[1]

One week since my most recent cleanse, and I feel de:colon:ized.

I have many reasons why I’ve chosen to follow Stanley Burrough’s suggestions.  It challenges western medicine.  To help me get rid of all the toxins that we pollute our bodies with.  To reset my system.  For self-discipline.  Among various other reasons.

I really don’t blog much about health and this type of stuff, but since friends keep asking me about the cleanse, I thought putting up some info on the blog might help.  With that,

Ninoy Brown’s 3 Rules of the Master Cleanse:

1. Read the literature.
Know the pros and cons.  The master cleanse is going to feel like crap before you reach that state of zen that many people describe.  The first two days, when your body is going through detox withdrawals, will probably feel the worst.  It won’t feel as bad as an addict suffering through heroin or alcohol withdrawal.  You’re basically putting your body through a food detox, so you will feel the effects of it going through food withdrawals.  Learning about what your body is going through helps you to really get in touch with what’s going on internally.  We are often too disconnected to our bodies, which is why we poison ourselves with processed food-like substances [2].

2. It is not a diet; it is a fast.
Yup.  Not much else to elaborate.

3. Know your intentions.
If you’re doing this to lose weight, you’re chances of success drop 90%.  That’s not a scientific research-backed statistic, but from my experience, it’s too fickle of a reason to put yourself through the experience.  I strongly suggest folks to think about why they want to go through a 10 day fast.  It’s not as though one reason is more noble than the other, but more so that if your intentions are purely superficial, I can almost guarantee that your experience will be negative.

This isn’t an end all be all list, but just some suggestions that I notice myself repeating to friends who just ask me about the recipe.

I also don’t believe the master cleanse is for everyone.  Folks who are anemic probably shouldn’t try to go 10 days with only lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, and water as your only form of sustenance.

The master cleanse is a process.  As mentioned, it gets you understanding your body and how it reacts to food.  You’re either going to have a blissful experience or a really crappy (no pun intended) one.

Hope this helps.

[1] Please ignore the inherent privilege associated with the lady in what appears to be a Whole Paycheck Foods.

[2] Word to Michael Pollan.

More:

Interview I did with The Grouch about the master cleanse in Oh Dang!’s print issue: flip to page 37.

The Master Cleanse (pdf)

The Raw Food Site - Master Cleanse

-Ninoy Brown

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.