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Detox protocols

Body & toxins - Oxidation - Detox system - Nutrients - Protocols

Once you make sure your nutritional status and intake are good, you can help your body get rid of toxins with various detox protocols. It is important to emphasize that any intense detox protocol, when applied to a body plagued with significant toxic accumulation, will produce more or less intense discomfort, as toxins are pulled out of their relatively safe fatty tissue and other storages. In other words, it will likely make you feel worse before you start feeling better.

Also, the importance of being well hydrated - as well as relying on professional help if undergoing intense detox protocols - can not be overemphasized.

With that in mind, here is a brief overview of some of the most popular detox protocols. They include:

 ▪ fasting
▪ juicing
▪ detox diets
▪ colon cleanse
▪ liver/gallbladder cleanse
▪ gallbladder flush
▪ purge
▪ warm bath/sauna/sweating and
▪ coffee enema

FASTING, in one or another form part of many traditions, is the oldest body detox protocol. In its strict form, fasting is abstinence from any food, solid or liquid, but with plentiful water intake, for one to seven (or more) days. It is, obviously, a very simple protocol, and can be very efficient in helping the body to detoxify. It should be accompanied with limited physical activity, plenty of rest and relaxation.

However, longer-term fasts are not advisable without medical supervision. Prolonged fasting can lead into a toxic trap, due to release of toxins from dissolved fatty tissues being accompanied by an overall drop in the level of available nutrients, including those needed for detoxication. As a result, toxicity of released toxins may effectively increase many times, making you feel miserable, and possibly inflicting functional organ damage. For that reason, water fast should be accompanied by at least one - preferably two - enemas daily, to speed up toxin elimination.

Even short-term fast can be risky for people with health condition such as diabetes, causing their blood sugar level to fall to dangerously low levels.

Most of us have significant toxic loads, which makes water fasting potentially unpleasant, even unhealthy. In order to prevent released body toxins keep circulating through the entire system due to fasting-induced inefficiency of the detox system, it is both, safer and more efficient to have some limited, selective food intake maintained. That leads us to juicing.

JUICING should be done with fresh organic fruit and vegetable juices as the only, or principal form of food intake for up to three days. It should consist of three to four 8-12 ounce glasses of freshly made raw juice a day. Carrot, cabbage, celery, cucumber, spinach and beetroot, alone or  mixed with apple or pineapple are a good choice, but other vegetables and water-rich fruit can be used, as desired.

Adding small amounts of green super-foods like wheat grass or green algae (spirulina, chlorella) enhances cleansing and detox function.

Juices supply the body with easily available concentrated nutrients and enzymes, at the same time minimizing metabolic waste. They also alkalize the body, enabling it to function more efficiently.

Plentiful water should be consumed as well, so that your total fluid intake is not less than about 2.5-3 liters (nearly 3 quarts) a day. It is needed to help eliminate mobilized toxins through the kidneys.

The effect of juicing can be enhanced by adding to juice 500-1000mg of vitamin C, multi-mineral/vitamin supplement and up to 30g of water-soluble fiber (oat bran, psyllium seed husks) a day. The later should help regular bowel movements.

Juicing can be made easier (thus more likely to accomplish as planned) and more effective, if combined with light raw vegetable meals, such as salads, sprouts and root vegetables. Such fast can be extended beyond 3-4 days; according to Dr. Paavo Airola, who supervised many a fast, up to ten days do-it-yourself juicing fast is generally safe, but individuals with serious diseases still should do it under supervision of a qualified medical professional (Juice fasting, p33). Such fast can be done once every few months, and can be combined with one juice-only day a week.

 Juice fast will cleanse and rejuvenate the body. But the end result will very much depend on how you break the fast, as well as on your diet and lifestyle after it. At the end of fasting period, regular foods are gradually reintroduced, in small quantities. Overeating is a no-no. Finally, juicing will have little effect if after it one falls back to unhealthy diet and eating habits.

A few important tips will help define successful juicing program:

• regular bowel movement prior to and during fast is essential; beside taking water soluble fiber, mentioned above, it can be accomplished by taking one or two tablespoons of raw linseed with plenty of warm water before bed time, or vitamin C near the individual bowel tolerance level

• it is not unusual that the release of toxins, as well as possible withdrawal symptoms from ceasing consumption of foods that don't agree with your body (thus forcing it to make a metabolic switch of some kind), produces adverse effects within the first several days; they include nausea, vomiting, headache, eczema, foul-smelling stools, joint and back pain, fatigue, confusion, and others. These side-effects of detoxification can be relieved by taking a teaspoon of alkali salts - 2 parts sodium bicarbonate to 1 part potassium bicarbonate - in a glass of water, followed by another glass of water (half to one hour after meal, not more than twice daily and separate from taking vitamin C, which would react with bicarbonates)4

• positive attitude alone can make a difference between fasting experience being success and failure; you probably shouldn't give it a try unless you believe that it will make you feel better (this is not to imply it is "all in your head"; rather that such attitude makes it more likely that you will adhere to it, and that you'll be willing to follow up with improved diet/lifestyle)

DETOX DIETS are, in general, based on organic fruit and vegetables. They reduce intake of food-related toxins (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, food additives, etc.), as well as toxic by-products of the metabolism, while, at the same time, increase the intake of nutrients. Since they are mainly plant-based, detox diets also alkalize the body. This multifaceted action, again, helps the body to reduce toxin accumulation, and to improve its overall function. However, it does require longer term commitment to be effective.

COLON CLEANSE is the removal of sticky residues imbedded into intestinal lining that impair absorption, attract harmful microorganisms and accumulate toxic substances. The cleanse is accomplished by the joint action of fiber roughage (psyllium husk) and, usually, special toxin-absorbing clay (bentonite). The mix should be taken in between meals, for five to seven days, with a glass of water. After that, it is recommended to replenish friendly intestinal bacteria, which also has been taken out in the process.

An alternative to bentonite is diatomaceous earth, which is reported to absorb wide range of toxins, including methyl mercury and pesticides residues, as well as some bacteria and viruses. It is taken with water, up to one tablespoon once a day, before bed time.

The purpose of the LIVER/GALLBLADDER CLEANSE is to loosen and cleanse stored waste materials from the liver and gallbladder. It is accomplished as follows:

•  it begins with 3-4 glasses of pure apple juice daily (best taken between meals), for three to five days to loosen fatty/calcium deposits

•  the last day, Epsom salts, or disodium phosphate - for relaxing the sphincter muscle of the gallbladder and bile ducts - is consumed during the afternoon.

•  finally, 1/2 cup of olive oil is consumed at bedtime, to stimulate liver and gallbladder contractions, and expulsion of the wastes into intestines.

The protocol can be enhanced by adding phosphoric acid to the apple juice, and calcium, creamy fruit mix and bentonite during the final day14.

A simpler version, so called GALLBLADDER FLUSH, consists of taking half ounce of olive oil and lime juice mix each day for a week, then an ounce of it each day for another week, then ounce and a half for yet another week - as long as it takes to pass a tarry stool filled with gallbladder waste.

PURGE protocol, in Dr. Kelley's version, consists from taking only citrus punch, Epsom salts and water for two days. Calcium can be added. Other than mobilizing toxins, it also has strong alkalizing effect.

WARM BATH with one cup of each, baking soda and sea salt added to the water, helps the body excrete toxins through the skin. The bath shouldn't last more than half an hour.

SWEATING can really unburden your body from toxic overload by coupling enhanced detox function with accelerated toxin elimination. If you for any reason cannot have exercise-induced sweating on a regular basis, use sauna. If you find it difficult to tolerate regular sauna, consider FIR (far-infrared) sauna.

Make sure to compensate for body fluid loss and related nutrient loss - especially minerals - resulting from sweating.

Another very effective - and equally unpopular - method for elimination of accumulated body toxins is COFFEE ENEMA. If you have serious health problem, such as cancer, detox enema is definitely something to consider. While seemingly repulsive, it is actually a quick, simple procedure, and did help many to recover, even from terminal illnesses.

Coffee enema can be combined with juicing, or other detox protocols. All that you need is enema bag and two tablespoons of regular coffee per session. After you lay down and inject coffee liquid into your colon, you rest for 10-15 minutes, then have it expelled into the toilet, and repeat one more time. This simple procedure, even in a short period of time, can substantially reduce your toxic load.

Detox efficacy of the coffee enema is not only result of minimizing re-absorption of toxins by speeding up intestinal discharge. Phytonutrients from coffee, directly absorbed through the intestinal wall, stimulate both, synthesis of glutathione and bile flow. This combined action of intensified detoxication and prompt elimination makes coffee enema a single most effective detox protocol.