I am beginning the Master Cleanse for the next 10 days, beginning tonight, January 1st, 2014, with the laxative tea. Here, I will document my journey, side-effects, etc. I am trying to be very detailed, so I apologize in advance as it may be TMI.
Basically, it is a diet of freshly-squeezed lemons, pure maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water for 10 days. In addition is the laxative tea and the salt-water flush (naturally decaffeinated tea is allowed also). Take a look at their website for a very specific guide.
I’ve done this once before (lost 7 lbs. and kept it off), and I need something to kick-start my health goals, break my sugar-addition, and basically regain self-control and discipline.
I wasn’t hungry the last time; I did have some caffeine and sugar-withdrawal symptoms (I’ve been off caffeine for months, now – so I think it should go easier this time around), but no other major side-effects. It definitely broke me from the psychological/emotional need to eat.
There’s an option to do a 3-day ease-in, but I am skipping that. Instead, I am trying to eat a little light before jumping in tomorrow.
Here are my starting specs:
Weight: 146.2 lbs.
BMI: 23.8
Waist: 30.5″
Hips: 39″
Right thigh: 24″
Left thigh: 23.5″
Thursday, January 2nd, Day 1: Drank the tea last night, a solid BM in the morning. Had 7 glasses of the drink. Felt a little hungry; the taste wasn’t so great (I think b/c I didn’t have fresh syrup). I definitely missed food today. I had a gurgley stomach most of the day and several loose BM. Didn’t drink the tea before bed since my stomach was already rumbly. No major side effects – felt a little achy, but not sure if that is related to the cleanse.
Friday, January 3rd, Day 2: Started off today with the Salt Water Flush (SWF). I used 2 tsp. rather than 1 tbs. It took about an 45 minutes for my system to flush, definitely very watery. Next time I will try the full 1 tbs. I drank 6 glasses of the lemonade plus water. I probably should drink 1 or 2 more glasses, but I get lazy. I didn’t do the laxative tea either. I got busy on my computer and it got late; I knew I was going to zumba in the morning and I didn’t want to risk having a gurgly stomach. No side effects, except having a very bad taste in my mouth (literally)
Saturday, January 4th, Day 3: I weighed myself today, and I am down 1.1 lb. I skipped the SWF today because I was going to zumba this morning; it’s Saturday, and I didn’t want to get up extra early before the class. I felt fine for my work-out – not sluggish at all from not eating. I had 6 glasses of the lemonade today; the taste is not bad, just very monotonous. My husband is still eating, so everything smells good. Again, no side effects except the bad taste in my mouth. There was no BM today, but I am not surprised; it has to be somewhat forced by the tea or SWF since there is no food being eaten. I felt a little cranky today, but I think it is just because I want eat. I made mac-and-cheese for my husband, and I did taste a tiny spoonful to see if it was ready. I drank the tea tonight; it is the chocolate variety, but trust me, it was no treat, lol.
Sunday, January 5th, Day 4 – I woke up at about 6 am with some pretty severe cramps – laxative tea was working. I had a pretty loose BM a little later. Around 8am, I did the SWF – except I forgot that I should have used warm water instead of cold. Bad move. Almost instantly, I felt nauseated. I had to do about 15 minutes of snow-shoveling, and when I came in, I almost threw up. Not sure if it was from the SWF or the exercising, but regardless, I ate 1 piece of bread to calm stomach.
The SWF did its job over the course of about an hour and a half. There was very little that was solid – most of it looked like dark yellow bile.
Today, I had 6 and a half glasses of the lemonade, several glasses of regular water, an herbal tea (a cheat that is allowed) and the laxative tea. I also had gum today, which I found out was a no-no. Oops! Again, no side effects. I don’t feel tired or full of headaches. I’m just getting bored with the lemonade. I am trying to keep in mind the end results and trusting that I will be in a good place to eat healthy and with more discipline.
Monday, January 6th, Day 5 – Last night, I woke up around 10pm with pretty severe cramps. I had drunk the tea at around 7pm, wanting to make sure it was through my system before I went to work in the morning. The tea worked faster than it ever had and by 10pm, I had a BM. It was pretty painful and crampy. This time, it was more blackish and more solid than it had been with the SWF. It had to use the bathroom several times within that hour.
So, during the day at work, it was easier to continue with the cleanse, as I was busy the whole day. I had about 5 glasses at work, and then I had another 1-2 that evening. I had no problem at work with energy, headaches, etc. I felt fine – even good. The only issue was the foul taste in my mouth.
***After giving it some thought, because of where I was at in my menstrual cycle and TTC, I decided to stop the cleanse after 5 days. I did not do the laxative tea that night nor the SWF on Tuesday morning.
I drank a little orange juice on Monday evening. On Tuesday, I made a smoothie with some fruit and yogurt, I had an orange and some soup for lunch. Then, for dinner, my husband made tortellini , of which I had a medium bowl.
In total, from the 5 day, I lost 2.6 lbs. I definitely feel like it eradicated my sugar cravings. I feel much cleaner and lighter. Since, I have been ‘clean eating’, and my goal is to continue that. If I get to an appropriate point in my cycle, I would like to try to Dr. Oz smoothie detox.
All in all, while extreme, I do feel the Master Cleanse is effective. Some definitely would debate that, and some have had other experiences that were not so positive, but for me, I feel it really pulled out those buried toxins inside me.
Tips I’m Learning Along the Way:
SWF: Hold your nose and chug it. You can still taste it, but it goes down fast. I can do it in about 3 chugs of 10 gulps each. It usually took a few more gulps to get the rest of it down.
Lemons: About 1/2 of a big lemon will give you 3 tbs. of lemon juice – enough for 12 oz. of water. A large lemon gives about 4 tbs or just a little more. Roughly, I plan on using 4 big lemons a day.
Rose says
I’m just watching a video about the SWF after reading this. Wow! This is a serious cleanse. I love the idea of doing this (I love the idea of getting rid of all the rubbish in my body!!), but I don’t think I am brave enough…!
Kate says
It’s pretty intense! But it does feel good knowing that you are cleaning yourself out! I definitely feel the break from sugar and the cravings, so that is good! 🙂
Hi Kate. After searching the internet today for ‘healthy soup recipes’, I somehow managed to stumble across this Master Cleanse and now your blog – great reading! I’m really keen to start this Friday 10 January for the ease-in or possibly Monday 13 and just get straight into it but am getting slightly confused with a couple of things, I wondered if you could help? Have you read anywhere on how many probiotics to take on the ease-out? How long should I give in the mornings to do the SWF? I thought if I did it at 7am, I would be all flushed out by 8am.. I start work at 9am and don’t want to find myself in a pickle!! Also at night when taking the laxatives, would I take 4 at say 8pm and hopefully be all flushed out by 10pm?! Any info would be great. I really want to give it a good go! Thanks, Danielle.
Hi Danielle, I am glad you found me! I can give you some of the info for what worked for me, but everyone is different!
I haven’t read anything about the probiotics…I wasn’t great with the ease-out on the first time – and not too great this time!
As for the SWF, I would count on leaving 2 hours, just to be sure. I definitely needed more than 1 hour. Maybe test it on one day and then adjust your timing. For me, it took more than 1 hour – probably closer to an hour and a half.
I didn’t take laxatives – just the tea. It worked different for me each time. I would usually take it about 8 or 9 and go to the bathroom by the morning. However, I took it a little earlier 1x to make sure I was clear, and I actually cleared out at night instead.
That’s the hardest part, I think…timing your BM! When nature calls, lol… a little inconvenient! I would plan to give yourself more time than less.
I hope this helped! Good luck! I’d love to hear how things go for you!!! I had to stop after 5 days because of some things with my cycle, but I still feel really glad I did it!
My husband is doing this right now so it was fun reading your account. I was a little worries about it really being healthy but after reading more about it I am ok with it. I don’t know anyone who has lasted 10 days. My husband is on day 3 and says he will go 10 trying to stay positive but I think he will know when it’s been long enough. I am doing a Dr supervised cleanse that allows food. Hope I get positive affects! #sitsgirls
Yeah, I had my concerns about it being the best for health; it really ‘pauses’ your system in order to clean things out – which is a little scary! I went 9 days the first time I did it – and there ‘s another girl who commented on this post (I think) who went the whole 10 days and documented it on her blog, in case you want to check it out!
I did the Dr. Oz cleanse after this one…much more doable. I had a lot of success the first time I did the Master Cleanse – not as much the 2nd time…maybe b/c it wasn’t the full 10 days?
Hope your husband makes it through OK! And hope yours goes well, too! Would love to hear! 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting!