The day before the fast

Welcome to my personal blog, that Ill be writing whilst I undertake a ten day fast!
Im hoping that writing it all down will keep me sane!!
- maybe it will help you decide whether you want to do it too, or not, as the case may be!!

The fast has been around since 1941 and is known as the Stanley Burroughs Master Cleanse.
The only thing I am allowed to consume in ten days is a concoction made up of lemon juice , cayenne pepper and organic maple syrup ...which I havent yet got in the cupboard!! Yikes! Need to go shopping later or Ill be knocking on my friend Rawia' s door in a panic ...and that would not be a great start to the ten days!

Rawia was my inspiration. I heard her talk about doing the fast twice a year at the time of the equinox. (I think we may be a little early this year due to her New Zealand trip in two weeks but at least we re starting on a new moon. Its supposed to help...)

Why am I doing the fast?

-for a challenge and a sense of achievement
-to break my habit of eating
-to conquer unhelpful self talk (I can justify eating anything if I want to!)
-for a chance to feel slimmer
-to take pride in my body
-to realise that food is not the highlight of a day
-to eat to live rather than to live to eat (I may have got it the wrong way round for years!)
-to find out what emotions Im covering up with my emotional eating

"I don't believe in diets!"

I think I eat very healthily , but my body says otherwise. I don't need weighing scales to tell me that I am at least two stone overweight and my tummy is definitely too large. Apart from that , I feel OK in myself...I think.
Mind you, I think feeling better about my body would help improve my self esteem considerably .

In the past I have had great success with Carol Vordemans 28 day detox. The first time I did it was years ago and to be honest , I wasnt sure that I could go 28 days without alcohol(!). Amazingly I took it one day at a time and I did it . I also lost one stone and a quarter in weight , whilst eating as much as I liked - of the good stuff obviously!!

Trouble is, my diet is now mostly full of the good stuff, but Im still overweight. I cant do the detox again because that's more or less my regular diet.Currently I eat homemade granola with frehly juiced apple for breakfast. For lunch I often have a large green salad with spinach, mung beans, olives etc , and for supper Ill have a similiar salad or some roasted vegetables. Im not a vegetarian but my body seems to enjoy moist salads.
Of course I dont believe in diets at all. Neither of my sisters have ever dieted. They both eat a healthy balanced diet and have always had beautiful figures! But I do believe that I need to kick start my system!
I LOVE eating and preparing interesting dishes, especially salads. I enjoy eating popcorn at the cinema. I will indulge at a dinner party ...

Finding the "me" thats hiding behind food

Mind you I remember stuffing my face with popcorn on a cinema date ...what a way to keep a fella away!! and I do wonder whether my weight is far more about providing some form of emotional protection
Thats why these ten days could get very interesting , as I find the "me" under the eating .....

Anyway, enough for now Ive gotta go and find some organic maple syrup and some weighing scales so I can let you know my official starting point (if I dare...)

Oh, and my "last supper" today is going to be a "roast dinner" , but before that Ill be off now to enjoy my homemede granola....and poached eggs on wilted spinach for lunch!!

Marie-Claire