DAY NINE -- even keel

Yesterday I had some cramping and went again late night and reactivated my hemorrhoid. I think it had to do with skipping the tea. Or maybe pigging out at the party. (I ended up bringing bagel dogs (mini franks), which were a hit,. They were pre-made; I baked them and kept them warm in my crock pot. Oh, and the banana oatmeal muffins, which I had made Friday night.

Today, so far so good. It's much better to be sure to get the tea made the night before.

Still nothing too crazy to report. I'm almost half hoping to see worms or whatever to justify this. My energy level seems better one some days, though, so that in and of itself is plenty reason to do this. (Before starting I was extremely fatigued and napping every day by 4pm).

One Fine Dancer (no skirt needed!)

(Warning: the sound level is pretty high, so you might want to turn your sound down a bit.)

DAYS SEVEN & EIGHT -- steady as she goes

DAY SEVEN -- Yesterday, again, I only went in the morning, but it was probably equivilant to three times, so I was happy.

My diet was so-so. Did have some tortilla chips with dinner, though, and one cookie with a friend who visited.

I skipped the tea to see how it would go without it, plus I forgot to steep it until almost 2 am, and I was afraid to take it too late. The instructions say not everyone needs the tea every day, and I don't want to become too dependant on it, although there is a five day break after day 30, to make sure your body doesn't get to need the senna too much. Depending on how tomorrow goes, I might skip the tea a few times throughout the month.

DAY EIGHT -- Today I went right away upon waking, but volume-wise it was less than previous days. I still feel like I need to go, and I think skipping the tea is doing this. That's okay, though. I'm feeling more of a urge now that I've eaten breakfast (carrots and hummos and the tiniest sliver of left-over pizza (from the kids' dinner last night, just a bite so I don't feel deprived).

Have a party tonight, and I'm bringing a very healthy raw beet/green apple salad and some homemade banana oatmeal muffins. YUM.

UPDATE: I ended up making a weak tea about 11 am b/c I felt stopped up. That helped. I decided I will drink the tea every night.

DAY SIX - Full Force

Last night I steeped the tea a full 2 min., perhaps a few seconds longer.

This morning I awoke feeling like I could go, but took the four paranil capsules first. Yes, I'm up to a full dose, now!

Right after, I definitely needed to go, and was pleased, with a good amount.

Then I took my first full scoop of fiber in 8 oz of cran-grape juice. I don't like drinking that much juice, so I might cut it with water tomorrow and see how it tastes. Of course, as always I followed immediately by 8 oz of plain water.

Not long after taking the fiber (maybe 20 min.), I had to go again and felt a little bit crampy. The stool was a little soft and had a lot of gas with it, and there was some small round object floating on top. It looked like a pale green pea. Now, no matter what it was, it's gross, b/c I haven't eaten green peas or anything even close to resembling a green pea for at least three weeks! Ewwww.

At least whatever it was is now out of me.

Now I'm off to have a green apple and almond butter for breakfast.

DAYS FOUR AND FIVE -- last two "half days"

The first five days of the cleanse you start out doing half the regular dose of paranil and fiber, and I'm in the home stretch before going full blast.

DAY FOUR -- Took the paranil and fiber in the morning. I did a tad more than half a scoop. Then I ate a banana for breakfast. The fiber really fills you up, and after the banana I really wasn't hungry any more.

Shortly after my small breakfast, I had one huge "moment", or maybe you could say two full amounts, one right after the other. That was it for the day. Volume-wise it was okay. We'll see what happens when I up the fiber to a full scoop.

My diet was pretty bad today. Let's just leave it at that.

I stepped the tea for almost two full minutes (still within the recommended time for first five days) and skipped the probiotics. It was getting late, and I didn't want to wait 20 full minutes after the probiotics to have the tea.

DAY FIVE -- Off to a good start! Two minutes for the tea worked to get me going first thing upon rising. And boy did I go! About 1.5 X my "regular" pre-cleanse amount. Felt good. No cramping or anything.

This is my last day of 2 paranil capsules and half a scoop of fiber, although I did about 2/3 of a scoop. Tomorrow I go on the full dose of 4 paranils and a whole scoop. Then I can also start steeping the tea longer, which I will do in tiny incrememnts (maybe 15 seconds longer) till I find the right time for me.

With luck, I'll have an update later today!

DAY THREE -- Hoping for more action

One thing I forgot to add in day one, I'm also taking 2 probiotic capsules at night, approx. 2 hours after dinner. And on day one my urine had the strongest, weirdest odor after taking them. I don't know if it was a build up of the herbs or the probiotics, but it smelled so strange! Last night it had the same quality but not nearly as strong, much fainter of an odor. I wonder if I had some parasites in my urinary tract?

Today, so far I've taken the paranil and the fiber. I feel really full in the gut and am hoping for some action very soon.

Yesterday I had dahl for lunch. It's yummy! (if I do say so myself) I made 1.5 X the recipe so I had a few cups to freeze as well as plenty for lunch or dinner for the rest of the week. For dinner I ate some chicken, but mostly I ate salad. I also had a couple pieces of garlic bread, homemade with lots of fresh garlic. I'm figuring the garlic sort of mitigates the white flour. LOL

Anyway, even though I don't have to change my diet on this program, I think it'll be good to at least try to really limit "bad" foods.

I still have to make my lemon vinagrette. Hopefully I'll get that done today, but I have been feeling really really tired on this, taking a nap every day.

With luck, I'll have a good update in a while. ;-)

DAY TWO -- a slow start

Last night I steeped the tea only 50 seconds (directions say 1-2 min. during the first five days). I'm afraid it might be too powerful for me b/c I usually response very well to herbal rememdies plus I was already very "regular" before starting the cleanse. I've read that if you're already regular you probably don't need to steep the tea for long or might not even need it every night. Usually only those who had chronic constipation before tend to need long steeping times.

The morning paranil capsules went down fine, and I mixed the fiber in 100% juice Cran-grape. I like it better than w/v-8.

For breakfast I unconsiously made yogurt and cottage cheese w/unsweetened granola, strawberries, blueberries and raw sunflower seeds. I usually have cottage cheese for breakfast and was on autopilot, I guess. I didn't want to waste it so I ate it anyway. I made a mental note to use apple sauce instead of cottage cheese and/or yogurt tomorrow. I'm making the dahl today that I didn't have engery to make yesterday. I already have some brown rice made to go with it.

So far today nothing in output, but I do feel like I need to evacuate. Hopefully that will occur soon!

UPDATE: I only went a normal amount, maybe slightly more. No straining or anything. It was relatively soft. Nothing too weird yet. Only one time. I'm hoping for at least two, if not three or four times per day, especially once I up the paranil and fiber on day six.

I steeped the tea for about 1 min, 10 sec. Maybe that will bring better morning results. Many people evacuate upon waking. I'd love that!

DAY ONE -- the beginning

For anyone just tuning in, I'm starting a two or three month parasite/colon cleanse today.

First thing this morning I ook 2 "paranil" (anti-parasite) capsules this morning. Felt a little queasy but didn't know if it was in my head or real queasiness. Fifteen minutes later I did 1/2 scoop of fiber in 4 oz of v-8 followed by 8 oz of water. You start out gradually. On day five I'll up it to 4 parnils and a whole scoop of fiber. Tonight I take 2 probiotic capsules and then right before bed drink "kleritea".

About a half hour after taking the fiber I had to go (it's very filling) and went a LOT. I'm usually "regular" in the morning but this was more volume than normal. I examined it to see if anything was crawling around or for evidence of something that could have crawled. LOL. Yeah, kind of early for that. But what I did see was odd. When I wiped I looked really closely and distinctly saw two flecks of something silvery/shiny, like pieces of aluminum foil. EW. Now I know I have not eating anything like that that I can ever remember. Nor have I applied it externally anywhere on my body (especially there). So how did that come out????

Then I went again, about a normal sized amount for my morning "business". That, combined with the first round is a whole lotta crap!

Now I've just eaten breakfast. A large yummy granny smith apple with raw almond butter. For lunch I'll have a big salad with hummos. Tonight I'm making a pot of dahl while the family has steaks on the bbq.

And, it's middle child's 10th birthday!!! (10 years???) So I will have a sliver of chocolate cake with peach ice cream. But since I'm still on my period, I figure the chocolate is medicinal. ;-)

Feeling a little rumbling in the gut right now. Might be time for another trip to the toody-wah. I'll update each day's post with any newness rather than making a new post.

UPDATE: Those rumblings led to another trip to the bathroom. this time softer, almost runny but not huge in volume. That's been it so far today. I did have a slight urge before dinner but nothing came of it.

For lunch I cheated and had the last piece of lefter over vegetable pizza, and some carrots and hummos with artichoke hearts and kalamata olives chopped up in it. YUM. I forgot I'm supposed to be cutting out vinegar. I have to make lemon vinagrette for my salads w/flax seed oil.

This evening I felt really really REALLY tired. That's common the first week or two, apparently as the parasites die off. I took a nap while my WONDERFUL partner marinated and then cooked steaks on the grill and baked potatoes for Child #2's birthday feast. Instead of that I had a sweet potato and a mess of asparagus made w/olive oil. I also made a cup of chai tea so I wouldn't fall asleep during the birthday celebration.

The cake and ice cream were DELICIOUS. The gifts were well appreciated. I love watching kids open up presents!

I have a little headache, again, common, but I'm not sure if it's from the cleanse or just a continuation of the headaches I've been having off andon all week.

Anyway, here's a pic of the product I'm using. Currently I'm doing Colonix (on the right), and after two or three months I will switch to Toxinout (on the left) for one more month.

What tarot card are you?

Here's my outcome:

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Today is the day!

The package tracking shows my shipment on the truck for delivery to my house today! I can't wait to get my hands on it. It was excruciating to wait once I took the plunge (pun intended) and ordered. Now the day is here.

I'm a little nervous about what I might see and posting about it, but I hope that this blog might help others considering a cleanse.

I'll post again after I open the package and examine it!!!!

UPDATE: I pawed through ones of the kits, opened up all three things and smelled them. The fiber has a banana flavor and smells like Circus Peanuts, the candy! Remember those? LOL

I start tomorrow.