through my teens and early 20s was far from ideal. Which puts me at a point where I have imbalance in intestinal flora which is not really getting worse, but could definitely use an overhaul.
As I mentioned sugar directly feeds yeast and the Master Cleanse calls for maple syrup to give your body the needed glucose to produce energy, without the sugar your body will feed off body muscle sooner. I chose to go ahead and feed the yeast a little over loosing too much muscle mass. There are many that say to steer away from the Master cleanse if you have candida overgrowth; for me I needed the mental reset to become willing to submit to a candida healing diet a low carb diet which omits sugars (even fruit sugar to begin with). Post fast, I have become obsessed with seeking and trying new yummy healthful recipes. Over the past week I have made almond milk, yogurt cheese, seaweed and veggie salad, chickpea fiesta salad, cabbage stir fry, steamed garlic kale and kombu, carob almond milk flax and a touch of stevia smoothies, and ginger spritzer just to name a few. Once you start looking there are so many wonderful resources: raw foods recipes, vegan recipes, detox recipes, gluten-free recipes, teff recipes… it just goes on and on. Today I am venturing into the world of Chia… you know, the seed that grows the pets! Turns out it is pretty nutritious as well as a fast grower.
On top of my new view of food as something to heal my body I have also incorporated some exercise into my daily 
routine. While over the past several years I have become more and more natural, and subsequently more and more healthy, I have had some hormonal issues that have required the use of antidepressants. The research on pregnancy and antidepressants is so inconclusive that I would not want to risk it… enter another motivating factor for the Master Cleanse. I stopped taking my antidepressant for the fast and have been incorporating 2 daily walks on top of nutritional supplementation and deep breathing exercises and so far I feel better than I have in years. They key to stress reduction: a well balanced nutritional diet that you are not allergic to, daily exercise, meditation and spiritual enrichment.
More blogs to follow as I continue on my wellness path and prepare and train for pregnancy .
A lovely eggplant and Black Krim tomato were ripe and ready to go. While I could not enjoy their wondeful flavor, it was a pleasure to make two scrumptious dishes for Jeremy and mom… I never thought I would say this but, the delicious smells and contented smiles were reward enough.
