The Naturopathic Way—Detoxification

Stretching

Take two minutes to stretch sometime during the start of your day, even if you don’t exercise much. Motion is paramount for detox, and flexibility frees the flow of fluids (lymph, blood, and wastes) and energy, spirit, or chi. It is also a key element of youth. Loosen up any staleness in your joints, especially your back and legs. Your spinal joints have nerves that help regulate and bring balance to your glands, muscles, and organs.

Find a couple of stretches that your body likes, and adapt them for your body type and preference. I do a few spinal twists and a lunge move, then end with a downward dog (a yoga pose that looks like an inverted “V”). That’s a way to start the day and awaken your body to put detox operations at the ready.

Skin Cleansing

Scrub yourself with a loofah, brush, or cloth as you shower. The scrubbing removes dead surface skin cells, opens your pores, and wipes out various clogging substances to improve your circulation, stimulate and tone your nerves, and deeply clean your largest organ of elimination. Try a natural bristle brush with a handle to get your entire back in the shower after you’re warmed up and your pores are primed. You bath folks can brush after a nice soak in the tub with some essential oils (lavender or jasmine, for example). This combination will leave you with a clean body and calm mind.

Body Shock

End your bath or shower with a cool or cold rinse. I know it sounds like a shock (and it is), but it is great, great, great when done right.

After you’re thoroughly warmed up in the shower, turn the water to as cold as you can. The first few seconds will be...well...bracing, but the sensation will quickly turn to totally enjoyable and invigorating. Keep the water cold for 30–60 seconds, then either repeat or turn it off. Always start with warm, always end with cold. It’s tough at first, but you will eventually welcome its amazingly refreshing effect. Deep and controlled breathing may help you master this body and soul wake-up call.

The cold is your healing friend, needed as much as warmth for health and detoxification. The cold closes your pores, and your body pushes the cold surface blood to your core and exchanges it for warmer blood from your depths. This deep dredging of your circulatory system is like vascular aerobics for deep cleansing. Further, the jolt to your nervous system will create a wave of returning warmth, leaving you feeling cozy, calm, and content within 15 to 30 minutes. You’ll be more clear-headed, and sleep better than ever. Set a goal of using this hydrotherapy technique two days this week as part of a detox program.

Water Inside

Drink water as your only fluid for a few days to flush your body of impurities. Have it sparkling or flat, cool or room temperature, maybe with a lemon or orange twist, but just water—no artificial sweeteners and no sugars. Water helps to cleanse us naturally. It helps balance our chemistry and pH for health. It hydrates all of our cells, and helps carry nutrients in and wastes out.

Your body is mostly water, and blood is the river of life going through it to every single cell, providing needed moisture and healing memory. Letting your body find a balance is difficult with much of today’s fancy fluid fixes, but natural with the universal solvent—plain, pure water. Six to eight 8-oz. glasses of water a day will provide you with the amount you need for healthy elimination. And most important—make sure your water is filtered.

I recommend a reliable 3-chamber UV screening water filter like the Sun-Pure Water Filtration System (available through many mail order catalogs, or by calling 800-777-2002), or the AQUASPACE Water Carafe. Even if you decide to filter the household water, I still recommend keeping several gallons of bottled water on hand per person as a back-up safety and health measure. I also recommend carrying a gallon in your car if you can keep it from becoming too hot. There’s also a great personal water bottle with a filter I like to use on the go, called the Seychelle Water Filter Bottle.

Green Foods

Give the green light to green foods. These superfoods—usually derived from either aquatic plants, such as spirulina or chlorella, or young grasses, such as wheat or barley—have been used traditionally to wonderfully cleanse and naturally detoxify our body, and can even deodorize your insides. It is thought that greens help naturally clean our bodies from blood to bowel. They should play a role in our diet every day, and supplementing with green superfoods is one way to keep the cleansing and detox ongoing every day.

There are a variety of green foods combinations available. I like Sun Chlorella (convenient tablets of concentrated chlorella), Greens+, Natural Factors’ Enriching Greens, and All Greens. Follow label directions for daily amounts. All Greens contains a number of organic ingredients, including alfalfa, barley grass, wheat grass, carrot, and Hawaiian spirulina. It mixes well with water or juice, and has a smooth texture—unlike many greens supplements, which may be gritty.

Clean ’em Out

Colon cleansing is done with fiber, prebiotics and probiotics, and nutraceuticals. Intestinal wastes have built up, and their toxins can impair digestive enzymes, nutrient production, immunity, and nutrient absorption. It’s astounding (and true) that 70 percent of your immune system is located in our gastrointestinal tract, and it needs your help.

Use an herbal and fiber combination for a week or two to draw out waste. Drink plenty of water, because otherwise fiber can constipate you. It absorbs large quantities of water. Fiber products should include both the soluble and insoluble varieties.

Keep in mind that a good colon cleanser doesn’t need lots of nutrients; in fact, it can keep many nutrients from being absorbed. The real purpose of a cleanser is to support purification and alkalization, and to deodorize. My favorite detox program is the Whole Body Cleanse kit from Enzymatic Therapy, now available in most health food stores. The kit contains a laxative formula to loosen stools, bind toxins, and flush them out, while soothing and supporting intestinal health. There are no harsh stimulant laxative herbs, which I suggest you avoid—they can cause pain, and you can become dependent on them.

Key Nutrients for Liver Support

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is widely used in Europe for detox and long-term liver support, and I predict it will become one of the most prized natural solutions in the next decade as we recognize its remarkable ability to help support overall liver health and detoxification, and its bile-stimulating abilities. I suggest taking milk thistle for four to eight weeks, and then stopping. Do this two to three times a year.

For cleansing livers, I often will add herbals that promote and support bile flow. Bile is a substance produced by the liver that, among other functions, enables us to digest fats. Increasing bile flow aids digestion, speeds the metabolism of fat where many toxins are stored, and enables the liver to excrete its wastes faster. Artichoke leaf, for instance, shows promise for detoxification from alcohol, drugs, and excess weight. Preliminary research on standardized artichoke (Cynara scolymus) leaf has focused on caffeoylquinic acid for its ability to increase bile production. Artichoke can be taken along with milk thistle for those who desire this benefit. I recommend Nature’s Way or Enzymatic Therapy’s artichoke extract as directed.

Sweat it Out

Far infrared saunas are a major step forward in detox science, and are now available for the home. By far, the best one on the market is the TheraSauna. It is the most heat-efficient, reaching temperature in minutes; is easy to use; and is made from only nontoxic, nontreated hardwoods. (Most saunas are made from cedar or redwood, which, when heated, can create toxic gases. You can inhale or absorb these toxins through your skin—exactly the opposite of what you want to accomplish.)

Infrared heat is what we feel when we stand in the sun. Infrared energy can be given off, as well as absorbed, by our bodies. The body absorbs infrared energy in the 3–50 micron range, with the best being 9.4 microns. The TheraSauna emits infrared heat in the 7–14 micron range, with the peak at 9.4 microns. This makes the energy easier to absorb in a shorter period of time, and it penetrates deeper (up to 1-1/2 inches) than traditional saunas. You can set a lower temperature and get a good detox while remaining comfortable.

The end result is superior cellular stimulation, and the release of toxins through perspiration and through the oils that follow perspiration out. By the way, always shower immediately following any heat therapy or exercise. If you don’t, the released toxins can be drawn back in through your skin.

If you don’t have access to a far infrared sauna, don’t worry; use a regular sauna, steam room, or hot tub if you have one at your gym or home. Low-intensity, longer-term exercise that takes you beyond the point of perspiration and brings out the oils will also accomplish the goal. The point is to move pollutants out in a way that’s enjoyable.

Clear Out the Deepest Toxins

Consistently eating well, exercising, and doing regular semi-annual detoxifications will help bolster your immunity. However, many of us are storing dangerous heavy metals and chemicals that move out slowly. These may require deeper dredging of our system. Metal Magnet and Modifilan are two special items to accelerate this process. You can take either one, your choice.

Metal Magnet is purified humifulvate complex, containing humic, fulvic, and phenolic acids. This proprietary formula is derived from a 3,000-year-old Hungarian peat deposit. It has been the subject of more than four decades of scientific research, showing it can bind to heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. Heavy metals are difficult to remove from the body, so this natural substance advances our effective tools.

Read directions carefully and follow them exactly. Do not take other supplements or drugs three hours before or after taking Metal Magnet, and do not exceed three 8-week sessions of it in one calendar year, unless under supervision by a health practitioner. Metal Magnet is an Enzymatic Therapy product, available at health food stores and a number of Internet retailers.

From the depths of the ocean comes Modifilan, a pure, organic extract of brown seaweed known as Laminaria japonica. This product was born out of a Russian government directive to a group of scientists. They were asked to develop a product that would help Chernobyl victims, which it did, and now it is available to us. Forty to 50 pounds of pristine seaweed make one pound of Modifilan. It is processed using low temperatures and contains as much as 50 percent or more alginates, a pectin-like substance in seaweed.

Alginates are natural absorbers of radioactive elements, free radicals, toxins (pesticides, environmental pollutants, cigarette smoke, etc.), and heavy metals. These include strontium, cobalt, lead, mercury, cadmium, radium, and other radioactive elements. For instance, mercury is a heavy metal commonly found in fish, pesticides, and amalgams in our teeth. It is 5,000 times more toxic to the body than lead. It gets stored in fat and organs, including the brain, liver, kidneys, and nerves.

Anyone exposed to electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices can have excess free radicals in their system. And who in the modern world doesn’t have electrical outlets, a microwave oven, computer, or cell phone? Therefore, it should come as no surprise that regular detox with a product like Modifilan can aid all of these organs, not to mention improve digestion, strengthen immunity, heighten elimination, help regulate blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and help rid the body of dangerous abnormal cells.

Modifilan is the most effective seaweed product I’ve seen, with uses beyond detox. Take up to 5 grams per day for two months, then take a break. Repeat after a two-month rest, if needed. Children should take up to 1.25 grams a day for same schedule. As with the Metal Magnet, follow similar precautions.

It is reassuring to me that simple, ancient plants hold such help and hope for a world so out of balance; I hope you find the same comfort in this knowledge. We must respect and protect our beautiful earth for life itself, not to mention the countless precious medicines available everywhere nature flourishes.

Restore and Rebuild

The last phase of detox is restoration and rebuilding. There are a number of ways and means to build your body back up after you’ve cleaned it out. I’m going to focus on the replenishing of healthy flora in the gastrointestinal tract and a lifestyle for ongoing purification.

A good probiotic supplement delivers friendly, live bacteria straight to your G.I. tract. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to tell if the bacteria in a supplement are still alive and well when you purchase or take them. For this reason, I recommend a probiotic supplement that uses a seamless encapsulation technology to ensure the beneficial flora are delivered animate to the digestive tract. Try Acidophilus Pearls from Enzymatic Therapy or Probiotic Advantage from Mountain Home Nutritionals (MHN is owned by Healthy Directions, LLC) (www.drdavidwilliams.com, 800-888-1415). So many probiotic products just don’t work. The beads from these two companies are reliable, easy to swallow, and don’t need refrigeration.

Another product I use to repopulate my gut flora is BioK+. It is a strong, fermented dairy product with more than 50 billion healthy bacteria in each container. (The manufacturer also makes a flavored, nondairy version.) The unflavored variety of BioK+ has a hearty, plain yogurt taste, and needs refrigeration. For that reason, it’s available only at local health food stores and some Whole Foods and Wild Oats locations. If you take a full container of this product, I’m confident you will notice a difference in your next bowel movement. It’s like having a younger, better-functioning G.I. tract.

You not only want to introduce friendly flora into your digestive and elimination system, you want to make sure they stay there. Studies have shown that fructooligosaccharides (FOS) help probiotics colonize and stick around. FOS form part of a group of compounds found in fruits and vegetables, including Jerusalem artichoke (a tuber that grows underground like a potato, also called a sunchoke), asparagus, leeks, onions, garlic, and oats. Because they support the growth of probiotics, FOS are also known as prebiotics. You can eat the foods mentioned to get FOS, but the most reliable way is to supplement. I take and recommend Inuflora from Naturally Vitamins.

Inuflora is available in a few select health food stores, but the most reliable source is Web Vitamins, www.webvitamins.com, 800-919-9122.

From small changes to advanced solutions—choose your way to detoxification

Whether you incorporate several small changes or try one of the advanced therapies I recommend, you’ll find that cleansing your body and supporting your liver is likely the best way to live a longer, healthier life. And you can be certain that as I discover new detox tips and research, I’ll share all I learn with you in Naturally Well Today.