What Happens When I Try a 21-Day Cleanse?

I have been fascinated with cleanses ever since I met a woman in London named Lucinda who swore they were the secret to her perfection.

Well, she didn't actually say that, but I found her so lovely on the inside and the outside and I had to know her secret. She was the sort who welcomed you into her home and put on a pot of tea while also holding a conversation and her baby. She was whippet thin with shiny skin and hair. When I met her it was as if she'd just gotten out of an ashram in India where she'd meditated for a decade.

"Excuse me, Lucinda, but what is your secret to your perfection?" I asked, while eating a perfect little lunch that she whipped up because "she sensed" I was hungry, which I was.

Of course she laughed. And then she said, "Well, I suppose it could be the cleanse I just did. I've never felt better!"

That was it. I vowed to try a cleanse sometime in my life. And here I am, a few years later, trying Dr. Sebastian Junger's The Clean Program. I decided to keep a diary so you can all find out if I do end up more healthy by the end of this. Find out what happens when I try to live off of 2 shakes and one real seriously healthy meal a day. Right now, I'm a couple days into it and I can tell you, already I've fallen off the wagon once. Find out why and then see if I can stick to it.