I recently sent out an eblast to my community about the importance of a good spring cleaning for your bod. I’m using my blog here as the sounding board to get into more detail as to the “why.” Too many people nowadays are running around “detoxing” or “cleansing” and don’t even know the science behind the “why”.
All I hear is: “my PH” (which is usually followed by the quick suggested fix of “alkalized water” or “wheat grass” – news flash: There is no magic water and I don’t do hybridized wheat…neither grain nor grass) or “I’m on a candida cleanse.” Trust me, I am on board with Dr. Otto Warburg’s theory that anaerobiosis is a primary cause of cancer, but if he were here now, I think he’d scoff at the idea of relying on magic water or hybridized wheat grass being the end-all-do-all.
Everyone is obsessed with alkalizing and is at war with yeast. And really, the last thing anyone needs is a full-on battle ensuing inside their bodies. Aren’t they working hard enough just breathing anymore? The body has to filter through a toxic-shit-storm just to breath! The intrinsic bodily foundations of survival are sadly now a struggle. What I am poking fun at here is there’s so much more to optimal health than these overused health generalizations. I mean, I am fast oxidizer and my body runs optimally slightly more acidic. Candida didn’t start showing up in the body until the 20th century, but it does serve a purpose! Yes, of course you don’t want an overgrowth of yeast, but the fact is, it loves substances such as volatile organic compounds and sugar…ingredients rich in many diets today. Without candida eating up all these harmful compounds in the body, we would just drop dead, or at least become very ill. Why do you think people have the hardest detox symptoms when they just go on yeast witch-hunt? All of that toxic crap in your system is released back into your body as the yeast dies. This is why you must make sure your elimination pathways are first working like champs to thwart all this toxic mayhem that’s about to renter your blood stream, and this time all at once! As you can see if you really knew more about the “why” you time all at once! As you can see, if you really knew more about the why you would approach things safely, effectively and only embark upon wellness programs that you know work for that bod of YOURS!
These are the ingredients that make an appearance in my easy-peasy spring cleansing drink – the “why!”
Flame: All “woody”/ hard parts of plants need a little extra work to extract the medicine out of them. We chose heat for the cleanse sent out in the eblast. This process is called a decoction. For example, if using the greens of these nettles, you would juice them if fresh, or if dried, since this is the leaf and the oils are volatile, you would do an infusion instead to draw out the goodness.
Coconut Oil: Adding in a good quality fat to your hepatic tonic will actually stimulate the gallbladder to release stored bile to help rid the fat soluble toxins stored in the liver.
Dandelion Root: It stimulates liver bile. This alkaline fluid is the most important function of the liver. Without it you could not digest fats and other crucial nutrients such as fat-soluble vitamins. It plays the very important role of removing fat-soluble toxins. But how does this plant aid in bile production? It contains taraxcin, a bitter compound that both stimulates digestion, producing HCL, and promotes bile flow from both the liver (where it’s produced) and the gallbladder (where it’s stored). It’s also rich in choline, another bile stimulant. Dandelion root also contains inulin helping balance blood sugar and is “food” for your probiotics.
Burdock Root: One of the main functions of the liver is to filter the blood and burdock root is an amazing blood purifier. There are also studies that burdock roots anti- inflammatory properties can actually aid in healing alcohol-induced diseased hepatic tissue.
Nettle Root: The liver produces a large number of lymph. Nettle gently stimulates the lymphatic system and flushes excess waste from the kidneys making this cleanse much more effective. Moving beyond the liver, recent research has shown that nettle root greatly lessens the symptoms associated with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, the fancy way of saying and enlarged prostate. Out of 600 subjects over a 6-month period, they found 81% of those on nettle root had a decrease in symptoms.
Salt: Real medicinal salt is one of the most healing natural compounds on earth and should be added into every cleanse – even when fasting. It’s bile salts that are doing most of the magic mentioned above!
Stevia: If you haven’t gotten past needing sweet yet, this is a great zero glycemic option. But know what you’re getting. Be sure you using a stevia product you can trust. You never want to use a reconstituted stevia, which makes up 99% of the products out there.
With this gentle and effective cleanse along side the onset of spring, you should be left feeling fresh, energized and ready for your seasonal renewal.
