Detoxification & The Master Cleanse: Day One

Do I really want to do this?

Earlier
When I talk about fasting, the first thing someone usually says to me is “why?” “what are you going to get out if it?” “why would you not want to eat?” This question is often followed closely on it’s heels by a brief sideward glance (I think people actually think I’m a little insane/strange/weird/extreme/ridiculous/or from another world far, far, far from planet earth…).

This is what I’m calling “The Year Of My Simplicity” and fasting is the ultimate in simplicity. Using nothing but food and the body to heal itself.  Simplicity of approach, of diet, of mind, of life, of attitude and of action seem to me to be the best way to create incredible health and vibrant wellbeing so I’m keeping things simple. I think we make things much more complicated than they need be. We seem to get some strange kick out of complicating life – intellectual stimulation perhaps? A good story? An excuse to fail? A party trick?

Anyway… in keeping with the simplicity kick I’m on,  the purpose of fasting is, plainly put, to get the crap out of the body. Stuff in. Crap out. Pretty simple. That’s what detoxification is. Getting the crap out. And that’s what fasting does – get’s the crap out.

The simplest form of life on earth is an amoeba. Amoebas are tiny little creatures that have one cell. Just one. Amoebas need 3 things to keep them alive. 1. they need to take in nutrients 2. they need to get the crap out (or more poetically – eliminate the waste products of  metabolism) and 3. they need to live in a clean and appropriate environment. The other thing an amoeba needs to do is to keep moving around to get more nutrients in and to get out of an environment that’s become polluted with it’s own crap or the crap from some other organism. If an amoeba doesn’t move out of a toxic or crap-filled environment, it dies. Simple. See picture – this is an amoeba eating (pretty cool huh?).

For us humans in this magnificent trillion celled home we call a body, we have the same needs. Each and every one of our trillions of cells needs nutrients in and each and every one of those cells needs to get the crap out generated by the cell’s day to day activities. Every one of our cells needs a clean and fresh environment free from toxins and pollutants that the cell itself generates (there’s more to the toxin in the body story but this is a good place to start). Because we have SO many cells each needing nutrients in and crap out, it’s not practical for them all to keep moving around to escape a unclean environment so we’ve been given a brilliant system called the circulatory system which does all the moving and freshening up and keeping environment squeaky clean for us. It gives each and every one of our cells oxygen and nutrients and takes away the crap from the immediate environment both inside and outside of each cell. Our circulatory system gives every single one of our cells a bath, shampoo, exfoliation and towel dry every moment of every day. Perfect!

So, I fast or cleanse my internal environment to help my body do what it’s already doing. Simple. I fast to help my body do what it’s already doing, better.

Obviously, you don’t want to get ALL the crap out. It’s impossible. Generating crap is an integral part of being alive. Put another way, if your cells aren’t generating crap, you’re probably dead (or frostbitten or something). We just want to get the crap out in a more efficient and effective manner, that’s all.

And hence “The Master Cleanse” or “The Lemonade Diet”: a delightful concoction of lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water. Traditionally designed as a 10 day fast, you can do it and feel a difference in 3 or 7 days. You can be on this for up to 40 days they tell me but I’m definitely going to stop at 10. I like this idea of following a fast or cleanse to the letter so I can get a good idea of the actions it has in the body and mind. The drink actually tastes quite good (ask me again on day 10 though), very refreshing!

Later
I think this is going to be messy. Every time I have a glass of this lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water stuff I don’t feel all that well. Bit sick actually. Interesting though – I can feel my body becoming more alive already – it’s like a layer of skin or insulation or protection or a layer of my aura has been peeled off. I can feel more with my fingertips. I have a headache. I feel uncertain. I’m not sure I want to do this… Oooohhhhhhh….it’s ALL coming back to me now… what’ve I gotten myself into?!?

Do you ever want more simplicity in your life? Have you ever wished you were an amoeba?
How have you simplified your life in the past?