Hi guys!

Well, I can't believe it, but I'm 5 days away from the end of my cleanse...what a ride!! It's been informative, to say the least, and a great form of discipline....can't say I would do another 40 day cleanse again; I think I like
Somer's idea of a 10 day cleanse, and then eating well, and another 10 days until you achieve colon nirvana....some things I noticed along the curvy, slinky path:

1. I personally didn't have too many horrible detox things happening to me...so I got to the fourth day with relatively few adjustment problems, and the fact that I was feeling hungry also subsided quite a bit after that...food has remained, however, a mental challenge throughout the experience.

2. I was EXTREMELY lucky that I could stay at home with no obligations, no parties, no commitments, no etc., for the full 40 days...of course, things came up, but I actually said "no" to everything that I thought would either be a bathroom problem ( I was asked to go on a hike in the mountains early in the morning - for example) or an eating problem...I had planned to start on Oct. 1 for the very reason that it was "pre party season" and a "down" time in our schedule. I think if you can plan out the cleanse for the least stressful period in your life, then the success rate is better. Please consider very carefully the bathroom/SWF combo; easy access to a bathroom in the mornings is essential I think.

3. I found my hardest times were in the early evening (5-9pm)...I just went to the gym, worked out or sat in the sauna or both, or got out of the kitchen area...now, about day 10 to day 20 I had this overwhelming urge to COOK FOR MY HUSBAND and started doing all these gourmet recipes with emphasis on herbs and spices and real foods ( vegetables, fruits, some meat). It was such a good feeling to be surrounded by the fruits of the earth, and creating these wonderful smelling dishes....my husband appreciated it immensely, and that was fun...sometimes i got the seasoning right, and sometimes he added stuff 'cause I couldn't taste anything.

4. After the SWF, I only had the proverbial "butt pee" and that would sometimes take up to 3 hours to all exit...I found the hardest thing on the cleanse was to feel when the SWF (Salt-Water-Flush) was done, and the lemonade could begin...I felt like drinking all day (SWF, water, lemonade) became quite a chore after day 20...even though it was now a habit, it was still a major factor in my daily routine to get down all the water, lemonades,and SWF, and then the tea at night...I'm glad I had an easy schedule for this cleanse. I still have trouble getting down all the lemonade. I used one spoon of maple syrup since it was too sweet for me the other way. Lots of cayenne pepper, however.

5. After day 30, I can take or leave the cleanse. It has gotten to be mundane and quite boring - both in content and feeling...I have a pretty clean tongue, and I have lost 32 lbs. and I feel good. My skin is soft, and my hair is very shiny...but, I feel like anything after 30 days is moot, and I'm finishing what I started as a promise to myself, but don't know whether the last ten days of the 40 days are that valuable...it might be the way I'm feeling mentally about the cleanse; that it's enough already....

6. I have lately been "pulling a Chad" for those of you out there who were here for a 40-dayer named Chad who ended up ordering and just smelling food a lot...I smell my husband's dinner all the way out to the dining room, and my nose is buried in his dish more and more lately, so I feel, as Somer said at her day 45, that I am starting to have a dull ache in my solar plexus and am probably really starting to be hungry...I actually lost more weight that I need to now, so maybe my body is craving food now...so day 40 will be a perfect stop...

7. My husband can't believe my general optimistic and positive attitude; he's very proud of me, and began by being horrified about the cleanse and worried I'd be rushed to the hospital in a coma ( believe me, at the beginning so was I!) ...so it has been greatly beneficial for both of us to realize all said about the cleanse is true. One thing - I followed it to the letter; didn't add or subtract anything, and drank twice my weight in water daily.

8. I went through a bad cold without taking anything, Day 15 was my worst day for feeling like I was going to eat all my husband's dinner before he came home, some days I so felt dehydrated in the morning pre-SWF that I drank a whole bunch of water before I did my morning SWF, I had some evenings all throughout when I wanted to eat the kitchen sink ( after day 15 you understand that if you eat anything, you will be very sick, so it's a deterent to actually eating even if you want to), I had no solid BM's the whole time - just butt pee with stuff in it, had energy every day, started exercising but then stopped due to other obligations not because of lack of energy, can still jog around the track on day 36 the same as on day 1, and have a GREAT attitude towards life (something that has been different than any other "diet" attitude)....but, this is not a diet...still, my attitude for not taking in solid foods for 36 days is very upbeat and super-optimistic ( thanks in large part to Abraham-Hicks material)...

Conclusion: the benefits definitely outweigh the inconveniences, and it is a wonderful gift to your body...

Finally - Each day for a week, I added something I wanted to do for my body/soul to my day, and then did that for the whole cleanse...it was invaluable for me. I added skin brushing, doing an Abraham-Hicks workshop, meditation, or CD every day for 20-30 minutes, a sauna or a hot bath with herbs, the Tibetian longevity exercises, a walk or visit with my friends (with a cup of mint tea), a home facial or a paid for massage, and playing the piano or listening to my favorite music CDs (instead of TV) while fixing dinner. At the end of the first week, I did all these seven things every day for the duration of the cleanse, and it was very valuable....that's the reason I stopped communicating on Cure Zone (I started posting at the beginning of the cleanse, and then got overwhelmed with all the new stuff I was trying to make time for plus my home job); I couldn't fit one more thing into my day and still get my work done...once in a while, I would jump on Cure Zone to see how all the other cleansers were doing, and it was always so uplifting, but it was also always at about 1 am!)

NOW, I need help releasing the cleanse...Carland probably does too. I read a while ago that you ease out 1 day for every 4 days you cleansed, so that would be 10 days, but do I start with only OJ, or do I do the OJ in the morning and the broth in the evening? Is the broth only the liquid and not the vegetables for the first few days? How long on the Oj and the broth if I cleansed for 40 days? Any help would be appreciated....Love you all, and you cleansers ROCK!! Freshly, pinkly yours.... Madonna