2010: What day are you on and how are you doing?

[mtmouse]

Hello, moralez!

It's better to use fresh, because some enzymes do get lost in the freezing process. The very best is to squeeze them just before you make your lemonade. So if you can get more and use them, that's what you should do. However, in a pinch you can use the home-picked-and-frozen. So start there if you have to, but get fresh as soon as you can.

Happy cleansing!

[moralezf@hotmail.com]

ok, great. thanks for the info!!!!

[Bubbles_erin]

Being off the cleanse feels weird. I miss it already and will do it again for sure a few times each year. I like the stability of it. It was just so easy to have 1 thing to drink and that was it. Having choices now changes everything. I can see where people say that it is hard to be off.
I just have to remember what a craving is and what hunger is.
Good night all.

I could imagine it does feel weird. Remember, you are now in control of your body and what you will eat. Keep in mind that food will always be there and you could always eat this or that another time, but to pace out the unhealthy stuff. I am sure I will do the same as you, go to Central Market (its like Whole Foods) and buy every type of fruit and veggie, even the ones I don't know anything about. The thing is my husband would eat them if they aren't to my liking, but by the time I am off the cleanse, he will be on it. Right now, I am working on buying things to start stocking the freezer, and to can and preserve, so that when I am off, we have homemade food stocked up that I don't need to grab for foods filled with artificial flavors, colors, high fructose corn syrup, or preservatives (or anyother gunky ingredients). Some people may think its hard to be around food or to cook while doing the MC, but really its not anymore. It doesn't bother me at all anymore, it even surprises me that it doesn't. I wouldnt have believed it if I hadnt felt it. Its really very cool. Go back to remember that feeling when you have a hard time, remember you went over 30 days without any food!!

EDIT: OH YEAH!! today is day 14 and I weighed myself (tsk tsk). I am down to 178 lbs (started losing at 195 lbs). SO that is 17 lbs down!!!

[drexel]

I could imagine it does feel weird. Remember, you are now in control of your body and what you will eat. Keep in mind that food will always be there and you could always eat this or that another time, but to pace out the unhealthy stuff. I am sure I will do the same as you, go to Central Market (its like Whole Foods) and buy every type of fruit and veggie, even the ones I don't know anything about. The thing is my husband would eat them if they aren't to my liking, but by the time I am off the cleanse, he will be on it. Right now, I am working on buying things to start stocking the freezer, and to can and preserve, so that when I am off, we have homemade food stocked up that I don't need to grab for foods filled with artificial flavors, colors, high fructose corn syrup, or preservatives (or anyother gunky ingredients). Some people may think its hard to be around food or to cook while doing the MC, but really its not anymore. It doesn't bother me at all anymore, it even surprises me that it doesn't. I wouldnt have believed it if I hadnt felt it. Its really very cool. Go back to remember that feeling when you have a hard time, remember you went over 30 days without any food!!

EDIT: OH YEAH!! today is day 14 and I weighed myself (tsk tsk). I am down to 178 lbs (started losing at 195 lbs). SO that is 17 lbs down!!!

WOW The weight loss is amazing! You must be so excited! There is no where else you could lose that kind of weight in 14 days.. and feel so good! How long are you staying on? If I can give you some advice... stay on as long as you possibly can. It isn't what you may think it is coming off. There is kind of a let down. I mean, I am happy and all but it's just hard to explain. If you can do it longer, than do it! Knock some more weight off and you will feel even better.
I just had some of my soup and forgot what being full felt like. It's so strange and not so good. I am going to eat small amounts every 3 hours to keep my metabolism up and do that until the soup is gone and then introduce salads. I have never tasted anything like this soup in my life, incredible. It is also very true about cravings. I am not craving the same things I thought I would be when I got off. I kept a list and it's not so important anymore.
I need to make this way of eating my new habit. Not touching meat for a long while. The thought of it does not appeal to me in the least.
Hope you have a good day! Know how lucky you are to have found the cleanse! I feel very blessed that I have changed food in my life!

[Bubbles_erin]

WOW The weight loss is amazing! You must be so excited! There is no where else you could lose that kind of weight in 14 days.. and feel so good! How long are you staying on? If I can give you some advice... stay on as long as you possibly can. It isn't what you may think it is coming off. There is kind of a let down. I mean, I am happy and all but it's just hard to explain. If you can do it longer, than do it! Knock some more weight off and you will feel even better.
I just had some of my soup and forgot what being full felt like. It's so strange and not so good. I am going to eat small amounts every 3 hours to keep my metabolism up and do that until the soup is gone and then introduce salads. I have never tasted anything like this soup in my life, incredible. It is also very true about cravings. I am not craving the same things I thought I would be when I got off. I kept a list and it's not so important anymore.
I need to make this way of eating my new habit. Not touching meat for a long while. The thought of it does not appeal to me in the least.
Hope you have a good day! Know how lucky you are to have found the cleanse! I feel very blessed that I have changed food in my life!

Well I didn't start losing weight with the MC, I did a week and a half on fruit smoothies and green tea, lost 6 of it that way. But regardless, I am happy with the weight loss and so is my husband (but not so much with the chest loss...lol). I plan on staying for at least 20 days, but at that point will re-evaluate and push forward another 5 or 10 days at a time til I make 40 (if that is the ultimate goal), I am just taking it a day at a time. I don't want to hold myself to some magic number and then be dissappointed if I don't make it. All I can tell is that I am over the tough first week and its smooth sailing now. My hope is to get down to 150 lbs with this and then further when I am off the MC. And you are certainly right about cravings, you go through so many stages of different cravings, first was for junk, now its a mix of healthy and junk, and by the end I could see where it would be pure healthy fare. It is truely amazing how anywhere from 10-40 days changes your view on food so much, the more so the further you go of course.

[rABiD_kittEn]

Drexel & Bubbles, you are great inspirations!! Thank you for all of the info.

I am glad to say that I am on my 2nd day back to the diet (which makes a total of 7 days, with the one day break in between to get my eyes & headache straight). I still feel good, so I am very relieved. I was afraid that I would wake up with sensitive eyes again & a raging headache! I really didn't want to have to give up this MC. I have a dull headache, but I can live with that.

I planned on going 10 days. We will see how I feel once I get there, if I want to keep going. I have a big reunion in July in Vegas. I am heading it, & will be at the mic, etc, so I want to look & feel good!!

My plan was to do this for 10 days, then do my Cabbage Soup Diet, which is successful for me every time that I do it. And, I have so far kept off every pound that I have lost. You are probably familiar. If not, it is mostly vegetables & fruit. There are 2 days with beef, one day with skim milk, & one with brown rice. I was a vegetarian for over 10 years, & want to get back to that, but I really want to lose this weight that I put on first. I gained nearly 100 pounds fairly quickly after some turmoil in my life.

Any thoughts on my plan?

[Bubbles_erin]

Drexel & Bubbles, you are great inspirations!! Thank you for all of the info.

I am glad to say that I am on my 2nd day back to the diet (which makes a total of 7 days, with the one day break in between to get my eyes & headache straight). I still feel good, so I am very relieved. I was afraid that I would wake up with sensitive eyes again & a raging headache! I really didn't want to have to give up this MC. I have a dull headache, but I can live with that.

I planned on going 10 days. We will see how I feel once I get there, if I want to keep going. I have a big reunion in July in Vegas. I am heading it, & will be at the mic, etc, so I want to look & feel good!!

My plan was to do this for 10 days, then do my Cabbage Soup Diet, which is successful for me every time that I do it. And, I have so far kept off every pound that I have lost. You are probably familiar. If not, it is mostly vegetables & fruit. There are 2 days with beef, one day with skim milk, & one with brown rice. I was a vegetarian for over 10 years, & want to get back to that, but I really want to lose this weight that I put on first. I gained nearly 100 pounds fairly quickly after some turmoil in my life.

Any thoughts on my plan?

My personal belief is that this is a cleanse, I am allowing myself time to clean out and heal my body. Afterwards, I plan on making everything at home. I have been using this site to learn to make things I never thought of making (ie cheese, butter, grind my own flour etc) heavenlyhomemakers.com. I hope to fulfill my 40 days, and afterwards learn to eat better. On the occasions I do eat unhealthy, I plan to use the salt water flush to help eliminate the unhealthy foods, and maybe do it weekly anyways. I plan on doing the MC once every 3-4 months for the 10-14 days to maintain health. At this time, I am focusing on stocking up on frozen meals and breads made from home and canning fruits, veggies, sauces, salsas (even ketchup, salad dressings) etc. I figure this give me time to make things for the kids and for my husband and I and to have a well stocked supply of what we need without going out for junk food. I have seen recipes for making anything from chicken nuggets to pizza pockets. Those are common bought foods for our kids and now I won't have to. Making the whole family healthier because of this.

When I did my fruit smoothie "diet" I did eat out maybe once a week, but the cravings to do so were strong and I easily could have fallen in the trap of doing so more often. Now I feel like I won't have to because I have delicious stuff that I have made and is wonderfully yummy. Even while doing the smoothie diet, when I would eat, sometimes I would eat a cheese stick with my daughter, it would give me hiccups. Meaning to me, after this cleanse, I do need to take it slow getting back to real foods.

My thoughts, continue the cleanse until you have been fully cleaned, and the first time I don't believe 10 days is enough. I think you should allow yourself this time. If you are wanting to get off for your trip to vegas, do so and then get back on afterwards. I think for some situations a series of cleanses is best. good luck with what you decide.

[Quintin]

Day 5, time to go back to whole foods and restock all of my lemons and limes, this is my third cleanse and by far the easiest up until this point, I have had only very minor food cravings and they always fade quickly. A good sign is that my most frequent craving is for lettuce, the part at the base that is very juicy and crunchy. That one is a little tougher not to think about, but better than a cheeseburger!

My roommates have commented that it doesn't seem like I am doing a cleanse this time, and they keep offering me solid food. I have to keep telling them that I am not eating for X more days. I take it as a sign that I am not as toxic as the last couple of cleanses, and am able to go out and have fun and still wake up early and take care of my business.

I currently weigh in @ about 180 and that is @ the up end of healthy weight for my height and frame size, I am doing this for cleansing purposes so I dont want to lose too much and fall out of the healthy range. I have decided I am going to do this until I hit the very bottom of the healthy weight range so I am not sure how many more days that will be.

About a year ago I was up to 230+ and I have taken it all of and stayed in shape throughout the entire process. Anytime I begin to have cravings or to eat when it is not necessary, I flush out my body with a cleanse and start over. I really do love this lifestyle and the availability of a "reset button" seems to good to be true. I wish I could more easily share it with all of my friends, however they are so engrained in the belief of the SAD that they look at me like a heretic. Yet constantly gush over how healthy I look..... Oh well different strokes for different folks...

Glad to hear everything is going so well Drexel, it sounds like you are definitely on the road to a more healthy, fulfilling lifestyle.

And good for for you raBid_kittEn for having the faith and the willpow to come back onto the cleanse, you may encounter some of the same problems later but that is most likely your body's way of detoxing.

Off to the store, then time for a massage then the gym, what a great day! (it is my weekend)

[JelizaRose]

It's day one for me.... I'm really looking forward to this cleanse. Definitely need it.

[rABiD_kittEn]

My personal belief is that this is a cleanse, I am allowing myself time to clean out and heal my body. Afterwards, I plan on making everything at home. I have been using this site to learn to make things I never thought of making (ie cheese, butter, grind my own flour etc) heavenlyhomemakers.com. I hope to fulfill my 40 days, and afterwards learn to eat better. On the occasions I do eat unhealthy, I plan to use the salt water flush to help eliminate the unhealthy foods, and maybe do it weekly anyways. I plan on doing the MC once every 3-4 months for the 10-14 days to maintain health. At this time, I am focusing on stocking up on frozen meals and breads made from home and canning fruits, veggies, sauces, salsas (even ketchup, salad dressings) etc. I figure this give me time to make things for the kids and for my husband and I and to have a well stocked supply of what we need without going out for junk food. I have seen recipes for making anything from chicken nuggets to pizza pockets. Those are common bought foods for our kids and now I won't have to. Making the whole family healthier because of this.

When I did my fruit smoothie "diet" I did eat out maybe once a week, but the cravings to do so were strong and I easily could have fallen in the trap of doing so more often. Now I feel like I won't have to because I have delicious stuff that I have made and is wonderfully yummy. Even while doing the smoothie diet, when I would eat, sometimes I would eat a cheese stick with my daughter, it would give me hiccups. Meaning to me, after this cleanse, I do need to take it slow getting back to real foods.

My thoughts, continue the cleanse until you have been fully cleaned, and the first time I don't believe 10 days is enough. I think you should allow yourself this time. If you are wanting to get off for your trip to vegas, do so and then get back on afterwards. I think for some situations a series of cleanses is best. good luck with what you decide.

Thanks for the input Bubbles! That is so great that you are going to be making so much of your food. I unfortunately do not have the time to do that much, as I am back in school, & we are caring for my very ill father at home 24 hours/day. But, I will be eating healthier. I had already started for a while before I began the cleanse, & keeping weight off & feeling better is a definite motivator. I definitely want to go back to my vegetarianism. I do plan on keeping with the cleanses & SWF as well. I don't mind the SWF at all. In fact, I like feeling 'cleaned out'.

My reunion isn't for about another 1 1/2 months, so I've got time to do some of what I need to do. I will definitely consider lengthening this cleanse. I will see how I am feeling when I get to Day 10! How does everyone feel when they are "fully cleaned"? That is to ask, besides making an amount of days that you want to stick with, what lets you know you are cleansed & ready to move on? How do you feel? Thanks!