General Tips that you'll want to know about the Master Cleanse
- Do the cleanse with someone. Whether it's a friend, a co-worker, a sibling or a spouse, it is wonderful to have someone to talk to about what you are going through.
- Have more than enough supplies. It sucks to run short or run out. What if you wanted to do the cleanse past the 10 days, and you didn't have enough lemons? You'd be forced to quit. Always have extra. I personally bought a whole case of lemons and a gallon of maple syrup. The maple syrup was just enough with a little left over (maybe for 3 more days?), but I had half of the lemons left over. I bought the case because I was able to get the lemons at $.40 a piece, rather than $1 each. After the cleanse, I learned different ways to use lemons (so I didn't waste any) and I will always keep a steady supply of them because I love them so much!
- Get plenty of rest while you are on the master cleanse. The more you sleep, the less you are thinking about food.
- Drink herbal tea such as Mint, peppermint, chamomile, red raspberry leaf, and many others as long as it is strictly herbal tea without caffeine.
Tips on how to drink the salt water flush during the Master Cleanse
The salt water flush is terrible. It makes me feel like I am going to gag every time. However, it is VERY necessary to remove build up of toxins which make you feel sick, tired, hungry, bloated etc.- Take the salt water flush in the morning as soon as you wake up.
- Brush your teeth DIRECTLY before drinking the salt water flush. It helps to mask the taste for at least two cups if you drink it fast.
- Drink the salt water flush fast through a straw that is positioned close to the back of the throat.
- Don't worry if it doesn't work right away. Many (and most) people claim that it works within an hour, but the salt water flush takes at least 90 minutes to work for me, then for a couple hours after I end up having small bowel movements from the salt water flush (you'll KNOW the difference).
- Sit up straight and hold the cup (I used a measuring cup that holds 4 cups) so that you don't have to stoop or bend your neck to drink through the straw. This tip works WONDERS - don't suffer!
- Realize that after you do the salt water flush for 4 days, it starts to get easier. By the 10th day, it's not bad at all.
Master cleanse tips from my own experience
These are just tips that I learned along the way during the master cleanse. My husband did it with me for a short/3 day cleanse and I have his thoughts on here too.
- Make a meal list. I know this sounds silly since you aren't eating and everything sounds good, but if you make a meal list (and edit it throughout your cleanse) for meals for an entire month, you will find that your cravings will be less because you'll be making a plan on what you will be eating. It also helps with the grocery budget for after the cleanse (because lets face it, maple syrup is expensive so this cleanse isn't cheap!).
- This sounds silly too, but it worked for me! I made a dinner that smelled divine while I was fasting. I desperately wanted to take a bite, but I didn't. In the dinner, I had used thyme and garlic as herbs. I made a tea with thyme and garlic in it and sipped on it throughout the meal. The tea tasted terrible, but it completely took away the craving for the food. I highly recommend this master cleanse tip!
- Time your bedtime/laxative tea drinking with what time you want to get up. My body takes exactly 8 hours to work for the laxative tea, so if I wanted to get into the bathroom early, before anyone else, I would need to take the laxative tea at 8:30 to be in the bathroom at 4:30.
- YOU ARE GOING TO GET BORED. Who knew that eating took up so much time! You will be bored during meal times, or meal preparation times because you normally are dealing with food! On top of that, lemonade gets boring. Be prepared for this with a variety of herbal teas.
- I was nursing through the cleanse and it didn't hurt my baby at all. She is 14 months and nurses twice a day, so I wasn't worried about nutrition deficiencies (as she is eating all solid food) or breast milk reduction (she could technically be done). She never complained about the taste difference either.
- When making food for your family, make enough to cover two days so that you don't have to cook every day. Cook foods that you don't particularly care for.
- Try to stay away from the crock-pot or anything that will be cooking all day as the smell makes someone MUCH more hungry.
- Explain to your family (and children) exactly what you are doing and why you are doing it. They understand and help you stick to your goals.
- Write down the reason that you are fasting and attach it to the fridge. I didn't personally write my reason down on the fridge....I made this blog which I worked on all week! Either way, write down the reason so that when you feel tempted (and you will!) to quit, you can remind yourself, "THIS is why I am doing this. I am choosing this. I will not panic, I will finish this to fix this issue!" It helped me tremendously to remind myself for the first couple days. After those days of sheer miserableness, I had to remind myself every time that I felt bored and wanted food.
- If you are looking to cleanse a certain area of your body, look for herbs that cleanse that system. For example, the next time that I do this cleanse, I will be focusing on my liver, so I will be sure to use alfalfa and dandelion teas to cleanse my liver.
Final thoughts on the master cleanse and the future of fasting...
- Don't EVER say, "I'll never do this again". Remember that this is helping your body. Mark on the calendar when you will fast again. The more that you fast, the less that it will "hurt". Fasting is excellent for the body and you want to do yourself the favor of doing it!
- Since I absolutely love how I feel after the master cleanse fast, I want to continue to keep the benefits of fasting. To do this, I am continually fasting throughout the year. I might try a variety of fasts, including juice fasts of various recipes. I also like plain lemon water with stevia. An excellent fasting juice, is the juice of one lemon in a quart jar. Fill the jar with water and add stevia to taste.
Below is my fasting schedule. - Each week I fast for one day on Monday.
- Each MONTH, I fast for 3 days, starting on the first Monday of the month.
- Each YEAR, I fast for 10 days, two times. I start on the first Monday of the month in February and August.
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