Three Day Cleansing Fast

Day One's Batch
(enough for three people!)

Several years ago, I was very diligent about routinely doing a fast to cleanse my body. I had heard of a "recipe" from my cousin. Basically you drink a specific lemon water (water, lemons, maple syrup) for three days, without food. It sounded kind of shady, if you asked me at the time, but it was a plan of some sort and she swore it was totally healthy. I ended up really liking the fast and would do it about twice a year, whenever I felt yucky, and it seemed my body wasn't working right. And each time after my fast, I would feel much better, and would not crave junky foods, but rather, had the urge to eat healthy foods.

So, a little while ago, I stumbled upon this blog on holisticworld.com, that gave a recipe for a lemon cleanse diet. I checked out the ingredients, and sure enough, it was the same cleanse I had done all those years ago! Although there was one small difference: the original recipe called for cayenne pepper. Wow! I was amazed to learn that this was an actual legitimate program, developed in the 1940's by an alternative medicine practitioner named Stanley Burroughs. Of course, I saw this as a sign that it was about time I start another cleanse, and so I began to plan for my next fast.

Further research revealed that this cleaning was actually developed, as my cousin had promised, specifically to remove toxins from the body, and even eliminate unhealthy cravings. Burroughs published this diet in the book, "The Master Cleanser". In addition to drinking lemon water and plain water (no food!) for 3-10 days, the book outlines a dietary "ramping up" (or "ramping down", as the case may be) for three days prior to the cleanse, and a salt water flush every morning and evening. I had always just done the fast with lemon water and plain water for three days, and that was what I plan to do this time. But The Master Cleanse website gives all the details along with some really helpful information.

Here is the single serve (10 oz) recipe. The fast requires you to drink 60 oz per day (in addition to 100+oz of plain water), so I usually make 6x this recipe so I have the entire days' batch on hand:

2 tablespoons organic lemon juice (fresh squeezed, approx 1/2 lemon)
2 tablespoons organic maple syrup, grade B
cayenne pepper powder (as much as you can tolerate*)
10 oz. distilled water

I start my three day cleansing fast today! I'm excited. From what I remember, the fast is easy, without too much hunger pain. Emma and Darren said they would like to join me on this cleanse, so I'm very excited to hear what they think about it too. I will be writing a post-fast account of my experience over the next three days, so stay tuned. . .

* "Cayenne Pepper has many wonderful properties. It is a stimulant which raises the metabolism (something that is important when not digesting food). It increases circulation, which is very helpful when cleansing because one often feels slightly cool, likely due to the low metabolism which results from not digesting food. Cayenne Pepper also acts as a blood thinner and purifier, which can help with digestion. Perhaps most importantly, Cayenne Pepper, like the Fresh Lemon Juice, helps to break up the mucous in our bodies. Mucous is where all our illness causing substances get trapped. This is why we get stuffed up, congested, sneeze and cough. Breaking up and eliminating this mucous is one of the major benefits of The Master Cleanse." (excerpt from "The Master Cleanse")