Why Detoxify or Cleanse or Fast?

What is toxicity?

A toxin is defined as anything that has a detrimental affect on cell function and/or structure.  So toxicity is a state where cellular function and replication are damaged in THE ENTIRE SYSTEM.  Parts may be affected more than others, but the problem is systemic, and often subclinical.  Current testing techniques are poor in this regard.  Isolating cancer, tumors, and diseased body parts has been shown to have no long-term benefits in mortality in European studies.  Our AMA conveniently ignores or chides their data.

Eliminating or Reducing Stagnation

Stagnations and Toxicity – five types in increasing levels of degeneration

Stagnation of any sort leads to decomposition.  We can see this in stagnant water by the road.  It smells bad!  And so do our guts if food, cells, microbes, and other things stop moving along or slow down.  Stagnant air in the room makes it smell musky.  Look below for insights.

1. Food: from overeating and poor food choices, lack of exercise, poor breathing
2. Fire: poorly circulating energy, will be interpreted as fatigue and lethargy, also this manifests as a foggy head syndrome.  This is also from lack of movement and exercise
3. Dampness: poorly circulating blood and energy can cause edema and poor water metabolism.  This also shows as gut microbe imbalance with mucoid plaque covering the gut wall in most people.  Microbes love to feed on this stuff and can crowd out our helpful critters that like a cleaner living space.
4. Phlegm: since the colon is made from the same primal tissue as the lung, chronic dampness shows as allergies, arthritis, gut inflammation, asthma, colds, flus, and coughing up mucus excessively
5. Blood: can be from injury, lack of movement, and poor quality thick sludgy blood (or too thin) from dietary transgressions over many years.

Toxins are desires

A profound statement I have explored for over ten years to validate.  It is true.  We tend to crave what we are allergic to and react to.  Desire needs satisfaction, without it, we tend to overeat and search for ways to find “peace.” Toxicity needs a poor terrain to flourish.  Unhelpful microbes feed on the waste we cannot digest.  They demand to be fed.  They can cause certain cravings and desires also.

Below is a bullet list of why to detox:

• Reduce cravings/desires for unhealthful foods
• Have clearer thinking and decision making
• Have better digestion and reduced immune loads – less auto-immune destruction
• Better liver function – increased ability to adapt and lower inflammatory levels
• Better kidney function – the Bladder acupuncture meridian is the “detox” channel
• Increased energy – when detoxification is done properly
• More satisfying and frequency of bowel movements
• Less sickness

Primary Causes of the Autoimmune Process – a result of toxicity (according to Dr. Royal Lee) 

• Starvation of the organ (most people fall in here from lack of nutrients and overeating empty foods)
• Poison, toxicity, xenobiotics (estrogen mimicry by plastics, soy, herbs, chemicals)
• Carcinogens 
• Infection (chronic, and immune load from overeating and poor food choices, excess cooked foods)
• Dehydration
• Hormone imbalance and endocrine dysfunction 
• Drug actions

Detoxification Strategies

What to do:

• reduce the terrain of irritation and infection, disinfect local site of infection
• clear inflammation and heat
• increase immune activity and proper defense response

Chelation Therapy: the binding and excretion of toxins and mucoid plaque.  This can be done with food, herbs, and food products.  They will bind with the heavy metals, radioactive wastes, dead debris, and chemical poisons (from within and from outside), then will be excreted in urine, sweat, and stool.  Gradually, the stuff in our blood, then organs migrates to the gut, and over time…excreted.  Be patient and let the process happen.

Purging Therapy: Purgingenemas, colonics, vomiting, sweating, laxatives, excess fiber

Transformational therapy – herbs, fasting, pranayama, yogic exercises, body therapies (ie- chiropractic), along with enzyme and iodine therapies

Upright cleanses – to fast or eat little/no food (like only vegetables and juices) requires rest.  For most of us, not an option for more than a few days. These cleanse require nutrients in concentrated form from food and herbs, along with adequate protein and fat.  For most, carbohydrate restriction goes a long way.  These types of cleanses require a lot of vegetables, perhaps some fruit, all food be raw, some soups on cold days, and a minimum of fat and protein to keep energy levels high enough to function at work.

Mono diets – things like watermelon, carrots, grapes, wheatgrass/greens, raw milk, etc…

Drainage protocols – we need to drain out the dead cells, debris, and bound poisons.  Otherwise, they can recirculate through the liver, lymph, and blood.

Where to drain?

Head/sinuses – fenugreek, albizia bark, Chinese skullcap, feverfew, lotus root, massage, spicy flavors, Thymex*

Lungs – fenugreek, Antronex*, oregano, thyme, anise, onions, garlic, horseradish, mustard, comfrey leaf

Liver – milk thistle, Schisandra berry, rosemary, bitter herbs, and foods such as dandelion, arugula, watercress, endive, escarole, artichoke leaf, bupleurum, gentian, yellow dock, Oregon grape, Antronex*, raw beet

Spleen/lymph – astragalus, Echinacea, calendula, plantain, poke root, cleavers, red clover, RNA*, mullein

Kidneys – garlic, parsley, celery seeds, dandelion leaf, AC Carbamide*, Arginex*, uva ursi, cornsilk, cleavers, burdock, fennel seed

Intestines – garlic, radish, onion, turnip, probiotics, sauerkrauts, beet kvass, cilantro, seaweeds, clays, apple fiber, soluble fibers, miso, fennel, chamomile, hops, caraway, citrus peels, purslane

Pelvic organs – radish, turnip, burdock, saw palmetto, nettle root, roots, motherwort, marjoram, feverfew, vitex, 

Nerves/brain – valerian, skullcap, ginkgo, rosemary, Gotu kola, lavender, lemon balm, self-heal, st. john’s wort, watercress

our recommended supplements from Standard Process, Inc. 

Intestinal flora, its importance as the inner garden, not a weed-filled patch of rotting microbial masses

What can a helpful intestinal flora do for me?

• Increase immunity (most of our lymph and assaults on blood come from gut)
• Hormonal breakdown (portal circulation and bile critical here)
• Bile transformation (poisons broken down and excreted)
• More energy (B-vitamin production)
• Recognition of self (end of arthritis, intestinal inflammation and reactivity, auto-immune disorders, allergies, asthma, hives)
• Clearer thinking (less congestion in belly = more blood flow to brain)
• Deactivate mycotoxins from yeast/fungus (guess what actually craves sweets?)
• Create complete proteins
• Crowd out less helpful critters
• Transform and clean out oxidized and harmful compounds

Examples of foods to incorporate better flora

• Sauerkraut, Lacto fermented pickles
• Sodas
• Chutneys
• Condiments such as catsup, mustard, and salsa
• Grain/nut/seed milks
• Soaked oatmeal
• Nut and seed cheeses
• Nut and seed sausages
• Kombucha
• Rejuvelac
• Yogurt based doughs for baking (to break down less desirable elements in flour)
• Dairy ferments such as yogurt, kefir, crème fraiche, sour cream, piima cream

Toxicity checks

Reading toxicity – questionnaire, eyes, tongue, urine, bowels, energy levels, types of thoughts, feelings, images, skin >>> hands/feet, touch (acupressure – alarm points), ph checks via urine and saliva

When to cleanse

Seasonal interchanges, warm and dry weather

Types of cleanses (in order of speed of cleansing)

Air, water, teas, raw fruit juices, raw veggie juices, raw fruit, raw vegetable, broths, soups with cooked veggies, cooked veggies and grains, kicharee with vegetables, rice and vegetables, other grain and vegetables, raw dairy

How to cleanse

Going in – things to prepare for

For the number of days of fasting (not cleansing) take that number of days to prepare.  For example – for a three-day fast, take 2-3 days to transition into and out of the fast by eating more simply every day.  This is where the types of cleansing above can go in reverse.

suggestions of things to leave out: 

How To Cook and Choose Foods/Herbs for Detoxification

Overall good choices:

Seaweeds, miso, garlic, turmeric, coconut oil, fiber-rich fruits/veggies, raw foods, clays, apples, green juices, vegetable juices, beet kvass, sprouts, cod liver oil, nettles, aloe vera, bee pollen

Anti-infectives:

Garlic, tea tree, oregano, ginger, Echinacea, thyme, clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus, myrhh, frankincense, lavender, rosemary, juniper, fennel, savory, palmarosa, ravensara, umeboshi pickled plum, seaweeds, calendula, goldenseal, honeysuckle flower, nasturtium, cedar, coptis

To establish better “terrain”:

Turmeric, aloe, seaweeds, purslane, marshmallow, reishi or other medicinal mushroom, coconut oil, ghee (infused best)