I’ve done a bit of fasting, and now I’ve got three friends in this town fasting, and one more reading my book about the lemonade diet. I should say, it is not a book I wrote, but a book that I own, by Stanley Burroughs. The yellow book! Anyhow, with all this interest in the master cleanser lemonade diet here I thought I’d go ahead and write a bit about how a cleansing fast is properly broken, when and why. All that!

My fast of choice has been the master cleanser lemonade diet for the last few years. It is a healthy fast because of the medicinal qualities of the lemons and cayenne, and the sustaining qualities of the real maple syrup. Before doing this fast one should always read The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs. Seriously. Read. It. Before. Fasting.

After ten days of lemonade fasting, or more, the person desiring to break their fast needs to stock up on veggies and oranges! The first post-fast day consists of only lemonade (as made with the Master Cleanser lemonade recipe – not the store lemonade) and fresh-squeezed orange juice. That orange juice will taste incredibly good after so many days of fasting! It is sweet and invigorating!

When I do the fast, I strain the lemonade because I don’t want my stomach to go back into digestive mode due to the fibers. However when I break the fast, it is time for my stomach to wake up and start digesting. The orange fibers with the fresh squeezed orange juice are an excellent way to start the stomach’s digestion motor again.

The following morning, a bit more orange juice is fine. Then it is time to make vegetable soup! There’s a recipe in the book, and I have a vegetable soup recipe on the web though it is not exactly what the Stanley Burroughs book prescribes. However, it will do. The idea is to break your digestive system in easily, slowly, and not to overburden it after a time of prolonged fasting.

The third day the happy ex-faster can have orange juice, vegetable soup, and a fresh green salad. Doesn’t that sound good? After a week or two of fasting, it definitely will be amazingly delicious. And after that day, you can go back to eating “normally” – whatever that means to you.

Of course many who go through a fast emerge while completely rethinking their dietary habits. It is normal to think that from here on in only a certain group of pure and healthy foods will be consumed. However old habits are hard to break. I know because I’ve been through this more than once! My normal food habits are not all that bad – I’m strictly vegetarian… so I get sucked back into them easily.

At the end of my last fast – after 14 days – I was ready to be vegan, but just then my father passed away and I had to travel to the SF Bay Area and stay there for two weeks with my family, often eating out in restaurants, so my resolve faded quickly. I’m still vegetarian, but there are a few foods I believe I’d be healthier without.

In any case, fasting is a definite health leap toward happy living, and to break a fast slowly over the course of several days is a kindness to your digestive system.

Post fasting, it is a good thing to use probiotics. My usual brand is Country Life Daily-Dophilus, AM/PM vegetarian probiotics. I’m still using them. And yes, I need to go on another fast!