DAY ONE (Friday)
We awoke this morning and approached the big box of lemons Sil bought from the food coop. I quickly figured out the formula for enough of one day’s mix of concentrate, saving the cayenne pepper to garnish my drink with, per Elson Haas’ instructions (the pepper gets stronger and stonger when left – best to add it at the time of consumption.)

Thankfully, the drink tastes pretty good. For anyone trying this, I heartily recommend spending the first day at home – as the herbal laxative we took this morning and last night… works quite well. My husband Silvio and I did this together, and thankfully we both work from home on Fridays.

We both did pretty well all day, working with good mental acuity, and I didn’t feel a pang of hunger until probably about 2:30 or 3pm. I did realize, however, how many of my thoughts involve food – all day I kept thinking “I’ll just go upstairs, go to the bathroom (thanks, Smooth Move) and get something to ea--- ohhh yeah...” Or, “wonder what we’ll do tonite… maybe we’ll get some dinn—oh yeah.” That type of thing happened just about every half hour.

Later in the evening, we both got headaches that just wouldn’t quit. For me, it wasn’t that bad – it felt like I’d been out in the sun all day, the type of headache where your eyebrows are sore from crinkling for hours. I felt like whenever I took a big swig of the Juice, it momentarily subsided. Though we felt ok, we weren’t really feeling social – I felt more inward and quiet. I read, watched a bit of tv, and hit the sac. Before going to bed, I thought to myself “I wonder if I’ll dream about eating…” well…

In my dreams I ate the most delicious, delectable pizza of my life. It wasn’t one of those gnarly, “ray’s” pizzas known best as a drunken late-night snack on NYC street corners. It was a gourmet pizza, with fresh sanguine red tomatoes, perfectly creamy cheese, organic (must have been!) garlic, vibrant herbs and an artisanal sourdough crust. Yum! Just as I was wrapping my mouth around another bite, I was struck with guilt – OH NO – no eating! I resolved to stay with my commitment, put the pizza down, and not tell Silvio I had cheated – effectively, I easily wiped that pizza clean from my conscience. What does that say about me?

DAY TWO (Saturday)
I woke up and felt great. No hunger whatsoever, fully refreshed…. Great morning for yoga! I bypassed the herbal laxative tea this morning, and headed to a completely full class. I hadn’t been to yoga in about 2 weeks, and my back body felt very tight. People say “I jogged every day while on the cleanser!” and while I believe this, I do think it’s wise to approach yourself gently - get some exercise, but don’t expect your usual performance: do it to support rather than challenge yourself. I was there to break a sweat, and while I held my own, I must say that between my absence for 2 weeks and this new ‘diet’ my body was adjusting to, it was a challenge. I completed the class, but left feeling a little dizzy. Surprisingly, no hunger.

I followed Elson Haas’ recommendation for a full body scrub, in a hot shower. This awaked my body, and made me feel really clean. I still felt a little weak – and my joints feel stiff (something Sil is complaining of also), but downed a couple glasses of the Juice, and found some strength. Today, I am to give a client a health-food store tour, but I think it wise to postpone. Surprisingly, it’s not the thought of being around food that I find challenging, but having the strength to wade through crowds the day before Easter Sunday, and educate my client, who deserves the best tour he can get. I postpone, and the weather is beautiful, so I fill my day with tasks that I know will make me feel more organized and on top of things – but that won’t run me into the ground. I planted my new tomato plants and cleaned up my garden.

Silvio, unfortunately, still suffers from the headache he has had since last night. He’s prone to migraines, which are usually set off by hunger, and he’s being a trooper and plowing through it all – despite having to work from home today. Later, thinking of trying a coffee enema, which purportedly alleviates headaches set off by the fast. I hope it works for him. I’ve never had an enema and I’m a little anxious about it. We considered going to the coop and announcing over the speaker “anyone know where enema bags are?” like you usually do when you can’t find something there. But of course we’ll remain civilized and quietly go to the pharmacy (I guess?). It will be a new experience. I’m sure you’re dying to hear about it.

Note of interest: Yesterday, I weighed myself: 130lbs. Out of curiosity, I stepped on the scale this morning – 125lbs. This is obviously water loss – but, wow. I haven’t been able to wear my wedding ring for weeks – now I can slip it on quite easily. Thinking this has to do with pH levels – lemon is one of the most alkalizing foods on the planet, the Standard American Diet (or, SAD – full of sugar, meat, and processed foods) is highly acid-forming and to buffer that, our bodies retain water. I don’t feel like I excreted 5lbs of water, but.. hey – I’m not complaining.

DAY THREE (Sunday)
Today is Easter. I awoke early, it’s beautiful outside. Yesterday I never could quite shake the feeling of weakness – and we never did get to the enema. Silvio’s headache went away, thankfully, and he’s feeling great – so he opted to try the salt water cleanse. He’s feeling a ton of energy and clarity and I’m feeling pretty good too.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Silvio’s only family here in the USA – his Aunt Rita & Uncle Lille. I was surprised at the level of interest they took in this “diet” we’re on – indeed, it did take many offers, and turn downs, of Easter Dinner before they got it that the only thing we were eating was this yellow stuff we brought with us in water bottles – but after all the questions, Aunt Rita exclaims: I should do that.” It’s fascinating to me how people so quickly change their position on this “crazy” cleanse we’re doing: first they give me funny looks that involve lots of eyebrow manoeuvres, and less than 5 minutes later they’re convinced they should try it. There’s an interesting “health” stigma in our society, but just beneath that is a strong desire to feel healthier. Ah, the irony.

Rita & Lille’s apartment was filled with the scent of traditional Maltese cooking – spaghetti and rabbit, and oh it smelled so, so good. Our senses of scent have become much more acute. Last night we made a trip to lowe’s to buy some plants, including herbs – which smelled so pungent, so good, we teased ourselves rubbing the plants and sniffing. I am no longer experiencing hunger, but my desire for food is great. I find myself thinking that I’ll never take food for granted again. I treasure the thought of those first few moments when I can bite into something delicious.

After the family visit, we were supposed to visit other friends, but found we were both at the end of our social ropes. It’s hard to hang out with people who are drinking and eating – not because I cannot have any food, but because it’s divisive. I deeply enjoy sharing food and drink with my friends. Yet, on this cleanse, I feel much more comfortable in my own space, being inward, doing things for myself. We agreed that we both felt this way, and went home to clean. Throughout the cleanse, we both felt that cleaning and organizing complimented our mental/emotional spaces perfectly. I’m trying to just relax and intuitively decide what to do, rather than knock items off a “to do” list. It’s a good change.

DAY FOUR (Monday)
I woke up today at 6am – leaving enough time at home to try this salt-water internal cleanse without getting caught in transit, starting my day. The recipe is 2tsp of sea salt (non-iodized) to 40oz of warm water. The idea is that because this degree of salination resembles bodily fluids, the body pushes is right through and out the colon, with whatever else is in there. Drinking 40oz of salted water is much, much harder than I thought – I barely resisted the urge to gag a few times before getting it all down. Then, it’s a waiting game. It turns out that 2 hours is a good amount of time to let it all pan out.

Today I worked in an office all day with regular, eating people all around me. I brought some concentrate with me, mixing and drinking throughout the day. One thing about not eating is that you then have this extra time that you would have taken for lunch, dinner, or breakfast, to do some other ritual for yourself. It was a beautiful day, so I went for a walk at lunch.

I don’t know how to describe the feeling I feel right now – I feel light, clean, simple, very sharply focused, energetic. I don’t feel hungry or tired at all – as long as I keep drinking the Juice. I believe that if you slack off, you will feel it- weakness may catch up to you, or you may get a little headache or hunger. Avoiding those, I really feel amazing.

Tonite my fasting habit forced my friend and I to find a tea shop to socialize in – and we discovered the greatest place right near my house. I don’t know if I ever would have found it if I weren’t on a quest to find a cool place to sit with a friend and drink chamomile tea.

But I still can’t wait to eat. I miss food.

DAY FIVE (Tuesday)
Today is the last day I’m doing the fast. I brought my mixture with me to work again, sipping often. I’m actually quite used to not eating – and though I look forward to eating again, at this point I feel like I could continue on the fast for quite a bit longer. I feel lighter, cleaner, and have had no digestive discomfort whatsoever – something that took a while to notice. I’m so used to living with mild acid reflux, indigestion, bloating, gas – that I consider it normal. To have no incidence or any of those whatsoever is really a gift.

Tonite I had a cooking class – and despite big bowls of beautiful fresh food before my face, I had no problem turning it down. I did, however, nibble on a piece of orange; I didn’t bring enough mixture with me and I was hungry. In less than 12 hours I break this fast, so I figured it was ok.

Overall, it’s been a pretty interesting experience. I have noticed some interesting things, however. I have broken out into eczema on my neck, a condition I’ve never had – and which is usually a sign of food allergy. This perplexed me since I’ve been eating nothing but organic lemon juice and maple syrup – neither of which are typical allergy offenders. But then I realized I’ve also been ingesting copious amounts of cayenne pepper – a nightshade, and nightshades are common offenders. I even tested for a slight allergy to tomato and pepper a few years ago. It’s amazing, when you quiet everything down, what hums in the background. I am grateful for the knowledge.

Another thing I noticed is that, despite absolutely amazing 65 degree April weather, I’ve been generally pretty cold. It’s widely cautioned that one should not do this in winter, and now I know why – your body needs warming, building foods to keep warm. I’ve now witnessed that first-hand.

By the way, we never did do the coffee enema – I did the salt water cleanse again today and we both felt we got what we wanted out of that. Silvio pushed through his headache – and did the salt water cleanse 3 times. He reports that he feels more amazing than he’s ever felt. He definitely seems to be better able to focus, and has a lot more patience in general.

Tomorrow I eat. Silvio has prepared a bunch of fresh orange juice and a delicious looking vegetable soup.

THE DAY I EAT
I awoke, and much to my surprise, all that anticipation of eating had dissipated – I could take it or leave it. But of course I took it, downing the orange juice and grabbing some fruit on my way out the door. Today something interesting happened; I ate a banana, an orange, a tangerine… still hungry. I ate the soup (which had only vegetables in it) and 20 minutes later I was starving. I had cravings for bread, but there were no wholesome choices around me. Finally, I decided that the hunger must go away, and ate a handful of peanuts in search of protein. This probably could have been the right decision, but by the time I ate them, I was starving and ate too many, which left me feeling bloated and full. I think next time it might have been good to bring a hard-boiled egg with me or something.

Tomorrow I will slowly begin to eat a more rounded diet, including proteins. I’ll probably have more vegetable soup, but add brown rice to it this time.

Learnings/ Recommendations:

Here’s what I will remember next time I do the fast.

1. you need about 8-10 lemons per day per person (that’s 50 lemons for a 5 day fast!) We bought a box of 100 for $25.
2. Plan time in each day to prepare your concentrate – and be sure you to have a glass container to store it in.
3. Try to start the fast when you have two days cleared of activities. The first two days are the hardest, and it’s a good idea (especially if you haven’t done it before) to have no challenges in your path.
4. Don’t plan too many social activities for the time you’re on the fast
5. Do plan to clean/organize or do something creative and fulfilling, for you and only you, while you’re fasting. Take this time for yourself. You deserve it.
6. Commune with nature. There’s something about being on this cleanse that reminds you you are a creature within an environment – you are connected. Cultivate this feeling.
7. Make note of any physical, emotional, or spiritual feelings you witness.