The 4 week ultimate body detox plan

Th e 4-Week
Ultimate Body
Detox Plan
What separates two people most profoundly is a diff erent sense and degree of cleanliness.
Friedrich Nietzsche
In this chapter you will learn
• How to decrease your exposure to toxins in your foods and beverages • How to effectively eliminate toxic buildup in your intestines, liver, kidneys, lungs, blood, lymph, skin, and fatty deposits • The best order in which to cleanse your body’s detoxifi cation organs Chapter .: The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan ...
Cleansing your body of toxic buildup at the cellular, tissue, and organ levels as well as emotional and energetic levels, can mean the difference between fatigue and energy, pain and being pain-free, and having poor health or having great health.
Now that you are aware of the many toxins you are regularly exposed to, ways to lower your exposure in your home and personal-care products, and why it is essential to detoxify your body, it is time to get down to eliminating toxins from the foods you eat and start to cleanse your body of the toxins that may have built up over the years.
Although you can never totally eliminate toxins from your food, beverages, air, metabolic processes, and other exposures, it does not mean that you should sit back and wait for disease to strike. It means that not only is it important to minimize your exposure to toxins by choosing healthier options, it is essential to get and keep your detoxified organs and systems functioning optimally. In that way, they are better prepared to remove the toxins to which they are exposed and eliminate them before they can damage your body.
The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan uses many forms of natural therapies to restore your body’s functioning: nutritional therapy (the use of food as medicine), herbal therapy, nutritional supplementation, juicing, hydrotherapy (the use of water to heal the body), exercise, homeopathy, Bach flower therapy, aromatherapy, breath work, sound therapy, meditation, energy medicine, body work, massage and more.
The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan is designed to provide thorough cleansing, much deeper than many of the cleansing programs currently available in book form and much more thorough than most of the ready-made supplement programs available in stores. Using the above therapies, we will cleanse your intestinal tract, kidneys, lymphatic system, liver, gallbladder, blood, lungs, skin, and fatty deposits (yes, even cellulite).
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For most people, the program consists of four weeks; however, if you are quite overweight, have been exposed to large amounts of toxins, or are experiencing severe ill effects of toxins (such as fi bromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, cancer, or another serious disorder), you will likely need to spend more time detoxifying. The amount of time varies from person to person and largely depends on the nature of the toxic exposure, the amount you are overweight, the volume of toxins in your body, and the length of time you have been ill. Do not be discouraged, however, since if you fall into this category, you will likely reap the greatest rewards from following The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan.
Although each phase is designed to be one week long, you will be guided from one step to the next so you know when it is time to move to the next phase. The program takes some effort but is still easy enough to fit into most people’s lives.
Each week builds on the last week. For example, in week one you will begin to cleanse your kidneys and urinary and intestinal tracts. During week two, you will begin to focus more attention on the lymphatic system, but will still be cleansing the kidneys and urinary and intestinal tracts. This week will also begin to help with cellulite cleansing. During week three, we will add attention to the liver and gallbladder. This will also help with your body’s ability to break down any fat stores that may be leading to being overweight. And, finally, in week four we will shift our attention to the blood and circulatory system, lungs and respiratory tract, and skin.
There are some things that are required throughout the program for the best results. By now, it is assumed that you have already started switching your household cleaning products as well as your personal-care products. There are many additional ways to decrease your intake of toxins so you obtain maximum benefi ts from Th e 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan.
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ESSENTIALS OF THE 4.WEEK ULTIMATE BODY DETOX PLAN The following parts of The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan are common to all weeks. You will continue them throughout Phases 1, 2, 3, and 4. Over the next four weeks, you will need to do the following:
Drink plenty of purified water (at least eight to ten cups (250 mL cups) per day). Add Cellfood® (see resources) to three cups per day. This is essential throughout the program because it helps to fl ush out the many toxins that will be stirred up and eliminated from fat stores and organs in your body. Drinking adequate water with Cellfood® will provide the necessary fluid for your body to push toxins out of your lymphatic system. It also helps flush out your kidneys, which also require adequate water to function properly.
It is important that you eat plenty of raw fruits and vegetables on this program. Th e enzymes, fibre, water content, vitamins, minerals, and high-quality protein that fruits and vegetables provide will help ensure that your nutritional needs are met, particularly since the detox mechanisms in your body have specific requirements. I highly recommend that you eat organic produce wherever possible since you are trying to eliminate toxins from your body. Eating conventionally grown produce increases your exposure to pesticides and other toxins, the very ones that we are trying to decrease your exposure to and eliminate from your body.
Thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables before consuming them to eliminate any microorganisms that may be present. Also, if you are unable to buy organic produce, scrubbing your conventionally grown fruits and vegetables thoroughly will help to reduce your exposure to pesticides and pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, mould, etc.
Meat is very acidic and requires tremendous energy to digest. I recommend avoiding meat altogether for this cleanse; however, if you simply must have some, limit your consumption to one serving
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per week maximum. If you do choose to eat meat, it is imperative that you purchase only organic meat or poultry. Animals are fed hormones, antibiotics, and other medications to fatten them and to supposedly keep them healthy. These toxins become concentrated in the meat we eat. So if you must eat some meat or poultry throughout your cleanse, eat organic meat a maximum of one time per week. This will not only be better for your body, but better for the planet as well.
Limit your consumption of sweets. You can use as sweeteners small amounts of stevia (a herb that is naturally one thousand times sweeter than sugar without the harmful effects on your blood sugar levels and your pancreas); raw, unfiltered honey; pure maple syrup; or raw sugar. Raw sugar is not the same as turbinado, demerara, or brown sugar. The latter three are refined white sugar to which molasses is added. Avoid them. Other sugars to avoid include molasses, beet sugar, date sugar, corn syrup, glucose, fructose (this is fruit sugar that has been heavily refined), sucrose, maltose, or anything on a food label that reads “-ose.” They are just as damaging to your body as white sugar. Of course, your best option is fruit. Forget what Dr. Atkins tells you about fruit. Fruit is the most cleansing of all foods. Throughout this program, you will be eating plenty of fruit. If you believe you cannot tolerate fruit because it gives you indigestion, you may be eating it at the wrong time. Fruit is rapidly digested and doesn’t need to be digested in the stomach like other foods. If you eat fruit after eating foods that need to be digested in the stomach (all other foods), all the food, including the fruit, will sit together and begin to ferment. This will cause all sorts of digestive troubles. However, if you eat fruit on an empty stomach, you will likely be able to tolerate it without any discomfort.You will learn more about fruit consumption and its effects on cleansing in a moment. Be aware that soft drinks, sweetened juices, fruit punch, and other beverages contain concentrated sweeteners that are not permitted on this program.
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Those that are sweetened with fruit juice or fruit purée are still too concentrated and cause rapid blood sugar fluctuations.
Avoid all synthetic sweeteners, including Nutrasweet, saccharin, aspartame, and any of the sweeteners that slick marketers claim “go through your body undigested” or “contain zero calories.” Th e diseases that have been linked with these sweeteners are pages long. Really. If you are to experience the benefits of this program, avoiding chemical sweeteners is essential.
Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs throughout this program. If you absolutely cannot stop smoking, you will still get some benefits from following the program; however, they will be much greater if you choose to quit smoking. If you are just not ready to kick the habit, detoxifying your body can help reduce cravings so following the program may help you to quit eventually.
Use prescription and over-the-counter drugs only when essential. Consult a medical doctor before discontinuing any medications, however, since discontinuing some medications can have detrimental effects and potentially be fatal. If your doctor says you can stop medications, he or she may need to monitor you. But think twice before popping a pill for pain or indigestion or some other common malady and take them only if they are absolutely essential.
Exercise regularly away from high-traffi c or high-pollution areas. Walking or running near highways or busy roads, for example, exposes your body to large amounts of petrochemicals and other pollutants at a time when your breathing is deeper than normal. I recommend rebounding—bouncing on a mini trampoline. You’ll learn more about this in Chapter 6. Rebounding not only off ers a good cardiovascular workout, it helps the lymphatic system to fl ow, resulting in fewer toxins. Rebounding reduces any strain on joints that you may experience with other forms of activities. In addition, I also recommend a brisk thirty-minute walk every day, five days a week, preferably outdoors so you can get some fresh air.
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Avoid using pesticides and herbicides indoors or outdoors, and limit your exposure to areas that have been sprayed. Many parks, golf courses, and even neighbours’ lawns are sprayed with pesticides. Keep your exposure in these areas to a minimum while detoxifying. It is a good idea to continue this practice as best you are able even after you are finished The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan.
By now, you should have switched to natural cleaning products devoid of potentially toxic synthetic chemicals for your home. Continue this practice throughout the program and, preferably, permanently.
Eat only fresh foods. Avoid all processed, packaged, or fast foods. Prepared, packaged, and fast foods are typically loaded with chemical preservatives, colours, and other additives that are dangerous at any time, but must be avoided for The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan if you are to see results from your eff orts.
Do not eat fried foods. That includes french fries, onion rings, potato chips, nachos, etc.
Avoid margarine and hydrogenated fats like the plague. As you learned in Chapter 2, margarine is highly toxic. I cannot, in good faith, call it food. It has been chemically altered so severely that it is no longer food. It is linked with so many diseases, including cancer, that it really should be banned from human consumption. Hydrogenated fats include margarine, shortening, lard, or products made with them such as cookies, pies, packaged foods, and buns.
Avoid all dairy products and foods made with them. Th ey are mucus-forming and tend to clog the body’s detoxifi cation systems. In addition, they tend to be quite acidic once they begin to be digested. Most people are sensitive to dairy products but are not aware of this sensitivity. It may show up as digestive diffi culties, bloating, cramping, seasonal allergies, joint or muscle pain, arthritis, and many other symptoms and disorders. Dairy products include butter, milk, yogurt, sour cream, cheese, and cottage cheese. Be aware that dairy
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products disguise themselves in many other foods such as baked goods, pasta sauces, desserts, and soups.
Do not use salt. Moderate use of Celtic sea salt is allowed but go easy with it. Also, be aware that Celtic sea salt is not the same as sea salt. Celtic sea salt looks slightly damp and has a greyish colour. In addition to the mineral sodium, it contains many other minerals and trace minerals that are necessary for great health.
Refrain from eating wheat products. Wheat, even whole wheat, is very acidifying and can counter the benefits of the program. Wheat products include pastas, couscous, pastries, and breads. Instead, opt for spelt, kamut, brown rice, or other whole-grain breads that do not contain any white flour. You can also eat brown rice, millet, oatmeal, wild rice, and other whole grains on this program. Recipes for these foods are presented later in this book.
To help you remember these principles, I have provided a summary of foods and other items to avoid:
• Meat, poultry, and fish—you can eat them again after the detox is done • All refined sweeteners and sweetened foods. Look for “-ose” and other forms of sweeteners on ingredient lists • All synthetic sweeteners (Nutrasweet, saccharin, aspartame, etc.) • Alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs • Prescription and over-the-counter drugs except when they have been prescribed by a physician • Indoor and outdoor pesticides and chemical fertilizers • Cleaning products full of synthetic chemicals • Margarine and all baked goods made with it • Dairy products and foods made with butter, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, milk, and other dairy products • Fried foods: french fries, onion rings, potato chips, nachos, etc. • Salt (use Celtic sea salt instead and limit sodium intake. Note: Celtic sea salt is not the same as sea salt) ... The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
• All food additives (colours, flavour enhancers, stabilizers, preservatives, etc.) • All wheat products (wheat, even whole wheat, is very acidifying and can counter the benefits of the program) • Coffee and black tea (green tea and herbal teas are permitted) • All soft drinks, sweetened juices, fruit punch, and other sweetened or carbonated beverages Here is a summary of some of the important foods to eat and healthy practices to incorporate into your life:
• Drink plenty of purified water (eight to ten cups per day minimum) • Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (organic as much as possible) • Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before consuming • Exercise regularly away from high-traffi c or high-pollution areas • Eat only fresh foods; avoid all prepared, packaged, or fast foods The above principles are critical to the success of the whole program. It is important that you stick with them for the next four weeks. To people whose lives revolve around unhealthy habits, that may seem diffi cult. Remember this is only four weeks of your life, and those weeks could have the most profound effect on your health. Besides, developing healthy habits may take time. It took many years to develop whatever unhealthy habits you have.
OPTIMUM CLEANSING FOODS Some foods are better detoxifiers than others. Fruits and some vegetables are perfect cleansers for the body. That does not mean that you should eat only these foods for the next four weeks. Th ere are many other great cleansing foods. The key to attaining the best
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results is variety. Choose some of the top twenty-five cleansing foods below to include in your daily diet, but choose others as well. Here are my picks for some of the best internal cleansing foods:
Michelle’s Top 25 Cleansing Foods Almonds—are high in fibre, calcium, and usable protein and help stabilize blood sugar. Apples—are high in pectin, which helps cleanse the intestines and binds to heavy metals. They lower cholesterol and contain anticancer, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties. Pectin also helps the body excrete food additives, including tartrazine, a synthetic chemical used in the food industry that has been linked to hyperactivity, migraines, and asthma in children.1 Artichokes—increase bile production. Bile helps the intestines eliminate toxins from the body. They also contain a substance that helps the liver break down fatty acids, lightening its immense load. Avocados—lower cholesterol and dilate blood vessels while blocking artery-destroying toxicity. Avocados contain a nutrient called glutathione, which blocks at least thirty different carcinogens while helping the liver detoxify synthetic chemicals. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that elderly people who had high levels of glutathione were healthier and less likely to suff er from arthritis.2 Bananas—soothe and strengthen the stomach while off ering plenty of minerals needed for optimal cleansing. The mineral potassium, which is found in plentiful amounts in bananas, helps regulate fluid in the body and reduce fluid buildup in tissues. Excess fluid in the tissues means more stored toxins. Bananas also have antibiotic activity to help kill harmful bacteria residing in the intestines. Beets—contain a unique mixture of natural plant chemicals (phytochemicals) and minerals that make them superb fi ghters of infection, blood purifiers, and liver cleansers. They also help boost the body’s
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cellular intake of oxygen, making beets excellent overall body cleansers. Aphrodite, according to legend, ate beets to retain her beauty. She was definitely on to a good thing since beets, in addition to all the benefits listed above, also help stabilize the blood’s acid-alkaline balance (pH). Blueberries—contain natural aspirin that helps reduce the tissue-damaging effects of chronic inflammation, while reducing pain. Blueberries also act as an antibiotic by blocking bacteria in the urinary tract, thereby helping to prevent infections. They also have antiviral properties. Cabbage—contains numerous anti-cancer and antioxidant compounds and helps the liver break down excess hormones. Cabbage also cleanses the digestive tract and soothes the stomach, which could in part be due to its antibacterial and antiviral properties. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, kale, and spinach demonstrate powerful detoxification activity, including neutralizing some of the damaging compounds found in cigarette smoke (and second-hand smoke). They also contain a compound that helps the liver produce adequate amounts of enzymes for detoxifi cation. Carrots—contain large amounts of alpha- and beta-carotene, vitamin A precursors, as well as antioxidants, which help protect the body from cellular damage. Carrots seem to cleanse the body of heavy metals, reduce cholesterol levels in the blood, and promote cardiovascular health. Celery and Celery Seeds—an excellent blood cleanser that helps lower high blood pressure, celery also contains many diff erent anticancer compounds that help eliminate cancerous cells from the body. Celery seeds contain over twenty anti-inflammatory substances. They are particularly good for detoxifying substances found in cigarette smoke. Cherries—contain natural aspirin that helps detoxify inflammation-related substances in the body’s tissues and joints. Cherries also contain pectin, which helps to clean up heavy metals, synthetic
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chemicals disguised as food additives, cholesterol, and buildup in the intestines. Cranberries—have powerful antibiotic and antiviral substances to help the body cleanse harmful bacteria and viruses from the urinary tract. Flaxseeds and Flaxseed Oil—are loaded with essential fatty acids, particularly the omega-3s. They are essential for many cleansing functions and maintaining a healthy immune system. They are also critical to maintaining a healthy brain. The health of every cell in your body is dependent on getting adequate amounts of essential fatty acids. Garlic—helps cleanse harmful bacteria, intestinal parasites, and viruses from the body, especially from the blood and intestines. It also helps cleanse buildup from the arteries and lowers blood pressure. Garlic has anti-cancer and antioxidant properties that help detoxify the body of harmful substances. It also helps cleanse the respiratory tract by expelling mucous buildup in the lungs and sinuses. I am referring to fresh garlic, not garlic powder, which has virtually none of the above properties. Try to eat at least a clove or two per day. Raw is best but cooked garlic is often easier for those of us with sensitive stomachs. Grapefruit—contains pectin fibre that binds to cholesterol, thereby helping to remove arterial buildup and cleanse the blood. Pectin also binds to heavy metals and helps escort them out of the body. Grapefruit also has anti-cancer properties and helps particularly to protect against stomach and pancreatic cancer. Grapefruit contains powerful antioxidants that help protect the body’s cells from damage. It also has antiviral compounds that cleanse harmful viruses out of the body. Grapefruit is an excellent intestinal and liver detoxifi er. Kale—contains powerful anti-cancer and antioxidant compounds that help cleanse the body of harmful substances. It is also high in fi bre, which helps cleanse the intestinal tract. Like cabbage, kale helps neutralize compounds found in cigarette smoke and contains a substance that jump-starts the liver’s production of cleansing enzymes.
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Legumes—are loaded with fibre that helps lower cholesterol, cleanse the intestines, and regulate blood sugar levels. Legumes also help protect the body against cancer. Lemons—are the best liver detoxifiers. In addition, they contain high amounts of vitamin C, a vitamin needed by the body to make a substance called glutathione. Glutathione helps ensure that phase 2 liver detoxification keeps pace with phase 1, thereby reducing the likelihood of negative effects from environmental chemicals. Vitamin C and other antioxidants found in lemons are integral to warding off cancer, and fighting the effects of pollution and cell damage. They also help our adrenal glands—two triangular-shaped glands that sit atop the kidneys—manage the effects of stress. Olive Oil—helps cleanse and protect the arteries from plaque buildup while lowering LDL cholesterol (often referred to as the harmful cholesterol) without lowering HDL cholesterol. Olive oil also helps lower blood pressure and regulates blood sugar. In addition, it is a powerful antioxidant and, in some studies, shows anticancer activity. Onions—demonstrate powerful antioxidant and anti-cancer activity. Onions also thin and cleanse the blood and lower LDL cholesterol without lowering HDL cholesterol. Onions also help detoxify the respiratory tract and fight asthma, bronchitis, hay fever, and diabetes. Onions help cleanse the body of viruses and the intestines of harmful bacteria. Raspberries—have antiviral and anti-cancer properties. Th ese delicious berries also contain natural aspirin that helps fi ght pain and inflammation in the body, and cleanse the tissues of toxins. Seaweed—could be the most underrated vegetable in the Western world. Studies at McGill University in Montreal showed that seaweeds bind to radioactive waste in the body.3 Radioactive waste can find its way into the body through some medical tests or through food that has been grown where water or soil is contaminated. Seaweed
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also binds to heavy metals to help eliminate them from the body. In addition, it is a powerhouse of minerals and trace minerals. Spinach—similar to cabbage and kale, spinach helps the body neutralize harmful substances found in cigarette smoke. Spinach also contains glucosinolates, which stimulates the liver’s production of cleansing enzymes. Watercress—increases detoxification enzymes in the body and acts on cancer cells in the body. In a study at the Norwich Food Research Centre in the United Kingdom, smokers who were given 170 grams of watercress per day eliminated higher than average amounts of carcinogens in their urine, thereby eliminating them from their body. Watermelon—is a good source of an important liver-cleansing substance called glutathione. It helps to ensure that both phases of detoxification within the liver continue at the same speed, thereby preventing toxic buildup in the liver.
There are many other excellent cleansing foods. This list is by no means comprehensive. Eating a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables offers the best results for detoxifying your body.
SUPPLEMENTING YOUR CLEANSING EFFORTS Many cleansing programs will ask you to pop twenty, thirty, forty, or more pills per day. All these pills need to be broken down by your digestive tract and liver and absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the intestines. I find that taking too many nutritional supplements during a cleanse defeats the point: they make organs such as the liver work extra hard instead of supporting them in their functions. In addition, if your intestines are clogged, you will reap minimal, if any, benefit from them anyway. Not to mention that buying twelve types of supplements or more can become expensive.
Here are the supplements everyone should be taking throughout the cleanse and may wish to continue after the cleanse is over.
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Th ey include:
• A high-quality multivitamin and mineral every day • A high-quality full-spectrum digestive enzyme with every meal • A potent flora supplement every morning • A high-quality green food supplement daily • Cellfood®, a natural oxygen and nutritional supplement When I say “high-quality” supplements, please know that I am not referring to the cheap brands that may be popular but are primarily made up of synthetic chemicals. I am suggesting supplements that are derived from foods. Many pharmacy and health food store brands are synthetic and offer very little nutritional or health value.
A high-quality multivitamin and mineral will help ensure that your body has the nutrients it needs to detoxify. As you recall from the last chapter, many vitamins and minerals are essential to the many cleansing functions in your body. If you are defi cient in them, your cleansing efforts will suff er. This supplement is best taken with food, at breakfast or lunch.
Take a high-quality full-spectrum digestive enzyme with every meal. It will help your body digest the foods you are eating. Ideally, our food comes with its own enzymes to help with digestion, but these enzymes are destroyed with cooking and processing, although you will be avoiding processed foods for the next four weeks. A full-spectrum enzyme includes enzymes that help digest starches, natural sugars, fibre, protein, and fats found in foods. Usually it will include protease (ideally, several types), amylase, lipase, cellulase, peptidase, maltase, lactase, and invertase. Most people have depleted their own supplies of digestive enzymes by eating a highly cooked and heavily processed diet. This supplement will help your body break down the foods you eat. Take one or two capsules or tablets with every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).
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Every morning, take a flora supplement. This is to replenish the healthy bacteria that are needed in your intestines to keep less healthy strains in check, to assist with normal bowel movements, and to help nutrients move through the intestinal walls. There are many names for this type of supplement, but ideally they will contain Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifi dobacterium. These are both healthy strains of natural flora found in healthy intestines. One works best in the small intestine while the other functions ideally in the large intestine. A formula that contains both is preferred. You can take this ten minutes after taking your warm lemon water in the morning.Take one-half to one teaspoon in pure, unchlorinated water. Chlorine kills the bacteria. Alternatively, take the number of capsules or tablets recommended on the product label.
A green food supplement helps supply our bodies with additional nutrients, chlorophyll (the green colour in plants), and phytochemicals found in green foods. It will greatly assist with cleansing. Th e chlorophyll in green foods and green food supplements helps our bodies make fresh, new, and healthy cells, especially blood cells. Many different green food supplements are available, taken from barley, alfalfa, chlorella, spirulina, and other green foods, or a combination of these. Make sure that the one you select is free of preservatives and artificial sweeteners (the natural plant sweetener, stevia, is fine) and is processed at low temperatures to maintain the integrity of the enzymes naturally present in these foods. The amount you will take will depend on the type of green food supplement you choose. You can have a mid-morning or mid-afternoon fruit smoothie and include a scoop of your green food supplement in it. Follow the amounts suggested on the package. Cellfood® is an unique cell-oxygenating liquid formula that delivers oxygen, 78 trace minerals, 34 enzymes, 17 amino acids and electrolytes to the body’s cells.
During The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox, we will work together to help restore balance to your body on many levels, including biochemically, electrically (yes, your body is electric—your nerves carry electrical signals throughout your body and every cell in your
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body conducts electricity), emotionally, energetically, enzymatically, hormonally, magnetically (yes, your body also has magnetic properties), biologically, nutritionally, psychologically, and spiritually.
We will be working holistically, which simply means we’ll be working on the various aspects that make you whole: your body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Many programs claim to be holistic but work only on your physical aspects.
Throughout the program you will follow certain daily patterns, although other activities and foods will be added as we go along. These initial eating and lifestyle patterns should be continued throughout the program. Once you get used to them, they are quite simple and you may even wish to continue them as part of your long-term health plan. They are excellent habits to make and will be a great start toward good health for a lifetime.
Keep in mind that we have many ingrained habits and patterns that we have learned over our lifetimes. Changing these habits so you can form new ones may take time, patience, and some initial effort, at least until they become ingrained. Few people were experts at riding their bicycles from the first moment they leapt onto them. More likely, learning to ride a bike took practice, determination, and diligence. Commit to making positive change in your life by breaking old habits and making new ones. You will be immensely happy you did.
I will recommend various herbs and natural remedies throughout the program; however, unlike many detox programs, this one will not have you swallowing fistfuls of pills. I have selected several of the most important herbal and nutritional remedies for the program. If you need additional help with a particular phase of detoxifi cation, I have provided a more thorough list of remedies in Chapters 8 to
11. The natural remedies found in these chapters are by no means essential to the program. They are provided as an adjunct should you require further cleansing. Chapter .: The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan ...
Organizing Your Day on
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Start with the fresh juice of half a lemon squeezed into warm, pure water first thing upon rising in the morning. This helps to stimulate your bowels to eliminate the waste products that may have built up in your intestinal tract. It also helps to balance your blood pH. In other words, it reduces the acidity of your blood. Th is is essential because pain and disease thrive in acidic blood. The simple act of neutralizing the acidity helps lessen pain and decrease any harmful pathogens that reside in your body. Also, the act of detoxifying stirs up toxins that are predominantly acidic.
You may be thinking, “But lemons are so acidic, how can they possibly alkalize my blood?” Lemons are acidic, but when they are metabolized in your body, they have an immensely alkalizing eff ect.
So it is critical to alkalize your body to counter the effects of the toxins. If toxins remain in your intestines for too long, they will be reabsorbed into your bloodstream, where they need to be fi ltered by your already overburdened liver and kidneys, and may eventually be deposited in your tissues and fatty deposits, particularly as cellulite in women.
From a holistic medicine viewpoint, cellulite is the result of irregular bowel movements, from holding back urges to eliminate stools, and from a sluggish lymphatic system. Correct these irregularities, and cellulite will typically melt away. That is one of our goals on this program. You will learn more about getting rid of cellulite as we proceed further.
After drinking your lemon water, it is time to skin brush (see Chapter 6 to learn how). It is a simple technique that requires a natural-bristle brush that can be found at many health food stores and spas. It takes less than one minute to do and really stimulates your lymphatic system and improves blood circulation.
If you make time in the morning to exercise, this is the ideal time to rebound. This exercise is one of the most effective ways to get your
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lymphatic system moving without straining your joints. Th e mini trampoline absorbs much of the shock to your joints. Th e bouncing action forces the millions of one-way valves in the lymphatic system to open expansively. According to Morton Walker, podiatrist and author of the book Jumping for Health, this action increases the lymph flow up to fourteen times greater than it would otherwise flow. See Chapter 6 to learn the most eff ective rebounding exercise to incorporate into your detox plan.
After drinking lemon water and rebounding, drink one teaspoon each of psyllium husks and pectin in one and a half cups of pure water or unsweetened juice with no preservatives or additives. Th e type of juice may vary from week to week. For example, during Phases 1 and 2, you will be adding this fibre to pure, unsweetened cranberry juice (see below).
Psyllium is the seed of a grain grown in India. It makes an excellent intestinal cleanser since it softens (if needed) and adds bulk to the stool. Because it thickens quickly, it is essential to drink it immediately after mixing psyllium with water or juice. Metamucil is one example of a psyllium product but I recommend one that is less heavily processed.
Pectin is a special type of fibre usually extracted from apples.You take it by stirring a teaspoonful or two into a glass of juice or take it in capsule form. Be sure to drink at least one cup of juice or water to ensure you are getting adequate liquid. Pectin binds to heavy metals in the bloodstream and helps flush them out via the liver, according to Nan Kathryn Fuchs, a nutrition researcher.4
Based on research from California’s Amitabha Medical Center, five grams of pectin daily is enough to flush almost 70 percent of heavy metals out of most people’s bodies within months.
According to additional research, a pectin-rich diet may decrease total cholesterol by 12 percent and lower the potentially harmful LDL cholesterol by 15 percent. According to experts, lowering
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cholesterol by this amount can cut your risk of heart disease by 25 percent.
A recent study found that pectin also attaches itself to cancer cells, thereby preventing up to 95 percent of them from developing into full-blown tumours. Studies in California indicate that taking fourteen grams of pectin daily may help prevent lung, skin, and prostate cancers from spreading.
I highly recommend that most people continue supplementing their diet for at least several months after they have finished The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox for maximum benefi ts. After that, continue to eat foods high in pectin to help maintain your results. These foods include apples, bananas, beets, cabbage, carrots, citrus fruits, dried peas, and okra.
Eat fruit and fresh fruit juice all morning. If you are drinking fruit juice, do not drink bottled or canned juice. All the enzymes have been destroyed in these types of juices; in addition, they have been heated to high temperatures, a process called pasteurization, to preserve them. This process turns alkaline juice into an acidic one. During the detoxification process, we are trying to reduce the quantity of acidic foods in your diet, to better enable your body to cleanse and heal.You can drink freshly squeezed grapefruit or orange juice. These are simple to make with an electric citrus juicer or by peeling the fruits and blending them in a blender.You can also drink fresh fruit juices made in an electric juicer. Whatever type of juice you choose, dilute it 1:1 with purifi ed water.
You can also eat fresh fruit all morning. Try to mix up the variety you choose to extract a broad range of enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (powerful natural plant chemicals). Th is does not mean that you forgo food for several hours, because it can cause blood sugar fluctuations that we are trying to avoid. Instead, every half hour or hour, eat more fruit throughout the morning.You can also make delicious smoothies with just fresh fruit and frozen
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bananas and a little water.You’ll find some of my favourite smoothie and juice recipes later in this book to get you started, but feel free to try other combinations. The important factors to remember are these: fresh or frozen, raw, and variety.
Use this opportunity to try different fruits that you may not have been exposed to in the past. Some nutritional powerhouses include papayas, mangoes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, grapes, apples, pears, cherries, and avocado. This is certainly not an exhaustive list. Feel free to try others. Do not worry about calories or quantity. Eat as much as you like until you feel full, then stop. When you feel hungry again or within two hours, eat more fruit until at least noon.You can continue if you would like or you can have lunch.
Wait at least twenty minutes after you have eaten your last piece of fruit before having lunch. If you wish to eat fruit again later in the day, wait until two to three hours have passed since you ate grains, legumes, meat (if you choose to eat it), or another type of food.
Fruits are optimum detoxifi ers when eaten on an empty stomach. Fruit starts to be digested in the mouth so it is critical that you chew it well. This allows it to mingle with digestive juices secreted in the mouth. Then it travels through the digestive tract.Typically within half an hour, fruit leaves the stomach and enters the intestines, where it off ers its natural sugars, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals for cleansing and healing. Many people complain that fruit gives them gas or indigestion. Th e primary reason for this is inadequate chewing to break down the food sufficiently.Another reason is that people often eat fruit after other foods that take significantly longer to digest in the stomach. Eating fruit with or after other types of foods causes everything to sit in the stomach and begin to putrefy. This putrefaction causes gas, bloating, and indigestion. During The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan (and afterward, I hope) you will eat fruit on an empty stomach to benefit from its cleansing properties and avoid digestive discomforts.
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Drink three cups of pure water with eight drops of Cellfood® per cup on an empty stomach throughout the day. Drink an additional fi ve to seven cups of pure water on an empty stomach throughout the day.
For lunch, eat a large green salad. Green means that it actually resembles the colour green. That excludes iceberg lettuce, which really looks more like white. You can eat mesclun (also known as spring mix), romaine (sometimes called cos), arugula, dandelion greens, Boston lettuce, mustard greens, beet greens, watercress, spinach, frisée, red leaf lettuce or radicchio (which are the exceptions to the “green rule” since they are red). If you choose dandelion greens, organic are best. Do not harvest them from a lawn that has been sprayed with pesticides or synthetic fertilizers and certainly do not pick them if they are growing near roads. Add as many other vegetables as you would like to create variety.
Choose from a wide range of salad dressings listed in this book or from cold-pressed vegetable, nut, or seed oils and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. (Make sure it has not been pasteurised. It should have some sediment in the bottom or state on the label that it contains the “mother” or “live culture.”) Do not use bottled dressings from the grocery store. Th ey are typically packed with preservatives, emulsifiers, sugar, and other junk that will work against your best cleansing eff orts. You will find many delicious recipes for dressings in this book that take only minutes to prepare and can be stored in the refrigerator for use throughout the week.
You will also have a large meal-sized salad with dinner every day. You can add many other ingredients to prevent boredom while following this program. In addition to the lettuce ingredients listed above, you can add any of the following:
• pea shoots • alfalfa sprouts • broccoli sprouts ... The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
• onion sprouts
• clover sprouts • mung bean sprouts • chick peas • kidney beans • pinto beans • lima beans • Great Northern beans • any other type of legume • sliced strawberries • apple slices • orange slices • grapefruit slices • avocado • green peppers • red peppers • yellow peppers • finely chopped broccoli • cucumber • olives • edible fl owers • grated carrots • fresh peas • grated cabbage • freshly chopped parsley • freshly chopped cilantro (coriander) • any other freshly chopped herbs • mushrooms (raw or cooked) • green onion • raspberries • blueberries • celery Chapter .: The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan ...
Again, this list is by no means exhaustive. Let your imagination run wild to create delicious and nutritious gourmet salads.
You can eat from a variety of other lunch and dinner foods. I have included many recipes later in this book to give you some ideas. Follow the guidelines mentioned above.You can eat a large salad and a baked sweet potato, or a plate of brown rice pasta and vegetables. You could eat pasta salad or brown or wild rice in addition to your raw salad.You can eat a bean salad or lentil dahl. These are just some examples. See Chapter 13 for more ideas.
Eat an afternoon snack between meals. You can eat celery sticks with almond butter (see the recipes in Chapter 13), a piece of fruit, a handful of raw nuts and sunflower seeds, or drink a glass of soymilk. These are just some examples.
Be sure to drink at least eight to ten cups of pure water daily. Drink three cups of the water with eight drops of Cellfood® (see resources) per cup. You can squeeze lemon or lime into the remaining glasses of water. You can also deduct the herbal teas from your total water consumption.
Refrain from drinking water half an hour before meals or an hour after meals to avoid diluting your digestive enzymes. This allows your body to more completely digest your meals and helps to prevent bloating, allergies, or candida overgrowth in the intestines.
Now you have a good idea of the things to eat or not to eat, supplements to take, and exercise to do for all four weeks of Th e 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan.To intensify cleansing of particular organs and organ systems, we will vary the program a bit, by adding specifi c herbs or nutrients for each of the four phases of the program.
You will cleanse the various detox organs and systems in a systematic approach, following four stages:
• Phase 1: Cleansing the kidneys and bowels • Phase 2: Cleansing the lymphatic system (and this will help with cellulite as well) ... The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
• Phase 3: Cleansing the liver and gallbladder (and you will breakdown fatty deposits in your body too)
• Phase 4: Cleansing the blood, lungs, and skin PHASE 1: CLEANSING THE KIDNEYS AND BOWELS For Phase 1, drink the psyllium and pectin fibres mixed with pure cranberry juice and purified water, diluted 1:4 (one part cranberry juice to four parts water). I am referring to 100 percent pure cranberry juice, not cranberry cocktails or sweetened cranberry juice. Instead of water, you may wish to dilute cranberry juice with four parts of pure, unsweetened apple juice that contains no chemical additives or preservatives. Th is makes a much sweeter juice. You can blend this combination with a hand blender or coffee frother to make a smoother drink. It is imperative that you have at least one and a half cups of water or juice with this combination since the psyllium and pectin begin to swell once they get into your digestive tract. The water or apple juice helps to ensure there is adequate liquid to keep the mixture moving through your digestive tract. Wait at least ten minutes before eating anything else.
You may find that pure undiluted cranberry juice is quite expensive. Do not be alarmed by the price. You will actually be using a small amount at a time by diluting it with apple juice or water, which helps it to last.
Drink a second cup of the cranberry water blend during the day throughout Phase 1.
Eat an organic apple or two every day during Phase 1. Apples are healing for the kidneys and the intestinal tract, as they contain large amounts of water and a specific type of fibre called pectin. As I explained earlier, pectin binds to toxins and helps escort them out of the body in bowel movements.
Make a kidney tea blend of dried herbs: 1 part dandelion, 2 parts cleavers (an herb), 1 part buchu (an herb), and 1 part peppermint
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leaves. Mix and store in a glass container. Put one teaspoon of the dried herbal mixture in a tea ball or strainer. Pour 1 cup boiling water over it and infuse for ten minutes before drinking. If you want a sweeter drink, add two or three drops of liquid stevia, a natural herbal sweetener that is permitted while cleansing. Drink three cups of this herbal tea daily during Phase 1. Avoid this tea if you are diabetic. Alternatively, you can purchase dandelion leaf in capsules and take two capsules three times daily with meals during Phase 1.
PHASE 2: CLEANSING THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM .AND CELLULITE. Continue with the cranberry water during Phase 2. Again, drink one cup mixed with the psyllium and pectin and another cup on its own later in the day.
Make a lymphatic tea blend of dried herbs: 1 part echinacea, 2 parts cleavers, and 1 part peppermint leaves. Mix and store in a glass container. Put one teaspoon of the dried herbal mixture in a tea ball or strainer. Pour 1 cup boiling water over it and infuse for ten minutes before drinking. If you want a sweeter drink, add two or three drops of liquid stevia, a natural herbal sweetener that is permitted while cleansing. Drink three cups of this herbal tea daily during Phase 2. In addition, take astragalus in either tincture or capsule format. Follow the manufacturer’s suggested dosage.
Continue to eat an organic apple daily and follow the dietary suggestions above.
PHASE 3: CLEANSING THE LIVER AND GALLBLADDER .AND FATTY DEPOSITS. Instead of drinking the juice of half a lemon in a glass of water in the morning, increase the amount to the juice of a full lemon in a large glass of water first thing in the morning. You can also increase the amount of water if you prefer, to make it more palatable.
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Take 4000 mg of lecithin daily. Take two digestive enzymes with every meal. In addition to the multivitamin you are already taking, add 2000 mg of vitamin C per day, divided into doses of 1000 mg at a time.
Make a liver-gallbladder tea blend of dried herbs: 1 part dandelion root, 1 part ginger root, 1 part turmeric, and 1 part chicory. Mix and store in a glass container. In a small saucepan, mix four teaspoons of the dried herbal mixture in four cups of water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for twenty minutes, covered. Drink one cup, three times per day. Refrigerate the remainder until you are ready to drink it. Sweeten with stevia if you prefer.
In addition, take a milk thistle seed supplement in capsule form. Take two 250 mg capsules at a time, three times a day with meals. The supplement should be a standardized 80 percent extract of Silybum marianum.
PHASE 4: CLEANSING THE BLOOD, LUNGS, AND SKIN Drink a quarter cup of pure aloe vera juice, diluted in water if you prefer, after your lemon water in the morning. Drink an additional quarter cup of aloe vera juice in the afternoon. Avoid using “aloes” or “aloe latex” since these versions can be too harsh for the body. Avoid aloe juice if you are pregnant.
You should have been taking a green food supplement during the last several weeks. Double the amount of green food supplement you are taking during Phase 4. The additional chlorophyll (green colour naturally found in plants) will assist with blood purifi cation.
If you have a juicer, drink the skin cleansing juice (listed in Chapter 13) daily.
Supplement with 400 IU of a high-quality vitamin E capsule daily. Ideally, it should be a mixed tocopherol blend of gamma tocopherol, delta tocopherol, and beta tocopherol.
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Make a blood-lungs-skin cleansing tea blend of dried herbs: 1 part coltsfoot, 1 part comfrey, and 1 part horehound. Mix and store in a glass container. Put one teaspoon of the dried herbal mixture in a tea ball or strainer. Pour 1 cup boiling water over it and infuse for ten minutes before drinking. If you want a sweeter drink, add several drops of liquid stevia. Drink three cups of this herbal tea daily during Phase 4.
This program is designed to be flexible. After each phase, take the brief quizzes listed in the following chapters to help you determine whether the allotted one-week phase is sufficient for you or if you might benefit from staying at one phase for a longer period before moving to the next phase. For example, if after one week of cleansing the lymphatic system in Phase 2 of The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan, you still have cellulite that you would like to target, you can stay in Phase 2 for a longer period before moving to Phase 3: Cleansing the Liver and Gallbladder (and Fat Deposits).You can also incorporate the cleansing suggestions such as the herbs and energy medicine techniques suggested in Chapter 9 into the four-week detox plan.
While the program has been designed for a four-week period, I recognize that everyone is different and therefore has diff erent needs. This approach allows you the fl exibility to customize the program for optimum results.
Bear in mind that you will be cleansing all the body’s detoxifi cation systems to some degree during all phases of the program; however, your efforts will be greatly targeted to allow deeper and more extensive cleansing. For example, you will not suddenly stop cleansing the kidneys and bowels once you leave Phase 1. Th at will continue, just to a lesser degree, while you are cleansing the lymph system, liver and gallbladder, blood, lungs, and skin during the following phases.
Cleansing your body’s many detoxification organs will require some effort, but the rewards will be worth it. Perseverance is critical.
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After you get started forming new habits, your body will actually begin to crave healthy fuel. Remember, you are trying to undo years of poor eating habits that take some effort to change. A positive attitude will make sticking to the program much easier.
In this chapter you learned
• How to decrease your exposure to toxins in your foods and beverages • How to effectively eliminate toxic buildup in all of your body’s detoxifi cation organs • The best order in which to cleanse your body’s detoxifi cation organs References
1. Helen Foster, Detox Solutions (London: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 2004), p. 17. 2. Foster, Detox Solutions, p. 17. 3. Foster, Detox Solutions, p. 18. 4. Kathleen Barnes,“The Little Fiber Pill Th at Can Detox Your Whole Body,” Woman’s World, April 27, 2004, p. 24. Chapter .: The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan ...