Sunday, January 2, 2011

It's a good time to Detox!

The beginning of the year is always a good time to go through a cleanse. Holiday eating and New Year's resolutions are a good reason to detoxify your system. There are many Natural Health Care Practitioners, including Jeffrey Bland, Richard Schultz, Danny Viera, Bernard Jensen, Herbert Shelton, etc., who say that about 80% of their patients improve significantly just by doing a good bowel cleanse. That's powerful!

There are many systems in the body to detox, the top two being the bowel and liver. Another "popular" cleanse is for the gallbladder. It is also a good idea for some, if not most, to go through a kidney and lymphatic detoxification as well.

For all my patients, I do specific questionnaires and some tests to see which cleanse(s) are appropriate for them. I will focus on the bowel, or intestinal, liver, and gallbladder cleanses in this post.

It's always best to start with a bowel cleanse because the intestines must be moving properly so that any toxins that are released with subsequent cleanses can be pushed out rapidly. This decreases the chances of any severe "detox reactions" from reabsorbing the cellular toxins that are released. Also, if the intestines are impacted or coated with fecal material, you won't be able to absorb all the good nutrients from the detox supplements.

Most people can do very well with a mild bowel cleanse that has such ingredients as psyllium, cascara sagrada, garlic, barley grass, cape aloe, probiotics, and the like. I usually start out with a product I sell call AlkaCleanse. It is mild, yet very effective, and lasts only 5-7 days. Also, it is properly processed so it is alkalinizing to the body; an absolute must. During this phase it is important to eliminate dairy, red meat, processed foods, and eat plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Choose organic as much as possible.

Now that the bowels are cleansed and moving well, the liver cleanse would usually be next. Again, depending on the patients needs, everyone gets a specific protocol of supplements. I like to use the UltraClear line of medical foods because they have products specific for different body types. Not all bodies detoxify the same, and it is important to specify nutritional insufficiencies and needs. In addition to the UltraClear drink, probiotics, milk thistle, green grasses, and other nutrients are used. Again, there is a specific food program to follow, and it is a bit more restricted than the bowel cleanse. Liver cleanses last from 10 - 28 days.

For the gallbladder cleanse, you can refer back to the post on 4/11/10. This is a good one and pretty easy to do because it is the shortest and least restricted.

During all these cleanses, I like patients to use Pure Radiance Enhanced Water. It helps alkalize the system and assists in super-absorption of the nutrients from the supplements.
If you have any questions or would like a phone consultation, feel free to contact me at 661-309-2259 or drdeb4u@yahoo.com

Happy cleansing!