Earlier this month I reached my limit of patience with weight gain. My clothes were getting tighter and I had to do something to turn things around. Being as I was particularly desperate, I decided to cleanse my system with the Lemonade Diet. Ever heard of it?

I first heard of the Lemonade Diet (aka: Master Cleanse or The Master Cleanser) on an Internet message board about two and a half years ago. The person writing there warned that it wasn’t for everyone. I agree, because it takes incredible determination and commitment that most people won’t have. The process is somewhat grueling, but the results are a much cleaner body, internally.

Actually, once the fast starts, after a day or two, there’s not much desire for food… so it usually isn’t hunger that’s difficult. I don’t want to go into all the particulars of the fasting process, but it is complex and people indulging in this process are encouraged to get the definitive book on the topic, The Master Cleanser, and read it through first.

The book, which is more like a semi-thick booklet, was first published in 1976 by Stanley Burroughs. It claims that cleansing the body through fasting is “basic for the elimination of every kind of disease.” He wrote that the Lemonade Diet started over forty years before as a cure for stomach ulcers. The diet takes ten days to heal. Ten days is the minimum, though many people fast longer, up to forty days, and even beyond.

The Lemonade Diet is also an effective weight loss diet, and that’s what I needed. The book states “fat melts away at the rate of about two pounds a day” and during the first few days of my fast, that was true for me. Toward the end of my ten-day fast it slowed down a bit, but I was happy to lose thirteen pounds in ten days. That’s a start.

The lemonade recipe is simple, and here’s my generalized version of it. Take the juice of two medium sized lemons, add two to four tablespoons of real maple syrup (to taste, with less if you want to lose weight), add water to make one quart, and add a tiny tiny tiny bit of cayenne. I’ve seen other versions of this recipe on the web wherein a bit of salt is added, and it is considered an electrolyte replacement drink (like Gator-Aid). But with the Lemonade Diet, add no salt.

This is what I drank for ten days straight. We’re supposed to drink six to twelve cups per day. I figured that meant at least three lemons. I personally had trouble drinking more than six cups. I supplemented with cold spring water. Lots of it. We’re allowed a cup of peppermint tea once daily. Plus we have to do an internal cleansing routine consisting of laxative tea at night plus a salt water flush in the morning. This is very effective in getting toxins to move on out of the body. It is essential to the success of the fast because detox symptoms build up if the salt water flush isn’t used.

The back of Burroughs’ Master Cleanser book contains information on how to break the fast, recipes for sustaining healthy eating after the fast, and other health information. It is all good advice… and don’t forget, if you plan to do the fast, reading the book first is very important.

A few days ago I watched Sean Penn’s 2007 movie about Chris McCandless, Into The Wild. A true story that I was already familiar with, the film is about an idealistic 24-year-old college graduate from a wealthy family who gave away his life savings and hiked alone into the Alaskan wilderness, where he starved to death after about 112 days. The film gave a shocking look at the deterioration of the human body and mind as the actor apparently lost weight, taking in his belt by cutting new notches several times. Eventually he was totally emaciated and mentally disoriented.

Other symptoms of starvation are anemia, decreased ability to digest food, swelling under the skin, and shrinking vital organs such as the heart and lungs as they lose their ability to function. Mentally it causes irritability and an inability to concentrate. It takes only two to three months of severe malnutrition to die of starvation.

I’m writing about starvation because I’ve been shocked by the specter of high food prices and lack of availability of certain staples. In Asia people have been rioting because they can’t buy rice. Here in America some large stores are restricting the amount of rice people can buy. In Mexico people rioted because they couldn’t afford the new high price of corn tortillas. And in Africa, the wheat crop is ruined by Ug99, the fungus that threatens to destroy wheat crops around the world. I wrote about that a few days ago in Ug99, the Destruction of Wheat Crops, and Prices In Our Local Supermarkets.

Scientists predict that millions will starve because of Ug99.

So, out of concern for my fellow human beings I am asking you to consider the issue of food storage. I believe most Americans are so accustomed to having our needs provided for, we’re not prepared for the fact that everything could change overnight. If gasoline becomes unavailable, which could happen, trucking companies will not be able to supply supermarkets and our food supplies will be cut off. My significant other, who is pretty good at analyzing news and predicting the future based on what he reads, believes this could happen very quickly if war is declared against Iran.

There’s a way to prepare your family. Food storage. This means buying as much food as you can afford to, and keeping your cabinets fully stocked at all times. Of course when you prepare meals you should use the oldest foods first, and rotate the supplies you store. Food, even canned food, loses some of it’s nutritive value after a while.

I’d like to explore this idea further and will prepare some lists of things that should be stored for an emergency. I don’t want to sound paranoid or fatalistic, but I truly believe this American nation is going through hard times and that things are likely to get worse before they get better. I don’t want to see people starving. I hope with passion that my words will touch someone’s heart so that they’ll get a good supply of food stored and save themselves and their babies from hunger.

All the best to all of you…