'Master Cleanse' advice

[amyambro1]

Hello fellow rawdies. I'm new this. It's day 4 for me. Thank you to mattm for inspiring info on green smoothies. I have not tried one yet, but am looking forward to it. I just want to say THANK GOD for this forum. I've never heard from so many cool and dedicated people. It just amazes me!!

So, I have my blender. If there is anyone here who does the master cleanse regularly along with a raw or somewhat raw diet, I'd love to hear more about that. I got off the master cleanse about a month ago, then went back to normal eating, cokes and ramen noodles and all, then went straight to raw. I'm trying to decide whether I want to embark on the master cleanse again to speed up the detox process (because I didn't quite complete the first one in it's entirety), or if I should just allow the raw to detox me slowly. I'm nervous about it. I don't want to feel bad in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm starting an intensive summer school session soon. Anyone have any advice?

again, I LOVE THIS FORUM AND I LOVE YOU ALL!! THANK YOU FOR THE INSPIRATION!

[Random Violin Guy]

The wording in your post sent up a red flag in my mind. I notice you consider SAD eating "normal" - cokes and ramen noodles and all... which must mean you think of RAW as not normal, or weird, or abnormal.

The human is a very strange animal. I mean, how many animals out there add heat to their food? How many animals out there drink the milk of another species? So far as I know, we're the only animals that do this as a species, you know? Even weirder yet, you'll run into many a human animal that considers these activities normal, or worse yet, necessary for survival and health. Now that is what I call weird.

As for the master cleanse, I've never done it myself. I'd like to fast soon (I'm thinking next week), but I was giving it some thought yesterday... wouldn't detox be hard on the system? You're releasing all these toxins into your blood, and out through your skin, and whatever else. I'm wondering if that might be a bit much all at once... maybe a slow cleanse from being raw might be better?? I don't really know. Just a thought.

[amyambro1]

I totally agree with you...I mean normal as in "my usual eating habits", that I've had since I was a youngen. It's funny I was just trying to explain to my sister, who seems to be an avid non-raw fan, how the SAD seems so abnormal. I was explaining to her that this is how we ate before we cooked with fire and killed animals for meat. She said that was a loooong time ago, and humans have evolved since then, developing appendixes to digest meat, and the ability to better digest cooked foods. I'm not an expert, so I really couldn't argue with that. She "knows it all" of course....I'm new to this, day 4, and it's interesting to see how different people react. It's difficult not to become defensive, especially since I'm detoxing and may be a bit irritable at times. She pretty much told me it was going to be too hard and wouldn't be able to stick with it. Thank god for my online support! :)

[mattm]

Hi amyambro1, great to see you over here in this forum for us youngins and another member of this growing community. Now with regards to your first post…just a quick question...you say you went back to SAD food after the master cleanse...what made you turn back to the SAD? Was it social pressures, stresses etc or a feeling of needing heavier more filling food? I ask this because with these very restricted diets I often see the latter as the reason giving for any throw backs to SAD. I this is the case for you and then a second Master Cleanse might cause this yo-yoing between diets diet. I spoke of my love for green smoothies and, among many other things, this is in part due to their ability to give a satiated feeling whilst being very easily assimilated and thus cleansing. I feel know hunger pangs between the 3 smoothies I have a day and no feelings for need of heavier foods. They allowed me to finally get over my Achilles’ Heal in cooked grains which nothing else could and not yo-yo between raw and SAD which I did...now I'm by no means promising they will work for you or have the same effects but so many people just here on this forum have experienced their wonders that I highly recommend them to you. Also because they are more substantial you'll get a much gentler detox which from the sounds of it with the summer school session would be a good choice instead of burdening yourself with the stresses of what might happen and the detox symptoms if they do occur. These are just my opinions but I hope they are of help in guiding you to what is right FOR YOU. I just want to say I haven't done the master cleanse myself before, am not expert on it and will be interested to read others thoughts.

All the best, welcome again and keep writing:)

[rawsurfer]

i would suggest just sticking to raw. you might "fall of the wagon" if you do such an intense dietary change and a fast. i think it would be better to let raw sink in before trying a fast. im on month four and im now just able to see myself doing a fast.

good luck with whatever you choose to do. it makes me really happy to see young people taking responsibility for their health, as most kids go to mcdonalds every day because they are lazy, dont care, and want to save their money for beer.

[amyambro1]

mattm, in response, the reason I went back to SAD was that I did not care enough at that time to maintain a healthy diet. I mean, I cared and I felt bad about it, but the love of the food after that intense 7 days was more overpowering than a decision to be healthy. It was when I started to feel really crappy and tired and having no self control that I began to research what my other options were. I didn't even really know about raw until I began trying to find new detoxes on-line.

With my blender, I am coming up with some fun and delicious smoothies. I really want to try these green smoothies. I don't yet have Alissa's book, I will soon, but I don't even know how to make them correctly. So far I've picked up that you just throw some greens in a blender with water. Is this accurate? What's the simplest way, my budget would like to know....

[amyambro1]

[QUOTE=rawsurfer;287244]i would suggest just sticking to raw. you might "fall of the wagon" if you do such an intense dietary change and a fast. i think it would be better to let raw sink in before trying a fast. im on month four and im now just able to see myself doing a fast.


I think I will just stick to raw instead of trying another intense cleanse. how are you doing after four months by the way? Are you still detoxing? and also a broad question....why do people who go raw ALSO fast? It seems a little redundant to me.. WOuld really love to know:)

[mattm]

Hi amyambro1, I've got to admit I've never followed an actual recipe when it has come to raw...I've almost just gone with what's in the fridge, appeals to meal, thrown togther a salad and (now on the green smoothies) thrown into a blender whatever takes my imagination...and you know what....that's the funnest part of all, the experimentation and creativity. I can still remember (and can laugh at myself now!) how through ignorance of different flavours, how they combine etc all the distgusting things came up with (still shudder at even slightest thought of that leek juice I had:eek: ....that stuff is lethal!!!). But I also came up with some absolute beauties and now I have learnt what works well together and I PERSONALLY love (remember everyones taste buds are different and change over time...I used to have a sweet tough and now after some time on green smoothies I can tolerate very liitle fruit in them). For instance, please see the following thread of mine for green smoothie inspiration which is a new idea I invented called 'layering' 3 years ago when just starting out and chucking things togther http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=28362. At the start, it is most important that you enjoy yourself and what you eat and aren't put off so I would suggest including plenty of fruit (bananas good ones for hiding greens), less greens and over time, as confidence builds, you might start wnating to up the greens and maybe include fat if it is okay with you (some oil (I find 2tbsp works for me) or 1 small avocado for a lovely creamy texture to smoothie). In addition to this, there are less strong tasting veg (e.g.cucumber, courgette/zuchinni, baby leaf spinach, romaine lettuce) which you might want to concentrate on at first and use in limited amount stronger tasting ones (e.g. radishes, broccoli, watercress, rocket).

All the best and have fun.

Matthew

[Sara_007]

To answer your question, I had done the Master Cleanser last year and I lost some temporary water weight while I "sort of" cleansed my system. My nutritionist who is a raw foodist tells me that a majority of the time Master Cleanser practicers lose weight (mostly water), but their metabolism is slowed down dramatically. When you ease off of the MC, you have to at it easy and steer clear of processed foods.

The raw diet will be your natural cleanse. Listen to your body, the intuitive mind, and you can always binge on yummy raw-approved flax crackers -- they are delicious! ;)

Hope I helped somehow.

Sara