Lemonade Fast - Day #1

My buddy Jake and I decided to try out the 'Lemonade Fast' from the Master Cleanse program; primarily to see if we still had the will power of our youth, and also due to the proposed health benefits (plus some secondary weight loss.)

The premise to this 10 day fast is that heavy quantities of fresh citrus in distilled or other unfluoridated water will cleanse your digestive tract. The 'lemonade' also contains organic grade b maple syrup (because you need some calories to get through the day) and, oddly enough, cayenne pepper (I've heard this is because it will keep your metabolism boosted, help prevent immune system depression due to the fasting, and because it is sadistic.)

So, today, Sunday, January 10th, 2010 is the first day of our great adventure. I went over to Jake and Erin's this morning as excited as kid headed off to bootcamp. Excited, amped up, and more than a little anxious... ;) Now, besides the 'lemonade' there are supposed to be two other facets of this program, an herbal laxative tea in the evenings and a 'salt water flush' in the mornings. When I got to Jake and Erin's, Jake had jumped the gun and already downed a quart of warm salty water. Jake also reported that the 'flush' worked extraordinarily well. (Note to self, only consume the salt water flush when within 50 yards of a functioning toilet.) Erin, who is not partaking in the fast, did want to try the flush so she started drinking it while Jake and I began concocting the 'lemonade.'

The recipe for the lemonade for a single, 10 fl. oz. serving is:

8 fl. oz. Unfluorodated Spring Water (distilled water works)
1 fl. oz. (2 Tbsp) Grade B Organic Maple Syrup
1 fl. oz. (2 Tbsp or 1/2 a lemon) Fresh Lemon or Lime Juice (squeezed)
1/10 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

The recipe for the salt water flush is:

32 fl. oz. Water
2 Tbsp Uniodized Sea Salt

Since both Erin and Jake had partaken of the 'flush' I decided, what the hell, I might as well get used to it now. Mmmm... So not tasty. I didn't have a hard time drinking it down but probably because I just imagined that I was drinking some overly salty soup (and it helped that the water was pretty warm.)

Alright, on to the lemonade. We made our respective containers of the 'drink' and we decided to make a whole day's supply (10 servings) so we used:

8.5 fl. oz. (we didn't have 10 ounces each on us, but we will tomorrow)
5 Lemons (it looked like a lot of juice but it came out to 20 Tbsp)
1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
80 fl. oz. Unfluorodated Water

Well, it tastes... Unusual. Lemonade and maple syrup actually combine really well and could make the basis for a great vodka cocktail; however, the cayenne pepper gives it a really 'unusual' sort of kick.

Anyhow, Jake and Erin had the rest of their Sunday to get on with and I had to get back to my house as my in-laws were getting ready to depart, so I took my fresh jug of 'drink' back to my house and waited for the effects of the salt water flush to take place.

2 hours later - nothing. Hmmm, maybe I'll get better results tomorrow. Since I'd had no significant digestive action I decided to have my first glass of lemonade. It was, strange. It doesn't taste bad, it actually tastes surprisingly good if you can overlook the cayenne pepper (which I hope I can learn to do.) I didn't enjoy the glass, but it has been about 20 minutes now and I feel good in that the cayenne actually gives you a little warming feeling.

In any case, it is early days yet and we'll see how the rest of this experiment goes. Only 9 days left!