Kristen Morrison

If you’re a frequent detoxer like I am, you probably know the signs when it’s time to do one. But after a thorough, recent reboot of my hormones, and then falling off the wagon for a couple of months, the signs were different this time.

I understand inflammation now, where I never had, and I know that when my body is running on the right fuel, is healthy and alkaline, I can stretch and flex more easily, an old neck injury doesn’t bother me and my eyelids don’t droop, lol. But when I’m out of balance – eating things which don’t agree with me – my body just doesn’t run as well.

So, this week, for the first time in 10 years, I’m doing the Master Cleanse, a lemon based detox which I used to do every year.

Master Cleanse

Created by an American Naturopath, the Master Cleanse is a fast, essentially, with a delicious spicy lemon drink to keep your calories up while eliminating toxins (but if that’s too much, you can do it while eating raw vegetables & fruits too). I mostly don’t feel hungry at all while doing it, and after the first couple of days, I feel more energetic and often euphoric!

The idea is to do it for 10 days, but over the years with kids and demanding work schedules, I’ve done just 4 days sometimes and still felt benefits. I find it really enjoyable, easy compared with a lot of other cleanses, and it’s cheap.

Benefits to this detox are:

Reduced inflammation
Happy, cleansed guts
Palate reboot to delete sugar & carb cravings
Increased energy
Alkalised body

Among many others.

Having done it so many times, often when ridiculously busy, I have a few shortcuts which I’ll list here.

How To Do The Master Cleanse

You can (and should) read a whole lot of detail about it here including FAQs and contraindications, etc, but I’m writing it out here in metric, with my extra few tips.

First, you will need:
– 2 x 1 litre jars with lids
– a sieve and bowl for it to sit over
– blender or stick mixer
– set of measuring spoons

Step 1 – Salt Water Flush

When you first get up, drink a salt water flush.
– 950ml filtered water
– 2 teaspoons non-iodised salt (I use himalayan salt)

Make the salt water flush by putting salt into one of the 1litre jars
Add a cup of boiling filtered water.
Stir until salt has dissolved, then fill the jar with cold filtered water.
The salt water should now be luke warm.
Drink it, all of it. The first time you do this, it may make you gag, so just drink as much as you can and take it slowly on day 1, then try to increase each day until you can gulp down the whole jar.

Next, you’ll want to stay close to the bathroom because for the next 2-3 hours or so… this salt water is going to make its was through your guts, taking the trash out with it. For this reason, I usually try to do the flush at about 6am so by 9, I’m ready to leave the house, lol!

Step 2 – Lemon Drink

Next you will need to make your lemon drink for the day, you will make 2 litres of it, and although you can drink it whenever you want, I like to drink it at meal times.

You will need:
– 1800ml filtered water
– 12 tablespoons maple syrup
– 12 tablespoons lemon juice*
– 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Ok so because I’m lazy / used to need to prep in a hurry whilst trying to use as few dishes as possible… I prepare the lemon juice this way. First you need to work out roughly how much juice you get from each lemon because some are drier than others and obviously they’re all different sizes, but I worked out for this batch of lemons, I needed the juice of 6 lemons a day to get my 12 tablespoons.

Cut each lemon in half and lay them cut edge down onto a chopping board. Cut off the rind, don’t be too careful, just do it quickly and leaving some pith on is fine. Place rindless lemon pieces into blender or jug if you are using stick mixer. Add 1 cup of filtered water. Blend until completely pureed.

Pour lemon mixture into sieve over the bowl and strain thoroughly using the back of a spoon to push the pulp down if you’re in a rush.

Pour half of the strained lemon mix into each of the 2 x 1 litre jars.

Add 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper to each jar

Add 6 tablespoons of maple syrup to each jar

Fill each jar up with filtered water, put the lid on and shake well. Store in the fridge.

*Everything you used to make the lemon mixture is basically clean, so just rinse with water and let dry for the next day.

Also throughout the day, drink as much filtered water and herb tea as you want to.

Step 3 – Senna at bed time

Before going to bed, take a dose of senna – either in tablet form or as tea, to help move things through your intestines while you sleep. This also helps the salt water flush do its job more effectively.

And that’s it!

Note – you may feel really awful the first couple of days as you withdraw from caffeine, sugar, carbs etc, and just because you’re detoxing, but believe me after a few days you will start to feel great. You may find it more difficult to do if you’re working hard, so if you can take it fairly easy while cleansing, or schedule it during a complete break from work, you’ll find it easier. I sometimes need a nap or feel pretty vague… so it’s important to let the process take its time.

The whole thing costs less than $20 a day if you use all organic (which is recommended). But if you can’t stretch your budget that far, it’ll cost maybe $10 a day. If you can get your hands on back yard / home grown lemons, use those. And if you’re opting not to use organic maple syrup, make sure it’s pure maple and not glucose based. Aldi’s maple syrup is the cheapest, good quality non-organic one you can get.

The goal is to keep going until you feel vibrant, your eliminations are ‘cleaner’, less toxic, and your tongue is pink.

Usually by day 4 of this crazy cheap & easy detox, I start to feel eUpHoRiC! By the end I feel amazing 🙂

Might be a nice thing to do after the imbibe-fest we’re all about to embark on!

Happy Xmas xo