Royal flush?

Remember the earlier blurb on this?

Ingredients required are:

# Apple juice x 5 litres
# Grape fruit x 1
# First cold pressed extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup
#Epsom salt - a couple of teaspoons

Report:

1. Yes I did it.

2. Drinking 1L apple juice a day was not difficult but kept wondering about the sugar & carbs! Even though I bought the "No sugar added" type, it still contains 'natural' sugar. I chose Berri brand because it was the lowest in calories and sugar and was sold with the added promise of "No preservatives" (how true this is, I really can't confirm but felt slightly 'comforted' with the marketing representation). Drinking fresh apple juice would have been ideal but not practical for busy people.

3. If you didn't know/realise, apple juice has a mild laxative effect.

4. The last step - the concoction of grape juice and olive oil was OK as long as you mix it up well; which is hard since scientifically they do not mix well because of the different densities. I ended up with the last bit of just oil and it was a little ewww! Drinking the mixture with a straw helped.

5. The WORST experience.....would be the encounter with the epsom salt. Btw it doesn't taste salty, it felt/tasted 'syntactic' probably due to the magnesium sulphate (erm, not that I've technically tasted anything syntactic before but vaguely image it would probably taste as foul as this). After one sip, I wasn't sure whether it was edible. I even double checked with my friend on the list of ingredients and went back to the pharmacy to ask whether it was fit for human consumption. It didn't help that the information on the side of the box only recommended external uses e.g. cleaning the washing machine and foot baths (omg right?). There is a reference to 'Food Grade' at the bottom of the box and yes its 'edible' - but note that it is not your 'everday salt' for seasoning food! If anything I dread tasting again, it would be this - it was foul, dreadful and would trade it for Chinese medicine without a blink of an eye.

*Other uses of epsom salt included in post below. Note that they all refer to external use - ha ha, yes I'm still doubting its edibility!!

6. Any tummy woes? None actually which was surprising. No wrenching cramps unlike my first time drinking detox herbal tea (phew, that was one bad experience!!). Let's just say it was 'normal', smooth sailing all the way!! ha ha

Findings?

Erm, let's just say 'Its inconclusive' since I didn't look that hard or seived through anything. Lolz

I feel ok (normal). Just had more daily bowel movements but I suppose you can achieve this by drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day, eat more fruits, vegetables and generally consume food that are high in fibre.

Hm.....still have a big bottle of the epsom salt, may use it up for any of these uses:

Relaxing and sedative bath: Soak in warm water and 2 cups of epsom salt.

Face cleaner: To clean your face at night, mix a half-teaspoon of epsom salt with your regular cleansing cream. Just massage into skin and rinse with cold water.

Homemade skin mask: Apply the mask to damp skin. For normal to oily skin, mix 1 tablespoon of cognac, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of non-fat dry milk, the juice of 1 lemon, and a half-teaspoon of epsom salt. For normal to dry skin, mix 1/4 cup of grated carrot, 1 1/2 teaspoons of mayonnaise and a half-teaspoon of epsom salt.

Foot soak: Soothe aches, remove odors and soften rough skin with a foot soak. Add 1/2 cup of epsom salt to a large pan of warm water. Soak feet for as long as it feels right. Rinse and dry.

Skin exfoliator: Massage handfuls of epsom salt over your wet skin, starting with your feet and continuing up towards the face. Have a bath to rinse.

Remove excess oil from hair: Epsom salt soaks up excess oil from hair. Add 9 tablespoons of epsom salt to 1/2 cup of oily hair shampoo. Apply one tablespoon of the liquid to your hair when it is dry; rinse with cold water. Pour lemon juice or organic apple cider vinegar through the hair, leave on for 5-10 minutes, and then rinse.

Remove hairspray: Combine 1 gallon of water, 1 cup of lemon juice, and 1 cup epsom salt. Combine, cover and let set for 24 hours. The next day, pour the mixture into your dry hair and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then shampoo as normal.

Hair volumizer: Combine equal parts of deep conditioner and epsom salt. Warm in a pan. Work the warm mixture through your hair and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse.

Soak sprains and bruises: Epsom salt will reduce the swelling of sprains and bruises. Add 2 cups epsom salt to a warm bath, and soak.

Splinter remover: Soak in epsom salt, it will draw out the splinter. (source)

For cases of constipation, here are two natural alternatives that may assist:
* Apple and Pear Juice
* Apple and Prune Juice

Prepare equal amounts of fresh apple and pear/prune juice. Drink this combination when you first wake up and one hour before bedtime.