Last month (Nov '10) I was looking forward to attending a chapter meeting of the American Society for Indexing (ASI) in Palm Springs when I received notice that the event was canceled.
Instead of whiling away my suddenly-free weekend, I decided to actively scour various publishing job sites for work. Lo and behold, the perfect gig was advertised — a rush job indexing the third edition of a worldwide best-seller.
I jumped on it, placed my bid, and to my delight, after a phone interview with the author, I was chosen to index Lose Weight, Have More Energy, & Be Happier in 10 Days -- the beloved companion book to The Master Cleanse.
The Master Cleanse was developed fifty years ago by healer Stanley Burroughs as a method of detoxification.
To activate the cleanse one drinks a combination of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for ten days, which balances the acidic/alkaline levels of the body and promotes a feeling of health.
Toxins are flushed from the body through ingesting salt water in the mornings and drinking a mild laxative tea in the evenings. These two liquid concoctions act as a type of colonic, washing away old fecal matter.
With each passing day of the cleanse, cravings, fatigue and irritability fade, until one's true personality (usually expected to be pleasant, calm and balanced) emerges. At the end of the cleanse one may have lost up to 20 lbs., although the point of the cleanse is to eliminate toxicity more than to lose weight.
The author of Lose Weight, Have More Energy, & Be Happier in 10 Days, Peter Glickman, has had much success with the first two editions of his book, selling it in health food stores around the world and through his website.
Many people prefer Glickman's book to the original by Burroughs because it includes testimonies, questions and experiences of scores of people who have gone through the cleanse and reported their findings in online forums.
Despite its success, however, Lose Weight, Have More Energy is still not known to middle America, i.e. the Walmart shopper who never sets foot in a health food store and who has only vaguely heard of the "Lemonade Diet" due to singer Beyonce having done the cleanse to prepare for her role in "Dreamgirls."
Peter feels that by including an index to the third edition, the book will appeal to average readers because they will be much more able to navigate the material and thus will find the text to be more accessible, less daunting.
Time will tell if this turns out to be the case. Lose Weight, Have More Energy, & Be Happier in 10 Days, 3rd edition, comes out in January 2011.
My own testimony is that after having indexed the book I became very motivated to try the cleanse for myself, and during Thanksgiving week I did just that.
While it was difficult in the beginning, due to starting the cleanse just when I contracted what turned out to be a bad case of bronchitis, by the end I definitely felt it was worth it, and I look forward to doing it again and experiencing the serenity and freedom that results from the experience of detoxification.
Lose Weight, Have More Energy, & Be Happier in 10 Days, 3rd edition
(Buy it) Amazon.com [paperback]
ISBN 978-0975572252
