New Year’s Eve saw Caroline and I starting the Master Cleanse Fast. Our goal was a very simple one: try it for one day. Well, the first day was so easy it seemed to be a fluke, so a second day was in order. Having never missed a meal in 44 years, besides the occasional late lunch or dinner, which was made up for by snacking, the idea of not eating went hand in hand with the idea that I would be in pain, have headaches, be miserable, and get sick. None of that happened. The fasting was so easy those first two days that we had to challenge ourselves to a third, figuring that at some point, we would be overwhelmed with hunger and then stop. And so it went until the sixth day when the second bout of grumpiness convinced us that the following day, the seventh day, should be the end of our one-day fast. Of course, anyone familiar with the Master Cleanse knows that the first day after the end of the fast is not really the end yet. On Monday, January 7th, we only drank orange juice. On Tuesday, we started with OJ but were allowed vegetable broth for the rest of the day. I cheated at dinner and had four or five spoons of the veggies before guilt had me returning to the plain broth. Today we returned to “normal” eating, starting with soft boiled eggs for breakfast, veggie soup for lunch, and for dinner, we deviated from the program to split a green corn tamale plate at a local restaurant.

The fast was not undertaken to lose weight, I wanted to convince myself that I could do without food. This aspect of the fast worked; I now know I will not die missing a meal, nor will I fall sick. The second goal was to work towards portion control; if I can miss meals, then smaller meals should work fine to satisfy me; time will tell if this works out. Over the seven days, I lost approximately 20 pounds; Caroline lost about 6. Her clothes fit better and old clothes can be worn again, but I’m still too fat. Yet, I do look forward to doing this again, and if 10 pounds return but the other ten stay away, then doing this a few more times this year to drop a total of 30 pounds would be a welcome accomplishment in my world.