Shelly's cleanse day 1 of 10

Hello fellow detoxers. Today started my 10 day Master Cleanse and I almost hate to jinx myself, but it's been fairly easy so far. I quit coffee yesterday and my head hurt all day, but fortunately I had no headache today. My morning started off with the only hard part of the cleanse, the saltwater flush (SWF) and it was pretty brutal. You have to drink 32 oz. of water with 2 tsp of sea salt in minutes. I finally ended up standing in front of the bathroom mirror and chugging it as best I could and then switched to a fat straw in the back of my mouth so I didn't have to taste the salt. It took a good 2 hours to get the pipes flowing, but the flush does what it implies and I've felt great ever since. So far I've had four 10 oz. glasses of lemonade today with a pint of water after each. I will probably drink six of these per day but the diet allows up to twelve.

I've been a little slower paced, sort of mellow feeling all day, but definitely with no pain or hunger. I think the hardest part will be the SWF each morning and cooking dinner for my son. My husband was doing the cleanse all day with me, but he just broke at dinner. I guess I'll have him make our son's meals for the next week to ease the temptation. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and journaling my process.

xoxo Shelly

Breakouts and the bigger picture.

I woke up this morning with a monstrous pimple in the middle of my face.

I’ve never had the type of skin that could be compared to a teenager’s—not even when I was a teenager. But this is the kind of blemish you’d be banished for back in high school. At 33, I’m well beyond any embarrassment similarly suffered those four years, and I also have much better makeup.

At any rate, what does my zit have to do with detox? Simple: it’s a sign!

These physical signs manifest in many ways, and most of the time, go ignored. For me, it’s a dull headache after a draining discussion with my dad, sleepiness from scarfing down several cupcakes, shoulder pain from a shouting match with my man, or sensitive skin from a stressful holiday season. Personally, I support that all somatic symptoms are a result of a more pronounced emotional, psychological, or spiritual “problem.” Even pimples.

I’ve become a bit of an expert on traditional body detoxification, not only because I dated a holistic healer at one point, but because I’ve faced a variety ailments that forced me to look everywhere for answers—which were always found within.

Detoxing, in my opinion, is a daily practice.

It’s taking in all the stresses and situations of the day, seeing the symptoms, and releasing what is not a part of your life’s primary path. Phew.

This isn’t actually the first time I’ve suffered a skin condition in my 30s. I woke up Easter day in ‘06 with red, itchy skin mysteriously masking my face. For the next year and a half, I only left the house when I had to. I altered my diet, did a vitamin c drip, stopped birth control pills, cringed during a colonic, cleared my soul, master cleansed countless times, cried into my pillow, popped supplements, balanced chakras, and everything in between.

But the best body detox back then was breaking up with a boyfriend who was bad for me—the painful symptoms suddenly ceased. Like magic, the “mask” was gone.

My detox “program” not only for the month, but for my lifetime, is a holistic one. While I’m resolved to drink a ton more water, shrink sugar intake, and steer clear of carbs, I am more importantly balancing the emotions and bad energies that bring about blemishes.