Before you dive into doing the lemon detox diet, it’s a good idea to measure your expectations against what other people have experienced.
First off, what are you aims in undertaking the diet? Are you trying to lose weight and think this diet might help you? Do you want to feel healthier? Clear up oily skin? Develop a deeper connection with your concept of the divine? Rid yourself of addictions?
Before I examine those expectations and let you know what sort of results you can expect to experience when you do the lemon detox diet, let’s look at an overview of what most people go through when they do the master cleanse.
The First Three Days
The first three days of the cleanse tend to be the toughest. You’re adjusting to the lemonade and being off of solid foods, and you’re likely feeling hungry and going through some strong cravings.
At the same time, you may not have the energy you’re used to having (particularly if you’re working or maintaining your usual active schedule).
Expect the first three days to present some challenges, and resolve to make it through them. Take things one moment at a time, and drink as much of the lemonade as you need to have the energy to get you through your day.
The first three days may not be as tough as I’m making them sound, but better to be ready for anything and then cruise right through them.
The Middle of Your Cleanse
By the time you get to the middle of your cleanse, you’ll likely be feeling great. Your body is lighter, and it is now able to get down to the dirty business of cleansing and detoxing.
Each day has its own roller coaster of highs and lows. The highs occur when you’re feeling light and connected to the innate health pulsing through your body. The lows occur as your body dumps toxins into your digestive tract and you need to eliminate them through a flush.
Overall, though, the middle of your cleanse will find you in your rhythm and feeling good. If your commitment is strong, you’ll have more than enough momentum to push through any challenges that arise.
The majority of the challenges that arise while you’re on a cleanse are mental. Your thinking tries to bring you down. Assert your will in response to any attempts your mind makes to trick you into stopping, eating or otherwise abandoning your commitment to give you body a bit of a rest.
Toward the End of Your Cleanse
After you get over the hump and round the bend into the final stretch of your cleanse, you’ll likely be in good spirits. When you know you’re going to make it, you can relax a little and enjoy the ride.
The bulk of the deep cleansing happens the further into your cleanse you go, so you’re also now getting the maximum benefit from the lemon detox diet. Rest as much as you can to allow the cleansing to take place at the deepest possible levels.
Your body will usually let you know when it’s time to return to regular eating. True hunger, when it arrives, feels very different from the habitual hunger we’re used to feeling.
On my longest fast–which was 13 days 7 of which were only water–I had an intention of fasting for as long as my body wanted. It was a very deep experience, though it wasn’t exactly hard. I just rested.
However, around the 13th day, it became clear that my body was hungry and wanted to return to eating. Since I began my fast with a very low body fat percentage, I’d lost most of the extraneous weight that I had on my body. I looked a little scary, honestly–very, very thin.
The hunger that arrived that deep into my fast was one of the only times in my life that I’ve felt truly, deeply hungry.
Lest you think this was some weird masochistic and dangerous practice to be engaged in, I’ll also share this: I stopped doing flushes when I went to the straight water fast. I’d been doing a liquid fast for the first week, did a liver and gallbladder flush (to great effect) and was doing a daily flush. Then, I went to water only and began a deeper fast.
Four days into my water fast, 10 days into my entire cleanse, I suddenly had to go to the bathroom very urgently. I raced to the toilet and spontaneously released the most bizarre substance I’ve ever seen come out of me. When it hit the bottom of the toilet bowl, it formed wavy stalactites that wiggled in the toilet water.
Just seeing that made the entire fast worth it. And I felt *amazing* afterward.
All of which is my (slightly disgusting) way of saying that you’ll know when it’s time to stop your fast. And if you’ve been a reasonably well-fed human most of your life and you don’t have any medical conditions, you’ll be able to fast for 10 days without endangering your health.
Remember, though: always listen to your body and consult a physician before undertaking any new health regimen including a detox program.