Detoxification / Cleansing

As you improve your diet and lifestyle, you will go through a detoxification process that can include withdrawal headaches as coffee, alcohol, and cigarettes are eliminated. This is a sure sign that you need to be off these substances. Pay special attention to removing aspartame (NutraSweet) from your diet. It is a very addictive substance made from two amino acids and wood alcohol. Wood alcohol is noted for its negative effect on vision and can cause blindness. The manufacturer would have us believe that people don’t drink enough wood alcohols to cause problems. Aspartame is now in over 9,000 products, however, and some people drink liters of diet soda every day. The two amino acids break down into carcinogens and toxins above 86°F. Last time I checked, my body temperature was 98.6°F. Aspartame is responsible for ninety-two different symptoms as reported by the FDA, but big business keeps it on the shelves. Only you can keep it out of your body.

Don’t be surprised if you experience an aggravation of symptoms if you go back to old dietary habits. In other words, once the body is feeling better, if toxic substances are ingested, you may have a severe reaction to them. This immediate feedback should warn you to avoid them. Such feedback is good; this is the way the body encourages us to avoid these substances. Listen to your body.

A healthy diet of fresh whole grains, nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruit, fish, and chicken will help your body eliminate toxins from your previous diet. After a regimen of optimum diet, exercise, and sufficient sleep has been implemented and maintained for a minimum of one month, you can begin short fasts on vegetable broths and vegetable juices as well as using psyllium seed powder or capsules to increase your bowel movements while on the fast. Take the psyllium capsules twice a day with two glasses of water or 1 teaspoon of psyllium powder in a jar of water with a bit of fruit juice for taste. This should be shaken vigorously and taken with another glass of water to create the optimum bulking action of the psyllium. Juice fasting can be done for a three-day period every two to three months. This gives the body a good rest from digestion, and toxins held in fatty tissue have a chance to be eliminated.

Sauna therapy is becoming a very popular and vital form of detoxification. Environmental medicine practitioners recommend this therapy to sweat toxins out through the skin; to mobilize the release of poisons from storage in fat cells; and for general relaxation. A moderate temperature is recommended (150 to 160°F). You can take several fifteen- to twenty-minute sessions interspersed with cool showers for a total of two to four hours to treat severe environmental illness. For general cleansing, just work up to one hour of sauna time once or twice a week. Rubbing the skin with sea salt helps bring out the sweat. Drink lots of vegetable broth to replace lost potassium and salt and take your water with a pinch of sea salt.

Aloe vera gel can be taken on a regular basis for cleansing. This substance is good for healing the intestines and detoxification; take 1 tablespoon in juice every morning.

If there are indications of lead toxicity or heavy metal poisoning, via blood or hair analysis, use foods that will chelate or grab the heavy metals. These include pectin (apples), alginate (seaweed), cilantro, and the amino acids methionine, cysteine, and cystine found in beans, eggs, onions, and garlic.

Other daily cleansers include the juice of one lemon in water every morning; 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon organic honey in water every morning; 1 glass of beet kvass. (See the sections on Sprouting and Beet Kvass) Essiac tea; the Hoxsey Formula; and Lapacho tea are more specific for cancer prevention. (See Cancer for more information on the last three herb teas.) These special drinks can be rotated to obtain optimum benefits.

More sophisticated detoxification includes oral phosphatidyl choline and inhaled glutathione. These substances are used intravenously for optimum results but a patented form of phosphatidyl choline called PhosChol is well absorbed and highly active. Glutathione buffered with baking soda can be used in a nebulizer and achieves most of the effects of IV administration. These procedures should be done under supervision.

In special cases, enemas may be recommended for more thorough intestinal cleansing. The Gerson Therapy and Dr. Nicholas Gonzales in New York use a complete regimen of enzymes, juicing, and coffee enemas in their cancer protocols. Coffee enemas stimulate the release of bile from the liver. The venous system in the bowel is in direct communication with the liver and gallbladder and instead of the caffeine entering the body or the arterial system, it specifically detoxifies the liver. It’s best to be under the care of a practitioner when using coffee enemas. If improperly done they can disturb your regular pattern of elimination, irritate the ileocecal valve, and disrupt your intestinal flora.

Warning: Detoxification is contraindicated in pregnancy and breast-feeding. Toxins released from storage during a detox can flood the blood stream passing into the placenta or breast milk.

Castor Oil Packs

Directions: Take an old hand towel or facecloth and rub in 4 to 5 tablespoons of castor oil. Cover the affected area but protect your bedclothes with plastic, especially if you are going to wear the pack overnight. You may use a heating pad on low to help the action, but it works just fine at room temperature too because the normal temperature of the body heats it up. Leave on at least one hour or overnight. Castor oil will stimulate the lymphatic circulation to begin to clear debris and start the healing process.

Water Purification

According to Dr. Jay Gould, the only way to remove strontium 90 from our tap water is through distillation or reverse osmosis. To remove parasites, you need a filter with a pore size of 1/2 micron; to remove chlorine you need a carbon block filter. When you purchase your water filter, make sure it meets all the above specifications. Personally, I am not in favor of drinking distilled water, which is devoid of crucial trace minerals.

Too Toxic to Detox

In my telephone consulting practice I frequently encounter clients who are so toxic that they appear to be allergic or sensitive to anything taken by mouth. For such cases I must rely on the skin as the body’s main organ of absorption and detoxification by applying magnesium oil, iodine, sea salt rubs, chlorophyll or wheat grass juice, and aromatherapy to the skin and using Epsom salts baths and saunas. If they are able to take nutrients by mouth, the safest to begin with is angstrom-size magnesium that is absorbed directly into cells.

Copyright (c) 2009 Russell Chiasson

Dr. Carolyn Dean
http://www.onlynaturesfinest.com

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