Good morning, Beautiful Ninjas!

It’s so inspiring to see how devoted you are to mindfulness and how much self love you are demonstrating by preparing your snacks and meals ahead of time.  Some of you are true culinary masters!  This journey requires everything you’ve got. It’s about showing up for your life and embracing the Truth that YOU are the most important one. You deserve to feel overwhelmingly loved by YOU! Caring for yourself in such a committed way clears the channels clogged by habitual behavior and awakens you to a greater sensitivity.  Sugar makes the mind foggy and the body weak.  It robs you of the clarity necessary to be fully present and embodied in your life. And so the battle against sugar in all its disguises continues as we arm ourselves with greater awareness to navigate through that which we have normalized. 

Dr. David Reuben, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition says, “…white refined sugar-is not a food. It is a pure chemical extracted from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways. Its true name is sucrose and its chemical formula is C12H22O11.  It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and absolutely nothing else to offer.” ...The chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21NO4. Sugar’s formula again is C12H22O11. For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the “N”, or nitrogen atom. ...Refining means to make “pure” by a process of extraction or separation. Sugars are refined by taking a natural food, which contains a high percentage of sugar, and then removing all elements of that food until only the sugar remains….” So sugar is not a food, but an edible, addictive substance.

Dr. Alexander G. Schauss, author of Diet, Crime and Delinquency, affirms that“many mental ward and prison inmates are ‘sugarholics’ and erratic emotional outbreaks often follow a sugar binge.”  So it is safe to assume you can continue to anticipate emotional unraveling. There is no “fix” waiting to make it all better for you. No mojito or chocolate chip cookie you could reach for to distract you from the murky blob of intensity brewing within you. Your whole way of being is shifting and you are breaking free!

How beautiful it is that we are all in this together - taking the time to face all that presents itself, completely unarmed.  It’s entirely normal and expected to feel detox symptoms such as erratic emotions, crying fits, anger, and fatigue.  It’s part of the purification process. So don’t judge yourself.  We are dealing with the most powerful, widely endorsed, culturally and socially encouraged and accepted drug on the planet!  Don’t look for allies outside of your fellow cleansers on this one.  But instead, enjoy this community and rest in knowing that all of us are feeling vulnerable and disoriented in varying degrees.  I give you my word that there is a beautiful space of clarity awaiting you once you get past this fog.  Especially when we get into the parasite cleanse phase, which will begin on Day 11.  I will give you more instructions along with do's and don'ts in a few days.  For me, that’s the part of the cleanse that gets me feeling like an innocent child in a wondrous world.  You’ll see!  And THAT’S the space where you are vibrating at your Highest potential and you just “get it.”  You’ll feel illumination.  You’ll feel so intuitive and sensitive.  A question (or several) in your heart will be readily answered as if you always knew, and just couldn’t hear.  I promise you.  Just stay committed. Commitment will grace you with the discipline and will power and all the things you may not think you have.  Commitment is the first step. 

Remember to relax into your journey and keep it simple. Focus only on sharpening your ninja skills in discerning sugar in all its guises. And also remember to continue to taper down on your added sweetener intake as well as your coffee intake (if it relates to you). Because come Day 11, added sweeteners and coffee will be taken away! You will be able to return to your beloved added sweeteners on Day 26. But not your coffee. Don't hate me. 

Here is a list I have been compiling that reveals the different names for sugar that sneak into our "food." Refer to this list when you shop for packaged goods! And go through your pantry and refrigerator to rid yourself of items containing these ingredients. Donate them or put them in a box somewhere away from your yearning hands. Preparation and awareness are key! Happy cleansing!

• Barley malt
• Beet sugar
• Brown sugar
• Buttered syrup
• Cane juice
• Cane juice crystals
• Cane juice solids
• Caramel
• Carob syrup
• Corn syrup
• Corn syrup solids
• Dehydrated cane juice
• Dehydrated fruit juice
• Demerara sugar
• Dextran
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Diatase
• Diatastic malt
• Ethyl maltol
• Fructose
• Fruit juice
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Fruit juice crystals
• Galactose
• Glucose
• Glucose solids
• Golden syrup
• High fructose corn syrup
• Lactose
• Levulose
• Malt syrup
• Maltodextrin
• Maltose
• Mannitol
• Refiner's syrup
• Simple syrup
• Sorghum syrup
• Sucrose
• Treacle
• Turbinado 

©Erika Elizondo, H.H.C