The Journey Begins: Day 1

Today is the first the day of my cleanse. My fiance and I had a rough morning. I didn't sleep very well last night; I believe this is mainly due to my excitement and anxiousness about the next ten days! I did manage to peel myself out of bed this morning though (the time change has certainly made this an even more difficult task than normal).

First thing, we began making our daily allotment of the lemonade mixture. All tallied, we used 14 bottles of water, 7 lemons, 24 ounces of organic Grade B maple syrup, and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. My fiance, in all his morning wisdom, suggested we pour the mixture back into the bottles in order to make transport and tracking more easier; he's a genius that way. He handled the redistribution of liquids while I made our morning detox tea. His job went fairly easy. I, however, set my tea bag on fire accidentally, when I let it lull to closely to the open flame of our gas burner. No one was injured though, and the tea bag was salvageable.

Once we were prepared, we sat down with our twin cups of organic detox tea and began the first sip. I believe Eric said it best when he described it as cutting open a branch and sucking on it for a while; there is a definite woodsy taste to the tea, but it is not terrible in taste. I have, at 11am, only drank one 9 oz bottle of the lemonade mixture though. It, too, is not terrible in taste. The lemon juice gives the water a kick while the maple syrup sweetens the deal just slightly. Much like the tea though, it is rather neutral on the scale of "Yummy ------to-------God Awful." It's neither good nor bad, which makes drinking it an odd sensation. I can't lie though, I held my nose more than once to chug it down faster. I hope that my taste buds become more acclamated to the taste of it as the days go on.

Well, that's the low down for right now. Eric plans to visit me at lunch where we'll walk our dog for the hour of my break and think about not eating. More blogging this evening! Stay tuned!

A New Start!

This is my fourth or fifth attempt at blogging. I'm not the best at diligence when it comes to this type of communication. However, tomorrow I am beginning, what I hope will be, a new chapter in my life. Tomorrow is the first day of my detox cleanse. After much deliberation, and in consideration of what my wallet will allow, I've decided to go with the "Master Cleanse." Basically, for 10 days, I will exist on a mixture of fresh lemon juice, organic maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water. I am also allowed a cup of herbal tea in the morning and evening. The tea is, ahem, to be a laxative which will, ideally, move the toxins out of my body. My brave fiance has agreed to also take this journey with me. Our dog has, understandably, decided that it is not for her; we won't pressure her further.

My motivation in this is not to lose weight. While my ultimate goal is to reduce my weight, I do not consider this detoxification as a "diet." On the contrary, for me it is a chance to reset my body, to put the meters back at full and try again to eat and live a more healthy life. I have a new eating regimen and workout routine planned after my completion of the cleanse, but I do not consider the cleanse itself to be a diet. This, I feel, is the correct way to approach this journey.

I'm sure that I will expand further on my motivations as the days and weeks progress, but for tonight, let's say that this process is cathartic in nature for me. I plan to document not only my journey through detoxification, but also my longer adventure post-detox into the everyday world of trying to live a healthy life in a rather unhealthy age.