Unfortunately I have had to cut my Master Cleanse short due to a very foolish mistake I made. I had been planning to continue the cleanse for at least 17 days but I have decided to end it after only 14 days. Since I already completed the 10 day minimum I don't see this as quitting or giving up. I achieved everything I set out to accomplish with this cleanse and I am pretty proud of myself.

What happened was, I ran out of Cayenne pepper and unwilling to buy more I thought I could substitute it with Mexican Chili Powder. What I didn't know was that while the Cayenne Pepper is pure pepper, the chili powder I have contains among other things salt. So I ended up drinking eight doses of salt and some other ingredients with my lemonade (which tasted horrible by the way) without knowing although the taste should have warned me that something was wrong. A carrot juice recipe may have been the better way to go in this case. It certainly would have tasted nicer, that's for sure.

Long story short, I got sick because of it. I wasn't majorly ill or anything or even very ill but I've decided that erring on the side of caution is the safest way to go, especially since I haven't eaten for two weeks meaning that I am in no shape to fight off anything even remotely moderately serious.

It was based on this that I decided to end my Master Cleanse.

So, now that I've ended the diet, how do I feel?

I feel great. Once I got past the first three days I started feeling really good. I feel so much lighter, much healthier and much happier than I did when I first started the cleanse. I feel cleaner inside and out. My face is a lot smoother now and most of my pimples have disappeared. Also I don't have headaches like I used to (although I don't know if this will last long term).

One thing I will say about the Master Cleanse diet however is that it is significantly high in sugar and low in other nutrients like vitamins or proteins. Meaning you're likely to lose your muscle mass as well as your fat and have to take something like high impact whey protein to get it back. Consequently, following this like this is not really sustainable for prolonged periods of time.

If you live with sensitive teeth and want to look after your oral health then this definetly is not the diet for you. As any Dentist in San Ramon will tell you, consuming too many sugary drinks can have a detrimental impact on your teeth and can lead to cavities and tooth decay. The same for anyone diabetic who has to monitor their blood sugar carefully.

My final weights for Days 13 and 14 are below:

Day 13

Day 14 - sorry I took this with my phone

I achieved my goal for this diet (to end the diet under 225lbs). As a whole, I lost 13.8lbs (approximately 14 pounds or 6.5 kilogrammes). My stomach and body in general also look significantly smaller. Of course, I'm still overweight. Perhaps, I still have a higher chance of developing heart problems which could lead me to seek help from a cardiologist at the Cardiovascular Group. But to be honest, the point of this diet was not to make me magically thin. The purpose of the diet was to simply kick start a general new regimen of healthy eating and exercise with the goal of weight loss until I reach my target weight (125lbs).

I have now begun the Ease Out process of the Master Cleanse (because you can't just start eating food again right away).

Drinking the orange juice was a strange feeling because I'm no longer used to anything but the lemonade, but it felt good although my stomach protested.

This morning I tried to eat a small grape but I have quickly found out that not only do I have no desire whatsoever for any kind of food, but eating is actually very difficult. I can chew alright but swallowing is a completely different matter. My body just doesn't want to. After I choked down about seven grapes I felt like I was going to throw up.

Over the last three hours I have managed to eat twenty little grapes and I feel incredibly full. My stomach is also yowling so I think I might have to go to the bathroom soon. If this newfound aversion to food is a lasting side effect of the Master Cleanse then I doubt I'll have any problem losing the remaining weight in the months to come.

Final verdict:

Score out of ten: 10/10

Would I do it again?: Definitely.

Was it worth it?: Totally

You can find more information about the Master Cleanse here: Master Cleanse