We enter into a relationship with food the day we’re born. Living with the daily stresses we do, what starts out as a relationship of joy and necessity is often transformed. Currently, 47% of Canada’s population are either overweight or obese. The imminent impact of the health risks involved are alarming. I wanted to gain some perspective on society’s relationship to food. Vancouver is no stranger to food fads. From macriobiotics to raw food and 100-mile diets, Vancouverites have pretty much tried it all.
The Master Cleanser was written by Stanley Burroughs in 1976 and has risen and fallen in popularity since then. The cleanse involves drinking a mixture of lemon juice, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper and going without food. Salt water is drunk every morning in order to help eliminate toxins from the body. I’ve had many friends who have tried ‘The Master Cleanse’ to varying degrees of success. I’ve heard a range of experiences – from horror stories about the dreaded salt water flush, to exclamations of how great people have felt after the cleanse is over. Since I’ve been (at first loosely and now more stringently) adopting Ayurveda into my life, which also advocates fasting as a form of detoxification, I’ve decided to do a 5-day cleanse. I hope that this process will not only detoxify body and mind, but help me in understanding the reasons behind our food-intake.
For the next five days, I’ll post updates on the site with my progress – so check back!
Day 1: Sunday
Ironically, I wake up at 6 a.m. with the worst case of nausea and tummyache I’ve had since living in India. I flew in from London yesterday, so I figure it’s the nasty jetlag and airplane food that’s doing it. The thought of downing a litre of salt water – or even regular water – makes my stomach churn. I decide to take it easy on Day 1 and forego the salt water flush, settling instead for a glass of ginger ale before I start the cleanse to ease my tummy pains. I make a trip to the grocery store at 8 a.m. and pick up lemons, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, sea salt and distilled water. I spend the rest of Sunday clutching my tummy, sipping the lemonade concoction and watching television and Bollywood movies to console myself. I am absolutely dumbfounded at the number of commercials for food on TV. I don’t feel hungry yet, but am a bit apprehensive about what tomorrow brings…
image credit: http://outofmyhead.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/oomh_lemons_full.png
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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm and is filed under City, Controversy, Culture, Fitness, Food/Restaurants, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I mean. I support you, Kamal. But like. This doesn’t seem healthy! Have you consulted a doctor about this stuff??
Kamal — I still think you should likely relax in town before you jump into these cleanses darlin, you’re feeling a bit tired as it is and these things shouldn’t be additional sufferring to what is already a difficult and challenging process of “cleansing”.
I recommend: get a team of peeps together who are all willing to do the three day one, that way there’s a support group for such things.
Best of luck K.
PS. we’ve got a med student in the writer-list, I’m curious what she’ll have to say about this jazz.
what the heck, no protein? and it’s so sugar high… cleansing eh… i’d like to look up the specifics behind this cleansing and see if that’s really healthy
…My girlfriend of six years actually tried this cleanse for over a week and it totally works. Apparently the lemon-maple syrup combination ensure that you get adequate sugar (energy) and enzhymes (breakdown bacteria, etc.) to process the protein, fats, toxins, etcetera out of your system, particularly your digestive system and the like. I’m pretty sure there’s a ton of research on this ‘master cleanse’ out there… a quick search would suffice.
Yup, I’ve consulted a doctor. The maple syrup actually isn’t that sugary - it’s organic, dark maple syrup so doesn’t have any added ingredients to it. I quite enjoy it! The research is out there but seems to be divided - which is usually the case with these things.
SAlt water cleanse… uh… salt water make you puke doesn’t it?
Well, it’s not supposed to - but it did make me gag. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy…well, maybe I would, because its that bad.