A CLEANSE TO START 2009

WELL I can`t get over the fact that I`ve been asked to put a cleanse on my blog.
People how could u do that to yourselves? The amount of people who can`t talk, sinus/throat issues, sick in bed moaning with stomach problems, I can`t tell u.
What is this telling us though? In days gone by this wouldn`t have happened. Our food is being engineered and it's killing us. The same fruit cake, same chicken, turkey sauce, same etc. etc. etc. that we used to eat with abandon when we were younger we can no longer have and it's not that our body is reacting to it over time, children are just as sick. Something is wrong.....

This cleanse is adapted from Frederic Patenaude`s Fall Cleanse. It's excellent, I did both his Spring and this Fall one with my little piece of colon so I`m here to tell u it works.

"The foods that are NOT allowed on this cleanse are:

1. Nuts, seeds, avocados, and any food containing fat (including oils)
2. Powders, supplements and any food coming from a factory
3. Any type of cooked food (including steamed vegetables)
4. Bread, cereals, and any form of grain product (including sprouted grains)
5. Any type of animal products (including raw milk products)
6. Salt and condiments of any kind (including seaweed)
7. Dehydrated foods

Basically, the food you eat must be:

1. Either a fruit or a vegetable
2. It must be raw
3. It must be fresh
4. It must be fat-free "

Try and stock up on a good supply of fruit and vegetables from the list below in preparation for your cleanse:

Mango
Apple
Orange
Pineapple
Banana
Papaya
Melon
Cherries
Lemons or Limes
Coconuts (for water)- optional
Romaine Lettuce
Carrot
Celery
Kale
Parsley
Cucumber
Tomato
Spinach
Cho cho

If u make today the first day of the cleanse, it should be a fasting day starting at 6 pm. You should make your meal before 6 pm a very light meal of fruits and possibly salad. Then tomorrow you should skip breakfast and lunch, and then you will have a dinner of fruit at 6 pm.

So it will be a 24-hour fast, by 2 pm the following day u will beg the Holy Ghost to guide u through u will be so hungry, but stick to it it's worth it (by the way, it's normal to feel a little bit "spacey" or irritable on the first day, these feelings will pass). I find that the trick to going through a fasting day is to keep busy. So don`t bother say u can`t go to work because u fasting....RUBBISH!

For the first day it's not necessary that you obsess about drinking water. But starting from tomorrow I will introduce the idea of drinking a certain quantity of water every day. But for now you don't need to worry about this.

At this point, a lot of people will be trying to make this cleanse more complicated than it's supposed to be. Remember... it's a cleanse! This is not your normal diet.

If you want to experience benefits, you have to make your cleansing diet "cleaner" than your normal diet. You want this cleanse to be very "cleansing", so a little bit like a fast, but still provide enough nutrients and natural energy (from fruit sugar) to keep you going.

The best way to do this is to figure out what your ideal weight would be. Let's say, for example, that your ideal weight is 120 pounds.That's where you'd liketo be for the best health.

Take that number, and multiply it by 10. That will give you 1200. This is the number of calories you want to be able to eat every day during this cleanse. You don't want to go under that, because otherwise you would be too hungry. But you don't want to go significantly over it. For example, you could shoot for eating 1200 to 1500 calories per day.

If you have three or four small meals a day, then that means you would have four meals of 300 calories for each meal (like three bananas), or three meals consisting of 400 calories for each meal(like 4 bananas). You don't have to eat only one type of food but I would recommend eating one food at a time, or making a smoothie. There are many possibilities but basically I recommend a simple fruit meal.

Now you don't need to calculate all this. But it will help to give you an overview. Here's an example of this detox program for one day:

Breakfast: 2 oranges (150 calories)
Lunch: Smoothie made with 4 bananas and romaine lettuce (450
calories)
Snack: 3 bananas (300 calories)
Dinner: 2 mangoes (300 calories) followed by fat-free salad
of spinach and tomatoes (100 calories)

So your total is 1300 calories.

If you're new to raw food it might seem like a lot of food but it's not really. These are basically appetizers to some raw-foodists.

But if your goal is to change your body and really "detox" this week, then this will be an effective program.

So remember - start your fast today at 6 pm , have just fruit and possibly some lettuce or cucumbers or a smoothie (remember use only allowed foods for your smoothie) or something of that nature before 6 pm. Your next meal will be at 6pm the next day.

HUSH THIS IS THE HARD PART FOR SOME OF U ...NO COFFEE

"If you drink coffee and you give it up during the cleanse, you will experience more detox symptoms than people who don’t drink coffee and do the cleanse. In fact, most of your detox symptoms will come from caffeine withdrawal.

If you currently drink more than 2 cups of coffee per day, I will not recommend that you drastically cut on your caffeine intake during the cleanse.

If you cannot get the product “Teeccino”, you can use decaf coffee to make the transition.

So if you drink more than 2 cups of coffee per day you should start “getting off the bean” right now using a 14 to 21 day transition.

If you drink more than 3-4 cups a day, then your goal will be to cut by at least 50% on your caffeine intake by the end of this cleanse.

And if you’re someone who drinks only 1 cup a day, you can go cold turkey starting today, or go on a quick 5 day transition. But please be aware that this is not entirely pleasant!"

As Frederic himself says when he gave up caffeine, it took him about one month to be back to his normal self! ..... he goes on further to say " don’t think that the cleanse is not working for you. If you’re dealing with caffeine addiction, the cleanse will really help you handle that. But you have to be aware of the related issues ."

MY TAKE ON THE MATTER IS - U CAN NO BODDER HURT UP U HEAD THE CLEANSE WORKS EVEN IF U DRINK COFFEE. BLACK THOUGH,NO MILK.

In my next blog I will give you meal suggestions for the second day of your cleanse following your fast.