cleansed

Well. I have just completed the master cleanse, which theoretically cleans out my insides by not allowing me to ingest any new toxins, thus letting my body cleanse itself of toxins that are already in me. Toxins like what? Well, like food, apparently. That's right, no food for 10 days. Instead, you subsist entirely on lemonade made from fresh organic lemons, grade B maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.

Why would anyone do anything like this? Well, several months ago, I would have said, "Because they are insane." Which I probably did say when our friend Daisy decided to try it. Brian didn't listen to me, and decided he was going to try it, too (I probably said it a few more times then). Along with cleaning your colon and liver, decreasing your weight, improving focus and concentration, increasing spiritual awareness, and enabling you to fly, one of the things that we read about the master cleanse is that long standing injuries may heal while you're on the cleanse. Clearly I thought that was a lot of bunk, until Brian's 6 year old mountain biking injury magically cleared up on the 6th day of the cleanse (it's still gone). He actually had to readjust how he walked, now that there was no pain. After that, I decided maybe I would try it too, after I was done breastfeeding.

So, since I stopped pumping about a month ago, I decided I might as well give it a go. My mother decided she was going to do it too, so we could give each other moral support. Results? Well, I didn't have any long standing injuries to heal. I did have some joints that have been giving me pain since some point in my pregnancy, and they are definitely better, although not 100% better. It did not seem to affect my back at all, although my back hardly hurt at all anymore, even before the cleanse. My skin started feeling really nice on the fourth day, but as soon as I went off the cleanse, I broke out. And I lost 10 pounds (so there I am in that picture, wearing a shirt I haven't been able to wear in years. Yay!).

I had pretty much convinced myself that Brian's magic cure was a fluke, as it occurred further and further in the past. My mother, however, had a shoulder injury, which has given her limited range of motion in her arm for the past 7 years. After the cleanse, in addition to losing 10 pounds, she has recovered full range of motion in that arm. Is that amazing or what?

One curious thing. One of the things you're supposed to do for this cleanse is take a laxative tea each night before you go to bed. It hasn't been doing that much to me, but Charli has been pooping like 5 times a day since I started...