There are a few pitfalls to beware for newbie and master cleansers alike. The most common Master Cleanse mistakes, while understandable, are certainly very avoidable. Experience will help to identify and eliminate the problem areas that people often fall into when doing the Master Cleanse for the first time.
Many Master Cleanse mistakes revolve around the preparation of the ingredients, materials and equipment needed during the cleanse. All are avoidable, but don’t worry if you find yourself making them; every time we try something new, there is a learning curve. By the time you are done your first successful Master Cleanse experience, you will be able to post your comments and communicate your results to help new first-timers.
These mistakes are common, and seem to co-related to our the most frequently asked question, but not entirely, which is why we also made a “should” have asked questions list, make sure you check out both.
#1 – Fearing Misconceptions about the Master Cleanse
The misconceptions listed here are simply unfounded beliefs held by people, usually instilled by an ignorant population, parents, friends and rumors. Our lives are filled with these misconceptions, sometimes known as wives’ tales.
The Best Way to Overcome Your Fears is to Get Educated
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Master Cleanse is a great opportunity to uncover your belief system that is linked to food, eating and many other concepts. Some of those beliefs may be limiting and even based on old, outdated information or just not enough information. I see this cleanse as an excellent opportunity to learn about the way our bodies function and to get in tune with their natural rhythms. I have been moderating our Master Cleanse FaceBook Page for a couple of years now, and it is amazing to see how many people go on this Cleanse after they have spent a few minutes googling the recipe. It is very important that you understand all the Master Cleanse ingredients as well as the detoxing process that takes place once you start the Cleanse.
Download Our FREE Master Cleanse Road Map
We have put together this report so you could prevent many common mistakes and prepare mentally and emotionally for this amazing journey. It will greatly add to your successful completion of this cleanse and to creating as much of a pleasant, peaceful journey to healthier you as possible.
#2 – Understanding Cravings
It is important to understand the different kind of cravings we have. It is true that there is a physical desire to eat, an instinct as strong as flight from danger or procreation. What isn’t necessarily true, however, is that every sensation of hunger is related to that life-or-death instinct. Psychological cravings can be a part of our response. As we age, we begin to associate good or bad situations with eating. These associations — situations, smells, colors — are attached to emotions (good and bad), and then to eating.
When scenarios arise that carry these messages, we feel a craving to eat, in the manner of Pavlov’s Dog. In fact, almost all hunger pangs or cravings are psychological. You should not, however, ignore true hunger, which is difficult to describe other than to say: you’ll know it when you feel it. As you progress on the Cleanse, you will understand more clearly your limits and the messages your body is sending — which ones are real, and which ones make you eat with the fridge door open in your underwear at 11 pm because your girlfriend just hung up on you.
Recommended Resources to Learn about Your Cravings and How to Overcome them.
There are a few resources we recommend which may help you to understand your cravings better and allow you to explore your relationship with food. Master Cleanse is such a great opportunity to pay attention to your emotional attachment to some foods and also the psychological reason behind us reaching for certain foods in some specific moments. Here are two books we recommend :
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- Constant Craving by Doreen Virtue
- Women Food and God by Gennen Roth : After three decades of studying, teaching and writing about our compulsions with food, bestselling author Geneen Roth adds a powerful new dimension to her work in Women Food and God. She begins with her most basic concept: The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God.
#3 – Buying Low Grade Maple Syrup
Don’t be cheap or lazy here. There is PURE, unrefined, maple syrup available somewhere nearby. The real stuff contains all the nutrients natural to the product, the “blood” of a tree. These nutrients are used directly by your body, and are combined and converted with the nutrients and vitamins from the cayenne and lemon juice to provide your essential requirements.
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The Darker the Maple Syrup the better. You can’t use table syrup flavoured with Maple. All natural forms of Maple Syrup are acceptable, but do your best to find the highest quality you can. The darker grades have more nutrients. The first harvest takes syrup out of the tree that was stored all winter. Later harvests are freshly produced from the nutrients in the soil. During the winter, the stored syrup will lose minerals over time.
To learn more about all the specific qualities of maple syrup and its approved substitutes, please read our article on this topic.
#4 – Running out of Organic Lemons or Maple Syrup
This happens easier than you would think, especially if you are being strict and only using organic lemons. Many organic stores are closed on Saturday or Sunday. And sometimes there is no store open at all. If you find yourself without lemons, just drink the maple syrup. If you are out of both, and are feeling low on energy, find a natural, sugar-based liquid. You want to treat your body like a living IV (intravenous). Just get some calories in there without disturbing your resting system.
Master Cleanse Mistake 5: Eating Other Foods and Cheating
You may think a little cheating doesn’t hurt. Well, it does, if it causes you to fail. Once you get your mind/body thinking more about other foods, your desires will increase. Nothing with make that happen more quickly than eating other foods. This cleanse is a difficult challenge, and I’ll admit to a few tricks. On days when it feels more [easyazon_image align=”right” asin=”B000GFYRLW” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51W05GZBXNL._SL160_.jpg” width=”160″]difficult, I drink a herbal tea in the evening with a little maple syrup in it. You are allowed to drink any herbal, decaf tea (organic if possible) to soothe your sweet tooth. A small glass of pure, freshly squeezed orange juice can do wonders for the psyche. Just remember to wash it down with a lot of water.
Master Cleanse Mistake 6: Not Inducing Movements, Laxative and the SWF
Everyone Poops.I love the name of that book. And everyone must poop. You eliminate toxins by having bowel movements. Make it happen everyday, or at least every 18 hours. I would do it every morning. I like the sea salt internal bath (see instructions). You can alternate evening one day, miss a day and go morning next, then miss a day and go evening next. Make a habit out of seeing how much cleaner your movements become every day. You must also do the herbal laxative each night to ensure you have a movement if the SWF doesn’t work for you or you simply don’t enjoy doing it.
Master Cleanse Mistake 7: Breaking too Fast or No Ease-Out
Most information out there ends at this sentence: Make sure you don’t break your fast too early. Hello? Not enough information. And others have the nerve to add: “Or serious injury can occur.” Thanks for that! It is probably common sense that on day 10 of your cleanse you don’t eat a Veggie sandwich from Burger King — although I witnessed a friend do just that. He was fine, however; maybe a little constipated for a few days. I also don’t have much more information on this, but please post comments with your experiences. This area of the Cleanse may be construed as medical advice. You should note, I KNOW nothing more than the understanding my experience provides. However, I can at least safely state this: just ease yourself back in. If you have to eat NOW, then choose something smart like an orange. Be careful about constipation. Moving back to solids will require a lot of water to keep you smooth.
Watch the Video on the Master Cleanse Common Mistakes
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I have had my gallbladder out for 2 years is the master cleanse ok to still do?
Lemonade Diet day 3
Yay!! I am happy that found this blog!!
I have a couple of questions for you guys
Do I really need to use maple Syrup? I’ve been using Raw Agave in my lemonade, should I continue using it or buy Maple syrup instead?
Also since we are not eating anything, do you guys have bowel movement everyday? This is my 3 day of cleansing and I haven’t been to the restroom since. Thank you for your answers!!!
That’s not good! YOU MUST INDUCE A BOWEL MOVEMENT! Use the Salt Water Flush!
Day 3. Feeling better than I did on days 1 and 2. However, still feeling drained. My typical regimen consists of using a .5 liter bottle of water. I use half the bottle with the mix, and then drink the other half after.
I cheated on both previous days. Day 1, I ate a carrot, a peach and a tomato. Day 2 ate a carrot and some celery. Its tough just to break the habit of wanting to eat. I do miss the contentment I’d get from eating certain foods and the feeling of a full stomach. My muscles feel tight, including the ones in my lower back. I still haven’t done the SWF. I guess I’m just trying to wait for time where I can spare 30 to 40 minutes. The last thing I want is to get stomach cramps and be in the middle of something and crap my pants, lol.
So far, I have less desire today to cheat, although the day is still young. I want to see this through in hopes that it will provide the physical benefits I was hoping for.
Lemonade Diet Day One.
Did the SWF and only downed 3/4 of the solution. Amazingly, it worked and I had my first movement in less than 10 minutes. My mistake however was that I downed my first lemonade within 30 minutes when I had taken the SWF and it was not good for my stomach. It was already a bit rumbly from the SWF and when I added the lemonade, these two were definitely not happy. I vomited ALL of the lemonade drink, and then flushed a few more. It was disgusting and messy, I could only be thankful that it didn’t happen at the same time. Yuck.
Oh well, I’ll still be doing the SWF and I definitely learned from this mistake. Right now though, I have no energy because of what happened.
Ugh… on day 5 and I just cheated :( I made my daughter some Pizza rolls and had two. I am so frustrated because I made it through days 2 and 3 which were HELL for me.
I’ve been feeling great but a little discouraged that I have not lost any weight. I’ve done the cleanse a few times before and always lose between 10 – 17 pounds…. Ugh ~ don’t want to give up especially since I’m halfway there, but the fact that I cheated makes me feel like I already gave up and sould just stop!!
Dang it!
Day 4 of the cleanse. I am feeling better today than days 2 and 3. I was craving steak yesterday like a rancher and I haven’t eaten meat in over 4 years (thanks to cleanse #2). No craving since this morning’s elmination. This is my 3rd cleanse and I am always amazed at all of the crude that’s in my system. For those of you in the beginning of your first cleanse, don’t give up and don’t listen to the naysayers. They have no idea how good you’ll feel when it’s over – not just physically, but with your self discipline. Once it’s over, you will think that it wasn’t that hard. Good luck to all!
In Day 2! Having headaches. Boyfriend wants to give in. Trying to keep us both strong! I lost 5 pounds already and he lost 8! Can you believe that?!? In less than two days!
Day One of the master cleanse. I was 161.2 before I started the diet and now im 163….What im I doing wrong. I did the SWF this morning and started the leamonade diet about 2 hours after the SWF….need help
Hi, I`m about to start this diet. I’m going to start with day 1-raw veggies and no processed foods, day 2- Clear veggie broths and lots of water, and day 3-everything in liquid form, almost similar to day one but more green tea. I was wondering, I go to University and usually have presentations around 12-3, will I be in a situation where I cannot stop whats happening and am forced to run out, haha, that’s actually my main concern. Also, can you drink green tea while on the cleanse, and what about very small portions of soup? Like chick pea soup with pureed parsley, or bean, idk. P Lease get back to me asap! :)
No caffeine is allowed. You can do herbal teas, which have no caffeine. You are not supposed to do soups either because the whole point of the detox is to give your digestive system a cleanse and a break. Eating or drinking anything other than the lemonade mix and water will defeat the purpose of the cleanse. Good luck!
The first time I did the cleanse on day 11 I had a pizza. I saw no negative side effects from eating it other than it was an indicator that I probably will still eat cruddy foods. Now I’m doing my cleanse a second time and will be easing out as described in hopes of easing in to healthier eating. But my point is that I don’t think it’s that bad to eat solid foods right away. Good Luck Everyone!
Is this cleanse any more difficult when you have children and are working full time? Would the bowel movements from taking laxatives be an interruption to a daily work life? And are you supposed to stop taking all medications while on the cleanse like birth control and allergy/asthma medications? I planned on starting the ease in tomorrow so i want to figure all this out first.
It can be disruptive so I wake up 3 hours early to do the salt water cleanse so I don’t have to worry about needing to go during work. I have a lot of allergies, mainly to dust, but I do not take allergy medicine while I am on the cleanse because they clear up drastically from being on it. I say you should stay on birth control and other long-term pills, but that’s my personal opinion. The reason being there can be serious side affects from suddenly stopping long term medication. There aren’t many with allergy meds, however, so you should be fine there.
can i chew gum, day 1 and doing fine for now
Working while on the Master Cleanse. I have done the cleanse many times and have found that it is actually easier to complete when I am working. Distraction is a definite benefit. I have my laxative tea in the evening and the salt water as soon as I get up. Mind you, I do change my schedule to rise a little earlier in the morning to accommodate the salt water flush. Once nature has run its course, I am good to go all day. I have a glass of lemonade before I leave and take with me a good size water bottle that holds a double or triple size lemon recipe and another the same size for water. I have the benefit of coming home at noon, so I load up another container of lemonade. I try and have my tea before bed. Hope this helps somebody. Hint: Use “sippy cup” (containers with built-in straws), they are handy and you don’t have to pour your servings, you just enjoy.