The Art and Science of Seasonal Cleansing

One way to access deeper states of clarity, energy, and satisfaction, is to eat and drink as simply as possible. To start a “cleansing” protocol with herbs, food, and lifestyle changes, keep in mind that moving into it slowly may offer the most satisfying, yet least painful experience. The downside is it takes longer but will stick with you longer also. Below are ideas, tried and true, that can help with the transition into cleansing.

To begin: do not drink coffee, black tea (Green tea or yerba mate allowed), sugars, alcohol, flesh foods (for some, an exception can be made here – see me), fried or cooked oils, any prepared foods, refined salt, flour products.

Try breathing exercises and get more cardio workouts (2-3 per week for 20-30 minutes).

Next Steps to stop: Late night eating (after 6 pm), Refined salts, Flesh foods (with exceptions – see me), Pasteurized dairy foods, All sweeteners (stevia is ok, and check with me if raw honey is ok), Refined sugars, Cigarettes, Narcotic herb/drugs, Overworking.

Tests We Use to Help You Determine Your Cleanse:

• Pupil reflex – response and ability to stay contracted, and Histamine scratch test – over-response test
• Raglands/Orthostatic blood pressure – adrenal strength, ability to meet stress
• PH testing – best tests are the lemon one, and veggies all day, check ph next morning
• Bowel motility – eat beets, or an unchewed seed, wait and see for bowel change, should be 18-24 hours
• Sclera and tongue checks – shows us tissue status
• Extreme bitters tolerance and/or parasite bitters to check for toxic bile affecting the GI tract
• Elimination diets – leave out offending food for 21 days, then add back and observe energy and symptoms

Easy ways to get your body ready to cleanse:

• Skip dinners
• Eat only liquids certain days, or eat pureed foods
• Raw food only for a number of days
• 5 days off, two days on special cleansing protocol
• Broths and soups only – warm liquids
• Raw beet salad
• Laxatives for those whose bowels move only once per day – aloe vera, triphala, cascara sagrada, psyllium, smooth move teas, raw veggies, see constipation handout, bitters for some, raw beets or cooked, prunes
• Extra mineral rich foods – raw greens, seaweeds, roots, ocean fish, egg yolks, butter
• Dry skin brush every morning to loosen up lymphatics near skin, and stimulate circulation
• Oil pulling therapy
• Drink two large glasses of water right out of bed, ways to incorporate: heat up in tea, take an AM fiber blend with warm water, take supplements, use the sole salt drink (1tsp sole salt or ¼ tsp Celtic in one cup water), use apple cider vinegar drink (2-3tsp in one cup water), umeboshi plum drink (1 plum with tsp fresh ginger juice in 2 cups hot water)

DRINK MORE WATER THROUGHOUT THE DAY BUT LESS CLOSE TO BED

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KEEP A CHECKLIST NEARBY WHERE YOU CAN READ IT REGULARLY

Were goals achieved? Let’s ask ourselves? Did we set SMART goals? Did we even look at what that is? Did we challenge ourselves too much?

Reactions – how many bodies, minds, emotional reactions did we have? Did we try the Level II Challenge for Taking Personal Inventory?

Observations: what changed for us? Good? Bad? Where did we go numb, OCD, PTSD, anxiety, or others?

Where and when did we feel joy, and light, and clear?

Stories: please share your story with us, with family, friends, as this is the way to heal ourselves and the world.

Where do we want to go from here?

• Eating simply one or only a few new foods at a time, no big meals, carrots are easy and balanced, cooked greens, miso soup, avoid flours and refined foods of all sorts for a few days.
• Use Future “Insert your name” Veto! Ask your Future Self if the problems later after eating a tempting food is worth days of suffering for a few minutes of eating enjoyment?
• Get Support! Ask for help, text or call, or email when tempted to “go back.”

How Cleansing Can Improve Your Health and Energize You

• Improve Your Digestion
• How Digestion is Improved = less congestion/waste/stagnation
• Absorb More Nutrients
• How Absorption Happens = more surface area and cells to absorb the good stuff
  • Absorption happens when food molecules are broken down small enough to pass through the inner wall of your intestines into your blood or lymph. Cleansing the digestive system of old waste and hardened mucus provides an unclogged surface and restores the lining’s integrity. A healthy, clean and intact lining assures maximum absorption of nutrients for more energy and vitality.*
• Establish Better Elimination*
• More Mental Clarity & Focus*
• Reduce Cravings & Food Dependencies*
• Less Body, Breath Odors*
• Less Gas, Flatulence*
• Less Bloating; Flatter Stomach*
• Less White or Coated Tongue*
• Better Appearance*
• Clearer Skin*
• Eyes more white, iris and sclera

Purification, Chelation, and Detoxification (Use the charts below to help navigate your way through cleansing.)

DOWNLOAD WEEKLY TRACKING CHART

First common type: You may need opposite

Most Americans eat too much Carbohydrate-rich foods (grains, beans, veggies, fruits, prepared foods, snacks, sweeteners, and milk. At Health Alkemy we use the power of doing something different, something of the opposite. Our cleanses are designed to be low carbohydrate for some, and for others we want only whole grains, legumes, root veggies raw mostly, even some raw honey. We focus on just enough protein, raw fats/oily foods, vegetables and fruit, sea vegetables, and herbs. Fruit should be left out of any cleanse someone wants to lose weight.

Eat less than 100 grams of carbohydrate foods a day, and see how well you might feel. Eat mostly raw, eat some animal protein to slow a cleanse or eat it raw. Good cleansing veggie proteins are mushrooms for some, avocado, chia, flax, hemp, watermelon seeds (Go Raw), nettles, bee pollen nutritional yeast. Raw eggs, kefir, yogurt are also excellent animal vegetarian proteins fit for cleansing for some.

Second common type: You may need opposite

If we usually eat light before noon and eat lunch and dinner mainly…

Then try starting a “cleanse” with ending your first days food by 4 pm…

Then the next day your eating window is 8 AM to 2 PM…..you must fast on herbal teas, and vegetable juices the rest of the day until the next morning 8 AM. Do this for three days minimum to feel its power.

Third common type: You may need opposite

If we usually eat heavy and need heavier buttery fatty protein-rich fare then one way to cleanse is to eat low-fat juice-based meals most of the day but have an earlier meal (8 AM to Noon) of butter and protein rich easy-to-digest food. Pates would work, fish eggs, raw oysters, raw fermented or marinated fish. Soups/stews done in bone broth with lots of meat and fat and vegetables at least 50% of the volume. Cook Kombu seaweed into the stew.

Fourth Common Type: You DO need opposite if doing this a long long time

Stimulant in the morning – sedation in evening

Solution = Do the opposite in morning, have a cup of Dandy Blend or Teechino with nerve friendly herbs, and in evening try some helpful foods/herbs:

• lettuces all leafy types
• celery
• endive
• prunes
• chamomile
• spearmint
• Tulsi (holy basil)
• ashwagandha with Rehmannia for those with elevated cortisol in evening
• Do not overeat carbohydrates – this will help greatly