Maine Detox Redox

High tide again as I sit down to post a quick update on my Maine Detox and share another juice recipe.

Once more, a simply perfect day... beautiful blue sky, non-stop sun and brisk ocean breezes. From my window now, I'm watching row after row of evenly spaced, short white-capped waves rolling into shore, each separate but aligned in precision, like trained dolphins swimming in a chorus line. This cheerful display is a true heart opener.

Meanwhile, yesterday's surfer has been replaced by a paddle-boarder riding the swells beyond the breakers – a wet-suited fellow standing on a short wide surfboard, holding a long-handled black paddle used more for balance than for travel. Looks like fun.


In detox news, last night found me eating a bit of solid-ish food, beginning with fresh guacamole from the Village Food Market in town. This was followed by miso soup with a few slender stalks of steamed asparagus chopped in. (I had brought from home a jar of South River Barley Miso, along with fresh garlic cloves and a grater, cayenne pepper and nutritional yeast. Voila! Instant miso soup.) The asparagus also came from the market - they do a nice job there.

Before bed I drank a cup of Smooth Move tea to help boost elimination, a critical component of cleansing. (Remember: until waste leaves the body, a cleanse is only a potential cleanse!) I've also been taking 4 capsules daily of Comprehensive Cleanse, a product I formulated while working as the staff nutritionist and education administrator at Pioneer Nutritional Formulas. The product contains clinical levels of milk thistle plus meaningful amounts of several other traditional Western and Ayurvedic herbs, green foods and superfoods – all intended to help support the body's many channels of elimination (liver, lymph, kidney, etc). Comprehensive Cleanse contains no laxative herbs, however, hence the added boost from Smooth Move or Colon Cleanse, a gentle purgative I use and recommend.

This morning I drank a glass of water with MSM and fresh lemon juice before slipping out to catch sunrise at 6:15. Back inside my warm room, I enjoyed a mug of Barry's Irish black tea (my vice) with raw honey, and later, a tasty green juice made with pink grapefruit.

I'm feeling very clear and light today, thanks to the psycho-spiritual benefits of cleansing. For just as waste is eliminated from the body, so it may be removed from the mind. Reducing the amount of dense matter in the system via the physical cleansing process allows pure thoughts and life force energy to flow more freely throughout the entire human organism. This supports a certain mental liberation, opens up psychic channels to god/spirit and sets the stage for deeper spiritual growth if one is moved in that direction.

With this in mind, I've been strengthening my practice of Vipassana Meditation by sitting three times a day during my stay here. I’m also working the Artist's Way program through a 12-week workshop facilitated by the wonderful Robin Lane, - we’re now on week three. This means lots of writing and journaling, reading and reflection...

If only there were more time in twenty-four hours. The shadows grow long...this day will be ending soon. Sigh. I will be sorry to leave tomorrow. And I will be glad, holding the ocean near in spirit as I move forward into my life, returning to family and friends refreshed, renewed and grateful for this experience.

JUICE THREE: Grapefruit on the Green

1 bunch celery
3 leaves collard greens (or kale, etc.)
1 pink grapefruit, peeled & pitted
1 cucumber
generous squeeze of lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more)


Directions: Run celery, collards, grapefruit and cucumber through the juicer. (Tip: alternate feeding softer cuke and grapefruit with more fibrous celery ribs and collard leaves to help keep things moving.) Squeeze in lime juice at the end and add cayenne pepper to taste. Or, if you happen to have a green jalapeno on hand, juice that, too and leave out the cayenne. Either way, bon appetit!